Richard Perry, a hitmaking record producer who worked with Carly Simon, Rod Stewart, Ringo Starr and the Beatles, has died aged 82.

Perry, a recipient of a Grammys Trustee Award in 2015, died on Tuesday at a Los Angeles hospital after suffering cardiac arrest, friend Daphna Kastner said.

“He maximised his time here,” said Ms Kastner, who called him a “father friend” and said he was godfather to her son.

“He was generous, fun, sweet and made the world a better place. The world is a little less sweeter without him here. But it’s a little bit sweeter in heaven.”

Perry, who dated celebrities such as Jane Fonda and Elizabeth Taylor, was widely known as a “musician’s producer”.

Singers turned to him for a variety of reasons, including to try to update their sound, as in Barbra Streisand’s case, or to revive their career, like for Fats Domino.

“Richard had a knack for matching the right song to the right artist,” Streisand wrote in her 2023 memoir, My Name is Barbra.

Starr’s album Ringo, released in 1973, would prove the drummer was a commercial force in his own right.

The album featured work from the other three Beatles as well as contributions from Harry Nilsson, Billy Preston, Steve Cropper, Martha Reeves and all five members of The Band.

It reached No. 2 on Billboard and sold more than 1m copies.

Hit singles included the chart toppers Photograph, co-written by Starr and George Harrison, and a remake of the 1950s favourite You’re Sixteen.

Read more from Sky News:

Manchester United defender feeds the homeless on Christmas Eve
UK’s oldest man celebrates birthday with celebrity party

I’m the Greatest was another memorable track on the album as, thanks to Perry’s help, Starr, Lennon and Harrison came together for a near-total Beatles reunion just three years after the band’s break-up.

Perry was briefly married to the actor Rebecca Broussard.

Soap star Helen Worth is set to make her final appearance on Coronation Street on Christmas Day, after more than 50 years.

Worth, 73, made her first appearance as Gail Platt on 29 July 1974 and has been at the heart of several major storylines over the years.

She said in June that her golden anniversary year “felt like the perfect time to leave the show”, having made the decision to quit at the start of the year.

“I have been truly blessed to have been given the most incredible scripts week in week out, and to have worked with fantastic actors, directors and a brilliant crew,” she said when her exit was announced.

“The past 50 years have flown by and I don’t think the fact that I am leaving has quite sunk in yet.”

Her storylines have included her turbulent relationships with her children Nick (Ben Price), Sarah (Tina O’Brien) and David (Jack P Shepherd) and mother Audrey (Sue Nicholls).

Gail has had five husbands over the years, with her exit storyline focused on whether she will make it down the aisle with a sixth in the form of Jesse Chadwick (John Thompson).

In the Christmas Eve episode, her serial killer former husband Richard Hillman (Brian Capron) returned from the dead after more than 20 years.

In the dream sequence, Hillman urged Gail not to go ahead with her wedding.

The storyline planned initially for Gail’s exit, which would have seen Sean Wilson reprise his role as Martin Platt, had to be re-written after the 59-year-old unexpectedly left the show for “personal reasons”.

The actor later claimed he was axed by soap bosses after a historic assault allegation emerged, which he denies.

He was later told that after a police investigation, no further action would be taken.

Read more from Sky News:
2024’s funniest and most WTF moments
Emotional Gavin & Stacey stars say goodbye

At the time of Worth’s announcement, Coronation Street executive producer Iain MacLeod said she is a “legend” and “icon”.

“Gail has given us countless hours of entertainment but it should also be said that Helen herself is a consummate professional and a thoroughly good egg,” he said.

“Everyone connected to the show will miss having her around the place just as much as the viewers will miss having her on their screens and we wish her all the very best for the future.”

Gail’s final appearance on Coronation Street airs at 7pm on ITV 1 on Christmas Day.

Alec Baldwin will not appear again in court for involuntary manslaughter over a fatal shooting on the set of Rust after New Mexico prosecutors dropped their appeal.

The trial against him earlier this year collapsed after just three days over testimony that prosecutors had withheld potential evidence from the defence.

Baldwin was holding a gun which went off on the set in New Mexico in 2021, killing cinematographer Halyna Hutchins and wounding director Joel Souza.

The 66-year-old, an actor and co-producer on the film, denied ever pulling the trigger and said he had been directed to aim it at a camera.

After the trial had ended, special prosecutor Kari Morrissey filed an appeal and claimed the case was “improperly dismissed” by Judge Mary Marlowe Sommer.

The state’s district attorney’s office said on Monday that while it still strongly disagreed with the judge’s decision, it “did not intend to exhaustively pursue the appeal”.

Local prosecutors added: “As a result, the State’s efforts to continue to litigate the case in a fair and comprehensive manner have been met with multiple barriers that have compromised its ability to prosecute to the fullest extent of the law.”

Baldwin’s lawyers Luke Nikas and Alex Spiro said the decision “is the final vindication of what Alec Baldwin and his attorneys have said from the beginning – this was an unspeakable tragedy but Alec Baldwin committed no crime”.

It means Judge Marlowe Sommer’s original ruling – that the case accusing Baldwin of involuntary manslaughter has been dismissed and cannot be filed again – stands.

The case collapsed when Baldwin’s defence team learnt the Santa Fe sheriff’s office had taken possession of live rounds as potential evidence on the same day the film’s armourer, Hannah Gutierrez, was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Investigators did not list these live rounds in the Rust file and they were not disclosed to defence lawyers, prompting a motion to dismiss the case.

After Mr Spiro claimed evidence had been concealed on day three of the trial, Ms Morrissey called herself as a witness and said the ammunition was not connected to the case.

Read more from Sky News:
Wham! make chart history with Last Christmas
Amber Heard reacts to Lively’s complaint about Baldoni

In a bizarre moment, Mr Spiro put it to Ms Morrissey during questioning that she simply did not “like Mr Baldwin very much”.

After she replied “that is absolutely untrue” and praised his acting and politics, Mr Spiro told the court that she had referred to the actor as a “c*********” and an “arrogant p****” to witnesses. She said she did not recall this.

Dismissing the trial, Judge Marlowe Sommer found the prosecution’s conduct on the live rounds was “highly prejudicial” to Baldwin and there was “no way for the court to right this wrong”.