Richard Todd died he was 90

Richard Todd 90 was an Irish-born British stage and film actor and soldier.

(11 June 1919 – 3 December 2009)

Richard Todd was born as Richard Andrew Palethorpe-Todd in Dublin, Ireland.^[1] His father, Andrew William Palethorpe Todd, was an Irish physician and an international Irish rugby player who gained three caps for his country. Richard spent a few of his childhood years in India, where his father, a British officer, served as an army physician.

Later his family relocated to West Devon and Todd attended Shrewsbury School. Upon leaving school, Todd trained for a potential military career at Sandhurst before inaugurating his acting training at the Italia Conti Academy.

When Todd was 19, his mother committed suicide.

He first appeared professionally as an actor at the Open Air Theatre, Regent's Park in 1936 in a production of Twelfth Night. He played in regional theatres and then co-founded the Dundee Repertory Theatre in 1939.

During the Second World War, Todd joined the British Army, receiving a commission in 1941. Initially, he served in the King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry before joining the Parachute Regiment and being assigned to the 7th (Light Infantry) Parachute Battalion as part of the British 6th Airborne Division.

On 6 June 1944, as a captain, he participated in the British Airborne Operation Tonga during the D-Day landings.^[2] Todd was among the first British officers to land in Normandy as part of Operation Overlord. His battalion were reinforcements that parachuted in after glider forces had landed and completed the main assault against Pegasus Bridge near Caen.^[2] He later met up with Major John Howard on Pegasus Bridge and helped repel several German counter attacks.^[3]

As an actor, Todd would later play Howard in the 1962 film The Longest Day.

After the war, Todd returned to repertory theatre in the UK. A film contract with Associated British followed in 1948. He had appeared in the Dundee Repertory stage version of The Hasty Heart, playing the role of Yank and was subsequently chosen to appear in the 1948 London stage version of the play, this time in the leading role of Cpl. Lachlan McLachlan. This led to his being cast in that role in the Warner Bros. film adaptation of the play, which was filmed in England. Todd was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for the role in 1949.^[4]

He later appeared in the The Dam Busters (1955) as Wing Commander Guy Gibson, probably the role for which he is best known. Americans remember Todd for his role as the United States Senate Chaplain Peter Marshall in the film version of Catherine Marshall's best selling biography, A Man Called Peter. Todd was the first choice of author Ian Fleming to play James Bond in Dr. No, but a scheduling conflict gave the role to Sean Connery. In the 1960s, Todd unsuccessfully attempted to produce a film of Ian Fleming's The Diamond Smugglers^[5] and a television series based on true accounts of the Queen's Messengers.^[6]

In 1953, he appeared in a BBC Television adaptation of the novel Wuthering Heights, as Heathcliff. Nigel Kneale, responsible for the adaptation, said the production came about purely because Todd had turned up at the BBC and told them that he would like to play Heathcliff for them. Kneale had to write the script in only a week as the broadcast was rushed into production.^[7]

In the 1970s, he gained new fans when he appeared as the reader for Radio Four's Morning Story. In the 1980s his distinctive voice was heard as narrator of the series Wings Over The World, a show about the history of aviation shown on Arts & Entertainment television. He appears before the camera in the episode about the Lancaster bomber. Todd continued to act on television, including roles in Virtual Murder, Silent Witness, and in the Doctor Who story Kinda in 1982.

His active acting career extended into his eighties. He was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire in 1993.^[8]

Both Todd's marriages ended in divorce. His first was to actress Catherine Grant-Bogle, whom he met in Dundee Repertory and was married to from 1949 until 1970; they had a son Peter (1952-2005) and a daughter Fiona. He was married to model Virginia Mailer from 1970 until 1992; they had two sons, Andrew and Seumas (1977-1997).^[9] In retirement, Todd lived in the village of Little Ponton and later in Little Humby, 8 miles from Grantham.

Two of Todd's four children committed suicide. In 1997, Seumus Palethorpe-Todd shot himself in the head in the family home in Lincolnshire. An inquest heard the suicide might have been a depressive reaction to the drug he was taking for severe acne. On 21 September 2005, Peter killed himself with a shotgun in East Malling, Kent, following marital difficulties.^[10]

His sons' suicides affected Todd profoundly; he admitted to visiting their adjoining graves regularly. He told the Daily Mail, that dealing with those tragedies was like his experience of war, "You don't consciously set out to do something gallant. You just do it because that is what you are there for."

Todd, who had been suffering from cancer,^[11] died in his sleep at his Little Humby home on 3 December 2009.^[12] He is survived by his daughter and one of his three sons.^[13]

Solange Magnano, Miss Argentina died she was 38

Solange Magnano, Miss Argentina dies from gluteoplasty complications. Solange Magnano, former Miss Argentina died Sunday from gluteoplasty complications, an elective plastic surgery that would life her buttocks. Solange Magnano had 7 year-old twin girls. She won the Miss Argentina crown in 1994.

Born in Bueno Aires, Solange Magnano in 1971, she entered several beauty pageants and in 1994 was crowned Miss Argentina. Many people travel to Argentina for cosmetic surgery, because it is much less expensive than other countries. A close friend of the family stated that the procedure involved injections and the fluid went into her lungs and brain, and she died.

Utah is one of the least expensive states to have cosmetic surgery, and many people travel here from around the country because even with travel expenses, it is still less expensive, according to Dr. Daniel Sellers in Salt Lake City. The top plastic surgeries in the US are liposuction and breast augmentation.

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Tara the elephant

tiskimcoAn elephant at the Toronto Zoo died this morning after zoo staff found her lying down, unable to stand up.

Tara, the 41-year-old "matriarch" of the elephant herd, had not exhibited any recent health concerns, Eric Cole, supervisor of the zoo's African Savanna, said. She was found by animal care staff shortly before 8 a.m. Monday morning, who tried in vain to lift the 8,500-pound animal back onto her feet. They were unable to hoist her back up, and she died at 11 a.m.

Tara was out in public as recently as last weekend, Cole said, and appeared to be doing well. "She was in good form, chasing the others and being her usual bossy self," he said. "She wasn't lethargic; she was eating."

The zoo will conduct a post-mortem examination with the assistance of the Ontario Veterinary College to determine Tara's exact cause of death. According to the zoo, the average lifespan of an elephant is between 40 and 45 years.

Another elephant, Tessa, died at Toronto Zoo five months ago after being pushed over by another elephant. However, Cole ruled that out as a possibility in this case, saying Tara was alone in her pen at the time.

Tara has lived at Toronto Zoo since 1974, arriving from southern Africa shortly after the zoo opened, and as many as 50 million people have visited Tara since. According to Cole, she had been "the boss" of the elephant herd for the past four years since the death of Patsy, the herd's previous matriarch.

"If there was a disagreement between other elephants, she would break it up," Cole said. "She liked to be the one in control. She'd go over and just by getting close to whoever she was going to interact with, they'd run away. Sometimes she'd throw her trunk at them. She didn't have to do much."

Toka, a 40-year-old elephant, is the new matriarch of the three remaining elephants, Cole said. Iringa, 40 and Thika, 30, round out the herd.

Cole acknowledged that the three remaining elephants are older, saying that "whenever we lose an elephant, we have to reassess how the loss will affect the dynamic of the group." He said that the zoo will examine its options after the grieving period.

Toka, Iringa and Thika were given time alone with Tara's body Monday morning to mourn their loss.

"They were out for three hours with her, and were just kind of standing around her," Cole said.

A number of the zoo's elephant keepers came in on their days off to say goodbye as well. "The elephants really get you," Cole said. "The staff are all devastated."

Charles Proctor Sifton died he was 74,

Charles Proctor Sifton died he was 74. Sifton was a United States federal judge.

(March 18, 1935 – November 9, 2009)

Born in New York, New York, Sifton received a B.A. from Harvard College in 1957 and an LL.B. from Columbia Law School in 1961. He was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Göttingen in Göttingen, Germany from 1957 to 1958.

He was in private practice in New York City from 1961 to 1962, and was staff counsel to the U.S. Senate Committee on Foreign Relations from 1962 to 1964. He returned to private practice until 1966, then served as an assistant U.S. Attorney of the Southern District of New York until 1969, when he again returned to private practice until 1977.

On August 16, 1977, Sifton was nominated by President Jimmy Carter to a seat on the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York vacated by John F. Dooling, Jr.. Sifton was confirmed by the United States Senate on October 12, 1977, and received his commission the same day. He served as chief judge from 1995 to 2000, assuming senior status on March 18, 2000.

He was the Father of New York TImes writer Sam Sifton.

Judge Sifton died from sarcoidosis on the morning of November 9, 2009.

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Jerry Fuchs died he was 34

Gerhardt "Jerry" Fuchs died he was 34. Fuchs was an American indie rock drummer, writer and graphic artist. Fuchs was a member of the bands Turing Machine, The Juan Maclean, !!! and Maserati and performed drums live with the groups MSTRKRFT and LCD Soundsystem.^[1][2][3](December 31, 1974 – November 8, 2009)

Fuchs attended college at the University of Georgia, where he studied graphic design and drummed in the local Athens bands The Martians and Koncak. In 1996 he moved to New York to join Vineland, a four-piece led by Bitch Magnet guitar player Jon Fine. After touring and recording with Vineland for two years, he began to play with Justin Chearno and Scott DeSimon, two former members of the band Pitchblende; this band would later become Turing Machine.^[4]

Fuchs's disco and Motorik-influenced style^[5] led to his becoming associated with DFA Records, joining the dance-punk group !!!, performing on their album Myth Takes. He was a recording and touring member of The Juan Maclean, and also played live and/or on the recordings of other outfits including Holy Ghost!, LCD Soundsystem, Moby and MSTRKRFT.^[6] He then joined Maserati, playing on their albums Inventions for the New Season (2007) and Passages (2009). He completed a U.S. tour with Maserati opening for Mono in September–October 2009.^[7]

Fuchs also did graphic design work for the magazine Chunklet^[4] and wrote articles as a freelance writer for Entertainment Weekly.^[2]

Early in the morning on November 8, 2009, Fuchs was caught in a broken elevator in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, New York City, and when he attempted to jump out of the car, he accidentally fell to his death down the elevator shaft.^[8][3]He was attending a benefit to raise education funds for underprivileged children in India.

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Burleigh Hines died he was 77,

Burleigh Hines died he was 77. Hines was a retired Chicago television news reporter.

(born August 26, 1932-died November 8, 2009)

A native of Nashville, Tennessee, Hines began his career as a newspaper reporter.^[1] He wrote for the Memphis Tri-State Defender and the Chicago Daily News in the 1960s.^[2]

From 1968 until 1974, Hines was a correspondent for WBBM in Chicago. In 1974, he joined WBBM-TV as the station's editorial director. He transitioned to being an on-air reporter for the TV station, a position he held until retiring in 2001. He covered many types of stories, from crime to human interest to animal stories. His great love was working on the streets, reporting on ordinary people doing remarkable things.

In 1968, Hines co-authored the book Nightmare in Detroit: A Rebellion and its Victims, with Van Gordon Sauter, who went on to become president of CBS News. The book is about riots in Detroit in July 1967.

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Karl Kroeber died he was 83

Karl Kroeber died he was 83. Kroeber was an American literary scholar, known for his writing on American Indian literature. He was the son of Theodora and Alfred L. Kroeber, noted anthropologists. His most recent book was an account of his father's famous work with Ishi: Ishi in Three Centuries.

(1926 – 2009)

He was professor of English and comparative literature at Columbia University. He wrote widely on literary criticism and its relationship to ecology, traditional literature, and art history.

Kroeber was the brother of the science-fiction writer Ursula K. LeGuin. He was father of Paul Kroeber, a linguist; Arthur Kroeber, a journalist and consultant on the Chinese economy; and Katharine Kroeber Wiley, a writer.

Kroeber died of cancer on November 8, 2009 at the age of 83.^[1][2]