Born. To Ethel Kennedy, 40, widow of Senator Robert F. Kennedy: her eleventh child, fourth daughter; in Washington, D.C. After eight weeks in bed . since she suffered false labor pains in October, Ethel checked into Georgetown University Hospital a few days before reaching term, was delivered by caesarean section in a 40-minute operation. It was her fifth caesarean, and both mother and 8-lb. 4-oz. daughter were reported in "excellent" shape.

Married. Richard Helms, 55, director of the CIA; and Cynthia McKelvie, 45, British-born mother of four and exwife of a prominent Washington surgeon; eight months after she divorced her husband of 25 years and four months after he divorced his wife of 29 years; in a Presbyterian ceremony at his brother's home in South Orange, N.J.

Died. Thomas Merton, 53, Trappist monk and author eloquently concerned with man's spiritual and secular fulfillment (see RELIGION).

Died. E. L. ("Bob") Bartlett, 64, senior Senator from Alaska and tireless campaigner in the struggle for statehood; of complications following heart surgery; in Cleveland. The roughhewn son of a Klondike sourdough, Bartlett may well have been the prototype of Edna Ferber's central character in Ice Palace. He grew up in gold-crazed Fairbanks, went to Washington in 1932 to serve as secretary to the territorial Delegate. In 1944 he was elected a Delegate to Congress, where for 14 years he led the fight for Alaskan statehood--after which a grateful electorate awarded him a senatorial seat by an overwhelming majority.

Died. Tallulah Bankhead, 65, the iridescent and irrepressible empress of show business, whose gravel-throated cry of "Daaahling!" was part of the language for nearly half a century; of pneumonia; in Manhattan. Beautiful and honey-blonde, the daughter of a wealthy Alabama Congressman, Tallulah could count only three genuine hits in a career that encompassed literally scores of plays and movies: Broadway's The Little Foxes (1939) and The Skin of Our Teeth (1942) and Hollywood's Lifeboat (1944). Yet even to the flops she brought the kind of fierce power and impish delight that captivated friend and foe alike. Tennessee Williams called her a cross between a tiger and a moth, and her performance offstage was the true measure of the actress. Lavish beyond redemption, garrulous beyond recall, Tallulah chain-smoked, talked and caroused like a longshoreman. She was known to romp around her apartment in the nude drinking planter's punch--and sometimes greeted friends at the door in the same state of undress. Tallulah refused to remember anyone's name (she once introduced a friend named Olive as "Martini"), liked to break up stuffy parties by doing cartwheels or tossing the other ladies' shoes out the window. She was married only once--briefly, to Actor John Emery--but took a legion of lovers and gleefully admitted: "I'm as pure as the driven slush." Columnists were forever sniping at her and getting blasted right back. "Are you ever mistaken for a man on the phone?" Broadway Gossip Earl Wilson asked her. "No," she rasped. "Are you?" Yet some of her best lines were about herself. "They used to shoot Shirley Temple through gauze. They ought to shoot me through linoleum," she said, while making up for a movie late in her career. Jezebel was the image she reveled in, and when a friend reminded her that Jezebel was thrown to the dogs, Tallulah replied: "Yes, but first she rode with kings and princes."

Died. Arthur Hays Sulzberger, 77, publisher (1935-61) and board chairman (1957-68) of the New York Times, who gave new depth and scope to the familiar slogan, "All the News That's Fit to Print"; after a long illness; in Manhattan. Sulzberger tempered his indomitable dignity with wry good humor. In order to succeed, he once said, "you work very hard, you never watch the clock, you polish up the handle on the big front door. And you marry the boss's daughter." Sulzberger did just that. In 1917 the young Columbia graduate married Iphigene Ochs, the only child of Times Publisher Adolph Ochs, who had wanted his daughter to marry a newspaperman to perpetuate the dynasty. Sulzberger had no journalistic experience, but swiftly proved himself to be an ingenious and resourceful executive, first as an assistant to the general manager, than as vice president, and finally, in 1935, as the paper's fourth publisher. Under his stewardship, the Times brightened its pages with more pictures and a crisper, more readable writing style, expanded its coverage with greater emphasis on personality studies and news analysis. He allowed his editors wide latitude in day-to-day operations, engaged in debate rather than ex-cathedra dicta to implement his ideas, delighted in writing long letters to the editor under the pen name A. Aitchess. By 1961, the Times's daily circulation had risen 48%, to 680,265, and its Sunday circulation had nearly doubled, to 1,306,418. Sulzberger was nearing 70, and he felt that it was time to step down. "The Times must never grow old," he said. "Youth is best served by youth."

Died. Karl Barth, 82, eminent Swiss theologian and one of the most influential religious thinkers of the century (see RELIGION).

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