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Leslie Phillips -- a prolific British actor who was part of the 'Harry Potter' franchise -- has died.

His team confirmed he passed away Monday peacefully in his sleep, this according to the BBC. No other details were released.

Phillips is perhaps best known by this generation as the voice of the Sorting Hat in the 'HP' flicks -- he starred in 3 of them ... "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone," "Harry Potter and Chamber of Secrets" and the final movie, "Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows: Part 2."

Before any wizarding work, though, LP already had quite a career on his hands ... having starred in dozens of projects between radio, film and TV. He has a whopping 174 acting credits to his name, many of which date back to the 1950s.

For starters, Phillips made several appearances in the famed "Carry On" slapstick comedy movies and TV show in Great Britain.

Other notable movies he's been in over the years ... "Empire of the Sun," "Is Anybody There?," "August," "Venus," and "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider."

When it comes to TV series ... he'd been in countless. 'Casanova '73' and 'Chancer' come to mind -- as does 'Our Man at St. Marks' and 'Honey for Tea,' among others.

The dude was known for his comedy chops and well-timed catchphrases -- definitely a big deal in British circles, especially those who consumed media in the '50s, '60s and '70s.

A Jay-Z and Jeff Bezos partnership to buy the Washington Commanders seems to be full throttle ... because Monday night the two billionaires grabbed dinner in L.A. -- breaking bread for more than two hours.

The duo hit up Horses near the Sunset Strip at around 7:30 PM -- just a couple days after it was revealed they both had a mutual interest in putting in a bid for Daniel Snyder's Commanders. The restaurant is closed Monday, but the owner opened the doors just for them.

TMZ Sports has learned Bezos stayed tableside until about 9:30 ... while Jay didn't leave until after midnight.

Both men kept things low-key as they entered and exited the restaurant -- Jay was in a beanie and a hoodie, while Bezos was in a casual polo. Lauren Sanchez accompanied JB -- while Corey Gamble appeared to be there alongside HOV -- not sure why.

You'll recall, Snyder revealed last week he had hired Bank of America to explore a potential sale of his team ... and almost immediately afterward, Bezos and Jay-Z expressed interest.

The price tag won't be cheap -- Snyder is looking for more than $7 BILLION for the org. -- that's in the pocket change region for the 2 titans.

On Monday, just before dinner, Sanchez dropped a hint to her followers ... posting a photo with the caption, "Are you ready for some..."

Aaron Carter was heavily focused on making new music in recent weeks, and we're told he was even getting the jump on an album ... hoping it would mend fences with his brother, Nick Carter.

The singer's manager, Taylor Helgeson, tells TMZ ... Aaron started working with his team on "Love 2" -- a sequel to his 2018 album -- just a couple of weeks ago. We're told he was really excited about it, seeing it as some of his best work yet.

Taylor says Aaron was pouring his emotions into the album -- addressing a lot of personal topics, laying it all out for his fans ... so they'd finally understand him and his struggles.

We're told Aaron's other goal for the project was fixing his relationship with Nick and the rest of his family. He planned to use the music to tell them just how much he loves them, especially Nick.

As we reported, Aaron expressed his love for his bro just a couple of weeks before he died ... singing a Backstreet Boys song and telling him he'd always have his back.

TMZ broke the story, Aaron's housekeeper found him dead Saturday in the bathtub at his home.

Nick broke down in tears the next day while honoring his brother in London during a Backstreet Boys show.

Matty Healy didn't beat around the bush at this concert this week -- instead, he just got right to the meat of the matter ... and we mean that literally.

The 1975 frontman was performing with his band Monday night in NYC's Madison Square Garden, where he paused at one point in the performance to munch on a slab of steak live. And, it was beyond just rare ... this thing didn't appear to be cooked whatsoever.

No matter, though ... MH bit into it anyway during the bizarre stunt, in which he was shirtless and on his knees. He didn't stop at nibbling either -- dude seems to have swallowed as well.

If it looks weird on video, it was even stranger for those who caught it in person ... Matty's raw meal got a ton of reactions as the videos started circulating on Twitter. Even his own mom, Denise Welch, bared witness ... saying she, too, had seen her son go full primal.

No explanation was offered for why Matty did what he did, but it's not that far out of his wheelhouse. The guy and his fellow musicians are known for being activists when the time calls for it ... with 1975 having publicly spoken out on a number of issues in recent years.

