Notable Deaths

Anne Wiggins Brown <br />OSLO—Anne Wiggins Brown, the African-American soprano who starred as the original Bess in George Gershwin’s landmark folk opera “Porgy and Bess” but saw her career limited by racial discrimination, has died. She was 96. <br />Brown died Friday in Oslo, said her daughter Paula Schjelderup. <br />“Porgy and Bess,” first performed in 1935, was based on DuBose Heyward’s novel “Porgy” about a crippled beggar in love with Bess and living in the fictional Catfish Row slum in Charleston, S.C. It was a rare look in its time at the lives of some African-Americans and has since become a popular opera standard. <br />Brown moved to Oslo in 1948 to marry a Norwegian and remained there the marriage ended in divorce. She complained of racial discrimination in the U. S. <br />Brown is acknowledged as the inspiration that caused Gershwin to keep adding songs for her character in a process that turned “Porgy” into “Porgy and Bess.” <br /> <br />Jack Lawrence <br />NEW HAVEN, Conn.—Jack Lawrence, who wrote the lyrics for Frank Sinatra’s first hit recording “All or Nothing at All” as well as standards sung by stars such as Dinah Shore and Bobby Darin, has died at 96. <br />Lawrence earned a doctorate in podiatry in 1932, the same year he wrote his first hit song, “Play, Fiddle, Play” with Arthur Altman and Emery Deutsch. <br />He wrote the Ink Spots’ 1939 smash recording of “If I Didn’t Care,” and the song that introduced Shore to American radio audiences, “Yes, My Darling Daughter.” Sinatra’s first hit recording with Harry James, “All or Nothing at All,” had lyrics by Lawrence and music by Arthur Altman. <br />