Costume Designer Martin Pakledinaz Dies at 58

Martin Pakledinaz, a costume designer, who has been nominated for 10 Tony awards in the past 15 years and has won twice, and work in opera, dance and regional theater, has made him one of the craftsmen the most prolific phase of his generation, died Sunday at home in Manhattan. Age of 58.

The cause was brain cancer, his agent, Patrick Herold said.

Mr. Pakledinaz (pronounced Leh-pack-Din EHZ) received 1999 Tony Awards for the revival of "Kiss Me, Kate", with Marin Mazzie and Brian Stokes Mitchell, "Millie," a musical based on the film 2002, 1967, Julie Andrews.

Sutton Foster, who won a Tony Award for her performance in the title role of "Millie," said Mr. Pakledinaz costume designs were part of his characterization of Millie, a village girl who comes to New York in early 1920, hoping to marry a rich man.

Their ways of explaining its history, from Kansas City on Sunday in New York neck-girl-Friday clothing and equipment after a series of increasingly scarce designed for the free spirit of a more modern dance Millie from the trap.

"My characters have been defined by the fabric, stitching, the details of his work, his eye," Ms. Foster said in a statement on Monday.

Mr. Pakledinaz Mrs. Foster also designed the costumes in the last shot of "Anything Goes", which won a Tony Award. He was nominated for a Tony for producing and seven people, including "Lend Me a Tenor," "Gypsy," "The Pajama Game", "Golden Boy" and the 2009 revival of "A mocking spirit" .

He received his first nomination for "The Life", a 1997 musical about prostitutes times square, and the last for this season, "Good work if you can get it," starring Matthew Broderick.

Mr. Pakledinaz also designed costumes for the San Francisco Ballet, Mark Morris Dance Group, a Metropolitan Opera production of "Iphigenie en Tauride", 2011, Radio City Music Hall Christmas Spectacular and the "My Week with Marilyn" the sumptuous 2011 film Marilyn Monroe film maker living in Britain in 1956, but won Michelle Williams as Monroe, an Oscar nomination.

Joel Grey, who starred in "Anything Goes," he said in an interview Monday that Mr. Pakledinaz aesthetic decisions had reflected his deep knowledge of the history of American theater.

It was obvious, he said, in his own clothes in the game, as Moonface Martin, a role that was originally played by Bert Lahr and Ed Wynn, then.

"I wanted my character to remember a time when the great comedians inhabited the role," said Grey, "and Martin knew it would be, and how to evoke. This was his particular genius."

Philip Martin Pakledinaz was born in Sterling Heights, Michigan, September 1, 1953, one of eight children of James and Dorothy Pakledinaz.

After graduating from Wayne State University and received his master's degree in drama from the University of Michigan, moved to New York in 1977. His survivors are his sister and brothers.

Mr. Pakledinaz had a long professional relationship with director Peter Sellars, with whom he worked at the Santa Fe Opera and performance venues in Paris, Spain and Salzburg, Austria.

He recently worked with director Stephen Wadsworth in his production of "The Bartered Bride", a joint effort of the Juilliard School and the Metropolitan Opera.

In 2002 Tony accepted the award for best costume for her work in "Millie," who drowned while Pakledinaz thanked "the three miles in my life" - from his mother and two mentors custom design, Theon V. Aldredge and Barbara Matera. Speaking of his profession, he said, "the suits have to say in a moment that the person is feeling, what was -. What changes are taking place"

Patti LuPone, who worked with Mr. Pakledinaz many times, most recently in the 2008 revival of "Gypsy", said the loss was profound theater. "Broadway is less talented," he said.

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Michael J. Ybarra dies at 45

Michael J. Ybarra, a former Times reporter who recently told his adventures in extreme sports for The Wall Street Journal, was killed in a climbing fall during the weekend at the edge of Yosemite National Park. Was 45.

An experienced climber, was left alone to cross the rocky crest of the Eastern Sierra and the summit of Matterhorn Peak Sawtooth 12.280 feet before falling to about 200 meters until he died, said his sister, Suzanne Ybarra.

