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<mask> (13 February 1912 – 19 August 1943) was an Austrian Luftwaffe military aviator during World War II, a fighter ace credited with shooting down 189 enemy aircraft claimed in more than 700 combat missions. Born in Mannswörth, <mask> volunteered for military service in the Austrian Army in 1933. In 1935, he transferred to the Austrian Air Force and following the Anschluss, Austria's annexation into Nazi Germany, he served in the German Luftwaffe, initially with Jagdgeschwader 76 (JG 76—76th Fighter Wing) and later with Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing). He flew his first combat missions in the Invasion of Poland and claimed his first aerial victory during the "Phoney War" period on the Western Front. Following his 53rd aerial victory he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, the highest award in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II, on 19 June 1942 and the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves on 30 October 1942 after 100 victories. In early August 1943, <mask> was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of the 5. Staffel (5th squadron) of JG 54.<mask> was posted as missing in action after aerial combat near Vitebsk on 19 August 1943. He was promoted to Hauptmann (captain) posthumously. Early life and career
<mask> was born on 13 February 1912 in Mannswörth, at the time in Austria-Hungary. He was the son of a farmer and joined the military service in the Austrian Army (Bundesheer) on 7 April 1933. He initially served as a Gebirgsjäger with Alpenjäger-Regiment 11 in Klagenfurt. In 1935, he requested transfer to the Austrian Air Force (Österreichische Luftstreitkräfte) and was transferred to Flieger-Regiment 2 in Graz. There, from 1 July to 23 November 1936, he was trained as a pilot.From 24 November 1936 to 5 May 1938, Stotz served with Flieger-Regiment 1 at Wiener Neustadt. At Wiener Neustadt, he was a member of the aerobatics squadron in 1937/38. Following the Anschluss, Austria's annexation into Nazi Germany on 12 March 1938, <mask> was accepted into the German Luftwaffe and became a pilot with 1. Staffel (1st squadron) of Jagdgeschwader 76 (JG 76—76th Fighter Wing), a squadron of I. Gruppe (1st group) under the command of Oberleutnant Dietrich Hrabak. World War II
World War II in Europe began on Friday 1 September 1939 when German forces invaded Poland. I. Gruppe of JG 76 participated in the invasion and returned to its home airfield at Wien-Aspern where it remained until end of October. On 26 October, the Gruppenstab and 1.Staffel were ordered to Frankfurt Rhein-Main where it was united again with 2. and 3. Staffel on 2 November. From Frankfurt Rhein-Main, the Gruppe flew fighter protection during the "Phoney War" for the Frankfurt, Rhine and Saar region. On 5 November, <mask> received the Iron Cross 2nd Class (). The next day, he claimed his first aerial victory over a Royal Air Force (RAF) Bristol Blenheim bomber near Völklingen. In April 1940, I. Gruppe moved to an airfield at Mainz-Finthen, originally named Fliegerhorst Ober-Olm. The Gruppe stayed at Ober-Olm until the Battle of France began.On 11 May, I. Gruppe moved from Ober-Olm to Wengerohr, present-day a suburb of Wittlich. From Wengerohr, the unit flew combat air patrols in the area of Montmédy, Charleville-Mézières and Bastogne. On 14 May, I. Gruppe flew combat missions over the Meuse and Sedan area during the Battle of Sedan. In this action, Stotz claimed two Fairey Battle light bombers shot down over the Sedan combat area. Following the German advance into France, I. Gruppe was moved to a airfields at Bastogne and Nives on 15 May. On 19 May, <mask> claimed a Potez 63 and a Morane-Saulnier M.S.406 west of Laon. This earned him the Iron Cross 1st Class (), awarded to him on 1 June 1940.On 21 May, I. Gruppe moved to Charleville from where the unit flew missions in the Battle of Dunkirk. On 3 June, I. Gruppe participated in Operation Paula (Unternehmen Paula), an offensive operation to destroy the remaining units of the Armée de l'Air. That day, Stotz claimed the destruction of a Curtiss P-36 Hawk fighter west of Épernay. Three days later, he claimed two further Curtiss fighters northwest of Amiens. The Gruppe was moved to Conteville on 7 June, to Guise on 16 June, and then to Émerainville on 18 June. On 19 June, I. Gruppe was withdrawn from France and moved to Brussels on 22 June. On 26 June 1940, I. Gruppe of JG 76 was moved to the airfield at Waalhaven in the Netherlands and subordinated to Jagdgeschwader 54 (JG 54—54th Fighter Wing).There, the Gruppe was tasked with providing aerial protection over the Dutch coastal area. On 5 July, I./JG 76 was officially integrated into JG 54 and was renamed to II./JG 54. Three days later, <mask> claimed his last aerial victory on the Western Front over a Blenheim bomber south of Rotterdam. He was awarded the Honor Goblet of the Luftwaffe () on 20 September 1940. On 29 March 1941, II./JG 54 was withdrawn from the English Channel and was ordered to Graz-Thalerhof. There the various squadrons were split up with 4. Staffel being subordinated to III.Gruppe of Jagdgeschwader 77 (JG 77—77th Fighter Wing) and ordered to Deta in Romania. On 6 April, 4. Staffel flew combat missions in the Invasion of Yugoslavia. The next day, the Staffel flew combat air patrols on the Hungarian-Yugoslavian border. On 9 April, II./JG 54 was united again at Kecskemét, Hungary and returned to Deta on 11 April. The Gruppe was withdrawn from this theater on 19 April and ordered to an airfield at Zemun near Belgrade. Operation Barbarossa

