NEW YORK (Reuters) - Actress Jean Stapleton, best known for her Emmy-winning role as the good-hearted housewife Edith Bunker in the groundbreaking 1970s' television comedy "All in the Family," has died at age 90, her family said on Saturday.

Stapleton died on Friday of natural causes at her home in New York City, her son, film and television director John Putch, said in a statement.

"It is with great love and heavy hearts that we say farewell to our collective Mother, with a capital M," Putch and his sister, Pamela Putch, said in a joint statement. "Her devotion to her craft and her family taught us all great life lessons."

The actress won three Emmys for her role as Edith, the long-suffering, unsophisticated, but understanding wife of the reactionary and often racist Archie Bunker, played by the late Carroll O'Connor, in the hit TV sitcom.

"All In The Family," inspired by the British program "Till Death Us Do Part," was a success with audiences even as it helped usher in a new era for U.S. television by confronting contentious topics such as racism, the Vietnam War and the feminist movement.

Archie, a working-class New Yorker, often clashed over politics and social issues with his adult daughter, Gloria, and his liberal son-in-law, Michael Stivic, whom he called "Meathead."

Edith spoke in a nasal, high-pitched voice, and seemed confused at times by the social changes going on around her. Her gentle nature contrasted with her husband's mean streak. Although Archie often called her a "dingbat," she patiently stood by him.

'BRILLIANT COMEDIENNE'

In a nod to the generational conflict on display in the show, the program, aired on CBS, began with Archie and Edith at a piano singing the nostalgic "Those Were the Days."

"No one gave more profound 'How to be a Human Being' lessons than Jean Stapleton," Norman Lear, the producer of "All In the Family," said in a written statement released to Reuters.

Film director Rob Reiner, who played Edith's son-in-law, said in a statement to CBS News that Stapleton was "a brilliant comedienne with exquisite timing."

Stapleton appeared in "All In The Family" from 1971 to 1979, and continued her role for a time in the 1979 spinoff show "Archie Bunker's Place."

Stapleton was born Jeanne Murray in New York in 1923 to an opera singer mother and a businessman father. She would later use her mother's maiden name, Stapleton, as her stage name.

She worked during World War Two as a typist for the British War Ministry Office in New York and made her professional stage debut in 1941. In the 1950s and 1960s, she acted in a number of Broadway productions, including a turn alongside comedian Zero Mostel in "Rhinoceros" and a part in "Damn Yankees" that got her the attention of Lear and her role in "All In the Family."

After "All In The Family," she played former first lady Eleanor Roosevelt in a 1982 television movie, and had a supporting role in the 1998 romantic comedy "You've Got Mail."

She maintained a lifelong love of the theater, and in 1990, received the Village Voice newspaper's Obie Award for her performances in Harold Pinter's off-Broadway plays "Mountain Language" and "The Birthday Party."

She spent a number of years living and working in Los Angeles, but returned to her native New York in 2002 to live permanently.

Stapleton is survived by her son and daughter. Her husband, William Putch, died in 1983.

(Additional reporting by Alex Dobuzinskis in Los Angeles; Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Peter Cooney)

(Reuters) - Nike Inc is dropping its partnership with the Livestrong Foundation, the cancer charity founded by disgraced cyclist Lance Armstrong, the latest repercussion from the doping scandal that last year stripped him of his titles.

Nike said on Tuesday it would end production of its Livestrong gear and apparel after the 2013 holiday line, concluding a long-standing licensing agreement for footwear and apparel between the two that helped Livestrong raise a total of $100 million over the course of the partnership.

"We expected changes like this," Katherine McLane, a Livestrong spokeswoman, said in a conference call with reporters. "Could there be fallout? Of course," she said. "We remain enormously confident...We are in strong fiscal shape."

When Armstrong left Livestrong's board, Nike said it would still back the charity, but no longer sponsor the man behind it.

However, Nike spokeswoman Mary Remuzzi told Reuters late on Tuesday that the decision to drop the partnership was taken as sales of the products had not met company's expectations.

