Literotica Cemetary

[JennyOmanHill]

Supermodel Naomi Sims Dead at 61

Grand dame, great beauty and pioneer in the fashion industry Naomi Sims has died of cancer. She was 61 years old.

"Naomi Sims was an incredible role model – a trailblazer who helped to define black beauty and open the doors for all of the African American models we see today -- and a savvy businesswoman," a shaken Beverly Johnson told Black Voices. "Mostly, she was a friend and someone I greatly admired. We lost a truly dynamic woman."

Sims was born in Oxford, Miss., on March 30, 1948. An awkward teen -- 5-foot-10 by the time she was 13 -- Sims and her family left the segregated South and moved to Pittsburgh, where she completed high school.

Sim's mother took ill, and the gangly teen and her two sisters were placed in foster care. After graduation, the ambitious beauty moved to New York City to study at the Fashion Institute of Technology.

Because of financial constraints, Sims left school and began modeling in the big city. She broke through at the age of 18 when she appeared on the cover of Ladies Home Journal. She was the magazine's first African American cover model. In 1969, Sims appeared on a simple yet striking cover of Life magazine.

Sims went on to dominate the modeling world during the late '60s and early '70s, appearing in ad campaigns and on catwalks for top designers such as Halston and Giorgio di Sant'Angelo. She ran in glamorous sets, befriending the likes of Salvador Dali and Andy Warhol.

In 1973, after six years as a top model, Sims officially retired to create a successful wig collection, Metropa Company. Three years later, she launched the Naomi Sims Collection, a beauty line that included makeup, hair and fragrance products targeted to African American women, who were woefully underserved in the beauty industry.

Dabbling in the acting world, Sims was offered but ultimately turned down the role of Cleopatra Jones (made famous by Tamara Dobson) because of its racist portrayal of blacks. According to her Web site, she also wrote a "scathing letter to the studio" denouncing the blaxploitation film.

Sims is largely credited with opening the doors for African American models, including Pat Cleveland, Alva Chinn, Hardison and Johnson.

"Naomi Sims is my predecessor, and she's just a tremendous lady and great beauty," says Johnson, who also started a successful wig line. "They did an exhibit at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York -- her photograph is displayed and mine. They did it for every decade. It's quite an exhibit to see the decades of the models."

Sims, known for her commanding and regal presence, wrote several books on modeling, health and beauty, including 'All About Health and Beauty for the Black Woman,' 'How to Be a Top Model' and 'All About Success for the Black Woman.'

Sims, who died in Newark, N.J., is survived by sister Betty Sims, son Bob Findlay, and a granddaughter

 

[Igor_1066]

John Hughes dies of a heart attack at 59

In memory of John Hughes: The top 5 must see John Hughes films
August 6, 5:55 PM · Beth Clough - Seattle Movie Examiner


On Thursday, August 6, 2009, writer/director/producer John Hughes died suddenly of a heart attack.

It would be near impossible to list your favorite 80’s films and not mention at least one film written or directed by John Hughes. His love and celebration of teenaged high school angst, has transcended his own generation and continued to reach each approaching decade for new groups of tortured teens to relate to his films. Although in the 90’s Hughes moved in to more family centered films with hits like; Home Alone, Curly Sue and Beethoven, we remember him best for setting the tone for the 80’s decade. In honor of his tremendous legacy of films, here are the top 5 John Hughes films everyone should see:



1. The Breakfast Club (1985): related to audiences everywhere by portraying an exaggerated representation of the clicks everyone has/had in their high school, and at the same time, showing how rebellion is in all of us. This also helped to launch the 80’s careers for every member of that club; Molly Ringwald, Emilio Estevez, Anthony Michael Hall, Judd Neslon, and Ally Sheedy. Memorable Quotes: “Eat…My…Shorts.”




2. Sixteen Candles (1984): well casted with; The Geek, Jake Ryan, and the Donger…how could you not love this movie. Memorable Quotes: “The Donger need food.”



3. Ferris Buellar’s Day Off (1986): inspiring bands and t-shirts everywhere, Ferris Buellar made skipping school and getting away with it an art form. Another Hughes film set in or around Chicago, but the first to really highlight the city. Memorable Quotes: “I hope he doesn’t die…I can’t handle summer school.”



4. Pretty in Pink (1986): the anthem for the middle-class art geek in all of us. Molly Ringwald was not really an Oscar®-caliber actress, but it felt like the part of Andie Walsh was written for her. Memorable Quotes: “No! What about prom?”



5. Weird Science (1985): geeks use their computer to make their dream girl come true and get back at their high school bullies…and geeks everywhere say, “I’m waiting to hear the bad part.” Memorable Quotes: You guys are the ones who got beat up at the homecoming game... right?






Notable Runners-up:

6. Christmas Vacation (1989); AUNT BETHANY: “Is your house on fire, Clark?" CLARK: "No, Aunt Bethany, those are the Christmas lights." That’s really all you need to know that this film it’s one of the best Christmas films ever.





7. Plains, Trains, and Automobiles (1987); where the idea for Black Sheep came from, but this film stars two comedic legends, Steve Martin and John Candy. To appreciate Black Sheep you have to watch Plains, Trains, and Automobiles; it will give you some perspective. Memorable Quotes: “I was just talking to my friend about that. Our speedometer has melted and as a result it's very hard to see with any degree of accuracy exactly how fast we were going.”

http://www.examiner.com/x-10648-Sea...-Hughes--The-top-5-must-see-John-Hughes-films



8. Mr. Mom (1983); Michael Keaton gets ousted from his job and is left to take care of his three kids while his wife (Teri Garr) goes back to work…a timeless movie really. Memorable Quotes: "Honey if you call and I'm not home I'll be at the gym or the gun club."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Wow

http://www.blogcdn.com/www.popeater.com/media/2009/08/hughes.jpg.

 

[Igor_1066]

Folksinger and Scholar Mike Seeger Dead at 75
August 10, 2009

Neo-traditional folksinger and music scholar Mike Seeger died Friday (Aug. 7) at his home in Lexington, Va., of multiple myeloma. He was 75. The son of musicologist Charles Seeger and composer Ruth Crawford, Seeger extended the folksong footprints of his older and more famous half-brother, Pete Seeger, by becoming a systematic collector of traditional Southern rural music and by championing, recording and presenting to the public those who played it as a part of their everyday existence. He began playing banjo and guitar when he was 18 and started collecting and performing folk music in his early 20s. In 1958, he joined John Cohen and Tom Paley to form the New Lost City Ramblers, a group that modeled itself and built its repertoire on the rural string bands of the 1920s and 1930s. Unlike the smooth-singing and ironic Kingston Trio (which started a year earlier) or the politically-driven Weavers (of which Pete Seeger was a member), the New Lost City Ramblers opted for stylistic and thematic authenticity. Both in and out of this group, which disbanded in the mid-1960s, Seeger continued to perform, make and produce records and create instructional media. By the time he was presented the Bess Lomax Hawes NEA National Heritage Fellowship earlier this year, he had more than 30 documentary recordings to his credit and had starred or performed on an additional 40 albums. He played autoharp on Robert Plant and Alison Krauss' Grammy-winning album, Raising Sand.

http://www.cmt.com/news/news-in-brief/1617980/folksinger-and-scholar-mike-seeger-dead-at-75.jhtml

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Budd Schulberg, writer of 'On the Waterfront,' dead at age of 95

Budd Schulberg - the best-selling novelist, boxing correspondent and Oscar-winning screenwriter of "On the Waterfront" - has died. He was 95.

Schulberg suffered breathing problems and was rushed from his Westhampton, L.I., home to Peconic Bay Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead, a family spokesman said.

The legendary writer had been in good health, even attending a reading last week in Hoboken, N.J., of "On the Waterfront" put on by members of the cast of "The Sopranos."

"I thought they did an excellent job. I was very pleased with it," Schulberg told the Jersey Journal in what turned out to be his last interview.

Born Seymour Wilson Schulberg in New York City, he was raised in Hollywood, where his father, B.P. Schulberg, was a movie pioneer and head of Paramount Pictures.

Struggling throughout his youth with a speech impediment, he became a good listener with an ear for poetry.

While at Dartmouth, Schulberg collaborated with F. Scott Fitzgerald on a script based on the school's annual winter carnival.

In 1941, Schulberg's first novel, "What Makes Sammy Run?" was published. The book, about a newspaper copy boy who becomes a top screenwriter by backstabbing others, was the National Critics' Choice for Best First Novel of the Year.

Schulberg was in the Navy in World War II, assigned to filmmaker John Ford's documentary unit.

His numerous screenwriting credits included the 1947 Humphrey Bogart film "The Harder They Fall."

His most famous work was "On the Waterfront," directed by Elia Kazan and starring Marlon Brando as a boxer-turned-longshoreman who battles corrupt union bosses.

The film won eight Academy Awards, including Best Screenplay for Schulberg.

Schulberg was also the former chief boxing correspondent for Sports Illustrated and was elected to the Boxing Hall of Fame in 2002.

He is survived by his fourth wife, Betsy, and two children.

 

[Igor_1066]

Les Paul, Jazz-Guitar Virtuoso and Inventor, Dies at 94

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, August 13, 2009 1:58 PM


Les Paul, 94, a Grammy Award-winning guitar virtuoso and inventor of the solid-body electric guitar, who helped bring his instrument to the forefront of jazz and rock-and-roll performance, died today at a hospital in White Plains, N.Y. He had pneumonia.

Mr. Paul first came to prominence for his fast and flashy jazz-guitar style. In the 1940s and early 1950s, he and singer Mary Ford, his wife, had hits with "How High the Moon," "The Tennessee Waltz," "Vaya con Dios" and "The World is Waiting for the Sunrise."

All along, he refined musical inventions in his workshop. He was an early designer of an electric guitar that had a solid body, and his model managed to reduce sound distortions common to acoustic instruments.

