Obituaries - Oct. 1, 1999

* Dmitri Likhachev; Russian Literary Historian

Dmitri Likhachev, 92, one of Russia’s most prominent literary historians and cultural icon who has been described as the conscience of the nation. He spent four years, 1928 to 1932, at Solovki, one of the Soviet Union’s most feared prison camps, located in a former monastery on a northern Russian island. After his release, Likhachev gained prominence as a defender of the country’s cultural heritage. In particular, he was a vigorous defender of the purity of writings by famed Russian poet Alexander Pushkin. Likhachev headed the Soviet Culture Fund, a privately financed entity dedicated to the preservation of national treasures. The fund was co-founded in 1986 by the late Raisa Gorbachev. More recently, Likhachev was credited with changing Russian President Boris Yeltsin’s mind about attending last year’s burial service for Nicholas II, the last Russian czar, whose remains were hidden for eight decades after his and his family’s execution by a Bolshevik firing squad. Yeltsin initially planned to shun the event but made an eleventh-hour decision to attend after a talk with Likhachev, a historian at the St. Petersburg Institute of Literature and expert in Russian literature of the 11th through 17th centuries. A few months later, Yeltsin awarded Likhachev the Order of St. Andrew, Russia’s highest honor, for his contributions to the development of national culture. On Thursday at a St. Petersburg hospital.

* Dick Patterson; Actor, Stand-Up Comedian

Dick Patterson, 70, comedian and song and dance man of Broadway musicals, film and television. After making his Broadway debut in David Merrick’s “Vintage ‘60,” Patterson appeared in “The Billy Barnes People,” the national touring company of “Bye Bye Birdie” and opposite Carol Burnett in “Fade Out, Fade In.” His most recent musical was “Smile,” a spoof of beauty pageants, in which one reviewer said Patterson was “hilarious as the coy emcee” and another praised his portrayal of “the fiendishly smarmy third-rate television personalty who serves as pageant emcee.” On the silver screen, Patterson appeared in “Grease” and “Grease II,” and Disney’s “Strongest Man in the World.” On television, the actor was a frequent guest on “The Carol Burnett Show” and had occasional roles on such popular series as “Here’s Lucy,” “Happy Days” and “The Mary Tyler Moore Show.” Patterson, who was a nightclub stand-up comedian, wrote material for the Las Vegas acts of Debbie Reynolds and Rich Little and a song, “Santa’s Marching Song.” Born in Clear Lake, Iowa, Patterson moved to California in his teens and worked his way through UCLA. On Sept. 20 in Los Angeles.

Obituaries on the Web

Obituaries from the last seven days are available on The Times’ Web site: http://ukobiw.net. /obits.