CALIFORNIA | LOCAL
October 5, 1985
The Police Department will begin using a helicopter this weekend in a monthlong experiment to analyze its efficiency in improving patrols and response times. Hiser Aviation Helicopters, located at Corona Municipal Airport, is loaning the helicopter to the city at no charge, Corona Police Lt. Sam Spiegel said. Hiser Aviation officials said they hope that the city will decide the copter is worth keeping and establish a contract helicopter program with the company.
ENTERTAINMENT
October 31, 1986 | CLARKE TAYLOR
Another step toward film preservation was taken here this week with the presentation of 11 Academy Award-winning films from Columbia Pictures to the Museum of Modern Art. "This gift represents our commitment to help preserve films and to encourage others to help in preservation efforts," said Francis T. Vincent, president of the entertainment business sector of Columbia's parent company, the Coca-Cola Co., at a formal presentation held at the museum Wednesday evening.
ENTERTAINMENT
May 18, 1985 | CHARLES CHAMPLIN, Times Arts Editor
The ultimate status symbol at the film festival is still the yacht. The ultimate ultimate statement is when you show up on your very own yacht, as Sam Spiegel often has and as Harold Robbins, who also has a villa here, usually does. This year the principal yacht owners are the Salkinds, Alexander and Ilya, of "Santa Claus" and "Superman" fame, who have their yacht berthed just west of the Plais du Festival.
NEWS
January 1, 1986 | JACK JONES, Times Staff Writer
Producer Sam Spiegel, whose "The African Queen," "On the Waterfront," "The Bridge on the River Kwai," "Lawrence of Arabia" and other films won a remarkable total of 35 Oscars, has died at 82 while vacationing in the Caribbean, according to reports. Spiegel, who called himself S. P. Eagle during World War II in a joking effort to cover his Austrian origin, reportedly died on the island of St. Martin.
BOOKS
May 18, 2003 | Robert W. Cort, Robert W. Cort is a producer whose films include "Three Men and a Baby," "Mr. Holland's Opus," "Jumanji" and the forthcoming "Against the Ropes." His novel "Action!" will be published this summer.
On a blustery winter afternoon in 1958, an 11-year-old whose only experience of war involved giggling under his desk during air raid drills marched into the Palace Theater on Broadway for the reserved-seat engagement of "The Bridge on the River Kwai." Among the first images to cross the CinemaScope screen were giant yellow block letters announcing "A Sam Spiegel Production." During the next two hours and 42 minutes, the meaning of courage, honor, even madness became clear and changed me forever.
ENTERTAINMENT
June 26, 1993 | MICHAEL PARKS, TIMES STAFF WRITER
The origins, the whys and wherefores of film producer Sam Spiegel's collection of Impressionist and modern art are lost among the many myths that made him a larger-than-life figure even in Hollywood. One story has it that Spiegel was competing with his friend Edward G.