Bernie Brillstein, 77, 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 TV and movie hits, has died.
Brillstein died of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease Thursday night at a Los Angeles hospital, according to information provided Friday by Brillstein Entertainment Partners.
Brillstein put together TV and movie deals often starring talent he represented and with himself as executive producer. He helped guide the careers of John Belushi and Muppets creator Jim Henson. He also helped bring “Saturday Night Live” and “The Sopranos” to television.
Erik Darling, 74, the reedy-voiced guitarist and banjo player who deftly stepped in when Pete Seeger left the pioneering folk-music group The Weavers, has died.
In an e-mail posted on Darling’s website, Willard Svanoe, a fellow member of The Rooftop Singers, said Darling died Sunday in Chapel Hill, N.C., after battling lymphoma.
He was perhaps best known for his hit “Walk Right In” and for his arrangement of the iconic Southern true-crime ballad “Tom Dooley,” which inspired The Kingston Trio’s recording of the song that topped the charts in 1958.
Eric Dowling, 92, nicknamed “Digger” for helping excavate tunnels used in the breakout from a World War II German prison camp that became known as the “Great Escape,” has died.
Son Peter Dowling said his father died at a nursing home near Bristol in southwest England on July 21, a day before his 93rd birthday.
The elder Dowling played a key role in planning the 1944 escape by 76 prisoners from Stalag Luft III prison near Sagan in eastern Germany — now Zagan, Poland. The breakout inspired the 1963 film “The Great Escape.”
All but three of the escapees were recaptured, and 50 of them were shot to deter future attempts.
Dowling was not among the more than 200 prisoners chosen by lottery to make the escape attempt.
