Bernard Slade obit

Bernard Slade, creator of The Partridge Family, dies at 89

He was not on the list.


Bernard Slade, the creator of The Partridge Family, has died. He was 89.

Slade died on Wednesday from complications of Lewy body dementia, according to The Hollywood Reporter. A seasoned TV writer and playwright, he was best known for creating the 1970s TV series The Partridge Family, which starred Shirley Jones as the head of a fictional family singing group. The series fan for four seasons on ABC and reinvigorated Jones’ career, while also launching David Cassidy into teen heartthrob status.

Slade was nominated for an Oscar for his 1978 screen adaptation of his play of the same name, Same Time, Next Year. The original play, which starred Ellen Burstyn and Charles Grodin, was a Broadway hit, earning Burstyn a 1975 Tony Award and running for 1453 performances. Alan Alda starred opposite Burstyn in the film version. In the story, Doris and George, who are married to other people, meet once a year for sex and conversation.

Slade also wrote many plays for the Broadway stage, most notably Tribute starring Jack Lemmon, and 1979’s Romantic Comedy starring Mia Farrow and Anthony Perkins. He adapted both plays for big-screen versions.

While The Partridge Family is his biggest television legacy, Slade also wrote for Bewitched and developed two Sally Field vehicles: The Flying Nun and The Girl With Something Extra.

Slade, whose full name was Bernard Slade Newbound, was born May 2, 1930 in St. Catharines, Ontario. He and his family returned to their native England in 1935, where he then became a child evacuee during World War II. He began his career as an actor, returning to Canada where he appeared in more than 200 plays, including opposite his wife Jill Foster during a 26-week season of regional theater in Ontario where they put on a play a week.

Slade sold his first television script, The Prizewinner, to NBC in 1957 before ultimately relocating to Los Angeles in 1964. His first major writing job was on Bewitched, where he worked as a story editor and wrote 17 episodes.

He went on to have a prolific career in television, creating ABC’s Love on a Rooftop and CBS’ Bridget Loves Bernie, in addition to The Partridge Family and the Sally Field-led series. His frustrations with network executives led him to return to the theatre, this time as a playwright. Same Time, Next Year marked his first project back and it went on to become a massive hit.

His final Broadway play, Special Occasions, was produced in 1982. He also wrote several plays never produced on Broadway that continue to remain popular with audiences around the world, including Return Engagements, Act of the Imagination, Fatal Attraction, You Say Tomatoes, and Same Time, Another Year.

In 2000, Slade penned a memoir, Shared Laughter, covering the span of his life.

Slade was married to actress Jill Foster for 64 years before she died in 2017, and he often cited her as an inspiration for this most famous female characters. He is survived by his sister, Shirley Rabone, his two children, Laurie Newbound and Chris Newbound, and four grand-daughters, Caitlin Slade Friedman, Madison H. Newbound, Emma Friedman and Hailey Herring-Newbound.

Jim Gregory obit

Former Maple Leafs GM and longtime NHL executive Jim Gregory dies at 83

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truggling to find traction early in his career, Lanny McDonald remembers being summoned into Jim Gregory’s office at Maple Leaf Gardens.
McDonald, the No. 4 pick in the 1973 draft, had dominated junior hockey, but was finding the sledding much tougher with Toronto in the NHL.
Gregory wasn’t worried about the player’s production — the Leafs’ general manager was concerned about the person.
“He was unbelievably patient and kind,” McDonald recalled of the Hockey Hall of Famer. “I was struggling like crazy. He would ask, ‘Are you doing OK? I don’t want to trade you, but if it gets too tough here, I want you to be happy. But I’m not trading you.’ I’d tell him I would find a way to get through this.

“I owe him everything career-wise.”

Gregory, who served 10 years as Leafs’ GM before spending decades as an NHL executive, died Wednesday. He was 83.
A league official told The Associated Press that Gregory died at his home in Toronto. The cause of death was not disclosed.
Gregory was promoted to GM of the Leafs at age 33 in 1969 and was among the first NHL managers to sign and import players from Europe, including Hall of Fame defenceman Borje Salming.