His family reported his disappearance on Sunday, a rescue team and realized that his body on Tuesday in a rugged area of ??difficult access by foot, according to Kari Cobb, a park ranger. His body was found on a hillside, said his sister.

"He died doing what he loved most," he wrote in his Facebook page.

In a statement, the Wall Street Journal Ybarra called "an outstanding journalist. According to the best traditions of his profession has enlightened and engaged readers in a wide range of topics in a clear and lively prose."

Although their activities outdoors often are inherently dangerous, often made jokes about their fears and sometimes face in his writings. A piece he wrote in May last year for the Journal of whitewater kayaking with the title: "When death is only one stroke Away."

That same month, Ybarra, wrote about how "he straddled the edge of the knife between caution and confidence" before the fall frosts during the climb mountains near Bozeman, Montana.

"Climbing a mountain is a serious thing," he wrote in the Journal. "Mistakes have consequences - for you and your partner awake at night wondering if I wanted to go to a rock climbing gym or finding the most sensitive sports like table tennis" ..

About five years ago, in essence, Ybarra decided to live on the road and his car to follow her passion for adventure, said Bret Israel, Sunday Calendar editor of The Times, who met the writer When Ybarra interned in the Metro department of the end of 1980.

Ybarra was also the author of a biography noted, "Washington Gone Crazy", which arose from the report by The Times. The book tells the story of Pat McCarran, a former senator from Nevada who has exercised his power during the anticommunist hysteria of the 1950.

When time was called one of the best books of 2004, the reviewer pronounced "master," said Ybarra and "meticulously recounts McCarran rise to power" in creating "... an indispensable tool nuanced assessment" of a period in recent history.

The biography also was a finalist for the Times Book Prize 2005.

Michael Jay Ybarra was September 28, 1966, in Los Angeles to Eugene Ybarra, Los Angeles Unified School District administrator, and his wife Lillie, a social worker.

During his senior year at UCLA, political science major at times started practice in 1988 one year that included a stint with the Washington Office.

After earning a degree in political science from UC Berkeley in the 1990, Ybarra held various practices and spent four years working for The Wall Street Journal, but took advantage of the limitations of a full time job in a large organization.

As a freelance writer, Ybarra has contributed to numerous publications, including The Times, where he wrote about nature and art in the West for over two decades.

One of his recent articles in The Times about an exhibition in Venice, photo gallery of the Eastern Sierra, will be published on Sunday.

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Actor Andy Griffith dies at 86

Andy Griffith, actor tempering the South so fascinated the public for over 50 years on Broadway, in film, on record, especially on television - especially as the sheriff of the small town in the sitcom long duration that bears his name - died Tuesday at home in Roanoke Island, North Carolina.

He was 86 years.

His death was confirmed by the Dare County Sheriff Doug Doughtie.

Griffith was already a star with rave reviews on Broadway in "No time for sergeants" and Elia Kazan movie "A Face in the crowd" when "The Andy Griffith Show" made its debut in autumn of 1960. He loved a later generation of viewers in 1980 and 90 in the role of legal drama "Matlock."

But his fame has never been as great as it was in 1960 when he starred for eight years as Andy Taylor, Commissioner of intelligent fiction southern town of Mayberry, current herd includes a weekly eccentric as his deputy ineffective Barney Fife and the ingenuity of the gas station attendant Gomer Pyle and, as a widower, patiently raising a young son, Opie.

"The Andy Griffith," Monday night on CBS was No. 4 ranking in the Nielsen its first year and never fell below the Top 10. It was No. 1 in 1968, his last season. After the race ended with episode No. 249, the show lived series spin-off, endless repetition and even Sunday school classes organized around their moral lessons rustic.

The show imagined a world soothing soak holes, ice cream social events and rock hard for over a decade of family values ​​that has grown increasingly turbulent. His vision of rural simplicity is part of a trend that began with the TV show "The McCoy" on ABC in 1957 and later included "The Beverly Hillbillies," "Green Acres", "Petticoat Junction" and "Hee Haw".

