Monday, Sep. 06, 1976
Born. To James Caan, 37, street-smart superstar (The Godfather, The Gambler), and former Model Sheila Ryan Caan, 23: their first child, a son; in Los Angeles. Name: Scott Andrew.
Died. Gina Bachauer, 63, piano virtuoso whose powerful romanticism won her international acclaim; of a heart attack; shortly before a performance in her native Athens. A student of Sergei Rachmaninoff's, Bachauer found her budding career postponed by World War II. She abandoned concert halls for military outposts, giving more than 600 recitals of classics and boogie-woogie for Allied troops in the Middle East. A commanding woman in appearance as well as technique, Bachauer made her U.S. debut in 1950, drawing only 35 listeners. Critics, however, were quick to praise her spirited interpretations of a wide variety of music. She lived in London, but toured extensively and played with nearly every major symphony orchestra.
Died. Juscelino Kubitschek, 73, imaginative', popular former President of Brazil (1956-61), who built Brasilia, a new concrete-and-glass capital in the desolate interior, in order to hasten Brazil's northern development; in an automobile accident; near Rio de Janeiro. A surgeon by training, Kubitschek relinquished a lucrative society practice to pursue his political career. He captured the presidency with a platform of "Fifty Years' Progress in Five." Foreign investment and farsighted government programs helped build highways, power projects and a thriving automobile industry, but high inflation, deficits and charges of corruption marred his five-year term.
Died. Lotte Lehmann, 88, famed German-born prima donna and legendary lieder singer; at her home in Santa Barbara, Calif. A warm, sensitive actress whose amber soprano was infinitely expressive, Lehmann could electrify an audience by merely stepping on the stage. She made her debut with the Hamburg Opera in 1910, four years later with the Vienna Opera, where she created several roles for her friend Richard Strauss, and in 1934 with the Metropolitan. Notable among her 100 roles were her yielding Sieglinde in Die Walkuere, her devout Elisabeth in Tannhaeuser and, most outstanding of all, her matchless Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier. At 62, she reduced a Town Hall audience to tears when she announced her retirement, quoting the Marschallin, who looked at her aging face in the mirror and said: "It is time." In her later years in California she painted, wrote several books, and taught master classes, returning occasionally to do some coaching in London and New York.
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