Obituaries:

for the Rich and Famous
- Legends of the SILVER SCREEN


A PICTORIAL GALEXY and Generality - Writings of the LIFE - TIMES and FILM CAREER of Deborah Kerr | Filmography 1940 - 1950s NOTES and FACTS | Filmography 1960 - 1980s NOTES and FACTS | Biographies | JUNGLE Films | News and Gossip in BLOOM | Addle an Addict and Baffle a Buff | Vintage - CINEMA - Classics | COMEDY and ROMANCE Films | Gallery of PHOTOS | COSTUME Films | HIGH and SOCIAL DRAMA Films | CRIME and HORROR Films | RELIGIOUS and MUSICAL Films | Emotion Pictures | OBITUARIES | Legacy of a L A D Y - End of a Legend



James Mason (1909 - 1984)
An enormously talented actor with a rich voice and rather rugged appearance, the British born Mason first achieved stardom in the mid-forties after many years on the stage and in small film roles. His extraordinary performance in Carol Reed's ODD MAN OUT 1946 made him into a star. He came to the United States shortly thereafter and starred in CAUGHT, the first of two extraordinary ' film noirs ' directed by Max Ophuls. In CAUGHT and the subsequent Ophuls classic, THE RECKLESS MOMENT, he played sympathetic parts. He also co-starred in the less notable CRY TERROR and ONE WAY STREET.
CAUGHT (MGM,1949)
THE RECKLESS MOMENT (Columbia,1949)
ONE WAY STREET (Universal,1950)
CRY TERROR (MGM,1958)

Marlon Brando (1924 - )
Marlon Brando was born in Omaha, Nebraska. His father was a salesman, and his mother was a local actress. He attended Shattuck Military Academy of Minnesota and was expelled. He then went on to the Dramatic Workshop in New York and made his debut in I Remember Mama on Broadway in 1944. In 1947, Brando earned recognition as an actor with his astounding portrayal of the brutish Stanley Kowalsky in A Streetcar Named Desire. His unique mumbling delivery ushered in the Method style of acting. Brando was also one of the first participants in Lee Strasberg's Actors' Studio
In 1950, Brando made his screen debut as a paraplegic in "The Men," and his film career soared in the early '50s with starring roles in the screen version of "A Streetcar Named Desire (1951), "Viva Zapata!" (1952), and "The Wild One (1953); he also played the young ex-fighter in "On the Waterfront" (1954), a part for which he won an Oscar.
Brando became known for his rebellious personality off the screen as well as in film. In the ' 60s, despite his charismatic appeal, his career faltered because of his involvement in many unappealing films. His astounding talent was resurrected with his magnificent portrayal of Don Corleone in "The Godfather" - 1972, which earned him another Oscar, and again soon after with a portrait of middle-aged sexuality in "Last Tango in Paris" - 1973.
Brando was married to actresses Anna Kashfi and Movita.
Other Brando movies include
"Guys and Dolls" (1955)
"Mutiny on the Bounty" (1962)
"The Chase" (1966)
"The Missouri Breaks" (1976)
"Superman" (1978)
and "Apocalypse Now" (1979).

Robert Mitchum: ( August 6th, 1917 - July 1st, 1997)
Robert Mitchum's first film role was as a bad guy in a Hopalong Cassidy western in 1940. He had a small role in a number of movies after that, but didn't catch the attention of audiences until 1944, when he appeared in the low-budget movie WHEN STRANGERS MARRY and in a supporting role in THIRTY SECONDS OVER TOKYO.
Born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, in 1917, Mitchum dropped out of school when he was 14 and worked as a deckhand on a salvage vessel. During the Depression, he worked his way across the country. His sister introduced him to the Long Beach Theater Guild, where he began as a stagehand and only later became an actor, performing in The Petrified Forest and Remember the Day. He also wrote children's plays, comedy material, and organized a road tour for astrologist Carroll Richter.
During the late '40s, better roles in TILL THE END OF TIME (1946), UNDERCURRENT (1946), CROSSFIRE (1947), DESIRE ME (1947), OUT OF THE PAST (1947), RACHEL AND THE STRANGER (1948), BLOOD ON THE MOON (1948), and THE RED PONY (1949) made him a box-office favorite.
Some of Mitchum's other films include:
My Forbidden Past (1951)
River of No Return (1954)
Not as a Stranger (1955)
Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957)
The S u n d o w n e r s (1960)
and Ryan's Daughter (1971)