But at the end of 1960, the networks have appreciated younger viewers Cornpone despised, and Andy decided to go to the movies after the 1966-67 season. CBS made a very lucrative offer for him to do another season, and "The Andy Griffith Show" has become the No. 1 series in the 1967-68 season.

But Mr. Griffith had decided to go ahead, and so also the spirit of the age. "Rowan & Martin Laugh-In" with his statements about drugs and Vietnam, and "The Mod Squad", an integrated police force, have been grabbing a new generation of viewers.

But the characters of "The Andy Griffith Show" - Barney (Don Knotts), Gomer (Jim Nabors), Opie (Ron Howard), Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and the rest, including Gomer Pyle's cousin Goober (George Lindsey, who died in May) - has remained temptadorament real lovers who still collect online and sometimes in person at the club fans to see replays.

Andy Griffith was much more complex than Andy Taylor and his fellow residents of Mayberry, but the show was based in his hometown, Mount Airy, North Carolina

Since the initiative in the Elia Kazan movie "A Face in the crowd" in 1957, the story of a TV character who becomes a crude power-mad megalomaniac, Mr. Griffith has authenticity to their roles given a dark intelligent.

From 1970 to 1990, Mr. Griffith has starred in six films with the "murder" or "kill" in their titles. In 1983, in "Murder in County Cowetta" has played an evil man who is terribly cold stone while he was tied to the electric chair.

Mr. Griffith, the fans probably imagined as a taujà happy, but he liked the life in Hollywood and he knew his way around a wine list.

His career was controlled by a personal manager, Richard O. Linke, which prohibited Mr. Griffith to request the views of anyone, not even his wife.

"If there is ever a question about something, I'll do what he wants me to do," Griffith said in an interview with the New York Times Magazine in 1970. "If not for him I would have gone to the toilet."

Far from relaxing, sociable Taylor, slurred Andy, Mr. Griffith was a lonely and anxious. When you reach a door in anger, and two episodes of the second season of "The Andy Griffith Show" had a bandaged hand (explained in the program as Sheriff Taylor suffered an injury while stopping criminals).

But the 35 million viewers of "The Andy Griffith Show" was reassuring to know that, even at the height of his popularity, Mr. Griffith was driving a Ford pickup truck and bought the clothes hanger. He said that his honor is preferred, 10-mile stretch of road in North Carolina that bears his name in 2002. (That was before President George W. Bush awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2005.

As TV Guide reporter put it in an article in 1963 about the popularity of the series: "The dialogue - read with joy by Griffith intelligent, uncompromising seriousness Knotts - requires an exceptionally high level of performance of comedy and solid understanding of the subtleties of character. "

Considered the driving force behind the series, Griffith was heavily involved with the production of the show and helped shape the script and characters.

George Lindsey, who joined the series in 1965 as Goober, told the Times in 1993: "He is probably the best script constructionist who ever lived." Griffith added, "I found 110% since we took him to his level."

Ron Howard, who grew up to become one of Hollywood directors, Griffith believes that "such a wonderful guy for me."

Howard told People magazine in 1986 that Griffith "created an atmosphere of fun and hard work to try to make my films."

When Griffith and most of the major cast members met to "Return to Mayberry" in 1986, was one of television's top rated movie of the year.

"The backbone of our show is love," Griffith once said. "There's something Mayberry and Mayberry folk who do not leave you."

The small town atmosphere represented in Mayberry was not far from his childhood Griffith in Mount Airy, North Carolina, a small village at the foot of the Blue Ridge Mountains, where he was born on 1 June 1926.

An only child, Griffith grew up singing and playing guitar with his mother. He learned to tell funny stories of his father, who made their living modestly in Mount Airy Furniture Co.

Griffith holds a BA in music at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and dreamed of becoming a professional singer on stage. On a whim, she auditioned for a campus production of Gilbert and Sullivan "The gondolers".

