final credits - january 2005

Clarence Bassett >permalink<

Doo wop singer

From 1960 to 1966, Bassett sang with Shep and the Limelites. In May 1961, their song "Daddy's Home" made it to Number Two on the pop charts. Their other hit songs were "Our Anniversary" and "Three Steps to the Altar." He also sang briefly with The Flamingos, whose best-known songs were "I Only Have Eyes for You" and "Golden Teardrops." Bassett was also a member of the Five Sharps, the Videos, and Creative Funk. Bassett retired from singing in 1996 but joined the Limelites again in 2002 for a Public Broadcasting System show on doo-wop music.

January 31, 2005 at age 68. Emphysema.

Dorothy McEwen >permalink<

Silicon Valley pioneer

With husband Gary Kildall, McEwen missed the chance to supply IBM with an operating system for its first personal computer. Kildall had started work on the first commercial operating system, called CP/M, in the 1970s. He and his wife co-founded Digital Research to sell the software that ran early PCs like the Altair 8800.

In 1980, Microsoft founder Bill Gates was in talks with IBM but his fledgling company did not have an operating system to offer them. He referred IBM to Digital Research. When IBM officials went to talk with Kildall, they were met by McEwen. She didn't feel comfortable signing IBM's nondisclosure agreement and stalled until Digital Research's lawyer could review it. They later met with IBM but could not agree on a price. IBM returned to Microsoft, which quickly purchased another operating system company. The acquired company's program became the basis for MS-DOS. Kildall died in 1994 after falling outside a Monterey, California restaurant.

January 31, 2005 at age 61. Brain cancer.

Horace Hagedorn >permalink<

Miracle-Gro promoter

Hagedorn applied Madison Avenue wizardry to the new plant food his wife named Miracle-Gro, turning it into a gardening business exceeding $35 billion in annual sales. Miracle-Gro's share of the home fertilizer market is estimated to be about 85 percent. Starting out with a simple plant and tree mail-order business just after World War II, Hagedorn took advantage of the post-war home-building boom. He hit upon the idea of selling fertilizer as it was easy to ship and store.

Hagedorn's wife Peggy came up with the name Miracle-Gro in 1950. Full-page advertisements were sprinkled with scientific phrases about things like radioactive isotopes and promised luxuriant plant growth. After four years, Miracle-Gro's sales had passed $500,000 annually, and Hagedorn decided to leave a successful advertising career to work full time on Miracle-Gro. He hired a Norman Rockwell colleague to paint homey advertisements, and the actor James Whitmore, whose gnarled face suggested a trustworthy farmer, for television commercials. In 1995, Miracle-Gro acquired the Scotts Company.

For all of his success elsewhere and no matter how much Miracle-Gro he lavished, Hagedorn could never grow a tomato in his own garden that weighed more than three pounds. The world record is 7 pounds, 12 ounces.

January 31, 2005 at age 89. Pulmonary fibrosis.

Ken Freiberg >permalink<

Baked bean entrepreneur

Freiberg turned his firehouse recipe into a successful food business. As a firefighter for the St. Paul Fire Department, he wowed his fellow smoke-eaters with his baked beans. He went into business in 1967, and a year later retired from the Fire Department to bake beans full time. Captain Ken's Firehouse Beans made nearly $2 million in sales in 1985, and the product line was joined by Captain Ken's Firehouse Chili. Freiberg once tested a new product on his former work buddy. "He tried to make a gasless bean, but it didn't work out." In 1989 Freiberg sold the company to employees. The products, which are still made in St. Paul, continue to carry the Captain Ken's Firehouse label.

January 31, 2005 at age 91.

Malcolm Hardee >permalink<

Comedian and wildman

Hardee's comedy bordered on the profrane and anarchic. In Britain, he led a naked dance troop called "The Greatest Show on Legs," which was known to end shows by standing naked before audiences with fireworks shooting out of their backside. Hardee also did a famous imitation of French president Charles De Gaulle by using only his genitals. One of Hardee's most famous antics involved stealing the birthday cake from Queen frontman Freddie Murcury's 40th birthday party fundraising event, holding the cake hostage. Hardee owned and operated numerous comedy clubs in London. In 2001 he bought a floating pub. It is thought that he fell from the rubber dinghy in which he travelled from the pub to his houseboat, which was moored nearby.

January 31, 2005 at age 55. Presumed drowned.

Marv Koral >permalink<

Saxophonist

Koral performed with the Tommy Dorsey and Harry James bands, and was featured on vibraphonist/xylophonist Red Norvo's 1958 album "Windjammer City Style." He also led his own group, Marv Koral & His All Stars, a popular Las Vegas house band.

January 31, 2005 at age 79. Complications from surgery.

Coley Wallace >permalink<

Boxer

Wallace was the only boxer to ever defeat champion Rocky Marciano when both fighters were amateurs during a 1948 Golden Gloves tournament. Wallace won by a decision. It is believed that the defeat was the only one ever by Marciano, who went on to win the heavyweight championship and was unbeaten in 49 fights. Wallace appeared as heavyweight champion Joe Louis in the 1953 movie "The Joe Louis Story" and in Martin Scorsese's 1980 film "Raging Bull." Wallace's other film credits include "Carib Gold" and "Rooftops." Wallace's pro-boxing record was 20-7-0.

January 30, 2005 at age 77. Heart failure.

Martyn Bennett >permalink<

Celtic fiddler and piper

Bennett pioneered a fusion of traditional folk with house, hip-hop and dance music. His band, Cuillin, played before the opening match of the 1998 World Cup between Brazil and Scotland. Sir Sean Connery, Ewan McGregor and Kenny Dalglish joined them on stage. Born in Newfoundland, Canada, Bennett moved to Scotland with his mother, renowned folk singer Margaret Bennett, when he was six. Two of his albums, Bothy Culture (1998) and Hardland (2000), are considered landmarks.

January 30, 2005 at age 33. Hodgkin's lymphoma.

Naomi Leff >permalink<

Interior designer

Leff was repeatedly listed among the top names in her field by leading magazines such as Architectural Digest and Interior Design. Leff created residential interiors for actors Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman, and director Mike Nichols and television newswoman Diane Sawyer. She also was the unofficial designer for the founders of the DreamWorks SKG production company - Steven Spielberg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen. She also designed interiors for commercial enterprises, such as Giorgio Armani, the Beaver Creek Resort in Telluride, Colorado, Ralph Lauren's flagship store, Neiman-Marcus in Dallas and Bloomingdale's and Bergdorf-Goodman in New York.

January 30, 2005 at age 64. Congestive liver disease.

Wes Wehmiller >permalink<

Bass player

Wehmiller was Duran Duran's tour bassist from 1977 to 2001. He also played for the re-formed version of Missing Persons.

January 30, 2005 at age 33.

Bill Shadel >permalink<

Broadcaster

Shadel covered D-Day for CBS Radio during World War II, became an ABC television anchor and moderated the third presidential debate between Richard M. Nixon and John F. Kennedy. He worked with Edward R. Murrow, Walter Cronkite, Eric Sevareid and Howard K. Smith at CBS, was the first host of "Face the Nation" and later became a University of Washington communications professor. Tapes of his wartime broadcasts are still used in journalism schools around the country. He and Murrow were the first reporters to see the concentration camp at Buchenwald on April 12, 1945, the day President Franklin D. Roosevelt died. Shadel's reporting from that experience earned him a "Witness to the Truth" award from the Simon Wiesenthal Center in 1990.

After helping to launch "Face the Nation," he became anchor of the ABC evening news, the role that landed him the presidential debate moderating job in 1960. Nixon and Shadel were in separate studios in Los Angeles and Kennedy on a sound stage in New York, a technical achievement at the time. For John Glenn's three-orbit flight in January 1962, Shadel was in the ABC News anchor chair for 12 hours, starting air at 6:30 a.m. Shadel retired in 1975.

January 29, 2005 at age 96. Prostate cancer.

Darryl Armstrong >permalink<

Actor

Halifax born, Toronto-based actor Armstrong had roles on TV's "Degrassi Junior High," "Degrassi: The Next Generation," "It's Raining Men," and "Queer As Folk." Armstrong allegedly committed suicide by jumping off a bridge on Mount Pleasant Road in Toronto.

January 29, 2005 at age 23. Suicide.

David Lerchey >permalink<

Singer

Lerchey was a founding member of one of the first integrated rock and roll acts, the Del Vikings. The doo-wop group was formed by five airmen in 1955 at an Air Force base in Pittsburgh. Three members were black, and Lerchey was one of two whites. The Del Vikings appeared on "The Ed Sullivan Show" in 1957, the same year they had two Number 1 hits: "Whispering Bells" and "Come Go With Me." Other Del Vikings hits included "Cool Shake," "A Sunday Kind of Love," "Summertime" and "Bring Back Your Heart." The group was inducted into the Doo-Wop Hall of Fame in 2003.

January 29, 2005 at age 67. Cancer and pulmonary problems.

Ephraim Kishon >permalink<

Satirist

Kishon was born in Hungary and survived a Nazi concentration camp during World War II before immigrating to Israel in 1949 while in his mid-20's. "They made a mistake; they left one satirist alive," he later wrote. In one Nazi camp, a German officer lined up Jewish inmates and shot one in 10 dead, passing him by. Kishon swiftly emerged as one of Israel's best-known writers, producing newspaper essays, plays, novels and also directed films, some of them considered classics in Israel. His best-known film was "Sallah Shabati," which was nominated for an Academy Award in 1965. Another film "Ha-Shoter Azulai," released in the United States as "The Policeman," was also nominated for an Academy Award in 1972.

January 29, 2005 at age 80. Heart attack.

Eric Griffiths >permalink<

Founder of The Beatles

In 1956, Griffiths was playing in a skiffle band named The Quarrymen. He played alongside school chums Pete Shotton and Rod Davis. In 1957 two new members were added, first John Lennon and then Paul McCartney. The band rehearsed at Griffiths' home while his mother was out at work. In 1958, Griffiths left to join the Merchant Navy, and the Quarrymen replaced him with George Harrison. What began as the Quarrymen went through 16 changes in personnel and several names to finally arrive as the Beatles in August 1962. Pete Best was the unluckiest member, being replaced at the brink of fame by Ringo Starr; Stuart Sutcliffe was the unlikeliest member, as his talent lay in art. It has been widely acknowledged that Sutcliffe and girlfriend Astrid Kirchherr helped define The Beatles image and style. Together they forged the trademark haircuts and the early high contrast black and white publicity photos. Sutcliffe died of a brain haemorrhage soon after leaving the Beatles in 1962.

After his naval service, Griffiths became the head of Planning and Promotion for the prison service in Scotland. In 1985 he bought a launderette and developed a chain of dry cleaners around Edinburgh. After he attended a party for the 40th anniversary of the Cavern (where the Beatles first drew the attention of their future manager, Brian Epstein) Griffiths was reunited with Shotton and Davis and they reformed the Quarrymen. They appeared at Beatle conventions and toured the UK, North and South America and Japan. In 1997, they recorded their first album, Get Back - Together (1997), which was followed in 2004 by Songs We Remember.

January 29, 2005 at age 64. Pancreatic cancer.

Toni Berger >permalink<

Actor

German actor Berger appeared in nearly 100 films and TV series during his career. He worked with director Ingmar Bergman in "The Serpent's Egg" and "From the Life of the Marionettes."

January 29, 2005 at age 83.

Daniel Branca >permalink<

Animator

Born in Argentina, Branca worked for Disney's Denmark publishers since 1977. He worked with most Disney characters, but mainly with the Ducks. Besides new stories, Danish artists redraw a lot of already-existing American stories. Branca's style is close to that of Carl Barks of the 1960s, but developed his conventional style to a more smooth and dashing one, using more speed in his artwork.

January 28, 2005 at age 53. Heart attack.

Jacques Villeret >permalink<

Actor

The much-loved French actor endeared movie-goers with his chubby physique, round face and ability to simultaneously draw both laughter and tears. Among his best known films was 1998's "Le Diner de Cons (The Dinner Game)" for which he won a Cesar, France's Oscar award for best actor, playing the role of a man who is mocked at a dinner party for his favourite hobby: building historical monuments with matchsticks. Villeret had already won a best supporting actor award in 1979 for Claude Lelouch's "Robert et Robert." He was a favourite actor of Lelouch, playing in eight movies with the director. Villeret appeared on a television show as recently as January 23rd and had two films scheduled for release with plans for others.

January 28, 2005 at age 53. Liver disease, diabetes.

Jim Capaldi >permalink<

Drummer

With Steve Winwood and Dave Mason, Jim Capaldi helped make the 1960s rock band Traffic a household name. Capaldi, who provided the group's driving rock rhythms and songwriting skills, also had an illustrious solo career. When Traffic finally broke up in 1974 after releasing 11 albums -- recording such memorable songs as 40,000 Headmen, Dear Mr. Fantasy, Hole In My Shoe and Paper Sun -- Capaldi was already doing solo work. Capaldi was working on his 12th solo album when Winwood -- who also scored major solo successes -- called him back to collaborate on a new album. One thing led to another and Traffic reformed in 1993, followed by a major five-month tour of the United States in 1994, including appearing at Woodstock 2 and playing alongside The Grateful Dead. The band also reunited to appear at the tribute concert for George Harrison one year after the former Beatle’s death. The concert was filmed as the TV documentary "Concert for George."

Capaldi and Winwood co-wrote many of Traffic's best-known songs, including their first single, Paper Sun (1967), which reached Number 4 on UK charts. When Dave Mason departed later that year, Traffic continued to perform as a trio, making their U.S. debut at Bill Graham's Fillmore East. In the first weeks of 1969, shortly after the release of their second album, the group broke up amid the news of Winwood's announcement that he would be joining Eric Clapton in a "supergroup" to be known as Blind Faith. Plans for Capaldi to join them were scuttled by Clapton's management, which installed Ginger Baker in the drummer's chair.

Blind Faith lasted less than a year, and in 1970 Traffic returned to action with an album titled John Barleycorn Must Die. Well received by their old fans, it was followed by The Low Spark Of High Heeled Boys, Shoot Out At The Fantasy Factory and When The Eagle Flies before they broke up again in 1974.

Capaldi was five times winner of BMI or ASCAP awards for the most played songs in America and recorded with Eric Clapton, George Harrison, Bob Marley, Gilberto Gil, Carlos Santana and the Eagles among others. Capaldi and Traffic were inducted into the U.S. Rock N' Roll Hall of Fame in March 2004, just five months before Capaldi was diagnosed with terminal cancer.

The band’s name Traffic caused another outfit called Traffic Jam to re-name themselves. The other band chose the name Status Quo.

January 28, 2005 at age 60. Stomach cancer.

Karen Bach >permalink<

Actress

Bach was a co-star of the controversial 2000 French film "Baise Moi (Rape Me)." The film has been hailed either as a masterpiece or condemned as an indulgent exercise of violent excess and degradation. The two lead actresses both came from the world of adult film. "Baise Moi" was Bach's last film.

January 28, 2005 at age 31. Suicide.

Lucien Carr >permalink<

Beat generation catalyst

Carr was a student at Columbia University in New York in 1944 when he introduced Jack Kerouac, Allen Ginsberg and William Burroughs to each other. They formed the literary nucleus of the countercultural "beatnik" movement of the 1950s. By some accounts, including his own, Carr played a role in Kerouac's legendary speedwriting of the breakthrough novel "On the Road," by supplying a Teletype roll for the manuscript. "I didn't steal it," he told a co-worker at UPI (United Press International, where Carr worked as an editor). "I just stuck it under my arm and brought it home." Carr once served two years on a manslaughter conviction for stabbing dead an older man, David Kammerer, and throwing his body into the Hudson River in 1944. The conviction probably kept Carr from playing a more public role for the rest of his life. The killing and Carr's friendship with Burroughs were portrayed in the 2000 movie "Beat." The Beats won renown for their willingness to defy convention in pursuit of literary truth.

