Jean Peters, actress, wife of eccentric Hughes, dies
SAN DIEGO--Jean Peters, a popular actress in the 1950s who vanished into the mysterious life of billionaire Howard Hughes after their 1957 marriage, died of leukemia Oct. 13. She was 73.
Ms. Peters, diagnosed with leukemia in August, was buried Tuesday at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, Calif.
Although she had appeared in 19 movies with such leading men as Marlon Brando, Ray Milland and Spencer Tracy, Ms. Peters never shook the identity she gained when she wed the eccentric Hughes.
She stopped making movies and gave up public life, spending the 13 years of her marriage to Hughes living in his well-guarded mansion near Beverly Hills or visiting him in Las Vegas, where he led a hermitic existence in a penthouse fortress during his later years.
Ms. Peters went to Hollywood from Canton, Ohio, when she was 19. She had won the Miss Ohio pageant in 1945, which entitled her to a screen test at 20th Century Fox. The story goes that studio boss Darryl Zanuck took one look at the buxom, green-eyed brunette and said, "Sign her!" He cast her in a starring role opposite Tyrone Power in the 1947 film "Captain from Castile."
Other prominent roles followed with some of Hollywood's biggest stars, including "Viva Zapata!" in 1952 with Brando and Anthony Quinn, "Pickup on South Street" with Richard Widmark in 1953, "Apache" with Burt Lancaster in 1954 and "Broken Lance" with Tracy in 1954.
Her last movie role was as the tubercular wife of a clergyman who becomes
U.S. Senate chaplain in "A Man Called Peter" in 1955.
Hughes and Ms. Peters were married on May 13, 1957, in a secret ceremony in Tonapah, Nev. Ms. Peters was 30, and Hughes was 51.
They were divorced in 1971. That same year she married writer-producer Stanley Hough, who died in 1990.
Robert Ray
SARASOTA, Fla.--Robert Ray--one of three AIDS-exposed hemophiliac brothers who won a court battle to go to school 13 years ago, only to be burned out of their home by an arsonist--died yesterday at 22.
Mr. Ray, infected through contaminated blood products used to treat his hemophilia, died at All Children's Hospital of complications from both diseases, the St. Petersburg hospital said in a statement.
Mr. Ray had become engaged this year, and he and his fiancée had postponed nuptials planned for December.
Robert, Ricky and Randy Ray gained widespread attention in 1986, when they were barred from attending class with other students in Arcadia in southwest Florida after their parents told school officials of their condition.
They returned to school under court order in 1987. Angry parents distributed petitions and sponsored rallies in a vain attempt to keep the boys out of regular classes. Days later, the Ray home was gutted in an arson fire.
The family moved to Sarasota, where fellow students welcomed the boys, although a few parents protested the transfer.
Robert's older brother, Ricky, died of AIDS complications in 1992. He was 15. The youngest brother, Randy, 21, has AIDS but is not showing symptoms.
Katherine Fanning
BOSTON--Katherine Fanning, former editor of The Christian Science Monitor and Anchorage Daily News, died Thursday. She was 73.
Her husband, Amos Mathews, said she died after a long struggle with colon cancer.
Under her stewardship, the Anchorage Daily News won the Pulitzer Prize for public service in 1976 for a 15-part series on Alaska's powerful Teamsters.
Ms. Fanning served as the paper's editor and publisher from 1971 to 1983, when she left to become editor of The Christian Science Monitor. She and two top editors resigned when the church imposed budget cuts in 1988.
Her first marriage, to Chicago Sun-Times editor and publisher Marshall Field IV, ended in divorce in 1963. But Fanning credited the marriage with her introduction to journalism.