Kelly Preston, who played dramatic and comic foil to actors ranging from Tom Cruise in “Jerry Maguire” to Arnold Schwarzenegger in “Twins,” died Sunday, husband John Travolta said. She was 57.
Travolta said in an Instagram post that his wife of 28 years died after a two-year battle with breast cancer.
“It is with a very heavy heart that I inform you that my beautiful wife Kelly has lost her two-year battle with breast cancer,” Travolta said. “She fought a courageous fight with the love and support of so many.”
FILE - In this June 14, 2018, file photo, Kelly Preston attends the premiere of "Gotti" at the SVA Theatre in New York. Preston, whose credits included the films “Twins” and “Jerry Maguire,” died Sunday, July 12, 2020, her husband John Travolta said. She was 57.(Photo by Charles SykesInvisionAP, File)
They had three children together.
Preston had a lengthy acting career in movies and television, at times appearing together in films with her husband, as they did in the box-office bomb “Battlefield Earth” in 2000.
Preston starred opposite Kevin Costner in the 1999 film “For the Love of the Game,” and in 2004 appeared in the music video for Maroon 5's “She Will Be Loved."
FILE - In this Nov. 12, 2011, file photo, Actress Kelly Preston, left and her husband John Travolta arrive at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 2011 Governors Awards, in Los Angeles. Actress Kelly Preston, whose credits included the films “Twins” and “Jerry Maguire,” died Sunday, July 12, 2020, her husband John Travolta said. She was 57.(AP PhotoChris Pizzello, File)
She had frequent guest-starring roles on TV series like “Medium," “CSI: Cyber” and “Joey.”
“Shocked by this sad news,” Maria Shriver said on Twitter. “Kelly was such a bright loving soul, a talented actress, and a loving mom and wife. My heart breaks for her family who have already known such sadness and grief.”
Preston and Travolta were married at a midnight ceremony in Paris in 1991 while the couple were expecting their first son, Jett.
FILE -- A March 25, 2010, file photo shows Kelly Preston, right, a cast member in "The Last Song," with her husband John Travolta at the premiere of the film in Los Angeles. Actress Kelly Preston, whose credits included the films “Twins” and “Jerry Maguire,” died Sunday, July 12, 2020, her husband John Travolta said. She was 57.(AP PhotoChris Pizzello, File)
In January 2009, Jett Travolta, 16, died after a seizure at the family's vacation home in the Bahamas. The death touched off a court case after an ambulance driver and his attorney were accused of trying to extort $25 million from the actors in exchange for not releasing sensitive information about their son's death.
Travolta testified during a criminal trial that ended in a mistrial and was prepared to testify a second time, but decided to stop pursuing the case. He cited the severe strain the case and his son's death had caused the family.
Both Preston and Travolta returned to acting, with Preston's first role back in the Nicholas Sparks adaptation, “The Last Song,” which starred Miley Cyrus and her future husband, Liam Hemsworth.
They had two other children, daughter Ella Bleu in 2000 and son Benjamin in 2010.
Travolta and Preston met while filming 1988′s “The Experts.”
They last starred together in the 2018 film “Gotti,” with Travolta playing John Gotti and Preston playing the crime boss’s wife, Victoria.
“Kelly’s love and life will always be remembered,” Travolta wrote on Instagram. “I will be taking some time to be there for my children who have lost their mother, so forgive me in advance if you don’t hear from us for a while. But please know that I will feel your outpouring of love in the weeks and months ahead as we heal.”
Preston’s death was first reported by People magazine.
BERLIN (AP) — Erich von Däniken, the Swiss author whose bestselling books about the extraterrestrial origins of ancient civilizations brought him fame among paranormal enthusiasts and scorn from the scientific community, has died. He was 90.
Von Däniken's representatives announced on his website on Sunday that he had died the previous day in a hospital in central Switzerland.
Von Däniken rose to prominence in 1968 with the publication of his first book "Chariots of the Gods," in which he claimed that the Mayans and ancient Egyptians were visited by alien astronauts and instructed in advanced technology that allowed them to build giant pyramids.
The book fueled a growing interest in unexplained phenomena at a time when thanks to conventional science man was about to take its first steps on the Moon.
"Chariots of the Gods" was followed by more than two dozen similar books, spawning a literary niche in which fact and fantasy were mixed together against all historical and scientific evidence.
Public broadcaster SRF reported that altogether almost 70 million copies of his books were sold in more than 30 languages, making him one of the most widely read Swiss authors.
While von Däniken managed to shrug off his many critics, the former hotel waiter had a troubled relationship with money throughout his life and frequently came close to financial ruin.
Born in 1935, the son of a clothing manufacturer in the northern Swiss town of Schaffhausen, von Däniken is said to have rebelled against his father's strict Catholicism and the priests who instructed him at boarding school by developing his own alternatives to the biblical account of the origins of life.
After leaving school in 1954, von Däniken worked as a waiter and barkeeper for several years, during which he was repeatedly accused of fraud and served a couple of short stints in prison.
In 1964, he was appointed manager of a hotel in the exclusive resort town of Davos and began writing his first book. Its publication and rapid commercial success were quickly followed by accusations of tax dodging and financial impropriety, for which he again spent time behind bars.
By the time he left prison, "Chariots of the Gods" was earning von Däniken a fortune and a second book "Gods from Outer Space" was ready for publication, allowing him to commit himself to his paranormal passion and travel the world in search of new mysteries to uncover.
Throughout the 1970s von Däniken undertook countless field trips to Egypt, India, and above all Latin America, whose ancient cultures held a particular fascination for the amateur archaeologist.
He lectured widely and set up societies devoted to promoting his theories, later pioneering the use of video and multimedia to reach out to ever-larger audiences hungry for a different account of history.
No amount of criticism dissuaded him and his fans from believing that Earth has been visited repeatedly by beings from Outer Space, and will be again in the future.
In 1991 von Däniken gained the damning accolade of being the first recipient of the "Ig Nobel" prize for literature — for raising the public awareness of science through questionable experiments or claims.
Even when confronted with fabricated evidence in a British television documentary — supposedly ancient pots were shown to be almost new — von Däniken insisted that, minor discrepancies aside, his theories were essentially sound.
In 1985 von Däniken wrote "Neue Erinnerungen an die Zukunft" — "New Memories of the Future" — ostensibly to address his many critics: "I have admitted (my mistakes), but not one of the foundations of my theories has yet been brought down."
Although his popularity was waning in the English-speaking world by the 1980s, von Däniken's books and films influenced a wave of semi-serious archaeological documentaries and numerous popular television shows, including "The X-Files," which featured two FBI agents tasked with solving paranormal mysteries.
His last major venture, a theme park based on his books, failed after just a few years due to lack of interest. The "Mystery Park" still stands, its man-made pyramids and otherworldly domes rotting as tourists prefer to explore the charms of the nearby town of Interlaken and the imposing Swiss Alps that surround it.
Erich von Däniken is survived by his wife of 65 years, Elisabeth Skaja, Cornelia and two grandchildren.
FILE - Erich von Daeniken, co-founder and co-owner of Mystery Park, poses in front of the Panorama Tower at Mystery Park in Interlaken, Wednesday, April 23, 2003. (Gaetan Ball)/Keystone via AP, File)
