Final chapters for April 22, 2018: Barbara Bush, Karl Kasell, Harry Anderson

Barbara Bush, 92, didn’t hesitate to tell people that her trademark pearl necklaces were fake. Americans liked that everything else about the snowy-haired first lady was real. The wife of the nation’s 41st president and mother of the 43rd brought a plainspoken, grandmotherly style to buttoned-down Washington, displaying an utter lack of vanity about her white hair and wrinkles. Bush died Tuesday, according to a statement from family spokesman Jim McGrath. The Bushes, who were married on Jan. 6, 1945, had the longest marriage of any presidential couple in American history. And Barbara Bush was one of only two first ladies who had a child who was elected president. The other was Abigail Adams, wife of John Adams and mother of John Quincy Adams. The publisher’s daughter and oilman’s wife could be caustic in private, but her public image was that of a self-sacrificing, supportive spouse who referred to her husband as her “hero.”

Harry Anderson, 65, an actor who starred as the kindhearted, zany Judge Harry Stone on the long-running NBC comedy “Night Court,” was found dead Monday at his home in Asheville, N.C. The Asheville Police Department, which confirmed the death, did not release a cause but said no foul play was suspected. Anderson, who spent nine seasons presiding over a fictional Manhattan courtroom that played host to a steady stream of oddballs, was nominated for three consecutive Emmys, from 1985 to 1987. Judge Harry Stone shared more than a first name with the actor who played him: Both the character and the man donned colorful ties, were magicians at heart and were superfans of the jazz great Mel Tormé.

Carl Kasell, 84, an NPR newscaster who, late in his career, cast off his anchorman gravitas once a week and for years became an absurdist comedian on the popular satirical quiz show “Wait Wait … Don’t Tell Me!,” died Tuesday in Potomac, Maryland. His wife, Mary Ann Foster, said the cause was complications of Alzheimer’s disease. To anyone who ever wondered what a radio personality was really like behind the disembodied baritone dignity, Kasell (pronounced KASS-uhl), gave it away in 1998 when he suddenly dropped the rock-steady mid-Atlantic voice of authority that millions had come to know over his decades as an éminence grise on public radio’s “All Things Considered” and “Morning Edition.” In its place was a whimsical, charming North Carolina comic doing goofy impressions of Henry A. Kissinger, Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and others in the news. A voice that had been likened to that of America’s most trusted broadcaster, Walter Cronkite, was now concocting puns, singing falsetto jingles and joking about his comedown – from a radio kingpin to a comic making up voicemail greetings as game show prizes.

R. Lee Ermey, 74, a former Marine who made a career in Hollywood playing hard-nosed military men like Gunnery Sgt. Hartman in Stanley Kubrick’s “Full Metal Jacket,” has died. He died last from pneumonia-related complications. The Kansas native was nominated for a Golden Globe Award for his memorable performance in “Full Metal Jacket,” in which he immortalized lines such as: “What is your major malfunction?” Born Ronald Lee Ermey in 1944, Ermey served 11 years in the Marine Corps and spent 14 months in Vietnam and then in Okinawa, Japan, where he became staff sergeant. His first film credit was as a helicopter pilot in Francis Ford Coppola’s “Apocalypse Now,” which was quickly followed by a part in “The Boys in Company C” as a drill instructor. He raked in more than 60 credits in film and television across his long career in the industry, often playing authority figures in everything from “Se7en” to “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” remake.

Tim Bergling, 28, the Swedish DJ and electronic dance music producer who rose to fame under the stage name Avicii, was found dead Friday in Muscat, the capital of Oman. His death was confirmed by a spokeswoman, Diana Baron, who did not specify a cause. He was in Oman, a popular vacation destination on the Arabian Peninsula, to visit friends, she said. Avicii became famous with his 2011 hit “Levels” and was part of a wave of electronic dance music DJs who achieved pop-star levels of prominence. His songs have been streamed more than 1 billion times on Spotify.

This story was originally published April 21, 2018 at 8:35 AM with the headline "Final chapters for April 22, 2018: Barbara Bush, Karl Kasell, Harry Anderson."