He also drafted a trio of future Hall of Famers — McDonald, Darryl Sittler and Tiger Williams.
“He was very instrumental in putting a really good team together,” Sittler said. “We were all young guys that grew under his guidance. He was just a wonderful man.”
McDonald said he doesn’t know what would have happened in his career if Gregory and former Leafs head coach Red Kelly, who died in May at age 91, hadn’t been in his corner.
“He would treat people the way you loved to be treated — with respect and understanding,” said McDonald, who visited Gregory with Sittler recently. “But more than that, it was the kind of person he was and the kind of team player he was. Jim didn’t care who got the credit. Jim cared about the final result and about the team.
“That would come through loud and clear each and every day.”
The Leafs qualified for the Stanley Cup playoffs eight times during Gregory’s tenure, but he was fired by mercurial owner Harold Ballard after Toronto was swept by the Montreal Canadiens in the 1979 quarterfinals.
“When that Leafs team got torn apart, it was so sad,” McDonald said. “Jim had built that team and we all believed we might have been one or two players away.
“It was a sad day when he was no longer with us, but the good news was he had 30 years with the NHL. The respect that people showed him all around the league tells you a lot about what the guy was made of.”

he league hired Gregory as its director of Central Scouting shortly after his dismissal from the Leafs. He was named executive director of hockey operations in 1986 and later became a senior vice-president.
“It is impossible to express the extent to which the National Hockey League family adored Jim Gregory and the loss we feel as a result of his passing,” NHL commissioner Gary Bettman said in a statement. “Jim was one of the first to welcome me to the NHL almost 27 years ago and I have treasured his friendship and relied upon his wisdom every day since. Nobody loved the game more. Nobody ever served it better. We will miss him terribly.”
Born in Port Colborne, Ont., on Nov. 4, 1935, Gregory grew up in nearby Dunnville and moved to Toronto to attend St. Michael’s College School in 1953.
He won the Memorial Cup as general manager of St. Michael’s Majors in 1961 and as coach of the Toronto Marlboros in 1964. Gregory then assumed a managerial role with the Marlboros and guided them to the Memorial Cup again in 1967.

The Leafs hired Gregory to coach their minor league affiliate in Vancouver for the 1967-68 season before he started scouting for Toronto.
A year later, he was handed the Leafs’ top job.
“I was sorry to hear that he had passed away, but I was also sorry that he had to be the GM (in Toronto) during some turbulent times under Harold Ballard and that he’d had to go through that,” Sittler said. “I was also so happy that he got a job in hockey with the NHL.
“He was involved in the game his whole life.”
Known around the sport as “Mr. Gregory,” he served as chairman of the Hockey Hall of Fame selection committee from 1998-2014 and was a fixture at the draft, Toronto’s Scotiabank Arena and other league events. He’d hand out silver sticks to players for reaching 1,000 games played, present new Hall of Famers their rings and call names on the second day of the draft.
“He was always a good communicator, he was always a guy that cared about people,” Sittler said. “He just loved what he did.”
McDonald said when he took over as chairman as the Hall of Fame, Gregory was there to mentor him, just as he had back in the mid-1970s.
“He was looking after me all over again,” McDonald said. “I have the greatest respect for him.”

Ron Fairly obit

Ron Fairly, Dodger Star Turned Broadcaster, Dies at 81

He was not on the list.

Ron Fairly, an outfielder and first baseman who in a career of nearly half a century played on three World Series championship teams with the Los Angeles Dodgers in the 1960s and later moved to the broadcast booth, died on Wednesday in Indian Wells, Calif. He was 81.

The Seattle Mariners, for whom Fairly was a longtime broadcaster, said the cause was cancer.

Playing for 21 major league seasons, Fairly was a two-time All-Star. A left-handed batter with a compact swing, he had a .266 career batting average with 1,913 hits, 1,044 runs batted in and 215 home runs. He hit a career high .322 with the 1961 Dodgers.

“He had a nearly perfect batting system,” Tommy Lasorda, the Hall of Fame manager who was a scout and minor league manager for the Dodgers during Fairly’s time with Los Angeles, wrote in his foreword to “Fairly at Bat: My 50 Years in Baseball, From the Batter’s Box to the Broadcast Booth” (2018), a memoir Fairly wrote with Steve Springer. “You might get him out, but you wouldn’t embarrass him. Swing. Balance. Timing. All perfect.”Fairly played on the Dodger teams that won the World Series in 1959, when they defeated the Chicago White Sox in six games; in 1963, when they swept the Yankees; and in 1965, when he hit two home runs and three doubles, drove in six runs and batted .379 as the Dodgers bested the Minnesota Twins in seven games behind the pitching of Sandy Koufax and Don Drysdale. His last World Series appearance was in 1966, when the Dodgers were swept by the Baltimore Orioles.

