Davant Sr. (’ 42 AB), 85, of Charlotte; Oct. 4,
2006. Davant was owner of a real estate company. Among his civic activities, he worked
with Habitat for Humanity, and a Habitat
neighborhood was named in his honor. He
was founding scoutmaster of a Boy Scout
troop, first president of the board of the Children’s Theater and was involved in prison ministries. In WWII, he was in the Army Air
Corps, serving in China. After the war, he
helped build the Panama Canal. At UNC, he
was captain of the men’s wrestling team and a
member of Delta Kappa Epsilon. K. Parks
Easter Sr. (’ 48, ’ 49 BSCOM), 82, of Lexington; Aug. 29, 2006. Easter retired as tennis
director for the Lexington Recreation and
Parks Department. Earlier in his career, he was
a sales representative. A member of the city
school board, he was a scoutmaster for the Boy
Scouts. In WWII, he served with the Navy in
the Pacific and, at UNC, belonged to Kappa
Sigma. James Weedy Edney Jr. (’ 49), 83,
of Monroe; Oct. 2, 2006. Edney established an
accounting practice following his years as controller with Union Supply Co. In WWII, he
was a pilot and flight instructor in the Army
Air Corps. He was active in the Civil Air
Patrol Wing in the Monroe area, serving as a
flight instructor. Mary Hill Gaston Fla-gler (’ 46 ABJO), 81, of Winston-Salem; Oct.
31, 2006. Flagler’s journalism career included
working as a book jacket editor for a publishing house, in the news bureau at Wake Forest
University and as a reporter for the Gaston
Gazette. She volunteered in the intensive care
unit at N.C. Baptist Hospital. At UNC, she was
a member of Valkyries and on the staff of The
Daily Tar Heel and the Yackety Yack.
Josephine Martin Flynn (’ 40 AB, ’ 48
MSPA), 87, of Greensboro; Sept. 15, 2006.
Flynn retired from the Guilford County
Health Department, where she worked with a
health program for children and youth. Earlier
in her career, she was executive director of the
local chapter of the American Cancer Society.
JACK PALANCE ’ 41 1919–2006
Tough Guy, ’Til the End
He won an Academy Award for spoofing Stanley Kowalski. In 1950, he received his dents in an acting class.
his own tough-guy image, but as a stu- first Hollywood role as Blackie in Panic in Born in Lattimer Mines, Pa., Palance —
dent at UNC, Jack Palance ’ 41 said he was the Streets. It took more than 40 years and then known as Walter Palanske — came to
too shy to try out for a play. Palance, known three nominations for him to receive the UNC on a football scholarship and played
for his villainous Western roles, died Nov. 10, Academy Award for best supporting actor, for Coach Ray Wolf. He also was on the
2006. He was 87. earning the Oscar in 1992 for City Slickers; boxing team, leaving Carolina to enter pro-
After studying at UNC, taking a turn as a in it, he portrayed Curly Washburn, a part fessional boxing, using the name “Jack
professional boxer and serv- Brazzo.” Next, it was
ing in World War II, Palance service in the Army Air
attended Stanford Force in World War II.
University on the GI Bill. It While training as a B-was there that he became 24 pilot, his plane
involved in acting. crashed and he suffered
Palance typically played multiple injuries, many
the bad-guy supporting to his face. He was hon-actor, rather than the orably discharged fol-romantic lead, in large part lowing several recon-due to the crunching-gravel structive surgeries. He
sound of his voice and a then resumed his col-face that showed the results lege career, this time at
of boxing bouts and a Stanford, and became
wartime plane crash. active in the drama
“Throughout his career, Mr. club.
AMPAS
GAA FILES
Palance, an imposing pres- He leaves an impres-ence at 6 feet 4, was sive list of credits in film
instantly recognizable for Palance was famous for roles in cowboy and television, including
his rugged profile, deep-set classics such as Shane, but it was his own
book of poetry that led him to give a reading as Jack Wilson in Shane
dark eyes, high cheekbones at Bull’s Head in 1996. and Harlan “Mountain”
and, when the part called McClintock in Requiem
for it, which was almost for a Heavyweight on tel-always, a deliciously sinister sneer,” wrote that mocked his many tough-guy roles. He evision, for which he received an Emmy.
Richard Severo in The New York Times’ obit- veered from his usual acting roles when he When he finally received an Oscar — at age
uary. “It was put to use over and over as he and his daughter Holly were co-hosts of a 73 — he surprised the audience by falling
played crooks, murderers, maniacs, barbarians television series, Ripley’s Believe It or Not, in to the floor and executing a series of one-
(like Attila the Hun), uncouth lovers and at the 1980s. handed push-ups.
least one violence-prone carrier of the Another side of his talents was revealed in UNC awarded Palance the PlayMaker
pneumonic plague.” the 1996 publication of The Forest of Love, a Award in 1997, honoring him for outstand-
Palance’s professional acting career began collection of his poetry that he illustrated ing lifetime achievement. His daughter
on Broadway, first as an understudy to with pen-and-ink drawings. He came back Brooke Palance Wilding attended that year’s
Marlon Brando in A Streetcar Named Desire, to UNC the next year for a book signing at PlayMakers Ball to accept his award.
then as Brando’s replacement in the role of the Bull’s Head Bookshop and spoke to stu- — Sally Walters
in
memoriam