He actively promoted such guitars for the Gibson company, and the Les Paul line of guitars became commonplace among such musicians as bluesman Eric Clapton, jazzman Wes Montgomery and rocker Pete Townshend.

Mr. Paul called his first solid-body guitar "the Log." It was made of a four-inch thick piece of wood from a nearby railroad track, a neck he borrowed from an Epiphone guitar and two pickups to give it the electric pulse. Audiences and music executives laughed at the ungainly device, and he spent years honing its visual appeal.

He said his efforts were toward one goal: to change the way people saw the guitar.

"I wanted people to hear me," he told the publication Guitar Player in 2002. "That's where the whole idea of a solid-body guitar came from. In the '30s, the archtop electric was such an apologetic instrument. On the bandstand, it was so difficult battling with a drummer, the horns, and all the instruments that had so much power.

"With a solid-body, guitarists could get louder and express themselves," he said. "Instead of being wimps, we'd become one of the most powerful people in the band. We could turn that mother up and do what we couldn't do before."

He played a key role in developing the eight-track tape recorder and used the device to play many parts on the same recording, a process now called multitracking. Such early work in overlaying sound contributed to the richness and distinctiveness of his recordings.

Mr. Paul earned the nickname "the wizard of Waukesha," after the town in Wisconsin where he was born Lester William Polfuss on June 9, 1915. His father was an auto-garage mechanic.

As a boy, Mr. Paul taught himself music on his mother's player piano, mimicking the notes with his own hands. An admirer of the blues and country troubadours he heard on the radio, he imitated their songs with his own harmonica and mail-order guitar. He played both instruments simultaneously by making his own harmonica holder.

As a teenager, he played dates at a drive-in restaurant, where he experimented with amplified sound to reach the open-air audience. He stuck a phonograph needle inside his acoustic guitar and wired it to a radio speaker.

Adopting the moniker "Rhubarb Red," he left high school and joined a traveling cowboy band and later played on the "Barn Dance" program on WLS radio in Chicago. He named one of his early groups the Original Ozark Apple Knockers.

Not wishing for a career in hillbilly music, he persuaded two friends -- guitarist Jimmy Atkins (Chet's brother) and bassist Ernie Newton -- that he knew Paul Whiteman, the prominent big-band leader. The trio went to New York in 1937, only to be kicked out of Whiteman's office.

They were waiting for the elevator back down when they saw bandleader Fred Waring standing next to them. He already had dozens of musicians, but Mr. Paul insisted he hear the trio's lightning-fast tempo -- timed to please Waring before the elevator arrived. He was hooked, and they got a job on his NBC show.

Around this time, Mr. Paul also became a consultant to the Gibson company, testing its new models. Not until a decade later, in 1952, and after a rival company developed a similar model, did Gibson see the selling potential of Mr. Paul's solid-body electric guitar. They sought his endorsement on their own design.

Meanwhile, he had disagreements with Waring about the continued use of the electric guitar. He announced he wanted to be the accompanist for Bing Crosby, one of the most popular singers in the country.

It took Mr. Paul two years to meet Crosby and worked as musical director for two Chicago radio stations before impressing the crooner during a musical date at a Los Angeles club.

Crosby arranged for a recording session at Decca records, where they made "It's Been a Long, Long Time," "Tiger Rag" and other titles that were best-sellers.

In the early 1940s, Mr. Paul worked for Armed Forced Radio Service and became a staff musician at NBC, accompanying the Andrews Sisters and other pop singers.

He jammed the blues with pianist Nat "King" Cole in Norman Granz's first Jazz at the Philharmonic concert series in 1944. Their quicksilver note-for-note matching of solos created howls of approval from the audience.

He also had musical dates worldwide, once meeting his idol, Gypsy guitarist Django Reinhardt.

On Crosby's advice, Mr. Paul created his own recording studio, both to help his guitar career and to further his interest in electronics. He began to take advantage of new, still bulky, tape-recording machine technology. Facing initial skepticism, he persuaded Ampex to market his eight-track tape recorder.

After hundreds of false starts, he began recording with these new devices in the late 1940s, and the results can be heard on such numbers as "Nola," "Josephine," "Whispering" and "Meet Mister Callahan."

His version of "Lover" contained eight overdubbed electric guitar parts, which Mr. Paul electronically wove into a single record. It was a sensation.

Married at the time, he also had been seeing Ford, whom he had hired as a singer and guitarist. Both were in an auto wreck, on an icy patch of road in Chandler, Okla., that almost killed Mr. Paul in 1948.

Mr. Paul's right arm was crushed, and one doctor suggested amputation. Instead, he had it fixed at a right angle so he could play his instrument.

The next year, Mr. Paul divorced his first wife, Virginia Webb Paul, and married Ford. The new couple settled in Mahwah, N.J., and continued to work together on a series of albums for Capitol and Columbia in the 1950s, including "The New Sound" and "Time to Dream."

The rigorous touring schedule and Ford's alcohol addiction damaged their marriage. Meanwhile the public demand for rock-and-roll harmed their careers. They divorced in 1964.

His survivors include a companion, Arlene Palmer; two sons from his first marriage; and a son and daughter from his second marriage; five grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. A daughter from his second marriage died in infancy in 1954.

Mr. Paul, who had long ago made his fortune, tried to settle into retirement in the 1960s as the popularity of rock-and-roll music grew. He made occasional recordings, notably the album "Chester and Lester," for which he shared a 1976 Grammy for best country instrumental performance with Chet Atkins. Mr. Paul was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and won two more Grammys, in 2006, for his album "Les Paul & Friends: American Made, World Played."

He gradually reentered public performance, obtaining a regular date at Fat Tuesday's and later the Iridium jazz club in New York, where he played Monday nights until shortly before his death. For fans and fellow musicians, including Billy Joel and Paul McCartney, catching Mr. Paul was a Monday-night must. He was a sprightly presence, even after he developed arthritis that left him with use of only two fingers of his left hand.

"If you're stubborn, it can be done," he once told The Washington Post. "I've been playing with what fingers I have left. If they'll put up with it, I can put up with it."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/13/AR2009081301768_pf.html

 

[HB1965]

Eunice Kennedy Shriver

Copyright 2009 Houston Chronicle
Aug. 12, 2009, 9:30PM

Eunice Kennedy Shriver's world was one she shared for better — and too often, worse — with her generation of Kennedys: immense wealth and privilege informed by an intense, competitive sense of public duty, but marred time and again by personal tragedy played out in painful public view. Shriver, who died Monday on Cape Cod at age 88, will be remembered as a woman who used her many worldly advantages purposefully to make a better world for the profoundly disadvantaged; specifically, the mentally disabled. Through her life's work with the Special Olympics, Mrs. Shriver changed a nation's views of the mentally disabled .

The Special Olympics came to be in Chicago in 1968, only weeks after the death of Shriver's brother, Sen. Robert F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in early June in Los Angeles as he campaigned for the presidency. That first Special Olympics involved 1,000 competitors from 26 states and Canada. Today, the Special Olympics has a global reach, involving some 2.5 million from some 150 countries.

Eunice Kennedy Shriver's interest in her work with the mentally impaired was primally influenced by sisterly compassion for Rosemary Kennedy, her mentally disabled sibling who was institutionalized in Wisconsin at an early age.

Rosemary Kennedy died at age 86 in 2005. Shriver's death this week leaves only two survivors among nine Kennedy siblings — Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, D-Mass., and a sister, Jean Kennedy Smith.

Shriver made her distinctive mark in a world that did not always welcome activism from a woman — even one of her station and background. Eunice Shriver personified the spirit of “vigah” that President Kennedy tirelessly promoted in his distinctive New Englandese, despite chronic health problems that plagued her from an early age.

As a Kennedy, Shriver was born into politics, and her marriage to R. Sargent Shriver in 1953 kept her on that path. “Sarge” Shriver served as first head of JFK's peace Corps in the early '60s and filled in ably as George McGovern's last-minute replacement for Tom Eagleton as his vice presidential running mate after Eagleton admitted having been treated for mental health problems. Her connection with the world of politics continues to this day: daughter Maria Shriver, a former reporter for NBC News, is married to California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger. She is also the mother of four sons.

In 1993, U.S. News & World Report paid Shriver what is perhaps the highest compliment. Assessing her work with the Special Olympics, the newsmagazine concluded that her efforts on behalf of the mentally disabled could well be the most enduring legacy of her generation of the Kennedy family.

That is some praise. The accomplishments of the late president are formidable, and the work of Sen. Ted Kennedy, particularly in the health care arena, figures to be enduring. But the 1993 assessment just may be on the mark. She was, indeed, an agent of change for the better.

 

[NaughtyLil1]

NYC skateboarding pioneer Andy Kessler dies at 48

NEW YORK – Andy Kessler, a trailblazer during New York City's nascent 1970s skateboarding scene and a designer of skate parks who was admired by boarders on both coasts, has died. He was 48.

Kessler died Monday after suffering a heart attack following an allergic reaction to a wasp sting, said Moose Huerta, a close friend and fellow skateboarder.

He was dismantling old wood on a shack in Montauk, Long Island, when he was stung, said Tony Farmer, a skateboarding friend and West Coast native who now lives in Brooklyn.

Kessler got his start in the 1970s with a loose-knit group of skateboarders and graffiti artists known as the Soul Artists of Zoo York. They skated all over Manhattan's Upper West Side, where Kessler lived. Central Park's Bandshell was a favorite spot.

In the 1990s, Kessler persuaded the city's Parks Department to build a skateboard facility in Riverside Park. He went on to design other skate parks in Manhattan, Brooklyn and Montauk.

Huerta said Kessler also developed a zeal for surfing in the past decade.

"The two groups are completely different from each other," he said. "But the level of friends, and how he transcended age and demographics with the people he touched, was amazing."

