Divorced. By Ann Todd, 47, blonde British cinemactress (The Seventh Veil, The Paradine Case, Madeleine): David Lean, 49, talented British cinema director (Brief Encounter, Great Expectations, Summertime) after eight years of marriage, two of separation, no children; in London.

Died. Curzio Malaparte (real name: Kurt Suckert), 59, Italian writer (Kaputt, The Skin), polemical journalist and unorthodox cinema writer-director-producer (Forbidden Christ, called in the U.S. Strange Deception); of lung cancer; in Rome. Born in Tuscany of a German father, Italian mother, Malaparte was called Fascism's "strongest pen" during the '203, turned hostile to the regime and was interned (1933-38), most recently accepted Italian Communist financing of a trip this spring to China, but on his return, seriously ill, was baptized a Roman Catholic. Despite his erratic politics, his more than two dozen books, which ranged from starkly etched studies of Italian peasants and fisherfolk to whimsical mockery of intellectuals and contemporary ideologies, rank him high among Italy's contemporary authors.

Died. Kenneth Roberts, 71, bestselling historical novelist (Arundel, Rabble in Arms, Northwest Passage); of a coronary thrombosis; in Kennebunkport, Me. Born in Maine, where his ancestors (arriving in 1639) worked and warred for several generations, Roberts had already gained international repute as a good reporter (on the Boston Post, 1909-17, the Saturday Evening Post, 1919-37) when he switched to full-time writing of historical fiction, ingeniously and accurately ("I think that most historians . . . should have stuck to farming") tracked down his background for realistic, robust tales of the French and Indian wars (1754-60) and the Revolutionary War.

Died. James B. ("The Silver Fox") Bowler, 82, oldtime Chicago West Side ward boss, alderman (except for two brief intervals) from 1906 to 1953, and U.S. Congressman from 1953; in Chicago. Elder statesman of the city's Democratic machine, Bowler shared power all through the boodle days with "Hinky Dink" Kenna and his close friend "Bathhouse John" Coughlin, whose insurance business Bowler took over when Coughlin died (1938), once maintained his own rifle-equipped "army" to hold out against gangster attempts to invade and take over his ward.

Died. James Middleton Cox, 87, longtime newspaper publisher (Dayton Daily News, Miami Daily News, Atlanta Constitution, etc.), governor of Ohio (1913-15, 1917-21), and, with Franklin D. Roosevelt as running mate, the unsuccessful Democratic candidate for President in 1920; in Dayton (see PRESS).

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.