Articles by Claudia Luther Page 2

Actress June Allyson, the perky blond with the husky voice who was one of Hollywood’s most beloved stars in the 1940s and 1950s, has died. Read more

Caspar W. Weinberger, the anti-Soviet hawk who oversaw the nation’s huge peacetime defense buildup as the secretary of Defense during most of President Reagan’s two terms, died of pneumonia. Read more

Shelley Winters, a blond bombshell of the 1940s who evolved into a character actress best remembered for her roles as victims, shrews and matrons, died Saturday. Read more

Steve Dunn, who fought back kidney cancer more than a decade ago and used his experience to launch a website to help others find appropriate treatments for the cancer, died Aug. Read more

Vassar Clements, a legendary fiddler who launched his career with Nashville’s Grand Ole Opry in 1949 and later toured or recorded with a raft of musical stars, including the Grateful Dead, the Allman Brothers and Paul McCartney, died Tuesday. Read more

John Bryson, a photojournalist for Life and other magazines who assembled books on actress Katharine Hepburn and industrialist Armand Hammer, died Wednesday. Read more

Frances Langford, the 1930s and ’40s singer known for her warmth and rich voice who traveled widely with Bob Hope entertaining troops in World War II, died Monday at her home in Jensen Beach, Fla. Read more

Gaylord Nelson, a trend-setting environmentalist who as a Democratic U.S. senator from Wisconsin founded Earth Day in 1970, died Sunday. Read more

Steve Bell, an innovative television executive who in 1991 brought a brash new kind of local morning news to television viewers in Los Angeles with “KTLA Morning News,” died Tuesday. Read more