Nike also distributed Livestrong's ubiquitous yellow wrist-bands, of which 87 million were sold.

Armstrong founded Livestrong in 1997 after being diagnosed with testicular cancer. The group flourished during his cycling career in which he won the Tour de France seven times.

The cyclist, who stepped down from Livestrong's board last October, admitted in January to systematic use of banned, performance-enhancing drugs after years of denials.

"This does show there are pros and cons of (a philanthropic foundation) being so closely associated with one person," said Patrick Rooney, associate dean of academic affairs and research at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.

Still, Rooney predicted a large enough number of people would be able to separate Armstrong's misdeeds and the foundation's good works that it could survive.

Livestrong said its 2013 budget is $38.4 million, a 10.9 percent reduction from 2012, but that revenue projections were ahead by 2.5 percent.

Livestrong has similar licensing deals with sports eyewear maker Oakley, owned by Italy's Luxottica and others.

Nike will benefit from distancing itself from the charity and from the scandal-tainted athlete, said Robert Boland, a professor of sport management at New York University's Tisch Center.

"Their relationship with Livestrong was so based on Lance Armstrong and his story that it's almost impossible to separate them from a branding standpoint," Boland said. "The chief thing that is motivating Nike is they're looking to move on and put their years with Lance Armstrong behind them."

(Reporting by Phil Wahba, Ellen Wulfhorst and Scott Malone; additional reporting by Sakthi Prasad; Writing by Ellen Wulfhorst; Editing by Leslie Adler, Marguerita Choy and Dan Grebler)

Karen Faye, who worked with Jackson for more than 27 years, told jurors she became increasingly concerned about Jackson's health and agreed with a fan's assessment that the singer might die if he was pushed too hard in preparations for his "This Is It" concerts.

AEG executives continued to push Jackson, Faye said. She testified she overheard a phone conversation in which AEG executive Paul Gongaware told Jackson's assistant to get him out of a locked bathroom and to a rehearsal.

Faye described Gongaware, AEG Live's co-CEO, as "angry and kind of desperate" in the conversation. She testified Gongaware told the assistant to do "whatever it takes."

Faye said the only people she saw insist that Jackson rehearse were Gongaware and tour director Kenny Ortega.

The makeup artist and hair stylist is testifying in a case brought by Jackson's mother, Katherine, against AEG Live LLC. The suit accuses the Los Angeles-based company of failing to properly investigate the doctor who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter for the singer's death. Her attorneys also contend the company didn't properly respond to concerns about the singer's health.

AEG denies it hired Murray or bears any liability for Jackson's death.

Faye said she informed Ortega, Jackson's manager and AEG Live co-CEO Randy Phillips about her concerns about Jackson's health during the preparations for the shows. She said Jackson was frustrated and after a costume fitting days before his death repeatedly asked her, "Why can't I choose?"

She said that after Jackson missed several rehearsals, Phillips told her to ignore the singer's instructions.

Jurors are expected to hear from Ortega, Phillips and Gongaware later in the trial.

Faye, choking back tears, read portions of an email from one of Jackson's fans that she forwarded to his now deceased manager, Frank Dileo. It described the singer as a skeleton.

"If we do nothing, he will die," the fan wrote. "I know people who work for him cannot tell him anything. I know his own family tried to help him but he won't listen."

Faye said she wrote Dileo that she agreed with the assessment, but the manager never responded in writing.

By this point, Jackson was often cold to the touch and was becoming increasingly paranoid. Faye said he became obsessed with her being within sight when he was rehearsing onstage.

In earlier testimony, she described severe pain the singer experienced after performance accidents and his increasing reliance on doctors.

She said his reliance on medications coincided with the first time he was accused of child molestation in the early 1990s.

"Michael had to go on stage every night knowing that the whole world thought he was a pedophile," Faye said, shaking her head and crying.

