LOS ANGELES: Celebrities mourned the death of Dr. Arnold Klein, who once said, “Put me next to a patient, give me a needle and I’m really happy.”

To which the man once known as Hollywood’s “Dermatologist to the Stars” might have added: “Make the patient Michael Jackson and I’ll be even happier.”

Klein, who died recently in a Rancho Mirage hospital at 70, was a pioneer in the use of Botox and other injectable substances to improve personal appearance. For years, however, he was better known to the public as one of Jackson’s closest friends.

It was a relationship that helped cement the doctor’s reputation as the go-to guy for stars such as Elizabeth Taylor, Carrie Fisher and others who wanted work to make them look younger.



Jackson’s friendship would ultimately prove a curse for Klein after the King of Pop died of a drug overdose administered by another physician in 2009, and it was revealed that Klein had been regularly injecting Jackson with the powerful painkiller Demerol.

An investigation found no trace of that drug in Jackson’s body when he died and Klein was not implicated in the death, but the revelation permanently stained his reputation as one of Los Angeles’ most prominent celebrity physicians.

So much so that Klein had largely fallen off the paparazzi and gossip tabloid radar until he died.

No cause of death was given by the Riverside County coroner’s office, and no investigation was planned.

Klein’s celebrity client roster once included entertainers such as Dolly Parton and Cher, powerful Hollywood executives, wealthy Beverly Hills socialites and even international royalty.

Klein’s favorite patient was clearly Jackson.