Former Iraqi President Talabani Dead at 83

Former Iraqi President and Iraqi Kurdish leader Jalal Talabani has died in a Berlin hospital at age 83, according to Kurdish officials.

Talabani formerly led one of the largest Kurdish factions in Iraq before the 2003 U.S.-led invasion led to the ouster of Saddam Hussein. He then took over as Iraq’s president from 2005 to 2014, before stepping down to deal with complications from a stroke he suffered in 2012.

He was Iraq’s first non-Arab president. He was seen as a unifying figure within Iraq.

Talabani's death comes days after the Iraqi Kurdistan Regional Government held an independence referendum over Iraqi government objections.

(Photo by Khamenei.ir. Jalal Talabani meet with Ali Khamenei. 22 November 2005.)

Martin Milner, Star of TV's Adam 12, Route 66 Dies at 83

American actor Martin Milner, who starred in two hit television series reflecting America's love affairs with cars, has died at 83.

Friends and family confirmed Milner's death, but gave no details.

A child actor born in Detroit, Milner made numerous early film and TV appearances before starring in the 1960 series Route 66, named for the iconic U.S. highway.

Milner and co-star George Maharis traveled the country in a Chevrolet, finding themselves involved in the lives and problems of people they met in the large cities and small towns.

Route 66 went off the air in 1964 and Milner soon found himself behind the wheel of another vehicle — a Los Angeles police patrol car in the hit series, Adam 12. Unlike the glamorous and exciting lives of TV private eyes, Adam 12 showed that most police cases are mundane and the work routine, but still compelling.

The series ran from 1968 until 1975 and like Route 66, still remains popular.

Remembering Hollywood Icon Omar Sharif

by Mohamed Elshinnawi

Actor Omar Sharif, an icon of Hollywood's glamorous era, has died at the age of 83.

During his long career, the Egyptian-born Sharif won international acclaim and numerous awards. His role as Sherif Ali in David Lean's 1962 epic Lawrence of Arabia earned him two Golden Globe awards and an Oscar nomination. He won a further Golden Globe three years later for Doctor Zhivago, in which he starred as a physician caught up in the Russian Revolution.

In 2009, when he came to Washington to accept a lifetime achievement award from the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, he spoke with Mohamed Elshinnawi.

Omar Sharif credited the 1962 film Lawrence of Arabia with launching his international acting career. The role also made Sharif an attractive cultural emissary for his native Egypt. At the time, he was a matinee idol; and Gamal Abdel Nasser was the country's charismatic, anti-Western leader:

"I arrived in Hollywood when Nasser was in power. And Nasser at that time in the ‘60s was viewed in America just as badly as Saddam Hussein before they took him out,” he said. “So if you can imagine an Iraqi actor before the Iraq war would come and become a star in Hollywood; you couldn't conceive it.”

“Now,” he added, “this was a very lucky thing, because I was lucky to find the right part in a great film - Lawrence of Arabia was a great film, probably one of the greatest films ever made - and so I was very lucky and I was immediately nominated for an Academy Award."

The Arab actor received a warm welcome in Hollywood. He said felt no tensions during the four years in the 1960s when he lived and worked in the U.S. Sharif, however, he was saddened by what he saw as a widening gap between America and the Arab world in the 21st century.

"The world was different,” he said. “it was not like today where we have this terrible hatred between each other, between some of the Arabs and some of the Americans, those extreme radicals, so it was a different world. It is not the same world anymore."

He said he thought the September 11 terrorist attacks led many Americans to form gross misperceptions of Arabs and Muslims, and that they struggle to distinguish among the small groups of Muslims who are hostile to the West and the majority who, he said, are peace-loving.

Sharif - who was brought up Roman Catholic and converted to Islam when he married - often sought roles that show how Muslims can live in harmony with people of other faiths.

In a 2003 French drama, Monsieur Ibraham, he played a Muslim shopkeeper in Paris who adopts a Jewish boy. The film won him the Cesar - the French equivalent of the Oscar - as well as some of his best reviews in decades.

The late international movie star advocated building bridges among cultures through dialogue.

"We must be reasonable, all of us, them - the Americans - and we have to be reasonable and not have hatred at all,” he said. “We must have comprehension and try to … sit down and talk and be reasonable."

The actor remained active, doing voice-over work and taking small movie and TV roles, the last being the 2013 French-Moroccan drama Rock the Casbah. His son, actor Tarek Sharif, revealed in May that his father was suffering from Alzheimer's.

Omar Sharif's death, Friday in Cairo, was from a heart attack.

