Ilene Woods, voice of Disney’s Cinderella
LOS ANGELES – Ilene Woods, who provided the speaking and singing voice for the title character in Walt Disney’s classic 1950 animated feature “Cinderella,” has died. She was 81.
Woods, a resident of Calabasas, Calif., died of causes related to Alzheimer’s disease Thursday at a nursing and rehabilitation center in Los Angeles, said her husband, Ed Shaughnessy, the former longtime drummer on Johnny Carson’s “Tonight Show.”
After being offered the role of the sweet and mistreated stepdaughter who ultimately finds her Prince Charming, Woods spent about two years off and on recording songs and dialogue at the Disney studio.
“I loved doing the character,” she told the Houston Chronicle in 2005. “When my dad saw the movie, he said he saw me in the facial expressions, hand movements and mannerisms. Marc Davis, who animated (the Cinderella character), would watch me record and picked up on things.”
When asked in a 2006 interview for Starlog magazine what the best thing was about having been “Cinderella,” she replied: “Oh, I love the idea that after I’m gone, children will still be hearing my voice.”
Mohammed Oudeh,
planner of Munich Olympics attack
DAMASCUS, Syria – Mohammed Oudeh, the key planner of the 1972 Munich Olympics attack that killed 11 Israeli athletes, died of kidney failure Saturday in Damascus, Syria, his daughter said. He was 73.
Oudeh, also known under his guerrilla name Abu Daoud – did not participate in the Sept. 5, 1972, attack. Two Israeli athletes were killed in the assault, and nine others died in a botched rescue attempt by the German police. A German policeman and five Palestinian gunmen also were killed.
The Munich attack shocked the world as the most high-profile and brazen assault on a sports team, and led to the assassinations of top Palestinian officials.
Oudeh was a leader of “Black September,” an offshoot of the late Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat’s Fatah group that was established to avenge the 1970 expulsion of Palestinian guerrillas from Jordan.
He first acknowledged having a role in the Munich operation in a 1999 book, “Palestine: From Jerusalem to Munich,” that caused an uproar when it came out.
He remained militant to the last.
“Today, I cannot fight you anymore, but my grandson will and his grandsons, too,” Oudeh said in 2006, addressing Israelis.
Arnold Friberg,
creator of Valley Forge painting
SALT LAKE CITY – Arnold Friberg, a Utah artist best known for his painting of George Washington in prayer at Valley Forge, died Thursday, his family said. He was 96.
Jayna Friberg-Cleamons said her father-in-law died at a Salt Lake City rehabilitation center.
Friberg, a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, also painted portraits of figures from the Book of Mormon.
“He didn’t want to be known as Mormon artist,” Friberg-Cleamons told the Associated Press. “He just wants to be defined as an artist that painted a wide range of things.”
Friberg’s “The Prayer at Valley Forge,” which he created to commemorate the United States’ bicentennial in 1976, is displayed at the Mount Vernon estate in Virginia. It depicts Washington kneeling in the snow beside his horse.
In 1999 a federal judge ruled that bronze sculptures made by another artist were illegal copies of “The Prayer at Valley Forge” and violated Friberg’s copyright for the oil painting.