"I liked it," Griffith recalled in a 1996 interview with National Public Radio. "I had two songs, both alone. I have received good reviews. He said I had a great time and represented the comedy is leading all the Gilbert and Sullivan did while I was there."

After graduating in 1949, Griffith teaches music at a high school in Goldsboro, NC, but he and his first wife, Barbara, singer and musician who was a member of the university theater group, continued to perform at Carolina North annual popular outdoor theater, "The Lost Colony" at Roanoke Island.

One thing that has always bothered Griffith was recruiting people that their interpretation of Sheriff Taylor was practically the same game. He said not only was devoted to the creation of a character designed for the small town sheriff, but also co-wrote almost every episode - even if not received credit for writing.

"You're supposed to believe in the character," said Griffith. "You must not think: 'Hey, Andy makes a storm."

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Jim Drake dies at 83

Aeronautical engineer Jim Drake had already solved the "riddle" coupling of a surfboard with a sail, when a young man who stopped to admire the "Lower the Board" in late 1960 suggested that he called "perfect name": windsurfing.

In his garage in Santa Monica, Drake had designed and built a prototype designed to operate in a new way - on foot - and guided by a set of hand wing of the invention.

He first tried the card in 1967 out of Marina del Rey and the "wind-propelled apparatus" was patented three years later.

The vessel has caused the sport to take off in Europe, and by early 1980 some 200,000 had been sold windsurfing enthusiasts.

Windsurfing when he debuted as an Olympic sport in 1984, Drake looked at his first competition outside of Long Beach.

There was also a measure of the influence of the amorphous tip: "Windsurfing" essentially has become the generic name for the sport.

Drake, who also made a significant contribution to the aerospace industry, died June 19 at his home in Pfafftown, North Carolina, of complications from pulmonary disease, said her daughter Hollis Fleming. He was 83 years.

While working for the Defense Department in the East in 1962, thought of the "standing on a surfboard in the middle of the Potomac and the power of the kite flying with a laptop," said Drake in 1981 The Times.

Back in California, the sailor has suggested the idea to combine sailing and surfing in his intimate friend Hoyle Schweitzer, a surfer who offered to pay for the development board, Drake told the Times in 1983.

I had to understand "how to make everything work in a simple, direct and emotionally satisfying settings. The key was how to handle," said Drake in 1983. "I knew I wanted to stay and did not want a rod thyme, then there was the problem of thinking in a control mechanism."

Plates small sailboats were popular at that time, but had to be used during the session. Drake devised a way of uniting sailing on board via a universal joint, allowing the screw to navigate a full circle or flat - and allowed the pilot to stand. Has also been updated "an old idea" that had worked on many boats, appliances laptop quadrilateral that has allowed the wing to tilt and rotate in any direction.

From the beginning, Schweitzer was more interested in the transformation of a business card, Drake recalled later. Together they form Windsurfer International to manufacture the panels, and both their names appear on the patent.

At best, Drake said he considered himself "re-inventor" of windsurfing, two men who could claim for himself the invention. "My contribution was to be really effective and functional," said Windsurf magazine in 1996.

When the Association of Professional surfing. Schweitzer and Drake presented his Hall of Fame in 2002, was acclaimed as an aid "to mold windsurfing into its present form." The Drake Group called the "father of surfing", Schweitzer and co-developer "who brought surfing to the masses."

However, the couple had separated for a long time. In early 1970, Drake sold his interest in the business of Schweitzer for 36,000 dollars, equivalent to about U.S. $ 175 000 today.

Drake then explained his decision by saying simply "It's just too little my cup of tea."

"It's always been a hobby for him," said his daughter. "He had six mouths to feed young and I honestly never wanted to give the aerospace industry, which he loved."

As an aeronautical engineer and analyst for national security systems, dividing his time between private industry in Southern California and the government work in Washington.

He worked on the project by the X-15 rocket plane and finding the configuration of the successful supersonic strategic bomber B-70, according to the Times in 1983.

He also was involved in the initial plans for the Tomahawk cruise missile, according to the Rand Corporation, where he worked as an aeronautical engineer.

