NEWSMAKERS

NEWSMAKERS

Alan Young, star of 1960s sitcom ‘Mr. Ed,’ dies at 96

LOS ANGELES

Actor-comedian Alan Young, who played the amiable straight man to a talking horse in the 1960s sitcom “Mister Ed,” has died, a spokeswoman for the Motion Picture and Television Home said Friday. He was 96.

The English-born, Canadian-educated Young died Thursday, according to Jaime Larkin, spokeswoman for the retirement community where Young had lived for four years. His children were with him when he died peacefully of natural causes, she said.

Young already was a well-known radio and TV comedian, having starred in his own Emmy-winning variety show, when “Mister Ed” was being readied at comedian George Burns’ production company. Burns is said to have told his staff: “Get Alan Young. He looks like the kind of guy a horse would talk to.”

Mr. Ed was a golden Palomino who spoke only to his owner, Wilbur Post, played by Young. Fans enjoyed the horse’s deep, droll voice (“WIL-bur-r-r-r-r”) and the goofy theme song lyrics (“A horse is a horse, of course, of course ...”).

Founding member of Beastie Boys dies at 52

DANVERS, Mass.

John Berry, a founding member of the Beastie Boys who left the group before it found major label success, has died. He was 52.

Berry died Thursday morning at a hospice in Danvers, Mass., after a long battle with frontotemporal dementia, according to his stepmother, Louise Berry, of Stamford, Conn.

Berry’s interest in music blossomed as a teen after he moved to New York City, his father, John Berry III, told The Associated Press.

Berry met future bandmate Michael Diamond at the Walden School in Manhattan. The pair founded the Beastie Boys as a punk outfit in 1981 along with Adam Yauch and Kate Schellenbach.

Associated Press