MILESTONES

DIED. DARREN ROBINSON, 28, one of the Fat Boys, three rotund rappers of the 1980s who praised hip-hop, hedonism and high cholesterol in a series of gold albums and boisterous B films; of cardiac arrest during a bout of the flu; in New York City.

DIED. VIVIAN BLAINE, 74, actress; of congestive heart failure; in New York City. In the first years of the '50s, audiences were drawn to Broadway by the singing, dancing swirl of gamblers, cops and missionaries in Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls. But it was a lone blond in an empty nightclub who stopped the show, poignantly, comically complaining in song of her unmarried state. The five minutes of adenoidal lyricism known as Adelaide's Lament made Vivian Blaine a White Way legend, so linked to the character of the warmhearted show girl who spoke Runyonese that she was the only lead from the original run to appear in the 1955 movie (opposite Frank Sinatra as the altar-averse Nathan Detroit).

DIED. EVANGELINE BRUCE, 77, writer, philanthropist and influential grand master of the dinner-party politics of being wife of a diplomat (Foreign Service fixture David Bruce) at home and abroad; in Washington.

DIED. DOUGLAS ("Wrong Way") CORRIGAN, 88, aviator; in Orange, California. The high-flying Corrigan broke no records for air speed or distance but set a new standard for sheer gall. In July 1938 federal officials in New York examined Corrigan's aircraft and, deciding it owed more to Rube Goldberg than Orville Wright, refused to approve his planned transatlantic flight. Corrigan agreed to return to California--but once in the air, headed east. Touching down in Ireland 28 hours later, Corrigan, straight-faced but twinkle-eyed, attributed his detour to a faulty compass. This combination of chutzpah and heroism propelled him to international celebrity, leading to a Hollywood biopic (he played himself) and a lifetime of personal appearances.