Kessler had no health insurance in 2005 when he took a spill on his board and dislocated his femur. When he was unable to pay a $51,000 medical bill, several dozen surfers, skaters and artists — Julian Schnabel, Mickey Eskimo, Zephyr and Wes Humpston reportedly among them — helped raise the money with a benefit party, Farmer said.

When he healed from the injury, he hopped back on his board, Farmer said.

"Flowing through traffic, timing lights, shooting reds, dodging pedestrians ... dude just had the streets so wired," Farmer said. "Suffice to say, he was an amazing cat."

Huerta, who was too young to have skated with Kessler during the early days, said the sport started as "a counterculture activity" but never carried the cache that California skateboarding did. But Kessler didn't care.

"He did it out of love," he said. "He didn't receive anything out of it. It spoke to him."

In 2008, Kessler was featured in a documentary, "From Deathbowl to Downtown: The Evolution of Skateboarding in New York." The producers, NCP Films, described it as "an anthropological overview of skating's epochal shift from the parks and pools of the 70's, to ramp skating in the 80's, to the street ascendancy of the 1990's as seen from a New York-centric perspective.

It is scheduled for international release on DVD on Sept. 15.

In addition to his love for the sport, Huerta said Kessler's first big success was orchestrating the building of the city's first skate park, near the Hudson River. At the time of his death, he was trying to update the Montauk skate park he had designed about a decade earlier, Huerta said.

On Friday evening, surfers planned to paddle out together and circle around Ditch Plains Beach in Montauk in remembrance of Kessler, Huerta said. Friends also planned a get-together Saturday at the Autumn Bowl, a semiprivate warehouse facility in Brooklyn that was one of Kessler's favorite hangouts.

Kessler's burial is scheduled for Sunday at Cedar Park Cemetery in Paramus, N.J.

 

[Igor_1066]

John Quade dies at 71; character actor specialized in playing heavies

Quade appeared in several Clint Eastwood films, including 'Every Which Way But Loose' and 'The Outlaw Josey Wales,' and he played Sheriff Biggs in the TV miniseries 'Roots.'

By Dennis McLellan

August 13, 2009


John Quade, a veteran character actor who specialized in playing heavies and appeared in several Clint Eastwood movies, including "Every Which Way But Loose" and its sequel "Any Which Way You Can," has died. He was 71.

Quade died in his sleep of natural causes Sunday at his home in Rosamond, near Lancaster, said his wife, Gwen Saunders. In a more than two-decade career in films and television that began in the late 1960s, Quade played character roles in numerous TV series and in films such as "Papillon," "The Sting" and Eastwood's "High Plains Drifter" and "The Outlaw Josey Wales." He also played Sheriff Biggs in the 1977 TV miniseries "Roots."

"Everybody remembers him for 'Every Which Way But Loose' and 'Any Which Way You Can,' " Quade's wife said Wednesday. "He played Chola, the leader of the motorcycle gang. It was more of a comic relief of the movie; they were a bumbling motorcycle gang."

Although Quade's name might not be familiar to many moviegoers, his face was. In fact, he had a face made for playing heavies.

"He was one of the nicest men you'd ever want to know, but he looked mean and nasty," his wife said. "He looked like he could do murder and mayhem at any moment, but he was a big teddy bear -- the kind that he just loved little kids, but they were always afraid of him.

"His face definitely stands out in a crowd. He had to be careful he didn't overshadow scenes just by the way he looked. The first film he did with Clint Eastwood, Clint hired him for his face and told him afterward that he felt like he got a bonus because John could act."

Born John William Saunders III on April 1, 1938, in Kansas City, Kan., Quade arrived in California in 1964. "He got involved in missile and aerospace for awhile," said his wife. "He built parts that are still on the moon."

One day, she said, "He was sitting in a restaurant with a bunch of guys and this man noticed him and said, 'Have you thought about acting?'

"It had to be his face; it wasn't anything else."

Quade was appearing in a play in Hollywood in 1968 when a casting director saw him and cast him in his first TV show, an episode of "Bonanza."

In addition to his wife of 38 years, he is survived by six children, John Saunders IV, Joseph Saunders, Steven Saunders, Heather Clark, Katherine Adame and Rebecca Saunders; his mother, Norma; two brothers, Merlin and Robert; two sisters, Joyce Copeland and Norma Jean Anderson; and 10 grandchildren.

A funeral service will be held at 1 p.m. Friday at Joshua Memorial Park and Mortuary, 808 E. Lancaster Blvd., Lancaster.

http://www.latimes.com/news/obituaries/la-me-john-quade13-2009aug13,0,494533.story

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Warren 'Gates' Nichols, 65, played with Confederate Railroad

On July 6, Gates Nichols was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer, shortly after turning 65. A stomach CAT scan found that the disease, in Stage IV, had metastasized to his liver and lungs. Warren “Gates” Nichols of Douglasville died Friday at Hospice Tranquility in Austell.

Maybe it was the sound.

Or perhaps it was that Mr. Nichols of Powder Springs had played bass guitar on “Shannon,” a 1976 soft-rock hit written and sung by Henry Gross.

“His passion was the bass,” said Beverly Nichols, his wife of six years, “but I liked when he played the keyboards. He could do a rendition of ‘Amazing Grace’ that was amazing. He could really do it up on the keyboard.”

Recently, the keyboard had become the instrument of choice for Mr. Nichols, who was a member of the praise band at West Ridge Church in Dallas. He retired from Confederate Railroad in December 2008, a decision made to devote more time to church and family, said his daughter Brittney Humes of Douglasville.

“To be honest, he wanted to work and praise Jesus,” Ms. Humes said. “He was excited about being able to play more in the church, and that’s what he was doing.”

Mr. Nichols grew up on his grandfather’s farm in upstate New York. The self-taught musician graduated from Sachem High on Long Island and immediately embarked on a music career. He played backup for several bands and, in the 1980s, found his way to Atlanta after marrying a native from the state. He played with various groups, including the Gunsmoke Band and Southerner, at locales like Miss Kitty’s in Underground Atlanta.

In 1991, Danny Shirley, founder and front man of Confederate Railroad, tapped Nichols to join the band. The union spawned sold-out concerts, millions in album sales and 18 chart hits. Accolades include 1993 Grammy nominee and winning the Academy of Country Music’s Best New Group Award in 1993.

“He was an all-around musician,” Mr. Shirley said, “and he played with us for 17 years. “Not only did he play steel guitar, he was a bass player, trombone player and keyboard player.”

News of Nichols’ death has been a topic on the band’s Web page, www.confederaterailroad.net. “As far as I am concerned, music has lost a legend,” Michael Butler wrote.

Ms. Humes remembered seeing her father — who recently had been a substitute teacher at South Paulding High — perform with Confederate Railroad.

“We got to be up front at every show,” she said, “and got backstage passes. That was cool. The man was something. You could put any instrument in his hands, and if he didn’t know how to play it, he’d learn it.”

Additional survivors are a son, David Nichols of Long Island; three other daughters, Danielle Manwarren of Concord, N.C., Dawn Nichols of Vail, Colo., and Ashley Young of Douglasville; and three grandchildren.

 

[Beco]

Columnist Robert Novak, 78, dies

Reporting from Washington - Robert Novak, the longtime syndicated columnist and television commentator who was at the center of a furor late in his career as the first journalist to disclose the identity of CIA operative Valerie Plame, died today. He was 78.

Novak died at his home in Washington after battling brain cancer, his family told the Associated Press.

Novak was diagnosed with a brain tumor in July 2008. He told friends his doctors were not optimistic, but he opted for surgery anyway, telling them they were being too conservative.

In an interview in 2007, he predicted with regret the first line in his obituary, lamenting to PBS' Charlie Rose that his Plame column was "a very minor story compared to some of the big stories that I have had. But ... that's going to be in the lead of my obituary, and I can't help it."

Novak's Plame column set off one of those perfect Washington storms, in which White House officials, famous journalists and CIA sources became part of a courtroom spectacle that was played out in the world's media.

Before it was over, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney's chief of staff, had been convicted of perjury and obstruction of justice, and the controversy had exposed journalists' coziness with official sources and tarnished the reputations of two key administration figures -- political guru Karl Rove and Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage -- who confessed to leaking Plame's identity to reporters. President George W. Bush commuted Libby's 2 1/2 -year sentence.

Even more telling, the controversy exposed the president's men as so preoccupied with selling the war in Iraq that they were willing to compromise Plame's position at the Central Intelligence Agency in an effort to discredit her husband, a former U.S. envoy to Baghdad who had become a critic of the war. After taking a CIA-sponsored trip to Niger, former U.S. Ambassador Joseph Wilson concluded that the African nation had no "yellowcake" uranium, dousing administration claims -- which Bush had mentioned in his 2003 State of the Union address -- that Iraq's Saddam Hussein had been purchasing material from Niger to make weapons for mass destruction.

Eventually Plame left her job at the CIA, and she and her husband settled in Santa Fe, N.M. As for Novak, he kept on writing the column he had started with partner Rowland Evans in 1963. After months of silence -- on advice of his lawyers, until Rove and Armitage released him from his journalist's obligation to keep their identities confidential -- he defended his actions and his reputation.

"Judging it on the merits, I would still write the story," he said in his 2007 memoir, "The Prince of Darkness." Noting that there was no debate about the column's news value or accuracy, he added, "I broke no law and endangered no intelligence operation. Mrs. Wilson was not a covert operative in 2003 but a desk-bound CIA analyst at Langley, Va."

But given all the heat -- and the tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees -- that the case produced, Novak said that "I probably should have ignored what Armitage told me about Mrs. Wilson." Denying that he had enjoyed the notoriety, Novak said, "Those three little sentences resulted in a series of negative consequences for me. They eventually undermined my 25-year relationship with CNN (on which he co-hosted "Crossfire" and appeared on "The Capital Gang" ) and kept me off NBC's "Meet the Press" for two years. I had to pay substantial legal fees. I came under constant abuse from journalistic ethics critics, from some colleagues and especially from bloggers."

