Milestones

BORN. To Crystal Gayle, 35, sultry-voiced country-pop singer (Making Up for Lost Time), and Bill Gatzimos, 33, her manager-husband: their second child, first son; in Nashville. Name: Christos James. Weight: 6 lbs. 5 3/4 oz.

DIED. Howard Greenfield, 49, pop-rock lyricist whose hits with collaborator (and high school buddy) Neil Sedaka included the 1975 Grammy winner Love Will Keep Us Together as well as Stupid Cupid, Calendar Girl, Breaking Up Is Hard to Do and Happy Birthday, Sweet Sixteen; of a brain tumor; in Los Angeles.

DIED. Eugen Gerstenmaier, 79, West German political leader who helped establish democratic reforms after World War II and served as President of the Bundestag from 1954 to 1969; of a stroke; in Bonn. Imprisoned by the Nazis for his involvement in the 1944 plot to assassinate Hitler, Gerstenmaier in the 1950s vigorously supported reconciliation with Israel and negotiated reparation payments to help ease bitter feelings.

DIED. Ray Milland, 79, Welsh-born actor whose intelligent, graceful and urbane professionalism distinguished both dramatic and comedic roles in more than 120 films, including Easy Living (1937), Beau Geste (1939), The Major and the Minor (1942), The Big Clock (1948), Dial M for Murder (1954) and Love Story (1970), as well as most memorably The Lost Weekend (1945), in which his searing portrait of a desperate alcoholic earned him an Oscar; of cancer; in Torrance, Calif. Once one of the best handgun and rifle marksmen in the British army, the dashing Milland stumbled into acting in minor roles, went to Hollywood and so enjoyed his craft that he abandoned a brief retirement in the early 1960s to take TV and movie character parts almost until his death.

DIED. Henry J. Friendly, 82, judge for 27 years on the Second Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals; an apparent suicide (by pill overdose) one year after the death of his wife of 55 years; in New York City. An Eisenhower appointee, Friendly wrote lucid and precedent-setting opinions on civil, criminal and constitutional issues that earned him a reputation (along with the late Learned Hand, among others) as one of the greatest U.S. jurists never to sit on the Supreme Court.

DIED. Myron Cohen, 83, stand-up comic who was a star on the Las Vegas, Atlantic City and Catskill Borscht Belt circuit for 40 years, and a favorite of TV audiences on the old Ed Sullivan hour and the Tonight show; after a heart attack; in Nyack, N.Y. A onetime salesman in New York City's garment district, Cohen specialized in dialect stories and ethnic jokes that were sometimes blue, usually hilarious, but always gentle.