During Jackson's "Dangerous" tour that began in 1992, Faye said she refused a request from promoters to give the Grammy winner injections of pain medications.

She said Gongaware, who handled logistics on that tour, brought in doctors who treated Jackson. The tour was halted early so Jackson could receive treatment for his prescription drug addiction.

His condition worsened during the singer's 2005 trial that ended with his acquittal of child molestation charges, Faye said.

"He couldn't eat," she said. "He was afraid. He was in pain. He got thinner. His physical pain, his back pain, it all kicked in."

Faye spent about 90 minutes testifying about her close relationship with Jackson, who hosted her wedding at his Neverland Ranch and enlisted her to travel around the world with him.

She breezily described Jackson's meetings with Princess Diana and other dignitaries, his Super Bowl performance, and other larger-than-life moments from the singer's life. Jurors and spectators laughed at times as a parade of photos and videos shot during Jackson's performances were played.

"I was from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. I was just very normal," she told jurors. "I found myself working with this magical person."

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Anthony McCartney can be reached at http://twitter.com/mccartneyAP .

Israel Museum spokeswoman Dena Scher said Wednesday the museum repurchased the "Garden in Wannsee" painting by German-Jewish artist Max Liebermann from the owner's heir at an undisclosed price.

The Israel Museum holds some 1,200 pieces of art identified as having been seized from Jews by the Nazis and has found the owners of more than two dozen.

The painting's original owner, Max Cassirer, was a wealthy Berlin businessman. The black and white picture of his music room shows walls covered in paintings, including Liebermann's.

Experts believe hundreds of thousands of pieces of looted art remain unclaimed.

ATLANTAAs dozens of protesters waved signs proclaiming, Stop Assassinations: Ground the Drones! outside the Grand Hyatt on Tuesday, a room full of scientists, oblivious to their demonstrations, raptly watched a 30-minute PowerPoint presentation about riparian vegetation, river morphology and the helpful qualities of beaver dams.

The researchers who came from around the world to attend the International Conference on Unmanned Aircraft Systems (a fancy term for drones) in Atlanta this week say they are not interested in the remotely controlled predator drones that help the U.S. government track and kill suspected terroristsand sometimes, by accident, civilianswithout having to put a single U.S. service member at risk.

President Barack Obama defended the U.S. governments use of the deadly, pilotless aircraft in a national security speech last week, though he suggested that drones might play less of a role in the war on terror in the years to come.

At this drone conference, however, scientistsand those who hope to profit off their researchpore over slides that show how small, light drones equipped with inexpensive cameras that can be purchased at Wal-Mart can take images clear and comprehensive enough to help farmers design irrigation systems for their crops, or create the most efficient system for fighting a wildfire, or conduct search-and-rescue missions. The camera-equipped drones are also useful for determining the health of a rivers vegetation or finding out how much of a wetlands area is destroyed after a new road is built.

We want them to help people, not kill people, Dr. YangQuan Chen of the University of California, Merced, one of the conferences organizers, told the researchers at his workshop on Tuesday morning.

Many of the conference attendees are hyperaware of the perception that drones are primarily used in warfare or by local police for covert surveillance or spying. (Chen's former student lamented during his presentation that drone researcher is considered "the opposite of sexy.") This year alone, these concerns have spurred dozens of states to consider legislation limiting the use of drones. Its a rare issue thats attracted bipartisan supporteveryone from Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, to Rep. Ed Markey, D-Mass., has raised the specter of a drone-filled America devoid of privacy.

The furor has left many of these scientists confused. They see drones as co-scientists, as Chen put itfriendly and reliable tools that can gather data efficiently and quickly in places scientists just cant get to.

When Colin Brooks, a scientist at Michigan Tech Research Institute who uses drones to find potholes and other problems in the state's roads, read about his state lawmakers considering a bill to limit the police use of drones in Michigan a few months ago, he was baffled.

When I read the state legislature bill, I was like, What? I just want to look at potholes! he said. They think killing people in Afghanistan or spying in grandmas window is the only application. Thats not the story.