Matty's addressed stuff like gender inclusivity, LGBT rights, abortion, misogyny, mental health as well as climate change.

Neither Matty nor the band has said, but it's possible this was a demonstration about the environmental impact of meat consumption.

A brazen thief woke up in handcuffs after he literally knocked himself out by slamming into a large window at a Louis Vuitton store in Washington state.

The 17-year-old suspect was caught on surveillance vid clutching $18K in stolen goods and dashing for the exit inside the luxury shop in Bellevue, WA.

Moments later, the teen crashed into the plate glass window and fell like a sack of potatoes. As he lay unconscious, an officer ran over, sat on his back and placed him in cuffs.

The dramatic footage started circulating Monday ... it wasn't clear when the attempted heist went down.

Kanye West apparently hasn't done himself any favors in uploading his Andre 3000 collaboration "Life Of The Party" on his Stem Player device … the song is now at the center of a lawsuit filed by the record company that owns a famous track by KRS-One’s Boogie Down Productions.

According to legal docs, obtained by TMZ Hip Hop, the company says it owns the copyright to BDP’s iconic diss track "South Bronx" and claims Ye never got permission to sample the song when he released the "Donda" bonus track on the Stem Player.

The company says Ye and his partner Alex Klein sold around 11K Stem Players within the first 24 hours of its release, raking in around $2.2 million dollars ... but claims they never got permission to use the sample even though the company says Ye’s team initially reached out to try to license it.

The suit alleges the sides never came to an agreement and says Ye’s side eventually retracted its offer to license it.

However, the suit claims Ye & Co. still heavily advertised the track that used the “South Bronx” sample to promote sales of “Donda” and the Stem Player.

The song was originally leaked by Drake ahead of their patchwork reunion during J Prince’s “Free Larry Hoover” concert.

Nancy Pelosi is going after Elon Musk for using his newly-purchased social media platform to push conspiracies about the Paul Pelosi attack ... calling the new Twitter owner destructive.

The Speaker of The House sat down for an interview with CNN's Anderson Cooper, and she laid into Elon and former President Donald Trump when Anderson asked her about influential folks spreading misinformation about the attack on her husband.

Nancy referenced the incendiary tweet Elon posted and deleted ... the one where Elon alleged there may be more to the story than meets the eye, adding a link to a fringe site with a salacious headline about Paul and his attacker.

She told Anderson it's "really sad for the country" to see people with large platforms -- like Musk and Trump -- "separate themselves from the facts and the truth in such a blatant way."

CNN aired the interview Monday night, on the eve of an election where folks are concerned about misinformation influencing the results at the ballot box.

Nancy says Elon's behavior is "destructive" to the unity she thinks is happening in the country ... but she says there's nothing she would like to personally say to Musk or Trump, because there's "no common ground" between them.

Speaker Pelosi also gave an update on Paul's recovery after being attacked by a hammer-wielding man who broke into their San Francisco home looking for Nancy and wanting to break her kneecaps ... getting super emotional as she recalled how she first heard about the attack.

Diddy went above and beyond to make sure his guests were safe at his birthday party ... making sure security was on point after a gun issue caused a scene the last time he hosted a shindig.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... the legendary rap mogul had super tight security Friday night for his 53rd birthday bash, with everyone in attendance passing through a metal detector before being allowed inside.

The party went down at Diddy's Los Angeles mansion and we're told one of the streets by his estate was shut down. Our sources say guests were shuttled up to the house, and if they weren't on the list, they were turned away ... no exceptions.

It appears Diddy wasn't taking any chances after what happened this past summer, when he hosted a BET after-party at the same property -- as we first reported, a woman trying to make her way into the after-party was arrested outside Diddy's house after allegedly flashing a gun at other partygoers.

The beefed-up security also follows some recent fatal gun violence involving rappers Takeoff and PnB Rock, who were both shot dead.

Diddy's security seemed to work too ... we're told there were no issues surrounding the party.

As we reported ... Diddy's bash was crawling with celebs, including Travis Scott, Jay-Z, Mary J. Blige, Chris Brown, French Montana, Machine Gun Kelly, Teyana Taylor, Tinashe and Jermaine Dupri and Kehlani.

