Milestones
DIED Before Sandy Allen's record height brought her fame, it was a crippling burden. Spurred by a pituitary tumor, the world's tallest woman grew to 7 ft. 7 in. (2.3 m). As a youngster, she felt isolated from her peers. "My social life is practically nil," Allen wrote to Guinness World Records in 1974. "Perhaps the publicity from your book may brighten my life." It did. In short order, she scored a role in a feature film and her first date. The Indiana native later wrote a book and toured schools and churches, teaching kids that beauty comes in all sizes. After a series of illnesses, she died at 53.
o A beloved Palestinian poet whose work has been translated into 35 languages, Mahmoud Darwish wrote verses that often revolved around the struggles of his people. As he wrote in one poem: "They threw him out of every port/ And took away his young beloved/ And then they said: You're a refugee." Yet Darwish, who lived in exile for many years after being repeatedly detained for his political activism, eventually grew jaded and heartbroken about the internal strife plaguing his countrymen. After Hamas seized control of Gaza in 2007, he said sorrowfully, "One people now have two states, two prisons who don't greet each other. We are victims dressed in executioners' clothing." Darwish died after undergoing open-heart surgery, at age 67.
o With a client list that ranged from John Belushi to Jim Henson, Hollywood producer and manager Bernie Brillstein had an impact that reached broadly across the entertainment industry. His success was probably assisted by his ability to laugh at himself, as evidenced by his tongue-in-cheek 1999 memoir, Where Did I Go Right?: You're No One in Hollywood Unless Someone Wants You Dead. He was also known for jesting frequently that when he died, his tombstone should read "Bernie Brillstein: From Hee Haw to Dangerous Liaisons." He was 77.