With the Dodgers he teamed with the likes of Wes Parker, Ron Hunt, Jim Lefebvre, Willie Davis, Gene Michael, Don Drysdale and Claude Osteen.

After Fairly’s production at the plate tailed off, the Dodgers traded him in June 1969 to the Montreal Expos (now the Washington Nationals), who were in their first season as a National League expansion team.

“I remember thinking, ‘I’m coming from the beaches and warm weather and a team expected to win 100 games, and I’m going to cold weather and a team expected to lose 100 games,’” Fairly told The New York Times in 2019. “They got rid of me, so they might as well send me to Siberia.”

But Fairly was named an All-Star while playing for the Expos in 1973, when he hit .298 with 17 home runs. Playing for another expansion team, the Toronto Blue Jays of the American League, in 1977, he hit a career-high 19 home runs and was an All-Star again.

He retired following the 1978 season after playing for the California Angels, his sixth team.

Fairly was a TV and radio broadcaster for the Angels from 1980 to 1986, for the San Francisco Giants from 1987 to 1992 and finally for the Mariners. He was a full-time member of the Seattle broadcast team from 1993 to 2006 and filled in on some games afterward.

Ronald Ray Fairly was born on July 12, 1938, in Macon, Ga., when his father, Carl, was playing for the minor league Macon Peaches. The family settled in Southern California after that season, and he became an outstanding high school outfielder and basketball player in Long Beach.

Fairly was a star center fielder for the University of Southern California baseball team that won the 1958 College World Series, then signed with the Dodgers for a reported $75,000 bonus (the equivalent of about $673,000 today). He made his debut with the Dodgers in September 1958, when they were concluding their first season in Los Angeles after leaving Brooklyn.

He was helped early on by Duke Snider, the future Hall of Fame center fielder, and Carl Furillo, the right fielder noted for his rifle arm.

“I got the chance to room with Snider for a few years, and he taught me a lot,” Fairly told The Press-Telegram of Long Beach in 1963. “I got close to Furillo in 1959, and he helped teach me how to handle the ball off the wall.”

Fairly received permission from Furillo to wear his uniform number, No. 6, after Furillo retired in 1960.

The Mariners said Fairly’s survivors include three sons, Mike, Steve and Patrick, and grandchildren. His wife, Mary, died before him.

Fairly was regarded as a knowledgeable broadcast analyst with a folksy style. He often told tales from his playing days.

But at times he was tripped up by verbal missteps, most notably his oft-quoted reference to one of the National League’s leading relief pitchers, when he was broadcasting for the Giants:

“Bruce Sutter has been around for a while, and he’s pretty old. He is 35 years old — that will give you an idea how old he is.”

John Moon obit

Marine believed to be oldest surviving Devil Dog from Iwo Jima dies

He was not on the list.

The reported oldest living Marine veteran from the battle of Iwo Jima in World War II died Tuesday, at the age of 103.


John Moon, who graduated in 1939 from Western Illinois University with a Bachelor of Science degree in chemistry, was motivated to join the Corps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, his obituary says. Moon also was inspired to join the service by his football coach “Rock” Hansen.


When he was nearly 102-years-old, the Purple Heart recipient went back to his alma mater in 2018 to sing the “The Star-Spangled Banner” at a basketball military appreciation night.


“John was a well-known and loved member of the community,” his obituary states. “Many will miss hearing his amazing singing voice, watching him ride his three-wheel bike, and his ‘fantastic’ attitude.”


A little more than two years after the Japanese attack in Hawaii, Moon enlisted in the Marine Corps on Dec. 29, 1943.

“How could I not enlist … making the world and my family safe from any more wars?” Moon had written, according to the Western Illinois Museum.


He completed training at Camp Pendleton, California, with the 5th Marine Division, according to his obituary. He then deployed to Iwo Jima, leaving in the States his then-wife N. Beatrice “Bee” Nichols, who passed away in 1998, and his first son. He later had two more children.


Moon arrived on the Japanese island on Feb. 19, 1945, and subsequently was wounded in battle. His obituary does not specify the extent of his injuries.


More than 100,000 U.S. forces infiltrated Iwo Jima in February 1945 to overthrow the Japanese defenders. Although the U.S. significantly outnumbered the Japanese, it took until March 26, 1945, for the U.S. to seize the island.


