Obituaries in the news

Ken Annakin

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Ken Annakin, the British-born director whose credits included the World War II epics "Battle of the Bulge" and "The Longest Day" and the family classic "Swiss Family Robinson," has died. He was 94.

Annakin died Wednesday night at his Beverly Hills home, said his daughter, Deborah Peters. His health had been failing since he had a heart attack and stroke within a day of each other in February, she said.

Annakin dabbled in many film genres, from action-comedy and family fare to crime drama and swashbuckling romance. He was best known for his war sagas, 1965's "Battle of the Bulge" with Henry Fonda, Charles Bronson, Robert Shaw and Telly Savalas and 1962's "The Longest Day," which he co-directed with Andrew Marton and Bernhard Wicki.

Annakin's other films include "Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines," whose screenplay earned him an Academy Award nomination, and the similarly titled action comedy "Those Daring Young Men in Their Jaunty Jalopies."

Probably his most-beloved film was 1960's "Swiss Family Robinson," one of a series of family adventures Annakin made for Walt Disney Pictures starting in the 1950s.

Annakin got his start as a feature filmmaker with 1947's "Holiday Camp," about the working-class Huggett family, whom he also featured in three other films over the next few years.

In 2002, Annakin was honored with the Order of the British Empire.

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Marilyn Cooper

NEW YORK (AP) — Marilyn Cooper, a Broadway character actress best known for her Tony-winning performance in the musical "Woman of the Year," has died. She was 74.

Cooper died Wednesday after a long illness at the Actors Fund Home in Englewood, N.J., said Virginia Seidel, a family friend.

Cooper was a chorus member in the original Broadway casts of such classic musicals as "West Side Story" (1957) and "Gypsy" (1959). She made her Broadway debut in the 1956 Sammy Davis Jr. musical "Mr. Wonderful" and also appeared in such shows as "I Can Get It For You Wholesale" (1962), "Hallelujah, Baby!" (1967), "Golden Rainbow" (1968), "Two by Two" (1970) and "Ballroom" (1978).

But it was a duet with Lauren Bacall in the Kander and Ebb musical "Woman of the Year" (1981) that won Cooper a featured actress-musical Tony Award — and stopped the show. She also appeared in several Neil Simon comedies including the female version of "The Odd Couple" (1985) and "Broadway Bound" (1986).

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Chet Herbert

ORANGE, Calif. (AP) — Chester "Chet" Herbert, a member of the International Drag Racing Hall of Fame who helped develop an exhaust header that blew smoke away from a dragster's rear tires to improve traction, has died. He was 81.

Herbert died Thursday of pneumonia at St. Joseph Hospital in Orange, according to Sara Fensterer, a spokeswoman for Herbert's son, Doug, who followed his father into professional drag racing.

Herbert was stricken with polio at age 20 and lived the rest of his life in a wheelchair, paralyzed from the chest down.

"My grandmother told me he was so wild about racing, that if he didn't have polio to slow him down, he probably would have died," Doug Herbert said in a statement.

Lying in a hospital iron lung for six months in 1948, Herbert developed ideas for manufacturing racing parts in his head.

Growing up in Southern California's 1950s hot rod scene, Herbert helped develop the Zoomie-type exhaust header that blew smoke away from a dragster's rear tires to improve traction, helping dragsters surpass 200 mph.

Eventually, Herbert turned to building innovative cars that often tested the rules of the National Hot Rod Association, the sport's governing body. He developed scores of dragsters, drag motorcycles and land speed-record streamliners for other drivers.

Herbert was one of the first to establish a successful speed shop and parts mail-order business and advertise in national magazines.

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The Rev. Timothy Wright

NEW YORK (AP) — The Rev. Timothy Wright, the Grammy-nominated gospel singer and composer known for his up-tempo praise songs and powerful mass choir sound, has died. He was 61.

Wright, who was seriously injured in a car crash that killed his wife and grandson, died early Thursday at the Bronx Veterans Hospital, music agent Will Bogle said.

Timothy Wright was the pastor at Grace Tabernacle Christian Center Church of God in Christ, located in the Crown Heights section of Brooklyn. He released more than a dozen gospel recordings, writing many of the songs. His latest album, "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus," came out in 2007.

In 1994, his record "Come Thou Almighty King," with the New York Fellowship Mass Choir, made the Billboard Top 20 charts for gospel albums and was nominated for a Grammy for best traditional soul gospel album.

He got another nomination in that category in 1999 for "Been There Done That," recorded with the B/J Mass Choir and featuring Myrna Summers.

According to the book "Uncloudy Days: The Gospel Encyclopedia," by Bil Carpenter, the Brooklyn-born Wright began playing piano for his local church at age 12 and also began composing at a young age.

By his early 20s, he was music director at Brooklyn's Washington Temple Church of God in Christ and began writing songs for fellow musicians like Mattie Moss Clark and the Rev. Isaac Douglas.

Wright was critically injured July 4 in a three-vehicle crash on Interstate 80 near Loganton, Pa. Another car was going the wrong way when it struck Wright's car. His wife, Betty, and 14-year-old grandson, D.J., died later at a hospital. The driver of the wrong-way car, John Pick, also was killed.

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	Obituaries in the news	Associated Press	Tue Apr 21	0
	Timothy Wright, famed NY gospel singer, dies at 61	Associated Press	Fri Apr 24	0
	`Battle of the Bulge' director Annakin dies at 94	Associated Press	Thu Apr 23	0