Kurt Vonnegut, 84, the author of such classic satirical sci-fi novels as “Slaughterhouse-Five,” “Cat’s Cradle,” and “Breakfast of Champions,” died yesterday.

His wife, photographer Jill Krementz, said Vonnegut had suffered brain injuries after a recent fall at his New York City home.

Vonnegut was born on November 11, 1922 in Indianapolis. He wrote at least 19 novels as well as dozens of short stories, essays and plays.

“I will say anything to be funny, often in the most horrible situations,” Vonnegut once told a gathering of psychiatrists.

He had been retired from fiction writing in recent years, though he continued to publish short articles and, in fact, had a best-seller with 2005′s “A Man Without a Country,” a collection of nonfiction.

Vonnegut once quipped that of all the ways to die, he’d like to go out in a plane crash on the peak of Mount Kilimanjaro.

I am deeply saddened by the news of Larry “Bud” Melman‘s death. As a big fan of David Letterman‘s old “Late Night” show, I watched Larry Bud from the beginning. He came to symbolize Letterman’s cutting-edge, iconoclastic talk show, which paved the way for Conan O’Brien and Jon Stewart. You never knew if the odd, little man was acting or for real. Often, in the middle of an appearance, Melman would suddenly fall silent and look confused — which, of course, made the bit even more funny. He was truly bizarre and that’s why we loved him.

Larry “Bud” Melman was born Calvert DeForest in Brooklyn, New York. After appearing in a studen film, Letterman discovered the actor, gave him his stage name, and put him on the first episode of “Late Night.” Besides numerous Letterman appearances, he appeared in commercials, a Run-DMC video, and movies, including the Andrew McCarthy coming-of-age-tale “Heaven Help Us.” His last Letterman appearance was in 2002. Calvert DeForest died Monday in Babylon, Long Island. He was 85.

Steve Rogers, who had fought evil for 66 years as the red, white, and blue super soldier Captain America, died today. He was 89.

Rogers was fatally shot by a sniper as he left the Federal Courthouse in New York City. “Few details are clear at this time, but the scene outside the Federal Courthouse in Manhattan is a portrait of chaos and confusion as a former superhero has been shot,” Marvel comics reported on its website. However, some reports indicate that the assassination was orchestrated by the Red Skull and that the sniper was Crossbones.

Steve Rogers was born on July 4, 1917 in the Lower East Side of Manhattan, to Irish immigrants Sarah and Joseph Rogers. Though rejected to serve his country in World War II, the scrawny Rogers was enlisted in a top-secret defense project called Operation: Rebirth. While in the program Rogers was given the Super Soldier serum and thus was born Captain America, who made his first appearance in 1941.

In 1945, after a botched attempt to stop an experimental drone plane equipped with an explosive, Rogers was hurled into the ocean. His body was not found and he was believed to be dead. Cap’s sidekick Bucky died in the explosion. Years later Rogers’ body was discovered in the North Atlantic, frozen in a block of ice.

In the recent superhero “Civil War,” Captain American led the Ant-Registration faction and resistance movement. But after realizing that his fight against the Registration Act was endangering civilians, Cap surrendered and ordered his faction to stand down.

A bio-pic on Rogers and his exploits as Captain America is in the works via Paramount.

Dana Reeve, 44, who came to national attention as she supported her husband Christopher Reeve during his paralysis, has died of lung cancer.

She announced in August that she had been diagnosed with the disease, though she wasn’t a smoker.

Dana and Christopher Reeve had a 13-year-old son named Will, and Dana also had two grown stepchildren, Matthew and Alexandra.

Reeve was an actress, appearing on”All My Children,” “Law & Order,” and “Oz.” She was also the president of the Christopher Reeve Foundation.

After being paralyzed in a horse-riding accident, Christopher Reeve became an activist for spinal-cord research. The “Superman” actor died October 10, 2004.

Funeral plans for Dana Reeve were not announced, but donations can be made in her memory to the Christopher Reeve Foundation in Short Hills, New Jersey.

Pat Morita, who starred in the “Karate Kid” movies and in such TV shows as “Happy Days,” died yesterday of natural causes in Las Vegas. He was 73.

He rose to fame as diner owner Arnold on “Happy Days” during the 1975-76 season. But he’s probably best remember as the wise Karate teacher Mr. Miyagi in four “Karate Kid” movies, dispensing such immortal advice as “wax on, wax off.” He earned an Oscar nomination for the first “Karate Kid” movie in 1984.