After Moon was discharged from the Marine Corps on Sept. 25, 1945, he returned to his hometown of Macomb, Illinois, and ran a café and candy store.

He also taught driver education at Macomb, Illinois, High School, was a carpenter and a school bus driver, sold life insurance, and served several terms as an alderman for Macomb City Council. He sang in his church’s choir and drove the “church car” to pick up the elderly for Sunday services.


Moon died Tuesday at a nursing care facility in his hometown. A visitation is scheduled for Nov. 6 at the Dodsworth-Piper-Wallen Funeral Home in Macomb, Illinois, and a Celebration of Life Memorial Service is slated for Nov. 7 at the Wesley United Methodist Church.


Moon was survived by two children, five grandchildren, five great-grandchildren and three great-great grandchildren, according to his obituary, and will be buried at the Forest Lawn Memory Gardens Cemetery in Illinois with full military rites.

He was preceded in death by nine siblings.

John Witherspoon obit

John Witherspoon Dies: ‘Friday’ & ‘Wayans Bros.’ Star Was 77

He was not on the list.


John Witherspoon, an actor-comedian who for decades made audiences laugh in TV shows and films, including the Friday feature franchise and the WB’s The Wayans Bros. , died suddenly at his home today. He was 77.

“It is with deepest sorrow that we can confirm our beloved husband and father, John Witherspoon, one of the hardest working men in show business, died today at his home in Sherman Oaks at the age of 77,” Witherspoon’s family said in a statement to Deadline. “He is survived by his wife Angela, and his sons JD, Alexander, and a large family. We are all in shock, please give us a minute for a moment in privacy and we will celebrate his life and his work together. John used to say ‘I’m no big deal’, but he was huge deal to us.”

Comedy great Witherspoon was born in Detroit in 1942 as John Weatherspoon. He launched a stand-up comedy career and began acting in the late 1970s with guest-starring TV roles, making his feature debut in the 1980 The Jazz Singer. Witherspoon appeared in numerous films, including Hollywood Shuffle, Boomerang, Vampire in Brooklyn, The Ladies Man and Fakin’ Da Funk.

Witherspoon launched his career in comedy and television starting in the late 1970s. Within those first few years of work, he appeared as a guest star in multiple shows that many still adore.

In the Barnaby Jones episode "School of Terror," Witherspoon played a camp counselor for drug-addicted youth. You see him at the very beginning of the episode dishing some tough love to his campers.

He then made an appearance on WKRP In Cincinnati during the fourth-season episode "Circumstantial Evidence." Witherspoon played Detective Davies.

Soon after this, he then popped up on Hill Street Blues playing a businessman who couldn't make up his mind about a hot dog.
Witherspoon was perhaps best known for his role as Ice Cube’s grumpy dad in the 1995 breakout hit Friday. He also appeared in the sequels Next Friday and Friday After Next, and was expected to reprise his role in the long-gestating final installment of the franchise titled Last Friday.

Witherspoon also voiced Gramps on the cult animated series The Boondocks. He likely would’ve returned for the series’ upcoming revival on HBO Max. Also known for his role as Pops on The Wayans Bros., Witherspoon did stints on such comedy series as The Tracy Morgan Show, The First Family and Black Jesus. He also was a frequent guest on Late Show with David Letterman.

Even with his busy film and TV career, standup comedy remained an important part of Witherspoon’s life. At age 77, he continued to perform regularly and had several dates coming up at the time of his death.

Al Bianchi obit

Former Knicks GM Al Bianchi dies at 87

 

He was not on the list.

Nicknamed "Blinky", he attended P.S. 4 elementary school and graduated from Long Island City High School in 1950. A 1954 graduate of Bowling Green State University, he was voted to the "All-Ohio Team" and received honorable mention as a basketball All-American.[citation needed] He served in the U.S. Army Medical Corps from 1954 to 1956.

Starting in 1956, Bianchi played for the Syracuse Nationals of the NBA. He moved with the team to Philadelphia when it became the 76ers for the 1963–64 season. He was one of the last proponents in the NBA of the two-handed set shot.

On May 1, 1966, Bianchi was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the NBA expansion draft but never played in a game for them and retired as a player. He then became assistant coach under former teammate Johnny "Red" Kerr, head coach of the Bulls. After a year in Chicago, he was hired as head coach of the expansion team Seattle SuperSonics, compiling a 53–111 record for the new NBA franchise.

