Wayland Flowers Dies

Ventriloquist Wayland Flowers, who brought life to a cackling, off-color puppet named Madame, died of cancer today in Los Angeles at the age of 48, a month after collapsing on stage during a showroom appearance, his publicist said.

Flowers collapsed on stage during a performance at Harrah’s resort in Lake Tahoe last month. Several days later, he was flown by air ambulance to Georgia to spend some time with his family. It was unknown when he returned to Los Angeles. Flowers had suffered from cancer for some time.