Concluding Assessments

• Journalist and author Richard Hammer, who died on October 17 at age 93, is remembered for having penned what The New York Times says were “more than a dozen books explored crimes ranging from the My Lai massacre during the Vietnam War to a securities fraud case involving the Vatican Bank …” In addition, though, as The Gumshoe Site notes, Hammer “won two fact-crime Edgars from the Mystery Writers of America (MWA) for The Vatican Connection (Holt, 1982) and The CBS Murders (Morrow, 1987), and served as executive vice president of MWA (1995-1997). He also co-wrote (with Vincent Murano) two novels featuring NYPD detective Bob Rogers: The Thursday Club (Simon & Schuster, 1992) and The Dead File (St. Martin’s, 1996).”

• New York City-born character actor Italo Valentino “Val” Bisoglio, who made multiple appearances as restaurateur Danny Tovo on Quincy, M.E., died on October 18 of Lewy body dementia, aged 95. The International Movie Database (IMDb) credits Bisoglio with almost half a century's experience in films and on television, including roles in The Hindenburg (1975) and St. Ives (1976), and on such series as Longstreet, The Bold Ones, Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Ironside, McMillan & Wife, The Rockford Files, and Miami Vice. Bisoglio played his final TV part as Murf Lupo in three episodes of The Sopranos.

(Left) Gigi Garner announces her mother’s death on Twitter.

• Another significant passing: The former Lois Josephine Fleischman Clarke, who was married to film and TV star James Garner (Maverick, The Rockford Files) for 57 years—until his demise in 2014—died recently at age 98, according to their younger daughter, Gigi. Garner recalled in his 2011 memoir, The Garner Files, that he met Clarke (born on July 6, 1923) during an Adlai Stevenson-for-President rally in Los Angeles. “Stevenson lost,” he wrote, but “I won,” because that Democratic event gave the Oklahoma-born Garner the chance to strike up a conversation with the petite Clarke, a Southern California native. “The lovebirds didn’t waste any time: after two weeks of whirlwind romance, they tied the knot on August 17, 1956,” says a Web site called Fabiosa. “Although James’ family members and friends were skeptical about the marriage because of their contrasting backgrounds—he was a Methodist, she was Jewish—James and Lois didn’t care.” The couple endured difficulties during their long partnership (including two separations), yet they stayed together and reared two daughters, the elder of whom came from Clarke’s previous marriage. No public statement regarding Lois Garner’s cause of death has been released, as far as I can tell.