 

JANIS JOPLIN: 27, American Rock Singer. Her death was attributed to an overdose of drugs. October 4th, 1982
GYPSY ROSE LEE: 56, American burlesque queen and actress. April 26th, 1982
ANITA LOUISE: 53, American movie and TV actree. April 25th, 1982
HAL MARCH: 49, American actor, and TV emcee of the quiz show ,000 Question. January 19th, 1982
CHARLES RUGGLES: 84, American stage, motion-picture, and television actor. December 23rd, 1982
INGER STEVENS: 35, Swedish-born movie and TV actress. Star of teevee series "The Farmer's Daughter (1963-66). April 30th, 1982
RICHARD DENNING: March 27th, 1914 - October 11th, 1998
PHILIP OBER: March 23rd, 1902 - September 13th, 1982
DAVID NIVEN: March 1st, 1910 - July 29th, 1982
JACK CARDIFF: September 18th, 1914 -
FRITH BANBURY: May 4th, 1912 -
MICHAEL POWELL: September 30th, 1905- February 19th, 1990
EMERIC PRESSBURGER: December 5th, 1902 - February 5th, 1988
JAMES McKECHNIE: April 8th, 1911 - May 7th, 1964
DAVID HUTCHESON: June 14th, 1905 - February 18th, 1976
SPENCER TREVOR: May 29th, 1875 - May 22nd, 1945
DENNIS ARUNDELL: July 22nd, 1898 - December 10th, 1988
VALENTINE DYALL: May 7th, 1908 - June 24th, 1985
URSULA JEANS: May 5th, 1906 - April 21st, 1973
MURIEL AKED: November 9th, 1887 - March 21st, 1955
IAN FLEMING: September 10th, 1888 - January 1st, 1969
( not to be confused with the creator of James Bond )
LANCE COMFORT: 1908 - August 25th, 1966
A.J. CRONIN: July 19th, 1896 - January 6th, 1981
ROBERT NEWTON: June 1st, 1905 - March 25th, 1956
BEATRICE VARLEY: July 11th, 1896 - July 4th, 1964
BREFNI O'RORKE: June 26th, 1889 - November 11th, 1946
DOROTHY FAY (Southworth) RITTER: 88, Actress in B-movie Westerns in the 1930s and 40s
died in Los Angeles, November 5th, 2003 - She was married to Tex Ritter and the mother of actor John Ritter
TEX RITTER: b. January 12th, 1905 - Murvaul, Texas
d. January 2nd, 1974 - Nashville, Tennessee (heart attack)
JOHN RITTER: b. September 17th, 1948 - Burbank, California
d. September 11th, 2003 - Burbank, Calif. (aortic dissection)
ART CARNEY: 85,
Hartford, Conn. - Art Carney, who played Jackie Gleason's sewer working pal, lovable Ed Norton, in the tevee classic "The Honeymooners" and went on to win the 1974 Oscar for best actor in "Harry and Tonto," Carney died in Chester, conn., on Sunday, November 9th, 2003. He was born into an Irish-Catholic family in Mount Vernon, N.Y., on November 4th, 1918, and baptized Arthur William Matthew Carney.
"The first time I saw the guy act, I knew I would have to work twice as hard for my laughs. He was funny as hell."
JACKIE GLEASON
( talking about Art Carney )

BERT LAHR (Irving Lahrheim) born on August 13th, 1895, in Yorkville, New York, was the son of Jacob Lahrheim, a German immigrant and third generation upholsterer, and his wife Augusta. He died on December 4th, 1967, at the age of 75, he was in the film "The Night They Raided Minsky's" and "The Wizard of Oz." 