Following the surrender of the Royal Yugoslav Army on 17 April 1941, JG 54 received orders on 3 May 1941 to turn over all Bf 109-Es so they could receive the new Bf 109-F variant.Transition training was completed at Airfield Stolp-Reitz in Pomerania. Following intensive training, the Geschwader was moved to airfields in Eastern Prussia. II. Gruppe under command of Hauptmann Hrabak was moved to Trakehnen on 20 June 1941. The Wehrmacht launched Operation Barbarossa, the invasion of the Soviet Union, on 22 June with II. Gruppe supporting Army Group North in its strategic goal towards Leningrad. On 25 June, II.Gruppe was moved to an airfield at Kowno and was tasked with providing fighter escort for Panzer Group 4 advancing towards the Düna river. The next day, <mask> claimed his first aerial victory in this theater of operations over a Tupolev SB-2 bomber in the vicinity of Ostrov. Eastern Front
On 7 August 1942, Stotz flew one of ten Bf 109s escorting a formation of Junkers Ju 88 bombers from Kampfgeschwader 3 (KG 3—3rd Bomber Wing) attacking the Soviet 6th and 8th Tank Corps at Sychyovka when they were intercepted by eight Yakovlev Yak-1 fighters from 32 IAP (32nd Fighter Aviation Regiment). In this encounter, Stotz claimed two Yak-1s shot down. On 16 August 1942, <mask> for the first time encountered the unknown to him Lavochkin La-5 fighter aircraft from 49 IAP (49th Fighter Aviation Regiment). That day, he claimed two aerial victories which were misidentified and filed as a Lavochkin-Gorbunov-Gudkov LaGG-3 and a Curtiss P-40 Warhawk. On 29 October 1942, <mask> was credited with his 100th aerial victory.He was the 29th Luftwaffe pilot to achieve the century mark. The next day, he was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves () for this achievement. He was the 137th member of the German armed forces to be so honored. The presentation was made by Adolf Hitler personally. On this account, he was also promoted to Leutnant (second lieutenant), backdated to 1 October 1942. On 30 December 1942, <mask> claimed 10 aerial victories, bringing his total to 129. <mask> was promoted to Oberleutnant (first lieutenant) on 1 February 1943.He was appointed Staffelkapitän (squadron leader) of 5. Staffel of JG 54 on 10 August 1943. He succeeded Leutnant Emil Lang who had temporarily led the Staffel after Oberleutnant Alfred Teumer had been transferred in July. Following aerial combat on 19 August 1943 with a large formation of Yakovlev Yak-9 fighters in the vicinity of Vitebsk, <mask> bailed out of his Focke-Wulf Fw 190 A-6 (Werknummer 550 201—factory)  north of Kirov and went missing in action. He was last seen drifting down over Soviet held territory. Summary of career