Brooks drones can tell him exactly how many potholes are in a stretch of road and how deep each of them is. The drones do the tedious work in a matter of hours that otherwise would have to be conducted on the ground by a team of workers over days. He doesnt understand why these less glamorous but helpful civilian uses of drones dont get attention from politicians or the press. (Despite their concerns, at least one poll by Monmouth University . Nearly two-thirds of Americans , meanwhile, as long as the killing doesn't take place on U.S. soil.)

Civilian uses of drones are sure to get a lot more attention in the next few years when the Federal Aviation Administration must lift its ban on the commercial uses of drones. Last year, Congress directed the FAA to open the airspace to drones by October 2015. The agency has allowed only very limited, noncommercial use of drones. For public use, researchers must submit stacks of paperwork to certify their drones, a bonding subject at the conference.

Today we worry about getting arrested or put in jail, but after 2015 the national airspace must be open, Chen joked.

The researchers hope for an era of file and fly, when anyone can file some paperwork and launch their own personal drone. Drones could be controlled by smartphones, and become nearly as popular, Chen thinks, saying the personalization of drones will be the next big tech breakthrough, on par with the development of the personal computer. The drone industry shares his optimism: An industry report estimatesin the first 10 years after the FAA allows their commercial use. (Much of that revenue might come from agribusiness, given the enormous cost savings that could be garnered by using a small drone instead of satellite or manned aircraft to survey crops. Some researchers were skeptical that police departments will become a big source of business, given state and local budget crunches.)

It remains to be seen whether regular people will want drones, however, or how they will develop once they are less regulated. But some people attending the conference are already hoping to break into the nascent industry. Alice Sheplar, a former chief information officer for a military hospital at Fort Stewart, Ga., is halfway through gaining her certification at the Unmanned Vehicle University, an online academy founded by a retired Air Force colonel that teaches students to create and pilot drones. As part of her courses, Sheplar must assemble her own drone from parts that are mailed to her.

Sheplar brought her daughter, Lauren Shepler, along to the conference, to try to persuade her to switch from teaching to the field. Lauren said she remained skeptical about drones' ability to replace human pilots, especially for longer flights, though she is remaining open to the idea. (Her father flew Apaches for the Army.) Alice said she wants to open her own drone business once the FAA approves commercial drone use, but that she doesnt want to control the device. Shed rather deal with the marketing side of the business. Maybe you could be the pilot, she said to her daughter, who laughed.

NASHVILLE, Tennessee (Reuters) - Lady Antebellum are growing up and getting sassy with their fourth studio album, "Golden," embracing a stripped-down sound to showcase their vocal strength as they prepare for an upcoming tour with a baby on board.

The country band, formed by vocalists Hillary Scott, Charles Kelley and guitarist Dave Haywood in Nashville, Tennessee, released its latest album this week, which saw band members drawing on their live tour experiences.

"When we went into the studio we wanted the new record to have that live band sound and we wanted it to be different from the last record," Haywood told Reuters.

The trio, who have picked up seven Grammy awards since their debut self-titled album in 2008 and have become a strong force in the cross-over between country music and pop music, hoped fans would hear a new side to the Lady Antebellum sound.

By keeping the production simple, Haywood said the band wanted to showcase the vocals on "Golden," due in part to the band being more secure in how their voices blend together.

Scott added that the final 12 tracks selected for the album leant themselves to the simpler production.

"It made sense to dial it back, which allowed us more time to spend on vocals and get them exactly the way we wanted them," the singer said.

While most of the band's songs feature romantic lyrics, such as "American Honey," the lead single "Downtown" from the latest album saw the band take on an edgier feel as a sassy Scott sings about demanding her boyfriend to take her out in town.

"I love the song and thought it could be a huge hit. I thought it might be a risk if the fans didn't accept it, but the boys kept saying, 'We've seen you get sassy, and everybody else needs to see that side of you too,'" Scott said.

