We're still on a holiday hiatus here, but we'd be remiss if we didn't acknowledge a couple of notable deaths.
Playwright Harold Pinter died in London on Christmas Eve. A Nobel Prize winner, Pinter was one of the most distinctive voices in post-war theater by combining realism, absurdity, and an unmistakable [pause] approach to dialogue. He had been battling cancer. The New York Times has a thorough obituary here.
Dancer, singer, actress, and all-around performer Eartha Kitt has also died at the age of 81. Kitt's journey began in the cotton fields of South Carolina, continued through hits, a Christmas standard ("Santa Baby"), a memorable bit of color-blind casting when she played Catwoman on the '60s Batman series, a high-profile act of Vietnam criticism, and a cabaret career that continued up to weeks before her death. CNN has a brief bio here. Then there's this: