Archive for November, 2003

“Winningest lefty” Warren Spahn, 82

Posted: Monday, November 24th, 2003 4:30 pm

BROKEN ARROW, Okla. — Warren Spahn stood up to Casey Stengel when he was 21 and fought against Germany a year later. Then, he returned to the major leagues and won 363 games after his 25th birthday.

The man was tough, pitching professionally for 24 seasons in an era when pitchers routinely completed games on three days’ rest.

Spahn, the winningest left-hander in baseball history and a leader of the dominant Milwaukee Braves teams of the late 1950s, died at his Broken Arrow home Monday, family members said. He was 82. … Read full obituary


Snowflake the white gorilla, 38-40

Posted: Monday, November 24th, 2003 4:01 am

A white gorilla which has been a star attraction at Barcelona zoo for decades has died of cancer, officials say.

Snowflake was thought to be the world’s only white gorilla.

He had been at the zoo for 37 years, popular with generations of visitors and becoming a symbol of the city.

Spanish vets had known since 2001 that Snowflake was suffering from skin cancer, but they announced in September that his illness had progressed and he had only a few months to live. … Read full obituary


Art Carney, 85

Posted: Tuesday, November 11th, 2003 3:22 pm

The HoneymoonersChester, Conn. — Art Carney, who played Jackie Gleason’s sewer worker pal Ed Norton in the TV classic The Honeymooners and went on to win the 1974 Oscar for best actor in Harry and Tonto, has died at 85, a funeral home manager says.

Carney died Sunday, said Philip Appell of the Swan Funeral Home in Old Saybrook, Conn. … Read full obituary


Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson, 25

Posted: Thursday, November 6th, 2003 4:00 am

CHANDLER, Ariz. — Cincinnati Reds outfielder Dernell Stenson was found dead Wednesday on a residential street after he was shot and apparently run over in a Phoenix suburb, police said.

Chandler police said the death was being treated as a homicide. …

Stenson, 25, made his major league debut this season and played 37 games for the Reds. He hit .247 with three home runs and 13 RBI. … Read full obituary


Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, 63

Posted: Thursday, November 6th, 2003 3:26 am

KALAMAZOO, Michigan (AP) — Bobby Hatfield, who with partner Bill Medley pioneered “blue-eyed soul” as the Righteous Brothers with hits like “Unchained Melody” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feeling,” died Wednesday night of undetermined causes at a hotel, his manager said. He was 63.

Hatfield’s body was discovered in his bed at 7 p.m. EST, a half-hour before the duo was to perform at Miller Auditorium on the Western Michigan University campus, manager David Cohen said.

“It’s a shock, a real shock,” Cohen said during a telephone interview. Medley, who teamed with Hatfield 42 years ago, was “broken up. He’s not even coherent,” Cohen said. …

Miller Auditorium executive director Bill Biddle told the audience at 7:05 p.m. that the 7:30 p.m. show had been canceled because of “a personal emergency of an unspecified nature.”

Hatfield had been sleeping most of the day in his room, Hakim said. When he didn’t answer a wakeup call about 6 p.m., hotel staff and authorities entered the room and found the singer’s body.

The Righteous Brothers were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame earlier this year. … Read full obituary


Documentary maker Robert Guenette, 68

Posted: Wednesday, November 5th, 2003 5:59 am

Robert Guenette, an Emmy Award-winning documentarian who pioneered depicting great events in history as if they had been filmed by modern newsreel cameras with productions such as “They’ve Killed President Lincoln” and “The Crucifixion of Jesus,” has died. He was 68.

Guenette, co-founder of the International Documentary Assn. and the Los Angeles Media & Education Center, died of brain cancer Friday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center.

During his 50-year career as an editor, writer, director and producer, Guenette made hundreds of hours of documentaries that have appeared on the three major networks, PBS, HBO, Showtime and in syndication.

He won two New York-area Emmy Awards for writing and producing “Faulkner’s Mississippi,” a 1965 documentary narrated by Montgomery Clift. He produced “Monsters! Mysteries or Myths?” a 1974 investigation into the existence of the Loch Ness monster, the Abominable Snowman and Bigfoot. Narrated by Rod Serling, the show remains the highest-rated documentary in television history. … Read full obituary