Issue link: https://digital.copcomm.com/i/964761
52 SAG-AFTRA | Spring 2018 | SAGAFTRA.org In Memoriam NANETTE FABRAY, an actor, dancer, singer and Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award recipient, passed away Feb. 22 at the age of 97. Fabray, who joined the union in 1937, was the 1986 recipient of the award, which is the union's highest honor. Fabray began her acting career at the age of 5, appearing as Baby Nan in vaudeville. She became a leading lady in radio, moving successfully to stage and film in such features as Elizabeth and Essex, A Child is Born, The Band Wagon and Harper Valley P.T.A. Her television credits included One Day at a Time, The Mary Tyler Moore Show and Coach, which starred Fabray's niece Shelley Fabares, a former SAG National Board member. Her work garnered her numerous accolades, including a Tony and three Emmys. Fabray, who was herself hard of hearing, was an advocate for education and assistance of the deaf and hard of hearing. She traveled and lobbied extensively to implement sign language interpretation on television. At the time she received the award, she had been appointed by then- House Speaker Tip O'Neill to the U.S. Senate Commission on Education and the Deaf. JOHN GAVIN, who served as Screen Actors Guild president from 1971–73, died on Feb. 9 at the age of 86. Gavin's best-remembered screen appearances were in Psycho and the musical comedy Thoroughly Modern Millie, but he was also a naval officer, businessman and served as the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. Gavin's first credited film was Behind the Wall (1956). His classic good looks soon led to roles opposite the most glamorous leading ladies of the day, including Sophia Loren, Doris Day and Lana Turner, in films such as A Time to Love and a Time to Die (1958) and Imitation of Life (1959). Legendary director Alfred Hitchcock selected Gavin to play Janet Leigh's lover in 1960's Psycho. That same year Gavin worked with Kirk Douglas in Spartacus, playing the role of Julius Caesar. Gavin was elected to the Screen Actors Guild Board of Directors in 1965, when Charlton Heston became Guild president. In late 1966, he was elected to a three-year term on the Guild's Board of Directors. He became 3rd vice president in 1968, followed by one-year terms as 1st vice president in 1969 and 1970. While on the board, he volunteered for numerous committees, including executive, financial, negotiations, award and membership relations. After Heston declined to run again for Guild president in 1971, Gavin was elected to his first of two one-year terms as president. In 1973, Gavin's third run for president resulted in defeat by independent challenger Dennis Weaver, then the star of the hit TV series McCloud. Following his time at SAG, Gavin was an active businessman in Mexico and Latin America. He continued acting on stage and screen throughout the 1970s, but in 1981, another Screen Actors Guild president whose career had veered into politics — Ronald Reagan — appointed Gavin the U.S. ambassador to Mexico. After serving as ambassador, Gavin continued as a successful businessman and civic leader in both the United States and Latin America. He held prominent positions in numerous international corporations and nonprofits. His acting career was merely one element of a life that included business, public service, philanthropy and international relations. He is survived by his second wife, SAG-AFTRA member Constance Towers. SAG-AFTR A ARCHIVES SAG-AFTR A ARCHIVES Fabray with her SAG Life Achievement award on Dec. 7, 1986. Gavin during his SAG presidency.