January 28, 2005 at age 79. Cancer.

Marcel Tremblay >permalink<

Right to die subject

Tremblay, who suffered from idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease that makes it difficult to breathe, fulfilled his pledge to commit suicide and end decades of physical suffering. Tremblay killed himself by pulling a helium-filled bag over his head at his suburban home after a wake at a nearby restaurant with friends and family. His final meal consisted of two shrimp, a crabcake and a couple of beers. Tremblay had divided his estate, giving away his money and possessions as Christmas presents, and even told Revenue Canada that he didn't plan to pay any taxes this year.

Tremblay said he went public with his suicide plans to spark a nationwide debate on the right-to-die issue, hoping that politicians will change the law to allow assisted suicide and encourage people to think about the issue. In Canada suicide is a legal act; committing suicide and attempting to commit suicide were decriminalized in 1972. However, it is against the law to assist or counsel someone to kill themselves, an act that is punishable under the law by up to 14 years in prison. That law was upheld by the Supreme Court in 1994 when Sue Rodriguez, who suffered from ALS, narrowly lost an appeal that would have allowed her to die with assistance.

January 28, 2005. Suicide.

Peter A. Chang Jr. >permalink<

Prosecutor

Chang prosecuted some of California's most notorious homicides in the 1970s, and became known around the world for describing the bucolic town of Santa Cruz as "the murder capital of the world." At the time he was elected, Chang was the youngest district attorney in the United States at a time when "no one thought an Asian could stand toe-to-toe with an Irishman in a criminal courtroom." 1970 to 1973 was a particularly murderous period when his office prosecuted three prominent killers: John Linley Frazier, who murdered Dr. Victor Ohta, his wife, two children and his secretary in October 1970; Edmund Kemper III, who killed his mother and a friend of hers, then murdered six female college students and chopped up their bodies; and former mental patient Herbert Mullin who was convicted of killing 10 people.

As a youth, Chang was intensely interested in music and became a first-class trumpet player. By the time he was 14 he was playing in bands led by Stan Kenton, Harry James, Lionel Hampton, Louis Armstrong and other jazz stars.

January 28, 2005 at age 67. Cancer.

Raymond Choate >permalink<

Judge

In 1971, after Charles Manson and some of his followers had been convicted of the murders of actress Sharon Tate and others, Choate presided over Manson's trial along with follower Bruce Davis for the murder of musician Gary Hinman and ranch hand Donald "Shorty" Shea. Shea had been decapitated and his body was never found. Manson became so obstreperous in court that Choate put him in an adjacent lockup area during most of the proceedings. Manson was found guilty.

January 28, 2005 at age 85. Complications after a stroke.

Donald Dempsey Sr. >permalink<

Music executive

A one-time math teacher, Dempsey began his music career peddling albums for a distributor to dime and discount department stores. He eventually became general manager of Epic, Portrait and CBS Associated Labels Group and worked with The Clash, Culture Club, Quiet Riot, Luther Vandross, The Isley Brothers, Ricky Skaggs, Ozzy Osbourne, Dan Fogelberg, Merle Haggard, and George Jones. He was credited with aggressively marketing Michael Jackson's 1982 "Thriller" album, which sold more than 40 million copies.

January 27, 2005 at age 73. Stroke.

Eddie Burks >permalink<

Chicago blues musician

The barrel-chested vocalist-harpist was featured in the Academy Award-nominated 1994 documentary "Blues Highway." In the film, Burks, the 14th and youngest child in a family of Mississippi sharecroppers, told of his brother's lynching by the Ku Klux Klan. Burks had played on Chicago's Maxwell Street in the late 1960s and '70s, passing the cup and sometimes going home at the end of the day with $100 or $200. He also found frequent work as a sideman with some of Chicago's most prominent bandleaders, including Eddie Shaw and Jimmy Dawkins. In the 1990s, his solo career finally took off. He assembled a band with a half-dozen talented backing musicians and recorded several albums on Rising Son Records.

January 27, 2005 at age 73. Car accident.

George Abraham >permalink<

Radio host

George "Doc" Abraham was a wisecracking gardening guru who teamed up with his wife on one of the longest-running shows on American radio. The couple wrapped up the last edition of "The Green Thumb" on December 14, 2002 with a trademark signoff they had used for a half-century. "Gotta grow now, and don't forget to be neighbourly." The half-hour call-in show first went on the air in 1952, offering practical advice on flowers, fruit bugs and lawn care mixed in with down-home humor and poetry recitations.

January 27, 2005 at age 89. Complications from congestive heart failure.

Jonathan Welsh >permalink<

Actor

Veteran Canadian actor Welsh got his start in the 1960s at the Shaw and Stratford festivals. His break came with a role in the musical "Hair." He earned national recognition with roles on the popular 1980s TV shows "E.N.G." and "Adderly." The actor had also played recurring roles on more recent Canadian productions such as "Earth: Final Conflict," "Total Recall 2070" and "Dracula: the Series." In the 1970s, he guested on a number of Canadian TV dramas including "The Littlest Hobo," and had a starring role in the CBC Television police drama "Sidestreet." Welsh was most proud of his role as Eric "Mac" MacFarlane on the CTV show "E.N.G.," the first openly gay character on a North American TV show.

January 27, 2005 at age 57.

Josie McAvin >permalink<

Set decorator

McAvin was the only Irish person with the distinction of winning both an Oscar for "Out of Africa" in 1986 -- and its television equivalent, the Emmy, for the 1994 mini-series "Scarlett," the sequel to "Gone With the Wind." McAvin started in 1958, working on Michael Anderson's "Shake Hands With the Devil." She earned her first Oscar nomination in 1964 for "Tom Jones." She received her second nomination three years later for "The Spy Who Came In from the Cold" and finally won her Oscar for Sydney Pollack's "Out of Africa." She also worked on John Huston's final film "The Dead," one of three she did with the director. McAvin ranked that film along with Neil Jordan's "Michael Collins" as her two favourite productions. She also worked on "Ryan's Daughter," "Heaven's Gate," "The Lonely Passion of Judith Hearne" and "Educating Rita."

January 27?, 2005 at age 85.

Maurice 'Nick' McDonald >permalink<

Dallas policeman who arrested Lee Harvey Oswald

McDonald arrived at Dealey Plaza moments after Kennedy was shot on November 22, 1963. After police received a tip that a suspicious man had entered a movie-house without paying, he went to the rear of Dallas’ Texas Theater. As McDonald peeked through the heavy curtains out into the audience, fellow officer Johnny Brewer pointed out the suspect. As the two officers confronted Oswald, the assassin said, "Well, it's all over now." As police tried to search and cuff him, Oswald pulled a pistol and tried to fire, but McDonald grabbed the weapon and moved to block the trigger with his hand, the hammer striking the flesh of his left hand between the thumb and forefinger.

Bracing himself, McDonald waited for the bullet to penetrate his chest, but the gun didn't fire. The officer then jerked the weapon from Oswald. McDonald fell on Oswald and subdued him. It wasn't until later in the day that he realized whom he had captured. Oswald, who was not linked to the Kennedy assassination until later that day, was shot to death two days later while in police custody by a nightclub owner, Jack Ruby. A second Dallas officer, J. D. Tippit, whom Oswald is suspected of killing shortly after shooting the president, was Officer McDonald's lockermate at police headquarters.

January 27, 2005 at age 76. Complications from diabetes.

Paul Partain >permalink<

Actor

Partain played one of the most memorable characters in film history, playing the doomed, wheelchair bound Franklin Hardesty in Tobe Hooper's 1974 horror film "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre." He made his film debut in Sidney Lumet's "Lovin' Molly" and worked with Peter Fonda twice, in "Outlaw Blues" and "Race With the Devil." Partain also had a supporting role in the 1977 William Devane/Tommy Lee Jones revenge thriller "Rolling Thunder."

January 27, 2005 at age 58. Cancer.

Max S. Matheson >permalink<

Research chemist

Matheson spent World War II working at the U.S. Rubber Co., now known as Uniroyal. He used his knowledge of chemistry to develop artificial rubber. In the 1960s he provided innovative research on radiation that helped make possible more effective treatment for cancer. He worked on pulse radiolysis, a process by which radiation pulses break down substances.

January 26, 2005 at age 91.

Ray Pollard >permalink<

Singer

Pollard was a member of the Wanderers, a popular East Coast doo wop group who went through numerous name changes during their decade-long career. National success eluded them at each turn, and they had only minor East Coast hits with "For Your Love" (1961) and "Thinking of You" (1957). The band folded in 1964 and in 1970 Pollard became a cast member of the Broadway show "Purlie." It starred Cleavon Little (with Morgan Freeman as his understudy) and was written by Ossie Davis. After the musical ran its course, Pollard continued to make club appearances as a solo artist, performing in a wide variety of styles, and died in Las Vegas. The Wanderers were inducted into the United In Group Harmony's Hall Of Fame in 2000.

January 26, 2005 at age [unknown]. Cancer.

Robbie Lee Williams >permalink<

Mother of musician Billy Preston

According to Preston, his mother was the inspiration for his song "You Are So Beautiful To Me." The song was a hit for Joe Cocker. Perhaps best known for playing keyboards with the Beatles on the group's "Let it Be" album, Preston has performed and recorded with Eric Clapton, the Rolling Stones, Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles and Aretha Franklin. Preston's own hits include "Nothing From Nothing Leaves Nothing," "Will It Go Round in Circles" and "That's The Way God Planned It."

January 26, 2005 at age 87.

Rudi Falkenhagen >permalink<

Actor

The popular Dutch actor Falkenhagen may be best known for his role as the father of one of the lead character's in Paul Verhoven's excellent 1980 film "Spetters." He also did the voice of McQuack in the Dutch version of "Darkwing Duck," and had a supporting role in the Klaus Kinski sci-fi thriller "Lifespan."

January 26, 2005 at age 71. Throat cancer.

Tony Fairbrother >permalink<

Engineer

In 1949, Fairbrother was a flight-test engineer on board the world's first jet airliner, the de Havilland DH106 Comet 1. The aircraft doubled the cruising speed and altitude of conventional propeller-driven airliners. Aged 23, Fairbrother was responsible for managing the flight testing and certification programme of the prototype Comet 1, which was designed and built in secret immediately after World War II. In technology terms, the Comet was the Concorde or space shuttle of its day. Since the Comet, 17,000 jet airliners have revolutionised world commerce, business, communications, diplomacy, leisure and personal travel. Another 15,000 are expected to be built in the next 20 years. Fairbrother went on to work for British Aerospace and Airbus, responsible for flight-testing the European airliner consortium's first product, the A300.

January 26, 2005 at age 78.

John E. Howell >permalink<

Recordist for the Library of Congress

Howell's main work was as a recording engineer at the Library of Congress for 43 years, first starting in 1960. He recorded poets Robert Frost and William Jay Smith, such classical virtuosos as the Budapest Quartet and the Juilliard String Quartet. He also recovered sounds almost lost to history. Howell searched for years to find a device that could play recordings an Illinois professor made in 1946 of Holocaust survivors he found in European displaced person camps. The recordings were on reels of magnetized steel wire, stored in a box in the corner of the library. Nothing would play the reels -- until Mr. Howell tracked down two broken Peirce wire recorders, cannibalized their parts and rebuilt one. The interviews were re-recorded and saved on a more stable format.

Howell also recorded live performances of musicians who played at the Library of Congress, often for radio broadcast. The music division in which he worked later became the Motion Picture, Broadcasting and Recorded Sound Division. Howell became supervisor of the special formats section. He worked closely with the library's American Folklife Center, copying early recordings of folk song collectors, including Alan Lomax. Howell was so expert at coaxing faint sounds from early recordings that he was able to recover the sound of a door closing for a murder trial in Florida in 2003.

January 25, 2005 at age 66. Lung cancer.

Ray Peterson >permalink<

Singer

Peterson’s 1960 recording of "Tell Laura I Love Her" was one of the most successful entries in a short-lived pop music subgenre known as teenage tragedy. The song was the tear-stained story of a teenage boy who dies in a fiery crash while racing his stock car in an attempt to win a $1,000 prize so he can buy his girlfriend a wedding ring. The recording was one of the most successful entries on a list of sad songs that seemed to grow out of James Dean's premature death in a car crash in 1955. Other tragic tales that hit the pop airwaves included Jody Reynolds' 1958 hit "Endless Sleep," Mark Dinning's 1959 No. 1 hit "Teen Angel," Johnny Preston's 1960 single "Running Bear," Dickie Lee's 1962 song "Patches," and the Shangri-Las' "Leader of the Pack" and J. Frank Wilson's "Last Kiss," both from 1964. The era of songs chronicling the drama of star-crossed lovers who were prevented from being together largely faded after Bobbie Gentry's 1967 hit, "Ode to Billie Joe."

“Laura" was banned by a few US radio stations and in Britain it inspired moral panic after an extract was broadcast on BBC television news. Decca Records declared it to be "too tasteless and vulgar for the English sensibility" and scrapped the 25,000 copies had already pressed. Rival EMI cut a new version of the song with an unknown local singer, Ricky Valance. It became a Number 1 hit even though the BBC Light Programme declined to play it, citing a recent spate of fatal motor racing accidents.

Although "Tell Laura" was Peterson's biggest hit, reaching Number 7 nationally, pop-music critics usually cite his 1961 follow-up single "Corrina, Corrina," as his best, one of several tracks he made with "Wall of Sound" producer Phil Spector (the song was featured in the 1994 Whoopie Goldberg film of the same name). It had been originally recorded by bandleader Red Nichols in 1931 and became an R & B hit for Joe Turner in 1956.

In 1958, RCA was looking for new talent as Elvis Presley was serving in the US Army and the label wanted some new teen idols. Rod Lauren, Johnny Restivo and Ray Peterson were all signed to RCA, but only Peterson had any real success. Peterson made his first chart appearance in 1959 with "The Wonder of You," a song written for, but rejected by, Perry Como, that peaked at No. 25. Elvis Presley got a Top 10 hit with the same song six years later. Like so many American rockers whose careers nosedived with the 1964 arrival of the Beatles and the British Invasion, Peterson tried his hand at country music, but without commercial success. He performed in oldies shows until his death and was sometimes joined on stage by his daughters.

January 25, 2005 at age [65 or 69]. Cancer.

Troy Kunkle >permalink<

Murderer

Kunkle spent more than half his life on death row for shooting a man and robbing him of $13 in Corpus Christi, Texas. The 1984 shooting gained notoriety with disclosure that Kunkle quoted lyrics of a song by the heavy metal rock group Metallica after 31-year-old Stephen Horton was gunned down. After shooting Horton in the head Kunkle chanted: "Another day, another death, another sorrow, another breath" - the refrain from the Metallica song "No Remorse" on the album "Kill 'Em All."

January 25, 2005 at age 38. Lethal injection.

Vikki LaMotta >permalink<

Boxer's ex-wife

Vikki LaMotta was married to boxer Jake LaMotta. The turbulent relationship between them was the subject of Martin Scorsese's 1980 film "Raging Bull" and was portrayed by Robert De Niro and Cathy Moriarty. LaMotta landed on her feet after she left her abusive husband, posing for Playboy at age 51, lending her name to a cosmetics line, and appearing on television and at fight arenas. She appeared as herself in the documentary "Sports on the Silver Screen."

