1969 Movie

Stan Margulies--whose career as a producer included such historic productions as the miniseries "Roots" and "The Thorn Birds," two of the highest-rated television programs of all time--died Tuesday night at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center. He was 80 and the cause of death was lung cancer. Working with producer David L.

Singer and actor Yves Montand, a poor Italian immigrant's son who became one of France's most beloved public figures, died of a heart attack Saturday in a Paris suburb where he was making a film. He was 70. "He will remain a symbol of our culture," said French Prime Minister Edith Cresson, joining millions of other French in mourning Montand's death late Saturday afternoon. Regular television programs on most stations were interrupted to pay tribute to the star.

Butch and Sundance. Now there's a neat little mystery. Were the famed outlaws really killed in Bolivia after a shootout with troops? Did Butch Cassidy kill the Sundance Kid, then do himself in, rather than be captured? Or did they escape and live out their lives, as lore has it, in such disparate locales as France, Uruguay and Spokane, Wash.?

You can learn about indigenous peoples of the Far West, and maybe a tad about those even farther west, in a single block of Laguna Beach. Start at Len Wood's Indian Territory and Museum of the First People; have dinner at the Royal Hawaiian. AFTERNOON, 1 Len Wood's Indian Territory specializes in Hopi kachinas, Zuni fetishes and Navajo textiles and boasts one of the finest collections of Southern California Mission Indian baskets and artifacts anywhere.

"You ain't seen nothing yet!" said a visibly moved Jack Nicholson at the climax of the American Film Institute's "Life Achievement Award" tribute to his career Thursday night.

In a town better known for sand and surf, the latest lure is celluloid. Fox Studios Baja, which brought the world "Titanic," opened its new movie theme park Sunday, giving visitors an inside look at the making of films--including that romantic blockbuster, whose value as a marketing hook here has seemed, well, unsinkable. The park, called Foxploration, is modest in size (with seven acres and room for 3,000 visitors) and in thrill potential (there are no rides--nary a turning teacup).

It is easiest to see the wild, isolated Robbers Roost country where Butch often hid out from Angel Point, overlooking the Dirty Devil River. A rough dirt loop road leads here from Utah 95 about five miles south of Hanksville. There are occasional signposts and a small parking lot at the trail head. The hike to the river is about three miles; the views of the Roost's deeply incised canyons get better all the way.

Laszlo Kovacs, the Hungarian-born cinematographer who found international fame after treating the American landscape as a character in the landmark 1969 movie "Easy Rider," has died. He was 74. Kovacs, a former Budapest film student who arrived in the United States as a political refugee in 1957, died in his sleep Sunday at his Beverly Hills home, said his wife, Audrey. His work on "Paper Moon" was considered a masterpiece of black-and-white photography.

Mel Stuart had firmly established himself as an Emmy Award-winning documentary filmmaker in the 1960s when his daughter Madeline, a big fan of Roald Dahl's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," insisted he turn the popular children's book into a movie. "It was my favorite book at the time, and I told him this would make a great movie," Madeline Stuart told The Times on Friday. Her father proceeded to add the 1971 fantasy musical "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory" to his extensive resume as a director.

Harry W. Lawton, an author and historian whose nonfiction novel about a deadly manhunt for an American Indian fugitive wanted for murder nearly 100 years ago served as the basis for the 1969 movie "Tell Them Willie Boy Is Here," has died. He was 77. Lawton, a former journalist and retired lecturer and management-services officer at UC Riverside, died Nov. 20 in a Dana Point assisted-care facility after a long illness, said his family.