He then became coach and general manager of the Washington Caps/Virginia Squires of the American Basketball Association from 1969 through 1975. In 1971, he won ABA Coach of the Year honors for guiding the Squires to the ABA's Eastern Division championship with a record of 55–29 (.655). The Squires then lost to the New York Nets in the Eastern Division finals, and the Indiana Pacers defeated the Nets in the ABA Finals. He finished his coaching career with a 283–392 record.

In 1976, he re-entered the NBA to work for head coach John MacLeod as assistant coach for the Phoenix Suns, from 1976–1987, a tenure highlighted by the Suns' legendary triple-overtime loss to the Boston Celtics in Game 5 of the NBA finals, won by the Celtics 4 games to 2.

He then moved to the front office as general manager for the New York Knicks from 1987 to 1991. Returning to Phoenix in 1991, he scouted college players for the Suns. In 2004, he became a consultant-scout for the Golden State Warriors, where he stayed through the 2008–09 season.

In September 2007, he was inducted into the New York City Basketball Hall of Fame as a player, by the New York City Athletic Club.

Bianchi lived and worked as a consultant in Phoenix.

He was inducted into the Ohio Basketball Hall of Fame at the 11th Annual Ceremony on May 21, 2016 in Columbus.

The New York Knicks said Bianchi died in Arizona of natural causes. He was the team’s general manager from 1987-91, signing future All-Star John Starks.

Career history

As player:

1956–1966         Syracuse Nationals / Philadelphia 76ers

As coach:

1967–1969         Seattle SuperSonics

1969–1970         Washington Caps

1970–1975         Virginia Squires

Career highlights and awards

As player:

 

    First-team All-MAC (1954)

 

As coach:

 

    ABA Coach of the Year (1971)

 

Career statistics

Points    5,550 (8.1 ppg)

Rebounds            1,722 (2.5 rpg)

Assists  1,497 (2.2 apg)

Kay Hagan obit

Former Sen. Kay Hagan has died at 66, after complications from a prolonged illness

She was not on the list.



Former U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan, D-N.C., died on Monday in her home in Greensboro, North Carolina, according to her family. She was 66.

"We are heartbroken to share that Kay left us unexpectedly this morning," the family said in a statement. "Kay meant everything to us, and we were honored to share her with the people of North Carolina whom she cared for and fought for so passionately as an elected official."

Hagan is survived by her husband, Chip, and her three children, Tilden, Jeanette and Carrie.



In 2016, Hagan contracted a brain inflammation from a tick-borne virus. Hagan was hospitalized in Atlanta for about six months before beginning outpatient treatment, according to the Greensboro News & Record.

Hagan served a single term from 2009 to 2015, after defeating Republican Sen. Elizabeth Dole in 2008. Hagan lost her reelection campaign to Republican Sen. Thom Tillis in 2014, in what was then the most expensive Senate race ever.

Tillis said in a tweet that he and his wife, Susan, were "heartbroken."



Before working in politics, Hagan worked as an attorney and eventually became vice president of what is now Bank of America.

She began her political career as a county campaign manager for former North Carolina Gov. Jim Hunt's campaigns in 1992 and 1996. She was recruited in 1998 to run for a state Senate seat, representing a Greensboro district, where she served for five terms after unseating a Republican incumbent.

When she ran for the U.S. Senate, Hagan won 60% of the vote in the Democratic primary, and was aided by having Barack Obama's name on the ballot in the general election.

The former president, in a statement Monday afternoon, called Hagan a "terrific public servant."

"She was, quite simply, a terrific public servant -- eager to find common ground, willing to rise above the partisan fray, and always focused on making progress for the people she served," he said in the statement.

Hagan spent her term focusing on the passage of the Affordable Care Act and the Dodd-Frank bill, which overhauled banking regulations, calling it, "commonsense Wall Street reform so American taxpayers will never again have to shoulder the cost of a financial crisis."

"As President, I deeply appreciated her reasoned, pragmatic voice, whether we were working together to pass the Affordable Care Act, reform Wall Street, support working families, or just make Americans' lives a little better," Obama said in the statement. "Her record is one all public servants would do well to follow, and her perspective is one we'll sorely miss."

After she was unseated, she became a resident fellow at the Harvard Institute of Politics.

