Died. Louis G. Cowan, 66, former president of CBS-TV and oft-called "father of the quiz show"; and his wife Pauline Cowan, 63; following a flash fire in their apartment; in Manhattan. Cowan created radio's Quiz Kids in 1940 and television's phenomenally popular $64,000 Question in 1955. He resigned from CBS in 1959 and, among other things, went on to found Chilmark Press, book publishers, and become a professor at the Columbia School of Journalism.
Died. The Rev. Cyril Richardson, 67, specialist in early Christian literature and history, and a longtime advocate of the ordination of women; following a heart attack; in Manhattan. An Episcopalian, Richardson was a member of the faculty of New York City's Union Theological Seminary from 1934 to 1974. As early as 1951 he argued that the true Christian society was one in which male and female were "complementary to each other" and "equal in the sense that neither has priority."
Died. Jean Gabin, 72, veteran of nearly 100 films and one of France's top box office stars for four decades; following a heart attack; in Neuilly, France. A factory laborer before becoming an actor, Gabin was best known for his low-key portrayals of handsome, earthy loners: the Spanish legionnaire in La Bandera (1935), the jewel thief in Pépé le Moko (1937), the soldier-mechanic in Jean Renoir's classic, Grand Illusion (1937). His memorable later roles included the lawyer who falls in love with a prostitute (Brigitte Bardot) in Love Is My Profession (1959). As bourgeois in his private life as he often was on screen, Gabin told a recent interviewer that politicians were "bad actors and dangerous."
Died. Man Ray, 86, American-born artist known as the last of the red-hot Dadas; in Paris. A short, wiry man with penetrating eyes, Ray cultivated a sense of surprise, even contradiction, in his work. He often mocked the traditions of art—and of just about anything else —that stood in the way of what was possibly his greatest creation: his indomitable individuality. A resident of Paris since 1921 (except for a ten-year stretch in Hollywood starting in 1940), Ray was most successful as a photographer. His other work included Rayographs (images made by placing objects directly on photosensitive paper), startling constructions built out of everyday items (such as a flatiron studded with a row of tacks), and paintings, about which he was the most serious. Ray delighted in having no readily identifiable style. "Life is an instant, a one-day insect," he once said. "There's no time to do two things alike."