Y.A. Tittle was a Hall of Fame quarterback who led the New York Giants to three consecutive NFL championship games during 1961-63. He died Oct. 8 at a hospital in Stanford, Calif. He was 90. Tittle was a two-time all-Southeastern Conference quarterback at LSU before he joined the All-America Football Conference’s Baltimore Colts in 1948. He played 10 seasons for the San Francisco 49ers before joining the Giants in 1961. He was selected to the Pro Bowl seven times and was the NFL Most Valuable Player in 1963, when he set a record with 36 touchdown passes. He was elected to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1971. He became the first pro football player to be featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated in 1954.
Jimmy Beaumont was lead singer of the doo-wop group the Skyliners and a co-writer of the iconic ballad “Since I Don’t Have You.” He died Oct. 7 at his home in McKeesport, Pa. He was 76. Beaumont was 18 in 1958 when he set lyrics by Joe Rock to music, and “Since I Don’t Have You” hit No. 1 on the Cashbox R&B chart and No. 3 on the Billboard R&B chart in 1959. The Skyliners were the first white group to top the Cashbox R&B charts. The group had two lesser hits, “This I Swear” and “Pennies from Heaven,” before disbanding in 1963. It regrouped and scored a Top 100 hit in 1975 with “Where Have They Gone.”
Jean Rochefort was a French actor who starred in more than 100 movies over a half-century. He died Oct. 8 at a hospital in Paris. He was 87. Rochefort, who started his career during the 1950s, won three Cesar awards, the French equivalent of the Academy Awards. He starred in a number of successful, critically praised French films that attracted international audiences, including “Ridicule” and “The Hairdresser’s Husband.”
Jim Landis was a Gold Glove-winning center fielder who played one season for the Kansas City A’s in the 1960s. He died Oct. 7 in Napa, Calif., of cancer, according to his son. He was 83. He joined the Chicago White Sox in 1957 and played for the pennant-winning “Go-Go Sox” in 1959. He won Gold Gloves each season from 1960 to 1964. He was traded to Kansas City in 1965 and also played for Cleveland, Houston, Detroit and Boston in his 11-year career. He was voted by fans to the White Sox Team of the Century in 2000.
Bob Schiller was an Emmy-winning comedy writer. He died Oct. 10 in Pacific Palisades, Calif., according to his daughter. He was 98. Schiller began writing for television in 1950, and his credits include “I Love Lucy,” “Maude,” “All in the Family” and “The Carol Burnett Show. He and his writing partner, Bob Weiskopf, received Emmys for “All in the Family” and Flip Wilson’s variety show “Flip.”
Nora Johnson was a novelist and memoirist who had an early success with “The World of Henry Orient,” which was published in 1958. She died Oct. 5 in Dallas. She was 84. Johnson and her screenwriter father, Nunnally Johnson, shared the writing credit on the 1964 film “The World of Henry Orient,” which was made into a movie with Peter Sellers in the title role. Her novels include “The Two of Us” (1984), “Tender Offer” (1985) and “Perfect Together” (1991).
Armando Calderon Sol was the former president of El Salvador. He died Oct. 9 at a hospital in Houston. He had been diagnosed with cancer in 2016. He was 69. Calderon Sol governed El Salvador from 1994 to 1999, after the signing of the 1992 peace accords ended 12 years of civil war.
Grady Tate was a jazz drummer who was known for his work with Peggy Lee, Quincy Jones, Ella Fitzgerald and many others. He died Oct. 8 at his home in New York. His wife said he had had dementia. He was 85. Tate started drumming professionally in the late 1950s and eventually became one of the busiest sidemen in jazz. He accompanied a wide range of singers on records, from Lena Horne and Aretha Franklin to Bette Midler and Paul Simon. He was also a member of the “Tonight Show” band for several years before the show moved from New York to California in 1972. He had a second career as a singer and released several albums.
David Patterson Sr. was one of the Navajo code talkers who served in the Marine Corps in World War II. He died Oct. 8 in Rio Rancho, N.M., of pneumonia and complications from a subdural hematoma. He was 94. Patterson was among hundreds of Navajos during World War II who used a code based on their native language to outsmart the Japanese. He was the recipient of the Silver Congressional Medal of Honor in 2001. After his military service, he became a social worker and worked for the tribe’s Division of Social Services.
Compiled from news service reports by Chris Carter, ccarter@kcstar.com.
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