U.S. skier Jimmie Heuga was not the only participant in the 1964 Olympic Games to have been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.

Heuga, who won a bronze medal in the slalom, died Monday, He was 66.

Josef "Pepi" Stiegler, who won the gold in the slalom and bronze in the giant slalom, and Egon Zimmermann, who won the gold in the men's downhill, also were diagnosed with M.S.

"We don't know that much about M.S., in general, so maybe in a couple [or] three decades we'll know why it has happened," Stiegler said in 1995 on a "CBS This Morning" appearance with Heuga and Zimmermann. "Not that it matters to us anymore, but maybe for future generations that have M.S., it might be of significance to them."

You can read Heuga's obituary here.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Jimmie Heuga during the 1964 Winter Olympics. Credit: Associated Press

Robert Thompson, a professor of television and popular culture at Syracuse University, says that media research consultant Frank N. Magid had great influence but that it needs to be put in perspective.

If you don't like the format of your local news station, Magid shouldn't get all the blame.

Magid, who died Friday at 78, "is one of those guys who really, really influenced television." But Thompson also believes that many elements of Magid's formula — a livelier broadcast, with chatty co-anchors engaged in light-hearted conversation and a wider mix of stories, including crime and lifestyle features — would have been adopted anyway.

"Frank Magid is not the reason everything doesn't look like the Jim Lehrer hour,"he said.

You can find Magid's obituary here.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Frank Magid

Sir John Dankworth, the British jazz composer, saxophonist and band leader, has died. He was 82.

Dankworth died Saturday in a London hospital after a long illness.

Dame Cleo Laine, the jazz singer who married Dankworth in 1958 after they met when she auditioned for a spot in his band, announced her husband's death before the finale of an anniversary concert at the Stables, the theater they founded together.

The Times will have a more complete obituary later at latimes.com/news/obituaries.

-- Associated Press

Photo: Sir John Dankworth at Buckingham Palace in 2006 after being knighted by Queen Elizabeth. Credit: Associated Press

Admirers of President Reagan are planning what kind of party to throw next year for the 100th anniversary of his birth.

The Times' Richard Simon reports that events are planned across the country: A Reagan-themed float will grace Colorado Boulevard in Pasadena during the Rose Parade on Jan. 1. His boyhood home of Dixon, Ill., has commissioned an original piece of music -- the "Reagan Suite" -- to honor him. A program at Eureka College, from which Reagan graduated, will reflect on his Midwestern roots. Warner Bros. has been contacted about a possible event looking at the former president's Hollywood years. An effort is even underway to name a mountain in Nevada after him.

Reagan died in 2004 at 93.

Reagan's 100th birthday -- Feb. 6, 2011 -- will fall on Super Bowl Sunday. "We will be discussing possible synergies with that important day for the nation's attention," said Stewart McLaurin, executive director of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation's Centennial Celebration.

You can find Simon's story here and Reagan's obituary here.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: President Reagan with first lady Nancy Reagan during the inaugural parade in 1981. Credit: Associated Press

Hansen, who oversaw the Pasadena Playhouse and the Theater League Alliance of Southern California, died Sunday. He was 60.

Photo: Lars Hansen, left, and David Houk at the Pasadena Playhouse in 1989. Credit: Los Angeles Times

On Wednesday, while reviewing the biographical material our editorial research library gathered for the news obituary of Hall of Fame point guard Dick McGuire of the New York Knicks, I discovered some conflicting information: His date of birth was variously reported as Jan. 25, 1926,and Jan. 26, 1926. Also, some sources said he was born in the Bronx, while others reported Queens. I was ready to call the Knicks' public relations department when I realized I didn't have to call New York, I only had to call Orange County.  

The Knicks' team historian is Dennis D'Agostino, who happens to be married to Times columnist Helene Elliott, one of my former colleagues in the Sports Department. I was pretty sure Dennis could answer my questions. He said McGuire was born in the Bronx on Jan. 26, 1926, noting that the team had only recently confirmed that date after years of believing the 25th was the correct date. The self-effacing McGuire apparently didn't want to point out the error.

Dennis' remembrance of McGuire is posted here on the Knicks' website.

And how 'bout those Chuck Taylors and slouchy socks in the photo above?

-- Claire Noland 

Photo: Dick McGuire in 1951. Credit: Associated Press

The Los Angeles County coroner's office issued reports Thursday on the recent deaths of two celebrities.

Actress Brittany Murphy, 32, died Dec. 20 at her Hollywood Hills home of pneumonia complicated by an iron deficiency, anemia and multiple drug intoxication, Times staff writer Richard Winton reports at the LANow blog.

Casey Johnson, a 30-year-old socialite and heir to the Johnson & Johnson fortune, was found dead Jan. 4 at her Westside home. According to the coroner, she died of diabetic-related complications, Winton reports on LANow.

-- Claire Noland

Justin Mentell, 27, an actor who appeared on the TV show "Boston Legal," has been killed in an SUV crash in Wisconsin.

The Iowa County Sheriff’s Department says Mentell was killed when his SUV went down an embankment off Highway 39 near Blanchardville, Wis., and hit two trees.

The crash was reported around 8:30 a.m. Monday.

The sheriff’s department says the actor, who was from Waukegan, Ill., wasn’t wearing a seat belt.

Mentell portrayed attorney Garrett Wells on "Boston Legal" from 2005 to 2006. According to the film database IMDb.com, he also worked on the 2009 Disney movie "G-Force."

-- Associated Press

Photo: Justin Mentell at the 2007 Tribeca Film Festival. Credit: Brad Barket / Getty Images

Years ago when Ned Miller was compiling game statistics for the then-Los Angeles Rams, publicity director Jerry Wilcox brought a computer into the press box to help make Miller's job easier.

"But we took it out," Wilcox told The Times' Earl Gustkey in a 1978 story. "His head was faster than the computer."

Miller, who served as the official statistician at USC football games for the last 54 years and never used a calculator, died Sunday of cancer. He was 73.

Miller started keeping USC statistics in the Coliseum press box in 1956 and became the head statistician in 1975.

He also worked five Super Bowls and games for UCLA and the World Football League's Southern California Sun.

You can find Gustkey's story here.

-- Keith Thursby

Photo: Ned Miller, center, in the Coliseum press box during a 1978 game with his wife, Lori, left, and son Todd, right. Credit: Los Angeles Times

David Brown, the former 20th Century Fox executive who partnered with Richard Zanuck in the early 1970s and produced the blockbuster hit "Jaws," as well as "The Verdict" and "Cocoon" before launching a solo career as a film and theatrical producer, has died. He was 93.

Brown, the husband of former Cosmopolitan magazine editor Helen Gurley Brown, died Monday at his home in New York City after a long illness, said Donna Lagani, senior vice president and publishing director of Cosmopolitan.

As half of the Zanuck-Brown film producing team in the 1970s and `80s, Brown's other credits include films such as "The Sugarland Express" (Steven Spielberg's first theatrical feature), "The Girl from Petrovka," "The Island" and "Neighbors."

Above is the memorable trailer from "Jaws." What's your favorite movie that Brown helped produce?

You can find the complete obituary here.

--Keith Thursby

.