January 25, 2005 at age 75.

Philip Deguere Jr. >permalink<

Writer/producer/director

DeGuere created the TV series "Simon and Simon," earning a nomination for an Edgar Allen Poe Award for producing the series. DeGuere's other credits include the TV series "Baa, Baa Black Sheep," "Max Headroom," "The Twilight Zone," "Whiz Kids," "Air America," "The Dead Zone," the made-for-TV movie "Dr. Strange," "Alias Smith and Jones," "Baretta," "Magnum P.I.," "JAG" and "Navy NCIS." A pioneer in adapting computers to television production, DeGuere championed computerized script processing and established a computer system for tracking daily production that became a model for the industry.

January 24, 2005 at age 60. Cancer.

Ron Kersey >permalink<

Musician

As keyboard player with the Trammps, Kersey co-wrote 1977's "Disco Inferno," one of the hottest songs of the disco era. Its infectious, pulsating, shake-your-booty beat was guaranteed to get even the most awkward dancer out on the floor. Kersey was a big part of during the Philadelphia music explosion of the 1970s. As a producer and studio musician, his work could be heard on hit songs by the O'Jays, Teddy Pendergrass, the Salsoul Orchestra, Staci Lattisaw, Patti LaBelle, and Gladys Knight and the Pips. He won a Grammy in 1987 for the "Saturday Night Fever" soundtrack, which the song was a big part of.

January 24, 2005 at age 55. Complications from pneumonia.

Ruth B. Morgan >permalink<

Keyboard inventor

With a typing speed of 80 words a minute, Morgan was a secretary in dozens of offices in law firms, trade associations, federal agencies, publications, architects and auction houses. During her six-decade career, Morgan endured the frustrations of the 1873-designed QWERTY keyboard.

QWERTY, named after the first six letters on the upper left-hand row of the keyboard that 99.9% of the English-speaking world currently uses, was originally designed to keep mechanical typewriter keys from colliding with each other. It was not designed to be easily learned.

Over the years, Morgan came up with numerous improvements to the QWERTY design such as a reverse space bar and devices to correct typographical errors. She even re-mapped the keyboard, leaving the top and bottom rows of the keyboard -- numerals and the space bar and shift keys, but rearranged the middle three rows: the second and fourth rows held the consonants, in alphabetical order; and the third row, where the fingers rest, contained vowels and punctuation marks.

Morgan received a patent for her reconfigured keyboard in 1990 when she was 70. She was named "Woman Inventor of the Year" by the National Association of Women Business Owners in 1991, was listed in Who's Who of American Inventors, and opened a business, Keyboards for Homes Inc., with the hope of marketing her invention. If you look down at your keyboard, you will see the end of Morgan's story. Pity.

January 24, 2005 at age 83. Heart ailment.

William Freeman "Bill" Simmons >permalink<

Musician

Simmons had a 70-year music career capped by a 2003 Grammy Award as a longtime keyboard player for the Light Crust Doughboys. The Tampa, Florida native began playing the piano at the age of 4, as soon as he could reach the keyboard. He started lessons when he was 9 and was playing professionally on the radio before classes as a high school student in Memphis, Tenn. Simmons' first played with the Light Crust Doughboys in 1954 (the band was formed in the 1930s to promote Burris Mills' Light Crust Flour). Former band members Bob Wills and Milton Brown are credited with founding Western swing music. Simmons performed intermittently with the group until he became a regular in 1981. With his wife, Lena "Bunny" Simmons, he wrote the pop classic "M-I-S-S-I-S-S-I-P-P-I," which was recorded by Ella Fitzgerald, Red Foley and the Light Crust Doughboys. He also played the piano for the 1963 hit "Hey Paula."

January 24, 2005 at age 80. Esophageal cancer.

Johnny Carson >permalink<

Talk show host

For thirty years as host of "The Tonight Show," Johnny Carson served up a nightcap of observation and humour that kept America up at night and buzzing at the water-cooler the next morning. He refined the talk show template first forged by Steve Allen and Jack Paar, and defined a television time-slot and format coveted by scores of followers. Over 4,531 shows, more than 22,000 celebrities, comics, politicians, musicians, artists and ordinary folk celebrating their 15 minutes of fame appeared on "The Tonight Show" during Carson's 3 decade run -- a guest list long enough to fill a couch 8 miles wide.

Carson's boyish Nebraska charm and air of modesty secured his bedtime intimacy with viewers. From "Heeeeere's Johnny!" to the topical monologue, the guests, and the broadly played skits, America seemed to never tire of him. Carson went out on top when he retired in May, 1992. In recent news it was revealed he was still sending out the jokes -- to his should-have-been heir apparent David Letterman. On his final show, Carson told his audience: "I found something that I always wanted to do and I have enjoyed every single minute of it." Apparently, so did America, and a generation of bleary-eyed fans will forever miss the man who so often leaned forward on his toes and looked behind himself to see what all the fuss was about. For more about the talk show veteran, visit the Last Link Johnny Carson tribute page.

January 23, 2005 at age 79. Emphysema.

Consuelo Velázquez >permalink<

Composer

While working at the Mexican radio station XEQ, Velázquez wrote one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, "Besame Mucho (Kiss Me a Lot)". The song has been translated into dozens of languages and has been recorded by hundreds of artists, including Jimmy Dorsey, Mario Lanza, The Coasters, Nat King Cole, Sammy Davis Jr., Elvis Presley, The Beatles, the Grateful Dead, Frank Sinatra, Céline Dion, the Mavericks, and Diana Krall. The song was featured in the 1944 musical "Follow The Boys" and George Stevens' 1956 classic "Giant" which starred Elizabeth Taylor, Rock Hudson and James Dean. The Spanish TV station Univision named "Besame Mucho" the song of the century. In 2003 a sculpture of Velázquez by the well-known artist Sergio Peraza was unveiled in Mexico City. For more about the song, its influence on The Beatles, and the life of the song's composer, visit the Last Link Consuelo Velázquez tribute page.

January 22, 2005 at age 88. Complications from a fall, respiratory problems, heart failure.

Patsy Rowlands >permalink<

Actress

Rowlands was best known for her work in the British "Carry On" comedy film series, appearing in nine films, a documentary, a TV special and an episode of the TV series version of the "Carry On" films. She also appeared in nearly 80 other films and TV shows including "A Kind of Loving," Roman Polanski's "Tess," "Tom Jones," "A Kind of Loving," "Z Cars," "Danger Man" and "The Avengers." An admirer of Monet, she was an accomplished watercolour and pastel artist, and once got her work into the Royal Academy summer show.

January 22, 2005 at age 71. Cancer.

Rose Mary Woods >permalink<

Richard Nixon's secretary

The 1972 Watergate scandal, which resulted in President Nixon's impeachment, has left the world of American politics with two enduring questions: who was Deep Throat, and how did 18 1/2 minutes of a White House Oval Office tape recording get erased? At the centre of these mysteries was Nixon secretary Rose Mary Woods. The world may never know what clues Woods may have provided -- her secrets have now been taken to the grave.

Deep Throat was the crucial source of the Bob Woodward and Carl Bernstein investigation into the hotel break-ins during the 1972 Democratic Convention. The story broke in the Washington Post and was the basis for the 1976 film "All The President's Men."

Woods became famous for her inadequate explanations about the erasures on a tape she was transcribing of a conversation between Nixon and his chief of staff, H. R. Haldeman. The conversation took place just three days after the Watergate break-in and the tape may have contained the first evidence of Nixon's knowledge of the Watergate scandal and cover-up. Nixon once sent her a telegram addressed to "the most discreet woman in the world".

When Woods was asked to demonstrate in court how she might have inadvertently made the gap while having a telephone conversation, and her contortions became known as the "Rose Mary Woods stretch." Answering the phone call involved removing earphones, stretching her left hand backward to the main desk telephone, lifting the receiver while her right hand pressed the record button instead of the stop button, and keeping the Dictaphone's remote pedal depressed with her right foot on its forward play side. Her desk was 6 feet long, and Woods was not tall. The demonstration proved it was clear that she could not hold the phone and keep her foot on the pedal with her leg fully stretched throughout a phone conversation long enough to cause the erasure.

Woods always insisted the gap was accidental, and although the prosecution said her account was implausible they were not able to disprove it. Woods' office layout meant she would have needed the skills of a limbo dancer to achieve what she said had happened. Decades later, ranks of audio scientists have been unable to retrieve the conversation that Nixon had with his chief of staff. Expert examination showed that there had been at least five, and possibly nine, separate and contiguous erasures of the tape, removing a total of 18 minutes and 30 seconds. The person who first discovered the gap, William Reckert, died April 1, 2005. Deep Throat's identity was revealed May 31, 2005.

January 22, 2005 at age 87.

Tom Wilde >permalink<

Actor

Wilde appeared in such television shows as "Dragnet," "M Squad," "The Untouchables," "Perry Mason," Dick Powell's "Four Star Theatre" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents." In 1964, an auto collision crushed Wilde's throat, ending his professional acting career. A year later, he returned to college and earned a teaching credential. He taught at Encina High in his native Sacramento, California.

January 22, 2005 at age 88. Complications from a stroke.

Harold A. Spero
Developer of sunglasses
Spero was a Cleveland optician who patented a version of the flip-down sunglasses used by baseball players. A sports fan, he noted that baseball players were wearing special sunglasses to help them catch fly balls. He designed a pair of flip-down lenses called "4-Site," now marketed under the Tiger Eyes brand. With Spero's invention, players can quickly lower tinted lenses attached to a glasses frame when they need to track a fly ball against a bright sky.
January 21, 2005 at age 90.

Harry Boyle
Broadcaster
Boyle joined the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1942 as a farm reporter. In the 1960s he went to work for CBC's television service, serving as a program director and executive producer. In 1968, he was appointed vice chairman of the Canadian Radio-television and Telecommunications Commission, later serving as its president. The CRTC regulates and supervises broadcasting and telecommunications in Canada. At the CRTC, Boyle introduced measures to safeguard domestic ownership of Canada's broadcasting industry and created a set of Canadian content quotas. In 1977, Boyle presided over a committee of inquiry that examined national broadcasting, and his report criticized the CBC for failing to promote regional programming.

Boyle was known as a defender of creative independence. While at the CBC, he launched the careers of Max Ferguson, Barbara Frum and the comedy team Wayne and Shuster, who collectively and frequently challenged management restrictions. Boyle's measures to ensure Canadian broadcast content seemed Draconian when introduced in the 1970s, but they have helped create a vibrant, financially secure and internationally recognised body of talent and work.
January 21, 2005 at age 89. Heart failure.

Robert Dwan
TV and radio director
Dwan directed Groucho Marx throughout the entire 14-year run of his popular "You Bet Your Life" quiz show on radio and television. The show debuted on radio in 1947 and aired on television from 1950 to 1961. It provided an ideal format for Marx's rapier wit as he interviewed contestants before they played a question-and-answer quiz. As director, Dwan allowed the performance to run as long as seemed productive, usually filming about an hour for each half-hour broadcast. The best material was then edited for a 30-minute program. 525 "You Bet Your Life" programs were produced in which Groucho faced 2,500 contestants. In the early 1940s, Dwan had worked for Red Skelton radio show and was on the writing staff of Art Linkletter's "People Are Funny" before teaming with Marx.
January 21, 2005 at age 89. Complications related to pneumonia

Steve Susskind
Singer/actor
Susskind was one of the founders of the doo wop group The Roomates. Their biggest hit was 1961's "Please Love Me Forever" on which they backed 14-year-old singer Cathy Jean. Although the song was released as being recorded by Cathy Jean and the Roomates, the fact is that their tracks were recorded separately. Horror fans will remember Susskind as the pot smoking hippie Harold Hatcher in "Friday the 13th: 3D." Among his many voice work credits are Disney's "Monster's Inc.," "Osmosis Jones" and "Challenge of the Gobots." Other film and TV credits include "Star Trek V: The Voyage Home," "Friends," "Melrose Place," "Wings," "Married With Children," "The Jeffersons" and "Archie Bunker's Place."
January 21, 2005 at age 59. Automobile accident.

Walter Steele
Prosecutor/judge
Steele may be best remembered as the special prosecutor who brought charges against Senator Edward M. Kennedy for leaving the scene of the 1969 accident on Chappaquiddick Island off Martha's Vineyard that killed 28-year-old Mary Jo Kopechne (Kennedy was found guilty and received a two-month suspended sentence.) Steele had just been appointed special prosecutor for Dukes County on Martha's Vineyard a month before the Chappaquiddick accident. He was named to the Superior Court in 1980 and stepped down from the bench in 1996 at the mandatory retirement age of 70. He was not happy about it, "They fired me" Steele put it. Judge Steele was a Boston Bruins fan who mourned the demolition of Boston Garden and wept openly when he learned that Bobby Orr had been traded.
January 21, 2005 at age 78.

Bard Dupont
Bassist
In San Francisco in 1965, bass player Dupont hooked up with guitarists David Miner and Darby Slick and formed the folk-rock group The Great Society (a name suggested by David Freiberg, a reference to President Lyndon Johnson's vision of U.S. social reform). Darby's sister-in-law singer then joined the band -- her name was Grace Slick. Dupont left the group in March, 1966, citing ongoing conflicts with the Slicks. During Bard's short stay the group became a vital part of the area's blossoming alternative rock scene, easily rivalling the Jefferson Airplane in popularity. After failing an audition with the Sopwith Camel, Bard turned to management, handling The Outfit as well as other Bay Area bands. When Grace Slick left the Great Society, she took her brother-in-law's song "Somebody To Love," and her own composition "White Rabbit" to her new band. Both songs charted Top 10 for the Jefferson Airplane in the summer of 1967.
January 20, 2005 at age 64.

Beverly Dennis
Actress
In 1951, Dennis was invited west from Chicago to Hollywood by director William Wellman to be featured in his film "Westward the Women," written by Frank Capra. That same year she appeared in "Take Care of My Little Girl," written by Julius and Phillip Epstein and directed by Jean Negulesco. By 1952, Dennis' name began to appear on blacklists supplied to the networks by Red Channels, whose pamphlet listed the names of writers, directors and performers who were suggested to be members of subversive organizations. She was forced to leave the CBS TV show "The Red Buttons Show" (she played Red Buttons' wife) and she was no longer able to work in films and television. Dennis then attended NYU and Columbia U., becoming a psychotherapist and later treating clients in the film industry. Her husband, actor Russell Dennis, was also blacklisted. Beverly Dennis was the mother of the current Psychedelic Furs keyboardist Amanda Cramer.
January 20, 2005 at age 79. Multiple myeloma.

Carl Ferraro
Restaurant owner
Ferraro's Dresden Restaurant had been used as a location for a number of popular Hollywood films, including "What Women Want" (2000), with Mel Gibson, and "The Two Jakes" (1990), with Jack Nicholson. However, it was "Swingers" (1996) that had the most impact on Ferraro's business. In it, two aspiring actors, played by Jon Favreau and Vince Vaughn, often met at the Dresden to commiserate over cocktails. The restaurant's actual name was used in the film, and Ferraro had a cameo role. The Dresden jazz duo, Marty and Elayne Roberts, who have performed in its piano bar for more than 20 years, also appeared in the film.
January 20, 2005 at age 91. Congestive heart failure.

