The RIP Thread

[Frothy Afterbirth]

Cara Williams, Star of ‘The Defiant Ones’ and ‘Pete and Gladys,’ Dies at 96
Dec 11, 2021 5:16pm PT
By J. Kim Murphy


Everett Collection

Cara Williams, one of the last remaining actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age and an Oscar nominee for her performance in 1958’s “The Defiant Ones,” died on Thursday. She was 96 years old.

Williams’ death was confirmed to Variety by her daughter Justine Jagoda and her great-nephew Richard Potter.

“Not only was she a sparkling actress with impeccable comedic timing, she was also funny, over-the-top, warm-hearted and loving,” Jagoda told Variety in a statement. “She could make anyone laugh and smile if they had a bad day. She was everything that you could wish for in a mother and more. It’s a sad loss to lose a woman from this incredible era.”

Born as Bernice Kamiat in Brooklyn, N.Y. on June 29, 1925, Williams began working as an actress when she was a child. After her parents divorced, she relocated to Hollywood with her mother and began to attend the Hollywood Professional School, giving voice performances in cartoon shorts. At age 16, Williams was signed by 20th Century-Fox and began appearing in small, often unbilled parts in films such as “Wide Open Town,” “Happy Land” and “In the Meantime, Darling.”

Following a turn in a stage production of “Born Yesterday,” Williams career ignited in the late 1940s and ’50s. The actress earned big supporting roles in “Boomerang!,” “The Girl Next Door” and “The Helen Morgan Story.” She garnered an Academy Award nomination in the category of best supporting actress for her performance as a widowed mother in Stanley Kramer’s “The Defiant Ones,” acting opposite Sidney Poitier and Tony Curtis. She later took on roles in comedies “Never Steal Anything Small” and “The Man From the Diners’ Club.”

Williams also worked in television, earning an Emmy nomination for her lead performance as Gladys in CBS’ “Pete and Gladys,” the network’s spin-off of its 1950’s sitcom “December Bride.” A running joke of “December Bride” involved a supporting character played by Harry Morgan complaining about his dizzy wife, Gladys. Williams stepped into that unseen role for the spin-off series. Williams also later starred in her own series, “The Cara Williams Show,” alongside Frank Aletter. By the 1980’s, Williams had stepped away from acting.

Williams married Alan Gray in 1945. The two had a daughter before divorcing after two years. In 1952, Williams wed actor John Drew Barrymore, son of John Barrymore, and the two produced actor John Blythe Barrymore before divorcing in 1959. Williams later wed Los Angeles real estate figure Asher Dann in 1964. The two remained married until Dann’s death in 2018 at the age of 83.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Larry Sellers, Native American Character Actor and Dr. Quinn Star, Dead at 72
By CAMERON BONOMOLO - December 11, 2021 11:30 pm EST



Actor Larry Sellers, best known for playing Cloud Dancing on Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman, died this week of an unknown cause. He was 72. His death was confirmed by his son, actor Jerry Wolf. In an Instagram post published by his Dr. Quinn co-star Jane Seymour, Sellers is remembered as "the heart and spirit" of the western drama that aired 150 episodes between 1993 and 1998 on CBS. Sellers served as technical advisor and portrayed Cloud Dancing, a Cheyenne medicine man, across all six seasons of Dr. Quinn and the 1999 television film Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman: The Movie.

"Rest in Power Dad. I love you tremendously," Jerry "Wolfman" Wolf wrote on Instagram. "I'm incredibly grateful for you. We will miss you and carry on with your grit and good humor."

"Larry Sellers was truly the heart and spirit of Dr. Quinn. His presence was magical, mystical, and spiritual," Seymour, who played the titular role of Dr. Michaela Quinn, wrote in the tribute posted to Instagram. "I feel so fortunate to have had all those wonderful years together. He will be missed by us all. My heart goes out to Larry's family and friends, may his memory be a blessing to us all."

For his role as Cloud Dancing on Dr. Quinn, Sellers wanted the character to "be brought across as the representation of the real Native American both of tribal ethnicity and as a whole of the Native American peoples," journalist C.L. Harmon wrote in a 2017 profile titled "Larry Sellers, The True Native American."

Sellers, an Emmy-nominated actor and stuntman of Osage, Cherokee and Lakota descent, also appeared in film in the western comedy Lightning Jack and Wayne's World 2. Other television credits include roles on the original Walker, Texas Ranger, the 1994 frontier adventure series Hawkeye, Beverly Hills, 90210, and The Sopranos.

