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(CNN) — There will be no more car giveaways, no more tearful interviews and Tom Cruise will have to find someone else’s couch to jump on.

Friends and fans alike are mourning the impending loss of Oprah Winfrey’s syndicated talk show in 2011, sharing the sentiment that it will be very difficult to fill the Queen of Media’s high heels.

Fellow talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, who appeared on the cover of O, The Oprah Magazine’s December issue with Winfrey, broke the news to her in-studio audience at the taping of Thursday’s show that she had received a personal phone call from Winfrey about the announcement. DeGeneres told her audience that she could not have achieved her own personal success if Winfrey hadn’t been such a trailblazer before her.

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Swayze died of pancreatic cancer, his publicist, Annett Wolf, told CNN.

“Patrick Swayze passed away peacefully today with family at his side after facing the challenges of his illness for the last 20 months,” Wolf said in a statement Monday.

Swayze’s doctor, Dr. George Fisher, revealed in early March 2008 that Swayze was fighting the disease.

Most recently, Swayze starred in A&E network’s “The Beast,” which debuted in January. He agreed to take the starring role of an undercover FBI agent before his diagnosis. The network agreed to shoot an entire season of the show after Swayze responded well to cancer treatment.

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Gelbart died of cancer, Pat Gelbart said. The family will hold a private memorial service.

Throughout his career, Gelbart developed a portfolio of more than 40 works spanning radio, television, theater and film. His fascination with radio as a child inspired him and influenced his evolving career.

“I never had any aspirations of [a] literary career, but writing for radio seemed to be a natural extension of being such a radio fan,” Gelbart told CNN in 1999. “So when I got my chance, that’s what I did.”

Barely out of high school, Gelbart began as a comedy writer for radio in the 1940s. He wrote for various programs, including the Fanny Brice show and “Duffy’s Tavern.” While in the Army, he wrote for Armed Forces Radio. Later, he joined the staff of Bob Hope’s show and jump-started his own television career as a TV writer for the star.

Gelbart went on to write skits for the live comedy “Your Show of Shows” in 1953, winning two Emmys for his work.

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Only his family and closest friends will attend the private funeral inside the ornate Great Mausoleum on the grounds of Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale, California.

The news media, which has closely covered every aspect of Jackson’s death, will be kept at a distance, with cameras no closer than the cemetery’s main gate.

Little is known about the planned ceremony, though CNN has confirmed that singer Gladys Knight, a longtime friend to Jackson, will perform. Her song has not been disclosed.

The massive mausoleum, which is normally open to tourists, was closed Wednesday as preparations were completed for the funeral. A security guard blocking its entrance said it would reopen to the public on Friday.

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Jackson was scheduled to be laid to rest August 29, on what would have been his 51st birthday.

The private ceremony will still take place at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California, according to a statement from Ken Sunshine.

No reason was given for the change in date.

The ceremony “will be limited to family and close friends,” the statement said.

Jackson died June 25 of cardiac arrest. The famed entertainer was 50.

The release date for the movie drawing on Jackson’s rehearsal footage was announced Thursday. “Michael Jackson: This Is It” will run in theaters worldwide for two weeks only beginning October 28, according to Sony Pictures.

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Right up until the bitter end I believed Paula Abdul and the producers would be able to work it out.

After all, there is no one else like Paula. Her special mix of kindness and kooky has left such an indelible mark on contemporary pop culture that whenever a new talent show appears, featuring a panel of judges, the inevitable question is asked: “Which one is the Simon and which one is the Paula?”

Paul’s dizzy sweetness was the perfect foil for Simon Cowell’s sometimes caustic criticism.

Sure, their juvenile antics could test fans’ nerves on even a good day (the poking, the silly zingers and the time Simon drew on her face), but beneath the japes appeared to be a mutual respect for one another’s career and their shared good fortune to have landed on television’s most popular show.

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They remembered him as not just the King of Pop or the musician who took Hollywood by storm, but as someone with an unmatched enthusiasm and talent for entertaining even as a little boy growing up in this city of about 100,000 in northwestern Indiana, 30 miles from downtown Chicago, Illinois.

Jackson’s first music teacher, Anita Hill, spoke of teaching Jackson to sing “Climb Every Mountain,” and remembered him as a “very energetic and wonderful student.”

The principal of his middle school remembered how, at Christmastime how Jackson, always jumped up and offered to sing to his class.

Later, when he joined with family members to create the Jackson 5, he performed for kids at his school, the principal said, joking about the bargain that at the time it only cost them 10 cents to see the future pop icon.

Full Story at People.com

Monday night, Michael Jackson’s elaborate, gold casket was open for viewing by family members at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park and Mortuary in Los Angeles. Tuesday, it was closed when presented to fans during the memorial tribute at the Staples Center. And now, as it awaits burial, the casket containing the King of Pop, who died June 25, sits in a temporary resting place – a Forest Lawn crypt belonging to Motown founder Berry Gordy, reports the New York Post.

But while Jackson rests, lively discussions are being held by a divided Jackson family about where to bury their golden child, according to the Post.

Brother Jermaine and father Joseph reportedly want Michael to be buried at the Neverland Ranch, where a prospective museum could generate future income, despite a likely lengthy process to transform the property into a Graceland-like tourist attraction.

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Their graves are public shrines for fans and followers. Countless people from all over the world make pilgrimages to their burial sites, hoping to draw close to those they adored from afar.

Now Michael Jackson’s gravesite will become the next holy grail.

A private gathering for the pop icon was held Tuesday at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, California. Afterward, his casket was taken to the public memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. But it remains unclear whether his body has been interred — or where.

Officials at Forest Lawn won’t disclose where Jackson’s body is being buried. If his final resting place is at Forest Lawn, fans who wish to visit will have to overcome the funeral company’s stringent security patrols.

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Since speculation began that the King of Pop would be memorialized at the Neverland Ranch in the Santa Ynez valley of California, people have flocked there.

Luanne Ferragine, a local resident who was on the grounds early Tuesday, said she wants to be “part of history” and honor the man behind the music she grew up on.

But Ferragine, 52, also believes that by being at Neverland, away from the big event in Los Angeles, she’s closer to what matters.

“I believe that he’s here, that they brought him Saturday night,” she said early Tuesday despite reports that the musician’s body would be taken to the Staples Center.