Died. "Mama" Cass Elliot, 33, gargantuan, silvery-voiced pop-rock singer; after choking on a ham sandwich; in London. Born Ellen Naomi Cohen in Baltimore, Mama Cass sang with a few unmemorable Greenwich Village folk groups in the early 1960s before contributing her gutsy contralto to the Mamas and the Papas, the quartet that created such euphonious superhits as Monday, Monday and California Dreamin'. When the group broke up in 1968, the Earth Motherly (5 ft. 5 in., as much as 250 Ibs.) Elliot embarked on a successful solo career. More than 300 people, including such luminaries as Carol Burnett, Peter Lawford and now divorced ex-Mama and Papa Michelle and John Phillips, attended the Hollywood funeral.
Died. Don McCafferty, 53, even-tempered head coach of the National Football League's Detroit Lions; of an apparent heart attack; in Pontiac, Mich. McCafferty joined the Baltimore Colts as an assistant offensive coach in 1959, succeeded tough-talking Don Shula as head coach in 1970 and guided the team to a Super Bowl victory in his first season. Less than two years later, he was dismissed by Colts General Manager Joe Thomas—ostensibly for refusing to bench Aging Star Quarterback Johnny Unitas (TIME, Aug. 5)—and signed on with the Lions in January of 1973.
Died. Lois Long, 73, fashion editor of The New Yorker for more than four decades; in Saratoga, N.Y. A minister's daughter, Long joined The New Yorker in 1925 as "Lipstick," its chatty nightclub columnist. Soon she began pointedly commenting about Fifth Avenue's ladies-wear trade in "On and Off the Avenue," a column that for years she simply signed "L.L."
Died. Ildebrando Cardinal Antoniutti, 75, longtime Vatican diplomat, official of the Roman Curia and, most recently, camerlengo, or chamberlain, of the church, the prelate who administers the Holy See and supervises the election of a new Pope after the incumbent's death; in an automobile crash; near Bologna, Italy.
Died. Harry Manning, 77, retired Vice Admiral of the U.S. Maritime Service, a crackerjack seaman who executed the bone-chilling lifeboat rescue of the crew of the Italian freighter Florida in 1929, accompanied Amelia Earhart as navigator on her first attempt to fly around the globe, and skippered the passenger liner United States on her 1952 maiden voyage across the Atlantic and back in record time (6 days, 22 hours, 52 minutes); after a long illness; in Saddle River, N.J.