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In the Cathedral of St. Nicholas, April 19th, 1956, Miss Grace Kelly of Philadelphia and Hollywood, decked in diamonds and pearls and 320 yards of Valenciennes lace, became Her Serene Highness the Princess of Monaco.

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Grace Kelly: November 12th, 1929 - September 14th, 1982
( born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania - died, road accident, in Monacovill, Monaco )


Britons bid their final farewell to queen mum

LONDON - In the majesty of Westminster Abbey and in quiet corners all around the country, Britain said goodbye yesterday to the Queen Mother, Elizabeth, whose dignity and courage endeared her to millions. While kings, queens and foreign leaders sat in the splendor of the great abbey church for her funeral, hundreds of thousands of ordinary Britons stood outside and joined in prayer and hymns for the 101-year-old royal matriarch, who died March 30th, 2002.

New York Post, Wednesday, April 10th, 2002

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ROBERT DOUGLAS: November 9th, 1909 - January 11th, 1999
DONALD CALTHROP: April 11th, 1888 - July 15th, 1940
KATHLEEN FREEMAN: February 17th, 1919 - August 23rd, 2001
JANE GREER: September 9th, 1924 - August 24th, 2001
KATHLEEN HARRISON: February 23rd, 1898 - December 8th, 1995
ROBERT COOTE: February 4th, 1909 - November 25th, 1982
ELIZABETH SELLARS: May 6th, 1923 -
DINA MERRILL: December 9th, 1925 -
HUGO HASS: February 19th, 1901 - December 1st, 1968
IAN WOLFE: November 4th, 1896 - January 23rd, 1992
EDMOND PURDOM: December 19th, 1924
ALAN NAPIER: January 7th, 1903 - August 8th, 1988
MARY MERRALL: January 5th, 1890 - 1973
CHARLES WILLIAMS: September 27th, 1898 - January 3rd, 1958
DOUGLAS DUMBRILLE: October 13th, 1890 - April 2nd, 1974
FELIX AYLMER: 90, September 2nd, 1979 in Sussex, England
JOAN BLONDELL: 73, born August 30th, 1906 in New York City - died of leukemia December 25th, 1979 in Santa Monica, California
( she was quite a character always - at one point she told an interviewer she slept with her dogs, cats and two pet turtles, and on her 62nd birthday, she tried marijuana, experienced a panic attack and ran, screeming, onto the beach in Calif. )
JIMMY DURANTE: 86, January 29th, 1980 in Santo Monica, California
JANE FROMAN: 72, April 22nd, 1980 at her home in Columbia, Mo.
HUGH GRIFFITH: 67, May 14th, 1980 after a long illness in his London home
IDA KAMINSKA: 80, died of heart ailment May 21st, 1980 in New York City
KURT KASZNAR: 65, died of cancer August 6th, 1979 in Santa Monica, California
RICHARD RODGERS: 77, December 30th, 1979 in his native New York City
LEO McCAREY: October 3rd, 1898 - July 5th, 1969
VIVIAN VANCE: 66, died of cancer August 17th, 1979 in her home in Belvedere, Calif.
GEORGE NADER: 80, actor and Sci-Fi writer died at the Motion Picture Country Home where he lived in Los Angeles, California on February 4th, 2002
MADELEINE CARROLL: February 26th, 1906 - October 2nd, 1987
HERMIONE GINGOLD: December 9th,1897 - April 30th, 1987
JOHN HUSTON: August 5th,1906 - August 28th, 1987
CATHLEEN NESBITT: November 24th, 1888 - August 2nd, 1982
EMLYN WILLIAMS: November 26th, 1905 - September 25th, 1987
IRENE DUNNE: December 20th, 1898 - September 4th, 1990
AVA GARDNER: January 24th,1922 - January 25th, 1990
REX HARRISON: March 5th, 1908 - June 2nd, 1990
GRAHAM GREEN: October 2nd, 1904 - April 3rd, 1991
GLORIA HOLDEN: September 5th, 1908 - March 22nd, 1991
JOHN HOYT: born 1904 - September 15th, 1991
