Obituaries - April 22, 1999

John Broome; DC Comics Writer

John Broome, 85, a DC Comics writer who put words in the mouths of superheroes Flash and Green Lantern. Broome wrote most of the stories of Flash and then updated Green Lantern’s original 1940s persona and adventures in the 1950s and 1960s. Both durable characters survive today. Broome, who wrote under his own name and the pseudonyms John Osgood and Edgar Ray Merritt, also wrote The Justice Society of America, a comic featuring the first team of superheroes, and Captain Comic, Detective Chimp and Atomic Knights. After retiring from DC Comics in 1970, Broome moved to Paris and later to Tokyo, where he taught English. On March 14 of a heart attack while traveling in Thailand; reported Wednesday.

Flora Carabella; Italian Actress

Flora Carabella, 72, Italian actress who was married to Marcello Mastroianni. Carabella worked with the famed director Luchino Visconti at the beginning of her career. She married the internationally known Mastroianni in 1948. Although they separated in 1970, they never divorced, and remained friends until his death in 1996. On Monday in Rome.

Ron S. Heinzel; Was Times Financial Columnist

Ron S. Heinzel, 63, former Times financial columnist. Heinzel spent his entire career at The Times, beginning as a copy messenger in the late 1950s after serving in the Army. He became a copyreader in the newspaper’s financial section and then started writing financial news stories in 1967. Ten years later, Heinzel developed a column called “Sidelights” containing humorous business-related items. His column chronicled, for example, the rising cost of attending Paris’ famed Lido, described as the “cost per bosom index,” and the phenomenally low unemployment rate of the European principality of Liechtenstein--17 people in a total population of 23,000. The column ran until 1984. Heinzel retired in 1991. Found dead Saturday in Sunland after suffering from chronic lung disease.

Gordon Hughes; TV Producer, Writer

Gordon Hughes, 89, producer, director and writer who worked on television’s “My Little Margie.” A graduate of the University of Alabama, Hughes began his entertainment career in 1933 with Midwestern small theater productions, once directing Ronald Reagan at the Little Theatre in Des Moines. Hughes later became the first radio director to receive NBC national credit on the air for directing Arch Obler’s “Lights Out.” The mystery program, which began in 1935, was famous for its innovative and gruesome sound effects, including dripping maple syrup to represent blood and frying bacon to simulate the sound of an electric chair execution. Years later, Hughes, mourning the early demise of radio drama, said he loved the show so much he would do a revival for free. Hughes moved to Hollywood and directed the radio soap opera “The Guiding Light” and did radio shows for Frank Sinatra, Lucille Ball, Gene Autry and Steve Allen. In 1952, Hughes was elected president of the Radio Directors Guild of America. Switching to television in the mid-1950s, he produced, directed and wrote “My Little Margie,” starring Gale Storm, and “Charlie My Boy,” with Charlie Farrell. He also wrote for “This Is Your Life,” “Truth or Consequences” and Western anthologies. After retiring to the Santa Barbara area, Hughes worked in real estate. On Monday in Montecito of heart failure.

Hernando Santos Castillo; Colombian Journalist

Hernando Santos Castillo, 76, one of Colombia’s most influential journalists and head of El Tiempo newspaper. Santos’ endorsements were considered crucial for politicians, and he had been close to every Colombian president since 1958. He came from a family journalism tradition: His father, Enrique Santos Montejo, was a celebrated columnist, and his grand-uncle, Eduardo Santos, was a former president who founded El Tiempo in 1911. A law school graduate, Santos spent his life working at the newspaper. He served as a news editor until taking over as chairman in the 1980s. Although the company has expanded into cable television, book publishing and telecommunications, Santos remained focused on the newspaper. A political centrist, he advocated preserving political stability for Colombia despite politicians’ foibles. On Tuesday in Bogota, Colombia, of complications from a brain hemorrhage.

Raymond Wallace; Theme Park Ride Designer

Raymond E. Wallace, 81, architect and yachtsman who helped create San Diego’s Seaport Village and Disneyland’s sailing ship Columbia. The native of Los Angeles devoted as much passion to sailing as to designing, and married both interests by fashioning seaside restaurants and shopping areas and floating theme park rides. He also worked as an artist and illustrator for Copley Newspapers, the Los Angeles Daily News, the Honolulu Advertiser and Northrop Aircraft. He established Raymond E. Wallace Special Productions in San Pedro, where he designed vessels for Universal Florida and Disney Sea Tokyo. His first theme park creation was Disneyland’s majestic square-rigger Columbia, and his seaside complexes included not only Sea Port Village but also the Long Beach Shoreline shopping village. On the sea, Wallace explored the Pacific as a Sea Scout in his teens, served in the Coast Guard during World War II and later was an officer in several yacht clubs and board member of the Los Angeles Maritime Museum. He participated in numerous transpacific and transatlantic sailing races. On April 16 in San Pedro.