Milestones Sep. 20, 1999

CONVICTED. JIM BROWN, 63, Hall of Fame running back; of vandalizing his 25-year-old wife’s car during an argument; in Los Angeles. He was acquitted of threatening her life. He faces a maximum sentence of six months in jail.

DIED. KATIE WEBSTER, 63, blues pianist and singer who played with Otis Redding; of heart failure; in League City, Texas.

DIED. JIM (“CATFISH”) HUNTER, 53, Hall of Fame pitcher; of Lou Gehrig’s disease; in Hertford, N.C. During his 15-year career with the Oakland A’s and the New York Yankees, Hunter won five World Series, pitched a perfect game, won a Cy Young Award and became the first multimillion-dollar player when he declared free agency in 1974. “He taught us how to win,” said his onetime boss George Steinbrenner.

DIED. ALFREDO KRAUS, 71, lyric tenor known for his masterly bel canto roles; of pancreatic cancer; in Madrid. Kraus limited his repertoire, a policy that preserved his voice into his 60s. The selectivity cost him popularity but made him a connoisseur’s delight. He sang with Maria Callas on the legendary live recordings of La Traviata in Lisbon.

DIED. RUTH ROMAN, 74, actress who combined good-girl wholesomeness with bad-girl edge; in Laguna Beach, Calif. She starred in more than 30 films, inlcuding Champion, Strangers on a Train and Colt .45.

DIED. ALLEN FUNT, 84, creator of Candid Camera; in Pebble Beach, Calif. Funt started the hit show on the radio after experimenting with concealed microphones in the Army during World War II. Candid Camera aired on TV, on and off, from 1948 to 1990. Among the oddities Funt delighted in watching puzzled humans react to: trick coffee cups, talking mailboxes and bowling balls without finger holes.

DIED. HERBERT STEIN, 83, economist and former Nixon adviser; in Washington. Stein, a chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers, was a key architect of Nixon’s policies, including battling inflation through wage controls. But he eschewed ideological loyalty in favor of common sense and was critical of policies of Reagan and Bush.