As of 2016, Sellers worked as an Osage language instructor in Pawhuska, Oklahoma, according to Osage News. According to his biography, Sellers taught American Indian history and was a Fellow at the Newberry Library Center for the History of the American Indian. Sellers also championed the Reading is Fundamental children's literacy program.

Sellers is survived by his wife, actor Susie Duff, and their son, Osage actor Jerry Wolf.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Anne Rice, author of novel ‘Interview With the Vampire,’ dead at 80
Cris Belle - Yesterday 7:03 AM



(WJW) — Anne Rice, the gothic novelist widely known for her bestselling novel “Interview With the Vampire,” died late Saturday at the age of 80.

Her son Christopher Rice broke the news on her Facebook page and his Twitter page saying that she died, due to complications from a stroke, almost 19 years to the day that his father, her husband Stan, died.

“In her final hours, I sat beside her hospital bed in awe of her accomplishments and her courage,” Christopher Rice wrote in the statement.

Anne Rice was the author of the 1976 novel “Interview With the Vampire,” which was later adapted, with a script by Rice, into the 1994 movie directed by Neil Jordan and starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt. It’s also set to be adapted again in an upcoming TV series on AMC and AMC+ set to premiere next year.

“Interview With the Vampire,” in which reporter Daniel Molloy interviews Louis de Pointe du Lac, was Rice’s first novel but over the next five decades, she would write more than 30 books and sell more than 150 million copies worldwide. Thirteen of them were part of the “Vampire Chronicles” begun with her 1976 debut.

Final suspect arrested in connection with torture, killing of Alishah Pointer

Born Howard Allen Frances O’Brien in 1941, she was raised in New Orleans, where many of her novels were set. Her father worked for the postal service but made sculptures and wrote fiction on the side. Her older sister, Alice Borchardt, also wrote fantasy and horror fiction. Rice’s mother died when Rice was 15.

Raised in an Irish Catholic family, Rice wrote about her fluctuating spiritual journey, including the 2008 memoir “Called Out of Darkness: A Spiritual Confession.” But in 2010, she announced that she was no longer Christian, saying “I refuse to be anti-gay. I refuse to be anti-feminist. I refuse to be anti-artificial birth control.”

“I believed for a long time that the differences, the quarrels among Christians didn’t matter a lot for the individual, that you live your life and stay out of it. But then I began to realize that it wasn’t an easy thing to do,” Rice told The Associated Press then. “I came to the conclusion that if I didn’t make this declaration, I was going to lose my mind.”

Her son says he’s comforted in the “hope that Anne is now experiencing firsthand the glorious answers to many great spiritual and cosmic questions, the quest for which defined her life and career.”

Rice was expected to be interred during a private ceremony at a family mausoleum in New Orleans on an undisclosed date, according to the statement. A public celebration of life will take place next year.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

UTFO’s Kangol Kid dies after battle with cancer at 55
By Jonathan Landrum, Associated Press 12/18/2021


Charles Sykes/Invision/AP, File

Kangol Kid, a member of the legendary hip-hop group UTFO, has died after a battle with colon cancer. He was 55.

The family of Kangol Kid — whose real name is Shaun Shiller Fequiere — said in a statement that he died peacefully around 3 a.m. Saturday at a hospital in Manhasset, New York. He was diagnosed with cancer in February.

Kid was known for often sporting the popular Kangol headwear and being a member of UTFO, which stands for Untouchable Force Organization. The four-member group was known for 1980s hits including “Roxanne, Roxanne” and “Ya Cold Wanna Be With Me.”

Along with his hip-hop success, Kid became recognized for his efforts against breast cancer through the Mama Luke Foundation. Following his diagnosis, he had spoken publicly about the need for regular screening.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Henry Orenstein, the Holocaust survivor who created 'Transformers' and a TV poker innovation, has died
By Laura Studley, CNN 12/21/2021


Jamie McCarthy/WireImage/Getty Images

The creator of the human-like robot toys Transformers, Henry Orenstein, died Tuesday at the age of 98 due to complications from Covid-19, his wife Susie Orenstein told CNN Saturday.

Orenstein died at Cooperman Barnabas Medical Center in Livingston, New Jersey, his wife confirmed.

A Holocaust survivor who lived through five concentration camps in Poland during World War II, Orenstein came to America in 1947 where he later began his journey in creating toys, his wife said.

Orenstein patented multiple toys in the 1960s, including the Suzy Cute Doll and Johnny Lightning toy cars, his wife explained.

