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Died. Constance Bennett, 59, petite, slender (5 ft. 4 in., 97 Ibs.) Hollywood glamour girl of the 1930s, daughter of Actor Richard Bennett (and elder sister of Joan), who made a bit-part debut at 16 as a flapper in Samuel Goldwyn's Cytherea, later ruled the Pathe lot as its highest-paid star (a peak of $30,000 a week) playing a succession of sophisticated heiresses and emancipated businesswomen (Sally, Irene and Mary, This Thing Called Love, the Topper films); of a cerebral hemorrhage; in Fort Dix, N.J. Herself an astute businesswoman, she followed her movie career with successful ventures in the cosmetic and fashion industries, was married five times, since 1946 to U.S. Air Force Brigadier General John Theron Coulter, commander of the New York Air Defense Sector.
Died. Henri Daniel-Rops (real name: Henri Petiot), 65, teacher, renowned traditionalist historian of the Roman Catholic Church and member of the French Academy, whose more than 70 books, including a seven-volume History of the Church of Christ, provoked a lively renaissance of religious interest in anticlerical France, while his sprightly Jesus and His Times became France's most widely read book (more than 500,000 copies sold since 1945) and won him the title "le bestseller"; of a cerebral hemorrhage; in Aix-les-Bains, France.
Died. Dorothy Johnston Killam, 66, U.S.-born widow of Canadian Financier Izaak Walton Killam and beneficiary of his $150-million estate, an ardent baseball fan who in 1956 tried unsuccess fully to save the Dodgers for New York by offering to buy the team for $6,000,000; of a heart attack; at her villa in Cap d'Ail, France.
Died. Junichiro Tanizaki, 79, dean of Japanese letters (The Key, The Makioka Sisters), the son of a Tokyo rice broker, known as the Orient's D. H. Lawrence for his 119 novels of sex and marriage in which he portrayed men as willing slaves, often fetishists, to the power of the weaker sex; of a heart attack; in Yugawara, Japan.
Died. Harrison Earl Spangler, 86, onetime Cedar Rapids attorney, Republican National Committee Chairman (1942-44), a compromise choice during World War II of the sharply divided G.O.P., who turned out to be ineffectual in the job, stayed on as a committee member until 1952; of pneumonia; in Portland, Ore.