'ROAD BABY'

Along with a new album and upcoming tour, the band is also preparing for a big change within its dynamic, as Scott and her husband, the band's drummer Chris Tyrrell, prepare for the birth of their first child.

Scott, the daughter of country singer Linda Davis, said she grew up as a "road baby" on tour with her mother and hoped her child would benefit from the same experiences.

"I adapted as a child to my surroundings and I turned out okay, I hope, and I think our little girl will do the same. I have a feeling that being home will be more of an adjustment for her than being on the road," she said.

Kelley was also excited by the prospect of raising a child on the tour bus, saying "that baby is gonna see things no baby gets to see."

After more than five years of touring, the band said they are growing more comfortable musically and as a group, as they enter a new chapter in their career.

All three members are eager to leave an imprint with their fans as they continue to grow as a band, and they hoped they would leave a legacy behind, the central theme in the final song on the album, "Generation Away."

"One of the coolest things going on in our genre right now is the undercurrent of friendship among all the artists who came along around the same time that we did. I want to be remembered as that group of artists who were best friends, almost a Rat Pack type of thing," Kelley said.

(Editing by Piya Sinha-Roy and Eric Kelsey)

LOS ANGELES/NEW YORK (Reuters) - Yahoo Inc has submitted a formal proposal to buy Hulu, joining a growing list of bidders for the video service owned by News Corp and Walt Disney Co, two sources with knowledge of the bid told Reuters on Friday.

Yahoo just this week announced a $1.1 billion acquisition of blogging service Tumblr. It now joins rival bidders for Hulu, including Time Warner Cable Inc, DirecTV, former News Corp president Peter Chernin and Guggenheim Digital Media, sources have said.

It is unclear how much the Internet company bid.

Sources have said Chernin is bidding $500 million, excluding an additional sum to cover Hulu's debt and programming commitments. But a source close to the bidding told Reuters his offer was too low, that Hulu could be worth as much as $1 billion to $2 billion.

Time Warner Cable's bid was fashioned as an equity investment, another person said, as the cable operator hopes to set up a joint venture with other cable companies to operate Hulu.

Yahoo did not respond to requests for comment. Its shares closed up 1.2 percent at $26.33.

At least five bidders have emerged for the five-year-old video service with 4 million users, potentially setting up a bidding competition. A second source close to the bidding said the offers submitted so far were non-binding and dependent on Hulu amending content licensing agreements the bidders found too restrictive.

Silver Lake, a minority owner of influential Hollywood talent agency William Morris Endeavor, has also submitted an indicative letter of interest, the source familiar with the Hulu bidding said, confirming an earlier Bloomberg report. The private equity firm teamed up with William Morris Endeavor, which it invested in a year ago, for the bid, according to the source.

Hulu, which generated revenues of around $700 million last year, streams TV shows online in similar fashion to Netflix Inc. It is being advised in the sale by Guggenheim Partners, a separately funded group from the digital media unit that placed the bid.

Yahoo has gone on an acquisition spree to bring in talent as well as beef up its mobile and online products and content, as CEO Marissa Mayer tries to revive a once-dominant Internet icon that has for years bled users.

Yahoo remains one of the Web's most popular destinations, but has seen its revenue shrink, as consumers and advertisers favor rivals such as Google Inc and Facebook Inc.

(Writing by Edwin Chan. Editing by Andre Grenon)

The new deal between the U.S. Tennis Association and ESPN, announced Thursday, also includes the series of North American summer hard-court tournaments leading up to the Open.

Since 2009, ESPN already has shown some matches from the season's last Grand Slam championship, with CBS airing a half-dozen days of coverage during the two weeks, including the men's and women's singles finals.

CBS has broadcast the U.S. Open every year since 1968; its current deal expires after the 2014 tournament.

ESPN will then take over the entire event until 2025, with the ability to sell off rights to other channels with USTA approval.

CBS is in about 15 million more households than ESPN or ESPN2.