Kyrie Irving will not lose his NBA career over his most recent controversy ... so says Julius Erving -- who tells TMZ Sports there's just no way teams won't give him another chance.

"The owners are greedy," Dr. J said out at LAX this weekend. "He's going to end up in the league playing for somebody, no matter how toxic he is."

There are many in Association circles that would disagree -- with some believing after he tweeted a link to an antisemitic film and then refused to apologize over it for several days, he's too radioactive to the roster at this point.

But, Erving -- an NBA legend -- tells us he believes that's just simply not the case.

"As long as he's young enough to score those buckets, and do what he does, be Kyrie, he's going have a job," he said.

Irving is currently serving a suspension from the Brooklyn Nets over it all that the team says will last at least five games -- although no one within the org. has guaranteed he'll be back with the team this year.

Erving clearly believes if the Nets somehow cut ties with the point guard, his career would resume elsewhere -- and it would do so fairly quickly.

Ultimately, the former 76ers star gave Irving some advice going forward.

Reality television personality Coral Smith was just 22 years old when she was first cast to be a part of MTV's "The Real World" -- a show following '7 strangers picked to live in a house' and have their real lives filmed back in 2001.

Smith was a cast member during the 10th season of the hit show, which headed back to New York, following the original New York season in 1992.

Coral went on to be a popular cast member on "The Real World's" spin-off show, "The Challenge." She also hosted "The Real World: Portland" after shows and the reunion in 2013.

Cynthia Bailey proudly showed off some fan art, sharing some kind words for the wanna-be artist ... even though they're certainly no Rembrandt.

The 'Real Housewives of Atlanta' star posted a sketch a fan sent her Monday and it's hilarious, though Cynthia's being a lot nicer than the folks commenting on her social media post.

Cynthia says one of her biggest and most supportive fans slid into her DMs asking permission to draw her, to which she said "yes" right away because she was so excited and honored.

When Cynthia got the drawing it wasn't what she expected, but she says she still absolutely loves the artwork, noting ... "it is the love & thought that counts."

The artist behind the drawing apparently runs a 'RHOA' fan page on Instagram, and Cynthia says the artist didn't think she would like the portrait.

The race for Mayor of Los Angeles will come to a close on Election Day Tuesday ... and lots of stars are sharing their endorsements in hopes they'll push their favorite candidate over the finish line with a victory.

Since the primaries wrapped up back in June, it's all come down to Rep. Karen Bass and Rick Caruso ... and while Bass seems to be feelin' the love in terms of cash support, Caruso has secured a ton of A-list celebrity shout-outs.

Since June, Bass' campaign has gotten donations from Ken Jeong, Natalie Portman, "Criminal Minds" star Kirsten Vangsness, and Dan Castellaneta -- the voice of Homer Simpson -- all at $1,500 each -- the maximum donation allowed.

Jane Fonda also chipped in $1,200 to Bass -- Kerry Washington and "Grey's Anatomy"s James Pickens Jr. each sent in $1K, while Chris Colfer from "Glee" and WeHo's Laugh Factory pitched in $500.

As for team Caruso, Paris Hilton's father and Kathy's husband, Rick, donated $1,500 -- as did a bunch of Hollywood execs from Warner Bros. - Discovery, Sony Music, Universal and more.

Caruso got a big celebrity endorsement Sunday from Chris Pratt ... calling him "the guy for our city."

As we reported, a slew of celebs shelled out for both Bass and Caruso during the primaries over the summer, with Tiffany Haddish, John Legend, Steven Spielberg, Jennifer Aniston, and Samuel L. Jackson being a few that went team Bass ... while Kim Kardashian, Katy Perry, Elon Musk, Gwyneth Paltrow, and Snoop Dogg went with Caruso -- just to name a few.

Ted Cruz is back in Texas, but he's still hearing boos -- the senator just got an earful of jeers from fans in Houston while he was riding in the Astros' World Series parade.

Cruz was on a military jeep as part of the celebration for the best team in baseball ... and cameras caught fans laying into him as his ride made its way through the streets.

People booed loudly ... and, according to Astros reporter Ben DuBose, some even flipped the lawmaker the bird.

Of course, this is far from the first time Cruz has heard the heckling ... in fact, just two weeks ago, fans at Yankee Stadium tore into him during NY's ALCS game against the 'Stros.