According to the News & Record, Hagan made a rare public appearance in June, at the groundbreaking ceremony for an air traffic control tower, a project she helped advance during her time in the Senate. Her husband, Chip, told the paper that she had limited physical and speech capabilities, but was working "very hard to improve the situation."

Former Vice President Joe Biden said in a statement that he and his wife, Jill, are "deeply saddened" at the news of her death.


Kay Hagan was a courageous soul who lived every day of her too-short life with incredible dignity and character, even as the days became more difficult physically," Biden said in the statement on Monday. "I am grateful that I had the opportunity to see her in person just yesterday during my visit to Durham, and to spend time privately with her and Chip. She was a champion for North Carolina and a fierce defender of all its citizens."

Hagan came from a political family.

She was born in Shelby, North Carolina, and her family moved to Florida, where her father ran a tire sales business and later served as the mayor of Lakeland. Her uncle, Lawton Chiles, served as a U.S. senator and Florida governor.

After attending Florida State University and earning a bachelor's degree in American Studies, Hagan spent six months in Washington interning for her uncle and operating a senators-only elevator.

In 1975, Hagan graduated with a law degree from Wake Forest University before working in the trust division of North Carolina National Bank, now Bank of America.

North Carolina Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper ordered flags to be lowered to half-staff to honor the life and service of Hagan to North Carolina.

"Kay was a fierce advocate for North Carolina, and she represented our state with courage and grace her entire career. She made it a mission to inspire young people -- especially young girls -- to enter public service, and she served as a role model to so many," Cooper said in a statement. "North Carolina is mourning one of our best today."

John Conyers - # 219

John Conyers, longtime Michigan congressman and Congressional Black Caucus founder, dead at 90, police say

He was number 219 on the list.

Former Michigan Rep. John Conyers, the longest-serving black member of Congress and founder of the Congressional Black Caucus who resigned in 2017 amid sexual harassment allegations, has died in his sleep, Fox News confirmed.

Detroit police said the 90-year-old former congressman, a Democrat, died at his home on Sunday, apparently of natural causes.

Conyers became one of only six black House members when he was won his first election by just 108 votes in 1964. The race was the beginning of more than 50 years of election dominance: Conyers regularly won elections with more than 80 percent of the vote, even after his wife went to prison for taking a bribe.

He served for years as chair and ranking Democrat of the House Judiciary Committee.


ut after a nearly 53-year career, he became the first Capitol Hill politician to lose his job in the torrent of sexual misconduct allegations sweeping through the nation's workplaces. A former staffer alleged she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances, and others said they'd witnessed Conyers inappropriately touching female staffers or requesting sexual favors.

Conyers denied the allegations but eventually stepped down, citing health reasons, saying his legacy couldn't be diminished after 53 years in office.

He unsuccessfully sought to have his son take his seat in 2017.


His district office in Detroit employed civil rights legend Rosa Parks from 1965 until her retirement in 1988. In 2005, Conyers was among 11 people inducted to the International Civil Rights Walk of Fame.

Conyers was born and grew up in Detroit, where his father, John Conyers Sr., was a union organizer in the automotive industry and an international representative with the United Auto Workers union. He insisted that his son, a jazz aficionado from an early age, not become a musician.

The younger Conyers heeded the advice, but jazz remained, he said, one of his "great pleasures." He sponsored legislation to forgive the $1.6 million tax debt of band leader Woody Herman's estate and once kept a standup bass in his Washington office.

Before heading to Washington, Conyers served in the National Guard and with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during the Korean War supervising repairs of military aircraft. He earned his bachelor's and law degrees from Wayne State University in the late 1950s.

His political aspirations were honed while working as a legislative assistant from 1958 to 1961 to U.S. Rep. John Dingell, a fellow Michigan Democrat who, when he retired in 2014 at age 88, was Congress' longest-serving member. That mantle then was passed onto Conyers.

Soon after being elected to Congress, Conyers' leadership at home — in the segregated streets of Detroit — would be tested. Parts of the city were burned during riots in July 1967 that were sparked by hostilities between black residents and Detroit's mostly white police force, and by the cramped living conditions in black neighborhoods.


Conyers climbed onto a flatbed truck and appealed to black residents to return to their homes, but he was shouted down. His district office was gutted by fire the next day. But the plight of the nation's inner cities would remain his cause.

"In Detroit you've got high unemployment, a poverty rate of at least 30 percent, schools not in great shape, high illiteracy, poor families not safe from crime, without health insurance, problems with housing," he told The Associated Press in 2004. "You can't fix one problem by itself — they're all connected."

