“Ms. Gatliff developed a new method for facial reconstruction in the late 1960s, then spent nearly five decades refining her technique and teaching it to hundreds of students, including at the FBI Academy in Quantico, Va. … Using little more than modeling clay and a set of soft, eraser-like dowels, Ms. Gatliff transformed unknown skulls into eerily lifelike busts. Her work helped identify murder victims, catch killers and give solace to grieving families.” – The Washington Post
Category: people
Nancy Lewis, Who Brought Monty Python To America, Dead At 76
After having worked as a publicist for some of rock’s all-time greats, she discovered two of the English comedy troupe’s LPs and began encouraging her contacts at FM radio stations to play the records. Then, once Monty Pyton developed an American fan base, she convinced a reluctant PBS to air their television series — and later encouraged them to bring a lawsuit against ABC that set a key precedent in copyright law. – The New York Times
Filmmaker Ivan Passer Dead at 86
Along with his classmate Miloš Forman, Passer was one of the key figures of the Czech New Wave in the 1960s, and after the 1968 invasion of Czechoslovakia by the Soviets, the two escaped to the U.S. and resumed their careers in Hollywood. There Passer “directed a steady series of much-admired and often underappreciated films of economy, fidelity, humor and subtle beauty, among them Cutter’s Way, Stalin, Haunted Summer and Born to Win.” – Los Angeles Times
Critic Roger Scruton, 75
Scruton, who died after a short battle with cancer, was a controversial figure throughout his career as a right-wing philosopher. Author of The Aesthetics of Architecture and The Classical Vernacular: Architectural Principles in an Age of Nihilism, he delivered lectures and wrote extensively on his contempt for the work of modern architects and his passion for traditional architecture. – Dezeen
The Peculiar Case Of The Artists Who Lived Like They Were Living 100 Years Earlier
They dressed in Edwardian clothes, drove a 1913 Model-T Ford and eschewed modern conveniences. As lovers, they shared an apartment on Avenue C that lacked a telephone, television or electric lights. – The New York Times
John Baldessari On How He Found His Art
“I was doing text and photo paintings and paintings solely with text. I had ignored photography for a long time, thinking it was a high school infatuation, but now I had this idea that I would do visual note-taking. I would go out with my camera and take photographs of things that might be information for my paintings. Then I got another epiphany. I asked myself: Why do I have to translate all of this information into painting? Why can’t it be art in itself?” – Los Angeles Times
Was This Woman The 20th Century’s Most Scandalous Opera Star?
Lydia Locke (1884-1966) “rose to prominence in the early 1900s, when mass celebrity was still a relatively new concept. But the American soprano embraced the label, making news both for her performances at the world’s most prestigious venues and for her fashion choices. Yet it was her tumultuous personal life that garnered the most attention: Between seven marriages, two dead husbands, and one fraudulent baby, her life was scandalous even by the standards of today’s news.” – Mental Floss
Can An Artist-In-Residence Really Transform A Big-City DA’s Office? This One Means To Try
Muralist James “Yaya” Hough, 44, was released last year after 27 years in prison, and within a few months he was hired for the new artist-in-residence position in the office of reformist Philadelphia District Attorney Larry Krasner. “Hough told Hyperallergic that he was looking to program workshops that will foster conversations between the DA’s 600 or so employees, survivors of crimes, and those currently serving time in the criminal justice system.” – Hyperallergic
‘One Of The Cleverest And Most Successful White-Collar Criminals In The History Of This State’: Broadway Producer Adela Holzer Dead At 90-Something
She had two hits onstage (Murray Schisgal’s All About Town and Terrence McNally’s The Ritz) and numerous flops, adoring profiles in The New York Times and People magazine, three criminal trials, a total of 14 years in prison, Roy Cohn for a lawyer and Jean Harris for a cellmate, and a mountain of Ponzi schemes, fraudulent businesses, and lies (not least her age). – The New York Times
Buck Henry, Screenwriter, Director, Actor, And Comedy Legend, Dead At 89
“[He] created the satirical spy sitcom Get Smart with Mel Brooks, was a frequent early host of Saturday Night Live and turned plastics into a countercultural catchword with his Oscar-nominated screenplay for The Graduate … A restless entertainer, Mr. Henry dabbled in improvisational comedy as well as theater, television and film. He received an Academy Award nomination for co-directing the 1978 afterlife comedy Heaven Can Wait with star Warren Beatty; wrote scripts for the sex farce Candy (1968), based on the novel by Terry Southern, and the Barbra Streisand screwball comedies The Owl and the Pussycat (1970) and What’s Up, Doc? (1972); and appeared as a droll supporting actor in nearly every film he helped create.” – The Washington Post