Archive: September 2008
Flash of Genius
The advertisement for the new movie (opens Oct. 3) "Flash of Genius" sounded suspiciously familiar. Ah yes. My colleague Matt Schudel wrote Robert Kearns obit a few years ago. Here's a trailer to give you the video version, but don't miss Matt's masterful story....
By Patricia Sullivan | September 30, 2008; 3:25 PM ET | Comments (0)
Paul Newman's Shrewd Move
Actor, director, philanthropist, race car driver and political activist Paul Newman died yesterday at 83. Television news in particular transforms every dead celebrity, no matter how insignificant, into a "legend" who will be "sorely missed." But based on the months I spent researching Newman to prepare his obit years ago...
By Matt Schudel | September 27, 2008; 1:24 PM ET | Comments (0)
Poll: Your Favorite Paul Newman Movie Character
Academy Award-winning actor and Hollywood legend, Paul Newman died of cancer Friday, September 26, 2008, at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn. Newman's career in the motion pictures spanned decades and covered drama, comedy, action and just about everything else. A true leading man, he had an unforgettable face and the...
By Washington Post Editors | September 27, 2008; 12:17 PM ET | Comments (34)
Newman and Redford, Forever Linked
Paul Newman, 83, the actor and sex symbol who surged to stardom by playing loners as well as criminal and moral outlaws -- anything to downplay his astonishing looks -- died of cancer Friday, September 26, 2008, at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn. Newman and co-star Robert Redford will likely...
By Washington Post Editors | September 27, 2008; 11:59 AM ET | Comments (0)
Baseball's Forgotten Star
With the exception of the great Walter Johnson, who pitched the Senators to their only world championship in 1924, Vernon was the most popular baseball player Washington had ever known ...
By Matt Schudel | September 26, 2008; 12:07 PM ET | Comments (1)
New Technology, Old Ritual
We're all in favor of technology here, especially if it helps the news get out, but Twittering a funeral seems a bit over the line, akin to a play-by-play of a burial rite. Twitter, for those who don't spend every waking moment keeping up with new technology, is a way...
By Patricia Sullivan | September 25, 2008; 2:40 PM ET | Comments (5)
The Mystery Writer
I first met James Crumley, who died Tuesday, in 1985, shortly after I moved to Missoula, Montana. Missoula was and is a town full of writers, so I decided to create a set of short profiles showing where and how a few of them worked. I did short pieces on...
By Patricia Sullivan | September 19, 2008; 10:02 AM ET | Comments (0)
Duck Girl of New Orleans
Truth is stranger than fiction, especially in New Orleans. The famous Duck Girl of New Orleans, Ruth Grace Moulon, an eccentric who zoomed from bar to bar on roller skates, often wearing a ratty fur coat or wedding gown and trailed by a string of her beloved ducks, died Sept....
By Patricia Sullivan | September 17, 2008; 12:40 PM ET | Comments (0)
Famed shark fisherman Frank Mundus dies
Frank Mundus, believed to be the inspiration for the shark-fishing captain Quint in the movie "Jaws," has died. He forged his reputation as a fearless fisherman in Montauk beginning in 1951, hunting down the world's biggest sharks. "I had a lot of close calls," he once said. "Probably too many...
By Patricia Sullivan | September 15, 2008; 11:50 AM ET | Comments (0)
Norma Desmond Revisited
Anita Page, probably the last living adult star of Hollywood silent pictures, has died. At her peak in the late 1920s she was second only in popularity to Greta Garbo, and the following video tribute conveys aspects of her appeal. Page said her refusal to bed studio executives led to...
By Adam Bernstein | September 9, 2008; 2:21 PM ET | Comments (1)
The Greatest Editor?
Robert Giroux, who is probably unknown to the general public, died yesterday and is remembered in an obituary in today's (Saturday, Sept. 6) paper. It was 5:30 p.m. when we learned that Giroux had died, and getting the obituary in the paper was a challenge, since we did not have...
By Matt Schudel | September 6, 2008; 11:22 AM ET | Comments (1)
The Peanuts Gang
The great animator Bill Melendez died this week at the age of 91. If you don't recognize his name, you certainly know his work: He animated every "Peanuts" cartoon that has ever appeared on television or in film -- including more than 370 commercials. Mr. Melendez was a Mexican immigrant...
By Matt Schudel | September 4, 2008; 11:11 AM ET | Comments (0)
Terrible-Tempered Tommy Bolt
AP is reporting that Tommy Bolt, the 1958 U.S. Open champion who had one of golf's sweetest swings and most explosive tempers, has died. He was 92. Bolt won 15 Professional Golfers Association events and several more titles on the seniors tour. Yet his temper gained him the most notoriety....
By Patricia Sullivan | September 3, 2008; 12:27 PM ET | Comments (0)
"I was born in a simple log cabin... No, that's not true."
Voice-over and movie trailer legend Don LaFontaine, who died Monday in Los Angeles at 68, told his story in a video posted on YouTube....
By Washington Post Editors | September 2, 2008; 5:58 PM ET | Comments (1)
Ike Pappas, CBS newsman
Ike Pappas, 75, the CBS newsman who reported, live on the radio, the shooting of JFK assassin Lee Harvey Oswald, died Sunday in Arlington of complications from heart disease. In 1987, he was among more than 200 employees laid off by the company....
By Patricia Sullivan | September 2, 2008; 12:36 PM ET | Comments (15)
Trying to Reason with Hurricane Season
As Hurricane Gustav barges into Louisiana, it's certain that some people will die, either as a direct result of the storm or because the uproar tipped weakened conditions over the edge. Needless to say, we all hope there's not a repeat of Katrina. The official death toll from that storm...
By Patricia Sullivan | September 1, 2008; 12:12 PM ET | Comments (0)