HELEN DEUTSCH: born 1906 - March 15th, 1992
ROBERT MORLEY: May 25th, 1908 - June 3rd, 1992
CAROLYN JONES: April 28th, 1932 - August 3rd, 1983
GLORIA SWANSON: March 27th, 1899 - April 4th, 1983
SIR RALPH RICHARDSON: December 19th, 1902 - October 11th, 1983
SIR ALEXANDER KORDA: September 16th, 1893 - January 23rd, 1956
RICHARD BURTON: November 10th, 1925 - August 5th, 1984
YUL BRYNNER: July 11th, 1920 - October 10th, 1985
MARGARET HAMILTON: September 12th, 1902 - May 16th, 1985
ROCK HUDSON: November 25th, 1925 - October 2nd, 1985
ISABEL JEANS: September 16th 1891 - September 4th, 1985
EDMUND O'BRIEN: September 10th, 1915 - May 10th, 1985
SIR MICHAEL REDGRAVE: March 20th, 1908 - March 21st, 1985
ORSON WELLES: May 6th, 1916 - October 10th, 1985
HERMIONE BADDELEY: November 13th, 1906 - August 19th, 1986
VIRGINIA GILMORE: July 26th, 1919 - March 28th, 1986
ROLAND CULVER: August 31st, 1900 - March 1st, 1984
JANET GAYNOR: October 6th, 1906 - September 14th, 1984
JAMES MASON: May 15th, 1909 - July 27th, 1984
WALTER PIDGEON: September 23rd, 1898 - September 25th, 1984
DAME FLORA ROBSON: March 28th, 1902 - July 7th, 1984
ESTELLE WINWOOD: January 24th, 1883 - June 20th, 1984
ROSSANO BRAZZI: September 18th, 1916 - December 24th, 1994
ROBERT MITCHUM: August 6th, 1917 - July 1st, 1997
DEBORAH KERR: September 30th, 1921 -
WILLIAM HOLDEN: April 18th, 1918 - November 16, 1981
LEIF ERICKSON: October 27th, 1911 - January 29th, 1986
RITA HAYWORTH: October 17th, 1918 - May 14th, 1987
ALAN LADD: September 3rd, 1913 - January 29th, 1964
SPENCER TRACY: April 5th, 1900 - June 10th, 1967
REGINALD OWEN: August 5th, 1887 - November 5th, 1972
DAME WENDY HILLER: August 15th, 1912 -
ROSEMARY CLOONEY: May 23rd, 1928 - Saturday, June 29th, 2002
"Come On-a My House"
Novelty song made songstress famous
ROD STEIGER: (Rodney Stephen Steiger) April 14th, 1925 - Tues.,July 9th, 2002
"My generation of actors was taught to be abe to create different people," he once said. "That's what an actor is all about and supposed to do."
DAWN ADDAMS: September 21st, 1930 - May 7th, 1985
CARY GRANT: January 18th, 1904 - November 29th, 1986
DONNA REED: January 27th, 1921 - January 14th, 1986
KEENAN WYNN: July 17th, 1916 - October 14th, 1986
LANA TURNER: February 8th, 1921 - June 29th, 1995
STEWART GRANGER: May 6th, 1913 - August 16th, 1993
ROBERT TAYLOR: August 5th, 1911 - June 8th, 1969
EDUARD FRANZ: October 31st, 1902 - February 10th, 1982
FAYE DUNAWAY: January 14th, 1941 -
CECIL KELLAWAY: August 22nd, 1893 - February 28th, 1973
CORINNE CALVET: April 30th, 1925 - June 23rd, 2001
TENNESSEE WILLIAMS: March 26th, 1911 - August 13th, 1983
ROBERT YOUNG: February 22nd, 1907 - July 21st, 1998
CY HOWARD: (Seymour Horowitz) September 27th, 1915 - April 29th, 1993
CESAR ROMERO: February 15th, 1907 - January 1st, 1994
CYRIL DELEVANTI: February 23rd, 1889 - December 13th, 1975
JAN CLAYTON: August 26th, 1917 - August 28th, 1983
The original mom on Teevees long-running "L A S S I E" series
LILI: October 18th, 1983 - August 14th, 2003
SPRING BYINGTON: b. Colorado Springs, Colorado on October 17th, 1893 - d. at the age of 77 on September 7th, 1971
EDWARD ARNOLD: February 18th, 1890 in New York City - he died at 66 on April 26th, 1956 in his Encino, California home
BINNIE BARNES: March 25th, 1903 - she died at age 95 on July 27th, 1998
FRANK LAUNDER: January, 1906 - February 23rd, 1997
SIDNEY GILLIAN: February 15th, 1908 - May 31st, 1994
ROBERT DONAT: March 18th, 1905 - June 9th, 1958
VALERIE HOBSON: April 14th, 1917 - November 13th, 1998


