Milestones

By Melissa August, Michelle Derrow, Aisha Durham, Daniel S. Levy, Lina Lofaro, David Spitz and Chris Taylor

DIED. ALLAN CARR, 62, movie producer; from liver cancer; in Beverly Hills, Calif. Creator of Playboy Penthouse Television, Carr went on to write such camp movies as 1980's Can't Stop the Music. He produced the movie Grease and the Broadway play La Cage aux Folles.

MURDERED. RICKY BYRDSONG, 43, former Northwestern basketball coach; shot in the Chicago suburb of Skokie while jogging with his children. Byrdsong, who was black, was shot in the back in what was apparently a series of drive-by shootings targeting minorities over a 10-mile area. Six Orthodox Jews walking home from Sabbath services were wounded, and shots were fired at two Asian Americans. Police were searching for a white man in a blue car.

DIED. MARIO PUZO, 78, Godfather author; in Bay Shore, N.Y. (See Eulogy, below.)

DIED. COLONEL GEORGE PAPADOPOULOS, 80, Greek dictator; in Athens. In 1967 Papadopoulos helped overthrow King Constantine and was installed as Prime Minister. His junta tortured and killed opponents and banned such Western styles as long hair on men and miniskirts for women. Overthrown in 1973, Papadopoulos was sentenced to life in prison for treason.

DIED. JOSHUA NKOMO, 82, Father of Zimbabwe; from prostate cancer; in Harare. Nkomo spent years fighting Britain and later White Rhodesia for independence. Despite Nkomo's leadership, his erstwhile ally Robert Mugabe became Prime Minister in 1980. A subsequent split led to bloody clashes that ended with a 1987 peace accord and Nkomo's appointment to a powerless vice-presidential post.

DIED. MARSHALL WAYNE, 87, Olympic diver; in Hendersonville, N.C. At the 1936 Berlin Games, Wayne won a gold medal and a silver medal by beating his German opponents, earning Hitler's displeasure.

DIED. SYLVIA SIDNEY, 88, iconic actress from Hollywood's golden era whose career, spanning seven decades, saw her graduate from a specialty in victim roles to tough-talking, chain-smoking senior citizen; in New York City. In the 1930s, Sidney reigned as one of Paramount's top actresses, starring in several of the era's melodramas-with-a-message. After a hiatus of 17 years, she returned to the movies in 1973 and was nominated for a supporting Oscar for Summer Wishes, Winter Dreams. She won a Golden Globe for her part in the 1985 TV movie An Early Frost, and played one of death's bureaucrats in Beetlejuice and a Slim Whitman fan in the 1996 Mars Attacks!

DIED. FORREST MARS SR., 95, candy mogul; in Miami. Mars took over the Mars company from his father, who created the Milky Way bar in 1923. In 1940, Mars produced a slow-to-melt candy that was perfect for an era without air conditioning--and M&M's became a staple of American life, finding their way into World War II G.I. ration kits and children's school lunch bags. The treat, along with the firm's other name brands (from 3 Musketeers to the pet food Sheba), earned the Mars family a $16 billion fortune. An eccentric recluse, he gave only one interview in his life--to a candy-industry magazine.