Bill Belew, 76, the costume designer who created Elvis Presley’s jumpsuits and the tight, black-leather outfit he wore on his 1968 television special, died Jan. 7 in Palm Springs, Calif., after battling diabetes, his longtime companion, Paul Dafelmair, said.
In his nearly 50-year career, Belew designed costumes for stars ranging from Ella Fitzgerald to Gloria Estefan. But it is his work with Presley for which Belew will be best remembered.
“Bill Belew changed the face of rock ‘n’ roll fashion,” Presley costume historian Butch Polston said.
After creating the jumpsuits for Presley, “everybody wanted to dress like Elvis,” he said. “(Belew) designed stuff for the Osmonds, the Jacksons, just numerous celebrities.”
In 1968, Belew was asked to design the wardrobe for the hour-long TV special that became known as Presley’s “comeback.”
Spencer M. Williams, 85, a member of California Gov. Ronald Reagan’s Cabinet who later led a prolonged fight for cost-of-living increases for fellow federal judges that ultimately led to a Supreme Court decision supporting back pay and raises, died Jan. 3, his family said.
Appointed secretary of California’s Human Relations Agency during Reagan’s first term as governor, Williams oversaw such programs as welfare, health care and corrections.
In 1971, President Nixon appointed Williams to a federal judgeship in San Francisco. In 31 years on the bench, he heard more than 7,000 cases, according to his family.
Relatively low pay could make being a federal judge a temporary career move, he often argued. His successful litigation over salaries proved a rallying point for judges, who in 1982 helped Williams found the Federal Judges Association.
