Etcetera

Jorge Guinle

This once filthy-rich playboy bragged that he had slept with Jayne Mansfield, Lana Turner, Rita Hayworth, Jane Russell, Veronica Lake, and Kim Novak. Jorge Guinle dropped dead at age 88 at the Copacabana Palace Hotel in Rio De Janeiro after refusing surgery to remove an aneurism in his aorta. “The secret of living well is to die without a cent in your pocket,” Guinle once said, adding, “But I miscalculated, and the money ran out.” Indeed it did. Guinle, who was pals with Ronald Reagan, Errol Flynn, and Orson Welles, squandered his wealth and barely got by during his waning years on a government pension and help from friends. —E.R.

	Jorge Guinle (click for larger version)

Joyce Jillson

Famous for her nationally syndicated astrology column in newspapers across the country, Joyce Jillson (58) is best remembered as Nancy Reagan’s astrologer (as reported in a memoir by former Reagan chief of staff Donald Regan). Jillson insisted that it was she who advised Reagan campaign aides to choose George H.W. Bush as Reagan’s running mate in 1980 and claimed to have spent much time at the White House following the assassination attempt on the president in 1981. She was also the official astrologer for 20th Century Fox, advising the studio on the best opening days for films. Her resumé, however, went much deeper than astrology; Jillson played Jill Smith Rossi on the 1960s television series “Peyton Place.” —E.R.

Yang Huanyi

There once was a centuries-old rare script called Nushu that was used by women to communicate secretly with one another in the southern Hunan Provence of China. Yang Huanyi was believed to be the last woman to employ the Nushu code, known both as “witches’ script” and “the first language of women’s liberation.” In early Chinese history, the penalty for creating languages was death, but centuries later, after the invention of words was no longer deemed a capital crime, practitioners were still required to take an oath not to reveal the code to men. Common wedding gifts in Chinese history included booklets filled with Nushu writings that detailed deeply held anxieties by Chinese women that marriage was a tragic event. —E.R.

Joseph F. Cullman

As the chief spokesman for the tobacco industry, Joseph F. Cullman (92) led Philip Morris through the “cigarette wars” as the corporation battled Congress over legislation that forced warning labels on cigarette packs. He testified before Congress with a lit cigarette in his mouth and made the statement, “I do not believe that cigarettes are hazardous to one’s health,” on the program “Face the Nation.” When told that evidence suggested that smoking mothers give birth to smaller babies, Cullman replied, “Some women would prefer having smaller babies.” Cullman smoked almost his entire life, finally quitting a decade before his death. —E.R.

Frank Sanache

Frank Sanache (86) was the last of the eight “code talkers” employed by the U.S. during World War II to use their native tongue as code on walkie-talkies. Sanache was from the Meskwaki Indian tribe, one of 18 tribes that contributed to code talking, which was classified until 1968. He was captured while serving in North Africa and held prisoner for 28 months. —E.R.

Charles Sweeney

Pilot of the B-29 Superfortress known as Bockscar that dropped the atomic bomb on Nagasaki, forcing Japanese surrender, Charles Sweeney (84) returned to the city only weeks after he had decimated it. He said he felt neither pride nor remorse for what his duty had called him to do. The bomb dropped on Nagasaki was plutonium and was more powerful than the uranium bomb dropped on Hiroshima by the crew of the Enola Gay. —E.R.

Olive Osmond

Alan, Wayne, Merrill, Jay, and Donny—not to mention Jimmy and Marie—were only part of the amazing clan spawned by Olive Osmond’s ovaries. Osmond (79) passed away with nine children, 55 grandchildren, 22 great-grandchildren, and lots of money. —J.R.T.

Pat Tillman

A millionaire professional football player with the Arizona Cardinals, Pat Tillman abandoned stardom to join the Army’s elite special forces to fight against terrorism in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks on the United States. Tillman eschewed a $3.6 million contract for an $18,000 yearly military salary. He was killed in a firefight at age 27. Tragically, it was later reported by the Washington Post that Tillman had been killed by American troops who did not identify their targets as they shot their way out of an ambush. —E.R.

	Pat Tillman (click for larger version)

Harry Lampert

Harry Lampert (88) was the original illustrator who created DC Comics’ wing-footed superhero The Flash in 1940, two years after the appearance of Superman. With a lightning bolt emblazoned across the chest of his red uniform, The Flash’s winged shoes and helmet evoked the Greek god Hermes. Despite the Flash’s success, Lampert preferred to draw humorous material, which is perhaps why he was replaced as The Flash illustrator after only two issues. His gag cartoons appeared in Esquire and The Saturday Evening Post, among others. Lampert began his illustration career as a teen, inking Popeye and Betty Boop for famed illustrator Max Fleischer. Lampert later regretted not hanging onto his early Flash drawings after achieving recognition during a comics revival in the 1990s. A near-mint copy of Flash Comics No. 1 recently sold for $350,000. —E.R.

Syd Hoff

Many people probably spent decades thinking that Syd Hoff (91) was already dead. After all, plenty of generations have already been handed Danny and the Dinosaur as a classic children’s book. The writer and cartoonist was still living in Miami, though, and nobody heard about his death without going through a fit of nostalgia. —J.R.T.

Also Dead

Musician John Balance (42), founder of the band Coil and former member of 23 Skidoo, Psychic TV, Zos Kia, and Current 93; Buffalo Springfield bassist Bruce Palmer (58); Singer Laura Branigan (“Gloria”); Broadway composer Cy Coleman (75); Motown singer Syreeta Wright (58); reggae producer Clement ‘Sir Coxsone’ Dodd (72); rapper Ol’ Dirty Bastard, aka Russell Jones (35); musician Kevin Coyne (60); Blues singer-guitarist Son Seals (62); Guitarist and violinist Claude (Fiddler) Williams (96); Former Pantera guitarist “Dimebag” Darrel Abbott (38); Gilbert Lani Kauhi (66), who played “Hawaii Five-0″‘s Detective Kono Kalakaua, the burly Hawaiian sidekick to the show’s star, Jack Lord; Character actor Victor Argo (69); Comedian and actor Dayton Allen (85), the voice of the characters on the “Deputy Dawg” cartoon show as well as those of mischievous cartoon crows Heckle and Jeckle; Norman Rose, the voice of Colombian coffee mascot Juan Valdez; Comedian Alan King (76); Stage actress and dancer Ann Miller (81); Actress Uta Hagen (84); New Zealand author Janet Frame (79), whose memoirs were the source material for Jane Campion’s film An Angel at My Table; Rape of Nanking author Iris Chang (36), suicide; Last Exit to Brooklyn author Hubert Selby, Jr., (75); philosopher and literary critic Jacques Derrida (74), sometimes called the “father of deconstruction; football player Reggie White; Leonidas da Silva (90), Brazil’s first superstar of professional soccer, credited with inventing the bicycle kick; Los Angeles Rams’ football player Elroy “Crazy Legs” Hirsch (80), known for his unique running style; fashion designers Geoffrey Beene (77) and Egon Von Furstenberg (57); photographers Henri Cartier-Bresson (95) and Francesco Scavullo (81); MAD magazine illustrator George Woodbridge (75); Drug store magnate Jack Eckerd (91).