Chuck Olin
Documentary filmmaker
Olin started his film career as an assistant to fellow Chicago filmmaker Philip Kaufman on the 1967 Jon Voight comedy "Fearless Frank." He then set his sights on documentaries, producing and directing a number of films including "The Murder of Fred Hampton," "In Our Own Hands: The Hidden Story of the Jewish Brigade in World War II," "Box of Treasures," and the Emmy-Award winning "Palette of Glass: The America Windows of Marc Chagall."

"In Our Own Hands" offered a rare look at the British army unit made up of men from what was then Palestine. The Jewish Brigade was formed in late 1944 and had about 5,000 members. It was the only all-Jewish fighting force in the war.
January 20, 2005 at age 68. Amyloidosis, a rare blood disease.

Elayne Blythe
Founder, Film Advisory Board
Blythe formed the the Hollywood based Film Advisory Board in 1975 to promote quality entertainment for children and families. Her FAB rating system was used by some video and TV producers to provide content ratings in addition to or instead of the MPAA ratings. She also produced celebrity tributes, including those for Ted Turner, Mickey Rooney and Liza Minnelli. The Film Advisory Board's Award of Excellence seal has appeared on many family films.
January 20, 2005 at age 85.

Genevieve Gore
Waterproof fabric developer
Gore was the co-founder of the company that invented Gore-Tex fabric used for waterproofing clothing. She founded the company in 1958 with her husband, Wilbert "Bill" Gore, a former Du Pont executive. The firm made its first product, insulated computer cable, in the basement of the Gores' home. In 1969, the Gore's temperature-resistant cable was used on the first moon landing, connecting seismic equipment with the spacecraft. Waterproof fabric made by Gore-Tex was first used in clothing in 1976.
January 20, 2005 at age 91.

Miriam Rothschild
Expert on fleas
Rothschild's father was the banker Nathaniel Charles Rothschild, who found more than 500 new species of fleas. His daughter's six-volume catalog of his collection of 30,000 specimens, which she completed in 20 years, firmly established her as the flea authority other experts consulted. She also wrote about butterflies making themselves toxic by means of their food choices. Her highly original observations helped confirm 19th-century theories of evolution that had awaited 20th-century chemistry. Her uncle Lionel Walter Rothschild's collections were just as inspirational. He amassed 2.3 million butterflies, 300,000 bird skins, 144 giant tortoises and 300,000 birds' eggs, among other things.

Rothschild received no formal education until she was 17, when she demanded to go to school. She never earned any degree, but received an honorary doctorate from Oxford in 1968. During the Second World War, Miriam Rothschild joined the team of biologists, philosophers and mathematicians at Bletchley Park under Alan Turing, working on the now famous secret project to decode German communications sent by the Enigma machine. Using "intensive mathematical and logical analysis" to crack the code, Rothschild claimed that the biologists more than held their own against the mathmeticians.
January 20, 2005 at age 96.

Parveen Babi
Actress
Babi was a major Bollywood star during the 1970s and 1980s appearing in over 50 films. She was one of the first Indian actresses to openly flaunt her sexuality, breaking many of the taboos associated with Hindi films. As one of Bollywood's earliest pin-up girls, Babi transformed the tradtional heroine's image from an ethnic, sari-clad ascetic to that of an enchantress, casually flaunting her Westernised good looks and upbringing, drinking, blowing smoke rings and seeking and actually enjoying men. Her crowning glory came in the late 1977 when she was featured on the cover of Time magazine's Asia edition as the bold and glamorous emerging face not only of Hindi film but of Indian womanhood.

In recent years, she withdrew from the public eye, suffering from schizophrenia, becoming a recluse and converting to Christianity toward the end of her life. Babi claimed to be the target of an international murder conspiracy, accusing several prominent Bollywood stars of plotting to kill her. Babi also claimed to be in possession of hundreds of videocassettes that included "incriminating" evidence against people like Tony Blair, Bill Clinton, the Prince of Wales, Robert Redford, Bachchan and others. She spent her last days in a filthy flat in a Bombay neighbourhood. Police only discovered her body three days after she died, when they broke into her apartment following complaints by the building's janitor that newspapers and milk packets had been piling up outside her door.
January 20, 2005 at age 50.

Solomon King
Singer
King was the first white singer to tour with blues legend Billie Holiday He also sang backing vocals for rock 'n' roll legend Elvis as a member of The Jordanaires. After marrying Canadian journalist Henny Lowy in 1960, King spent 20 years living in the UK. There King had a hit with "She Wears My Ring" which went Top Five in 1967 and was a hit in 40 other countries. "When We Were Young" was also a hit the following year. At 6 foot 8 inches it was said some TV interviewers refused to have him on their shows unless he sat down. King was divorced in 1980 and returned to America, where he married twice again.

Although "She Wears My Ring" was recorded by Roy Orbison for his 1962 LP "Crying," it had not been released as a single. While King's recording went to Number 3 on the UK charts, the record could only manage Number 117 in the US, where it was eclipsed by a country-music version by Ray Price.
January 20, 2005 at age 73.

Brandt Steele
Psychiatrist who coined the term 'battered child'
Steele was a psychiatrist who helped pioneer the treatment of child abuse victims, and became the first to detail the physical and psychological symptoms of abuse by parents, dubbing the result "battered child syndrome." His work was pronounced one of the 20th century's 50 most important medical contributions by the Journal of the American Medical Association. He was also the first to document that abusers themselves often were childhood victims of abuse and neglect.
January 19, 2005 at age 97.

Cal Bolder
Actor/body builder
Bolder appeared in several films and TV series during the 1960s. Fans of bad cinema know Bolder as the monster in "Jesse James Meets Frankenstein's Daughter." Other better-regarded credits include "Heller in Pink Tights," "The Man From U.N.C.L.E.," "One of Our Spies is Missing," "Bonanza" and the "Friday's Child" episode of "Star Trek."
January 19, 2005 at age 74. Cancer.

Billy Tolles
Musician
Early plans to become a dentist were derailed when Tolles was befriended by Art Blakely when the two met in college. Blakely introduced him to musician Billy Eckstine, who invited Tolles to perform with his band when one of the regular musicians was ill. Along with Eckstine, Tolles played saxophone with Dizzy Gillespie, Lionel Hampton, Billie Holiday, Ray Charles, Tiny Bradshaw, and Charlie Parker. After serving in Korea, Tolles returned to Seattle and hosted "The Billy Tolles Rock and Roll Show," which aired two years before "Dick Clark's American Bandstand" debuted.
January 18, 2005 at age [80 or 83]. Cancer.

Gabriella Brune
Actress
British actress Brune's film career dates back to the 1930s. Her credits include "The Wife of General Ling," "The Titfield Thunderbolt," "A Run For Your Money," "Mandy," "The Green Pack" and "The Public Eye."
January 18, 2005 at age 92.

Jody Berry
Nightclub crooner
As a teenager, Berry won the Kentucky Golden Gloves heavyweight championship. Forsaking boxing, he sang at clubs across the United States, including the Happy Koomar's 400 Club in Los Angeles, where he once sang with Ella Fitzgerald, his favourite singer. He went on to perform in musical touring companies, performing in "Guys and Dolls," "Oklahoma," "The Music Man" and "High Button Shoes." He also starred in his own musical "Memory Lane of Fame," in which he impersonated such celebrity singers as Elvis Presley. His latest recording, "For Lovers Over Fifty and Under," is soon to be released. Berry also created a line of men's clothing called L'Uoma Elegante.
January 18, 2005 at age 68. Cancer.

Lamont Bentley
Actor
Bentley was best known for his supporting role in the UPN TV series "Moesha" (playing Moesha's friend Hakeem). He had a number of film and TV credits, appearing in "Tales From the Hood, " the Dr. Dre/Snoop Dog comedy "The Wash," and the made for TV bio-pic "Too Legit: The M.C. Hammer Story," playing slain rap star Tupac Shakur.
January 18, 2005 at age 31. Automobile accident.

Vivian Hubert Howard Green
Rector
Reverend Green was the former Rector of Lincoln College, Oxford. He achieved wider celebrity when he was revealed as one of the inspirations for John le Carré's spymaster 'George Smiley.' Smiley was the protagonist in le Carré's trilogy, "Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy," "The Honorable Schoolboy," and "Smiley's People," as well as two earlier novels. Green had no connection with the Secret Intelligence Service but many aspects of George Smiley's personality could be identified in him. "[Smiley] grew out of two people," John le Carré once said: Green, "my old friend, tutor and don who was chaplain at my public school", and John Bingham (Lord Clanmorris). In 1978, Green met William Scoular, a Canadian graduate member at Lincoln. They published jointly "A Question of Guilt" (1988), an investigation into the background to a sensational and macabre murder in Toronto in 1985 of a teenage girl by her boyfriend, which was subsequently turned by Scoular into the film "The Life and Death of Mary Eaton" (2003).
January 18, 2005 at age 89.

Albert Schatz
Microbiologist
In the 1940s, Schatz helped develop the powerful antibiotic streptomycin. He later had to go to court to be recognized as a co-discoverer of the drug. As a 23-year-old graduate student, he worked in the Rutgers University laboratory of Selman A. Waksman. Waksman gradually assumed sole public credit for the discovery, and in 1952, was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for work leading to the development of streptomycin, considered the first effective treatment for tuberculosis. Schatz sued Waksman and the university's research foundation, seeking credit as co-discoverer and a percentage of the royalties. In an out-of-court settlement, Schatz was named a co-discoverer. He and several other members of the laboratory were also awarded a percentage of the royalties. Rutgers gave Schatz its highest honor, the Rutgers University Medal, in 1994.
January 17, 2005 at age given variously as 74 or 84. Pancreatic cancer.

Bezerra da Silva
Sambista, godfather of gangsta rap
Although his recording career began late at age 48, he recorded twenty-eight albums -- 11 of which went gold, three platinum and one double platinum in his native Brazil. For 30 years his controversial and improvised brand of samba (known as "sambandido") provided a soundtrack for the slums of Rio de Janeiro. His sharp tongue enraged the country's politicians and made him a household name across Brazil. He sang about the day-to-day life of Rio's working classes: corrupt politicians, unfaithful women and the brutal codes of the city's shanty towns, dominated by drug traffickers. His songs documented the explosion of the cocaine trade in the 1980s, and he blamed the country's problems on its political élite. da Silva was often accused of supporting the city's criminals and he is considered the godfather of the gangsta-rap genre. Apart from corrupt politicians, his mother-in-law was his next favourite target: he described her as an alcoholic, cigar-smoking monster, complete with hairy chest and moustache.
January 17, 2005 at age 77. Heart failure after a severe lung infection.

Charles Bell
McDonald's restaurant CEO
Australian Bell was the first non-American to be given the job. He was diagnosed with cancer just one month after taking the helm in April, 2004. He continued the work of his predecessor, James Cantalupo, who had been CEO for just two years before he died of a heart attack. Their initiatives, including restaurant closures, healthier menu options, improved franchisee relations and the "I'm lovin' it" campaign, ended the chain's unprecedented profit slippage and defying critics who predicted that McDonald's decline was terminal.

Bell started at the very bottom of the food chain, mopping floors at a restaurant in Sydney, Australia when he was just 15. Four years later he became Australia's youngest branch manager. In 1990 he became vice-president for marketing and three years later he was appointed managing director of McDonald's Australia. He then served as the president of McDonald's Asia/Pacific, Middle East and Africa Group and president of McDonald's Europe before making the move to the chain's headquarters in Illinois in 1999.

Bell is credited for continuing the battle against poor service, bringing in longer opening hours and improved salad and white meat options. Bell was also responsible for introducing the McCafe, a coffeehouse franchise that serves gourmet coffee, cakes and pastries and premium teas. More than 300 McCafes have opened in Australia; the concept is slowing expanding to the U.S. market.
January 17, 2005 at age 44. Colorectal cancer.

Morris Simon
Radiologist
Dr. Simon was a renowned pulmonary radiologist who created a device that became known as the Simon nitinol vena cava filter and which trapped blood clots dislodged from the legs before they could reach the lungs or the heart. In its colder and compact form, the filter is inserted into a patient through a catheter, then expands to full size when warmed by the patient's body. The filter locks in place near the heart, acting as a sieve to stop blood clots from traveling toward the lungs. The device entered clinical testing in the 1980's, was approved and remains in use today. Dr. Simon's other medical innovations included work on a second blood filter that is intended to be removable, a computerized record system for radiology patients, a type of biopsy needle, a guided catheter and a semi-automated system for providing accurate doses of medications to elderly patients.
January 17, 2005 at age 79. Heart attack.

Peaches
Elephant
At the time her of death, Peaches was the oldest African elephant in the United States. She died at the Lincoln Park Zoo in Chicago. The zoo said keepers found the elephant on the floor of an indoor enclosure, her eyes unfocused and breathing heavily. After spending several hours trying to get the animal back on her feet, veterinarians administered an anesthesia and euthanized the elephant. Zoo spokeswoman Kelly McGrath says the median age for African elephants in the wild is around 42.
January 17, 2005 at age 55. Complications due to old age.

Virginia Mayo
Actress
During the 1940s and 1950s, Mayo was one of Warner Bros. Studios' biggest stars. She launched her movie career with a small part in the 1943 movie "Jack London," starring her future husband, Michael O'Shea. Working in musicals, she made four films with Danny Kaye including "The Kid From Brooklyn," "A Song Is Born," and "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty." Mayo was then cast against type in "The Best Years of Our Lives" opposite Dana Andrews. The Oscar-winning 1946 film garnered wide praise for her first major dramatic role. Moving to Warner Bros., Mayo gave one of her best-remembered performances in "White Heat." The Raoul Walsh directed crime melodrama also starred James Cagney as a mentally disturbed gang boss. She rivaled Jane Greer as one of Film Noir's all-time bad girls.

During two decades Mayo appeared in more than 40 films with some of cinema's greatest leading men, including "The Girl From Jones Beach" with Ronald Reagan, "Captain Horatio Hornblower" with Gregory Peck, "The Silver Chalice" with Paul Newman (his first film), "The Flame and the Arrow" with Burt Lancaster, "Along the Great Divide" with Kirk Douglas, and "Colorado Territory" with Joel McCrea, "The Princess and the Pirate" opposite Bob Hope, and "The West Point Story," again with Cagney. Her film career began to fade in the 1950's, appearing in "She's Working Her Way Through College" with Reagan, and she never again got a prime dramatic role. Mayo occasionally appeared on television in shows like "Murder, She Wrote," "Santa Barbara" and "Remington Steele."

As a young star known for her ash-blond hair, peaches-and-cream complexion, green eyes, and curvaceous figure, Mayo caught the fancy of the sultan of Morocco, who wrote her a fan letter in which he proclaimed her to be "tangible proof of the existence of God." Warner Bros. once issued a press release that concluded: "At 115 pounds she is potentially as valuable as an acre of land in downtown Los Angeles -- and at least several times more desirable."
January 17, 2005 at age 84. Pneumonia and heart failure.

Zhao Ziyang
Former Chinese Communist Party leader
Ziyang helped pioneer reforms that launched China's economic boom, but was ousted after the 1989 Tiananmen Square pro-democracy protests. The official Xinhua News Agency said he died "after failing to respond to all emergency treatment." Zhao had lived under house arrest for 15 years. A premature report of his death prompted the Chinese comment to break its long silence about him and disclose that he had been hospitalized. Zhao forged bold economic reforms in the 1980s that brought China new prosperity and opened its doors to the outside world. However, he fell out of favor with Deng Xiaoping and was purged on June 24, 1989, after the military crushed the student-led pro-democracy protests. Zhao was last seen in public on May 19, 1989, the day before martial law was declared in Beijing.
January 17, 2005 at age 85. Multiple ailments of the respiratory and cardiovascular systems.

