PASSINGS: Justin Mentell, Jack Brisco, Barry Blitzer

Justin Mentell

‘Boston Legal’ cast member

Justin Mentell, 27, an actor who appeared on the TV show “Boston Legal,” was killed Monday in an SUV crash in Wisconsin.

The Iowa County Sheriff’s Department said Mentell was killed when his SUV went down an embankment off Highway 39 near Blanchardville, Wis., and hit two trees. The crash was reported about 8:30 a.m. Monday.

The Sheriff’s Department said Mentell wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

Mentell portrayed attorney Garrett Wells on “Boston Legal” from 2005 to 2006. According to the film database IMDb.com, he also played Terrell in the 2009 Disney movie “G-Force.”

Born Dec. 16, 1982, in Austin, Texas, Mentell grew up in Waukegan, Ill. He began acting as a child and was a member of the U.S. junior national speedskating team. He studied acting at Northern Illinois University.

Jack Brisco

Former pro wrestling star

Jack Brisco, 68, an NCAA champion wrestler at Oklahoma State University who became a star in pro wrestling, died Monday in Tampa, Fla., of heart problems, the university announced. He had heart surgery two weeks ago, the Miami Herald reported.

Brisco, born Sept. 21, 1941, in Blackwell, Okla., won the 1965 NCAA championship and the 1964 and 1965 Big Eight Conference championship at 191 pounds. He also reached the NCAA finals in 1964 when Oklahoma State won the team championship.

His younger brother, Jerry, also wrestled at Oklahoma State and became his tag-team partner as a professional.

Brisco retired from wrestling in 1984. The brothers, who were elected to the World Wrestling Entertainment Hall of Fame in 2008, also owned an auto body shop together in Tampa.

Barry Blitzer, a veteran TV writer who shared an Emmy Award in 1956 for his work on “The Phil Silvers Show” and whose credits include episodes of “McHale’s Navy,” “Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C.,” “Get Smart” and the Hanna- Barbera cartoons “The Flintstones” and “The Jetsons,” died Jan. 27 at St. John’s Health Center in Santa Monica of complications from abdominal surgery, the Writers Guild of America announced. He was 80.

-- times staff and wire reports

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