Longtime Saturday Night Live announcer
The New York Times
Don Pardo, who introduced television viewers to some of America's biggest stars and soon-to-be-stars as the longtime announcer for Saturday Night Live, died Monday in Tucson, Ariz. He was 96.
Pardo's death was confirmed by his daughter, Dona Pardo.
Pardo, whose career began in the radio age, continued through the end of the past season of Saturday Night Live in May, when he performed the introductions on the finale, hosted by Andy Samberg.
Pardo was with Saturday Night Live from the show's first episode in October 1975, and performed the introductions for 38 seasons, missing only Season 7. For many viewers, the names of scores of stars -- from Chevy Chase to Eddie Murphy to Tina Fey -- were first heard in his sonorous baritone, which announced the cast each week at the end of the opening skit.
"Every year the new cast couldn't wait to hear their name said by him," said Lorne Michaels, the show's creator, who hired Pardo in 1975.
But for an older generation, Pardo was familiar long before Michaels started Saturday Night Live. He was the announcer for an assortment of widely watched game shows, including two of the most popular television has ever seen, The Price Is Right and Jeopardy.
Pardo, who had a lifetime contract with NBC, retired in 2004, but he continued to do Saturday Night Live even though he had moved to Arizona after his wife died in 1995. For years he would fly to New York each week. In more recent seasons, he recorded his material in Tucson.
Ex-R.I. congressman, S&L deregulator
The Associated Press
PROVIDENCE, R.I. — A man who represented Rhode Island in Congress for 28 years and co-sponsored a 1982 bill that deregulated savings and loans has died. Fernand St Germain was 86.
The congressman died Saturday at his home in Newport, according to his daughter, Lisette Saint Germain. She said he suffered from kidney failure.
St Germain, a Democrat, rose to lead the House Banking Committee. The deregulation bill aimed to provide a long-term solution for troubled savings and loan institutions, but it contributed to the 1980s savings and loan crisis by allowing institutions to expand their lending activities away from home mortgages into more risky commercial ventures. The crisis left U.S. taxpayers on the hook for billions of dollars.
St Germain used his clout to shower his district with federal projects. One of his legacies is the housing for the elderly and disabled that can be seen throughout the district. He was proud of the mortgage changes he introduced, including one that ensured married women could get a mortgage without husbands’ signatures, his daughter said.
St Germain was first elected in 1960, the same year as President John F. Kennedy, and the two men were close. Two days before he died, St Germain asked to see a photo of himself with Kennedy that was taken around 1961. He called it “precious,” and wouldn’t let go of it, said Susan Cowsill, a family friend who was there.
St Germain lost his bid for re-election in 1988 to a political newcomer, Republican Ronald Machtley, while battling questions about unethical behavior.
Iranian poet called the “Lioness of Iran”
The Associated Press
TEHRAN, Iran — Famed Iranian poet Simin Behbahani, who wrote of the joys of love, demanded equal rights for women and spoke out about the challenges facing those living in her homeland, died Tuesday at the age of 87.
Behbahani had been hospitalized and unconscious in Tehran since Aug. 6 and later died of heart failure and breathing problems, Iran’s official IRNA news agency reported.
Behbahani, born Simin Khalili on July 20, 1927, saw her poetry often used by Iranian singers as the basis for love songs. Her poems came in a variety of styles, far from classical and routine forms normally associated with Persian prose.
However, Behbahani’s work also focused on the challenges facing Iran in the wake of its Islamic Revolution in 1979 and women’s rights, her strong words earning her the nickname of the “Lioness of Iran.” Behbahani, who studied law at Tehran University in the 1950s, was awarded the Simone de Beauvoir Prize for Women’s Freedom in 2009 and was nominated twice for the Nobel Prize in Literature.
President Barack Obama even once recited her work in a video message in honor of Nowruz, the Persian New Year, saying: “Old I may be, but, given the chance, I will learn.”
However, Behbahani’s work also got her targeted by authorities. In 2010, Iranian authorities barred her from leaving the country to attend an International Women’s Day event in Paris. In 2006, authorities shut down an opposition newspaper for printing one of her works, an editor there said at the time.
Metro on 08/20/2014