Clarke & Kinch...

Arthur C. Clarke dies at 90 -

Sir Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, has died aged 90 in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, it was confirmed tonight.

Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and sometimes used a wheelchair, died at 1:30am after suffering breathing problems, his personal secretary Rohan De Silva said.        

“Sir Arthur passed away a short while ago at the Apollo Hospital [in Colombo]. He had a cardio-respiratory attack,” he said.

His valet, W. K. M. Dharmawardena, said that funeral arrangements would be finalised when his close family returned to the island from Australia.        

Mr Dharmawardena said that Clarke's condition had begun to deteriorate in recent weeks and he had been in hospital for four days.

The visionary author of more than 70 books, who was nominated for a Nobel Prize after predicting the existence of satellites, was most famous for his short story "The Sentinel", which was expanded into the novel that was later adapted for Stanley Kubrick's film "2001: A Space Odyssey".        

He was also credited with inventing the concept of communications satellites in 1945, decades before they became a reality.

Clarke was the last surviving member of what was sometimes known as the "Big Three" of science fiction, alongside Robert A. Heinlein and Isaac Asimov.  

[from the Times-Online]

'Hogan's Heroes' actor dies in Charlotte

   

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Actor, director and producer Ivan Dixon, best known for his role as Kinchloe in the television series "Hogan's Heroes," has died in Charlotte at the age of 76.

Dixon died Sunday at a Charlotte hospital after suffering a hemorrhage, said Whitney Stauffer of Creative Artists Agency in Los Angeles.

Dixon began his acting career on Broadway in plays that included "The Cave Dwellers" and "A Raisin in the Sun." On film, he appeared in "Something of Value," "A Raisin in the Sun," "A Patch of Blue," "Nothing But a Man" and the cult favorite, "Car Wash."

But he was probably best known for the role of U.S. Staff Sgt. James Kinchloe on "Hogan's Heroes." Kinchloe, who's in charge of electronic communications, can mimic German officers on the radio or phone.

In addition to acting on television, he also directed hundreds of episodic shows, including "The Waltons," "The Rockford Files," "Magnum P.I." and "Heat of the Night."

Actor Sidney Poitier said the two men became friends after Dixon was his stunt double in the 1958 movie, "The Defiant Ones. Dixon earned an Emmy nomination for his performance in the CBS Playhouse special, "The Final War of Olly Winter."

Born April 6, 1931, in New York City, Dixon graduated in 1954 from North Carolina Central University in Durham. Dixon's awards include four NAACP Image Awards, National Black Theatre Award and the Paul Robeson Pioneer Award from the Black American Cinema Society. He was a member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Directors Guild of America, Screen Actors Guild of America, and the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame.

Survivors include his wife of 53 years, Berlie Dixon; son, Alan Kimara Dixon and daughter, Doris Nomathande Dixon. Two sons, Ivan Nathaniel Dixon IV and N'Gai Christopher Dixon, are deceased. At Dixon's request, Stauffer said no memorial is planned.