One year ago: Michelle Triola Marvin

Michelle Triola Marvin was a nightclub singer whose sensational court battle with actor Lee Marvin, with whom she lived for five years, established the legal concept of palimony. She died one year ago at age 75 from lung cancer.

Michelle Marvin, who legally changed her surname even though she and the actor never married, made legal history in 1976 when the California Supreme Court ruled that she and other unmarried people could sue for property division when a relationship ended.

That decision paved the way three years later for an often-sensational 11-week trial in which Michelle Marvin, represented by high-profile divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson, was awarded $104,000 for what the judge called "rehabilitative purposes."

Although an appeals court eventually overturned her award, the legal precedent underlying her court battle was left intact.

Ruth Bader Ginsburg, a Columbia University law professor who would go on to become a Supreme Court justice, said in 1979 that the case illustrated "the further breakdown of the legal line between married and unmarried union."

For more on how her case made legal history, read Michelle Triola Marvin's obituary by The Times' Elaine Woo.

-- Michael Farr

Photo: Michelle Triola Marvin enters court in Los Angeles with her attorney, Marvin Mitchelson, for a hearing in her trial with actor Lee Marvin. Credit: Associated Press

One year ago: Soupy Sales

Soupy Sales was a slapstick comedian whose signature pie-in-the-face antics in the 1960s and '70s earned him national fame and a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

As the star of  "The Soupy Sales Show," he performed live on television for 13 years in Detroit, Los Angeles and New York before the program went into syndication in the United States and abroad.

The show contained a cast full of puppets with names such as Wyatt Burp and Marilyn Monwolf. The high point of every episode came when a sidekick launched a pie into Sales' face. Sales once estimated that he was hit by more than 25,000 pies in his lifetime.

Celebrities lined up to get their pie in the face too, as the gag evolved into a hip badge of honor. Frank Sinatra was first in a long line of pop-culture icons who clamored for the privilege to be cream-faced, followed by Tony Curtis,  Mickey Rooney, Sammy Davis Jr., Dick Martin and Burt Lancaster.

Before the days of his fame, Sales fought in the Pacific theater in WWII and worked as a disc jockey and scriptwriter. After his show ran its course, he had a variety of TV and radio gigs, including frequent appearances on a game show called "What's My Line?"

For more on the comedian, read Soupy Sales' obituary by The Times' Elaine Woo. Also, see a photo gallery of moments in his life.

-- Michael Farr

Photo: Soupy Sales. Credit: NBC

Brtitish actor Simon MacCorkindale dies at 58

Simon MacCorkindale, a British stage and screen actor who starred in the 1980s TV series "Manimal" and was a regular on "Falcon Crest," died of cancer Thursday night in a London clinic in the arms of his wife, actress Susan George, his publicist told the BBC. 

The 58-year-old MacCorkindale announced last year that he had been diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2006, and he learned that it was terminal after it had spread to his lungs a year later.

The BBC News report quoted George as saying, "No one could have fought this disease any harder than he did ... To me, he was simply the best of everything, and I loved him with all my heart. He will live on in me forever."

MacCorkindale, who played Dr. Harry Harper for six years on the BBC One medical drama "Casualty," appeared as Greg Reardon on "Falcon Crest" from 1984 to 1986.

In the short-lived "Manimal," an NBC police drama/fantasy that ran for three months in 1983, he was Jonathan Chase, a wealthy New York University professor of animal behavioral sciences who served as a police consultant. And, to the regret of criminals, he had the supernatural ability to turn into everything from a deadly panther to a cobra.

Born Feb. 12, 1952, in Ely, Cambridgeshire, England, MacCorkindale launched his career in the theater and made his West End debut in a 1974 production of "Pygmalion."

Among his early credits are the 1977 TV miniseries "Jesus of Nazareth" and the 1978 film "Death on the Nile."

After moving to the United States, he appeared in the 1981 miniseries "The Mansions of America" and made guest appearances on TV series such as "The Dukes of Hazzard," "Dynasty" and "Hart to Hart."

MacCorkindale appeared in a West End production of "The Sound of Music" until it closed in February 2009. 

-- Dennis McLellan

Photo: Simon MacCorkindale in 1985.

Credit: Los Angeles Times

One year ago: Collin Wilcox Paxton

Collin Wilcox Paxton, who played the poor Southern white girl who falsely accuses a black man of raping her in the 1962 film adaptation of the novel "To Kill a Mockingbird," recalls receiving unfriendly looks when she appeared to speak at an NAACP conference. An official had to remind the crowd that "she is not the character in the film."

