News coverage of Brittany Murphy's death

I can't believe another untimely and somewhat mysterious celebrity death is upon us. I'm still recovering from Steve Irwin, for Pete's sake, who I heard about during my birthday dinner (yes, he died on my birthday, inextricably bonding us), and that was in 2006! Then there was Heath Ledger in 2008, who I heard about through hysteric text message, and of course Michael Jackson, whose death I was afraid to infer from an unusually high frequency of his songs on the radio on the drive home from the grocery store. Tonight I was just browsing for something interesting in the news that I might want to write in here about, and lo and behold.
I'm interested in how quickly news crews picked up on this (she was pronounced dead at 10:04 am this morning and imdb.com has already added her date of death to her biography). Also, how quickly it spreads by word of mouth. I heard nothing of it at work tonight, but my sister just walked in the door a few minutes ago on the phone, saying, "It's a crazy world. I guess people won't miss her as much as Michael Jackson...maybe that's mean to say."

I'm also interested in the different things different news sources pick up on.

LA Times: "Bertolotti [Murphy's father] described himself as a "retired mobster" who now works in the movie business writing "scripts.""

Associated Press: "He [Murphy's father] said he used to be in the mob and served prison time on federal drug charges."

MTV.com:  ""Brittany Murphy and I did a USO Tour together in 2003," Alyssa Milano recalled. "She was a sweet soul, with a lot of talent and heart.""

MTV.com again: ""And critic Roger Ebert tweeted her praise, writing, "Brittany Murphy, dead at 32. She had a genuine quality.""

AP again: "Murphy's husband, wearing pajama bottoms and no shoes, appeared ''dazed'' as firefighters tried to save her, Staples said."

The Examiner: "The unfortunate part of all of this conjecture [about an eating disorder] is that no one could get through to Murphy even though a genuine concern about her health existed. Now, sadly, it is simply too late."

GMT, The Guardian: "Recently, after a whirlwind romance, she married the British-born producer and screenwriter Simon Monjack, from whom she appeared to have picked up something of a British accent."

The Guardian again: "Her death may not get the column inches achieved by Michael Jackson or Heath Ledger, but there was something about it which for me was unspeakably sad"

The Guardian again: "Murphy was absolutely perfect in the role [Tai in "Clueless"]: wide-eyed, immensely likeable, funny and yet shrewd – and she complimented Silverstone's deceptively airhead style tremendously."

I think the quote from the Examiner is stupid for speculating about an eating disorder and just stupid because it doesn't make sense.

I like the Roger Ebert quote because he's not giving exaggerated praise, which people tend to heap on after someone dies. He didn't say she had definite quality, he said she had A definite quality. Meaning she might not have been leading lady material according to Hollywood, but she was distinct and memorable.

I also like the article from The Guardian because it's personal. The writer doesn't just mention "Clueless" because that was one of Murphy's most well-known films the way the other articles obligatorily do. He speaks of Clueless as "sublime" and of Murphy as a gem in the role of Tai. This is different from exaggerated praise because this person genuinely means what he's saying and isn't scrounging for something heartfelt-sounding to tweet.

If I were going to write a news story about Murphy now, I'd lean more to the personal. Now's the time for that, anyhow, and by personal I mean genuine, not just good PR.

The movies the news articles like to cite as her career-defining films, and which are great, don't get me wrong, are Clueless, Girl, Interrupted, and 8 Mile. But I, for one, think that this neglects some of Murphy's greatest work. Her face is familiar to me, not necessarily because of Clueless, but because of all the popular shows she made great guest appearances in when she was younger (Boy Meets World; Sister, Sister; Frasier; many others). She also scored supporting roles in tons of comedies like Drop Dead Gorgeous (wasn't she the girl who wished she was deaf and got her wish when a stagelight fell on her head? She was hilarious! If I'm wrong about that being her, oops, but the girl who wished she was deaf was hilarious). Not to mention Just Married, Uptown Girls, and Little Black Book where she took lead roles. All silly romantic comedies I probably wouldn't admit liking, but remember being charmed by. Then she was a prostitute in Sin City, a really cool movie. There's something I like about actresses who linger somewhere just beneath the surface of diva-dom. My fondness of them is more subconscious and real from noticing them in their supporting roles, rather than something I'm spoon fed by the media.