Alebachew Teka
Ethiopian comedian
Ethiopia's biggest television star died while driving on his way to film a documentary. The comedian and talk-show host rose to prominence during the 1980's in a TV show that poked fun at the military dictatorship of Mengistu Haile Mariam. However, it was his series "The Alebe Show" that brought him widespread fame -- persuading rich guests to pledge money to help the destitute. As an indication of his popularity more than 60,000 mourners attended Alebachew's funeral in Addis Ababa.
January 16, 2005 at age 43. Automobile accident.

Agustan Gonzalez
Actor
Gonzalez appeared in more than 180 films and was nominated four times for the Best Supporting Actor Goya in his native Spain. In 1982 the Cinema Writers Circle Awards presented him the Best Supporting Actor Award for his work in "El Poderoso Influjo de la Luna." Among his lengthy list of credits are films such as "Belle Epoque," "The Beehive," "Gary Cooper, Who Art in Heaven," "Chocolate," "The Nest" and "That Man in Istanbul."
January 16, 2005 and age 74. Pneumonia.

Bill Brigden
Paddler, canoe builder
During the 1950s, Brigden won several Canadian national paddling championships, excelling in both long and short distances. In 1952, he represented Canada at the Helsinki Olympic Games. He went on to build hundreds of canoes in his Winnipeg basement. His canoes and kayaks are prized for their sturdiness, and are the boats of choice for long trips down the Amazon and through the Northwest Passage. In 1992, Brigden was inducted into the Manitoba Sports Hall of Fame.
January 16, 2005 at age 88.

H. Bentley Glass
Biologist/geneticist
Outspoken and forward-thinking, Glass may be best known as the author of the following prediction: that in the event of a nuclear catastrophe, the winner would be the cockroach.

Glass was a member or president of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Society of Human Genetics, the American Institute of Biological Sciences, American Society of Naturalists, Atomic Energy Commission's advisory committee for biology and medicine, Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory and the Natural Research Council's space science board.

Among other statements that he made during the 1960s: people in the year 2000 would live to nearly 100; sexual activity and reproduction would eventually become totally severed; not only would it become possible to prevent genetic defects -- it would also become mandatory to do so; within a generation or two, scientific progress was likely to halt; fallout shelters be built for animals as well as humans (birds were needed to eat the insects that proliferate after a nuclear war); and the races are disappearing (he said people defined as black had a gene pool 30 percent derived from white ancestors).
January 16, 2005 at age 98. Pneumonia.

Irving
Drummer
The musician only known as Irving formed the Surf Finks in Cleveland, Ohio in 1962. They recorded the classic instrumental, "Ridin' The Waves" in 1963. Inspired by the Beatles, they changed their name to the Mosquitos in 1964 and recorded their legendary album, "The Mosquitos at Carnegie Hall", which included the classic track, "Buzzin' Round Your Hive". They were not a successful rock & roll act in terms of charting records, but were frequent guests on the TV show Shindig. They're also known as the artists responsible (as The Wellingtons) for recording the Gilligan's Island theme song, and they played themselves on an episode of the show. The Mosquitos reformed in the 1980s as a nostalgia act, playing to appreciative audiences everywhere. Irving never revealed his last name.
January 16?, 2005 at age 65 [date uncertian]. Heart attack.

Peter Zeisler
Theater director
Zeisler helped found the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. For many years executive director of the Theater Communications Group, the national advocacy and service organization for nonprofit theaters. Founded in 1963, the Guthrie featured Hume Cronyn and Jessica Tandy among its actors in its first year.

Zeisler was nothing if not unspoken. He had served unhappily under General George S. Patton in World War II, and when he read a newspaper headline that erroneously reported that Patton had been killed when an Army truck struck the jeep the general was riding in, Zeisler wrote a letter to the editor suggesting that the driver of the truck be awarded the Medal of Honor. He quickly received a visit from the F.B.I.
January 16, 2005 at age 81. Heart failure.

Roger Ibanez
Actor
Ibanez was born in France to Basque/Spanish parents and was a staunch opponent of former Spanish dictator Francisco Franco. Ibanez appeared in several well-known European films, including Bunuel's "That Obscure Obect of Desire" and Pierre Granier-Deferre's "Le Train."
January 16, 2005 at age 71.

Dan Lee
Animator
Canadian animator Lee designed the character Nemo for Pixar's "Finding Nemo." Among other characters Lee designed were Rosie, Princess Atta, Dot, Hopper and Tuck & Roll in "A Bug's Life," Waternoose in "Monsters, Inc.," and Marlin, Bloat, Nemo's friends and the barracuda in "Finding Nemo."

Lee was born in Montreal, the youngest of four children of Chinese immigrants, and grew up primarily in the Toronto suburb of Scarborough, Ontario. He studied animation at Sheridan College in Oakville, Ontario, graduating at the top of his class. Lee worked on cartoons and TV commercials at Toronto's Kennedy Cartoons and Colossal Pictures in San Francisco. In 1996, he joined Pixar as a sketch artist, character designer and animator.
January 15, 2005 at age 35. Cancer.

Deem Bristow
Actor
Bristow provided the voice of villains Dr. Eggman and Dr. Robotnik for the video game "Sonic the Hedgehog." His film and TV credits include "Problem Child," "Terminal Exposure" and "Glitch!"
January 15, 2005 at age 57. Heart attack.

Dudley Hill
Musician
A longtime bluegrass, rock and jazz guitarist, Hill helped start a string band in the mid-1990s to honour jazz great Django Reinhardt. The Washington state-based band was supposed to be a hobby but Hill's band, Pearl Django, went on to tour Europe, record seven CDs and developed a cult following. Hill also gave guitar lessons, and among his students was a then-12-year-old Mark O'Connor, today considered one of the world's best fiddlers.
January 15, 2005 at ag 56. Colon cancer.

Elizabeth Janeway
Author and critic
Janeway was a writer, critic and early supporter of the women's movement. She wrote seven novels between the 1940s and the 1960s, including "The Walsh Girls" and "Daisy Kenyon," which was made into a movie starring Joan Crawford and Ruth Warrick (who also died January 15). As a reviewer for The New York Times, she championed Vladimir Nabokov's controversial "Lolita" against charges of indecency. In the 1970's, she became a noted supporter of feminism, befriending Betty Friedan, Gloria Steinem and Kate Millett and writing "Man's World, Woman's Place," "Between Myth and Morning: Women Awakening" and "Improper Behavior." She was married to Eliot Janeway, a writer on economics - known as Calamity Janeway for his gloomy forecasts - and adviser to the Roosevelt and Johnson administrations.
January 15, 2005 at age 91.

Rocky Roberts
Boxer and singer
Born Charlie Roberts, he worked for a decade as a boxer in the U.S. before an injury ended his career. He went to Europe while serving in the military in the 1960s and settled in Italy. In 1967, Roberts became an overnight star with "Stasera Mi Butto" ("I Will Try Tonight"), which he sang in Italian. The song was so successful that a movie was produced with the same title, starring Roberts. He also appeared in variety shows on Italian TV. As a skillful dancer who always wore sunglasses, Roberts set several fashion trends for Italian youth.
January 15, 2005 at age 66. Lung cancer.

Ruth Warrick
Actress
Warrick is best known for her work in two mediums spanned by a generation. In 1941, she played the wife of Charles Foster Kane in Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." Warrick was the last surviving member of the film's cast that also included Joseph Cotton, Agnes Moorehead and Welles himself. All were veterans of Welles' radio acting company, Mercury Theater of the Air. Warrick's other film work included Disney's now politically incorrect "Song of the South," as well as "Daisy Kenyon," "The Great Bank Robbery," "The Corsican Brothers," "Journey Into Fear" (working again with Welles), "Obliging Young Lady," "China Sea" and "Three Husbands." Her tell-all memoir, "Confessions of Phoebe Tyler" (1980), detailed an affair with actor Anthony Quinn. She was also linked with Douglas Fairbanks Jr. but remained circumspect about whether she consummated a relationship with Welles.

Warrick is probably best remembered for her work on several popular television soap operas. She was one of the original cast members of "All My Children" when the program debuted in 1970. She had also worked regularly on "The Guiding Light," "Loving," "As the World Turns" and "Peyton Place.". Warrick was nominated for several Emmy and Daytime Emmy Awards and in 2004 she received a Lifetime Achievement Emmy.
January 15, 2005 at age 88. Complications from pneumonia.

Victoria de los Angeles
Soprano
Born into a musical family in Barcelona in 1923, De los Angeles completed a six-year course at the Liceo Conservatory in Barcelona in just three years, graduating with honors at the age of 18. She made her opera debut at the city's Liceo Theater in 1945 as the countess in Mozart's "Le Nozze di Figaro." She went on to work with many of the world's leading conductors, including Thomas Beecham, John Barbirolli, Herbert von Karajan, Georg Solti and Zubin Mehta. The soprano's voice was sought after for its masterful tonal control and its seemingly effortless ability to turn on the power. Near the end of her career, she sang at the closing ceremonies of the 1992 Olympics in Barcelona. De los Angeles retired from the stage in 1998 after the death of one of her two sons, though she continued giving occasional recitals. She leaves an extensive recorded portfolio of 21 complete operas and more than 25 solo recital records. Among her most acclaimed opera roles were Bizet's "Carmen" and Puccini's "Madama Butterfly" and "La Boheme."
January 15, 2005 at age 81. Coma following heart and breathing troubles due to bronchitis.

William H. Crosby Jr.
Inventor of a biopsy device
Crosby was a pioneering hematologist who invented one of the first devices to obtain biopsies of the bowel. From 1951 to 1965, he was chief of Hematology and Cancer Chemotherapy at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research and Walter Reed General Hospital in Washington, D.C. With Heinz W. Kugler, he developed a device to remove tiny pieces of tissue from the small bowel, or intestine. The device became known as the Crosby-Kugler capsule, and its patent was assigned by Walter Reed to the two inventors. The capsule has fallen into disuse in recent years as doctors have turned to flexible fiber-optic tubes and other devices.
January 15, 2005 at age 90.

Carl Mohner
Actor
Mohner appeared in over 60 films and TV series during his life and may be best known for his role in the WWII thriller "Sink the Bismark." He also starred in Jules Dassin's French crime classic "Rififi" (the stylistic template for Stanley Kubrick's "The Killing" and Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs"). Mohner also wrote and directed "The Istanbul Adventure," and his other acting credits include "The Fall of Rome," "Carmen, Baby," "Callan," "The Babysitter" and "Cave of the Living Dead." During the 1960s, he took up painting and some of his works are held by the Smithsonian Institute in Washington D.C.
January 14, 2005 at age 88. Parkinson's disease.

Dennis Flanagan
Magazine editor
Previously the science editor at Life Magazine, Flanagan had discussed with colleagues the possibilities of a new, atomic-age science periodical for a general readership. He and two friends bought and overhauled Scientific American, whose circulation in 1947 had slumped to 40,000. They recruited Robert Oppenheimer, Linus Pauling and Albert Einstein to contribute to the magazine. Flanagan, who had no formal science training, edited boldly to transform scientific jargon into lay language. His liberal leanings were sometimes said to influence stories with political overtones, notably on nuclear weapons and relations between the United States and the Soviet Union. In the 1950s, he ran into trouble with government censors, who prohibited him from publishing - under threat of the death penalty - an article on the dangers of the hydrogen bomb. The government eventually allowed a revised version to be published. When Flanagan retired in 1984, Scientific American's circulation was more than 600,000, exceeding Harper's and Fortune.
January 14, 2005 at age 85. Prostate cancer.

Jack Kine
TV effects pioneer
In 1954, co-founded with Bernard Wilkie the BBC Visual Effects Department and together they invented techniques that have stood for decades. If the required special effects techniques didn't exist the pair invented them, becoming model-makers, matte painters, stop-motion animators or title sequence graphic designers, depending on what the scripts demanded. For "Quatermass II" (1955) they created an amorphous monster that stopped the country in its tracks (and was preceded by an announcement warning viewers "of a nervous disposition" not to watch). Kine, who modelled the original Tardis, also claimed the inspiration behind Doctor Who's arch enemies the Daleks, modelling them on a café pepperpot. The television Visual Effects Department eventually became the biggest of its kind in the world.
January 14, 2005 at age 83.

John Elliott
Navy vet, golfer
He enlisted in the Navy in 1917 and served two years aboard the battleship Texas as a pharmacist's mate. Elliott was still aboard the Texas in March 1919 when it became the first U.S. battleship to launch an airplane - a British Sopwith Camel - from a wooden platform built on a gun turret. The platform enabled a takeoff, he recalled, but was too short to allow a landing.
January 14, 2005 at age 105. Heart attack.

Ofelia Guilmain
Mexican film, tv and stage actress
Guilmain fled to Mexico during the Spanish civil war after participating in the Guerrillas of Theater group created by the Spanish Republican government that unsuccessfully battled the Nazi-backed forces of Francisco Franco. In Mexico Guilmain acted in at least 100 stage plays and about 50 films. She appeared in the "Exterminating Angel" by fellow Spanish exile Luis Bunuel as well as "Patrol 777" with comedian Mario Moreno, known as Cantinflas. Her stage last role was in "The House of Bernarda Alba" by Federico Garcia Lorca, a martyr of the Spanish Republican era. She is due to appear posthumously in a television soap opera, "My Truth," to be broadcast this year.
January 14, 2005 at age 83. Severe bronchitis.

Earl Cameron
Canadian TV anchorman
Earl Cameron was host of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's national television news from 1959 to 1966 and his style set the template for all CBC anchors that followed. His distinctively rich voice and famously unflinching face lent authority to the CBC in the early days of TV broadcasting. If Lorne Greene was the CBC Radios's Voice of Doom, then Earl Cameron was the TV voice from Mount Olympus. It was said that while he couldn't you convince that black was white, he would certainly cause you to give it some thought.

Never a journalist, Cameron stated, "I just read the words." His participation in Crest toothpaste commercials and a change in CBC news-reader philosophy ultimately ended his 32 year career at the CBC. "Mr. CBC News" died after a lengthy illness in a Barrie, Ontario hospital. For more about the legendary newscaster, visit the Last Link Earl Cameron tribute page.
January 13, 2005 at age 89.

Nell Rankin
Mezzo-soprano
Rankin made her opera debut in 1949 as Ortrud in Wagner's "Lohengrin" in Zurich, Switzerland. Rankin's career took off internationally after she became the first American singer to win first prize at the Concours de Musique, a contest in Geneva, in 1950. The next year, she debuted at La Scala in Milan, Italy, and at the Metropolitan Opera in New York where she sang Amneris. In her long career with the Met, Rankin's starring roles also included Eboli in Verdi's "Don Carlo" and Marina in Mussorgsky's "Boris Godunov." Rankin sang at a gala honouring Libya's King Idris and gave a solo recital during Queen Elizabeth II's coronation. She also sang at London's Royal Opera House and at the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, among other famed opera houses.
January 13, 2005 at age 81. Polycythemia vera, a rare bone marrow disease.

Amrish Puri
Bollywood actor
Veteran Bollywood star Puri was best known to western audiences for his role as the villainous cult leader Mola Ram in "Indiana Jones and The Temple of Doom." Puri developed a reputation for elevating evil and his over-the-top villains. His portrayal of gang leader Mogambo in 1989's "Mr. India" was among many of his characters that audiences loved to hate. Puri had a small role in Richard Attenborough's "Gandhi." In his native India, Puri starred in more than 200 films and did extensive voice work on trailers and TV commercials.

