Milestones

By Harriet Barovick, David Bjerklie, Jackson Dykman, Laura Fitzpatrick, Emily Keegin, Joe Lertola, Meg Massey, D.W. Pine, Elisabeth Salemme, Carolyn Sayre, Kate Stinchfield, David Von Drehle

DIED He had the last televised interview with John Lennon and the first U.S. TV appearance of U2. But longtime NBC talk-show host Tom Snyder was best known for the parody of his intense, energetic, brusque style by Saturday Night Live actor Dan Aykroyd, who famously leaned into his subjects and let out a deafening guffaw. From his stark, smoke-filled studio, Snyder grilled such diverse subjects as Charles Manson and Spiro Agnew and tackled topics like male prostitution, censorship and suicide. Utterly authentic and at ease with viewers, the veteran journalist made a huge hit of Tomorrow, which followed Johnny Carson's Tonight Show--and in doing so laid the groundwork for future late-night stars like David Letterman and Conan O'Brien. Snyder was 71 and had leukemia.

In modern-day Japan, a nation not known for in-your-face protesters, voluble writer and peace activist Makoto Oda was an anomaly. In 1965, citing his core belief in "100% freedom for the individual," the author of the best-selling travelogue I'll Go Everywhere and See Everything co-founded a grass-roots "citizens' league" to oppose U.S. involvement in Vietnam. His group gained converts and motivated a generation of young Japanese activists. Oda, one of TIME ASIA's 2002 heroes, was 75 and had cancer.

Nudes were her typical subjects, but in 1953, when painter Odile Crick was asked by her husband Francis Crick to illustrate the Nobel-winning discovery he made with James Watson--the structure of DNA--she agreed to pitch in. Her work, the double helix with two spiraling chains of DNA, became an iconic global scientific symbol. She was 86.

The masterly Swedish auteur Ingmar Bergman, who found both humor and despair in the human psyche, redefined cinema worldwide. He was 89. (See Arts for an Appreciation of Bergman by Woody Allen.)

His critics claimed he didn't take a stand on tough issues. Yet Patriarch Teoctist, head of the Romanian Orthodox Church, won fans and made history when Pope John Paul II visited Romania in 1999 at his request. It was the first invitation by an Orthodox Church leader to a Catholic Pope since the churches split in 1054. He was 92.

In presenting legendary Italian director Michelangelo Antonioni with a Lifetime Achievement Oscar in 1995, Jack Nicholson said that in silence, the director "found metaphors that illuminate the silent places in our hearts." In films like Blow-Up, L'Avventura and La Notte, Antonioni captured inner lives of alienation and angst with long, lingering takes and a paucity of dialogue and action. Critics hailed him as the "hero of the highbrows." But average moviegoers were so confused they once reputedly chased him at the Cannes Film Festival, demanding plot explanations. Antonioni was content with his brainy reputation--and his lack of mass appeal. "I could never do something against my tastes to meet the public," he once told a reporter. "I do it for an ideal spectator who is very like this director." He was 94.

CLOSING When mainstream journalism goes tabloid (witness Rupert Murdoch's takeover of the Wall Street Journal), what's left for the old scandal sheets? The Weekly World News, paper of record for Elvis sightings and space-alien updates, lost nearly half its circulation between 2004 and 2006. The paper version will be killed this month, leaving just the website. In the end, WWN--which unearthed a lost sandal of Jesus in Central Park and an al-Qaeda plot to hijack Santa's sleigh-- failed to see the big picture: the turf of made-up news and celebs-gone-bad was about to be taken over by the Onion and TMZ, respectively. It was 28.

APPRECIATION

The NFL's Genius

He didn't become a pro head coach until he was 47, but Hall of Famer Bill Walsh made the most of his 10-season NFL career. He transformed the San Francisco 49ers from a long-suffering franchise with a 2-14 record into the winningest team of the '80s, with three Super Bowls in seven years. Before Walsh, conventional wisdom held that NFL coaches needed a loud voice and an iron fist. Walsh was just as likely to appeal to his players' intellect. With his silver hair and professorial mien, he was nicknamed "the Genius." His main invention was the West Coast offense, a now widely practiced style of play that eschewed long passes and runs up the middle in favor of short, surgical passes that dissected countless defenses. Equally indelible was the Minority Coaching Fellowship Program, started by Walsh in 1987, that helped launch Tyrone Willingham of the University of Washington and the Cincinnati Bengals' Marvin Lewis. Walsh, whom Joe Montana called "the most influential person in my life" aside from his dad, found out he had leukemia two years ago. He was 75.