Famous Children's Author Leaves Legacy of Wild Things

by Penelope Poulou

Maurice Sendak, one of the most important American children’s book authors of the 20th century, has died at the age of 83 of complications from a recent stroke.

In “Where the Wild Things Are,” Max is a hyperactive boy with an imaginary world inhabited by wild monsters.

Maurice Sendak created this wild children's book, which became a movie in 2009. "Where the Wild Things Are" is his most famous creation.

At a New York exhibit of his illustrations,curator Nick Leone had this to say about Sendak's work. "Maurice Sendak, I think, to the world has made such a huge impression with his illustrations and his technique and his story because there's alwasy a story within the story. So once you read one of his stories and you understand beyond being a child, as an adult looking back, you can understand what the story is all about," he said.

In "The Wild Things," Max misbehaves. He escapes into a world where he leads a wild rumpus. 

For more than 50 years, Sendak  wrote and illustrated books focusing on kids’ fears, insecurities, and complexes.  “Where the Wild Things Are,” first published in 1963, changed the image of kids in literature as well-scrubbed  and well behaved.

Throughout his life, Sendak refused to be regarded as a children’s writer. He said he wrote about the human condition.

And he refused to give in to popular trends like ebooks.

Earlier this year, in one of his last TV interviews, he told Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert he was not fond of ebooks. "I hate those ebooks.  They cannot be the future.  They may well be. I will be dead," he said.

Sendak’s art went beyond books. In the second half of his career, he designed theatrical sets.

One of his happiest moments was when “Where the Wild Things Are” came out as a movie. “It feels very strange," he said. "This whole procedure is very strange.  I don't believe this is happening.  It's a dream, right?"

Maurice Sendak will always be remembered for Max and his monsters.  

He showed how the inner world of even the most frail is inhabited by wild things.

Saudi Arabia’s Crown Prince Dies

The heir to the Saudi throne, Crown Prince Sultan bin Abdul-Aziz, has died of an undisclosed illness. He was in his mid-80's.

The death of King Abdullah's half-brother was announced by the Saudi media, which said he died Saturday in New York City where he had gone for treatment of recurring medical problems.

The Saudi monarchy announced King Abdullah was mourning the death of his brother, who was one of the kingdom's most powerful figures, serving as both defense minister and deputy prime minister. His death throws into question the future leadership of a country facing simmering unrest at home and challenges from regional rival Iran.

U.S. President Barack Obama expressed “great regret” over the death, calling Crown Prince Sultan “a valued friend of the United States” who was a strong supporter of the “deep and enduring partnership” between the two countries forged almost 70 years ago.

Saudi officials said the funeral will take place Tuesday in Riyadh.

In late 2010, Crown Prince Sultan governed the kingdom while King Abdullah underwent surgery in New York. Both the monarch and the crown prince had suffered health problems in recent years.

Saudi officials have not announced a successor, but 86-year-old King Abdullah has indicated his preferences, naming Interior Minister Prince Nayaf as second deputy prime minister in 2009, a traditional post in the chain of succession.

Prince Nayaf is said to have closer ties to Saudi Arabia's powerful, puritanical clerics than the king, who has instituted reforms, including allowing women to take part in future elections.

The succession decision will be made by a special council, in a change of policy that was made by the current king. Crown Prince Sultan's son Khaled is expected to take over his father's duties at the defense ministry. Another son, Prince Bandar, served as ambassador to the U.S. for more than 20 years.

King Abdullah, Prince Nayaf and the late crown prince are all the sons of the founder of the modern Arab nation, Abdul-Aziz, known as Ibn Saud.

(Photo: Prince Sultan, Minister of Defence and Aviation in Saudi Arabia, 1 December 1990. Photo by U.S. military/Department of Defense)

Final Exits, 1-7 August 2011

Marshall Grant (left), American bassist (Tennessee Two).

Obituaries for 1-7 August 2011

1
* Viktor Aniskin, 65, Russian journalist. (Russian)
* Stan Barstow, 83, English novelist.
* Gerard Buisman, 59, Dutch troubadour. (Dutch)
* Carmela Marie Cristiano, 83, American Roman Catholic nun (Sisters of Charity of Saint Elizabeth); first nun to seek political office in New Jersey.
* Leo Figueres, 93, French politician. (French)
* Florentina Gómez Miranda, 99, Argentine lawyer and women's rights activist.
* Gamini Goonesena, 80, Sri Lankan cricketer.
* Ivan Mesquita, 79, Brazilian actor. (Portuguese)
* Con Murphy, 51, Irish judge, after short illness.
* Chieko N. Okazaki, 84, American Mormon women's leader, first non-Caucasian woman to hold a senior position in the LDS church, heart failure.
* Zhanna Prokhorenko, 71, Russian film actress (Ballad of a Soldier). (Russian)
* Harald Stender, 86, German footballer. (German)