It was because of Puri's scene in "Temple of Doom" (where he rips the beating heart out of someone's chest) that the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America) introduced the PG-13 in response to parental demand for a rating that was between an R and a PG.
January 12, 2005 at age 72. Brain hemorrhage.

Danny Benson
Sound engineer
Benson was the sound engineer for "The Committee," improvisational comedy troupe and a mainstay of San Francisco's North Beach in the 1960s. Among the movies he worked on were "The Dead Pool," "Die Laughing" and 1983's "The Right Stuff," which won an Academy Award for sound. He also worked on the "Sesame Street" children's TV series.
January 12, 2005 at age 65. Cancer.

Jay Schulberg
Creator of milk campaign
Schulberg created some of the more memorable advertising campaigns of the last four decades, focusing on concise copy and tag lines that became independently popular and part of the culture. In the 1970s, he hired Karl Malden, then playing a detective on television, to implore "Don't leave home without it" for American Express travelers checks. "A dry baby is a happy baby" promoted Huggies disposable diapers. The worst headaches were declared "Excedrin headaches." Country Time Lemonade tasted just like "good old-fashioned lemonade." Some of his clients included Hershey's, AT&T, Duracell, Maxwell House, Swanson's, Sports Illustrated and TWA.

In 1994, Schulberg created the campaign most will remember him for. It started as series of ads that only appeared in print and it evolved from "Milk. What a surprise!" to "Where's your mustache?" to finally "Got milk?" He hired Annie Leibovitz to photograph Naomi Campbell, Lauren Bacall, Joan Rivers and others. The ads expanded to include athletes and were placed on billboards. "The Milk Mustache Book," (1998) that Schulberg wrote about the ads became a best-seller. The campaign further expanded to television featuring current pop idols. For a look at celebrity highlights of the campaign, visit the official Got Milk? site. For more insights into the world of advertising, visit Brought To You By, the Last Link look at the folks behind the ads.
January 12, 2005 at age 65. Pancreatic cancer.

Robert Walker
Physicist
Walker worked at the Los Alamos and University of Chicago laboratories of the Manhattan Project, building pressure gauges to measure the size of atomic blasts. He later was on the Caltech faculty from 1949 until his retirement in 1981, specializing in experimental high-energy physics and working on the university's synchrotron. Walker spent his retirement years building harpsichords.
January 12, 2005 at age 85. Heart attack.

Ruth Packer
Opera soprano
Packer was a dramatic soprano of that generation of singers whose careers were interrupted by the six-year hiatus of the Second World War. She appeared at Covent Garden in Sir Thomas Beecham's Grand Opera Season in May and June 1939, singing in Die Walküre (part of Wagner's Ring cycle), and was engaged to sing in Götterdämmerung the following season - which never took place. In the early 1950s she sang with the Welsh National Opera. Though Packer made no commercial records, she sang in Richard Strauss's Elektra, conducted by Beecham for the BBC in October 1947 and recordings of this performance exist.
aaa January 12, 2005 at age 94.

Sal Pacino
Restaurateur and father of actor Al Pacino
Pacino was a theater actor and director in the 1950s. After a 30 year career in the insurance field, he became a night club owner and later in life returned to acting. Pacino appeared as a swing dancer in the film "Younger and Younger," and had a leading role in the crime comedy "Soldati, I." Pacino's daughter Roberta owns the film production company "Quarter to Three Films." The company took its name from a Frank Sinatra song that was one of her father's favorites.
January 12, 2005 at age 82. Heart attack.

Jimmy Griffin
Musician
Along with David Gates, Robb Royer and Jim Gordon, Griffin founded the band "Bread," which had a string of hits during the early 1970s that included "Baby, I'm-a Want You," "Make It With You" and "If." Griffin shared the Best Original Song Oscar with fellow "Bread" member Royer and Fred Karlin for the song "For All We Know." The song, performed by "The Carpenters," was used in the film "Lovers and Other Strangers." He also wrote country hits, including Conway Twitty's "Who's Gonna Know" and Restless Heart's "You Can Depend On Me." Griffin appeared in two films in the early 1960s: Frank Sinatra's lone directorial attempt "None But the Brave" and the teen comedy "For Those Who Think Young."
January 11, 2004 at age 61. Cancer.

Richard Hirschfeld
Fugitive
Hirschfeld cultivated a shadowy image of intrigue and never confirmed or denied the cloak-and-dagger rumors that swirled around him. Even the CIA wasn't sure if he worked for them. When asked directly he said only, "Nobody's ever heard of a Jewish James Bond." After meeting Muhammad Ali in 1980, Hirschfeld became the boxer's lawyer. Ali mistakenly believed that Mr. Hirschfeld had represented John Wayne. Hirschfeld accompanied the boxing champ to the Middle East in 1985 in a highly publicized attempt to gain the release of American hostages in Lebanon.

In 1987 and 1988, someone purporting to be Ali made hundreds of telephone calls to senators, press secretaries, journalists and even Attorney General Edwin Meese. The calls urged action on legal or legislative matters that would have benefited Hirschfeld or his friends. Hirschfeld, who was known to do a convincing impersonation of Ali, denied making the calls. Ali and Hirschfeld later had a falling out over the legal rights to the boxer's life story.

Hirschfeld was representing ousted Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos in an arms deal when he secretly recorded their conversations about a plot for Marcos to regain power. Hirschfeld took the tapes to a congressional committee in 1987. Hirschfeld's partner in that caper, Robert Chastain, died mysteriously in Vienna, shortly after a suicide clause in his insurance policies expired. Hirschfeld was primary beneficiary of almost $5 million.

In 1991, after claiming a $42 million tax write-off from a nonexistent lawsuit, Hirschfeld was convicted of tax evasion and conspiracy, fined $460,000 and sentenced to six years in federal prison. He was implicated in a 1993 plot to have acid thrown in the face of the Virginia federal judge who had sentenced him to prison or, failing that, to have the judge's legs broken. He was indicted in 1996 in a scheme to obtain an early work-release furlough while still in prison. He was accused of fraudulently arranging to work for Habitat for Humanity rebuilding houses damaged by Hurricane Andrew in Florida.

Facing a possible sentence of 70 years if convicted, Hirschfeld fled the country and had lived as a fugitive until his capture. Hirschfeld spent most of the last eight years on the lam and was arrested in October in a closet at a lavish riverfront home in Fort Lauderdale. He died the same day authorities told his attorney that final arrangements had been made to move him to Norfolk, Va., for trial. He apparently hanged himself with plastic wrap in a jailhouse laundry room.
January 11, 2005 at age 57. Suicide.

Spencer Dryden
Drummer for the Jefferson Airplane
Dryden was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996 for his work with the Jefferson Airplane during the band's glory years -- from the breakthrough 1967 "Surrealistic Pillow" album through historic rock festivals such as Woodstock and Altamont. He replaced Skip Spence, who went on to start another Fillmore-era San Francisco rock group, Moby Grape.

Dryden formed an alliance, both personal and professional, with singer Grace Slick. He was able to shape the Airplane's musical direction and business decisions; for instance, he threatened to quit in 1968 if the group did not sack manager Bill Graham. Graham was duly dismissed. In her autobiography, Somebody to Love? (1998), Slick admitted to having bedded four of the band's five male members. To mark Dryden's 30th birthday, she also wrote the song Lather about him. The track appeared on Crown of Creation (1968).

Dryden left the Airplane in 1970 to replace Mickey Hart in the Grateful Dead sideline country-rock band, New Riders of the Purple Sage. In the '80s, he joined a group of psychedelic rock veterans called the Dinosaurs along with former members of Big Brother and the Holding Company, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Country Joe and the Fish.

Dryden had health problems in recent years, and retired from performing music 10 years ago. Last year a benefit was held for Dryden, who was in the middle of two hip replacement surgeries and was facing heart surgery at the time. His home and all his possessions had been destroyed in a fire in September 2003. He was diagnosed with stomach cancer later last year.

Dryden’s father, British actor Wheeler Dryden, worked as an assistant director for his half-brother Charlie Chaplin (his middle name was also Spencer). Dryden grew up knowing such film stars as Abbott and Costello, Boris Karloff and Stan Laurel. His mother was Alice Dryden, a ballet dancer at Radio City Music Hall.
January 11, 2005 at age 66. Cancer.

Thelma White
Actress
White is best known for her portrayal of a hard-boiled addiction queen in the 1936 movie "Reefer Madness." White was a carnival performer as a toddler, progressing to vaudeville, radio and movies, later working as an agent and producer for many years. During her heyday as an actress, she appeared alongside such legendary performers as W.C. Fields, Will Rogers, Red Skelton and Jack Benny.

As White’s film career continued (and never rising above B-movies) she became notorious for her private life. Her affairs were with members of both sexes - Marlene Dietrich was one of her lovers - and she married three times. She retired from the screen by the late 1940s, resurfacing twenty years later as a film agent for such actors as James Coburn, Ann Jillian, Robert Fuller, Dolores Hart, Debbie Reynolds, and Robert Blake.

"Reefer Madness" was a low-budget propaganda film written by a religious group to broadcast the dangers of marijuana. In 1972, Keith Stroup, founder of the National Organization for Reform of Marijuana Laws discovered it in the Library of Congress archives and paid $297 for a print. He then screened it in New York as a benefit for the advocacy group, unwittingly launching it on the road to cult-film history. The movie was seen by Robert Shaye, who re-released it through his then-fledgling company, New Line Cinema. The film became a high-camp hit, especially popular on college campuses. New Line grew into a force in the entertainment industry, responsible for "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and other hits. Film critic Leonard Maltin calls "Reefer Madness" the granddaddy of all 'Worst' movies.
January 11, 2005 at age 94. Pneumonia.

Arthur Rosenblatt
Architect
Rosenblatt was instrumental in the re-shaping of the Metropolitan Museum of Art and the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, DC. He was in charge of architecture and planning at the Met when the museum underwent more than $1 billion's worth of construction and renovation. Rosenblatt was also involved with the restoration of the New York Public Library.
January 10, 2005 at age 73. Cancer.

Carl West
Musician
Carl played steel guitar with Wynn Stewart's West Coast Playboys from 1957 to 1959. He also worked in various bands, including playing with Eddie and Hank Cochran before they started their recording careers as the Cochran Brothers. In the 1960s he worked with a variety of bandleaders, most notably Jerry Inman which led to Carl appearing as a sideman on Inman's 1967 country album of Beatles' songs. He also recorded with Bobby Vee, Dorsey Burnette and the Byrds. West retired from the music scene in the early 1970s.

In 1956, Eddie Cochran appeared in the film "The Girl Can't Help It," singing the song "Twenty-Flight Rock" (the same song that Paul McCartney would use to impress John Lennon upon their first meeting in 1957). Cochran's biggest hit was "Summertime Blues," covered by such luminaries as The Who, Blue Cheer and Alan Jackson. Although they billed themselves as the Cochran Brothers, Eddie and Hank were not related -- they shared their last name simply through coincidence.
January 10, 2005 at age 69. Cancer.

Earl Brush
Oldest man in California
Although the state has two older female residents, Margaret Russell, 112, and Marion Higgins, 111, Brush had been verified as the oldest living man in the state. Brush bought his first car, a Maxwell Overlong, in 1913 and drove until he was 100. He continued to read the newspaper and work a crossword puzzle every day. Brush attributed his longevity to "strong genes, refraining from smoking or drinking, and staying married to the same woman for 67 years."
January 10, 2005 at age 111.

Erwin Hillier
Cinematographer
After studying art in Berlin, a friend introduced Hillier to the genius of German silent films, F.W. Murnau who looked at Erwin's paintings and asked him to become a camera assistant on his next (and final) picture "Tabu" (1931). Murnau then introduced Hillier to director Fritz Lang, and Hillier worked as a camera assistant on Lang's first sound film, "M" (1931) starring Peter Lorre. Among Hillier's other nearly 50 credits: "The Shoes Of The Fisherman," "Shake Hands with the Devil," "The Dam Busters," and "A Canterbury Tale."
January 10, 2005 at age 93.

Gene Baylos
Comedian
Although not widely known, Baylos worked steadily and was a favourite of celebrity comedians. Allan King described him as "the court jester of the Friars Club" and said, "Put him in a room with 20 comedians, and nobody gets laughs except Baylos." Baylos began working in the clubs of the Catskill Mountains in the 1930s and traveled the nightclub circuit from New York City to Los Angeles. He also had modest success in television, performing his stand-up routine on variety shows, including "The Hollywood Palace." He had small roles in the comedy television series "The Dick Van Dyke Show" and "Car 54, Where Are You?" and the Jerry Lewis movie "The Family Jewels."

Baylos never got the big break that would have made him as well known as a Milton Berle, a Buddy Hackett or even a Shecky Greene. While successful as a nightclub act, he used material considered too risqué for television, where stand-up comedy migrated after the big nightclubs began closing. His material may seem tame today, but was considered unfit for a family audience in the 1950's and 60's. Baylos worked until September, 1999 when he fell and broke a hip on the way to a Friars Club gig.
January 10, 2005 at age 98. Natural causes.

Isobel 'Bunty' Webb
Actress
Webb was very active in regional theater in her native Canada. In addition to her work founding and encouraging regional theaters, she appeared in numerous commercials, and in films and TV shows such as "A Simple Wish," "Double Jeopardy," "Tommy Boy," "Sing," "Higher Education," "Bedroom Eyes," "Maniac Mansion" and "Alfred Hitchcock Presents."
January 10, 2005 at age 73.

Margherita Carosio
Soprano
Carosio began singing opera in public at the age of 14 and was still singing leading roles in her early 60s. Until the arrival of Maria Callas, she was considered the leading bel canto soprano in Italy. She had a brief career in Italian films, and even received an offer from MGM in Hollywood, which she turned down because of her Italian commitments. She retired from singing in the mid-1950s and devoted herself to music criticism and journalism.
January 10, 2005 at age 96.

Gonzalo Gavira
Sound effects editor
With Robert Knudson and Christopher Newman, Gavira won an Oscar for the demonic sounds for the blockbuster film "The Exorcist." He created such special sound effects as heard in the scene in which Linda Blair's head turned 360 degrees. Gavira worked on over 60 films around the world, including Alejandro Jodorowsky's "El Topo," Sergio Leone's "The Good, The Bad and the Ugly," "The Towering Inferno," "Mark of the Devil 3" and "Deathstalker 3."
January 9, 2005 at age 79. Circulatory problems.

Koji Hashimoto
Japanese film director
Hashimoto directed the 1984 remake of "Godzilla" and the sci-fi film "Sayonara Jupiter." For most of his career, he worked as an assistant director on many of Toho Studio's monster movies. His credits include "King Kong vs. Godzilla," "Gihidra: The Three-Headed Monster," "Frankenstein Conquers the World," "Monster Zero," "Atragon 2," "Godzilla's Revenge" and "Tidal Wave." In addition to working with giant rubber monsters, he was Akira Kurosawa's assistant on "Dodes'ka-den."
January 9, 2005 at age 68. Injuries sustained in a fall while mountain climbing.

