Obituary News

Norman Dello Joio Pulitzer and Emmy Award-Winning Composer

Source: Michael Ricci
August 9, 2008

Norman Dello Joio, a Pulitzer Prize-winning composer with a lyrical style who wrote works for orchestra and chorus as well as several operas and an Emmy Award-winning television score,

He died July 24 at his home in East Hampton, N.Y. of natural causes, according to his son Justin Dello Joio, who also is a composer. He was 95.

Much of Norman Dello Joio's repertoire was inspired by sacred scripture, religious poetry and the lives of Christian saints. He sometimes worked ...

Continue Reading

Hollywood Player Bernie Brillstein Dies at 77

Source: Michael Ricci
August 9, 2008

Bernie Brillstein, a Hollywood talent agent, manager, producer and studio head who over half a century guided the careers of “Saturday Night Live" comedians and helped package a slew of TV and movie hits, has died. He was 77.

Brillstein died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Thursday night at a Los Angeles hospital, according to information provided Friday by Brillstein Entertainment Partners. Bernie Brillstein Starting in the mail room of the William Morris talent agency in 1956, Brillstein moved up ...

Continue Reading

Nicola Rescigno, Helped Found Opera Companies in Chicago and Dallas Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
August 8, 2008

Nicola Rescigno, a conductor who seized advantage of a new interest in opera after World War II and helped found two major American opera companies, died on Monday in Viterbo, Italy. He was 92.

He died in a hospital awaiting surgery after falling and breaking his femur about a week ago, Jeanne Rescigno, wife of the conductor Joseph Rescigno, Nicola's nephew, said.

Mr. Rescigno (pronounced resh-EEN-yo) was a favorite conductor of Maria Callas, conducting her American debut in 1954 at ...

Continue Reading

Lou Teicher Half of Ferrante & Teicher Piano Duo

Source: Michael Ricci
August 6, 2008

Lou Teicher, half of the popular Ferrante & Teicher piano duo that had top-10 hits in the 1960s with lushly orchestrated movie-theme singles, has died. He was 83.

Teicher, a longtime resident of Sarasota, Fla., died unexpectedly of heart failure Sunday at his summer home in Highlands, N.C., said Scott W. Smith, Teicher and Arthur Ferrante's personal manager.

Ferrante & TeicherIn a musical collaboration that spanned five decades and ended when the duo retired from the concert stage in 1989, ...

Continue Reading

Robert Maheu Confidant to Billionaire Howard Hughes

Source: Michael Ricci
August 6, 2008

Robert Maheu, who worked for the FBI and the CIA before he became billionaire Howard Hughes' confidant and right-hand man, has died. He was 90.

Shielding the eccentric industrialist from the public he feared and crafting the deals that made him a Las Vegas power player during a critical period in the city's development.

The cause was congestive heart failure, according to his son, Peter, who said his father died Monday at Desert Springs Hospital in Las Vegas.

Robert MaheuFormidably ...

Continue Reading

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
August 4, 2008

Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn, whose stubborn, lonely and combative literary struggles dies He gained the force of prophecy as he revealed the heavy afflictions of Soviet Communism in some of the most powerful works of fiction and history written in the 20th century, died late Sunday in Russia, his son Yermolai said early Monday in Moscow. He said the cause was a heart condition. He was 89. He outlived by nearly 17 years the state and system he had battled through years ...

Continue Reading

Suzanne Tamim Lebanese Singer Killed in Dubai

Source: All About Jazz
August 3, 2008

Suzanne Tamim found stabbed to death

LONDON -- Lebanese singer Suzanne Tamim was found stabbed to death in her Dubai apartment July 28. Tamim had shot to fame after winning the popular Studio Al Fan television show contest in 1996. Her subsequent career was blighted by a turbulent personal life, which included two divorces and a number of run-ins with police and the tabloids. The 31-year-old singer released two albums and several hit singles during her career, the last of ...

Continue Reading

Luther Davis Writer of Musicals and Movies, Dies

Source: Michael Ricci
August 3, 2008

Luther Davis, a Playwright who won a Tony Award in 1954 Dies

Tony's for the book of the musical Kismet and a screenwriter whose films included The Hucksters, with Clark Gable, and Lady in a Cage with Olivia de Havilland, died on Tuesday in the Bronx. He was 91 and lived in Manhattan and West Palm Beach, Fla.

A busy author for the screen and the stage, Mr. Davis wrote 15 movies and dozens of scripts for television series, and ...

Continue Reading