Obit watch: January 26, 2024.

Herbert “Cowboy” Coward.

Generally, I like to give credits beyond the ones in the headline. But Mr. Coward’s other credits as an actor are “Ghost Town: The Movie” and one episode of the “Hillbilly Blood” TV series. That’s it. (He also produced “Ghost Town” and it looks like he appeared as himself in an episode of “Moonshiners”.)

The NYT ran a very nice obit for David J. Skal. (Previously.)

Jon Franklin, journalist. I’d never heard of him before today, but he had an interesting career:

In 1979, Mr. Franklin won the first Pulitzer ever given for feature writing for his two-part series in The Baltimore Evening Sun titled “Mrs. Kelly’s Monster.”

He won his second Pulitzer, this time under the new category of explanatory journalism, in 1985, for his seven-part series “The Mind Fixers,” also in The Evening Sun. Delving into the molecular chemistry of the brain and how neurons communicate, he profiled a scientist whose experiments with receptors in the brain could herald treatment with drugs and other alternatives to psychoanalysis.

“Mrs. Kelly’s Monster” online.

David L. Mills, Internet guy. He developed the Network Time Protocol, and did a lot of other leading edge work as well.

Carl Andre, “minimalist sculptor”. I thought this was worth noting because I haven’t done anything with (regular) art recently, and because Mr. Andre was also famous for a lengthy interruption in his career.

On Sept. 8, 1985, he was arrested and charged in the death of Ms. {Ana] Mendieta, 36, who plunged from a window of their 34th-floor Greenwich Village apartment after a long night of drinking with her husband, whom she had married eight months earlier.

He was aquitted of second-degree murder, but there were a lot of people in the art world who thought he’d gotten away with it and the prosecution botched the case.

NYT obit for Fred Chappell. (Previously.)

2 Responses to “Obit watch: January 26, 2024.”

  1. T Migratorious says:

    I actually know who Carl Andre is because he’s included in the collection of the Chinati Foundation in Marfa. But what’s there is not his sculpture but “poems” which are just lists of words typed on paper–a room full of them. Didn’t do anything for me but it certainly IS minimalist.

    I’m not that much of a modern art fan but there are some installations that I really like. It’s worth a trip if you’re out in the Big Bend area.

  2. stainles says:

    We were out by Marfa last summer, but we were just passing through on our way to Glendale. We really didn’t have time to poke around…

    I liked that country, though. I wouldn’t mind going back for a few days and seeing some of the art in the area (we did drive past the Prada store, but didn’t stop).

    Might even take a .270 Winchester with me, just for smiles.