In Passing

Baltimore

Gordon Scott, movie Tarzan

Gordon Scott, a handsome, muscular actor who portrayed Tarzan in the 1950s, has died. He was 80.

Scott, who had been living in a working class section of south Baltimore, died Monday at Johns Hopkins Hospital of post-heart surgery complications.

Scott made 24 movies including “Tarzan and the Lost Safari” (1957), “Tarzan’s Fight for Life” (1958), “Tarzan and the Trappers” (1958), “Tarzan’s Greatest Adventure” (1959) and “Tarzan the Magnificent” (1960).

Scott was a lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel in Las Vegas when he was discovered by Hollywood producer Sol Lesser. He was signed to a seven-year-contract after he outperformed 200 other international candidates.

After the Tarzan movies, Scott appeared in Westerns and gladiator films.

Riverside, Calif.

Zola Taylor, Platters singer

Zola Taylor, who broke gender barriers in the 1950s as a member of The Platters, harmonizing with her male colleagues on hits like “The Great Pretender,” has died. She was 69.

Taylor, who had been bedridden following several strokes, died Monday from complications of pneumonia.

Founding Platters member Herb Reed said he spotted Taylor, the sister of Cornell Gunter of the Coasters, rehearsing with a girl group in 1955 and knew immediately she had the charisma and vocal chops the R&B group needed.

The all-male group had just signed with Mercury after its single “Only You” topped the charts and its manager thought they needed a female voice to soften their sound.

“The Great Pretender” raced to the No. 1 spot on both R & B and pop music charts in the U.S. and Europe.

Taylor was back in the spotlight in the 1980s when she and two other women claimed to be pop idol Frankie Lymon’s widow and fought over his royalties. The courts eventually sided with one of the other women.

Sao Paulo, Brazil

Octavio Frias de Oliveira, publisher

Octavio Frias de Oliveira, who published Brazil’s biggest newspaper and Web site and helped modernize the country’s media, has died. Frias, 94, died April 29 of kidney failure, his company said.

Frias led an opening of the media during Brazil’s military dictatorship, allowing critical opinions of the regime to appear in his flagship Folha de S. Paulo newspaper.

Frias purchased the Folha de S. Paulo in 1962, after working as a civil servant and in real estate.

He bought the newspaper just two years before Brazil’s military overthrew the democratically elected government. Despite the crackdown on civil rights and free speech, Frias maintained his independence, giving voice to dictatorship critics and supporters alike.

After more than half a century of intervention in governance, the military regime peacefully yielded to civilian rulers in 1985.