"He had a great eye for things that could be different," Susie Orenstein noted. "Everything he looked at, if he could make it better, he would. From light bulbs to toys to poker, he was always coming up with ideas."

Susie Orenstein said she met Henry in New York in 1968, and the couple was married for 50 "wonderful" years.

Along with his toy creations, Orenstein's wife said he also patented the "Hole Card Camera," a video camera mounted under a small glass panel on the card table, which allows audience members to view a player's face-down poker cards, revolutionizing the way audiences watch poker on TV.

"He went from toys, racing cars, poker, he was just interested in so many things," she said. "He made such an impression about everyone, such an interesting person. He'll definitely be missed."

"He was proud of everything he did," Susie Orenstein added. "He did everything well. He really loved to help people. That's what he did; that's what he felt like he accomplished."

In addition, Henry and Susie Orenstein worked to feed thousands of people in Israel through the Orenstein Project, an organization providing assistance to children, families and Holocaust survivors. The couple also helped to establish a soup kitchen in Queens, as well as build a lower-Manhattan apartment building named after Orenstein's parents, for families in need, according to the Orenstein Project website.

"He always cared about people and loved to feed people," Susie Orenstein said of her husband. "He never thought about himself."

In a statement to CNN, Hasbro said Orenstein's "legacy lives on in every Transformers toy, game, and film, and the Hasbro family sends our deepest condolences to his wife and family."

Orenstein is survived by his wife Susie and their son Mark Orenstein, Mark's wife Julie, niece Adele Levitt, and nephews Jack, James, Bruce, and Leo Orenstein.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

R.I.P. Carlos Marín, Il Divo singer

Marín was hospitalized in the United Kingdom on December 8 after falling ill during a tour

By Victoria Edel
12/20/21 12:50PM


Photo: Johnny Louis/Getty Images (Getty Images)

Carlos Marín, one-fourth of the opera-pop quarter Il Divo, has died. He was 53. The group confirmed his passing on Twitter, writing, “It is with heavy hearts that we are letting you know that our friend and partner, Carlos Marín, has passed away. He will be missed by his friends, family and fans. There wiIl never be another voice or spirit like Carlos.”

They continued, “For 17 years the four of us have been on this incredible journey of Il Divo together, and we will miss our dear friend. We hope and pray that his beautiful soul will rest in peace. With Love—David, Sebastien and Urs.”

Marín was hospitalized in the United Kingdom on December 8 after falling ill during a tour, according to Variety. According to the Daily Mail, his agent told a Spanish TV show called Corazon that Marín tested positive for COVID on December 7.

Il Divo was formed by Simon Cowell in 2003 as a new version of the Three Tenors, performing covers of songs that mixed opera and pop music. The singers came from all over the world.

Urs Bühler was a Swiss tenor, David Miller was an American tenor, Sébastien Izambard a French pop singer, and Marín was a Spaniard born in Germany.

Cowell said in a statement, as reported by Variety, “I am devastated Carlos Marín has passed away. He loved life. He loved performing and always had so much appreciation towards the fans who supported the group from day 1. Rest in peace Carlos. I will miss you.”

Since their debut, the group has released ten studio albums, including 2021's For Once In My Life: A Celebration Of Motown, plus a 2012 greatest hits compilation and two live albums.

Before joining Il Divo, Marín had already found success.

He recorded his first album at eight years old and performed in stage productions of Les Misérables, Beauty And the Beast, and Grease. He was married to French-born singer Geraldine Larrosa, who goes by the stage name Innocence, from 2006 to 2009.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, anti-apartheid leader and voice of justice, dead at 90
By Todd Leopold, Larry Madowo and Jessie Yeung, CNN 4 days ago



© Valery Hache/AFP/Getty Images

Archbishop Desmond Tutu, the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Anglican cleric whose good humor, inspiring message and conscientious work for civil and human rights made him a revered leader during the struggle to end apartheid in his native South Africa, has died. He was 90.

In a statement confirming his death on Sunday, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa expressed his condolences to Tutu's family and friends, calling him "a patriot without equal."

 "A man of extraordinary intellect, integrity and invincibility against the forces of apartheid, he was also tender and vulnerable in his compassion for those who had suffered oppression, injustice and violence under apartheid, and oppressed and downtrodden people around the world," Ramaphosa said.

Tutu had been in ill health for years. In 2013, he underwent tests for a persistent infection, and he was admitted to hospital several times in following years.