Pictured from the classic WIZARD OF OZ are Bert Lahr, Ray Bolger, Judy Garland and Jack Haley (these four major stars are no longer with us and are missed dearly).
Wizard of OZ, The *****

DIRECTOR: Victor Fleming
CAST: Judy Garland, Ray Bolger, Bert Lahr, Jack Haley, Frank Morgan, Billie Burke, Margaret Hamilton, Charley Grapewin, Clara Blandick, and The Singing Midgets - those wonderful little people without them this motion picture would have needed a lot more to be desired - no second thoughts given, the film was and is a winner

The all-time classic for children of all ages, this MGM release, directed by Victor Fleming (GONE WITH THE WIND) and based on the story by L. Frank Baum, takes us "off to see the wizard . . . the wonderful wizard of Oz." Sometimes "there's no place like home" for watching great movies !

1939
approx. running-time 101 minutes
Black and White turning into color with the opening of a door by Dorothy . . .


FlashBACK


TM Photo from the Hugh Miles-Hutchinsen/Hiller Collection c2003 All Rights Retained Hereto

JANET LEIGH REMEMBERED ON SUNDAY . . .

On Sunday, at the Beverly Hills Hotel, the family of Janet Leigh (daughters Jamie Lee and Kelly Curtis, husband Bob Brandt) and her many friends, gather for "tea, cocktails and memories" of the great movie star. I have referred to Janet as underrated, and I think she was, but I also feel she went just as far as she wanted to go in her career. She'd had big, glitzy stardom during her wedlock to Tony Curtis - they were the darlings of the fan magazines. Later, after her 1963 marriage to Mr. Brandt, I think she made a conscious decision to limit her efforts, in deference to family life. It worked. Her marriage thrived. She raised two beautiful, talented, genuinely nice daughters. I have never heard an unkind word about Janet Leigh. In this business, a literal miracle.
She is gone now, but her beauty, accomplishents and that marvelous, unmistakable voice live on forever in film.

Grace sets her sights on some hot off-screen action [photographing on the set] .

STUNNING Grace Kelly takes some souvenir snapshots on the set of The Country Girl in 1954. The actress would have lots to remember. Not only did she win a best actress Oscar for the title role, but she crammed in affairs with both of her co-stars, Bing Crosby and William Holden. Grace, then 24, had already sampled the charms of both actors before they began working together and both were head over heels about her. But they avoided a sticky situation by having a man-to-man chat.
"I'm sitting with Grace," Crosby told Holden. "Daffy about her, and I was wondering if . . . "
"If I felt the same way?" countered Holden. "What man wouldn't? But I won't interfere."
But when Crosby began peppering Grace with marriage proposals, she soon was lured back to the married Holden, earning herself in the process the title of
"the most dangerous dame in the movies today."


