Notable Passings

...Irving Brecher, who was Oscar-nominated for the screenplay for the classic musical MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS, has passed away at the age of 94. (Click the title of this post for his obituary.)

Brecher shared the nomination with Fred F. Finklehoffe.

Brecher also worked on SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN, the musicals YOLANDA AND THE THIEF and SUMMER HOLIDAY, and a couple of Marx Brothers movies, among other credits. He also served as an uncredited "script doctor" -- I wonder if the term existed back then -- on THE WIZARD OF OZ. Brecher was the creator of the series THE LIFE OF RILEY.

...Theater critic and dance historian Clive Barnes has passed away at the age of 81.

Barnes spent the last three decades at the New York Post.

More from the New York Post and the New York Times.

...The Reverend Louis H. Evans Jr., who founded one church attended by President Reagan and later served at another church also attended by the Reagans, has passed on at the age of 82.

Evans, who was married to former actress Colleen Townsend, founded the Bel Air Presbyterian Church. He later served at the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, D.C.

The Evanses' four children are a pastor, a lawyer, a doctor, and a pastor's wife.

Three very different men who each made unique contributions to American life in the 20th century, and on into the 21st.