In Brief

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This article was published 28/01/2014 (4279 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Smoking led to Marlboro man’s death

LOS ANGELES — Eric Lawson, who portrayed the rugged Marlboro man in cigarette ads during the late 1970s has died. He was 72.

Lawson died Jan. 10 at his home in San Luis Obispo, Calif., of respiratory failure due to chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, or COPD, his wife, Susan Lawson said Sunday.

Lawson was an actor with bit parts on such TV shows as Baretta and The Streets of San Francisco when he was hired to appear in print Marlboro ads from 1978 to 1981. His other credits include Charlie’s Angels, Dynasty and Baywatch. His wife said injuries sustained on the set of a Western film ended his career in 1997.

A smoker since age 14, Lawson later appeared in an anti-smoking commercial that parodied the Marlboro man and an Entertainment Tonight segment to discuss the negative effects of smoking.

A few actors and models who pitched Marlboro brand cigarettes have died of smoking-related diseases. They include David Millar, who died of emphysema in 1987 and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

 

Canadian base-jumper dies in Arizona

PAGE, Ariz. — A base-jumper killed in a fall in northern Arizona near the Grand Canyon has been identified as a 41-year-old Canadian physician.

The Coconino County Sheriff’s Office said the body of Dr. David Stather of Calgary was recovered Saturday after two fellow jumpers reported him missing after he made a second jump late Friday.

The Sheriff’s Office said Stather was wearing a wing suit and his body was found on a canyon ledge near the confluence of the Colorado and Little Colorado rivers.

Det. Pat Barr said the jumpers who reported Stather missing had been waiting for him at the bottom.

Barr said the other jumpers saw what appeared to be Stather’s wing suit about 600 metres below the cliff after they climbed to the top.

 

Tourist killed in Florida from Canada

HOLLYWOOD, Fla. — Police in South Florida say they are investigating the death of a Canadian tourist whose body was found on a sidewalk.

Hollywood police spokesman Lt. Osvaldo Perez said they received a report early Sunday morning about a body along Jefferson Street, just east of Federal Highway.

He said the man had been stabbed and the death has been ruled a homicide.

The victim has been identified as 58-year-old Domenico Perruccio.

Perez said police have notified his family and Canadian consulate officials.

Perruccio’s hometown was not immediately known.

Local media reports quoted neighbours as saying Perruccio was waiting for his wife to arrive because the couple were supposed to leave on a cruise Monday.

 

Quebec highways treacherous

MONTREAL — Blowing snow and strong winds caused an estimated 150 traffic accidents in Quebec on Monday, with at least two deaths attributed to the blustery conditions.

Part of a major Quebec highway was shut down after a multi-vehicle smash-up that left seven people seriously injured and many others stranded.

A man died in Saint-Edmond-de-Grantham, about 100 kilometres northeast of Montreal, when his car was struck by a tractor-trailer.

And in Saint-Georges, about 100 km southeast of Quebec City, a woman was killed in a head-on collision with a truck.

Visibility was reduced to zero in some places as snow was blown around by strong winds.

Provincial police spokesman Gino Pare said about 30 people were trapped in their vehicles after trucks and cars crashed into each other on Highway 15 south in the Laurentians north of Montreal.

 

— from the news services