May 4th, 1929 - January 20th,1993
(a dear friend to actress Deborah Kerr for many years . . . )

AUDREY HEPBURN - Model, Actress, Wife, Mother, Humanitarian, Friend
Slender and beautiful, she projected a radiant elegance that won the hearts of audiences in the 1950s and 1960s from all parts of the world. A fashion model in the early 1950s; she was married to the actor Mel Ferrer from 1954 to 1968 and was also known for her work on behalf of the international relief agency UNICEF.
At the Academy Awards ceremony in 1993, she was awarded the JEAN HERSHOLD HUMANITARIAN AWARD. Ms Hepburn was most at peace when she was at her home in Switzerland surrounded by her magnificent gardens in the later years of her life.

A lookback to 1956: IN STYLE Magazine - October, 2002

With that 'sunny funny face,' a young Audrey Hepburn created a style all her own . . .
"I never thought I'd land in pictures with a face like mine," Audrey Hepburn once said. She didn't land, she exploded. The Belgian-born actress had won both an Oscar - for her U.S. debut, ROMAN HOLIDAY - and a Tony - for ONDINE - in the same week. In an era when full figures were the female ideal (think Taylor, Russall, or Loren), Hepburn had her own lean allure. "There's more to sex appeal than measurements," she said. "I don't need a bedroom to prove my womanliness." Indeed - who else could make cigarette pants and a man's shirt look as feminine and elegant as a Givenchy gown? As "SABRINA" director Billy Wilder said: "God kissed her on the cheek, and there she was."

OBITUARIES for Legends of the SILVERSCREEN:

MARY ASTOR: May 3rd,1905 - September 25th,1987
The late 1930s and early 1940s were the most productive years of her career. She appeared in such well-seen classics as THE PRISONER OF ZENDA - 1937 and THE MALTESE FALCON - 1941 . . .

ROMY  SCHNEIDER: Vienna, Austria, Sept. 23rd, 1938 - Paris, France, May 29th, 1982/ Her 14-year-old son, David Haubenstock, was accidentaly impaled on a fence. This kept her gravely depressed and she died not long after. She was buried in the little village of Boissy-sans-Avoir, west of Paris, where she had just the month before purchased a farm and cemetery plot. Magda Schneider, her mother, took custody of her five-year-old daughter. 

 

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HOLLYWOOD'S CHILDREN
An Inside Account of the Child Star Era
by: Diana Serra Cary

Gertrude Temple, that devoted wife and mother gave no outward sign, but in 1927, nine years after the birth of her two sons and what she had supposed would be her last child, Gertrude found herself pregnent again, and a striking change took place.
It may be that Gertrude Temple, like many other women in America's increasingly youth-oriented culture, felt herself over the hill at thirty-two, her youth forever flown and with it all opportunity for adventure and personal recognition. Whatever wrought the change, she felt an irresistible urge to realize her own girlhood dreams of a theatrical career through this unborn child. She hoped fervently for a daughter, and, as she stated the case in print six momentous years later, "long before she was born I tried to influence her life by association with music, art and natural beauty. Perhaps this prenatal preparation helped make Shirley what she is today."
Shirley Jane Temple, born April 23rd, 1928, was not only the girl her mother had prayed for, she was singularly pretty and gifted as well. As soon as the golden-haired cherub could toddle, she gravitated toward the family victrola and radio, dancing and singing to their music as airily as any born fairy star. Although the Depression lay heavy on the land, the Temple home was a snug harbor of conservatism and security, despite several salary cuts that hard times had levied on the bank. There was no foolish spending, no fripperies, in George Temple's home.

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Major stars buried at Oakwood Memorial Park where you'll find the graves of Hollywood's greatest dancer, FRED ASTAIRE (1899 - 1987) plus his partner in all those MGM musicals, GINGER ROGERS (1911 - 1995). This dancing duo starred together in numerous movies from Hollywood's Golden Age, including "TOP HAT," "SWING TIME," and "SHALL WE DANCE."
The two are not buried together.



