Obituaries - Sept. 18, 1999

Joe Bleeden; Publicist for NBC Radio and TV Stars

Joe Bleeden, 73, former NBC radio and television publicist for such entertainers as Milton Berle and Johnny Carson. A native of Chicago, Bleeden served in the Navy during World War II and completed his studies at UCLA. He worked as a journalist for Los Angeles’ City News Service and Billboard magazine before joining NBC. For the network, he also handled publicity for Eddie Cantor, Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, and Jimmy Durante. Bleeden was a publicist for the Desert Inn in Las Vegas and became a partner in the independent public relations firm of Bleeden, Morhaim & Switzer. On Sept. 11 in Los Angeles of lung congestion.

Lawrence Hirschl; Aerospace Project Supervisor

Lawrence Hirschl, 75, manager of aerospace projects, including early anti-satellite programs. In 1986, Hirschl earned an Aerospace Ira C. Eaker Award and an award from the president of Aerospace Corp. for his work on the ASAT program, which he coordinated with the Pentagon and the Air Force. The president’s citation noted that Hirschl “provided aerospace and the nation with one of its finest hours.” In the 1960s, Hirschl also headed projects for the Atlas missile program. He served as a radar instructor in Washington during World War II and after the war volunteered to participate in atomic bomb testing at Bikini Atoll. On Aug. 1 in San Luis Obispo of prostate cancer.

Laurette Luez; Claimed to Name Marilyn Monroe

Laurette Luez, 71, actress in the 1950s and 1960s who befriended Marilyn Monroe. The much-married and -divorced Luez, once engaged to producer Samuel Goldwyn Jr., was an exotic brunet beauty born in Honolulu. She played sultry, mysterious spies, temptresses and cave women in such well-known films as “D.O.A.” starring Edmond O’Brien and “Kim” starring Errol Flynn and forgettable fare such as “Prehistoric Women.” Among her other efforts were the TV series “The Adventures of Dr. Fu Manchu” in 1956 and the film “Ballad of a Gunfighter” in 1964. Luez met Norma Jean Baker in studio acting classes and claimed to have suggested her stage name Marilyn Monroe. Luez said she shared her theory that one should choose a name that is already famous and pair it with another to detract from the original person--such as Monroe for the historic Monroe Doctrine and Marilyn for the former stage star Marilyn Miller. The future mega-star accepted the advice and became Marilyn Monroe. On Sunday in Milton, Fla.

Janet Adam Smith; Writer, Magazine Editor

Janet Adam Smith, 93, biographer and former literary editor of the New Statesman magazine. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Smith was educated at Cheltenham Ladies College and Somerville College, Oxford. She learned typing in London but concealed the skill, fearful of ending up a secretary. She joined the British Broadcasting Corp.’s new weekly magazine, the Listener, and became assistant editor, publishing new poetry by W.H. Auden, among others. During her marriage to the late poet Michael Roberts, Smith published a biography of Robert Louis Stevenson. Widowed in 1948, she returned to work to support her four children, and became assistant editor of the New Statesman and Nation. In 1952, Smith succeeded V.S. Pritchett as literary editor of the New Statesman, a position she held for eight years. After her retirement from the magazine, she wrote a biography of writer and Canadian politician John Buchan. An avid mountain climber, Smith translated several mountaineering books. She was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1982. On Sept. 11 in London.