PASSINGS

Harvey Frand

‘Battlestar Galactica’ producer

Harvey Frand, 68, an Emmy Award-winning producer of the science-fiction series “Battlestar Galactica,” died July 23 in Los Angeles after a brief hospitalization for respiratory problems.

As one of the producers of “Battlestar Galactica,” which ended its four-season run on the Sci Fi Channel (now called Syfy) in March, Frand shared two AFI Awards, an Emmy and a Peabody Award. He recently was nominated for a second Emmy.

Among Frand’s credits as a producer are “The Lazarus Man,” “The Pretender” and the 1980s version of “The Twilight Zone.” He also produced more than 20 TV pilots and movies of the week, and was a producer of the 1975 Broadway revival of Tennessee Williams’ “Sweet Bird of Youth.”

Born Oct. 3, 1940, in Philadelphia, Frand studied political science at the University of Pittsburgh, where he earned a master’s degree.

He began his television career working at NBC News and later was an executive for Warner Bros., where he oversaw production on the 1970s David Janssen series “Harry O.”

Steven Miessner

Academy’s ‘keeper of the Oscars’

Steven Miessner, 48, the motion picture academy’s “keeper of the Oscars” who donned his signature white gloves to get the golden statuettes ready for their close-up, died of a heart attack Wednesday at his home.

Miessner would take custody of the Oscars as they arrived from the R. S. Owens foundry in Chicago, log them into a computer file, keep them secure, and then on the big night, give them a last rubdown backstage before handing them to the show’s trophy presenters.

He would record which Oscar was presented to whom and later make arrangements with the winners to get their statuettes properly engraved.

Tracking the statues was a year-round process, said Leslie Unger, spokeswoman for the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in Beverly Hills. Miessner also maintained a computer file on the current whereabouts of every Oscar awarded, as far as they could be known.

Miessner had been a member of the academy staff since 2002 and also served as an executive assistant to the academy’s executive director and its president.

-- times staff and wire reports