Novak was born Feb. 26, 1931, in Joliet, Ill. At the University of Illinois he showed a propensity to annoy authority figures and was nearly expelled in his senior year. He skipped classes, expecting to pass enough exams to win a degree. The university opted not to expel him but decreed that he had fallen one hour short in his course work. Years later, after he had become a public figure, university officials conferred a degree in 1983, finding an excuse in his physical education course work.

Hooking up with the Associated Press in Nebraska and Indiana, Novak first covered sports, then switched to news. Taking assignments that more senior reporters disdained -- "It took more elbow grease and chicanery than cerebral brilliance," he observed -- Novak gained notice. And when the Associated Press in Washington needed a replacement on its Midwest regional desk, he got the call.

That was in 1957. Soon came a gig at the Wall Street Journal. And then, a few years later, in 1962, partnership with Evans, a fellow journalist who was as patrician as Novak was hard-scrabble, as much a part of the Washington establishment as Novak was not. Evans, then 41, played the gentleman reporter while Novak, 32, the scruffy rookie. They worked a yin-and-yang combination that eventually won them syndication in many major newspapers and notoriety as a good source of information on the cable television talk shows just beginning to turn political discourse into shouting matches.

They began with CNN when the network launched in 1980, hosting "Evans and Novak." Derided by liberal critics as "Errors and No Facts," Evans and Novak were actually more reporters than commentators and had their share of scoops over the years.

In their first column in 1963, they predicted that Barry Goldwater, then considered a long shot, would win the GOP nomination the next year. In 1972, they quoted an anonymous Democratic senator as saying that George McGovern's presidential campaign was doomed because the candidate favored "amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot."

They were the first to report that President Nixon had chosen Rep. Melvin Laird of Wisconsin as secretary of Defense. Novak also cited as "the greatest scoop of my career" his report that a weakened Federal Reserve Board Chairman Paul Volcker had lost a majority at the Fed. He reported from battlefronts in Vietnam and Nicaragua, and was given sit-down interviews with world leaders such as China's Deng Xiaoping.

He got his nickname "Prince of Darkness" from friend and fellow journalist John Lindsay of the Washington Post and Newsday, who was struck by Novak's pessimistic view of the future of Western civilization.

Novak once described his journalistic philosophy this way: "To tell the world things people do not want me to reveal, to advocate limited government, economic freedom and a strong, prudent America -- and to have fun doing it."

After Evans retired in 1993, Novak continued the column and was a regular on several CNN shows. He kept the column going online even after he officially retired in the summer of 2008, shortly after his diagnosis was made.

Evans died in 2001.

Neuman is a former Times staff writer.

news.obits@latimes.com
Copyright © 2009, The Los Angeles Times

 

[Igor_1066]

Robert Novak, Long-Time Conservative Columnist, Dies at 78

Washington's 'Prince of Darkness' Broke High-Stakes Scoops

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 18, 2009 1:03 PM


Robert D. Novak, 78, an influential columnist and panelist on TV news-discussion shows who called himself a "stirrer up of strife" on behalf of conservative causes, died today at his home in Washington of a brain tumor first diagnosed in July 2008.

Mr. Novak's "Inside Report" syndicated column, shared for 30 years with the late Rowland Evans, was important reading for anyone who wanted to know what was happening in Washington. Mr. Novak and Evans broke stories about presidential politics, fiscal policy and intra-party feuds. Their journalism, which reported leaks from the highest sources of government, often had embarrassing consequences for politicians.

In recent years, Mr. Novak was best known for publicly identifying CIA operative Valerie Plame. His July 14, 2003, column was printed days after Plame's husband, former U.S. ambassador Joseph C. Wilson IV, publicly claimed that the Bush White House had knowingly distorted intelligence that Iraq tried to obtain uranium from Africa.

The column triggered a lengthy federal investigation into the Plame leak and resulted in the 2007 conviction of a top vice presidential aide, I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, for perjury and obstruction of justice. President George W. Bush later commuted Libby's prison term.

Mr. Novak was accused by prominent journalists of being a pawn in a government retribution campaign against Wilson. Mr. Novak, who had called the U.S. invasion of Iraq "unjustified," denied the allegation.

He wrote that his initial column was meant to ask why Wilson had been sent on a CIA fact-finding mission involving the uranium. Then-Deputy Secretary of State Richard L. Armitage mentioned Plame's CIA position to Mr. Novak, and Bush aide Karl Rove confirmed it.

In a 2006 column, Mr. Novak wrote that Armitage "did not slip me this information as idle chitchat. . . . He made clear he considered it especially suited for my column." Armitage told The Washington Post that his disclosure to Mr. Novak was made in an offhand manner and that he did not know why Plame's husband was sent to Africa.

Mr. Novak lamented that the Plame story would "forever be part of my public identity" despite having written columns he said were more important.

Until the Plame controversy, Mr. Novak had largely been known as a strong anti-Communist in his foreign policy views. He also was an leading advocate of supply-side economics, a belief that tax cuts would lead to widespread financial prosperity.

David Keene, chairman of the American Conservative Union lobbying organization, said that Mr. Novak helped transform supply-side economics from a fringe idea into a tenet of President Ronald Reagan's economic policy. Keene called Mr. Novak "a giant of the profession" who "gave respectability and visibility to conservative ideas and positions in the 1970s, when they were mostly dismissed."

Mr. Novak was a congressional reporter for the Associated Press and the Wall Street Journal before he teamed with Evans in 1963 to write a Washington-based political column for the old New York Herald-Tribune. "Inside Report" ran in almost 300 papers nationally, including The Post. Mr. Novak continued the column after Evans's retirement in 1993. Evans died in 2001.

Focusing on political intrigue rather than starchy analysis, they had an immediate effect with news about Arizona Sen. Barry Goldwater's likely nomination as the Republican presidential candidate in 1964.

The Goldwater story led a Newsweek profile about the duo that helped shape their formidable reputation. But as Mr. Novak wryly noted, the Newsweek account was written by his close friend Michael Janeway.

"Little in Washington is on the level," Mr. Novak wrote in his 2007 memoir, "The Prince of Darkness," which had long been his nickname.

He earned that sobriquet in the early 1960s for what he called his swarthy looks, poor skills as a raconteur and "grim-visaged demeanor." He said that his unsmiling pessimism was a stark contrast with the upbeat spirit of the Kennedy administration and its many admirers in elite journalism circles and that he was a strikingly different type of Washington insider than his business partner Evans, a debonair Georgetowner at ease on the city's dinner circuit.

Mr. Novak was considered by many Washington colleagues to be far more generous than the scowling character he assumed on television debate programs such as CNN's "Crossfire," but he said the more combative aspect of his personality was heightened on television.

He wrote in his memoir, "I found myself engaged on issues I seldom wrote about: capital punishment, gay rights, abortion and gun control. I was never asked to take any position I opposed, but the process had the effect of hardening my positions."

The format of such shows as "The McLaughlin Group" and "Crossfire" pitted liberals such as Bill Press and James Carville against conservatives such as Mr. Novak and Pat Buchanan and left them to spar on divisive social issues.

The TV programs helped define Mr. Novak's reputation as a self-professed "right-wing ideologue." He wrote in his autobiography that he rarely disliked those with whom he appeared combative -- one significant exception was then-presidential candidate Jimmy Carter, whom the columnist called a populist demagogue and "habitual liar."

On one episode of "Face the Nation," Mr. Novak insisted that the candidate reveal which members of the diplomatic corps Carter objected to as "fat, bloated, ignorant" and unqualified except for being Nixon financiers. Carter declined to answer, and Mr. Novak persisted: "Can you name one, though? You make the accusation all over. There are only four ambassadors, governor, who have contributions to Mr. Nixon. Are any of them that fit that category?"

New York Times television critic Walter Goodman wrote in 1993 that Mr. Novak along with McLaughlin and Rush Limbaugh showed "a cruder face of conservatism. The insurgents do not trade in intellectual display. . . . Their fire is directed mainly at liberal Democrats, but their styles offer an implicit rebuff to the Republican establishment."

Nicholas Lemann, dean of Columbia University's journalism school, said Mr. Novak "took great pleasure in playing the bad guy, the heavy, like guys in pro wrestling who come out all dressed in black. He'd sort of sneer and say the mean thing, so he developed that as part of a character he played on TV. It works with the medium to have a bad guy, and most journalists don't want to do that."

Robert David Sanders Novak was born Feb. 26, 1931, in Joliet, Ill., into a family that voted Republican. He said he became attracted to politics after his father, superintendent of a gas production plant, let him stay up late to listen over the radio to the 1940 Republican Party convention.

His family's heritage was Lithuanian Jewish, but Mr. Novak said he grew disenchanted with liberal sermons at synagogue and fell away from religion until undergoing a conversion to Catholicism in the late 1990s because of "spiritual hunger."

After attending the University of Illinois, where he began his journalism career, he reported for the Associated Press in the Midwest before the wire service sent him to Washington in 1957. He said his devotion to work helped end his first marriage, to an Indianapolis socialite named Rosanna Hall. In 1962, he married Geraldine Williams, then-secretary to a top aide of then-Vice President Lyndon B. Johnson.

She survives, along with their two children, Zelda Caldwell of Washington and Alexander Novak of Bethesda, and eight grandchildren.

In Washington, Mr. Novak's early mentor was Willard Edwards, a Chicago Tribune reporter of such anti-Communist sympathies that he often sat on the dais with members of a Senate internal security subcommittee.

