AP Features, October 16th, 2007
Enrico Banducci
SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO, Calif. (AP) — Enrico Banducci, who provided a stage for up-and-coming comedians such as Mort Sahl, Woody Allen and Bill Cosby at his hungry i nightclub during the 1950s and 60s, has died. He was 85.
Banducci died Oct. 9 of natural causes, according to Brad Rosenstein, a family friend.
A beloved, beret-wearing fixture of San Francisco's Italian-themed North Beach neighborhood, Banducci also founded the city's first sidewalk cafe, the eponymous Enrico's on Broadway, where the clientele included firefighters and felons, Frank Sinatra's rat pack and performers from nearby strip clubs.
Enrico's had long-since been taken over by others and the hungry i closed, casualties of changing cultural tastes and their creator's penchant for living a fast life that eventually outpaced his earnings. Married five times, Banducci was living with his niece in South San Francisco when he died in his sleep.
Born Harry Banducci, the son of a farming family in Bakersfield, Banducci reportedly changed his name to Enrico after opera singer Enrico Caruso and came to San Francisco at age 13 to study the violin with the concertmaster of the San Francisco Symphony.
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Carol Bruce
LOS ANGELES (AP) — Actress Carol Bruce, perhaps best known for her role as Mama Carlson on television's "WKRP in Cincinnati," has died. She was 87.
Bruce died Oct. 9 at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in suburban Woodland Hills, spokeswoman Jaime Larkin said in a news release.
Bruce began her entertainment career as a Montreal nightclub singer and went on to captivate Broadway audiences with her sultry voice in the 1940 musical comedy "Louisiana Purchase."
She appeared in the films "This Woman Is Mine," "Keep 'em Flying" and "Behind the Eight Ball" between 1941 and 1942, then returned to the stage, where she was praised for her Broadway performances in the 1946 revival of "Showboat."
She was nominated for a Tony Award for her role in the Broadway show "Do I Hear a Waltz?" in 1965.
In 1979, she took over the role that Sylvia Sidney had originated on "WKRP in Cincinnati" a year earlier as Mama Carlson, the tough-talking owner of a radio station managed by her son Arthur, played by Gordon Jump. Bruce kept the recurring role until the series ended in 1982.
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Ruby T. Hooper
RALEIGH, N.C. (AP) — Ruby T. Hooper, who in 1984 became the first woman from a major political party to run for governor of North Carolina, has died. She was 83.
McFarland Funeral Chapel in Tryon, N.C., confirmed that Hooper died Friday.
She lost her first bid for governor to Jim Martin in the 1984 Republican primary. Martin would go on to win the general election, and Hooper served in his administration as deputy secretary of the Department of Human Resources. She ran again for the GOP nomination in 1991, losing to Lt. Gov. James C. Gardner.
For nearly 30 years, Hooper was the director of food services at Broughton Hospital, a mental health facility in Morganton. She served as chairwoman of the Republican Party in Burke County and ran unsuccessfully for a state House seat in 1982.
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Inis Egan Hunter
SALT LAKE CITY (AP) — Inis Egan Hunter, the widow of a former Mormon church president, has died. She was 93.
Hunter "passed away peacefully" of age-related causes Sunday at her home in Laguna Hills, Calif., The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints said in a news release.
Hunter married Howard W. Hunter in 1990. He died at age 87 in 1995, after serving as church president for about nine months.
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Tom Wells
MIAMI (AP) — Veteran Associated Press newsman Tom Wells, who as bureau chief covered drug wars and political upheaval in Bogota, Colombia, died Monday. He was 67.
Wells died in a Miami-area hospital of lung and brain cancer, said his son, David Wells.
Wells was known for his fearlessness throughout his 37-year career with the AP.
His last job was as broadcast editor in Miami, where he worked since 1994. He joined the AP in Charlotte, N.C., in 1970, eventually moving to Mexico City in 1974 and taking the Bogota post a few years later, which he held for 14 years.
In Colombia, Wells covered Pablo Escobar's rise and fall and the terror war he unleashed as he fought extradition. In one week in November 1985, Wells covered two colossal stories. First, the army stormed the Palace of Justice after it was seized by leftist rebels of the M-19 movement who wanted to put then-President Belisario Betancur on trial. More than 100 people were killed, including half the Supreme Court.
Then a volcanic eruption sent a wall of mud roaring down a valley, killing about 22,000 people as it buried the entire town of Armero.
Wells was born July 10, 1940, in Tulsa, Okla., and grew up in Carthage, Mo., where he got his first job at the local paper. He served in the Marines before attending college and returning to journalism.
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Ernest Withers
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) — Photographer Ernest Withers, who spent more than 60 years documenting history from the blues music of Beale Street to the civil rights movement, has died. He was 85.
Withers died Monday night at the Memphis Veterans Medical Center from complications of a stroke he suffered last month, said his son, Joshua 'Billy' Withers of Los Angeles.
As a freelance photographer for black newspapers, Withers traveled with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr., Medgar Evers, and other figures in the civil rights movement, capturing on film the momentous events of the 1950s and 60s.
Withers also photographed jazz and blues musicians who frequented Memphis' famed Beale Street, such as Rufus Thomas, B.B. King, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Elvis Presley.
"Ernest Withers is internationally recognized as one of the most important American photographers of the 20th Century," said Kaywin Feldman, director of the Memphis Brooks Museum of Art.
"Not only did Withers capture iconic images of the civil rights movement, but he also produced important photographs of the Negro Baseball League. We are proud to have almost 200 of Withers' photographs in our permanent collection."
Withers' career began during World War II when he was asked to replace an Army photographer who was being promoted. His duties included photographing engineering projects such as bridges and airfields that black soldiers helped build. Withers then began shooting photos for his camp newspaper.
His news clients would later range from the Tri-State Defender to Newsweek, Time Magazine and The New York Times.
