Milestones

By Harriet Barovick, Ann Marie Bonardi, Beau Briese, Rhett Butler, Christina Lewis, Ellin Martens, Benjamin Nugent, Ryan Schick, Heather Won Tesoriero, Kadesha Thomas

SENTENCED. ROBERT DOWNEY JR., 35, oft-arrested, Oscar-nominated film actor and Ally McBeal co-star; in Indio, Calif.; to a one-year, live-in drug treatment center and three years' probation, after pleading no contest to possession of cocaine and being under the influence. "This is not a gift of the court," Judge Randall White told Downey. "This is going to be hard work."

SENTENCED. JEFFREY ARCHER, 61, former deputy chairman of Britain's Tory party and best-selling novelist, to four years in prison; for perjury and obstruction of justice; in London. After asking friend Ted Francis to support a fake alibi to counter a newspaper's claim that he'd had an affair with a prostitute, Archer sued the Daily Star for libel and won. Justice Francis Potts called Archer's actions "the most serious offense of perjury I have experienced."

ELECTED. JACQUES ROGGE, 59, as president of the International Olympic Committee; in Moscow. A Belgian-born orthopedic surgeon and former three-time Olympian in sailing, Rogge will oversee I.O.C. reform in light of the Salt Lake City bribery scandal. He said that he will try to reduce the influence of performance-enhancing drugs.

DIED. KATHARINE GRAHAM, 84, retired owner of Newsweek and the Washington Post, Beltway socialite and Pulitzer-prizewinning memoirist; of head injuries in a fall; in Boise, Idaho. After taking over the newspaper in 1963 following the death of her husband Philip, Graham guided the Post's transformation into one of the most powerful newspapers in the country, joining the New York Times in its 1971 quest to publish the Pentagon papers and overseeing her paper's history-making pursuit of the Watergate scandal. (See Appreciation, page 64.)

DIED. MIMI FARINA, 56, folk singer and sister of Joan Baez; of complications from lung cancer; in Mill Valley, Calif. An accomplished vocalist and fixture of the '60s folk scene, Farina founded Bread & Roses, an organization that enlisted well-known artists to perform in prisons, psychiatric facilities, senior centers and homes for abused children. A talented guitar player who began singing with her sister at age 14, she married Richard Farina at 18 (novelist Thomas Pynchon was best man at their wedding) and recorded two albums with him before Richard died in a motorcycle accident in 1966. Their lives are chronicled in David Hajdu's recently published book, Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina.

DIED. GUNTHER GEBEL-WILLIAMS, 66, Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus animal trainer; of cancer; in Venice, Fla. Gebel-Williams, the best-known animal trainer in the world, diminutive at 5 ft. 4 in., trained tigers and leopards to jump through flaming hoops and wrap their bodies around his neck. Though a gifted trainer, he lost teeth and bore deep scars from the huge animals, with whom he performed in 12,000 shows. When Kenny, one of his beloved panthers, died, his skin was preserved and displayed in Gebel-Williams' living room.