1978 deaths

Léon_Azéma

Léon Azéma (20 January 1888 – 1 March 1978) was a French architect. He is responsible for many public works in France, especially in and around Paris. His most famous work is 1937 Palais de Chaillot, facing the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

Jorge_de_Sena

Jorge Cândido Alves Rodrigues Telles Grilo Raposo de Abreu de Sena (2 November 1919 – 4 June 1978) was a Portuguese-born poet, critic, essayist, novelist, dramatist, translator and university professor who spent the latter portion of his life in the United States.

Bill_Brubaker

Wilbur Lee "Bill" Brubaker (November 7, 1910 – April 2, 1978) was a professional American baseball player from 1932 to 1943, although he did not play the 1941 or 1942 seasons. Of his ten years of play, Brubaker played nine with the Pittsburgh Pirates, playing third base. His best year was in 1936, when he hit for a .289 batting average and knocked in an impressive 102 RBIs. Brubaker's career fell apart after that, never even getting 50 RBIs again. His last year, in 1943, was with the Boston Braves.
His grandson, Dennis Rasmussen, also played in the major leagues.
The picture of another baseball player, Dave Barbee, appears on some cards and photographs attributed to Bill Brubaker. This appears to follow from a misnamed 1932 photo of Barbee taken by the baseball photographer George Burke. Tom Shieber, curator at the Baseball Hall of Fame, detected this error in 2018 based on details of Barbee's uniform.

José_Luccioni

José Luccioni (14 October 1903 in Bastia – 5 October 1978 in Marseille) was a French operatic tenor of Corsican origin. He possessed one of the best dramatic voices of the 1930s and 1940s.
Initially a racing car driver and mechanic at the Citroën car company, his voice was discovered while he was serving in the military. He studied singing in Paris with the eminent former tenors Léon David and Léon Escalais and made his debut in Rouen as Cavaradossi in Tosca in 1931. During the 1932-33 season he debuted at both the Palais Garnier and the Opéra-Comique, where he won considerable acclaim as Don José in Carmen, a role he sang an estimated 500 times during his career.
He sang widely in Europe, spending much of 1935-37 in Italy, appearing in Florence, Turin and Verona but mostly at the Rome Opera. He also appeared at the Royal Opera House in London's Covent Garden, the Monte Carlo Opera, the Liceo in Barcelona and other European venues. He made his South American debut at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1936, and sang in the United States at the Lyric Opera of Chicago during the 1937-38 season.
Luccioni had an impressively large voice that combined beauty with power, in the tradition of his great French predecessor at the Paris Opéra, Paul Franz (1876–1950). He was also a fine singing-actor. Notable roles of his included Roland, Samson, Vasco, Jean, Turiddu, Canio, Chenier, Radames and Otello. He also appeared in a few motion pictures, including Colomba (1948) and Le bout de la route (1948). After retirement, he served as Director of the Opéra de Nice.
His son, Jacques Luccioni, was also an opera singer, first as a tenor and later as a baritone.
Luccioni died in the South of France shortly before his 75th birthday. He left a sizeable legacy of recordings made during his vocal prime. A wide selection of these recordings are available on CD. They confirm Luccioni's reputation as being one of the finest ever French dramatic tenors.

Johan_Daisne

Johan Daisne was the pseudonym of Flemish author Herman Thiery (2 September 1912 – 9 August 1978). Born in Ghent, Belgium, he attended the Koninklijk Atheneum before studying Economics and Slavic languages at Ghent University, receiving his doctorate in 1936. In 1945 he was appointed chief librarian of the city of Ghent.

John_Koch

John Koch (August 18, 1909 — April 19, 1978), (pronounced "KŌK") was an American painter and teacher, and an important figure in 20th century Realism. He is best known for his light-filled paintings of urban interiors, often featuring classical allusions, many set in his own Manhattan apartment.His work is in the collections of prominent American museums, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Brooklyn Museum, the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, and many others.

Marcello_Marchesi

Marcello Marchesi (Italian pronunciation: [marˈtʃɛllo marˈkeːzi; -eːsi]; 4 April 1912 – 19 July 1978) was an Italian author, screenwriter and film director. He wrote more than 60 films between 1939 and 1977. He also directed six films between 1951 and 1952. He was born in Milan and died in San Giovanni di Sinis, Cabras, Italy.

Duncan_Lamont

Duncan William Ferguson Lamont (17 June 1918 – 19 December 1978) was a British actor. Born in Lisbon, Portugal, and brought up in Scotland, he had a long and successful career in film and television, appearing in a variety of high-profile productions.