Monday, May. 21, 1973
Divorced. Leontyne Price, 46, the first black to sing a major role at the Metropolitan Opera; and William Warfield, 53, barrel-chested baritone of stage, screen (Show Boat) and concert hall; after 21 years of marriage, no children; in Manhattan. Price and Warfield met and married while he was starring as Porgy, she as Bess, in the '50s revival of the George Gershwin opera. The celebrated marriage later fell out of tune, and the two were legally separated in 1967.
Divorced. Svetlana Alliluyeva Peters, 47, Joseph Stalin's only daughter, who made headlines in 1967 by defecting to the U.S. and minor literary ripples with her memoirs of life with papa; and William Wesley Peters, 60, chief architect of the Wright Foundation and former husband of Frank Lloyd Wright's late daughter Svetlana; after three years of marriage, one child; in Phoenix, Ariz. Svetlana Alliluyeva married Peters after a three-week courtship, then left him because of her objections to life in the architecture community, Taliesin West.
Died. Jack E. Leonard, 62, nightclub and TV comic who made the abrasive, one-line gag into an art form; of complications following heart surgery; in Manhattan. A onetime lifeguard, Leonard began competing in Charleston contests during the '20s, then graduated to the big-band circuit as a comedian. Portraying the angry, fast-talking fat man (his weight yo-yoed between 200 and 330 lbs.), he eventually became a frequent TV guest whose comedy format never varied--a skeleton routine augmented by ad-lib insults to audience and fellow performers alike. "I could be funny for hours on your show," he once told a rival comic, "but I wouldn't want to change the format."
Died. Abel Green, 72, editor for the past 40 years of Variety, the bible of show biz (see SHOW BUSINESS).
Died. Alexander A. ("Sunny Jim") Vandegrift, 86, commander of the U.S. Marine Corps assault on Guadalcanal and Bougainville islands during World War II; after a long illness; in Bethesda, Md. A quiet, courtly Virginian, Vandegrift directed the first U.S. land offensive against the Japanese when he led the 1st Marine Division onto Guadalcanal in August 1942. For three months his outnumbered men held their ground through bitter jungle fighting before reinforcements arrived, and for his leadership Vandegrift was awarded the Navy Cross and the Congressional Medal of Honor. The first active four-star general in Marine history, he served four years as Marine Corps Commandant before retiring in 1947.
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