For six decades, Tutu -- known affectionately as "the Arch" -- was one of the primary voices in exhorting the South African government to end apartheid, the country's official policy of racial segregation. After apartheid ended in the early '90s and the long-imprisoned Nelson Mandela became president of the country, Tutu was named chair of South Africa's Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

The Nelson Mandela foundation called Tutu's loss "immeasurable."

"He was larger than life, and for so many in South Africa and around the world his life has been a blessing," the foundation said in a statement. "His contributions to struggles against injustice, locally and globally, are matched only by the depth of his thinking about the making of liberatory futures for human societies."

Tutu's civil and human rights work led to prominent honors from around the world. Former US President Barack Obama awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009. Obama called Tutu a "mentor, a friend, and a moral compass" in a statement after his death.

"Archbishop Tutu was grounded in the struggle for liberation and justice in his own country, but also concerned with injustice everywhere. He never lost his impish sense of humor and willingness to find humanity in his adversaries," said Obama.

President Joe Biden also mourned Tutu on Sunday. "His courage and moral clarity helped inspire our commitment to change American policy toward the repressive Apartheid regime in South Africa," the President said in a joint statement with first lady Jill Biden. "His legacy transcends borders and will echo throughout the ages."

In 2012, Tutu was awarded a $1 million grant by the Mo Ibrahim Foundation for "his lifelong commitment to speaking truth to power." The following year, he received the Templeton Prize for his "life-long work in advancing spiritual principles such as love and forgiveness which has helped to liberate people around the world."

Most notably, he received the 1984 Nobel Peace Prize, following in the footsteps of his countryman, Albert Lutuli, who received the prize in 1960.

The Nobel cemented Tutu's status as an instrumental figure in South Africa, a position he gained in the wake of protests against apartheid. Despite anger about the policy within South Africa, as well as widespread global disapproval -- the country was banned from the Olympics from 1964 through 1988 -- the South African government quashed opposition, banning the African National Congress political party and imprisoning its leaders, including Mandela.

It was up to the clergy to take the lead in speaking out, said Rev. Frank Chikane, the former head of the South African Council of Churches and a Tutu colleague.

"We reached the stage where the church was a protector of the people, who was the voice for the people," Chikane told CNN.

The current archbishop of Cape Town and metropolitan of the Anglican Church of Southern Africa, Thabo Makgoba, said that the church will plan Tutu's funeral and memorial services.

"Desmond Tutu's legacy is moral strength, moral courage and clarity," Makgoba said in a statement. "He felt with the people. In public and alone, he cried because he felt people's pain. And he laughed -- no, not just laughed, he cackled with delight when he shared their joy."

In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson and Archbishop of Canterbury Justin Welby issued statements praising Tutu for his sagacity and infectious positivity.

"(He) will be remembered for his spiritual leadership and irrepressible good humor," Johnson said.

Welby called Tutu "a prophet and priest, a man of words and action -- one who embodied the hope and joy that were the foundations of his life."

"Even in our profound sorrow we give thanks for a life so well lived," he said.

The path was rocky
In the 1950s, Tutu had resigned as a teacher in protest of government restrictions on education for Black children, the Bantu Education Act. He was ordained in 1960 and spent the '60s and early '70s alternating between London and South Africa. In 1975 he was appointed dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg and immediately used his new position to make political statements.

"When we were appointed we said ... 'Well, we'll live in Soweto,' " he told the Academy of Achievement, referring to the black townships of Johannesburg. "And so that -- we begin always by making a political statement even without articulating it in words."

It wasn't a plan, though from an early age he'd been inspired by Trevor Huddleston, a priest and early anti-apartheid activist who worked in a Johannesburg slum in the 1950s. By embarking on this path, he inspired thousands of his countrymen -- and more around the world.

Tutu believed he didn't have a choice, even if the path was rocky.

"I really would get mad with God. I would say, 'I mean, how in the name of everything that is good can you allow this or that to happen?' " he told the Academy of Achievement. "But I didn't doubt that ultimately good, right, justice would prevail."

Tumultuous times
Desmond Mpilo Tutu was born October 7, 1931, in Klerksdorp, a town in South Africa's Transvaal province. His father was a teacher and his mother was a domestic worker, and young Tutu had plans to become a doctor, partly thanks to a boyhood bout of tuberculosis, which put him in the hospital for more than a year. He even qualified for medical school, he said.

But his parents couldn't afford the fees, so teaching beckoned.

"The government was giving scholarships for people who wanted to become teachers," he told the Academy of Achievement. "I became a teacher and I haven't regretted that."