2
* Leslie Esdaile Banks, 51, American author (The Vampire Huntress Legend Series), adrenal cancer.
* Baruj Benacerraf, 90, Venezuelan-born American immunologist, Nobel laureate (1980).
* Ralph Berkowitz, 100, American composer.
* Tokon Koboshevich Dayyrbekov, 52, Kyrgyz actor. (Russian)
* DeLois Barrett Campbell, 85, American gospel singer (The Barrett Sisters), pulmonary embolism.
* Vittorio Citterich, 81, Italian journalist and news anchor. (Italian)
* Al Federoff, 87, American baseball player (Detroit Tigers).
* James M. Flinchum, 94, American journalist.
* Asadullo Gulomov, 58, Tajik politician, Deputy Prime Minister (2006–2011). (Russian)
* Andrey Kapitsa, 80, Russian geographer and explorer, discovered and named Lake Vostok.
* Nikolay Kutuzov, 85, Russian conductor, People's Artist of the USSR. (Russian)
* Coby van Megen, 78, Dutch table tennis player. (Dutch)
* Clarence E. Miller, 93, American politician, U.S. Representative from Ohio (1967–1993), pneumonia.
* Larry Moyer, 60, American ARCA stock car racer, after long illness.
* Attilio Pavesi, 100, Italian Olympic cyclist, oldest living Olympic champion. (Italian)
* Richard Pearson, 93, Welsh actor.
* Venere Pizzinato, 114, Italian supercentenarian, third-oldest living person in the world.
* Italo Rossi, 80, Brazilian actor. (Portuguese)
* José Sanchis Grau, 79, Spanish comic book artist. (Valencian)
* James Ford Seale, 76, American murderer, Ku Klux Klan member.

3
* Wolf Böhringer, 81, German chess player. (German)
* Rudolf Brazda, 98, German concentration camp prisoner, last known survivor of homosexual deportation.
* Richard Cates, 85, American lawyer.
* Annette Charles, 63, American actress (Grease), cancer.
* Antonio M. Diaz, 83, Filipino politician, Representative from Zambales (1969–1972, 1992–2001, 2004–2011).
* Nicholas Kachurin, 51, Russian magazine editor (Top Gear). (Russian)
* Vladimir Lobashev, 78, Russian nuclear physicist. (Russian)
* Ingrid Luterkort, 101, Swedish actress. (Swedish)
* Andrew McDermott, 45, British singer (Threshold), complications of kidney failure. (German)
* Simona Monyová, 44, Czech writer, stabbed. (Czech)
* Jorge Neri, 67, Mexican composer, liver cancer. (Spanish)
* Ray Patterson, 89, American basketball executive (Milwaukee Bucks, Houston Rockets).
* Nikolay Petrov, 68, Russian pianist, People's Artist of the USSR, stroke.
* William Sleator, 66, American science fiction writer.
* Bubba Smith, 66, American football player (Baltimore Colts) and actor (Police Academy).
* Mohsen Koochebaghi Tabrizi, 87, Iranian Shi'ite Muslim marja, heart attack. (Persian)
* Angel Turconi, 88, Italian footballer. (Italian)
* Jane Walker, 69, British journalist, pancreatic cancer.
* Allan Watkins, 89, Welsh cricketer, after short illness.
* Oleh Yemtsev, 59, Ukrainian entertainer, after long illness. (Russian)

4
* Henk Alkema, 66, Dutch composer, music arranger and musician. (Dutch)
* Michael Bukht, 69, British radio executive, television personality and chef.
* Vladimir Klipel, 94, Russian writer. (Russian)
* Eugene V. Kolokolnikov, 64, Russian athletics coach. (Russian)
* Naoki Matsuda, 34, Japanese footballer, suspected heart attack.
* Erhard Pumm, 65, German trade unionist. (German)
* Conrad Schnitzler, 74, German musician (Tangerine Dream, Kluster, Eruption, Berlin Express), stomach cancer.
* Piet Stoffelen, 71, Dutch politician. (Dutch)
* Erika Thijs, 51, Belgian politician, cancer. (Dutch)
* Sherman White, 82, American basketball player (Long Island University).

