SATURDAY, JANUARY 31, 2015

Redmayne and Felicity Jones receive engraved bottles of Paradis Imperial at the Hennessy VIP post-party at the Santa Barbara International Film Festival on Thursday in Santa Barbara, California. — AP Rod McKuen, mega-selling poet and performer dead Rap mogul Suge Knight turns od McKuen, the husky-voiced “King of Kitsch” whose music, verse and spoken-word recordings in the 1960s Rand ‘70s won him an Oscar nomination and made him self in LA hit-and-run probe one of the best-selling poets in history, has died. He was 81. McKuen died Thursday morning at a rehabilitation center eath Row Records founder Marion “Suge” Knight turned him- the restaurant. “Seeing the car incident, that was shocking.” in Beverly Hills, California, where he had been treated for self in to authorities early yesterday after his attorney said the Blatt said it was an accident. “He was in the process of being physi- pneumonia and had been ill for several weeks and was Drap mogul accidentally ran over and killed a friend and injured cally assaulted by two men and in an effort to escape he unfortunately unable to digest food, said his half brother, Edward McKuen another man as he fled attackers. hit two (other) individuals,” the lawyer said. “He was in his car trying to Habib. Until his sabbatical in 1981, McKuen was an astonish- The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department said the incident was escape.” Compton has been immortalized in hip-hop folklore, includ- ingly successful and prolific force in popular culture, turning being investigated as a homicide and that Knight was a person of ing on many of the records Knight released, as a gritty and violent out hundreds of songs and interest. In a brief statement released early Friday, the Los Angeles urban environment, though crime has dipped significantly there since poems and records, including County Sheriff’s Department said Knight was at the West Hollywood its 1990s peak. Knight founded Death Row Records, one of rap’s lead- the Academy Award -nomi- station with his attorney and was being interviewed by homicide ing labels, in the 1990s, releasing labels by artists like Dr. Dre, Snoop nated song “Jean” for the detectives. No other information was released and there was no men- Dogg, and Tupac Shakur. —AP 1969 film “The Prime of Miss tion if Knight was being held. Video provided by ONSCENE.TV showed Jean Brodie.” Knight getting out of a private car at the sheriff’s station and then leisurely walking into the building with companions and others who Sentimental, earnest and appeared to be law officers. unashamed, he conjured a Officials say that a red pickup truck struck the men in the parking New Age spirit world that lot of a fast-food restaurant. A 55-year-old man died at a hospital and a captivated those who didn’t 51-year-old man was injured but Corina did not immediately know his ordinarily like “poetry” and condition. “We are confident that once the investigation is completed, those who craved relief from he will be totally exonerated,” attorney James Blatt said earlier by tele- the war, assassinations and phone. Late Thursday, Los Angeles County sheriff’s Lt. John Corina riots of the time. told reporters that the crash occurred around 3 p.m. PST in the parking “I think it’s a reaction peo- lot of the restaurant in the Los Angeles-area city of Compton and then ple are having against so the driver took off. US poet Rod McKuen much insanity in the world,” “Looks like he drove backwards and struck the victims and drove he once said. “I mean, people forwards and struck them again,” Corina said. “The people we talked are really all we’ve got. You know it sounds kind of corny, and to say it looked like it was an intentional act,” he said. I suppose it’s a cliche, but it’s really true; that’s just the way it is.” His best known songs, some written with the Belgian Argument composer Jacques Brel, include “Birthday Boy,” “A Man The Sheriff’s Department said in a statement that two people were Alone,” “If You Go Away” and “Seasons In the Sun,” a chart- in the parking lot when the red pick-up arrived and its driver became topper in 1974 for Terry Jacks. He was nominated for an Oscar involved in an argument with them “The argument escalated and the for “Jean” and for “A Boy Named Charlie Brown,” the title driver backed up striking one of the victims. The driver then drove for- ward driving over both victims,” the sheriff’s statement said. “Various track for the beloved Peanuts movie. witnesses described the driver as being Marion Suge Knight.” The Frank Sinatra, Madonna, Dolly Parton and Chet Baker were empty truck was found late Thursday night in a West Los Angeles among the many artists who recorded his material, although parking lot, Corina said. He said the rap mogul was seen driving a red In this Aug. 15, 1996, file photo, rapper Tupac Shakur, left, McKuen often handled the job himself, in a hushed, throaty pickup truck 20 minutes earlier in a different part of town where a and a founder of Death Row Records, Marion “Suge” Knight, style he had honed after an early life as a rock singer cracked video was being shot. attend a voter registration event in South Central Los his natural tenor. — AP Witnesses also spoke of an argument. “To see the argument hap- Angeles. A lawyer for Knight says he was at the wheel of a car pen, it’s one thing,” said 17-year-old Robert Smith, who was eating in involved in an accident in a Los Angeles suburb. — AP