December 15, 2004. Copyright 2004, Graphic News. All rights reserved

Review 2004: Last Farewells
By Julie Mullins

LONDON, December 15, Graphic News:  Captions accompany photomontage GN17295

1. Former U.S. President Ronald Reagan, 93, died June 5 following a 10-year battle with AlzheimerÕs disease. World leaders attended the state funeral of the Òcheerful crusaderÓ who devoted his presidency to winning the Cold War, trying to scale back government, and making people believe it was Òmorning again in AmericaÓ

2. Actress Janet Leigh, best remembered for her role as the victim of a horrific shower stabbing in Alfred HitchcockÕs classic thriller Psycho, died October 3, aged 77. Her performance, for which she was Oscar-nominated, became an iconic moment in cimema history. Leigh was also the mother of Hollywood star Jamie Lee Curtis

3. Two DNA pioneers died during the year. British-born scientist Francis Crick (left), who with American colleague James Watson discovered the double helix structure of DNA, died July 29 aged 88. Crick and Watson had been inspired by the work of Maurice Wilkins (right), whose use of X-ray diffraction techniques obtained images of DNA clear enough to show well-defined patterns. Further X-ray studies by New Zealand-born Wilkins established the correctness of the Crick-Watson proposal and the three were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine in 1962. Wilkins, 87, died October 5

4. Sir Peter Ustinov, double-Oscar winning actor, playwright, author and journalist, died March 29, aged 82. He was also a renowned raconteur and was admired worldwide for his charity work as an ambassador for Unicef. Born in London of Russian parents, his movie roles ranged from the evil emperor Nero in Quo Vadis, to dapper Belgian sleuth Hercule Poirot

5. Legendary R&B musician Ray Charles died from acute liver disease, aged 73, on June 10. A pioneer of soul music whose best-known songs included Georgia on My Mind, Hit the Road Jack, and I CanÕt Stop Loving You, Charles had been blind from glaucoma since the age of six

6. Screen legend Marlon Brando died July 1, aged 80. One of the most influential actors of his generation, he was Oscar-nominated eight times, winning Best Actor for On the Waterfront (1954) and The Godfather (1972). In a turbulent personal life, Brando had at least 11 children with three wives and other women, and in later years became increasingly reclusive, very overweight, and reportedly lost much of his fortune

7. Veteran broadcaster and writer Alistair Cooke, 95, died March 30, just weeks after retiring from his BBC radio series, Letter from America, which ran for 58 years. The 15-minute weekly reflections, broadcast to 50 countries, monitored the pulse of the United States and covered some of the most momentous events in its history, from the Kennedy assassinations to the 9/11 attacks

8. Cosmetics queen Estee Lauder, who turned a business selling her uncleÕs skin creams into an international empire worth $10 billion, died April 25 at age 95. She proved to be a master saleswoman and in 1998, was the only woman to feature in Time magazineÕs top 20 most influential business names of the 20th century

9. Christopher Reeve, star of the Superman movies until a riding accident turned him into a passionate and high-profile advocate for spinal cord research, died of heart failure on October 10, aged only 52. ReeveÕs foundation, set up to support the development of treatments and cures for paralysis, has been a major fundraiser in the field and has forced the issue of stem cell research on to the U.S. political agenda

10. British broadcaster John Peel, whose enthusiasm for the offbeat and obscure launched numerous musical careers, died October 25, aged 65. His radio show, on which he championed acts ranging from Jimi Hendrix and David Bowie to The Smiths and the White Stripes, and promoted reggae, hip-hop and punk long before they crossed into the mainstream, exerted a huge influence worldwide for over 30 years

11. Legendary Dutch athlete Fanny Blankers-Koen died January 25, aged 85. The 30-year-old mother of two became the only female athlete to win four gold medals at a single Olympics, in London in 1948, and set 20 world records during her career. In 1999 the IAAF voted her female athlete of the 20th century

12. Gallic charmer Sacha Distel, 71, died on July 22 after a long battle with cancer. The  singer, who enjoyed high-profile relationships with Brigitte Bardot and Juliette Greco, had a string of hits in the 1960s and 1970s but is best remembered for his cover version of Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head, which made him a worldwide star

13. Henri Cartier-Bresson, regarded by many as the founding father of photojournalism, died in southern France on August 2, aged 95. In 1947 he set up the Magnum agency with Robert Capa and David Seymour. Among the topics Cartier-Bresson covered in almost 20 years with Magnum were Mao ZedongÕs victory in China and the assassination of Indian nationlist leader Mahatma Gandhi

14. Fay Wray, whose image as the scantily-clad beauty clasped by the infatuated giant gorilla King Kong against the New York skyline remains a seminal moment in cinematic history, died August 8, aged 96. Wray later recalled how the director had promised her the Òtallest, darkest leading man in HollywoodÓ, and assumed she would be playing opposite Clark Gable

15. Veteran Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat, revered by his people as the symbol of their struggle for nationhood for 40 years, but reviled as a terrorist by others, died in a French military hospital on November 11, aged 75. His body was flown to Cairo for a funeral attended by Arab and other leaders before being returned to his Ramallah compound for burial
/ENDS