BRITTANY MURPHY - CLUELESS STAR DIES, AGED 32.

CLUELESS star Brittany Murphy died today, December 20, aged 32. She had reportedly suffered a cardiac arrest.

Her sudden death will shock her fans in the same way that Hollywood was rocked by the death of Heath Ledger.

In truth, she wasn't a star who loomed large on my radar in cinemas. Nor did I ever meet her.

But she was Luanne in King of the Hill, Gloria in Happy Feet, Shellie in Sin City and Alex in 8 Mile and most actresses would take that on their retirement CV at whatever age.

One of her completed films is Something Wicked. Set for release next year, it's about a young couple planning to get married, only for gruesome secrets from their past colliding with sinister forces of the present to ensure they do not live "happily-ever-after".

I send my sincere condolences to everyone who knew Brittany personally and/or professionally or who had ever met her.

At 32, your real life is only just beginning and it's no age to pass away.

For interest, here's a couple of reviews of mine, starting with Uptown Girls.

UPTOWN GIRLS (12A) - March 5, 2004.
UNTIL now, New Yorker Boaz Yakin is perhaps most 'famous' for writing what arguably remains Clint Eastwood's worst movie - The Rookie (1990).
Now moving on as a director, after making even Denzel Washington look dull on screen in Remember the Titans three years ago, Yakin is back with UPTOWN GIRLS (12A).
Brittany Murphy plays New York socialite Molly who's about to meet her match when she takes a job as a nanny to regain the respect of her boyfriend.
As we all know, the Just Married/ 8 Mile star is blonde, curvaceous and very beautiful.
But the one to watch in all of this is Dakota Fanning, who only turned ten last month after once starring with Sean Penn in I Am Sam.
Like Murphy, she's a girl from Georgia, and here she plays precocious kid Ray who won't stand any nonsense from Molly and, indeed, might well teach her a lesson or two.
Fanning is terrific when she gets to put the boot into her charge. She's like a mini version of Lotte Lenya's Rosa Klebb in the 007 film From Russia With Love.
More of this and Uptown Girls could have been a completely different - and much better - movie than the one which somehow still manages to make it this week's surprise biggest hit, with a US gross of pound 20 million.
Alas, despite some imaginative sets and a clever pig, the weak 92-minute plot sinks in to such a sugary quicksand of girlishness that it will have difficulty finding an audience here.
Website: www.mgm.com/uptowngirls
Rating: xxooo

JUST MARRIED (12A) - March 21, 2003.
This film takes a good idea - about a new couple who can't stop falling out - and then bludgeons our senses to smithereens.
Ashton Kutcher and Brittany Murphy are likely to be two of the next big things, but in years to come they'll want to forget this.
Just like viewers in fact, who will have no memory of the daft plot within a day of seeing it.
Possibly worth a look for non-stop popcorn-eating guzzlers, but director Shawn Levy's previous comedy, Big Fat Liar, is far superior to this.
Website: www.justmarriedmovie.com
Rating: xoooo
GRAHAM YOUNG