Died. Linda Darnell, 41, sultry brunette star, and one of Hollywood's great natural beauties, who appeared in some 50 movies (Blood and Sand, Forever Amber, A Letter to Three Wives) from 1939 on; of burns suffered during a pre-dawn fire that started in the living room of a friend and former secretary whom she was visiting; in Chicago.

Died. Major General John Kenton Hester, 48, commander of the U.S. 17th Air Force in Germany, a World War II combat ace who flew 50 missions against Japanese bases in China, later served in staff posts before assuming his final command six months ago; of brain injuries suffered when his parachute failed during a training jump from 1,250 ft.; in Wiesbaden, Germany.

Died. Albert Cardinal Meyer, 62, spiritual leader of Chicago's 2,300,000 Roman Catholics, largest U.S. archdiocese, a vigorous leader who upon donning the red hat in 1959 confided, "I am happy for myself, but I am even happier for the people of Chicago," banned parish bingo, renovated dilapidated schools (15 days after he took over as archbishop in 1958, 87 children and three nuns died in a school blaze), racially integrated the parochial school system, declaring, "The glory of Christ demands it"; of cancer; in Chicago.

Died. Dr. Joseph Cecil Patrick, 72, a chemist who, while searching for a cheap antifreeze in 1923, stumbled on the formula for Thiokol, first U.S.-developed synthetic rubber, which has since become an indispensable ingredient of solid rocket fuel; of a heart attack; in Philadelphia.

Died. Sherman ("Shay") Minton, 74, dour former Supreme Court Justice who defended the New Deal ("You can't eat the Constitution") when he was U.S. Democratic Senator from Indiana (1935-41), remained sympathetic to the Administration after President Truman appointed him to the high court in 1949, backing the Justice Department in most antitrust appeals and concurring in the unanimous school desegregation decision of 1954, retiring as a result of pernicious anemia in 1956; of intestinal hemorrhaging; in New Albany, Ind.

Died. William King Driggs, 79, onetime barnstorming balladeer who helped his daughters gain fame in the 1940s as the King Sisters vocal trio, then last summer out-trouped the Trapps by massing his wife, six daughters and two sons, their seven husbands and wives, and 23 of his grandchildren to form ABC-TV's singing King Family (theme song: Love in the Home); of a stroke; in Burbank, Calif.

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