by Antonio Mejías-Rentas
GONE IN 2008: Sculptor Robert Graham, who created massive bronze works for civic monuments around the country, died Dec. 27 at 70. The Mexico-born and California-raised artist had been ailing for six months and died of an undisclosed illness at a Santa Monica, Calif., hospital.
He died with family, including his wife, actress Anjelica Huston, at his side.
Graham’s best known public works include the Franklin Delano Roosevelt Memorial in Washington, D.C., and sculptures depicting
boxer Joe Louis in Detroit and jazz musicians Charlie Parker and Duke Ellington,in Kansas City and New York, respectively.
In his adopted city of Los Angeles, Graham’s many public works include his 1984 Olympic Gateway and the massive Great Bronze Doors of the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a 25-ton entryway completed over 5 years by about 150 artists.
Graham was born in Mexico City in 1938 and took his widowed mother’s maiden name; with her he migrated to San José, Calif., where he studied and lived before eventually settling in the Venice beach community of Los Angeles.
Other prominent Latino artists and performers who died in 2008:
• Mexican playwright Emilio Carballido, whose Rosa de dos aromas and many other plays were often performed in the United States. Jan. 11 at 78.
• Rafael Tufiño, Puerto Rico’s best-known 20th century painter. Jan. 13 at 85.
• New York-born actor Perry López, remembered for performances in Chinatown and Star Trek. Jan. 14 at 78.
• Cuban bass player and arranger Israel “Cachao” López, whose musical innovations helped create the mambo. After living in semi-retirement in Miami, his career was revived in the 1990s with a film and a series of recordings produced by actor Andy García and he continued to perform until weeks before his passing.Jan. 22 at 89.
• Spanish novelist and screenwriter Rafael Azcona, whose Belle Epoque was an Oscar winner. March 23 at 81.
SUMAC
• Cuban-American actor,director and producer Mel Ferrer. Feb. 2 at 90.
.• Spanish dancer Guillermina Martínez Cabrejas, best known as Mariemma. June 10 at 91.
• Mexican musician Ángel Tavira, who never acted before winning an award at the Cannes Film Festival, for El violín. June 30 at 83.
• Brazilian singer-songwriter Dorival Caymmi. Aug. 16 at 94.
• Brazilian screenwriter Leopoldo Serran, whose films Doña Flor e seus doi maridos and Bye Bye Brazil were international hits. Aug. 20 at 66.
• Mexican-American cartoonist and producer Bill Meléndez, who animated the Peanuts strip. Sept. 2 at 91.
• Cuban filmmaker Humberto Solás. Sept. 17 at 66.
• Mexican screenwriter and actress Berta Domínguez.Oct. 9 at 87.
• Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac. Nov. 1 at 86.
• Mexican actress María Elena Márquez, star of her country’s Golden Age of Cinema. Nov. 11 at 83.
• Chilean painter Pablo Domínguez. Nov. 25 at 46.
• Cuban composer Harold Gramatges. Dec. 16 at 90. Hispanic Link.
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