However, he was horrified at the state of Black South African schools, and even more horrified when the Bantu Education Act was passed in 1953 that racially segregated the nation's education system. He resigned in protest. Not long after, the Bishop of Johannesburg agreed to accept him for the priesthood -- Tutu believed it was because he was a Black man with a university education, a rarity in the 1950s -- and took up his new vocation.  

The 1960s and 1970s were tumultuous times in South Africa. In March 1960, 69 people were killed in the Sharpeville Massacre, when South African police opened fire on a crowd of protesters. Lutuli, an ANC leader who preached non-violence, was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize later that year -- while banned from leaving the country. (The government finally let him go for a few days to accept his prize.)

Mandela -- then a firebrand leading an armed wing of the ANC -- was arrested, tried and, in 1964, sentenced to life in prison. In the early '70s, the government forced millions of Black people to settle in what were called "homelands."

Tutu spent many of these years in Great Britain, watching from afar, but finally returned for good in 1975, when he was appointed dean of St. Mary's Cathedral in Johannesburg. The next year he was consecrated Bishop of Lesotho. He gained renown for a May 1976 letter he wrote to the prime minister, warning of unrest.

"The mood in the townships was frightening," he told the Academy of Achievement.

A month later Soweto exploded in violence. More than 600 died in the uprising.

A distinctive figure
As the government became increasingly oppressive -- detaining Black people, establishing onerous laws -- Tutu became increasingly outspoken.

"He was one of the most hated people, particularly by White South Africa, because of the stance he took," former Truth and Reconciliation Commission member Alex Boraine told CNN.

Added Chikane, the South African Council of Churches colleague, "His moral authority (was) both his weapon and his shield, enabling him to confront his oppressors with a rare impunity."

South Africa was becoming a pariah country. Demonstrators in the United States protested corporate investment in the nation and Congress backed up the stance with the 1987 Rangel Amendment. The United Nations established a cultural boycott. Popular songs, such as the Special AKA's "Free Nelson Mandela" and Artists United Against Apartheid's "Sun City," deplored the country's politics.

With his scarlet vestments, Tutu cut a distinctive figure as he preached from the bully pulpit -- perhaps never more so than in his Nobel Prize speech in 1984.

After reeling off the prejudices and inequalities of the apartheid system, Tutu summed up his thoughts. "In short," he said, "this land, richly endowed in so many ways, is sadly lacking in justice."

There were more injustices to come: assassinations, allegations of hit squads, bombings. In 1988, two years after being named Archbishop of Cape Town, becoming the first Black man to head the Anglican Church in South Africa, Tutu was arrested while taking an anti-apartheid petition to South Africa's parliament.

But the tide was turning. The next year, Tutu led a 20,000-person march in Cape Town. Also in 1989, a new president, F.W. de Klerk, started easing apartheid laws. Finally, on February 11, 1990, Mandela was released from prison after 27 years. De Klerk died last month.

Four years later, in 1994, Mandela would be elected president. Tutu compared being allowed to vote for the first time to "falling in love" and said -- behind the birth of his first child -- introducing Mandela as the country's new president was the greatest moment of his life.

"I actually said to God, I don't mind if I die now," he told CNN.

Controversial stances
Tutu's work was not done, however. In 1995 Mandela appointed him chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to address the human rights violations of the apartheid years. Tutu broke down at the TRC's first hearing in 1996.

The TRC gave its report to the government in 1998. Tutu established the Desmond Tutu Peace Trust the same year.

He returned to teaching, becoming a visiting professor at Emory University in Atlanta for two years and later lecturing at the Episcopal Divinity School in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He published a handful of books, including "No Future Without Forgiveness" (1999), "God Is Not a Christian" (2011), and a children's book, "Desmond and the Very Mean Word" (2012).

He retired from public service in 2010 but remained unafraid to take controversial positions. He called for a boycott of Israel in 2014  and said that former US President George W. Bush and former UK Prime Minister Tony Blair should be "made to answer" at the International Criminal Court for their actions around the Iraq war.

But he was also distinguished for his sense of humor, embodied in a distinctive, giggle-like laugh.

While visiting "The Daily Show" in 2004, he broke up at Jon Stewart's jokes. And he poked fun at "On Being" interviewer Krista Tippett in 2014, chiding her for not offering him the dried mangos -- his favorite -- she'd brought along.

Despite all the praise and fame, however, he told CNN he didn't feel like a "great man."

"What is a great man?" he said. "I just know that I've had incredible, incredible opportunities. ... When you stand out in a crowd, it is always only because you are being carried on the shoulders of others."

For all of his good works, he added, there may have been another reason he had so many followers.

