In Passing
Kingston, Jamaica
Perry Henzell, filmmaker
Perry Henzell, a filmmaker whose reggae classic “The Harder They Come” helped introduce Jamaican pop culture to a global audience, died Thursday. Henzell, who had battled cancer for seven years, was 70.
Born in 1936 in Port Maria, Jamaica, Henzell attended McGill University in Montreal and worked in advertising before turning to filmmaking in the early 1970s.
He directed and produced “The Harder They Come,” Jamaica’s first feature film, from 1970 to 1972. Shot on a shoestring budget, it became an international success, winning an award at the 1973 Venice Film Festival.
The film, starring Jimmy Cliff, was based on the life of Ivanhoe “Rhyghin” Martin, a notorious outlaw who terrorized sections of west Kingston during the late 1940s. Cliff wrote four original songs for the soundtrack, which featured music from other reggae performers, including Toots and the Maytals and Desmond Dekker, and became a worldwide top-seller.
Hackensack, N.J.
Rose Mattus, ice cream creator
Rose Mattus, who launched Haagen-Dazs ice cream with her husband, peddling the super-premium treat in grocery stores, died Tuesday. She was 90.
Mattus, who lived in Cresskill, N.J., had been the controller of Haagen-Dazs Inc. Her husband, Reuben Mattus, died in 1994.
The company was formed around 1960, having morphed from her husband’s family’s decades-old business in New York City’s Bronx borough. Reuben Mattus concocted the nonsensical name Haagen-Dazs, which means nothing in any language, for the brand that became famous for its super-rich recipes.
Pillsbury Co. acquired Haagen-Dazs in 1983. Haagen-Dazs is now owned by Nestle SA.
Even though she had diabetes, Rose Mattus was a fan of her product, particularly vanilla, said her daughter Doris Mattus Hurley.
“If it was anywhere in sight, she would sneak it,” Mattus Hurley said. “My dad was always yelling, ‘Rose, get out of the ice cream!’ But she lived to be 90, so I guess it didn’t do her too much harm.”
Auburndale, Fla.
Rosalie Bradford, record dieter
Rosalie Bradford, who held records for being the world’s heaviest woman and for losing the most weight, died Wednesday. She was 63.
Bradford weighed 1,050 pounds in January 1987, according to the 1994 Guinness Book of Records. She lost 736 pounds to weigh 314 pounds in September 1992, according to the record book.
Publicist Stephen Nortier said Bradford weighed about 400 pounds just before dying. He said the cause of death won’t be known until a medical examiner’s report, but Bradford had spent the last year bedridden with complications from having her lymph nodes severed years ago.
At her largest, Bradford was 8 feet wide and took 90 minutes to bathe. She credited Richard Simmons, the flamboyant fitness guru, with helping her lose weight. The two began corresponding after a friend of Bradford’s wrote Simmons when she tried to commit suicide.