Aerial victory claims
Matthews and Foreman, authors of Luftwaffe Aces — Biographies and Victory Claims, researched the German Federal Archives and found documentation for 182 aerial victory claims, plus one further unconfirmed claim. This number includes 174 on the Eastern Front and 8 on the Western Front.Victory claims were logged to a map-reference (PQ = Planquadrat), for example "PQ 28123". The Luftwaffe grid map () covered all of Europe, western Russia and North Africa and was composed of rectangles measuring 15 minutes of latitude by 30 minutes of longitude, an area of about . These sectors were then subdivided into 36 smaller units to give a location area 3 × 4 km in size. Awards
 Iron Cross (1939)
 2nd Class (5 November 1939)
 1st Class (1 June 1940)
 Honour Goblet of the Luftwaffe (Ehrenpokal der Luftwaffe) (28 September 1940)
 German Cross in Gold on 1 December 1941 as Oberfeldwebel in the 4./Jagdgeschwader 54
 Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves
 Knight's Cross on 19 June 1942 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot in the 5./Jagdgeschwader 54
 137th Oak Leaves on 30 October 1942 as Oberfeldwebel and pilot in the 5./Jagdgeschwader 54

See also
List of people who disappeared

Notes

References

Citations

Bibliography

1912 births
1940s missing person cases
1943 deaths
Aerial disappearances of military personnel in action
Austrian military personnel killed in World War II
German World War II flying aces
Luftwaffe pilots
Missing in action of World War II
People from Schwechat
Recipients of the Gold German Cross
Recipients of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross with Oak Leaves

