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Page 6 - The Michigan Daily - Friday, October 11, 1985
Loss of celebrities is delmournetC
(Continuer!trom Page 5)
strength that astounded his doctors.
He fought like a lion," Ellis said.
Lights on marquees and theatres
along Broadway were to be dimmed
at 8 p.m. Thursday "in the king's
memory," Ellis said.
"He was a charming and amusing,
man of many talents although, of
course he will be identified as the king
forever," Deborah Kerr, who starred
with Brynner in the 1956 movie ver-
sion of "The King and I" said from
her villa in Marbella, Spain.
In his thousands of performances as
the king of Siam, Brynner was lord
and master over 189 wives, 447
children and 12 Annas during 34 years
of stage performances that ended in
June. More than 3.6 million
theatregoers are estimated to have
seen him in the role on Broadway and
another 4.5 million on the road.
"He had so many facets as an actor.
And of course, he grew in the part of
the king. He became the king," said
Mary Martin, who recommended
Brynner to Richard Rodgers and
Oscar Hammerstein for the job as the
imperious ruler of Siam.
Brynner shaved his head for the
part, and it became his trademark af-
ter the show opened on Broadway in
1951.
The role brought him a Tony in 1952,
an Oscar in 1957 for the film version,
and a special Tony in June which Miss
Martin presented. Brynner played his
final performance as the monarch
June 30 in New York at the end of a
national tour that had lasted almost
4% years. Brynner made more than
three dozen movies, including The
Ten Commandments, The Magnificent
Seven, Anastasia, Taras Bulba and
Westworld.
Brynner's final tour in the musical
was interrupted in September 1983
when the actor, who at one time
smoked five packs of cigarettes a
day, began treatment for lung cancer
in Los Angeles.
"I think that the discipline I
acquired through 53 years of working
in show business has helped me
enormously with my -own physical
problems, whether it was a crash in
the circus when I was 17 or the serious
illness which I had more recently,"'
Brynner said in an interview in 4
December.
"You have to make a choice -
being sick in bed, and that's a fear-
some kind of thing - or playing in a
theatre to standing ovations every
night. The choice is obvious. I simply
go on playing."
Brynner was born Taidje Khan on,
Sakhalin Island, north of Japan. His'
father was a Mongolian mining
engineer who later changed then
family name to Brynner. His mother 4
was a gypsy who died at his birth.;
Brynner's early childhood was spent
in Peking but he went to Paris to live
with his grandmother and study.
In 1983, Brynner married Ms. Lee,;
the lead royal dancer in his final tours
of The King and I.
Family and friends held a private
service Thursday, and a memorials
service will be scheduled later, Ellis
said.
Shriekback descends on Motor City
f t
s
a
Associated Press
Orson Welles gestures as he speaks in front of a large poster of himself in a scene from his famous
movie 'Citizen Kane.' Welles directed, wrote, and starred in the film.
S INCE THEIR inception in 1981,
England's Shriekback has main-
tained a consistently low profile.
Originally formed by ex-Gang of Four
bassist Dave Allen and ex-XTC
vocalist/keyboardist Barry Andrews
(along with vocalist Carl Marsh), the
band was sort of an early new wave
"supergroup."
Shriekback will be playing in
Detroit at St. Andrews Hall this
Saturday, October 12. Doors open at 9
p.m. for all those ready to be grooved
by a truly unique and challenging
combo.
The band's first release was a 12"
EP called Tench, a dense, rich,
rhythmic record overlaid with vocal
effects and a hearty dose of tape
loops. Soon after, Shriekback recor-
ded their first full length album, titled
Care. On this effort, the band's tough,
angular rhythmic sound became
cleaner and more defined but not at
the expense of intensity or originality.
The album yielded two small scale
hits, "My Spine (is the Bassline)" and
"Lined Up," both of which received
sizeable amounts of attention at dan-
ce clubs and college radio stations.
At this point, Shriekback took a
short break from the American
market. Their next album, Jam
Science, was only released in their
native England. The LP showed how
the band's funky, physical sound
could be refined to create more
moody and atmospheric results
(although this was done to some ex.
tent on their previous discs).
Like its predecessors, Jam Science
featured the band's somewhatt.
skewed lyrical insights into thy
human condition, and other such
esoteric musing which have come to
characterize the Shriekback ap1
proach.
In 1984, Shriekback moved to th
Island label and permanently add
drummer Martyn Baker to thei
lineup. Along with additional guitarist
Lu, the quartet released this year'
Oil and Gold. While it is certainl
more pop influenced than it
predecessors, Oil and Gold remains a
dense, juicy and highly original record,
It has produced one big dance floo#
smash, the rousing "Nemesis," a
well as one of my personal favorit
of '85, "Everything that Rises M
Converge," a true powerhouse that
makes me feel like a rattlesnake in 4
meat grinder.
--Rob Michaes
I
The Office of Major Events P
AN EVENING WITH
resents
THURSDAY, OCTOBER 17
HILL AUDITORIUM 8:00 P.M.
Tickets available at the Michigan Union Box Office
and at all Ticket World Outlets
Charge by Phone 763-TKTS
T-SHIRTS
Fln tstones, Gumby,
Madonna, New Wave
Ann Arbor
Music Mart
I
336 S. State
769-4980
t.
OPE
2
HOURS.
I
KO'S.
1
0
14
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Great copies and complete services, day or night.
!AM