2008-10-09T21:50:23Z tag:voices.washingtonpost.com,2008:/postmortem//343 Copyright (c) 2008, WashingtonPost.Newsweek Interactive 2008-10-09T21:50:23Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-10-09:/postmortem/2008/10/fleet_street_photographer_finc.html

Not to glamorize war, but it does provide moments that alert us to the joy of life. From the Times, the one in London: Terry Fincher, a Fleet Street photographer who died recently, remembered one episode in Vietnam when he was with the Life magazine photographer Larry Burrows on the American-held Hill Timothy. They had dug a trench, which they were hiding in. The stench of war hung in the air. Dead bodies lay near...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-10-03T21:04:49Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-10-03:/postmortem/2008/10/steve_jobs_still_kicking.html

Not dead. Nope. Nada. You'd think people (and I'm talking you, stock traders) would check first. But still, one of those anonymous posters over at CNN put up a false report this morning of the Apple co-founder's demise, and the stock price dipped. It was just a bit over a month ago that Bloomberg erred in the same thing. Trust nothing until you read it in the Washington Post....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-10-03T15:29:48Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-10-01:/postmortem/2008/10/adventurer_steve_fossett_are_t.html

UPDATE: Searchers believe they have found the remainsof adventurer Steve Fossett, whose plane was discovered yesterday. A hiker in a rugged part of eastern California found a pilot's license and other items possibly belonging to Steve Fossett, the adventurer who vanished on a solo flight in a borrowed plane more than a year ago, authorities said Wednesday. Fossett was declared legally dead in February....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-09-30T19:29:35Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-30:/postmortem/2008/09/flash_of_genius.html

The advertisement for the new movie (opens Oct. 3) "Flash of Genius" sounded suspiciously familiar. Ah yes. My colleague Matt Schudel wrote Robert Kearns obit a few years ago. Here's a trailer to give you the video version, but don't miss Matt's masterful story....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-09-27T17:26:31Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-27:/postmortem/2008/09/paul_newmans_shrewd_move.html

Actor, director, philanthropist, race car driver and political activist Paul Newman died yesterday at 83. Television news in particular transforms every dead celebrity, no matter how insignificant, into a "legend" who will be "sorely missed." But based on the months I spent researching Newman to prepare his obit years ago (even before news of his cancer), he is far different, a major loss to our cultural world. His intelligence was obvious, most obviously from his...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Matt Schudel 2008-09-27T16:18:16Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-27:/postmortem/2008/09/poll_your_favorite_paul_newman.html

Academy Award-winning actor and Hollywood legend, Paul Newman died of cancer Friday, September 26, 2008, at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn. Newman's career in the motion pictures spanned decades and covered drama, comedy, action and just about everything else. A true leading man, he had an unforgettable face and the ability to deliver lines with punch. Many of his characters are -- and are likely to remain -- true screen icons. Did you have a...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

David Marino-Nachison 2008-09-27T16:11:16Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-27:/postmortem/2008/09/newman_and_redford_together_ag.html

Paul Newman, 83, the actor and sex symbol who surged to stardom by playing loners as well as criminal and moral outlaws -- anything to downplay his astonishing looks -- died of cancer Friday, September 26, 2008, at his farmhouse near Westport, Conn. Newman and co-star Robert Redford will likely forever be associated with their roles of Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid, respectively, in the 1969 movie of the same name. The Sundance Channel's...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

David Marino-Nachison 2008-09-26T20:34:53Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-26:/postmortem/2008/09/baseballs_forgotten_star.html

The great Mickey Vernon, one of the most stylish first basemen in the history of baseball, died this week. He was the best player on some terrible Washington Senators teams in the 1940s and '50s, and his obituary appears in the Post today (Friday, Sept. 26). As I mentioned in the obituary, Vernon led the American League in hitting two times -- besting Ted Williams and Joe DiMaggio, among others, in 1946. He came out...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Matt Schudel 2008-09-25T19:42:59Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-25:/postmortem/2008/09/new_technology_old_ritual.html

We're all in favor of technology here, especially if it helps the news get out, but Twittering a funeral seems a bit over the line, akin to a play-by-play of a burial rite. Twitter, for those who don't spend every waking moment keeping up with new technology, is a way to send short (140-character) messages to whomever wants to receive them, via cell phones, computers, or other electronic devices. The editor of the Rocky Mountain...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-09-19T16:19:46Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-19:/postmortem/2008/09/the_mystery_of_writing.html

I first met James Crumley, who died Tuesday, in 1985, shortly after I moved to Missoula, Montana. Missoula was and is a town full of writers, so I decided to create a set of short profiles showing where and how a few of them worked. I did short pieces on Rick DeMarinis, James Welch, Bill Kittredge, William Pitt Root and Jim Crumley, and they all ran with little 2 by 3 inch photos of the...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-09-17T16:52:07Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-17:/postmortem/2008/09/duck_girl_of_new_orleans.html

Truth is stranger than fiction, especially in New Orleans. The famous Duck Girl of New Orleans, Ruth Grace Moulon, an eccentric who zoomed from bar to bar on roller skates, often wearing a ratty fur coat or wedding gown and trailed by a string of her beloved ducks, died Sept. 6 of cancer at Our Lady of the Lake Hospital in Baton Rouge, La., to where she had been evacuated because of Hurricane Gustav. She...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-09-15T15:55:11Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-15:/postmortem/2008/09/famed_shark_fisherman_frank_mu.html

Frank Mundus, believed to be the inspiration for the shark-fishing captain Quint in the movie "Jaws," has died. He forged his reputation as a fearless fisherman in Montauk beginning in 1951, hunting down the world's biggest sharks. "I had a lot of close calls," he once said. "Probably too many close calls." Here's his website with a good FAQ....Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Patricia Sullivan 2008-09-09T18:47:43Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-09:/postmortem/2008/09/norma_desmond_revisited.html

Anita Page, probably the last living adult star of Hollywood silent pictures, has died. At her peak in the late 1920s she was second only in popularity to Greta Garbo, and the following video tribute conveys aspects of her appeal. Page said her refusal to bed studio executives led to her downfall. But reviews of her acting ranged from mediocre to terrible and also paved the way to her decline. Reporters tracked down Page in...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Adam Bernstein 2008-09-06T17:52:35Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-06:/postmortem/2008/09/the_greatest_editor.html

Robert Giroux, who is probably unknown to the general public, died yesterday and is remembered in an obituary in today's (Saturday, Sept. 6) paper. It was 5:30 p.m. when we learned that Giroux had died, and getting the obituary in the paper was a challenge, since we did not have a prepared "advancer," as we call them in the biz. Joe Holley did background work on Giroux's early life, and Adam Bernstein -- who is...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Matt Schudel 2008-09-04T15:45:23Z tag:washingtonpost.com,2008-09-04:/postmortem/2008/09/the_peanuts_gang.html

The great animator Bill Melendez died this week at the age of 91. If you don't recognize his name, you certainly know his work: He animated every "Peanuts" cartoon that has ever appeared on television or in film -- including more than 370 commercials. Mr. Melendez was a Mexican immigrant who began drawing as a child and began working for Walt Disney in 1938. He had a hand in all the iconic Disney films of...Please click on the title to continue reading this entry.

Matt Schudel