Cruz, who was reppin' Houston with an orange shirt and a blue vest, got booed loudly, with one man even calling him a "racist piece of s***."

Cruz appears to have gotten the last laugh on everyone, though -- his beloved Astros closed out the Yankees that night, and then went on to beat the Phillies, 4-2, in the W.S. this weekend.

As for the rest of the parade, the guys all seem to be having a blast celebrating their second title in six seasons.

Aaron Carter was very clearly struggling with an addiction to huffing compressed air, and investigators found evidence of that at the site of his death.

Law enforcement sources tell TMZ ... there were multiple cans of compressed air in Aaron's bathroom and bedroom, as well as prescription pills. It's not clear if that's what caused him to drown, but obviously, it's a big clue into what may have happened.

Our law enforcement sources say the last time anyone saw Aaron alive was 2 AM Friday. We're told Aaron's live-in housekeeper heard a knock at the door at 2 AM and answered ... she says cops had come to do a welfare check ... unclear who called them. Our sources say the housekeeper opened the door and when Aaron heard what was going on he told them to leave and ordered the housekeeper not to bother him.

We're told the housekeeper didn't see Aaron all day Friday, and Saturday morning she went to his bedroom door to see if he wanted coffee. She heard his dog inside the bedroom going crazy, so she opened the door and found Aaron's body in the tub.

Law enforcement believes Aaron's body was in the tub for a long time as there was a smell of decomposition and the water had turned an unnatural color. We're told the tub's jets were still running when Aaron's body was found.

TMZ broke the story, cops were called to Aaron's L.A. area home Saturday for a report of a drowning. Dispatch audio from the 911 call revealed a chaotic scene inside Aaron's home with dispatchers describing a "female yelling" for help. We're told that was the housekeeper.

Aaron's cause of death is currently deferred by the L.A. County Coroner's Office until toxicology results are returned ... which could take months. We're told no suicide note was found and there were no signs of foul play.

Of course, there's been an outpouring of love and tributes for Aaron since his death -- Hilary Duff said, "You had a charm that was absolutely effervescent…boy did my teenage self love you deeply. Sending love to your family at this time. Rest easy."

The Backstreet Boys also sang and paid tribute to Aaron, his brother Nick got emotional during the show in London.

Ryan Seacrest is bidding his final farewell to Los Angeles, because he just unloaded his last big property there ... selling the mansion he once acquired from Ellen DeGeneres.

Real estate sources tell TMZ ... Ryan just closed on the sale of his sprawling Bev Hills estate for $51 million.

TMZ broke the story ... Ryan originally put the home on the market back in November 2020, when he was seeking $85 million. The property didn't sell ... so Ryan put it back on the market earlier this year for $69 million.

The resort-like compound is palatial ... 5 structures set between water features and gardens ... the main house is 9,000 square feet with 4 bedrooms, 6 baths and a gourmet chef's kitchen with an opening to an outdoor pizza oven.

The place is decked out with a movie theater, world-class gym, spa and a master suite with a private meditation garden. There's also a super cool lounge/bar, plus a living room with 22-foot high ceilings.

There are spectacular views of L.A. from all over the property, especially from the pool and the teak pool house.

How's this for homeowner history ... Ryan bought it from Ellen for $36.5 million back in 2012, and she bought it from "Will & Grace" creator Max Mutchnick.

Ryan's getting out of L.A. real estate it appears ... these days he's living in New York, where he co-hosts "Live with Kelly and Ryan."

Late Migos rapper Takeoff's funeral is set for this coming Friday, and much like his career, the homegoing will be big … going down at State Farm Arena in Atlanta.

The venue, which is home to the NBA's Atlanta Hawks, has the capacity to host more than 20,000 people.

Rev. Jesse Curney, III of New Mercies Christian Church will be officiating the services, which will begin at 1:00 PM … according to Atlanta radio station V-103.

In a statement, Rev. Curney said, "I was really sad to hear the news. Kirsnick has been a faithful member since he was ten years old. He and his family were active and avid supporters of the church and the community as a whole."

Emotions in the city have been heavy since Takeoff was shot and killed on November 1 in Houston.

Graffiti artist Armondo "Ape" Monoletti crafted a mural in Atlanta, just hours after the tragic news and friends and fam of Takeoff held a balloon sendoff over the weekend in his honor.