1960s Timeline

Jan. 13, 1962 - Ernie Kovacs, comedian of the theatre, screen, and television, was killed today in a traffic accident. He would have been 43 on Jan. 23. The police in Los Angeles said Mr. Kovacs was killed when his station wagon skidded across wet pavement a half block from the Beverly Hilton Hotel and smashed into a power pole. The crash occurred shortly before 2 a.m. on Santa Monica Boulevard in West Los Angeles. Mr. Kovacs had attended a baby shower in honor of the wife of

Dec. 18, 1961 - Ping Bodie (pictured left in 1920), the slugging outfielder who was a former roommate of Babe Ruth (right), died of cancer today in San Francisco. He was 74. In 1910, playing with the San Francisco Seals, he hit the then-fantastic total of 30 home runs, and quickly broke into the big leagues with the White Sox in 1911. Though he was Babe Ruth’s roommate after he became a Yankee, he always denied it. “It isn’t so,” he would say. “I room with his suitcase.” His

Oct. 13, 1961 - Eugene Bullard, a Negro flier who was honored by France for his service in World War I, died today in New York City. His age was 67. Mr. Bullard, born in Georgia, ran away from home as a boy and went to Scotland as a stowaway. He became a welterweight prizefighter and boxed in England, France, and North Africa. When World War I began, Mr. Bullard enlisted in the French Foreign Legion. He suffered the first of four war wounds at Verdun. While convalescing, he t

July 6, 1961 - Ernest Hemingway (pictured in 1939) was buried today in the soil of the Western mountains he loved near the home where he wrote much of his prize-winning literature. The novelist, short-story writer, and war correspondent, dead at 61 of a self-inflicted shotgun wound, was buried under a blanket of red roses alongside the grave of one of his closest friends, Taylor Williams. The cemetery in which Mr. Hemingway was buried is surrounded by the Saw Tooth Mountains.

July 5, 1961 - The family of Ernest Hemingway (pictured with his father in 1928) was reunited today for the author's funeral tomorrow. Mr. Hemingway will be buried in the cemetery in Ketchum, Idaho. Patrick Hemingway, one of the author's three sons, arrived today from Africa. Two other sons, a brother, and three sisters arrived earlier. Mr. Hemingway's fourth wife, Mary, was at home with him when he killed himself Sunday with a shotgun. The writer's sister, Mrs. Sterlin

July 4, 1961 - Antonio Ordóñez (pictured left in 1959 with Ernest Hemingway) killed two bulls in Jerez De La Frontera, Spain, today in memory of the famed author. Before the fight, the bullfighter walked to the the middle of the ring and, with the crowd, stood silent for one minute in honor of Mr. Hemingway. The matador wept openly over the death of "Ernesto." He said that his tears were justified "because I am sure that Papa Hemingway would have liked this form of pray

July 4, 1961 - Louis-Ferdinand Céline (pictured in 1932), French novelist, whose final years were clouded by wartime collaboration and his violent anti-Semitism, died Saturday. He was 67 years old. Mr. Céline's most widely known books were "Journey to the End of the Night" and "Death on the Installment Plan." Both enjoyed critical and popular success in the U.S. when they were published in English, the former in 1934 and the latter in 1938. When the Nazis occupied Paris