19
DIED
Legendary
mustachioed
comedian Rip Taylor,
on Oct. 6 at 88.
WARNED
Facebook, by law-
enforcement officials
from the U.S., U.K.
and Australia on
Oct. 4, who said
that the company’s
plans to encrypt its
messaging service
would make it harder
for governments to
stop criminals.
KILLED
At least 30 civilians,
including 14 children,
by U.S. airstrikes on
alleged Taliban drug
labs in Afghanistan in
May, according to an
Oct. 9 U.N. report.
HEARD
Arguments in a
set of Supreme
Court cases over
LGBTQ employment
discrimination, on
Oct. 8.
ARRESTED
Iranian Instagram
personality Sahar
Tabar, for blasphemy,
among other
charges. Photos
of Tabar, who is
famous for extensive
cosmetic surgery,
went viral in 2017.
REJECTED
Arguments to
stop Manhattan
prosecutors from
seeing President
Trump’s tax
returns, by a federal
judge, on Oct. 7.
Trump’s lawyers
are appealing the
decision.
ERASED
Comedy Central
cartoon South Park,
from major streaming
sites in China, after
the show mocked
Chinese censors.
The show’s creators
issued a satirical
apology on Oct. 7.
Carroll in the mid-1950s, around the time when she was
introduced to audiences in Carmen Jones
DIED
Diahann Carroll
Sophisticated star
Today, wearing gownS, jewelS and fUrS hardly SeemS
like a radical act. But for Diahann Carroll, who died on Oct. 4 at
84, it was: in the early 1950s, when Carroll was just starting out as
a nightclub singer, she cultivated an aura of elegance that endured
for the rest of her life. At a time when images of African-American
glamour were still relatively rare, Carroll stepped out with bra-
vado, bringing confidence to others in the process.
And with her boldness, Carroll—who made her film debut in
Otto Preminger’s 1954 Carmen Jones—made the world pay atten-
tion. She was the first black actor to win a Tony for a leading role,
for the 1962 musical No Strings. In 1974, she earned an Oscar nomi-
nation for Best Actress in John Berry’s Claudine, as a determined
single mother raising six children. Before that, she’d played an-
other single mother on Julia, the first American TV series to focus
on the life of a professional African-American woman; she won a
Golden Globe for the role in 1969.
Having always radiated star quality and sophistication, Carroll
amped it up even further in the mid-1980s as Dominique Deve-
raux on TV’s Dynasty. A chanteuse and shrewd businesswoman
decked out in all-white getups and flouncy furs, Deveraux out-
classed everyone in her orbit. Carroll made sure she had dignity—
but it was always dignity with dazzle. —STephanie zaCharek
Milestones
DIED
Ginger Baker
Rock god
By Stewart Copeland
Before ginger Baker, The
drums were a very simple in-
strument providing a very
simple ingredient to pop
music, which was the beat.
The drummer’s job was to be
one of the handsome guys on
the album cover. Then Ginger
Baker—who died on Oct. 6
at 80—came along and threw
in all kinds of stuff that was
much more sophisticated.
Musicians will argue about
the dividing line between
rock and pop, but I think
Baker—and his band Cream—
was it. The difference was the
power and the musicianship.
In Cream, Eric Clapton,
bassist Jack Bruce and Baker
were all mightily proficient;
Baker was all about power.
Hearing his thumpy drums is
one of the reasons I picked up
sticks myself. They sounded
so strong—it was the sound
of adult masculinity, which
is what every 13-year-old boy
yearns for.
He always described
himself as a jazz musician,
but I never bought
that. Amid my properly
obsequious interactions,
I couldn’t help rattling his
cage about the jazz thing. I
would say, “Dude, get over it.
You are a rock god.”
Copeland was inducted into the Rock
and Roll Hall of Fame as the drummer
for the Police
QUEEN FABIOLA: GETTY IMAGES; CARROLL: HULTON ARCHIVE/GETTY IMAGES; BAKER: DAVID REDFERN—REDFERNS/GETTY IMAGES
