Peter Graves, the rugged actor who starred in the hit TV series "Mission: Impossible" and such movies as "Stalag 17" and "Airplane" has died. He was 83.

Graves was found dead Sunday afternoon in his Pacific Palisades home from apparent natural causes, said Officer Karen Rayner of the Los Angeles Police Department.

We'll have an obit later at latimes.com/obituaries.

--Andrew Blankstein and Cara Mia DiMassa

Photo: Peter Graves in "Mission: Impossible."

Fatima Meer, a friend and biographer of Nelson Mandela, has died. She was 81.

The South African Press Assn. quoted a local politician and family friend, Logie Naidoo, as saying Meer died in a Durban hospital Friday. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Achmat Dangor, chief executive of the Nelson Mandela Foundation, said Meer had "been a close friend of Mr. Mandela and his family for more than 60 years was an academic and a stalwart of the struggle against apartheid."

Meer's Mandela biography, "Higher than Hope," was published in 1990.

Graca Machel, Mandela's wife, said in a statement that Meer's death "is a great loss to the nation because she has contributed immeasurably to the struggle against apartheid."

--Associated Press

Photo: Fatima Meer in 2009.

Credit: AFP/Getty Images

More information has been released about next weekend's memorial service to honor Bobby Espinosa, a co-founder of the L.A. band El Chicano, who died Feb. 27 at age 60.

The service is planned for 1 p.m. March 20 at St. Alphonsus Catholic Church, 532 S. Atlantic Blvd., in East L.A.

Now from the band's publicist, Joe Ortiz, comes word that there will be a reception afterward, from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at Stevens Steak & Seafood House, 5332 E. Stevens Place, Commerce.

-- Claire Noland

Photo: El Chicano in 1970. Bobby Espinosa is second from the right.

Jim Murray, The Times' Pulitzer Prize-winning sports columnist, trained his critical eye on former Los Angeles Rams great Merlin Olsen in 1973, calling him "as dependable as sunset."

In a column for Nov. 11, 1973, when the Rams were on their way to a 12-2 season, Murray wrote of Olsen the defensive stalwart:

"Olsen could dam a river. He's the last remnant of the most famous line in Ram history, if not in football's -- Deacon Jones, Roosevelt Grier, Lamar Lundy and Olsen. They could stop Hitler's tanks. They taught the public to appreciate defense. Guys who play against Olsen have trouble sleeping the night before. Also, the night after."

Merlin Olsen died Thursdayat age 69, months after being diagnosed with mesothelioma, a form of cancer that affects the lining of the lungs.

The rest of Murray's column is here.

-- Claire Noland

Photo: The Los Angeles Rams' Fearsome Foursome in 1964, from left, Lamar Lundy, Merlin Olsen, Rosey Grier and Deacon Jones. Credit: Associated Press / NFL Photos

Merlin Olsen, a Hall of Fame defensive lineman with the Los Angeles Rams who was a charter member of the team’s famed Fearsome Foursome, then made a remarkably smooth transition into careers in broadcasting and acting, has died. He was 69.

[Updated at 10:06 a.m.: Olsen died early Thursday at City of Hope hospital in Duarte after battling cancer, according to a statement from Utah State University, where he played college football.]

In December, Olsen sued NBC Studios and several other companies claiming that his exposure to asbestos since he was about 10 resulted in mesothelioma.

Olsen, played 15 seasons in the NFL from 1962 to 1976, all with the Rams. He was the league’s most valuable player in 1974 and appeared 14 times in the Pro Bowl. After retiring as a player, he spent another 15 seasons in broadcast booths as an analyst for NBC and CBS and acted in such television shows as "Little House on the Prairie" and "Father Murphy."

With the Rams, Olsen helped popularize the star power of defensive linemen sacking the quarterback. The Fearsome Foursome of Olsen, David "Deacon" Jones, Rosey Grier and Lamar Lundy, a rare bright spot on mediocre teams from 1963 to 1966, used size, speed and skill to terrorize offenses.

Read the complete obituary here.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Merlin Olsen while a member of the Los Angeles Rams in the 1960s. Credit: Vic Stein

Before psychiatrist Dr. Robert E. Litman and two psychologists opened the nation’s first comprehensive center dedicated to helping suicidal people, they had to figure out what to name it.