May your days be merry and bright:

ROSEMARY CLOONEY
( May 23rd, 1928 - Saturday, June 29th, 2002 )
The woman whom Tony Bennett called ' the most beloved singer in America - Rosemary Clooney. ' She built a more enduring audience singing Gershwin and Cole Porter in small clubs and theaters than she did when she was the hottest pop singer in the country.
Her recording of "Come On-a My House" was No. 1 for eight weeks in 1951, and while she bitterly resisted what she considered a silly novelty record, it swept her to stardom.
The 1954 film "White Christmas" starred Bing Crosby, Rosemary Clooney, Vera-Ellen, and Danny Kaye.
Film work enhanced Rosemary Clooney's popularity and led to greater artistic freedom.

 

JOHN PAUL II
was elected the 263rd pope in 1978, the first ever of Slavic extraction.
Karol Wojtyla: May 18th, 1920 - April 2nd, 2005

POPE JOHN PAUL II DIES AT 84

In 26-Year Reign, Reshaped Church and Papacy

*****************

Succumbs to Illness Suffered at Length and in Public

John Paul died of heart failure and septic shock, an overwhelming infection, at 9:37 p.m. Saturday evening in his apartment three stories above St. Peter's Square, as tens of thousands of the faithful gathered within sight of his lit window, amid millions of prayers for him from Roman Catholics around the world as his health declined rapidly. He was surrounded at his death by a close circle of aids from Poland: his two personal secretaries, Archbishop Stanislaw Dziwisz and Monsignor Mieczyslow mokrzycki; Cardinal Marian Jaworski, Archbishop Stanislaw Rylko; the Rev. Tadeusz Styczen, as well as three Polish nuns who have long worked in his residence. His personal doctor, Renato Buzzonetti, two other doctors and two nurses were also there.
After a doctor certifies his death, tradition calls for the Vatican camerlengo, Cardinal Eduardo Martinez Somalo, who will run the Vatican until a new  pope is chosen, to call out his baptismal name three times. He then strkes the pope's forehead with a silver hammer to ensure he is dead. The hammer is then used to destroy the papal ring, the symbol of his authority.

"The world has lost a champion of human freedom, and a good and faithful servant of god has been called home," Bush said in brief remarks. He would be the first U.S. president to attend the pope's funeral. In a first for the Vatican, the private viewing was televised. The Polish native, the first non-Italian pope in 455 years, was credited with using his moral authority to stand up to repressive communist regimes in Eastern Europe. But his traditionalist views on social issues created tensions with some Catholics in the United States.
Whether they saw him across an alter or across a stadium, shook his hand or just heard his voice. they felt, somehow, that they knew him. Pope John Paul II, like other popes, touched American Catholics with his teaching and his example. Unlike other popes, he touched them with his presence. He was only the second pope to visit the USA and the first to tour it. In five visits from 1979 to 1999, he made an imression on those who disagreed with him as well as those who venerated him. He could draw a crowd in any weather - in the rain on Boston Common in 1979, in the morning mist of Central Park in 1995, in the heat of a Denver summer in 1993.
Clint Eastwood and Rosa Parks shook his hand. Mark McGwire kissed his ring. Babies and streets were named after him. Cloistered nuns came from behind waals to see him. Teens chanted "John Paul II, we love you" at Madison Square Garden in 1979. And he replied, "Woo-hoo-woo, John Paul II, he love you!"
Those who met the pontiff remember his piercing blue eyes, his ruddy complexion and his rumbling voice with its thickly accented English.

 

 

 

Legendary Richard Avedon dies at 81
NEW YORK - Richard Avedon, the revolutionary photographer who redefined fashion photography as an art while achieving critical acclaim through his stark black-and-white portraits of the powerful and celebrated, died Friday. He was 81.
His early career was fictionalized in the 1957 Hollywood musical "Funny Face," starrinf Fred Astaire as the fashion photographer "Dick Avery." In 2003, he received a National Arts Award for lifetime achievement.
Avedon suffered a brain hemorrhage last month while on assignment in San Antonio, Texas, for THE NEW YORKER, taking pictures for a piece called "On Democracy."