One of the most famous Israeli television entertainers, Dudu Topaz, has apparently committed suicide in prison, where he was awaiting trial for allegedly plotting attacks on television executives.

The former “ratings king” of Israeli television was charged with hiring thugs to attack network bosses whom he accused of ditching him in favour of reality television shows.

Prison officials said that Topaz, 62, was found hanging from the shower in his cell. It was a bitter end for the charismatic but erratic star who fell from favour with the public whose attention he craved and became obsessed with revenge.

This year the variety performer was charged with ordering an attack on the woman vice-president of Channel 2 TV. She suffered a broken nose and fractures to her face in the attack.

Another Channel 2 executive and an actor’s agent had also been attacked in the past year, apparently by Topaz’s hired men. Investigators said that Topaz confessed to ordering the assault.

He was facing charges of assault and battery, conspiracy to commit a crime, extortion and obstruction of justice. He was being held in a unit for prisoners at risk of harming themselves when he was found hanged with an electric cord from a kettle.

Topaz, who was due to appear in court next week, made a suicide attempt after his arrest in May. He had injected himself with an overdose of insulin, which, as a diabetic, he was allowed in his cell. He was found comatose with several needles sticking from his arm and revived in hospital.

A lawyer for Topaz blamed the prison authorities for not preventing his death. He said his client was clearly a danger to himself and should have been held in a psychiatric hospital.

“All the signs pointed to the fact that he was likely to harm himself,” Zion Amir, his attorney, said. “Why did they not guard him?”

It was reported in The Jerusalem Post that Topaz was still making threats even after his arrest. His fingerprints were found on an envelope that contained a bullet, which was addressed to an entertainer. The letter, which was unsigned, read: “This is the end and one day it will culminate with a bomb."

Times Recommends

• The lives of the Lehman ladies
• The training school for teenage Taleban