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Yitzhak Shamir-Former Israeli Prime Minister Dies at 96

Yitzhak Shamir was a fighter for the Jews long before the creation of Israel, an underground leader who led the militia against the British and the Arabs.

Did not make excuses and no compromises - not as an underground fighter, a Secret Service agent who hunted the Nazis, and as one of the longest serving prime ministers of Israel refused to negotiate for land.

The 96-year-old Shamir, who has attacked all my life to the belief that Israel should hang in the territory and never trust an Arab regime, died Saturday at a nursing home in Herzliya, north of Tel Aviv. The Israeli press said Shamir had suffered from Alzheimer's disease in recent years.

Israeli Prime Minister Shamir was, seventh, serving as prime minister for seven years, 1983-84 and 1986-92, leading his party to victory in the elections twice, despite the lack of much of the charisma outward characteristic of many modern politicians. A little over 5 feet (1.52 meters) tall and built like a block of granite, has projected an image of strength unhindered during the first intifada, or Palestinian uprising against Israel in the West Bank and Gaza.

His time in office was turbulent, marked by massive airlift thousands of Ethiopian Jews to Israel, the Palestinian uprising and the 1991 Gulf War, when Iraq launched 39 Scud missiles against Israel.

"Yitzhak Shamir was a brave warrior, before and after the founding of the State of Israel," said Israeli President Shimon Peres, the old political rival of Mr. Shamir. "He was faithful to his view, a great patriot and a true lover of Israel, who has served his country with integrity and commitment without end. May his memory be blessed."

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, said Shamir, "directed by Israel with a deep loyalty to the nation and the earth and the eternal values ​​of the Jewish people."

And the White House, Shamir praised for helping to create strong ties with the United States
"Yitzhak Shamir, who devoted his life to the State of Israel. From his days working for the independence of Israel in his service as prime minister, has strengthened Israel's security and promote cooperation between the U.S. and Israel, "says note.

Defeated in the 1992 elections, Shamir resigned as head of the Likud Party, to watch from the sidelines as his successor, Yitzhak Rabin negotiated interim agreements of land for peace with the Palestinians.

The agreements, including the recognition of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, Israel did nothing to alleviate their suspicions.

In an interview in 1997 with headquarters in New York Jewish Post, said: "The Arabs always dream of destroying us, I do not recognize us as an integral part of this region" ..

The labor movement, from Israel to power the first three decades, has accepted a UN partition plan of 1947 to allow the creation of the Jewish state alongside a Palestinian entity. For Shamir, which was tantamount to treason.
Jazwernicki Yitzhak Born in Poland in the current 1915. Shamir moved to pre-state Palestine in 1935. Most of his family - his parents, two sisters and their husbands and children, stayed behind and were killed during the Holocaust during World War II.

In late 1980, Shamir publicly revealed that his father had escaped a direct train to a concentration camp, but was later killed by childhood friends took refuge with.

Once in Palestine, Shamir joined Lehi, the most intransigent of the three Jewish movements that struggle for independence from the British Mandate authorities, taking the lead group after the British killed its founder.

The group, known as the Stern Gang after the former leader, Abraham Stern, was considered responsible for a series of attacks including the assassination of UN mediator Count Folke Bernadotte of, in Jerusalem in September 1948. Lehi commanders considered Bernadotte a British agent who has collaborated with the Nazis.

Shamir often disguised himself as an orthodox rabbi to avoid being arrested by the British. However, he was captured twice, but escaped two British detention camps back in action and resistance. The second field was in Djibouti, Africa.

After Israel was founded in 1948, Shamir was devoted to trade before entering a career in the Israeli spy agency, Mossad. During this period, has carried out operations against the Nazi scientists who were helping the Arab neighbors of Israel to build rockets. Roni Milo, former member of parliament who served under Mr. Shamir mourned his death on Israeli television.

"For years he served in the Mossad, and has published several major operations," said Milo. "Once I asked a street while walking in Tel Aviv, Shamir said:" I know the streets of Cairo and better for the streets of Tel Aviv, Damascus. "

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