Richard Darman, 64, a former White House budget director who helped persuade former President George H.W. Bush to renege on his pledge of no new taxes, died Friday.
Darman died in Washington after battling leukemia for several months, according to a statement issued by former Secretary of State James A. Baker III, a longtime friend.
Darman was chief architect of a compromise designed to reduce the federal budget deficit. Although it drew praise from many economic analysts, the plan included tax increases that broke Bush’s 1988 election promise, “Read my lips, no new taxes!” Although the change of policy is partly blamed for Bush’s re-election defeat to Bill Clinton in 1992, it contributed to balancing the federal budgets in the late 1990s.
Darman had a reputation for being so crafty that “Darmanesque” became a word to describe maneuvering that was clever and Machiavellian. He also had a more playful side and was known for pranks. He once donned a gorilla suit to amuse his boss, the president.
Christian Brando, 49, the troubled son of the late actor Marlon Brando, who made headlines in 1990 when he was arrested in the shooting death of his half-sister’s boyfriend, died Saturday.
Brando died from complications of pneumonia at Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center in Los Angeles.
The legal proceedings against Brando for the killing of Dag Drollet caused a firestorm of media attention. His legendary father used his estate to post the $2 million bond for his son and later pleaded for leniency for the oldest of his nine children.
Christian Brando, then 32, eventually pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter in the death of the 26-year-old Drollet, the lover of his half-sister, Cheyenne Brando, who was then pregnant by Drollet. Brando was given a 10-year prison sentence but served nearly five years.
Brando dropped out of school in 11th grade and began drinking and using LSD, tried a variety of jobs including welder and tree trimmer, and lived for a time in Alaska. He tried his hand at acting but mostly lived for years with his father in Brando’s hilltop L.A. estate.
