National & International Obituaries

Best known for playing the cross-dressing scientist Dr. Frank-N-Furter in the '75 cult classic, Curry also appeared in numerous other TV shows and films. He died Aug. 25. Originally broadcast in 2005.

The "Butcher of Bosnia" is dead — Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander convicted of genocide, has died at 84 while serving a life sentence in The Hague.

Ratko Mladic was one of the most notorious figures of a war that killed over 100,000 people in the 1990s. He commanded his troops to "scorch the brains" of the Bosnian Muslims and boasted of being a "Serbian God."

NPR critics remember some of their favorite Dolly performances — including a duet with Kermit the Frog and the twinkle in Dolly's eye singing with Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris.

Tim Curry, who died on Tuesday at 80, is remembered as an actor who threw himself into things, whether as Frank-N-Furter in "The Rocky Horror Picture Show" or Pennywise the Clown in "It."

The Japanese artist has died at age 97. Kusama's polka dotted pumpkins, "Infinity Rooms," and other repetitive and dreamlike artworks have been shown in museums and galleries worldwide.

Dolly Parton's Imagination Library has provided more than 300 million books to children around the world. Parton wanted to give the gift of reading as a way to honor of her father.

Curry will be most remembered for his role as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, the tyrannical gender-bending alien scientist in both stage and screen versions of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. He was 80.

NPR's Michel Martin speaks with Hayley Williams, lead singer of the band Paramore, about the influence Dolly Parton had on her musically and personally.

Dolly Parton came to fame as a star in country music and went on to become one of its most recognizable and universally adored ambassadors to broader popular culture. She died Tuesday at age 80.