Paxton, who spent her life acting and advocating for desegregation, died one year ago of brain cancer at her home in Highlands, N.C. She was 74.

Paxton said she believed she could play the character of Mayella because she understood both sides of the racism issue and the culture from which her character would have come. She once recalled that the other girls auditioning for the role were overly made up, while she intentionally dressed in worn-down clothes that better reflected the character's background.

Both Paxton and Brock Peters, who played the accused black man in the film, were involved in the civil rights movement and the National Assn. for the Advancement of Colored People.

"On the set, there was a main feeling that we were making a film that had meaning, had something to say," she recalled. "But no one ever expected or anticipated the kind of impact the film actually created."

In addition to "To Kill a Mockingbird," Paxton also made appearances on Broadway and as a guest star in a variety of TV shows.

For more on her career, read Collin Wilcox Paxton's obituary by The Times.

--Michael Farr

Photo: Collin Wilcox Paxton. Credit: Eric Skipsey

Leona Gage, Miss USA for a day, dies at 71

Leona Gage, who in 1957 was named Miss USA but had the title taken from her the next day when pageant officials learned she was married and a mother of two, has died. She was 71.

Gage died of heart failure Tuesday at Sherman Oaks Hospital, said her son Rob Kaminer.

She was married and had her second child when she was 16, all forbidden for a pageant contestant. She also told pageant officials she was 21, but she was 18.

"It's both an accomplishment and a tragedy. She had mixed feelings about the whole thing," Kaminer told The Times on Saturday.

Gage, who was born in Texas in 1939, represented Maryland at the Miss USA pageant held in Long Beach in July 1957. In a Times article after losing the title, Gage said she entered the Maryland contest hoping it would lead to work as a model.

"We needed money desperately," she said in 1957. "I didn't expect to win and when I did I was told I would be sent to Long Beach for the Miss Universe contest [then held immediately after the Miss USA competition], I went to the sponsor of the Maryland contest and told him I couldn't go because I was married.

"He told me to forget that I told him I was married and to come out here and keep my mouth shut."

Pageant officials in Baltimore denied they knew she was married.

Her son called it "a cautionary tale.… She entered the contest because she needed the money.… She was only 18 years old and you only complete the seventh grade and you have men pushing and pulling at you. I definitely know she was influenced by the people around her at the time. It's a very powerful influence."

He said Gage had lived in Southern California since the 1960s and became extremely private later in life "because she wasn't the person people remembered." He said she suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, a progressive condition that makes it hard to breathe.

Gage made many television appearances after losing the title, including a highly rated one on the "Ed Sullivan Show." With the attention came hate mail.

"I think one half of the U.S. hated me," she told the Baltimore Sun in 2005.

Gage had difficult years after losing the title.

"When you're 18 years old and you're the most beautiful girl in the room … and then you're 50 and you're on oxygen and you haven't taken the time to develop yourself in other areas, what are you left with?" Kaminer said. His mother was "really preyed on by men from an early age.… you understand the type of trauma that represents," he said.

In addition to Kamimer, who lives in Scottsdale, Ariz., Gage is survived by two other sons, David Ennis of Tyrone, Ga., and Nicholas Covacevich of Los Angeles; and three grandchildren.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Leona Gage in 1957.

Credit: Associated Press

 

25 years ago: Rock Hudson

Rock Hudson, the handsome Hollywood star who earned an Academy Award nomination for his dramatic work in "Giant" and created sparkling big-screen chemistry with Doris Day in a string of romantic comedies, died of AIDS 25 years ago. He was 59.

Hudson shocked the world only three months before his death when he revealed he was being treated at UCLA Medical Center for acquired immune deficiency syndrome. 

President Reagan and wife Nancy were among the first to express sadness upon hearing of Hudson's death.

Hudson attended a White House dinner in May 1984. According to the authorized biography "Rock Hudson: His Story," when the actor received the photo from the event, showing him with the Reagans, a friend commented on a blemish visible on his neck. Within a few days, he received a biopsy result that confirmed he had AIDS.

Hudson, who had never publicly revealed he was gay, told only a few close friends about the diagnosis, but his weight loss and gaunt appearance caused much speculation.

Hollywood rallied around the actor at a star-studded AIDS fundraiser just two weeks before his death. More than 2,500 people raised $1 million for research in Hudson's name. The actor was too ill to attend, but in a message read at the event, he said: "I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS, but if that is helping others, I can, at least, know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth."

Hudson reached the height of his popularity with Day in "Pillow Talk" in 1959 and "Lover Come Back" in 1961. In both films, Hudson portrays a roguish ladies man trying to seduce the virtuous Day. Audiences responded to the chemistry between the two, and he and Day became good friends. Hudson appeared in more than 50 films before starring in the television series "MacMillan & Wife" in the '70s.

