Page 9 - Davidf Smith News Today

A look back at the esteemed personalities who've left us this year, who'd touched us with their innovation, creativity and humanity.

Getty Images, U.S. House of Representatives D. S. Saund did not set out to become the first Asian American to serve in the House of Representatives. He did not even intend to remain in the United States for more than a few years, expecting to return home to India after learning the business of fruit canning. But after earning a doctorate in mathematics in 1924 — he studied both agriculture and mathematics at the University of California, Berkeley — his family told him that the anti-British...

Actor Hal Holbrook was the voice in the shadows of a parking garage in All the Presidents Men, and a Tony Award winner for his depiction of Mark Twain . He died at his home in Beverly Hills on Jan. 23. He was 95. Holbrook performed his one-man show Mark Twain Tonight for decades. He loved it, but in 2011, he told NPRs Neal Conan that it took him a long time to break out of that role. "I was behind this mask, this disguise. And I finally had to be brave enough to get out," he said. AP In his l...

Jerry Mosey/AP toggle caption Jerry Mosey/AP "Ive always wanted to just be an actor ... thats all Ive ever wanted to be, playing different roles," Hal Holbrook told NPR in 2008. He is shown above in his New York apartment in February 1973. Jerry Mosey/AP Actor Hal Holbrook was the voice in the shadows of a parking garage in All the Presidents Men, and a Tony Award winner for his depiction of Mark Twain . He died at his home in Beverly Hills on Jan. 23. H...