Obituaries
Pramoedya Ananta Toer, novelist of the colonial oppressed, dead at 81
By Sandy English, May 5, 2006
On April 29, the Indonesian writer Pramoedya Ananta Toer died at his daughter’s home in East Jakarta, aged 81, of heart disease and complications from diabetes.
Arthur Miller, an American playwright
By David Walsh, February 21, 2005
Death puts an end to the ongoing effort that most artists consider a “work in progress” until the final moments. The body of work, like it or not, is then a finished product, vulnerable to...
Veteran British surrealist dies
By Paul Bond, February 2, 2005
Conroy Maddox, who died aged 92 on January 14, occupies an important place in the history of surrealism in Britain. He was the last survivor of the surrealist group that formed before the Second World...
Artie Shaw: a remarkable twentieth-century American life
By John Andrews, January 4, 2005
One of the more interesting lives in recent American culture ended on December 30, 2004, when clarinetist and bandleader Artie Shaw passed away at his modest book-filled home in the Los Angeles suburb...
A painter of raw nerve: Leon Golub, 1922-2004
By Sandy English, October 14, 2004
Leon Golub, the most important political painter in the United States in the postwar era, died in August at the age of 82. An honest and innovative artist who was deeply concerned with the lives of be...
Henri Cartier-Bresson dies—a pioneer of modern photography
By Richard Phillips, August 23, 2004
“The intensive use of the photographs by the mass media lays ever fresh responsibilities upon the photographer.... We must take greater care than ever not to allow ourselves to be separated from...
Marlon Brando, 1924-2004
By David Walsh, July 3, 2004
Perhaps the greatest American actor of his generation, Marlon Brando, died Friday in Los Angeles. Brando was 80 years old.
A survivor against the odds—noted New Zealand writer Janet Frame dies
By Margaret Rees, March 2, 2004
Prolific author Janet Frame died on January 29 of leukemia aged 79. She was one of New Zealand’s best-known writers and her life became the subject of Jane Campion’s 1990 film An Angel at ...
Alan Bates (1934-2003)—a key figure in British drama
By Paul Bond, January 19, 2004
Alan Bates, who died aged 69 on December 27, 2003, was an actor with as celebrated a record on screen as on stage. He was at the forefront of his craft for over 40 years, working with most of the majo...
Johnny Cash: a timeless voice of country music
By Richard Phillips, October 2, 2003
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Elia Kazan: director, HUAC informer dead at 94
September 30, 2003
Hollywood director Elia Kazan died September 28 at age 94. Kazan directed 19 feature films between 1945 and 1976 that garnered a total of 20 Academy Awards. He was a founder and longtime co-director o...
“Reality doesn’t interest me...”
Leni Riefenstahl—propagandist for the Third Reich
By Stefan Steinberg, September 15, 2003
The German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl died September 8 at the age of 101. Riefenstahl is above all known for her close collaboration with the Nazi regime in the thirties, when at Hitler’s person...