Vantile Whitfield
Playwright/TV newsman
Whitfield was an influential playwright, director of stage and screen and founding director of the Expansion Arts program at the National Endowment of the Arts. He was a pioneer in theater arts and television in the 1960s and 1970s when Hollywood was less receptive to African Americans. His first major job in TV was to assemble and direct a team of black reporters and cameramen to cover the 1967/1968 Watts riots in Los Angeles. White reporters were not allowed in that area of the city. He later produced "Anatomy of Change," a one-hour special for a CBS affiliate that was nominated for a local Emmy. In 1971, Whitfield directed and produced one of the first Bill Cosby specials for NBC. He received numerous awards, including the NAACP Image Award, the Los Angeles Drama Critics Award, and an ETA Creative Arts Foundation citation in 1992 recognizing him as one of the "Epic Men of the 20th Century."
January 9, 2005 at age 74. Alzheimer's disease.

Badja D'jola
Actor
D'jola appeared in nearly 50 films and TV shows and is best known as Leon Issac Kennedy's boxing opponent in "Penitentiary." He also had a supporting role in Wes Craven's "The Serpent and the Rainbow." Other film and TV credits include "Mississippi Burning," "A Rage in Harlem," "The Lonely Guy," "The Last Boy Scout," "NYPD Blue," "Rosewood," "The Hurricane," "Night Shift," "The Waterdance," "ER," "The X Files," "Millennium" and "Roc."
January 8, 2005 at age 56. Heart attack.

David McNeil
Doo wop singer
As part of the U.S. East Coast music scene in the 1940s and 1950s, McNeil sang with scores of groups who incorporated elements of jazz, blues, gospel and pop into a musical style, initially dubbed "race music" but later known as "rhythm and blues." McNeil sang with The Southern Harmonaires, The Selah Singers, The Four Barons ("Got To Go Back Again"), The Jubilators, The Larks, Billy Ward's Dominoes ("Pedal Pushin' Papa"), Charlie Fuqua's Ink Spots ("Hawaiian Wedding Song") and The Fabulous Ink Spots. McNeil was inducted in the United In Group Harmony's Hall Of Fame in 1993.
January 8, 2005 at age 72. Cancer.

Everett Wilson
Actor
Everett and his twin brother Ronald were one set of several twins who played Bill Cosby's infant grandson Nelson Tibideaux on the TV series "The Cosby Show."
January 8, 2005 at age 17. Automobile accident.

Garrard Smock Jr.
3rd-generation Pullman porter
Garrard "Babe" Smock Jr. received recognition late in life as a living symbol of the thousands of black men who catered to passengers during the golden age of luxury train travel. Smock was 18 years old when he went to work for the Pullman Co. in 1937. But he wasn't the only third-generation member of his family to become a porter. His older brothers, Virgil and George, were already working as porters when he came aboard. When the three Smock brothers and their father found themselves working together on the Lark - the Southern Pacific's first-class sleeper train from Los Angeles to San Francisco - it was considered unusual enough to land them in "Ripley's Believe It or Not."
January 8, 2005 at age 86. Pneumonia.

Glen P. Wilson
Senate aide and NASA official
A psychologist by training, Wilson was working for Senator Lyndon B. Johnson when he was seconded to join the staff of the Senate's Special Committee on Space and Astronautics. His function initially was to interview specialists and analyze technical data so the committee had guidelines as it wrote the National Aeronautics and Space Act of 1958 and created the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. He remained with the committee until its termination in 1977.
January 8, 2005 at age 82. Diabetes.

Michel Thomas
Linguist
Thomas was born Moniek Kroskof in Lodz, Poland, on Feb. 3, 1914. Michel Thomas was one of several aliases he used during the war. While studying psychology at the University of Vienna, he was caught in the German occupation. His passport was confiscated and heft Austria a stateless Jew, eventually finding his way to France. During the war he volunteered for the French Army and served in the intelligence corps in Nice. However, much of his wartime record is subject to several claims.

A biography by Christopher Robbins titled "Test of Courage: The Michel Thomas Story" (1999) stated that while Thomas was being by interrogated by Klaus Barbie, the "Butcher of Lyon," in 1943, he avoided being shot in the skull by passing himself off as a French painter who did not speak German. Thomas' web site biography suggests he was a U.S. counterintelligence agent toward the end of the war, present at the liberation of Dachau. He began collecting data on Nazi war criminals and infiltrated a group of Nazis who were planning a terrorist campaign. In the 1980s, he testified against Barbie at his trial for crimes against humanity. Barbie received a life sentence.

In 1947, he settled in California and became known for his language training school in Beverly Hills. He spoke 11 languages, including English, German, French, Spanish, Italian and Yiddish, and promoted a controversial method of teaching. He said he could teach the basic structure of a language within days "without the need for books, memorizing, or homework" using techniques he supposedly learned from the Gestapo. He attracted a who's who of Hollywood clients over the years including Barbra Streisand, Mel Brooks, Alfred Hitchcock, Woody Allen, Bill Murray and Warren Beatty. He later attracted corporate clients including Coca-Cola, Procter & Gamble and American Express.
January 8, 2005 at age 90. Heart failure.

Warren Spears
Choreographer and dancer
Though born an American, Spears transplanted himself to Denmark where he was the artistic director and choreographer of the New Danish Dance Theater for 12 years. He appeared in director Lars von Triers' innovative movie "Dancer in the Dark" which starred Bjork, Catherine Deneuve, David Morse and Peter Stormare.
Died January 8, 2005 at age 50. Multiple myeloma.

Bernard "Buddy" Diliberto
Sports commentator
Buddy Dilberto was a New Orleans radio sports commentator who originated the tradition of fans wearing paper bags over their heads to lament losing teams. Working at WWL-AM, where he was a commentator and sports talk show host, he became famous for his banter with callers and his blistering criticism of players, coaches and front-office executives. During local team dry spells, he would often do his sports report standing in front of a cemetery, suggesting that the players played like cadavers.
January 7, 2005 at age 73. Heart attack.

Richard Clarke
Actor
Although most of Clarke's work took place in nearly 20 Broadway plays, he did appear in several films and TV programs including "A Night to Remember," "Midnight Cowboy," "John and Mary," the television version of "The Elephant Man," "Meet Joe Black" and the mini series "The Kennedys of Massachusetts."
January 7, 2005 at age 70. Colon cancer.

Rosemary Kennedy
Sister of Edward, John and Robert Kennedy
A sister of the Kennedy brothers who dominated U.S. politics in the 1960s, Rosemary spent most of her life in an institution. Joseph Kennedy, her father, was worried his daughter's mild mental retardation would lead her into situations that could damage the family's reputation. Rosemary, whose retardation possibly stemmed from brain damage at birth, had taken to sneaking out of the convent where she was staying. The elder Kennedy feared that pregnancy or disease would bring disgrace to the family name, and in 1941 agreed to have Rosemary undergo a lobotomy. She was 23. Psychosurgery was in its infancy at the time and the procedure was believed to be a way to relieve serious mental disorders. Rosemary was probably the first person with mental retardation in America to receive a prefrontal lobotomy, a procedure in which the frontal lobes of a patient's brain are scraped away. The surgery reduced Rosemary to an infant-like state, mumbling words and sitting for hours staring at walls.

In diaries discovered in 1995 and written prior to the lobotomy, Rosemary wrote of a life of tea dances, dress fittings and trip to the opera, the White House and Europe. Rosemary's plight proved an inspiration for younger sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who became an activist for the mentally retarded and founded the Special Olympics for mentally disabled athletes.
January 7, 2005 at age 86.

Ernest Lenart
Actor
Lenart worked primarily as a stage actor in his native land Germany and fled to the U.S. after the rise of Hitler's Nazi Party. He had a supporting role in the made for TV movie "21 Hours at Munich" which dealt with the massacre of the Israeli Olympic team by PLO terrorists. Other credits include the WWII film "Target Unknown," episodes of the TV series "Millennium," and the mini-series "Wagner."
January 6, 2005 at age 92.

Lois Hole
Lieutenant-governor of Alberta
Prior to political life, Lois Hole made a name for herself as a gardening guru, philanthropist and education advocate. Along with her husband Ted, owned and operated Hole's Greenhouses and Gardens near Edmonton -- one of the largest such operations in Western Canada. She also wrote 17 best-selling gardening books and in 1991 wrote a memoir called "I'll Never Marry A Farmer."

Born in Buchanan, Saskatchewan, she married Ted Hole in 1952, buying a farm that they grew into their vegetable and mixed garden business. Was a school trustee, first for the Sturgeon School Division (1967-1981), and then for the St. Albert School District (1981-1988). Hole was appointed Chancellor of the University of Alberta in 1998, and a year later was appointed the province's 15th lieutenant governor, the Queen's representative in Alberta. The Lois Hole Library Legacy program was launched in 2003, and a new women's hospital and public library branch in Edmonton were named in her honour in 2004.

The popular figure was best known and best loved as the Queen of Hugs. Her frequent public appearances were marked by the thousands of hugs she doled out. She was also known for fearlessly speaking against government policies of the day, particularly in the fields of health care and the arts. Her public appearances with Premier Ralph Klein were studies in philosophical contrast and a discomfort to the oft surprised Klein. The Lois Hole Care and Nuture Legacy Fund has been established to assist arts organizations, public libraries, the disadvantaged and any group that serves the public good.
January 6, 2005 at age 71. Stomach cancer.

Louis J. Robichaud
Former premier of New Brunswick
Described as the architect of modern New Brunswick, Robichaud transformed a divided and backward province into a thriving bilingual and bicultural society. Robichaud was Liberal premier of New Brunswick from 1960 to 1970 and a member of the Senate from 1973 to 2000 (from which he retired at age 75 claiming he was bored with the shenanigans).

When Robichaud assumed power in 1960 at the age of 34, his province was a rural backwater fraught with poverty and illiteracy. There were more than 1,100 taxing authorities -- even cows and chickens were taxed, and at widely differing rates. There were 422 school districts, each with its own educational standards and pay scales for teachers. Social welfare systems were based on 18th-century poor laws.

On January 1, 1967, sweeping legislation introduced by Robichaud changed all that. His government also revised liquor laws, created collective bargaining rights for the civil service, established a department of youth, appointed a provincial ombudsman, adopted a non-premium medicare system, and revitalized the province's natural resources sector, particularly mines and forests.

After a decade in power, Robichaud's government was defeated in the 1970 election by the Richard Hatfield-led Progressive Conservatives in a campaign largely funded by K.C. Irving -- the industrial giant who founded a business empire in New Brunswick that is now one the wealthiest in the world -- who didn't like some of the tax changes brought in by Robichaud.

Robichaud is perhaps best known for introducing the province's Official Languages Act, which made New Brunswick Canada's only officially bilingual province. He also took pride in the founding of the French-speaking University of Moncton. Since it opened in 1963, it has produced 25,000 graduates.
January 6, 2005 at age 79. Cancer.

Makgatho Mandela
AIDS victim
The son of former South African President Nelson Mandela died from a disease that has ravaged South Africa but is still widely regarded as taboo. Mandela said he had been unaware of his son's illness when he began lobbying for more openness about the pandemic some three years ago. "My son has died of AIDS," Mandela said, ending weeks of speculation that the younger Mandela had the disease. The former president asked all South Africans to treat AIDS as an "ordinary" disease -- and not a curse for which "people will go to hell and not to heaven."

Mandela has acknowledged doing too little to combat AIDS during his presidency from 1994 to 1999. More than 5 million South Africans are infected with the HIV virus -- the highest number of infections in the world -- and at least 1,000 a day die from AIDS. The country's current president, Thabo Mbeki, has done little to promote the issue and suggests that factors other than HIV causes AIDS.

The immediate cause of Makgatho Mandela's death was complications from a gall bladder operation with AIDS a contributing factor. Nelson Mandela is determined to portray the death as resulting from AIDS in order to demystify the disease.
January 6, 2004 at age 54. Illness related to AIDS.

Sindhu
Actress
The star of nearly 60 films and TV series in her native India, Sindhu was involved in raising money for the victims of 2004's tsunami. She collapsed after walking for several miles and died despite being rushed to a hospital.
January 6, 2005 at age 32. Cardiac arrest.

Danny Sugerman
Fan, biographer and manager of the Doors
As a teenager, Sugerman followed his fascination with the classic 1960s rock band the Doors into the group's inner circle. After persistently hanging around the group's office, they eventually put him on the payroll, assigning him to answer fan mail. Lead singer Jim Morrison took him under his wing. Morrison, then 27, was found dead in the bathtub of his apartment in Paris on July 3, 1971. The French police said he died of a heart attack, though his use of drugs and alcohol was believed to be a factor. The three surviving Doors - guitarist Robby Krieger, drummer John Densmore and keyboardist Ray Manzarek - continued on for two more albums. When Manzarek quit the Doors in 1973 and began a solo career, Sugerman became his publicist and manager. Eventually, Sugerman's role evolved into caretaker of the Doors' legacy, overseeing reissues and compilations of the band's records over the years.

With Jerry Hopkins, Sugerman co-authored the 1980 Morrison biography "No One Here Gets Out Alive." Along with the appearance of the band's "The End" over the opening sequence of the movie "Apocalypse Now," the book sparked a resurgence of interest in the Doors. Sugerman was a consultant on Oliver Stone's 1991 biographical film "The Doors" which starred Val Kilmer. Sugerman also wrote and produced the concert video "The Doors: Live in Europe 1968." He chronicled his own drug years in the 1989 memoir "Wonderland Avenue: Tales of Glamour and Excess." The Doors regrouped in 2002. Featuring Manzarek, Krieger and former The Cult singer Ian Astbury, the band is now called The Doors of the 21st Century. Sugerman is survived by his wife, the former Fawn Hall, who was Oliver North's secretary during the Iran-Contra scandal.
January 5, 2005 at age 50. Lung cancer.

Eduardo Hay
International Olympic Committee member
A member of the IOC from 1974 to 1991, Hay was also a member of the IOC Medical Commission from 1967 to 1993, serving as vice chairman for the final 13 years. Instrumental in securing the 1968 Games for Mexico City, it was Hay's discussion of medical issues that helped overcome doubts about the wisdom of holding the games at Mexico City's 7,349-foot altitude.
January 5, 2005 at age 89. Infection.

René Le Hénaff
French film editor/director
Le Hénaff was associated with two of France's top directors of the 1930s. He edited Rene Clair's first sound film "Sous les Toits de Paris (Under the Rooftops of Paris)." His second film with Clair was the comedy "À Nous la Liberté (Liberty for Us)." The film pre-dated Charlie Chaplin's classic "Modern Times" by five years and the producers of Clair's film sued Chaplin for plagiarism (the case was settled out of court). Le Hénaff also edited Clair's romantic comedy "Quatorze Juillet (July 14)." He collaborated with director Marcel Carne on the thriller "Le Jour se Lève (Daybreak)." Le Hénaff directed fourteen films himself, the best known and regarded being 1943's "Le Colonel Chabert."
January 5, 2005 at age 102. Natural causes.

Sarah Jeweler
Magazine editor
A former rock 'n' roll drummer, Jewler had worked at The Village Voice and Rolling Stone magazines before assuming managing editor duties at New York magazine in 1994.
January 5, 2004 at age 56. Complications from a rare blood disorder.

Billy McGrandle
Boxer and boilermaker
At his father's knee, Billy McGrandle heard the following advice, "When in doubt, clout." The pint-sized McGrandle later went on to become a champion featherweight boxer. He was so tough it could be said his tartan colours were black and blue.

McGrandle, known as the Wee Champ, won the Canadian professional featherweight championship at age 18 in 1966. His greatest loss was to challengers wearing suits, not boxing trunks. McGrandle was stripped of the championship and was denied a chance to fight for Canada at the Olympic Games in 1964.