Edwards introduced the young reporter to politicians whom many in the press corps considered radioactive for their far-right ideology. Important tips from those congressmen helped Mr. Novak land scoops and win a reputation for aggressive coverage of Capitol Hill.

Bruised feelings, Mr. Novak wrote in his memoir, were often soothed over many cocktails. He added that his healthy ego was useful in handling inevitable complaints from powerful people.

When he printed an accurate tip that Alexander M. Haig Jr., President Gerald R. Ford's chief of staff, was out of favor with the president and would soon lose his job, Mr. Novak said he received an irate call from Haig, who threatened to sue for $5 million.

"Al," he replied, "you're out of luck. I don't have $5 million."

Mr. Novak wrote several books about Republican politics, but he said it was his skill at wooing members of both major parties that led to newsmaking exclusives.

A few months before he became presidential candidate George McGovern's running mate in 1972, Sen. Thomas Eagleton (D-Mo.) had confided to Mr. Novak, "McGovern is for amnesty, abortion and legalization of pot. Once middle America -- Catholic middle America, in particular -- finds this out, he's dead."

Eagleton insisted his name not be linked to the quote, and Mr. Novak reported at the time that the quotation came from "one liberal senator." The column caused a political furor.

Mr. Novak said he faced enormous pressure by Democrats to reveal his source, and some accused him of making up the quotation. Mr. Novak kept his promise to Eagleton and did not name him as the source until after Eagleton died in 2007.

A similar high-profile debate arose over Mr. Novak's refusal to name his source for the Plame column. After the column appeared, Mr. Novak endured threats to his family and attributed the loss of his work at CNN to the ordeal. He also amassed legal fees of $160,000.

In his memoir, Mr. Novak said he would not have used Plame's name if the CIA director or the agency's spokesman told him it would have endangered national security or Plame's life. A CIA spokesman had twice warned Mr. Novak not to print Plame's name but could not reveal why to Mr. Novak because her status was classified.

Mr. Novak told Washingtonian magazine in November that he would not hesitate to run the column again. "I'd go full speed ahead because of the hateful and beastly way in which my left-wing critics in the press and Congress tried to make a political affair out of it and tried to ruin me," he said.

"My response now is this: The hell with you. They didn't ruin me. I have my faith, my family and a good life. A lot of people love me -- or like me. So they failed. I would do the same thing over again because I don't think I hurt Valerie Plame whatsoever."

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/18/AR2009081801761.html?hpid=topnews

 

[Igor_1066]

KC’s Virginia Davis, Walt Disney’s first star, dies at 90

Tuesday, Aug 18, 2009
Posted on Mon, Aug. 17, 2009
By ROBERT W. BUTLER
The Kansas City Star

Virginia Davis, the little Kansas City girl who became the star of Walt Disney’s first series of hit movies, died Saturday at her home in Los Angeles. She was 90.

In the spring of 1923, Disney, then 21 and the struggling owner of Laugh-O-Gram Studio at 31st and Forest, saw Davis in an ad playing at a local movie theater. He asked the 4-year-old to star in “Alice’s Wonderland,” performing in a hand-drawn world populated by cartoon characters.

The live-action scenes were shot at the studio and at the Davis home on Armour Boulevard.

Laugh-O-Gram declared bankruptcy a few months later, and the film was completed after Disney relocated to Los Angeles. But it launched the “Alice” series, and the Davis family moved to Southern California to continue little Virginia’s career.

“Did you ever have a favorite uncle, someone you idolized who would come to see you every once in a while and just light up your day? That’s where I was with Walt,” Davis said during a 2002 visit to Kansas City, her first in more than 70 years.

She last visited Kansas City in May for a fundraiser for Thank You Walt Disney, a local group that hopes to turn the old Laugh-O-Gram building into a museum.

“The last memory I have of her was during the auction that night,” recalled the group’s chairman, Butch Rigby. “Virginia interrupted the bidding, dancing into the middle of the room waving a check in her hand. She’d sold some autographed items and turned the money over to us. She was smiling and laughing — a show woman to the very end.”

Davis made 12 films for Disney and then tried her luck at other Hollywood studios. Though stardom eluded her, she worked in the industry for 20 years, singing, dancing and acting in films such as “The Harvey Girls,” “Three on a Match” and “Week-End in Havana.” At one point, she even inked cartoons for Disney.

In World War II, she married Marine aviator Bob McGhee; the couple lived in New Jersey; Connecticut; Boise, Idaho; and the Los Angeles area. She worked as a magazine editor, interior decorator and real estate agent.

She is survived by two daughters.

In 1998, Disney CEO Michael Eisner presented to Davis the Disney Legend Award, the highest honor accorded those who have contributed to the heritage of the company.


http://www.kansascity.com/entertainment/story/1388934.html

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ruth Ford, Actress and Salon Hostess, Dead at 98

http://www.570news.com/content/FEEDS/ENTERTAINMENT/images/08/15/e081504A.jpg

Ruth Ford, whose considerable career as an actress was perhaps outshined in cultural circles by her role as a hostess to the famous and talented, died on Aug. 12. She was 98.

Following her poet brother to New York from her native Mississippi in the 1930s, Ms. Ford quickly established herself first as a model, then an actress, notably taking part in The Shoemaker's Holiday and Danton's Death, two of the few productions in Orson Welles' Mercury Theatre's short but legendary career, and the original New York productions of Sartre's No Exit and Lorca's The House of Bernarda Alba. She also acted in the Mercury's short film “Too Much Johnson.”

But she found a more vital purpose in the social gatherings she hosted at her apartment in the Dakota, the grand Upper West Side apartment building. William Faulkner, Tennessee Williams and Truman Capote were all visitors. (She appears in plays written by all three.) Stephen Sondheim and Arthur Laurents met at one party, resulting in the two working together on West Side Story, the landmark musical that forged young Sondheim’s reputation.

Ms. Ford became acquainted with many artists early on through her brother, the noted bohemian writer Charles Henri Ford (“The Young and Evil”), who traveled in rarified creative circles, was the editor of the Surrealist magazine View (1940-1947) and was romantically linked to Russian painter Pavel Tchelitchew. "As a brother and sister team, they were quite spectacular," said Allen Frame, a family friend. In the 1930s, Ms. Ford did some modeling work for photographers such as Carl Van Vechten, Man Ray and Cecil Beaton. She appeared on the covers of Vogue, Harper's Bazaar and Mademoiselle. Novelist Faulkner she had already known from her days attending the University of Mississippi; she dated both his brother and his nephew. She later wrote a film adaptation on his “Sanctuary,” which was directed in 1961 by Tony Richardson.

Ms. Ford married into the arts as well. In the early 1940s, she wed the actor Peter van Eyck, but the marriage soon ended in divorce. In 1950 film star Zachary Scott became her second husband. Mr. Scott, who nicknamed his wife “Ruthless,” died in 1965. Ms. Ford is survived by a daughter, Shelly Scott of Santa Barbara, CA. Shelly was born is 1941; her godfather is Orson Welles. Scott subsequently adopted her, and she took her stepfather’s name. Mother and daughter became estranged when, after Scott’s death, Shelly Scott retained the royalties to her stepfather’s films, even though Zachary Scott had requested she give them to Ms. Ford as long as she was alive.

During the 1940s, Ms. Ford made many B-movies in Hollywood, including “Truck Busters,” "The Gorilla Man” and “Lady Gangster,” never moving up to higher quality projects. She had better material to work with on Broadway, starring in Faulkner’s Requium for a Nun in 1959, a play the author wrote with Ms. Ford in mind; playing in a Phoenix Theatre double bill of Strindberg’s Miss Julie and The Stronger and appearing in a 1964 revival of Williams’ The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore opposite Tallulah Bankhead. Other stage credits included The Grass Harp, Dinner at Eight and Harold and Maude.

 

[Igor_1066]

CBS News Executive Don Hewitt, 86, Is Dead

By Adam Bernstein
Washington Post Staff Writer
August 19, 2009; 12:12 p.m. ET

Don Hewitt, 86, the CBS News executive who created "60 Minutes," transformed television journalism by showing that news programs could generate money and helped make TV an essential part of politics when he produced and directed the first televised debate between U.S. presidential candidates, died Wednesday in Bridgehampton, N.Y., a CBS spokesman said. . He had pancreatic cancer.

The 1960 televised debate between John F. Kennedy and Richard M. Nixon was watched by 70 million Americans. It proved a turning point in the presidential race, in large part because an ailing Nixon rejected Mr. Hewitt's advice to use professional makeup instead of a cheaper product. Nixon's sickly appearance while recuperating from a staph infection, in contrast to the tan and vigorous Kennedy, was credited with helping turn the election in Kennedy's favor.

"From that day on," Mr. Hewitt later said, "you can't even think of running for office in the greatest democracy on Earth unless you've got the money to buy television time."

Mr. Hewitt, who spent his career at CBS News, also directed programs of such early TV news giants Walter Cronkite and Edward R. Murrow. He led coverage of political conventions, royal weddings and coronations, papal installations and national days of mourning for assassinated leaders including Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.

With the debut of "60 Minutes" in 1968, Mr. Hewitt merged elements of news and entertainment and shattered the traditional view that news divisions were run as a public trust with little concern for how much money they made. Mr. Hewitt also was a central voice in the 1990s debates over corporate censorship in journalism when network executives interfered with a "60 Minutes" segment on a tobacco industry whistleblower.

Mr. Hewitt's impact on television was almost unparalleled, said Marvin Kalb, founding director of Harvard University's Shorenstein Center on the Press, Politics and Public Policy and a former reporter for CBS and NBC News.

"We never made money before '60 Minutes,' " Kalb said of news and public affairs programs. "That had probably, with the exception of the introduction of the Internet, the most profound impact on television news. It meant that everybody else had to make money, and in the quest for profit, standards began to fall. Then add the Internet and you can see the powerful impact the combination of new technology and news profitability had upon the quality of the product."