"They took me only because I have this large nose," he said. "And I have this easy name, Tutu."

Tutu is survived by his wife of more than 60 years, Nomalizo Leah Tutu, with whom he had four children, Trevor, Theresa, Naomi and Mpho.

This story has been updated with additional reaction.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Kanda Sayaka, Japanese Actor, Dies at 35 After Hotel Fall
Dec 19, 2021 11:17pm PT
By Patrick Frater


Kanda Sayaka official website

“I would like to report to everyone who has supported Sayaka Kanda so far. Kanda Sayaka (35 years old) died suddenly at 9:40 pm on December 18, 2021. We are very sorry to give such a report to all the fans who supported us and all the people who took care of us. We are still unable to accept her passing and are trying to cope with it. We are currently investigating the detailed situation, but we kindly ask the media to refrain from interviewing relatives or posting articles by speculation,” said Kamaichi Mitsuhisa, CEO of Robe Co. in the statement.

Kanda was found unconscious, in a pool of blood, in an outdoors part of the hotel in Sapporo, where she was staying. She appeared to have fallen six floors from her 22nd floor room. She was pronounced dead after being transported to hospital.

Hokkaido police in the city said that they had not ruled out death by suicide or foul play.

The daughter of Kanda Masaki and well-known singer-actor Matsuda Seiko, Kanda had a career that spanned film, TV, stage and music. She was married for two and a half years between 2017 and 2019, before the union ended in divorce.

Kanda appeared in the 1999 David Greenspan short film “Bean Cake,” that won the Palme d’Or at the Cannes film festival. More recently she provided Japanese voice dubbing for Anna in Disney’s “Frozen.”

Japanese media report that Kanda had been set to play the role of Eliza Dolittle in the Sapporo Cultural Arts Theater’s production of “My Fair Lady.” Earlier in the day, she reported as unwell and canceled her performance.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Sarah Weddington, the lawyer who at 26 successfully argued Roe v. Wade, has died
December 26, 20216:54 PM ET
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS


Mike Groll/AP

DALLAS — Sarah Weddington, a Texas lawyer who as a 26-year-old successfully argued the landmark abortion rights case Roe v. Wade before the U.S. Supreme Court, died Sunday. She was 76.

Susan Hays, Weddington's former student and colleague, said she died in her sleep early Sunday morning at her Austin home. Weddington had been in poor health for some time and it was not immediately clear what caused her death, Hays told The Associated Press.

Raised as a minister's daughter in the West Texas city of Abilene, Weddington attended law school at the University of Texas. A couple years after graduating, she and a former classmate, Linda Coffee, brought a class-action lawsuit on behalf of a pregnant woman challenging a state law that largely banned abortions.

The case of "Jane Roe," whose real name was Norma McCorvey, was brought against Dallas County District Attorney Henry Wade and eventually advanced to the Supreme Court.

Weddington argued the case before the high court twice, in December 1971 and again in October 1972, resulting the next year in the 7-2 ruling that legalized abortion nationwide.

Weddington's death comes as the Supreme Court is considering a case over Mississippi's ban on abortions after 15 weeks of pregnancy that's widely considered to be most serious challenge in years to the Roe decision.

While that case was before the court, Weddington also ran to represent Austin in the Texas House of Representatives. She was elected in 1972 and served three terms as a state lawmaker, before becoming general counsel of the U.S. Department of Agriculture and later working as advisor on women's issues to President Jimmy Carter.

Weddington later wrote a book on Roe v. Wade, gave lectures and taught courses at the University of Texas at Austin and Texas Women's University on leadership, law and gender discrimination. She remained active in the political and legal worlds well into her later years, attending the 2019 signing ceremony for a New York state law meant to safeguard abortion rights should Roe v. Wade be overturned.

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[Frothy Afterbirth]

Harry Reid, political pugilist and longtime Senate majority leader, dies
December 28, 2021 - 08:13 PM EST
By Alexander Bolton



Harry Reid, political pugilist and longtime Senate majority leader, dies

Former Sen. Harry Reid (Nev.), one of the Senate’s longest-serving majority leaders and a Democrat who played a central role in enacting former President Obama’s biggest legislative accomplishments, died Tuesday at 82 after a battle with pancreatic cancer.

The death was announced by longtime political reporter Jon Ralston, who called Reid "probably the most important elected official in Nevada history."

“During the two decades we served together in the United States Senate, and the eight years we worked together while I served as Vice President, Harry met the marker for what I’ve always believed is the most important thing by which you can measure a person — their action and their word,” President Biden said in a statement.

