Monday, Mar. 14, 1955

Divorced. Ed Wynn (real name: Isaiah Edwin Leopold), 68, lisping, giggling stage and TV comic and father of Cinemactor Keenan Wynn; by Dorothy Elizabeth Nesbitt, 50; after 8 1/2 years of marriage, no children; in Santa Monica, Calif.

Died. Lieut. General Francois Gonzales de Linares, 57, Inspector General of the French Army, commander of the French Far Eastern forces which smashed the 1952~53 Viet Minh offensive against Hanoi; of a cerebral hemorrhage; in Baden-Baden, Germany.

Died. Fernand Point, 58, 300-lb., 65-inch-girthed prince of French restaurateurs, owner of the Restaurant des Pyramides, famed gourmets' oasis on the road between Paris and the Riviera; after long illness; in Vienne, France. Gourmet Point mercilessly ejected between-course smokers, got the Legion of Honor from General De Lattre de Tassigny and the Distinguished Service Medal from Britain's King George VI for his services as "ambassador of French gastronomy."

Died. William W. Smith II, 67, president of Smith Brothers Cough Drops, great-grandson of Company Founder (in 1847) James Smith, and grandson of William Smith, whose familiar, luxuriantly bearded face still appears with that of brother Andrew on the company's 5-c- pocket package; of a heart attack; in Poughkeepsie, N.Y.

Died. Tom Howard. 69, veteran vaudeville and stage comedian (The Gang's All Here, Rain or Shine), most recently the writer and thick-witted quizmaster of radio's It Pays to Be Ignorant; of a heart ailment; in Long Branch. N.J.

Died. Ethel Levey, 73, first wife of the late Song-and-Dance Man George M. Cohan, and musical comedy headliner of the U.S. and British stage (George Washington, Jr., Hullo Ragtime, Goodbye, Flo); of a heart attack; in Manhattan.

Died. Sir Stephen J. Pigott, 75, U.S.-born British marine engineer and father-in-law of Senator Estes Kefauver, knighted in 1939 for his work in designing the engines that power the Queen Mary and the Queen Elizabeth; at Closeburn Castle, Dumfriesshire, Scotland.

Died. William C. de Mille. 76. veteran playwright (Strongheart, The Warrens of Virginia) and motion picture director (Craig's Wife, Passion Flower), onetime (1941-53) head of the University of Southern California's drama department, brother of Producer-Director Cecil B. De-Mille and father of Choreographer Agnes de Mille; in Playa del Rey. Calif.

Died. Trixie Friganza (real name: Brigid O'Callaghan), 83, famed turn-of-the-century musical comedy star (Sally in Our Alley, Hit the Deck) and silent screen comedienne (The Road to Yesterday, Free and Easy), known as vaudeville's "Champagne Girl": at the Sacred Heart Academy in Flintridge, Calif., where she had been living in retirement since 1939.

Died. Mother Mary Katharine Drexel, 96, Philadelphia heiress turned nun, widely honored as the founder (in 1891) and first superior general of the Sisters of the Blessed Sacrament for Indians and Colored People; in Cornwells Heights, Pa. The daughter of Multimillionaire Banker Francis Anthony Drexel, Mother Katharine renounced personal wealth and social position in her 20s, dedicated her life and the income from her $7,500,000 inheritance to charitable and educational work among American Indians and Negroes.

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