In starting "60 Minutes," Mr. Hewitt's key insight was to combine the prestige surrounding the network's documentary unit with the editorial and visual pacing of an entertainment show. He likened his proposal to a "Life magazine of the air."

"We could look into Marilyn Monroe's closet so long as we looked into Robert Oppenheimer's laboratory, too," he once wrote, referring to the sexy film star and the atomic scientist. "We could make the news entertaining without compromising our integrity."

"60 Minutes," which Mr. Hewitt produced until his retirement in 2004, helped turn correspondents such as Mike Wallace, Diane Sawyer and Morley Safer into instantly recognizable stars. At its boldest, the show popularized a confrontational style of reporting on establishment institutions such as the military and major corporations. At its most controversial, it unleashed reporting techniques such as hidden cameras and ambush journalism, which surprises the interview subject.

The program, with its trademark ticking stopwatch, was one of the highest-rated prime-time series ever, and its weekly viewership reached 40 million at the peak of network TV audiences in the early 1980s. It spawned many imitators and won the top honors of the profession.

Mr. Hewitt, who left college to pursue a journalism career, modeled himself on the hard-boiled, anything-for-a-story reporters portrayed in 1930s Hollywood films such as "The Front Page." When he joined CBS as an associate director in 1948, radio was still the dominant broadcast medium and television news was little more than a person on camera for 15 minutes reading headlines from a piece of paper.

Mr. Hewitt swept into the early medium of TV with a series of bold editorial and technical ideas. He was a leading champion of location shooting to cover spectacular breaking stories. He introduced cue cards that forced anchors to look directly into the camera, only after his experiment with Braille went nowhere.

At the 1952 national political conventions in Chicago, he created a way of superimposing people's names under their images on camera. The idea came to him at a diner that had a menu board with rearrangeable letters.

When the waitress came to take his order, he replied, "I'll have the board." It cost him $45.

In his memoir "Tell Me a Story," Mr. Hewitt wrote that his tendency toward dirty tricks did not always suit other CBS officials.

Covering Soviet leader Nikita Khrushchev's visit to Iowa in 1959, Mr. Hewitt and a colleague hijacked an NBC van with broadcast equipment sitting idle on a roadside and hid the vehicle in a cornfield. Another time, he rented a tugboat on which a news conference was being held so he could boot off the other correspondents, then maneuvered the boat to disrupt satellite signals of the rival networks.

CBS News President Fred Friendly questioned Mr. Hewitt's "depth and intellectual commitment," as one former CBS News executive recalled. The two men did not get along, and in 1964 Friendly reassigned Mr. Hewitt from executive producer of Cronkite's "CBS Evening News" to the network's documentary unit. Mr. Hewitt said he thought he had been demoted to a sleepy purgatory.

During that period, Mr. Hewitt thought of "60 Minutes" as a way of dividing an hour-long documentary on weighty topics into three shorter segments varying between the serious and the frivolous. He said this approach would cater to his own short attention span.

"60 Minutes" was an immediate favorite of critics but took seven years to establish itself as a ratings leader as network management repeatedly shifted its scheduling position. Mr. Hewitt cast Wallace opposite the easygoing Harry Reasoner as the news show's first correspondents and described them as "the perfect fit -- the guy you love and the guy you love to hate."

Mr. Hewitt started the show's "Point/Counterpoint" segment of the 1970s, which let conservative and liberal authors battle out topical subjects. It made for bracing television -- even as it was mercilessly satirized on "Saturday Night Live" with Dan Aykroyd and Jane Curtin in the roles. "Jane, you ignorant slut," became a national catchphrase uttered by Aykroyd's character.

"60 Minutes" was responsible for airing some of the most riveting moments in television news, including Wallace's adversarial 1979 interview with Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini shortly after his followers seized the U.S. Embassy in Tehran and took American hostages.

"60 Minutes" interviewer Steve Kroft's pointed questioning in 1992 of then-presidential candidate Bill Clinton over alleged extramarital affairs that threatened his political ambitions -- with Clinton's wife, Hillary, sitting by his side -- shaped how many saw Bill Clinton for years to come.

Before filming the segment, Mr. Hewitt leaned down to the future president with advice: "I think, at some point, you should be as candid as you know how to be, and from then on, you say, 'I said it on "60 Minutes," and if you want to know what I think or have said on the subject, then go get a tape and run it again. I've said it all.' "

Donald Hewitt was born Dec. 14, 1922, in Manhattan and raised in New Rochelle, N.Y. His father was an advertising salesman for the Hearst newspaper company. After nearly flunking out of New York University in 1942, he left school and used his father's connections to find work briefly as a $15-a-week copy boy at the New York Herald Tribune.

He wrote for the Army publication Stars and Stripes later in World War II and said he hoped his experience would lead to a full-time Herald Tribune reporting job. He was bitterly disappointed when it didn't, and he was working as a wire service photo editor when a friend told him of an opening at CBS News that required "picture experience."

As a young director, he worked on the public affairs program "See It Now" hosted by Murrow as well as the evening newscast. He advanced rapidly at the network, later telling the New Yorker: "I am not an intellectual. I operate by my guts and my fingertips. Television is successful when you have a gut feeling about a show. It's not what your eyes and your ears digest that counts. It's the impact of your gut. I have a kind of sixth sense for seeing a piece of film and knowing what's wrong about it and what's right."

At "60 Minutes," Mr. Hewitt was at times thrust into the public spotlight, including a controversy over not promoting women. In 1979, he offered People magazine an explanation of why the show had so few female producers: "A lot of things get talked about in the men's room standing at the urinals, which puts them at a disadvantage."

The profitability of "60 Minutes" had long ensured Mr. Hewitt editorial independence, but he grew increasingly frustrated by what he considered painful cost-cutting measures and setbacks in editorial freedom under new CBS chief executive Laurence Tisch in the 1980s and 1990s.

At one point, he sent word that he, Wallace, Rather and others wanted to pool their money and buy the news division. The offer was declined, but Mr. Hewitt stayed on, largely, he said, because of his enormous salary.

What is often seen as the greatest blow to Mr. Hewitt and his show's prestige was the network's interference with a "60 Minutes" report about a tobacco industry whistleblower who said he could prove cigarette executives were lying when they publicly declared they knew of no evidence to prove the addictive nature of nicotine.

When the whistleblower, Jeffrey S. Wigand, came to Mr. Hewitt's attention in 1994, CBS was in the middle of a takeover by the conglomerate Westinghouse, and the network feared that Wigand's confidentiality agreement with his old employer would make CBS susceptible to a multibillion-dollar lawsuit.

In the end, "60 Minutes" aired in 1995 only a small portion of Wigand's interview and hid his identity and face. Wallace, who conducted the interview, noted the limitations imposed by CBS management.

Segment producer Lowell Bergman, a respected investigative reporter, was furious about what he regarded as a cowardly act by the network and leaked word of what he called "self-censorship in major media" to media outlets. "60 Minutes" broadcast a fuller Wigand interview many months later, after a deposition Wigand had given in a tobacco lawsuit was reported in the Wall Street Journal.

Communications scholar Richard Campbell, author of a book about "60 Minutes," told the Baltimore Sun that "to have the major investigative journalism symbol of our times back down from big business was a real low point in television news history."

The controversy over Wigand was revived in the 1999 Hollywood film "The Insider," in which Bergman was portrayed as a lonely crusader, while Mr. Hewitt and Wallace were shown as unduly deferential to CBS brass.

Mr. Hewitt frequently impugned the film and Bergman. He told The Washington Post: "This was a corporate blunder. Nobody here at '60 Minutes' was in agreement with the corporation. Short of a bunch of guerrillas with guns taking over the CBS transmitters, there was no way for us to put it on the air the first time. CBS owns the means of getting that story to the public."

He later said Benjamin C. Bradlee, the former executive editor of The Post, advised him to "go back to the dugout, sit down and shut up." Mr. Hewitt called it "the best advice anybody ever gave me."

He was married three times. He and his first wife, Mary Weaver, divorced in 1962. His second marriage, to Frankie Childers, who organized the revival of Ford's Theatre into a cultural institution, also ended in divorce. Since 1979, he had been married to Marilyn Berger, a former Post and network television reporter.

He is survived by Berger, along with two sons from his first marriage and two daughters from his second marriage.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/8/19/pm-hewitt19.html

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Sen. Ted Kennedy Dies

HYANNIS PORT, Mass. (Aug. 26) — Massachusetts Sen. Edward M. Kennedy, the liberal lion of the Senate, has died after battling a brain tumor. He was 77.
Kennedy's family announced his death in a brief statement released early Wednesday.

For nearly a half-century in the Senate, Kennedy was a dominant voice on health care, civil rights, war and peace, and more. To the American public, though, he was best known as the last surviving brother of a storied political family.

Kennedy was elected to the Senate in 1962, when his brother John was president, and served longer than all but two senators in history.

Over the decades, Kennedy put his imprint on every major piece of social legislation to clear the Congress.

From NY Times:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/27/us/politics/27kennedy.html?_r=2&hp

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Ex-Dolphins DL Turner, 46, Dies After Stroke

LUFKIN, Texas -- Former Miami Dolphins defensive lineman T.J. Turner has died of complications from a stroke. He was 46.

Turner's death was confirmed by Tims Funeral Home in Lufkin. The Lufkin Daily News said he died Monday at a Bryan, Texas, hospital after a stroke last week.

Turner played seven seasons for the Dolphins from 1986-92, compiling 16 sacks in 101 career games. He played defensive end and nose tackle.

He was an All-Southwest Conference player at Houston before the Dolphins drafted him in the third round in 1986.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Author Dominick Dunne Dies

NEW YORK (Aug. 26) - Author Dominick Dunne, who told stories of shocking crimes among the rich and famous through his magazine articles and best-selling novels such as "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," died Wednesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 83.