"We expect the audience for the U.S. Open to increase, not to decrease, with all the platforms that we have digitally," ESPN President John Skipper said during a conference call with reporters. "This sort of old canard that there's something to be lost by going from broadcast to cable, I would submit, has it wrong. It is just the opposite. Moving to ESPN allows the opportunity to reach more people across platforms, and that's what we believe will happen."

He said ESPN eventually will give fans a chance to see action from all 17 courts at Flushing Meadows via television or computer.

"ESPN is the strongest brand in sports. It puts the U.S. Open at the center of American sports culture like never before," USTA Executive Director and Chief Operating Officer Gordon Smith said.

The CBS coverage of the U.S. Open averaged a 1.4 rating last year, the lowest on record.

"We are proud of our long-term association with the USTA and wish them well," CBS Sports spokesperson Jennifer Sabatelle said in an emailed statement. "Looking ahead, we have profitable partnerships with all of our key sports franchises locked up for many, many years to come. ... And in the meantime, we look forward to two more years of tennis on CBS."

ESPN owns the rights to all four Grand Slam tennis tournaments and now will be able to air the singles championship matches at three of them (the exception is the French Open on NBC).

The U.S. Open's shift from CBS to ESPN mirrors a similar switch made for Wimbledon: In 2011, the All England Club announced a 12-year deal to take the grass-court tournament from NBC after a 43-year run and sell those rights to ESPN.

Those two changes in tennis are only the latest examples of significant sports events moving to cable from one of the four over-the-air networks ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox. College football's Bowl Championship Series, including the national title game, is on ESPN, and NCAA basketball's Final Four semifinals will air on TBS in 2014 and 2015, with the title game there, too, in 2016.

Starting in 2015, ESPN and ESPN2 plan to show more than 130 hours of live match action from Flushing Meadows. That year, the USTA is changing the schedule for the closing days of its tournament: women's semifinals Thursday, men's semifinals Friday, women's final Saturday afternoon, men's final Sunday afternoon.

Until then, the 2013 and 2014 U.S. Opens will play the women's singles final Sunday and the men's final Monday.

This year's Open is scheduled for Aug. 26 to Sept. 8.

Each of the past five years, rain forced the USTA to postpone the men's final from its Sunday slot to Monday. Because ESPN airs "Monday Night Football," Skipper was asked what would happen if rain set up a conflict between tennis and the NFL.

Skipper said ESPN told the USTA how it would account for that, but he wouldn't go into specifics on the conference call.

"We have a couple of years to plan for all potentialities," he said, "and we will be fine if it goes to Monday night."

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Follow Howard Fendrich on Twitter at http://twitter.com/HowardFendrich

NEWARK, New Jersey (Reuters) - Rutgers University picked a woman to head its athletic programs on Wednesday, as New Jersey's largest public college looks to move on from a scandal that saw several top sports officials resign.

Julie Hermann, 49, who was a senior executive atheletic director at the University of Louisville, will be the first woman to hold the post of athletic director at Rutgers.

Her predecessor, Tim Pernetti, resigned in early April after ESPN aired video showing the school's then-head men's basketball coach abusing players and berating them with homophobic slurs. The coach, Mike Rice, was fired.

Rutgers President Robert Barchi, who had faced down calls for his own resignation during the uproar after the videos were aired, called Hermann "simply a remarkable leader."

Hermann, who starts a five-year contract on June 17, acknowledged the school's sports programs will have a way to go to regain the trust of fans, alumni and students.

"I'm well aware that many people that support this institution were deeply hurt by what took place," she said.

The scandal put a spotlight on the high-pressure world of college sports, where millions of dollars of television revenue are at stake, coaches can command six-figure salaries but players are unpaid.

Rutgers will pay Hermann a $450,000 annual base salary, with a $50,000 bonus target.

At Louisville, Hermann oversaw a nationally ranked athletic program that won the NCAA men's basketball championship earlier this year.

(Editing by Scott Malone and Leslie Gevirtz)