Recent necrology, January 2015

Some well-known people who have died recently

• Ian Athfield, 1940-2015
  Eminent New Zealand architect whose whimsical and eclectic designs both offended and inspired

• John Bayley, 1925-2015
  Oxford professor whose memoir of his marriage to Iris Murdoch was turned into a hit film

• Anita Ekberg, 1931-2015
  Former Miss Sweden, branded a sex goddess for her performance in Fellini’s movie, La Dolce Vita

• Colleen McCullough, 1937-2015
  Australian author whose novel The Thorn Birds became an award-winning TV series

• Geraldine McEwan, 1932-2015
  English actress, best known for playing Agatha Christie’s sleuth Miss Marple

• Rod McKuen, 1933-2015
  American singer-songwriter, musician and poet

• Elena Obraztsova, 1939-2015
  Russian mezzo who took New York by storm but was criticised for supporting the Soviet regime

• Ronnie Ronalde, 1923-2015
  Virtuoso whistler and bird song impersonator whose skills were admired by Frank Sinatra and John Peel

• Demis Roussos, 1946-2015
  Greek singer who sold 60 million albums and became an unlikely kaftan-wearing sex symbol

• Margaret Scott, 1928-2014
  New Zealand scholar who edited Katherine Mansfield’s letters

• Robert Stone, 1937-2015
  Novelist who wrote bold American morality plays and courted danger in Vietnam and Central America

• Rod Taylor, 1929-2015
  Actor who brought Australian machismo to Hollywood and starred in Hitchcock’s The Birds