• U.S.

Milestones, Feb. 5, 1973

2 minute read
TIME

Died. Alexander Onassis, 24, only son of Greek shipping-airline millionaire Aristotle Onassis; of injuries suffered when his twin-engine amphibious plane crashed on takeoff; in Athens, where he operated an air-taxi fleet owned by his father. –

Died. Lyndon Raines Johnson, 64, 36th President of the United States (see THE NATION).

Died. J. (for Joseph) Carrol Naish, 73, durable supporting actor of diverse dialects; of emphysema; in La Jolla, Calif. A swarthy Irish-American, Naish bummed around Europe after World War I army service and learned five languages. He came to Hollywood in 1927 by accident—a storm diverted his Shanghai-bound freighter to California —and picked up bit parts. His first meaty role was as a Chinese tongwar victim, and he went on to play Latins, Asians and Jews in more than 150 films. He also starred in the radio series Life with Luigi (1948-53), in which he portrayed an Italian immigrant. –

Died. Edward G. Robinson, 79, who made a high art form of the gangster film (see SHOW BUSINESS & TV). –

Died. George Graff, 86, New York-born song lyricist who, though he had never been to Ireland, wrote When Irish Eyes Are Smiling in 1912, a beery tenor’s standby that earned him nearly $10,000 a year in royalties for the rest of his life; in East Stroudsburg, Pa. –

Died. Edward (“Kid”) Ory, 86, legendary bandleader and trombonist whose chugging, low-register style has endured as a model of oldtime New Orleans jazz for more than 70 years; in Honolulu. Self-taught on a secondhand, $4 trombone, Ory began playing in Louisiana saloons before he was 15, and by 1920 could count King Oliver, Sidney Bechet and Louis Armstrong among his band’s alumni. Ory’s Creole Trombone and Society Blues, both made in 1921, are the first known jazz records by black musicians, and his composition Muskrat Ramble (1926), written while he worked in a taxi-dance hall, became a Dixieland standard. In the big-band era he was drowned out for a decade, but after World War II Ory regained his popularity during the revival of traditional jazz.

Died. Dr. E. Stanley Jones, 89, Methodist clergyman from Maryland who became one of the world’s best known evangelists; in Bareilly, India. A successful missionary to India since 1907, Jones wrote 27 books and gained wide recognition from his high-energy speaking tours in behalf of a worldwide federation of Protestant churches.

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