Marc Christian, a former lover of Hudson's, sued the actor's estate after his death, alleging emotional distress because Hudson did not reveal his illness to Christian. A multimillion-dollar settlement was reached. Christian, who never tested positive for HIV, died in 2009. The Times obituary can be found here.

San Francisco author Armistead Maupin urged Hudson to make his sexual orientation public in the mid-'70s. "He seemed kind of fascinated and horrified at the same time," Maupin said in a newspaper interview. "I wanted him to do it because he was a big hero to me and I thought that he would be a big hero to a lot of other people."

Hudson's Times obituary can be found here. A photo gallery is available here.

-- Susanna Timmons

Photo: Rock Hudson in 1961. Credit: Leo Fuchs, courtesy of the John Kobal Foundation

Liz Smith looks back on Eddie Fisher

 

Longtime entertainment columnist Liz Smith recalls Eddie Fisher's personal and professional life in Monday's column, calling him "Poor Eddie."

Eddie Fisher died last week, age 82. All the obits pictured him with Miss Taylor, or else ran the famous shot of Eddie standing in between the opulent Widow Todd and his pert, trim wife, Debbie. Within weeks of this picture being taken, Eddie had been "taken." He was the property of Miss Elizabeth Taylor. His wonderful singing voice and huge pre-scandal popularity were duly noted, but the collapse of his career and reputation overshadowed all tributes.

Not only does Smith recount the 1950s pop music idol's marriages to Debbie Reynolds, Elizabeth Taylor and Connie Stevens, but she also has an Eddie Fisher-Jackie Kennedy anecdote. Read the rest of Liz Smith's column here, and click here for Dennis McLellan's obituary of Fisher that appeared in The Times.

-- Claire Noland

Photo: At the Tropicana Hotel in Las Vegas on April 3, 1957, Eddie Fisher poses with his current wife, Debbie Reynolds, right, and his future wife, Elizabeth Taylor, left. Credit: AFP/Getty Images

One year ago: Army Archerd

 

Army Archerd had a Rolodex of Hollywood contacts that would be the envy of any entertainment reporter. The so-called "town crier of Hollywood" who made his name as a columnist at Daily Variety died one year ago.

Archerd wrote well over 10,000 columns for Variety and was considered the most trusted journalist in Hollywood. He retired his "Just for Variety" column on Sept. 1, 2005, after more than 50 years of writing it.

Stars often would not speak to anyone but him. When Johnny Carson celebrated his 25th year with NBC in 1987, the "Tonight Show" host left a message for his publicist: "I'm not doing any interviews, because if I do one, I'll have to do them all. But if Army calls, I'll speak to him."

Archerd's biggest scoop was in 1985 when he announced that actor Rock Hudson was suffering from AIDS. The actor became the first major Hollywood figure to be linked to the disease.

Archerd could name among his friends top stars and figures in the industry, but he was intentional about not being too close to the crowd he covered.

"I don't burn out because I'm not part of the scene, I'm looking at the scene," he told The Times in 1996. "I don't get involved like some unnamed people who cover this business."

The columnist became such an integral part of the daily ritual of Hollywood that when a bout of flu in 1983 forced him to miss work for the first time in 30 years, the Associated Press reported that "consternation and confusion reigned when the column failed to appear for three days."

Besides his work as a columnist, Archerd was, for 47 years, the official greeter at the Oscars, interviewing nominees and stars as they made their way across the red carpet.

For more on the famed Hollywood reporter, read Army Archerd's obituary by The Times.

--Michael Farr

Photo: Army Archerd. Credit: Los Angeles Times

One year ago: Adam Goldstein

Adam Goldstein, better known as DJ AM, was a disc jockey and Los Angeles club owner sought after by celebrities. He was found dead in his New York apartment one year ago, a result of an apparent accidental drug overdose.

Goldstein spun records at some of the world's most exclusive parties, including private events for Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Lopez and Ben Stiller, among many others, and could command more than $25,000 for a three-hour set. He was once engaged to socialite/reality TV star Nicole Richie and dated actress/singer Mandy Moore.

The DJ had struggles in his 20s with drugs, depression and his weight. In 1997, however, he underwent gastric bypass surgery, resulting in a drastic weight reduction, and gave up drugs and alcohol. Just a month before his death, he announced his participation in a reality TV show for MTV called "Gone Too Far," in which he helps the loved ones of drug addicts stage interventions.