“If Harry said he would do something, he did it. If he gave you his word, you could bank on it. That’s how he got things done for the good of the country for decades.”

Senate Majority Leader Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a statement that "Harry Reid was one of the most amazing individuals I've ever met," adding, "He was my leader, my mentor, one of my dearest friends."

er the House and Senate at the height of public frustration with the Iraq War.

Reid, whose service as majority leader was surpassed only by former Sens. Mike Mansfield (D-Mont.) and Alben Barkley (D-Ky.), was not afraid to engage in open partisan warfare on the Senate floor, making him one of the chamber’s most divisive leaders in history.

He famously called George W. Bush, the sitting president, a “liar” and a “loser” and accused Mitt Romney, the GOP’s nominee for president in 2012, on the Senate floor of not paying his taxes.

He later apologized for calling Bush a loser but stuck by calling him a liar and never apologized for painting Romney as a tax cheat, even though PolitiFact rated the claim “Pants on Fire.”

Reid’s response was classic Reid. Terse and to the point.

“Romney didn’t win, did he?” he told CNN’s Dana Bash when asked whether he had any regrets.

Reid’s dogged effort to unify all 60 members of the Democratic caucus to pass the Affordable Care Act in 2009, the largest entitlement program passed since Medicare, ranks as the biggest legislative accomplishment of recent history.

To win over former Sen. Ben Nelson (D-Neb.), a pivotal moderate, Reid agreed to have the federal government pay Nebraska’s share of the cost for expanding Medicaid, a deal that critics called the Cornhusker Kickback, and was later dropped.

Reid proclaimed it as victory that “affirmed the ability to live a healthy life in our great country is a right and not merely a privilege for the select few” and dedicated it to his friend Ted Kennedy, who had recently died.*

His other signature victories were the passage of the 2009 American Recovery and Reinvestment Act in the depth of the Great Recession and, as the nation was beginning to recover, the 2010 Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act, which sought to rein in excesses that had nearly collapsed world financial markets.

Reid’s aggressive political style often evoked allusions to his record as an amateur boxer.

His breakthrough in politics came in 1970 when his mentor and high-school boxing coach Mike O’Callaghan, who went on to become a successful politician and run for governor, asked him to serve as his running mate.*

In a Tuesday statement, Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) said he was "heartbroken by the news" of Reid's passing.

"To say Harry Reid was a giant doesn’t fully encapsulate all that he accomplished on behalf of the state of Nevada and for Nevada families; there will never be another leader quite like Senator Reid," Sisolak said.

Landra Reid, the senator's wife of 62 years, said that he "died peacefully this afternoon, surrounded by our family, following a courageous, four-year battle with pancreatic cancer."

"We greatly appreciate the outpouring of support from so many over these past few years. We are especially grateful for the doctors and nurses that cared for him," she said.

Reid’s life was a modern-day Horatio Alger story.

He grew up in Searchlight, Nev., an isolated mining town, where he learned to swim at the indoor pool of the local bordello and lived in a shack made of railroad ties soaked in creosote to keep the termites out.

When he left the Senate, his net worth was estimated in the millions of dollars.

He also left a political dynasty behind. His son Rory served as Clark County commissioner and ran for governor in 2010.

Reid worked in the Capitol as a police officer to pay for his studies at George Washington University’s law school, served four years as a member of the House and 30 years in the Senate.

He was elected the state’s lieutenant governor at age 31.*

Reid was known in the Senate for hating to gab on the phone and often hung up on colleagues without saying goodbye, sometimes leaving them to talk at length to themselves.

He made up for it, however, by being a diligent student about what his colleagues needed and often delivered by putting in hours of legwork.

“I was always willing to do things that others were not willing to do,” he told The New York Times in a 2019 interview.

Democrats celebrated Reid’s career during his final month in office with a star-studded farewell tribute in the Russell Building’s Kennedy Caucus Room, where President Biden praised him as a “man of your word” and declared that no majority leader in his memory had “a tougher job at a tougher time.”

Many Republicans, however, were happy to see Reid go.

Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell (Ky.) angrily predicted in 2013 that Reid would be remembered as “the worst leader of the Senate ever” if he went ahead with a controversial rules change known as the nuclear option to make it easier to confirm Obama’s appellate court picks.

Undeterred, Reid went ahead with the unilateral procedural move in November of that year, lowering the bar for confirming executive branch and judicial nominees below the level of Supreme Court.

