NOTABLE DEATHS ELSEWHERE

MANUEL VALDÉS, 89

Mexican comic actor

MEXICO CITY — Mexican comic actor Manuel Valdés, known by his nickname “El Loco” or “The Crazy One”, has died at the age of 89, the national association of actors announced Friday.

He was the last of three brothers who played huge roles in Mexican comedy, TV and movies for more than seven decades.

His brother Germán made a large number of movies in the 1950s and 60s under the nickname “Tin Tan,” and his brother Ramón starred for years as “Don Ramón” on the TV series “El Chavo del Ocho.” They died in 1973 and 1988.

Known for his huge bushy eyebrows and manic stare, Manuel Valdés had suffered from numerous ailments, including cancer, in recent years.

The youngest of the three brothers, Valdés had a TV show in the 1970s that was taken off the air, purportedly on orders from the president, after Valdés used a humorous nickname to refer to 19th-century national hero Benito Juárez.

RONNIE KOLE, 89

New Orleans pianist

NEW ORLEANS — Ronnie Kole, an acclaimed New Orleans pianist who performed across the globe, has died. He was 89.

Kole was a Chicago native. In interviews, he said he suffered from a heart condition as a child and was discouraged from playing outdoors. He began learning piano from an aunt and considered himself largely selftaught. He went on the road at 16, he told WWL-TV.

Kole was a protege of the late jazz trumpeter Al Hirt. And, like Hirt, he once had a club in the French Quarter — Kole’s Corner. He put down roots in the New Orleans area and, while he toured internationally, he was a regular at the annual French Quarter Festival and New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

—Associated Press