In his 2006 book “November of the Soul,” George Howe Colt writes about how Litman and his co-founders  — Edwin S. Shneidman and Norman L. Farberow  — settled on “Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center”:

They agreed that the title should include the word suicide. “It was time for the taboo problem and its attendant stigma to be brought out into the open where it could be acknowledged and dealt with openly and constructively,” they wrote. “We were also aware that what we were planning to do was not prevention, it was intervention," recalls Litman. “But Suicide Intervention Center?” He shrugs. “Didn’t have a ring to it. Sounded lofty. So we decided to call it Suicide Prevention Center as a challenge rather than hide behind a less provocative title.” On September 1, 1958, the Los Angeles Suicide Prevention Center opened with one phone line and a staff of five.

Litman died Feb. 14 at 88, and Shneidman died last year at 91.

The 92-year-old Farberow still volunteers at the center, which is now part of the Didi Hirsch Community Mental Health Center in Los Angeles.

-- Valerie J. Nelson

Photo: Norman L. Farberow, left, with Robert E. Litman. Credit: Thomas Neerken

 

 

Actor Corey Haim, who became a teenage star in such 1980s movies as "Lucas" and "The Lost Boys," died early Wednesday at Providence St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank of an apparent drug overdose. He was 38.

Haim had struggled with drug problems for years. He and another former teen actor, Corey Feldman, appeared for two seasons in an A&E reality program, "The Two Coreys." It was canceled in 2008.

A full obituary will appear later at www.latimes.com/obits.

-- Claire Noland

Here are some additional comments on the death of former Dodger star outfielder Willie Davis.

"He was beloved by generations of Dodger fans and remains one of the most talented players ever to wear the Dodger uniform," owner Frank McCourt said in a statement. "Having spent time with him over the past six years, I know how proud he was to have been a Dodger. He will surely be missed, and our sincere thoughts are with his children during this difficult time."

Dodger manager Joe Torre in an interview with The Times' Dylan Hernandez: "Willie was always such a young man in my eyes because of how he was able to move so easily."

And another former Dodger great, shortstop Maury Wills, told Hernandez: "Our bench would go crazy when he hit triples. His cap would come off, a la Willie Mays.... He would've made a great 440 or 220 track man."

You can find Davis' news obituary here.

--Keith Thursby

Photo: Willie Davis played for the Dodgers from 1960 to 1973.

Credit: Los Angeles Dodgers 

Two of the oldest people in the world have died on the same day.

Mary Josephine Ray, who was certified as the oldest person living in the United States, died Sunday at 114 years, 294 days. She died at a nursing home in Westmoreland, N.H., but was active until about two weeks before her death, her granddaughter Katherine Ray said.

"She just enjoyed life. She never thought of dying at all," Katherine Ray said. "She was planning for her birthday party."

Ray died just hours before Daisey Bailey, who was 113 years, 342 days, said L. Stephen Coles, a director of the Gerontology Research Group, which tracks and studies old people and certifies those 110 or older, called supercentenarians.

"It’s very rare that two of our supercentenarians die on the same day," Coles said.

Bailey, who was born March 30, 1896, died in Detroit, he said.

She had suffered from dementia, said her family, who claimed she was born in 1895.

Ray, who was born May 17, 1895, in Bloomfield, Prince Edward Island, Canada, and moved to the United States as a toddler, was the oldest person in the United States and the second-oldest in the world, the Gerontology Research Group said.

The oldest living American is now Neva Morris, of Ames, Iowa, at 114 years, 216 days. The oldest person in the world is Japan’s Kama Chinen at age 114 years, 301 days.

-- Associated Press

Upper photo: Mary Josephine Ray in 2006. Credit: Associated Press

Lower photo: Daisey Bailey in 2008. Credit: Associated Press 

Willie Davis, the gifted baseball player who roamed center field for the Dodgers from 1960 to 1973, was found dead Tuesday at his home in Burbank at age 69.

Davis was a bright offensive star for the Dodgers, hitting in 31 consecutive games in 1969. But many will remember the day in 1966 when he made three errors in one World Series game. On Oct. 6, 1966, against the Baltimore Orioles, Davis lost three fly balls in the sun at Dodger Stadium. 

According to reporter Charles Maher's account in The Times the next day, Davis came back to the dugout after the inning and told pitcher Sandy Koufax, "I'm sorry, I just lost them in the sun."

Koufax said: "Don't let it get you down."

Pitcher Don Drysdale said: "Hell, forget it. ... You've saved a lot of games for me with great catches."

Read the rest of the story here. And you'll find Jim Murray's column from that day here.

The Dodgers wound up making six errors total that day and were swept by the Orioles in four games.

A full obituary will appear later at www.latimes.com/obits.

-- Claire Noland

Photo: Willie Davis in 1970. Credit: Associated Press