FRANK SINATRA - DYING, ART BUCHWALD TICKS OFF FAVORITE DEATH SCENES

Even though he reportedly is nearing death, Pulitzer Prize-winning satirist Art Buchwald, 80, is continuing to turn out his syndicated column, from a hospice in Washington D.C. In January, his right leg was amputated, and recently, he refused dialysis to treat kidney failure. In his latest column, he writes that from the time he was a child, his thoughts about dying were shaped by the movies, and he offers a remarkable montage of death scenes that have occupied his mind. He says his favorite one is Ronald Reagan's in Knute Rockne All American in which Reagan says to Pat O'Brien, who plays Rockne, "Tell them to out there ... and win just one for the Gipper." Adds Buchwald: "Except I change it to 'win just one for you-know-who.'" Buchwald reels off a dozen other death scenes from movies, concluding poignantly: "I have always depended on movies to write my 'script.' I can't get the scene out of my head when I play Frank Sinatra in From Here to Eternity and I'm dying in Monty Clift's arms after being beaten in the stockade. What makes it so endearing is Monty Clift plays taps. I like someone playing taps in my final scene."



11/04/2006