Actor-director Griffin Dunne said in a statement released by Vanity Fair that his father had been battling bladder cancer for some time. But the cancer did not prevent Dunne from working and socializing, his twin passions.

In September 2008, against the orders of his doctor and the wishes of his family, he flew to Las Vegas to attend the kidnap-robbery trial of O.J. Simpson, a postscript to his coverage of Simpson's 1995 murder trial that spiked Dunne's considerable fame.

In the past year, Dunne had traveled to Germany and the Dominican Republic for experimental stem cell treatments to fight his cancer. At one point, he wrote that he and Farrah Fawcett were in the same cancer clinic in Bavaria but did not see each other.

He discontinued his column at Vanity Fair to concentrate on finishing another novel, "Too Much Money," which is to come out in December. He also made a number of appearances to promote a documentary film about his life, "After the Party," which was being released on DVD.

Dunne was beginning to write his memoirs and, until close to the end of his life, he posted online messages on his own Web site commenting on events in his life and thanking his fans for their constant support.

Earlier this summer, he was well enough to attend a Manhattan party hosted by Tina Brown. Chatting with an Associated Press reporter, Dunne recalled being treated for cancer at a hospital in Germany where Fawcett was also a patient. He also spoke of Michael Jackson, who had recently died, and remembered lunching with the singer and Elizabeth Taylor. Jackson was so excited to see her, Dunne said, he presented her with a diamond necklace just for the occasion.

Dunne was part of a famous family that also included his brother, novelist and screenwriter John Gregory Dunne; his brother's wife, author Joan Didion; and his son, Griffin.

A one-time movie producer, Dunne carved a new career starting in the 1980s as a chronicler of the problems of the wealthy and powerful.

Tragedy struck his own life in 1982 when his actress daughter, Dominique, was slain — and that experience informed his fiction and his journalistic efforts from then on.

"If you go through what I went through, losing my daughter, you have strong, strong feelings of revenge," Dunne said in 1990 in discussing his novel, "People Like Us," in which the protagonist shoots the man convicted of killing his daughter.

"As a novelist, I could create a situation in which I could do in the book what I couldn't do in real life. I intended for Gus (the character in the book) to kill the guy. But when I got to that part I couldn't write it. He wounds him and goes to prison himself for a couple of years."

He was as successful as a journalist as he was as a novelist and spent many of his later years in courtrooms covering high profile trials. Writing for Vanity Fair, he covered such cases as the William Kennedy Smith rape trial in 1991 and the trial of Erik and Lyle Menendez, accused of murdering their millionaire parents, in 1993.

As much as those trials riveted the nation, they were far overshadowed in 1994 when football great O.J. Simpson was accused of killing his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ronald Goldman. With a trial that stretched out over a year and cable TV outlets providing endless coverage, the bespectacled Dunne became a familiar face to millions.

"I especially like to watch the jurors," Dunne explained to Fox TV during the trial. "I always pick out about four jurors who become my favorites. I sort of try to anticipate what they are thinking and how they are reacting."

He called his book on the Simpson trial, "Another City, Not My Own," "a novel in the form of a memoir." It, too, reached the best-seller lists.
"Every word is true, but it's written in the style of a novel," he said.
From the gritty world of the courtroom during the day, he would move into the glamorous realm of high society at night, dining with the rich and famous, charming them with his inside stories of the Simpson trial.

He was a colorful raconteur and his stories mesmerized listeners. He was a much sought after dinner guest on both coasts and in the glamour capitals of Europe where he frequently traveled. He was a regular at the Cannes Film Festival, interviewing members of royalty and movie stars.

His assignments took him to London to cover the inquest into Princess Diana's death and to Monaco to look into the mysterious death of billionaire Edmond Safra.

He continued appearing regularly on television, and in 2002 debuted a weekly program on Court TV, "Power, Privilege and Justice."

He had already been working on "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles," a fictionalized retelling of a sensational 1950s society murder, when his 22-year-old daughter Dominique was strangled by her former boyfriend, John Sweeney, in 1982, shortly after she had completed her first movie, "Poltergeist."
Sweeney was convicted only of voluntary manslaughter, not murder, and was freed after serving less than four years of a six-year sentence. The verdict was seen as a major victory for the defense, and Dunne bitterly told the judge in court, "you withheld important information from this jury about this man's history of violent behavior." He later told the Los Angeles Times the sentence was "a tap on the wrist."

In a 1985 AP interview, Dunne said he nearly stopped writing when Dominique was slain.

"I was going to stop the book," Dunne said. "I didn't want to do a book that dealt with a murder. But my book editor wouldn't let me quit. She was incredibly sympathetic and lenient on time. I'm glad now that she didn't let me quit."

"People Like Us" and "The Two Mrs. Grenvilles" were both turned into miniseries, and he stressed he had nothing to do with the changes the TV scriptwriters made.

"If I had wanted it that way, I would have written it that way," Dunne told TV Guide, referring to changes made in the key character in "People Like Us" to make him more sympathetic.

Among his other books were the 1993 "A Season in Purgatory," that helped revive interest in the 1975 slaying of teenager Martha Moxley in Greenwich, Conn. A Kennedy relative, Michael Skakel, was convicted in the killing in 2002.
He also wrote "An Inconvenient Woman" and "The Mansions of Limbo."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

'Silver Palate' Author Sheila Lukins Dies at 66

Sheila Lukins, the author of the iconic 1980s cookbook "Silver Palate Cookbook" has died after a short battle with brain cancer.

Lukins wrote the cookbook in the early 1980s after running a shop called the Silver Palate on New York's Upper West Side with colleague Julee Rosso. Its recipes -- including olive-infused chicken Marbella -- became mainstays of the '80s kitchen.

Lukins had been diagnosed with brain cancer only three months ago, her daughter told the New York Times.

Workman Publishing, the publisher of "The Silver Palate," expressed the company's sadness on its Twitter page Monday morning. "We lost dear friend and culinary pioneer Sheila Lukins."

Lukins opened the Silver Palate shop with Russo after running a catering company called "The Other Woman" from her apartment.

"The Silver Palate" sold more than 2.5 million copies since its debut in 1982. Lukins had spent the last 23 years working as a food columnist for Parade magazine writing the column "Simply Delicious."

"The whole idea is to make people feel very comfortable preparing a meal," Lukins once said, according to Parade. "The best compliment I ever get is that cooking from these recipes is just like having a friend helping you in the kitchen."

 

[JennyOmanHill]

DJ AM Death Reportedly Not Suicide

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Despite reports that DJ AM (born Adam Goldstein) might have been depressed over a recent breakup with model Hayley Wood before his death on Friday, law enforcement sources believe the celebrity DJ's death was an accidental drug overdose, not suicide.

Citing unnamed police sources, TMZ reported that recovering addict AM had developed a dependency on Xanax and a number of other anti-anxiety drugs after the fiery plane crash he and Blink-182's Travis Barker survived last year. Both men were seriously injured in the accident, which took four lives and resulted in Barker and AM receiving a number of painful skin grafts to treat the second- and third-degree burns they suffered.

TMZ reported that AM had developed a serious anxiety about flying, something he had to do frequently for his many DJ jobs all over the country. The site, citing unnamed sources, said AM's doctors prescribed Xanax and other anti-anxiety medications to relieve the fear of flying, but that those drugs helped trigger a "recent" relapse, noting that AM was not abusing the drugs for very long before his death.

Among those weighing in on what might have killed AM was addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky, the host of VH1's "Celebrity Rehab." Pinsky told The Associated Press that he believes the pain medications AM was taking to treat the injuries he sustained in last year's plane crash in South Carolina might have led him to relapse after more than 11 years of sobriety.

"It very slowly and subtly reawakens addiction," Pinsky said of pain medication. "I'm not saying it was inappropriately prescribed; I'm saying he didn't know the risks."

AM, 36, was found dead in his Soho apartment in New York on Friday evening, reportedly with a crack pipe and prescription pills nearby. Like a number of friends who expressed grief over AM's death over the weekend — including musical partner Travis Barker, ex-girlfriend Mandy Moore and a host of fellow DJs — Pinsky said he was upset by the loss of someone he considered a "very close" friend. The doctor said AM had been a model for people going through addiction and praised him for his selflessness in helping others get clean.

"He [sponsored] other people, and in his words, [would] go to the mat supporting people on their recovery," Pinsky said. "He was someone I referred people to to learn about recovery."

On Saturday, the New York medical examiner's offices said the results of an autopsy were inconclusive, and further toxicology and tissue tests were necessary to determine a cause of death. Those tests will take several weeks to complete. TMZ reported that its sources said the evidence in the case strongly indicates that the cause of death will be a combination of crack cocaine and the anxiety drugs.

AM was set to star in an MTV special in October called "Gone Too Far," in which he stages interventions with other people battling addictions and discusses his own struggle with drugs; the network has not yet announced its plans for the show.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Echo and the Bunnymen Keyboardist Jake Drake-Brockman Dies

Jake Drake-Brockman, a keyboardist for Echo and the Bunnymen, died in a motorcycle crash on the Isle of Man on Tuesday. Known as "the fifth Bunnyman," Brockman played on several of the band's hits before joining as a full-time member in 1989, and their upcoming album, 'The Fountain,' was the seventh to feature his work. He was 53.

According to the Isle of Man Today, Brockman was seriously injured after his motorcycle collided with another motorist. He was airlifted to a hospital, but died in the intensive care unit. The other driver was uninjured.

In a statement, his family and wife Sally Mundy said, "Jake was always a classic bike enthusiast, he loved sailing though he was invariably seasick ... Music was central to Jake's life." Brockman also played in the dance band Bom and worked as a sound recordist for the BBC.