He was fiercely opposed to Detroit's finances being taken over by a state-appointed emergency manager as the city declared bankruptcy in 2013. Conyers, whose district included much of Detroit, sought a federal investigation and congressional hearings, arguing it was "difficult to identify a single instance" where such an arrangement, where local officials are stripped of most of their power, succeeds.

Conyers was the only House Judiciary Committee member to have sat in on two impeachment hearings: He supported a 1972 resolution recommending President Richard Nixon's impeachment for his conduct of the Vietnam War, but when the House clashed in 1998 over articles of impeachment against President Bill Clinton, Conyers said: "Impeachment was designed to rid this nation of traitors and tyrants, not attempts to cover up an extramarital affair."

Conyers also had scandals of his own.

In 2009, his wife Monica Conyers, a Detroit city councilwoman largely elected on the strength of her husband's last name, pleaded guilty to bribery. The case was related to a sludge hauling contract voted on by the City Council, and she spent nearly two years in prison.

Three years earlier, the House ethics committee closed a three-year investigation of allegations that Conyers' staff worked on political campaigns and was ordered to baby-sit for his two children and run his personal errands. He admitted to a "lack of clarity" with staffers and promised changes.

But he couldn't survive the last scandal. An ethics committee launched a review after a former longtime staffer said Conyers' office paid her more than $27,000 under a confidentiality agreement to settle a complaint in 2015. She alleged she was fired because she rejected his sexual advances, and other said they'd witnesses inappropriate behavior.

Conyers initially said he looked forward vindicating himself and his family, but he announced his immediate retirement in December 2017 after fellow Democrats called for his resignation. The chorus included Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, the House's top Democrat.

Conyers became chairman of the House Judiciary Committee when Democrats regained the House majority in 2006. He oversaw 2007 hearings into the White House's role in the firings of eight federal prosecutors and 2009 hearings on how the NFL dealt with head injuries to players.

Conyers frequently swam against the prevailing political currents during his time in Congress. He backed, for example, anti-terrorism legislation that was far less sweeping than a plan pushed by then-Attorney General John Ashcroft in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He was also an early supporter in 2007 of then-Sen. Barack Obama, who was expected by some in the Congressional Black Caucus to push public health insurance, sharp funding increases for urban development and other initiatives long blocked by Republicans.

"We want him to stand strong," Conyers said in 2009.

Robert Evans obit

Robert Evans, 'Chinatown' and 'Godfather' producer, dead at 89

He was not on the list.

Robert Evans, whose charisma rivaled some of the actors who appeared in the hit films he produced, died Saturday, according to his publicist Monique Evans.

He was 89.

As a studio head, Evans helped resurrect Paramount Pictures in the 1960s and 1970s by bringing such projects as "Chinatown," "The Godfather" and "Rosemary's Baby" to the big screen.

Evans seemed to epitomize Hollywood excesses with his seven marriages, outspoken nature and freewheeling lifestyle that he documented in his 1994 memoir, "The Kid Stays in the Picture." (The book was developed into a 2002 documentary film.)

"There are three sides to every story: my side, your side, and the truth. And no one is lying," Evans once famously said. "Memories shared serve each one differently."

Born in New York City to a dentist and his wife, Evans was a child actor on radio and in the early years of television.

When stardom eluded him, Evans took a job promoting sales for Evan-Picone, a clothing company co-owned by his brother, Charles.

He was working that gig when actress Norma Shearer spotted the good-looking Evans at the Beverly Hills Hotel pool.

She successfully lobbied for Evans to portray her late husband, MGM producer Irving Thalberg, in "Man of a Thousand Faces," a 1957 film about Lon Chaney.

He also caught the eye of producer Darryl F. Zanuck, who cast the young actor as the matador Pedro Romero in "The Sun Also Rises," based on the classic Ernest Hemingway novel.

Evans wrote in his memoir that Hemingway and the cast's attempt to get him thrown off the picture led to the line he used to title his biography after producer Zanuck declared, "The kid stays in the picture."

A few unsatisfying and unsatisfactory supporting roles would end his acting career and Evans turned to producing.

In 1976, he told The New York Times that his time as an actor led to him being the butt of many jokes when he first went to work for Paramount in 1966.