5
* Claudio Díaz, 52, Argentine journalist, thyroid cancer. (Spanish)
* Mark Duggan, 29, British taxi driver, shooting by police triggered 2011 London riots, shot.
* Marion D. Hanks, 89, American Mormon leader.
* Donald Ray Kennard, 74, American politician, member of the Louisiana House of Representatives (1976–2008), brain aneurysm rupture.
* Andrzej Lepper, 57, Polish politician, suspected suicide by hanging.
* Takehiko Maeda, 82, Japanese television writer. (Japanese)
* Jennifer Minetti, 71, German actress. (German)
* Gary Nixon, 70, American motorcycle racer, complications from a heart attack.
* Francesco Quinn, 48, Italian-born American actor (Platoon, The Young and the Restless), son of Anthony Quinn, apparent heart attack.
* Erkki Wessman, 80, Finnish writer. (Finnish)
* Stan Willemse, 86, British footballer (Chelsea).

6
* Marshall Grant, 83, American bassist (Tennessee Two).
* Bernadine Healy, 67, American cardiologist, director of the National Institutes of Health (1991–1993), brain cancer.
* Fred Imus, 69, American radio talk show host, brother of Don Imus. (body found on this date)
* Kuno Klötzer, 89, German football coach. (German)
* Fe del Mundo, 99, Filipino pediatrician, National Scientist of the Philippines, heart attack.
* Roman Opałka, 79, French-born Polish painter. (Polish)
* John W. Ryan, 81, American academic administrator, President of Indiana University (1971–1987).
* Henri Tisot, 74, French actor. (French)
* William Wong, 88, American restaurateur, founder of Kowloon Restaurant.

7
* Joseph Candolfi, 89, Swiss Roman Catholic prelate, Auxiliary Bishop of Basel (1983–1996). (German)
* Hugh Carey, 92, American politician, Governor of New York (1975–1982) and U.S. Representative (1961–1974).
* Cornelius Elanjikal, 92, Indian Roman-Catholic prelate, Archbishop of Verapoly (1987–1996). (Malayalam)
* Mark Hatfield, 89, American politician, Governor of Oregon (1959–1967) and U.S. Senator (1967–1997).
* Harri Holkeri, 74, Finnish politician, Prime Minister (1987–1991), after long illness.
* Leo Mattioli, 39, Argentine cumbia singer, cardiac arrest.
* Tom Radney, 79, American politician, Alabama state senator, after long illness.
* Jiří Traxler, 99, Czech-born Canadian jazz musician. (Czech)
* Nancy Wake, 98, New Zealand-born Australian French Resistance leader, chest infection.
* Charles Wyly, 77, American billionaire and philanthropist, co-founder of Michaels Stores, automobile accident.
* Joe Yamanaka, 64, Japanese rock singer, lung cancer. (Japanese).

American Artist Cy Twombly Dies at 83

Tuesday, 5 July 2011

Cy Twombly, an American painter, known for his giant scribbles and graffiti-styled art, has died at a hospital in Rome.

A spokesman for the Gagosian Gallery, which represented Twombly's work, said the artist died Tuesday at the age of 83. The spokesman did not specify a cause of death, but Twombly had suffered from cancer for several years.

Twombly, whose full name was Edwin Parker Twombly, was born in the eastern U.S. state of Virginia. His six-decade career spanned a number of artistic movements, but he was best known for a unique style that included oversize canvasses, abstract scribbles, incorporating words into his paintings and drawings, and his use of the color white,

Twombly had been living in Italy since the late 1950s.

Peter Falk Dies at 83

Peter Falk in Decoy (TV, 1959)

Saturday, 25 June 2011

Actor Peter Falk has died at the age of 83.

Falk is best known for his portrayal of the rumpled, seemingly slow-witted television detective Columbo, a role that earned him four Emmy awards.

One of Lieutenant Columbo's trademarks was an ever-present, wrinkled raincoat that was plucked from Falk's personal closet.

In 2006 Falk wrote a book about his professional and personal lives entitled Just One More Thing – named after his Columbo catchphrase.

Surgeons removed Falk's cancerous right eye when he was three. He was fitted with a glass eye and went on to become a high school athlete.

Falk earned a master's degree in public administration and worked for the state of Connecticut as an efficiency expert before deciding to become an actor.

In the early 1960s, he won his first Emmy for his role as a truck driver who befriends a lonely, pregnant girl in The Price of Tomatoes, a segment of The Dick Powell Show.

Falk was nominated twice for an Academy Award – in 1960 for Murder, Inc. and a year later for Pocketful of Miracles.

A versatile actor, Falk appeared in the original stage productions of works by Paddy Chayefsky, Neil Simon and Arthur Miller. He also worked with film directors Frank Capra, John Cassavetes, Blake Edwards and Mike Nichols and studied with legendary acting coach Eva Le Gallienne.

The cause of Falk's death was not given, but in recent years he had suffered from Alzheimer's disease.

Peter Falk is survived by his wife and two daughters.