"Jake was one of the most gentle, funny and genuine men you could ask to ever meet," Peter Allen, the webmaster for the band's official site website, told IOM Today. "He played on most of the band's biggest hits and toured with the band from the early '80s. He will be hugely missed not just by the band, but by thousands of fans who met him over the years." The band's website simply says, "Our thoughts are with his wife, family and friends."

In 1989, original Bunnymen drummer Pete de Freitas, 27, was also killed in a motorcycling accident, when he was traveling en route to Liverpool from London.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Cincinnati Pops’ Erich Kunzel dies

Erich Kunzel, the longtime conductor of the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, died September 1st at the age of 74, the orchestra announced.

Kunzel had suffered from cancer of the pancreas, liver and colon for several months. He died at his home in Swans Island, Maine.

“The world has lost a musical giant, and we have lost a dear friend,” said Trey Devey, president of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, in a statement.

Kunzel joined the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as associate conductor in 1965, at the invitation of Maestro Max Rudolf. He began conducting pops concerts with the orchestra that year, then took the helm of the Cincinnati Pops when it was spun off from the symphony in 1977.

Over the years, Kunzel and the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra have performed at Carnegie Hall, Radio City Music Hall, the Grand Ol’ Opry and the Blossom Music Festival, and recorded more than 85 albums on the Telarc label. The orchestra’s international tours included playing at the opening ceremonies for the Olympic Games in China last summer.

Kunzel also conducted the National Symphony in Washington, D.C., in its nationally televised Memorial Day concerts. In 2006, Kunzel was presented with the 2006 National Medal of Arts by President and Mrs. Bush at the White House.

Locally Kunzel was a well-known figure, as beloved for his showmanship as his musical skills. He spearheaded the fundraising for Cincinnati Public Schools’ new School for Creative and Performing Arts, now under construction at Elm Street and Central Parkway.

Kunzel is survived by his wife, Brunhilde. Besides Maine, the couple have homes in Newport and Naples, Fla.

The orchestra said its fall Pops concerts will go on as scheduled, with guest conductors.

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Keith Waterhouse, British Playwright, Dies at 80

Keith Waterhouse, who made his name as a novelist with 1959's "Billy Liar," and scored a West End hit with Jeffrey Bernard Is Unwell, died on Sept. 4 at his home in London. He was 80.

"Billy Liar," the Leeds-born writer's most famous work, was the story of Billy Fisher, a teenager with a rich fantasy life. (The novel was almost never published, when he left 10,000 words of the manuscript in a taxi and had to start again.) After it scored as a novel, it was adapted for the stage and film. The play starred Albert Finney as Billy and opened on the West End in 1960; the film version, released in 1963 and directed by John Schlesinger, featured Tom Courtenay.

Mr. Waterhouse went on to write a number of plays, many of them in collaboration with Willis Hall. His greatest success came when he put his friend, the dissolute columnist Jeffrey Bernard, as the center of a solo drama starring Peter O'Toole. The title of the play came from the notice The New Statesman often ran when Bernard was too drunk to write his column, which was often.

The play found the soused journalist locked inside his favorite pub for the night, giving him the chance to expound to the audience on any number of subjects. Mr. Waterhouse drew on his past experience as a reporter for the Yorkshire Evening Post and The Daily Mirror to spin tales about the world of Fleet Street. The play was a personal success for both Waterhouse and O'Toole. It won the Evening Standard Award for Comedy of the Year in 1990.

O'Toole revived the piece a decade later at the Old Vic. Mr. Waterhouse's last play, The Last Page, was an elegy on the demise of Fleet Street. Other plays included Celebration, All Things Bright and Beautiful, England Our England, Come Laughing Home, Children's Day and Whoops-a-Daisy.

Keith Spencer Waterhouse's father sold fruits and vegetables from a cart. He left school at 14 and worked as an undertaker’s assistant, a newsboy, a rent collector and a clerk before doing compulsory service with the Royal Air Force.

He wrote his first novel, “There Is a Happy Land," in 1957. Soon, he was aligned by critics with a new breed of working-class writers such as John Braine and Alan Sillitoe. Future novels included "Jubb" (1963), "The Bucket Shop" (1969), "Office Life” (1978), “Bimbo” (1990) and “Palace Pier” (2003). He also published two volumes of memoirs, “City Lights: A Street Life” (1994) and “Streets Ahead: Life After City Lights” (1995).

He also made his mark in television, writing the hugely popular satirical show "That Was the Week That Was" and its successor "The Frost Report" in the 1960s.

His marriage, in 1984, to Stella Bingham, ended in 1989. He is survived by a son and a daughter from a previous marriage to Joan Foster, which was also dissolved. A daughter predeceased him

 

[Igor_1066]

Columnist Army Archerd dies at 87

By DERRIK J. LANG (AP) – 1 hour ago

LOS ANGELES — Army Archerd, whose breezy column for the entertainment trade publication Daily Variety kept tabs on various Hollywood doings for more than a half-century, has died. He was 87.

Archerd's wife, Selma, said he died Tuesday at UCLA Medical Center of mesothelioma, a cancer of the lungs strongly tied to asbestos exposure. She said the cancer was the result of his time spent in shipyards while serving in the Navy during World War II. She said he had become very ill over the last two years, especially in the last two weeks.

"He was the love of my life," said Selma.

Over the years, Archerd won praise from the Hollywood establishment for always checking the accuracy of his news tips before printing them. He had an extensive phone directory of much-guarded private numbers that he would use to call movie stars and studio bosses directly to ferret out which rumors were true and which were not.

His biggest scoop came in 1985 when he was first to report that veteran leading man Rock Hudson had AIDS. It was the first time a major Hollywood star was disclosed to be an AIDS victim, and it helped break down some of the secrecy surrounding the disease.

Archerd — born Armand Archerd in New York in 1922 — also broke the story that Julia Roberts had jilted fiance Keifer Sutherland in 1991 and that longtime bachelor Warren Beatty had married Annette Bening in 1992. His source for the Beatty-Bening story was Beatty himself.

"I know it sounds like a cliche," said Selma, "but the time we spent together, it was just an outstanding life of knowing the most gorgeous people in the world, being very well accepted by them, traveling all over the world like millionaires, even though we were poor."

For more than 50 years, Archerd also served as the greeter-interviewer at the Academy Awards. Acting nominees and other celebrities were conducted to a platform alongside the red carpet for a brief chat with Archerd that was heard by the thousands of fans gathered outside the theater.

"I try to give the nominees a little moment in the sun, maybe their last," he explained in 2002.

Archerd's columns were generally mild-mannered, although he could lash out at what he considered wrongdoing. After he excoriated Michael Jackson for including anti-Semitic remarks in his "HIStory" album, the entertainer apologized and took them out.

Archerd's first brush with the studios came in the early 1940s when he worked in the Paramount mailroom while a student at the University of California, Los Angeles.

After wartime service in the Navy, he returned to Los Angeles and began his news career working with longtime entertainment reporter Bob Thomas on a daily Hollywood column for The Associated Press.

Three years later he became an aide to Harrison Carroll, the gossip columnist for the now-defunct Los Angeles Herald-Examiner.

In 1953 he was chosen to write Daily Variety's "Just for Variety" column, which was required morning reading for Hollywood's movers and shakers. He later went on to become one of the first journalists to be honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

His marriage to Joan Archerd, which produced two children, Amanda and Evan, ended in divorce in 1969 after 25 years. He married his second wife, Selma, in 1970.

Archerd is survived by his wife, his son and two stepsons.

http://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5jvVjdp5d_yjMrLPE9yfYl5I7Hx7gD9AJO0QO0

 

[JennyOmanHill]

Skipper Beck Killed In Rock Hill Plane Crash

ROCK HILL, S.C. -- Prominent Charlotte businessman Skipper Beck was killed in a Rock Hill plane crash early Friday.

William “Skipper” Beck Jr., 49, was piloting the Cirrus SR-22 that crashed just after takeoff from the Rock Hill/York County Airport at about 7:15 a.m. Witnesses said the plane took off and the pilot must have had trouble because he was turning back toward the airport when the plane suddenly went down.

Officials said the plane caught fire after the crash. Pieces of the wreckage are small and widespread.

“At first when I looked, I thought maybe it was a brush fire. But then I saw the big, long black line on the hill and then I started to see little pieces of debris. But the biggest piece of debris was maybe the size of my steering wheel, “ said witness Juliet Baucom. “I was completely amazed at how there was absolutely nothing left.”

The Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are investigating the crash.

Officials said Beck was flying on a visual flight rules and did not file a flight plan, but a family spokeswoman said Beck was flying himself to Teterboro, N.J., and that no other passengers were on board.

The spokeswoman said the family is asking that its privacy be respected during this very difficult time. Beck’s pastor and friends have declined to talk about their loss on Friday.

The Cirrus SR-22, a small single-engine plane that seats four people, is owned by Beck Management Group in Charlotte.

Beck was part owner of the Charlotte Bobcats. He played in the 2007 Wachovia Championship pro-am with fellow owner Michael Jordan and golf legend Tiger Woods.

The Bobcats released a statement from majority owner Robert Johnson on Friday. It said, "The entire Bobcats Sports & Entertainment family mourns the loss of our partner and great friend, Skipper Beck. We extend our heartfelt condolences to his family, colleagues and friends. Not only has BSE lost an energetic business champion, but so has the Charlotte business community. Skipper loved basketball and was instrumental in bringing the Bobcats to Charlotte, and as an owner, he was without question the Bobcats greatest fan. We will miss him at courtside."

Beck’s company, Beck Management Group, includes Beck Automotive Group, Beck Aviation Group and Beck Motorsports. Beck Automotive Group owns car dealerships around the country. Beck Imports of Charlotte was recently sold to the Hendrick Automotive Group.

On the Beck Aviation Group Web site, Beck wrote, “(Flying) has always been a passion of mine.” The aviation group brokered the buying and selling of aircrafts.