"People said, 'That B‐actor is suddenly becoming an executive,'" Evens told the publication. "When I came into Paramount, they thought I'd last six months."

Instead, he went on to turn the studio around thanks to his deft hand at acquiring and producing hits.

One film he produced, "Love Story," starred Ali MacGraw, one of his seven wives.

Evans was also married to actress Sharon Hugueny, actress Camilla Sparv, former Miss America Phyllis George, former Versace model Leslie Ann Woodward, "Dynasty" actress Catherine Oxenberg and socialite Victoria White O'Gara.

But his greatest love may have been the movies.

He served as production chief at Paramount for eight years.

Evans told The New York Times he "was a bad executive" partially because he "would get very involved with just a few pictures, and I let a lot of other things pass."

"I was lucky, because at least the pictures that I got involved with ended up being successful. But I realized in the last couple of years that my interest was not in sitting down with agents or packagers all day and making deals," Evans said. "I wanted to be in the cutting room, working on the scoring; I wanted to be more fully involved with the making of the film."

He did just that as an independent producer, working on films including "Marathon Man," "Urban Cowboy" and "The Cotton Club."

That last film found Evans embroiled in a scandal due to the murder-for-hire killing of a theatrical producer who had been involved with "The Cotton Club" project, Roy Radin.

Evans' tumultuous life also included pleading guilty to cocaine possession in 1980, after his brother and another man were arrested in a scheme that involved buying $19,000 of cocaine from a federal narcotics agent posing as a dealer.

He described himself as a "hermit" in a 2017 interview with Vanity Fair, preferring to live quietly in a property once owned by Greta Garbo.

Evans also recalled with horror a 2013 fire that destroyed his projection room containing many of his precious Hollywood memories.

"I'd give the rest of the house to have it back," he said. "It's awful. Every director, writer, producer, young actor -- I'd get together with them here five times a week to see movies. It was a very sad day. It's one of the worst things that's ever happened to me."

 

Filmography

 

He was a producer in all films unless otherwise noted.

Film

Year       Film       Notes

1974      Chinatown         

1976      Marathon Man

1977      Black Sunday     

1979      Players

1980      Urban Cowboy

Popeye

1984      The Cotton Club               

1990      The Two Jakes  

1993      Sliver    

1995      Jade      

1996      The Phantom    

1997      The Saint            

1999      The Out-of-Towners      

2003      How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days     Final film as a producer

 

As head of production at Paramount

Year       Film

1967      The President's Analyst

Barefoot in the Park

1968      The Odd Couple

The Detective

Rosemary's Baby

1969      The Italian Job

True Grit

1970      The Confession

Love Story

1971      A New Leaf

Plaza Suite

Harold and Maude

1972      The Godfather

1973      Serpico

Save the Tiger

1974      The Great Gatsby

The Conversation

 

As studio executive

Year       Film       Notes

1972      The Godfather Uncredited

1974      The Godfather Part II

 

As an actor

Year       Film       Role       Notes

1952      Lydia Bailey         Soldier

1954      The Egyptian      Minor Role         

Uncredited

1957      Man of a Thousand Faces             Irving Thalberg

The Sun Also Rises           Pedro Romero  

1958      The Fiend Who Walked the West              Felix Griffin        

1959      The Best of Everything   Dexter Key         

1995      Superfights         Day Performer

1996      Cannes Man       Producer             

1997      An Alan Smithee Film: Burn Hollywood Burn        Himself                

2013      The Girl from Nagasaki   U.S. Consul         

 

Miscellaneous crew

Year       Film       Role       Notes

1968      Rosemary's Baby              Developer          

Uncredited

 

Thanks

Year       Film       Notes

1998      Exposé Special thanks to

2003      Wonderland       The producers and director wish to thank

2005      One Among Us Special thanks

2008      Iscariot Special thanks

2011      Tower Heist        Special thanks

2015      The Haunting of Pearson Place   Inspired by

Television

Year       Title       Credit    Notes

2003      Kid Notorious     Executive producer        

2012      HEYBABE!!!                         Television short

2016      Urban Cowboy Executive producer         Television pilot

 

As an actor

Year       Title       Role       Notes

2000      The Simpsons    Himself                 Voice role

Just Shoot Me!

2003      Kid Notorious     Kid Notorious     Voice role

 

As writer

Year       Title

2003      Kid Notorious

 

Thanks

Year       Title       Notes

2008      The Dawn Reese Show   Special thanks