• November 21, 1994
• Vol. 42
• No. 21

Passages

By Mary Huzinec

Michael O'Donoghue, 54, one of the original writers and cast members of Saturday Night Live, died of a massive cerebral hemorrhage Nov. 8 at a hospital in New York City. O'Donoghue, who was responsible for many of the show's most memorable and mordant skits, won Emmys for his comedy writing in 1976 and 1977. He also worked on-camera, usually as Mr. Mike, who told twisted bedtime stories and liked to stick needles in his eyes. The character was featured in his 1979 film Mr. Mike's Mondo Video. O'Donoghue later went on to cowrite and appear in the 1988 Bill Murray comedy Scrooged....

Fred Smith, 45, guitarist for the '60s rock band MC5 and husband of punk rocker Patti Smith, 47, died of a heart attack on Nov. 5 at a hospital in Detroit. Smith, known to his fans as Sonic, most recently collaborated with his wife on music for the Wim Wenders film Until the End of the World (1991). They have a son, Jackson, 12, and a daughter, Jesse, 7....

Bandleader Milton "Shorty" Rogers, 70, a jazz trumpeter and arranger who helped pioneer the mid-1950s style known as West Coast jazz, died of liver failure Nov. 7 in a hospital in Van Nuys, Calif. Rogers, once an arranger and performer for the Woody Herman band, also arranged the music for the 1954 movie The Wild One, starring Marlon Brando, and for the Frank Sinatra film The Man with the Golden Arm (1956).

Actor Richard Thomas, 43, John Boy Walton in the TV series The Waltons (1972-81), is engaged to marry Georgiana Bischoff (age not available), a dealer in southwestern art and artifacts, later this year. It will be the second marriage for both. Thomas has four children (including 13-year-old triplets) from his 18-year marriage to his first wife, Alma. Bischoff has two daughters.

Encouraging fortysomethings everywhere, George Foreman, 45, a 3-to-1 underdog, became the oldest heavyweight boxing champion on Nov. 5, knocking out defending champ Michael Moorer, 26, at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Foreman, who defeated Joe Frazier for the heavyweight title in 1973 and then lost it the following year to Muhammad Ali, returned to boxing in 1987 after a 10-year hiatus.

Ruth Tyrangiel, 47, filed a palimony suit on Nov. 2 in L.A. Superior Court against singer-songwriter Bob Dylan, 53, who, she claims, was her companion for nearly 20 years. Though she doesn't name titles, Tyrangiel says that she cowrote songs with Dylan and helped manage his career until last year, when he broke off their relationship. Tyrangiel says Dylan had promised she would inherit half of his property in the event of his death or their separation. She is asking for a monthly stipend, half of Dylan's still undetermined assets and $5 million in damages. Dylan's spokesman says the claim that the singer and Tyrangiel had any sort of agreement "is wholly without basis and is categorically denied."...

Former Presbyterian minister Paul Hill, 40, was found guilty on Nov. 2 in Circuit Court in Pensacola, Fla., of murdering Dr. John B. Brit-ton, 69, and his escort James H. Barrett, 74, last July 29 outside the Pensacola Ladies Center clinic, where Britton performed abortions. A jury recommended the death penalty for Hill, whose attempt to enter a defense of justifiable homicide was denied since neither Britton nor Barrett was engaged in an illegal activity. A judge will decide on Nov. 30 if Hill will receive life imprisonment or face the electric chair. On Dec. 9, Hill will be sentenced by a federal judge for his Oct. 5 conviction of blocking access to the clinic.