newsmakers

newsmakers

Van Dyke gets tests for ‘cranial throbbing’

LOS ANGELES

A spokesman for Dick Van Dyke says the actor is undergoing tests for “cranial throbbing” that’s causing him to lose sleep.

Spokesman Bob Palmer said Thursday the 87-year-old Van Dyke has been experiencing a throbbing sensation in his head when lying down. Palmer said scans and other tests have yet to yield a diagnosis.

He said Van Dyke has a strong constitution and is otherwise OK, but the “fatigue factor has become acute.” Palmer said that until Van Dyke receives a diagnosis and treatment plan, he’s been advised not to fly and is resting at his Malibu home.

Van Dyke’s credits include “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and “Diagnosis Murder.”

ABC’s Robin Roberts hospitalized again

NEW YORK

Robin Roberts spent two days in the hospital fighting off an infection as part of her recuperation from a rare blood disease and is off “Good Morning America” this week to rest.

The ABC News morning show host said she felt ill last week while on vacation and was told to return to New York and go to the hospital. She’s home now and posted on Facebook on Thursday that she’s feeling much better.

Roberts underwent a bone marrow transplant in September to treat MDS, a blood and bone marrow disease. She was off work for five months before returning to the top-rated network morning show on a part-time basis in February.

She’s generally worked three days a week, occasionally four.

Pink Floyd, Zeppelin album designer dies

LONDON

English graphic designer Storm Thorgerson, whose eye-catching album art for Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin encapsulated the spirit of 1970s psychedelia, died Thursday. He was 69.

In a statement, Thorger-son’s family said that his death “was peaceful and he was surrounded by family and friends.” The statement gave few further details but said that the artist, who suffered a stroke in 2003, had been ill for some time.

Thorgerson is best known for his surreal Pink Floyd covers, which guitarist David Gilmour said had long been “an inseparable part of our work.”

Some of Thorgerson’s fronts — the disturbing image of a burning man in a business suit featured on Pink Floyd’s “Wish You Were Here” or the stark prism on the band’s “Dark Side of the Moon” — have become icons in their own right.

Associated Press