Just days before he was to leave for Japan, the Canadian Olympic Association dropped McGrandle from the team. It seems the boxer had received a one-year suspended sentence for possessing stolen property earlier in the summer. There was also the matter of an outstanding break-and-enter charge, stemming from a late-night incident with drunken friends at an Edmonton golf course. Upon hearing of the Association's decision, McGrandle's mother accidentally overdosed on medication and had to be rushed to hospital.

McGrandle responded by turning pro as a featherweight in 1966, ending an amateur career of 174 victories and only 11 defeats. One his early matches faced him against champion Francis "Rocky" MacDougall of Cape Breton Island. After 12 brutal rounds, the fight and the title were awarded to Edmonton's hometown hero.

A rematch set for a few weeks later was delayed and almost cancelled when McGrandle failed to show for a media sparring session. McGrandle's brother, a boxer who narrowly missed qualifying for the 1960 Olympics, found him drunk in a car in downtown Edmonton. McGrandle later won the rematch in another 12-rounder, again decided on points.

McGrandle retired with a 23-6-1 professional record, with five knockouts to his credit. He worked as a boilermaker, a member of the International Brotherhood of Boilermakers, Local 146, for over 24 years. He suffered a broken back while working in the Alberta oil patch that required surgery and often left him in pain. In 1990, he was inducted into the Alberta Sports Hall of Fame.
January 4, 2005 at age 57. Heart attack.

Bud Poile
Hockey player and general manager
Hockey Hall of Famer Poile played for the Toronto Maple Leafs when they won the Stanley Cup in 1947. He also played for the Chicago Black Hawks, the Detroit Red Wings, the New York Rangers, and the Boston Bruins during his NHL career. He was the first general manager of the Philadelphia Flyers and the Vancouver Canucks. Poile was also the father of Nashville Predators general manager David Poile.
January 4, 2005 at age 80.

Humphrey Carpenter
Biographer
A controversial biographer often criticised for his readiness to probe and reveal the sex lives of his subjects which was regarded either as honest and unflinching, or prurient and attention-seeking. Carpenter's subjects included Benjamin Britten, Dennis Potter, and figures of the "Brideshead Generation." Known in the UK as a broadcaster and an expert in Children's Literature, he may be best known for his biography of J.R.R. Tolkien. Carpenter appeared in several documentaries about Tolkien including "Tolkein Remembered" and "An Awfully Big Adventure: J.R.R. Tolkein."
January 4, 2005 at age 58. Pulmonary embolism, Parkinson's disease.

Warren Kemmerling
Actor
As a character actor, Kemmerling appeared in nearly 100 films and TV shows. His credits include "Close Encounters of the Third Kind," Hitchcock's final film "Family Plot," Ron Howard's first film "Eat My Dust," Sidney Poitier's "Brother John," "The Loved One," and "The Cheyenne Social Club." In small screen movies, he also appeared in "The Execution of Private Slovak," "How the West Was Won," "Raid on Entebbe" and "King." He appeared on some of television's most popular shows including "Gunsmoke," "I Dream of Jeannie," "Bonanza," "The Jack Benny Program," "LA Law," "The A-Team," "The Rockford Files," "The Waltons," "Route 66," "Mission Impossible" among many others. He also served on the board of directors of the Screen Actor's Guild for close to 40 years.
January 3, 2005 at age 76.

Will Eisner
Comic book pioneer
Eisner started making comics in the 1930s and was the first to use "silent" balloonless panels to emphasize character emotion by focusing attention on facial expression. He addressed subjects rarely seen at the time: spousal abuse, tax audits, urban blight and graft. Drafted during World War II, the Army had him create "Joe Dope" to teach Jeep maintenance to soldiers with a bumbling comic-strip character. After the war, the Army hired him for more instruction manuals, which he produced until the 1970s. Eisner's first graphic novel, "A Contract with God," was published in 1978, combining elements of comic books and literary novels. For more about the lasting legacy of this pioneering storyteller, visit the Last Link Eisner tribute page.
January 3, 2005 at age 87. Complications from quadruple bypass heart surgery.

Amjed 'A.J.' Abdallah
Musician and studio owner
Was found shot to death January 4, 2005, in the first floor hallway of Studio Eight, a West Eight Mile, Detroit, recording studio he owned. It's likely he died 2 days earlier. A percussionist and singer, he was a member of The Howling Diablos who often backed up for Earl King, Johnny Adams, Albert Collins, and Johnnie Johnson at local appearances. The Diablos toured recently with George Clinton and Parliament/Funkadelic, as well as opening shows for Ben Harper, Tom Petty, Hank Williams Jr., and the GreyBoy All-Stars. They recorded the old-school blues classic "Wine Spo Dee O Dee", with a guest appearance by Kid Rock, for the Ahmet Ertegen produced tribute record, "Good Rockin' Tonite", which included tracks by Paul McCartney, Sheryl Crow, Matchbox 20, Bob Dylan and others. This CD spawned the American Masters PBS TV Special, "Sun Records Tribute" which also included the Diablos and some of their favorite music legends. Studio 8 was where Eminem recorded "The Slim Shady LP" ,and inspired the title of Eminem's semi-autobiographical movie, "8 Mile." Abdallah recently decided to sell the building, listing it on Ebay.
January 2, 2005 at age 36. Murdered.

Arnold Denker
Dean of chess
From the late 1920's through the beginning of World War II, Denker, along with others, led the United States to four consecutive world team championships. In 1944, he won the U.S. championship with the score of 15 1/2 to 1 1/2, establishing a record unsurpassed until Bobby Fischer's clean slate 11-0 victory in the 1963-64 tournament. Denker was then asked to lead the United States team in its disastrous radio match against the Soviet Union. The 1945 match was intended to foster better relations in the dawning months of the Cold War. Playing against Soviet champion Mikhail Botvinnik, Denker quickly lost both his games, and the United States team lost the match by a score of 15.5 to 4.5. Botvinnik later became world champion. In 1946, in Cleveland, Denker set a world record by playing 100 opponents in 7.33 hours. He retired soon thereafter to run a private business.

Denker began playing competitive chess again in 1971, tying for seventh place in the United States Open. In 1981 Denker was awarded the title of grandmaster, but in 1988 he became the first grandmaster to lose to a computer, called Hitech. In 1992 the United States Chess Federation inducted Denker into its hall of fame. He continued to play in tournaments into his 80's, tying for sixth place at the United States Open in 1995. Last year, the federation gave Denker the title of Dean of American Chess. He was the third person to receive this title.

Denker relished his chess career, writing two books. One, titled "If You Must Play Chess" (1947), was a collection of his best games. The other was titled "The Bobby Fischer I Knew and Other Stories" (1995). A mentor to Fischer, Denker played the young genius to a draw in a national tournament in 1958 when Fischer was 15.
January 2, 2005 at age 90. Brain cancer.

Barbara Pilavin
Actress
Appeared in over 50 films and TV shows ranging from B-movies ("Vice Squad") to classics (Vittorio de Sica's Oscar winning Best Foreign Film "The Garden of the Finzi-Continis"). Other credits include "A League of Their Own," "Frightmare," "10 to Midnight," "Homer & Eddie," "NYPD Blue," "Just Shoot Me!" "Charmed," "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" and "Eerie, Indiana."
January 2, 2005 at age 8. Complications following a stroke.

C.M. Pennington-Richards
Cinematographer
Pennington-Richards was one of the most noted black and white cinematographers in film history. He filmed the 1951 Alastair Sim version of "Scrooge," made memorable by his moody and eerie photography. Pennington-Richards brought a documentary-style realism to his work and is credited with defining the look of classic film-noir. He lensed the original 1956 film version of "1984" and Edward Dmytryk's 1949 "Obsession." As a TV director in his native England, he helmed the series "Danger Man," "Ivanhoe" "A Challenge for Robin Hood," "The Invisible Man," "The Buccaneers," and "The Wooden Horse," the true story of an ingenious escape by prisoners of war, and still one of the best of its genre.
January 2, 2005 at age 93.

Cyril Fletcher
British comedian
Fletcher's career began on stage in British variety houses, the UK equivalent of Vaudeville. In 1937, he was among the first entertainers to step in front of television cameras when the BBC launched the world's first regular TV service, appearing on the show "Tele-Ho!" In 1941, he married Betty Astell, a performer from even earlier television experiments by John Logie Baird in the early 1930s. Fletcher and his wife started a talent agency discovering, among others, Sir. Harry Seacombe, later to gain fame as part of "The Goon Show" with Peter Sellers and Spike Milligan. Fletcher later became an actor-manager and eventually ran his country's biggest agency for public speakers. Fletcher appeared in the 1947 Ealing Studios version of "The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby" alongside Cedric Hardwicke and Sybil Thorndike. Fletcher's distinctive voice was also used for the narration of the biblical film "A Story of David" in 1960.
January 2, 2005 at age 91.

H. David Dalquist
Inventor of the Bundt Pan
Dalquist designed the pan in 1950 at the request of members of the Minneapolis chapter of Hadassah, seeking to recreate cakes baked in Europe. He created a new shape based on a German original, adding regular folds to make it easier to cut the cake. The women from the society called the pans "bund pans" because "bund" is German for an organization or group of people. Dalquist added a "t," trademarked the name, and founded Nordic Ware, which has sold more than 50 million Bundt pans. Initially the company sold few of the pans, but in 1966 a Texas woman won second place in the Pillsbury Bake-Off for her Tunnel of Fudge Cake, made in a Bundt. Suddenly bakers across the country wanted their own Tunnel of Fudge cakes -- making the Bundt the top-selling cake pan in the world.
January 2, 2005 at age 86. Heart failure

Frank Kelly Freas
Illustrator
Freas defined the look of pulp science fiction, winning 11 Hugo Awards in recognition. He was born in New York, but was raised in Canada. Freas served in the U.S. Army Air Corps during World War II and drew pinup girls on the noses of bombers. In 1950, a friend encouraged him to submit an illustration to Weird Tales magazine, kick-starting his career as a science fiction and fantasy artist. For nearly half a century, Freas painted covers for Astounding Science Fiction Magazine and Analog Science Fiction and Fact, illustrating stories by Poul Anderson, Isaac Asimov, Arthur C. Clarke, Robert Heinlein, Ursula K. LeGuin, Frederik Pohl and A.E. Van Vogt. He painted 58 covers for Laser Books and 90 for Ace.

One of Freas' most memorable illustrations was a 1953 Astounding Science Fiction magazine cover for Tom Godwin's science fiction short story "The Gulf Between," depicting a giant robot holding a dead man in the palm of its hand. In 1977, Freas was asked to repaint the illustration for the album cover of Queen's "News of the World," with the robot holding bloodied members of the band. Freas also drew MAD Magazine covers from 1958 to 1962. He inherited the gap-toothed Alfred E. Newman from his creator, Norman Mingo. Newman was based on a smiling dunce popular in 19th century advertisements.

Freas was also an official NASA mission artist, designing the crew patch for Skylab I astronauts. His inspiring space exploration posters hang in the Smithsonian Museum in Washington. Perhaps Freas' most widely seen work is a picture of a werewolf that appeared in the movie "Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban." His wife of 16 years, Laura Brodian Freas, said the cause of death was old age.
January 2, 2005 at age 82.

Maclyn McCarty
Pioneer in DNA Research
McCarty was the last surviving member of a Manhattan scientific team that overturned medical dogma in the 1940's and became the first to demonstrate that genes were made of DNA. Working with Dr. Oswald T. Avery and Dr. Colin MacLeod, Dr. McCarty strongly hinted that DNA was the stuff of life and paved the way for the field of molecular biology and genetic engineering. Until the team's findings, scientists believed that genes were made of protein, which was thought to lack the necessary complexity to carry hereditary information. The team's reports fell mostly on deaf ears for about a decade before playing a pivotal role in the determination in 1953 by Dr. James Watson and Dr. Francis H. C. Crick that the structure of DNA was a double helix, a discovery for which the two shared a Nobel Prize. McCarty was also a renowned leader in research on the biology and immunochemistry of the streptococcus bacterium and its role in producing rheumatic fever.
January 2, 2005 at age 93. Congestive heart failure.

Paul Manning
TV producer and writer
Manning was nominated for two Emmy Awards and won once for co-producing the TV series "E.R." in addition to writing several episodes. He also wrote 20 episodes for the TV series "LA Law." After taking a three-year sabbatical, he returned to TV in 2004 as an executive consultant to the CBS series "Clubhouse."
January 2, 2005 at age 45. Colon cancer.

Elizabeth L. Mayer
Psychologist
Mayer, a UC Berkeley psychology professor, drew international attention in 2003 when she introduced "coincidence theory," a conceptual model to explain seemingly inexplicable events scientifically. The New York Times magazine hailed her theory as one of the "most exciting" new ideas of that year. At the time of her death, she was just finishing a book titled "Extraordinary Ways of Knowing: Making Sense of the Inexplicable in Everyday Life." Mayer's interest in coincidence began when she sought the aid of a self-described psychic to help locate a stolen family possession. The man was able to tell her precisely where to find the missing object and Mayer began more than a decade of research seeking a scientific explanation for what had occurred. In her view, the unconscious mind absorbs bits of information that rise into awareness producing the phenomenon commonly called clairvoyance. She also felt the unconscious may be able to alter the physical world.
January 1, 2005 at age 57. Complications from intestinal scleroderma.

Hugh Davies
Electronic music innovator
Davies was a composer, instrument maker and musicologist, working primarily in Britain in the field of post-modern music. During the 1960s, Davies first created taped soundscapes and became an acknowledged master of cut-and-splice in the pre-computerised days when you had to use a razor blade to compose on reel-to-reel tape. In the early 1970s, he was part of the live-electronics group Gentle Fire, a pioneering outfit that was among the first to tackle Karlheinz Stockhausen's then brand-new controversial text pieces. He also made important contributions by documenting new-music activities in his International Electronic Music Catalog (1968). In an attempt to list every piece of electronic music composed to date, his catalog resulted in 305 entries added to The New Grove Dictionary of Musical Instruments (1984).
January 1, 2005 at age 61.

Raymond Wood
Graphic designer
Wood was best known for creating the pictographs used at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. He also created logos for such products as Kirin Beer, Ryder trucks, Thrifty drugstores, National Car Rental and Fox broadcasting. Known primarily for his package designs, lettering and corporate logos, he designed programs for Pepsi, Revlon and Paul Masson Vineyards, among other clients. His work won numerous awards from industry organizations, including the Art Directors Club in both New York and Los Angeles, the Institute of Graphic Arts and the Society of Typographic Arts.
January 1, 2005 at age 64. Pancreatic cancer.

Robert R. Fortier
Actor
Appeared in five films by Robert Altman including "McCabe and Mrs. Miller" and "A Wedding." Also appeared in the horror film "Incubus," the first film shot in the artificial language Esperanto. Among other 40 TV and film credits: "Heaven Can Wait," "Show Boat," several episodes of "The Outer Limits," "Star Trek," "Gunsmoke" and "Bonanza."
January 1, 2005 at age 78.

Shirley Chisholm
First black woman elected to U.S. Congress
Chisholm was elected to Congress in 1968 and served for 14 years. She sought the Democratic nomination for president in 1972. When rival candidate George Wallace, her ideological opposite, was shot, she visited him in the hospital, an act that appalled her followers. Her 1972 presidential bid was the subject of Shola Lynch's 2004 documentary "Chisholm '72: Unbought & Unbossed." Chisholm went to Congress the same year Richard Nixon was elected to the White House and served until two years into Ronald Reagan's tenure as president.
January 1, 2005 at age 80. Complications from recent strokes.

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