Edward Albert
MALIBU, Calif. (AP)–Edward Albert, who starred opposite Goldie Hawn in the 1972 comedy “Butterflies Are Free” and was the son of film and TV star Eddie Albert, has died. He was 55.
Albert died Friday from lung cancer at his home in Malibu, said Alan Silberberg, a family friend.
Albert’s middle name was Laurence–named after family friend and acting legend Laurence Olivier, who was his godfather. Albert made his film debut at 14. He played a runaway who comes across a disturbed Civil War veteran, played by Anthony Perkins, in the 1965 drama “The Fool Killer.”
Albert attended Oxford University and studied psychology at the University of California, Los Angeles.
In 1972, he appeared in “Butterflies Are Free,” playing a blind attorney who attempted to break free from his overly protective mother. The role earned him a Golden Globe as most promising male newcomer.
His movies included “40 Carats,” “The Ice Runner” and “Guarding Tess.” Among his TV credits were appearances on “Falcon Crest,” “Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman” and “Port Charles.”
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Cecil Brooks
MARIETTA, Ohio (AP)–A gun maker whose rifles have been presented to keynote speakers at the National Rifle Association’s annual meeting since 1955 has died, the NRA and a longtime friend said. He was 93.
Cecil Brooks died Sunday of heart failure at Marietta Memorial Hospital, according to Phil Brown, a friend.
Brooks was known for creating flintlock and percussion rifles, according to a news release on the NRA Web site. He showed his talent for engraving, carving and barrel making even into his 90s.
Actor Charlton Heston once told an NRA convention that the only way he would give up his Cecil Brooks Presentation Rifle was “from my cold, dead hands.”
Brooks’ NRA rifles are prized among collectors and museums, the group said.
Brooks grew up in Belpre, about 90 miles southeast of Columbus, and worked as a blacksmith, taxidermist and sign painter before he began repairing firearms in the 1920s, according to the NRA release. He built his first percussion long rifle in the mid-1930s.
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Jeff Cooper
PRESCOTT, Ariz. (AP)–Jeff Cooper, a renowned firearms expert and founder of a firearms training center in northern Arizona, has died. He was 86.
Cooper, had been battling several health problems in recent years, died Monday at his home in nearby Paulden, according to his family.
In 1976, Cooper founded the American Pistol Institute–or Gunsite–at Paulden to teach pistol techniques and later added a full curriculum on pistols, rifles and shotguns.
Since then, more than 18,000 students–including celebrities, law enforcement officers, military members from many nations and many civilians–have graduated from courses at Gunsite.
Cooper sold the operation in 1992.
Considered one of the world’s foremost expert on small arms, Cooper was editor at large of Guns & Ammo Magazine and wrote several books on firearms.
Cooper, who was born in Los Angeles, is survived by his wife, Janelle, and three daughters.
A private burial service is planned but his family said a memorial ceremony will be held at a later date at the National Rifle Association Whittington Center in New Mexico.
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Maureen Daly
PALM DESERT, Calif. (AP)–Maureen Daly, whose coming-of-age novel “Seventeenth Summer” in 1942–written before her 20th birthday–was credited with launching modern young adult literature, has died. She was 85.
Daly died Monday of natural causes at a hospice, according to Arlene Loyola, a clerk at Forest Lawn Mortuary.
Daly wrote “Seventeenth Summer” after winning an O. Henry Award for her short story, “Sixteen,” in high school. The novel became a best-seller and has sold more than 1.5 million hardcover copies and millions of paperbacks.
Her other works included “Sixteen and Other Stories” in 1961, “The Ginger Horse” in 1964 and “Mention My Name in Mombassa,” co-written with late husband Bill McGivern.
Daly also wrote short stories and magazine articles. She was a reporter and columnist for the Chicago Tribune-New York News Syndicate, an associate editor of Ladies Home Journal and an editor consultant at the Saturday Evening Post. She later became a Palm Springs Desert Sun restaurant writer, starting in 1988.
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Craig Kusick
MINNEAPOLIS (AP)–Craig Kusick, a former Minnesota Twins first baseman, has died. He was 57.
Kusick died Wednesday after a long bout with leukemia. The Twins held a moment of silence for Kusick, who played for the team from 1973-79, before the game against the Kansas City Royals.
Kusick, who spent 23 years as baseball coach at Rosemount High School, was three days away from his 58th birthday.
His best season came in 1977, when he hit .254 with 12 homers and 45 RBIs in 268 at-bats for Minnesota.
A native of Milwaukee, Kusick played at the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse and signed with the Twins in 1970.
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Willie Radkay
FORT SCOTT, Kan. (AP)–Willie Radkay, a former bank robber who was assigned a cell next to prohibition-era gangster Machine Gun Kelly while serving time at Alcatraz, has died, his niece said. He was 95.
Radkay, who died Sunday at Mercy Health Center at Fort Scott, had told reporters he was given the number 666 when he began a seven-year stint in 1945 at the San Francisco island prison dubbed “The Rock.”
Radkay, who was born in Kansas City, Kan., turned to crime after his father died of pneumonia. His mother was left with four children to support, and Radkay was placed in a foster home.
Radkay turned his life around after he was freed in 1969. He married the next year and began working as a custodial supervisor at the Prairie View School District in the small Kansas town of LaCygne.
Radkay spent his final years in a Fort Scott nursing home, after breaking first one hip, then the other.
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