Breaking the Republican filibuster allowed Obama to fill three vacancies on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia, the second most powerful court in the nation, and swing its majority to the left.

Reid later told The Hill in an interview that he kept the 60-vote hurdle for the Supreme Court out of deference to former Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.), an outspoken defender of women’s reproductive rights. Boxer, however, said in a follow-up interview that she did not remember any special arrangement with her leader.

Reid was also known during his tenure for keeping a tight grip on the Senate floor, protecting his vulnerable Democratic colleagues from taking tough votes by routinely filling the Senate’s amendment tree. But his tight leash on floor activity chafed colleagues in both parties who found it difficult to get their business considered in the chamber.

Former Sen. Mark Begich (D), a first-term senator from Alaska, came under criticism shortly before his reelection when it became known that he never received a roll-call vote on an amendment during his first 5 1/2 years in the Senate.

Sen. Joe Manchin (D-W.Va.) complained in June of 2014, a few months before Democrats lost their Senate majority, that he had “never been in a less productive time in my life than I am right now, in the United States Senate.”

Republicans promised that if they won back control, they would open up the floor to robust debate and frequent voting and while there had been some flashes of that, such as the immigration debate of February 2018, McConnell, during the six years he served as majority leader, largely followed Reid’s example of keeping tight control over the floor.*

"The nature of Harry’s and my jobs brought us into frequent and sometimes intense conflict over politics and policy," McConnell said in a Tuesday statement on Reid's death. "But I never doubted that Harry was always doing what he earnestly, deeply felt was right for Nevada and our country. He will rightly go down in history as a crucial, pivotal figure in the development and history of his beloved home state."

Reid’s politics evolved during his time in Washington, a reflection of his job representing the entire Democratic caucus, which for much of his career was significantly more liberal than his home state of Nevada.

Early in his Senate career he said abortion should only be allowed in cases of rape or incest and voted against resolutions stating that Roe v. Wade, the landmark abortion rights case, had been correctly decided. For his last year in office, he had a 100 percent rating from NARAL Pro-Choice America.

He also changed his views on the Second Amendment. He accepted money from the National Rifle Association in the early nineties and once described himself as supporting the gun-rights group as “right down the line.”

Years later as majority leader he brought a gun-control package to the Senate floor in the wake of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting that would have expanded background checks and banned military-style assault weapons and high-capacity magazines.

Yet while Reid’s politics changed, he kept a sharp focus on his constituents back in Nevada and invoked his home state frequently, especially in the final years of his career after surviving a tough reelection in 2010, the year of the Tea Party revolution.

He made opposition to the nuclear waste repository in Yucca Mountain a signature issue and funneled back plenty of federal pork to Nevada as the chairman of the Senate Appropriations Energy and Water Subcommittee.

Republicans thought they had an excellent chance to knock off Reid, who had a dismal 38 percent approval rating — compared to a 54 percent disapproval rating — at the start of the 2010 cycle. But Reid was helped by the changing demographics of the state, which Obama won in the 2008 election.

Reid dodged a bullet when Tea Party favorite Sharron Angle won the Republican primary. His political team pummeled her for calling a fund helping the victims of the Gulf oil spill a “slush fund” and saying that rape victims should make lemons into lemonade if they become impregnated. He ended up winning reelection by a comfortable margin.

Reid survived an earlier political scare in 1998 when he barely won reelection over Republican John Ensign after a recount put him ahead by only 401 votes out of more than 400,000 cast.

Ensign went on to win election to the Senate in 2000 and Reid made an extra effort to cultivate a friendly and effective relationship with his home-state colleague. Reid’s goal was to both maximize what he could get done for Nevada but also undermine future GOP efforts to oust him from office.

Reid employed the same strategy of keeping your friends close but your enemies closer with Brian Sandoval, the Republican who later served as Nevada’s governor.

He recommended Sandoval to a federal judgeship in 2004, which kept the rising Republican star out of politics for four years until he quit the bench to reenter the fray and defeat Reid’s son Rory in the 2010 governor’s race.

Reid was a devotee of exercise and sometimes joked about his deputy, Schumer, spending more time on his cellphone and cutting deals in the Senate gym instead of working out.

He suffered a couple of injuries, however, that may have hastened his retirement.

Reid once gave himself a black eye on a jog when he fell after his hand slipped off a parked car he was using to stabilize himself while stretching.

He endured a much more serious injury in 2015 when an elastic band he was using in the bathroom snapped, sending him reeling into soon as you discover you have something on your pancreas, you’re dead.”

—Updated at 10:43 p.m.

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