Goldstein, who survived a Learjet crash in 2008 that killed two other passengers and left him with burns over his body, counted himself lucky for surviving the crash and the bouts of depression that brought him close to suicide earlier in his life.

"There's no reason why I should have lived or why I lived and they didn't," Goldstein said at a news conference a month before his death. "I'm alive and I'm here and I have another chance. So I have to do something better with my life this time."

For more, read Adam Goldstein's obituary by The Times.

-- Michael Farr

Photo: DJ AM (Adam Goldstein) spins on Feb. 22, 2009, at the 10th Annual Academy Awards after party benefiting Children Uniting Nations at the Beverly Hilton Hotel. Credit: Getty Images 

One year ago: Dominick Dunne

Dominick Dunne seemed to have everyone whispering in his ear. The author and Vanity Fair writer, who died one year ago, made a career out of exposing the scandals of the Hollywood elite and zealously crusading against celebrity criminals.

Dunne was called the "Boswell of the bluebloods" and the "Jacqueline Susann of journalism," and he was described by the Cambridge History of Law in America as "one of the nation's premier popular chroniclers of notorious criminal trials and lawsuits involving celebrities."

Former Vanity Fair Editor Tina Brown said he was "the only person writing about high society from inside the aquarium."

Dunne fluidly mixed fact and rumor in his exposés, which were well-laden with anonymous sources. His technique earned him the disdain of many. Robert F. Kennedy Jr., after the murder conviction of his cousin Michael Skakel, said Dunne -- who fought for the conviction -- was "not a journalist. He's a gossip columnist."

Dunne was a television and film producer for two decades until drugs and alcohol ruined him. He had started life over as a writer when his daughter, Dominique, was killed in 1982. The slaying energized his foray into crime and court coverage, which was epitomized by the vigilance with which he advocated for O.J. Simpson's conviction in the murder of Simpson's wife, Nicole, and her friend, Ron Goldman.

Although conviction in the criminal case never came to be, Dunne, while ill, covered Simpson's 2008 armed robbery trial in Las Vegas, which resulted in a pronouncement of guilt -- a verdict that had Dunne awaited for more than a decade.

For more, read Dominick Dunne's obituary by The Times' Elaine Woo.

-- Michael Farr

Photo: Dominick Dunne. Credit: Associated Press

Edward James Olmos pays tribute to Dr. Frank Ryan

Actor Edward James Olmos, who had worked with Dr. Frank Ryan on the cosmetic surgeon's program to provide free removal of gang tattoos, left a voice mail Wednesday apologizing for being tied up on a movie set when Ryan's obituary was being reported. Olmos then left the following tribute to Ryan, 50, who died Monday in a single-car crash on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu:

It is very sad. He was an incredible human being who gave so much to everyone. He was a very gifted doctor and did some extraordinary work on so many children and people.... All ages would come in and he would help them. He organized and structured [the tattoo removal program] so people could get that done. He has helped so many people. Thank you for taking the time to pay homage to him.

-- Valerie Nelson

 

Ten years ago: Alec Guinness

The year before he died, Sir Alec Guinness bemoaned the "worldwide taste for a fantasy world of secondhand, childish banalities" to which "Star Wars" had given rise. But his role as Obi-Wan Kenobi, the Jedi knight, provided Guinness -- an Academy-Award winner from "The Bridge on the River Kwai" -- with a second fame in a sphere literally worlds apart from the (many) stage and screen roles that had established him as "one of the most flexible actors of the last half-century," as his obituary in The Times put it.

Guinness died in England at age 86, on August 5, 2000. By that time his work had been curtailed for 20 years by health problems; he'd already been a famous recluse, anyway: "A dark horse," said fellow actor and friend Laurence Olivier, "and a deep one." He was also a frenetically versatile actor:

. . . by turns a larcenous bank clerk, a bootlegging genius, a sea-commuting bigamist, a buck-toothed fiend, a middle-aged suffragette, a bullying Scots soldier, a steely European cardinal, a garden editor who liked vegetables more than people, an intellectual ant, a coldly determined master spy, the contents of a cannibal stew, a family of eight, a misguided British sovereign, an artistic bum and the spiritual essence of an interstellar knight.

"One hates," he said long ago, "to let oneself get into a rut."

The full obituary has details on Guinness' uncertain personal origins, his three-role stage debut and the film in which he played that family of eight, as well as unfailingly third-person quotes, like this: "One wonders that one was not stoned to death in the street. . . ."

--Michael Owen

Photo: Alec Guinness as Obi-Wan Kenobi in 1977's "Star Wars." Credit: Associated Press

Related:

Alec Guinness, a master of disguise (Feb. 1, 2009)