Arriving in our mailbox this morning was this reminder that, exactly six months ago today, an actor who was not Heath Ledger died:

Hello! :)

I am a huge fan of the late Brad Renfro. Today, Tuesday, July 15th, marks 6 months since Brad's untimely passing. Is there anyway that you could mention something in honor of Brad on the anniversary of his death? This is a significant and sad day for Brad's family, friends, and fans who loved him dearly, and as a fan, I think it would be so nice to see someone in the media actually pay respect to him on this day of remembrance.

And we were totally ready to whip up a couple lines of copy noting Renfro's half death-day … until we got to the second paragraph of the email:

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A NICE, SWEAR-LADEN SENDOFF "At a private memorial service Sunday attended by some 150 people … [George Carlin] was memorialized by comedians Bill Maher, Garry Shandling and others as someone who had no enemies, in part because he was nice to everyone he spoke to."

Psychology Today's Web site has published an interview done with George Carlin just nine days before the comic died. Though the piece was originally supposed to be 350 words, in light of Carlin's passing, it's now much, much longer.

Our favorite bits are after the jump, but you can read the full interview here.

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George Carlin, a man as responsible as anyone for the current freedoms of the Internet, died of heart failure yesterday in Santa Monica. The comedian, writer and actor was recently named the recipient of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor. He was 71.

After the jump, some of Carlin's greatest hits, including "Seven Words You Can Never Say on Television." (NSFW, but tell your boss to screw.)

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Yves Saint Laurent, the reclusive fashion designer, died in Paris last night "after a long illness." Pierre Berge, Laurent's former partner, said of his late lover, "He was a libertarian, an anarchist and he threw bombs at the legs of society."

Of course, none of that is true. In reality, Laurent made fancy clothes that fit well. He was 71.

We don't watch Lost because, in our experience, the people who do end up thinking and talking about it far too often, but, if we did, apparently we would have been shocked by the body in "the coffin" on last night's episode. After the jump, a picture of the corpse for any Tivo-er who can't resist a spoiler.

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Harvey Korman, the brilliant comedic actor behind Blazing Saddles' Hedley Lamarr, died yesterday of complications arising from an aortic aneurysm. He was 81.

Robert Rauschenberg, a "brash, garrulous, hard-drinking, open-faced Southerner," according to The New York Times, and an important link between abstract expressionism and pop art, according to everyone, died of heart failure last night. He was 82.

R.I.P. TV "Real-life broadcasters get set to announce their fall schedules next week in New York, they're still scratching their way out of a trench, otherwise known as the worst season in the history of the network TV business. Not a single one of the new fall series broke through to a big audience, even the ones that looked can't-fail on paper, such as ABC's spinoff 'Private Practice' and NBC's now-dead revival of 'Bionic Woman.' Every network except Fox has posted significant ratings declines for the season so far, according to data from Nielsen Media Research."

The Chris Farley Show, an eponymous new biography about the late comedian and SNL alum, spells out something his unrelenting drug abuse should have clarified for everyone years ago: He actually didn't enjoy being made fun of for being hugely overweight and he only allowed it so that people would like him.

Chris Rock blames Farley's undoing on his deep-seated need for approval. "'Chippendales' was a weird sketch. I always hated it," says Rock, "The joke of it is, basically, 'We can't hire you because you're fat.' There's no comic twist to it. It's just [bleep]ing mean. A more mentally together Chris Farley wouldn't have done it, but Chris wanted so much to be liked. As funny as that sketch was … it's one of the things that killed him."

Click through for the now infamous "Chippendale sketch."

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Executives behind the upcoming Batman franchise flick The Dark Knight will not alter a scene in the film that depicts the late Heath Ledger's character, the Joker, pretending to be dead. The scene in question shows Ledger hiding out in a bodybag, and it left some test audience members "reeling." Rumors abounded that the film would be reworked to mitigate the shock, but a source close to the production says, "The film remains intact - and nothing of Ledger's will be cut from the movie, including the bodybag scene." Related: Many film studios to stop using seven-year-olds as test audience members.

A HARMONIOUS FAREWELL "Oscar-winning actor Charlton Heston has been cremated at a funeral in Los Angeles attended by about 300 people, including many Hollywood celebrities. The service was held at a church where Heston worshipped regularly, and stars such as Arnold Schwarzenegger and Tom Selleck were among the well-wishers. … Hollywood figures including Olivia DeHavilland, Pat Boone, Oliver Stone and Rob Reiner were also at Saturday's service, which lasted for almost two hours."

Charlton Heston, whose career included over 100 films and a stint as the president of the National Rifle Association, passed away last night at his home in Beverly Hills. Though his family will not comment on Heston's cause of death, it is presumed the 84-year-old died of complications from Alzheimer's disease.

THANK YOU FOR THE MUSIC "A drummer for the Swedish pop group ABBA has died after an apparent accident at his home in Spain, a Civil Guard spokeswoman said Mondaay. Ola Brunkert was found dead late Sunday at his home in the town of Arta on Spain's Mediterranean island of Mallorca, the spokeswoman said. Police believe Brunkert may have fallen against a glass partition separating his home's kitchen from the garden, and the glass broke and fatally cut his throat, she said."

WHOOPS! "HEATH LEDGER’s parents vowed yesterday to see right by his ex-lover and their daughter — after he left them NOTHING in his will."

TRUE CONSERVATISM DEAD "William F. Buckley Jr., who marshaled polysyllabic exuberance, famously arched eyebrows and a refined, perspicacious mind to elevate conservatism to the center of American political discourse, died Wednesday at his home in Stamford, Conn."

Despite the New York Times calling his work "disarming" and director Joel Schumacher saying he was "smart" and "too good to believe," recently deceased young actor Brad Renfro went unhonored in last night's annual Academy Awards "In Memoriam" montage.

Asked about Renfro's absence, the Academy issued a statement saying, "It is simply not possible to include everyone in that segment." Of course, they did find time to highlight 98 other dead entertainment industry veterans and make some bullshit Norbit jokes.

And people wonder why young stars are so fucked up.

THINGS THAT MAKE YOU GO HMMMM "Shawn Lonsdale, whose one-man crusade against Scientology made him a public enemy of the church, was found dead at his home over the weekend in an apparent suicide."

Update: The Clearwater police department's spokeswoman for this case, Elizabeth Daly-Watts, has known connections to Scientology. Creepy!