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<mask> (born Roy Harold Scherer Jr.; November 17, 1925 – October 2, 1985) was an American actor. One of the most popular movie stars of his time, he had a screen career spanning more than three decades. A prominent heartthrob of the Golden Age of Hollywood, he achieved stardom with his role in Magnificent Obsession (1954), followed by All That Heaven Allows (1955), and Giant (1956), for which he received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. <mask> also found continued success with a string of romantic comedies co-starring Doris Day: Pillow Talk (1959), Lover Come Back (1961), and Send Me No Flowers (1964). During the late 1960s, his films included Seconds (1966), Tobruk (1967), and Ice Station Zebra (1968). Unhappy with the film scripts he was offered, <mask> turned to television and was a hit, starring in the popular mystery series McMillan & Wife (1971–1977). His last role was as a guest star on the fifth season (1984–1985) of the primetime ABC soap opera Dynasty, until AIDS-related illness made it impossible for him to continue.Although discreet regarding his sexual orientation, it was a known fact amongst <mask>'s colleagues in the film industry that he was a gay man. In 1984, <mask> was diagnosed with AIDS. The following year, he became one of the first celebrities to disclose his AIDS diagnosis. <mask> was the first major celebrity to die from an AIDS-related illness, on October 2, 1985, at age 59. Early life
<mask> was born Roy Harold Scherer Jr. on November 17, 1925, in Winnetka, Illinois, the only child of Katherine (née Wood), a homemaker and later telephone operator, and Roy Harold Scherer Sr., an auto mechanic. His father was of German and Swiss descent, while his mother had English and Irish ancestry. He was raised as a Roman Catholic.During the Great Depression, <mask>'s father lost his job and abandoned the family. <mask>'s parents divorced when he was four years old; a few years later, in 1932, his mother married Wallace Fitzgerald, a former Marine Corps officer whom young Roy despised. Fitzgerald adopted his stepson without his consent, and his legal name then became Roy Harold Fitzgerald. The marriage eventually ended in a bitter divorce and produced no children. <mask> attended New Trier High School in Winnetka. At some point during his teenage years, he worked as an usher in a movie theater and developed an interest in acting. He tried out for a number of school plays, but failed to win any roles because he could not remember his lines, a problem that continued to occur through his early acting career.He graduated from high school in 1943, and the following year enlisted in the United States Navy during World War II. After training at the Great Lakes Naval Training Station, he departed San Francisco aboard the troop transport SS Lew Wallace with orders to report to Aviation Repair and Overhaul Unit 2, then located on Samar, Philippines, as an aircraft mechanic. In 1946, he returned to San Francisco aboard an aircraft carrier, and was discharged the same year. <mask> then moved to Los Angeles to live with his biological father (who had remarried) and to pursue an acting career. Initially he worked at odd jobs, including as a truck driver. He applied to the University of Southern California's dramatics program, but was rejected due to poor grades. After he sent talent scout Henry Willson a picture of himself in 1947, Willson took him on as a client and changed the young actor's name to <mask>; later in life, <mask> admitted that he hated the name.The name was coined by combining the Rock of Gibraltar and the Hudson River. <mask> later named his independent film production company Gibraltar Productions. Politically, <mask> was a conservative Republican, he campaigned and voted for Barry Goldwater in the 1964 United States presidential election. Career
<mask> made his acting debut with a small part in the Warner Bros. film Fighter Squadron (1948); according to a 21st-century source, it took 38 takes for <mask> to successfully deliver his only line in the film. Universal-International
<mask> was signed to a long-term contract by Universal-International. There he received coaching in acting, singing, dancing, fencing, and horseback riding, and began to be featured in film magazines where, being photogenic, he was promoted. His first film at Universal was Undertow (1949), which gave him his first screen credit.He had small parts in Peggy (1950), Winchester '73 (1950) as an American Indian, The Desert Hawk (1950) (as an Arab), Tomahawk (1951), and Air Cadet (1951). <mask> was billed third in The Fat Man (1951), but back down the cast list for Bright Victory (1951). He had good parts as a boxer in Iron Man (1951) and as a gambler in Bend of the River (1952). He supported the Nelson family in Here Come the Nelsons (1951). Leading man
<mask> was promoted to leading man for Scarlet Angel (1952), opposite Yvonne De Carlo, who had been in Desert Hawk and Tomahawk. He co-starred with Piper Laurie in Has Anybody Seen My Gal? (1952), the first of his films directed by Douglas Sirk.In Horizons West (1952) <mask> supported Robert Ryan, but he was star again for The Lawless Breed (1953) and Seminole (1953). In 1953, he appeared in a Camel commercial that showed him on the set of Seminole. He and De Carlo were borrowed by RKO for Sea Devils (1953), an adventure set during the Napoleonic Wars. Back at Universal he played Harun al-Rashid in The Golden Blade (1953). There was Gun Fury (1953) and Back to God's Country (1953). <mask> had the title role in Taza, Son of Cochise (1954), directed by Sirk and produced by Ross Hunter. Magnificent Obsession and stardom
<mask> was by now firmly established as a leading man in adventure films.What turned him into a star was the romantic drama Magnificent Obsession (1954), co-starring Jane Wyman, produced by Hunter and directed by Sirk. The film received positive reviews, with Modern Screen Magazine citing <mask> as the most popular actor of the year. It made over $5 million at the box office. <mask> returned to adventure films with Bengal Brigade (1954), set during the Indian Mutiny, and Captain Lightfoot (1955), produced by Hunter and directed by Sirk. In 1954, exhibitors voted <mask> the 17th most popular star in the country. Hunter used him in the melodramas One Desire (1955) and All That Heaven Allows (1955), which reunited him with Sirk and Wyman. He next acted in Never Say Goodbye (1956).Giant (1956)
<mask>'s popularity soared with George Stevens' film Giant (1956). <mask> and his co-star James Dean were nominated for Oscars in the Best Actor category. Another hit was Written on the Wind (1957), directed by Sirk and produced by Albert Zugsmith. Sirk also directed <mask> in Battle Hymn (1957), produced by <mask>, playing Dean Hess. These films propelled <mask> to be voted the most popular actor in American cinemas in 1957. He stayed in the "top ten" until 1964. <mask> was borrowed by MGM to appear in Richard Brooks' Something of Value (1957), a box-office disappointment.So too was his next film, a remake of A Farewell to Arms (1957). To make A Farewell to Arms, he reportedly turned down Marlon Brando's role in Sayonara, William Holden's role in The Bridge on the River Kwai, and Charlton Heston's role in Ben-Hur. A Farewell to Arms received negative reviews, failed at the box office and became the last production by David O. Selznick. <mask> was reunited with the producer, director and two stars of Written on the Wind in The Tarnished Angels (1958), at Universal. He then made Twilight for the Gods (1958) and This Earth Is Mine (1959). Romantic comedy star

Ross Hunter teamed <mask> with Doris Day in the romantic comedy Pillow Talk (1959), which was a massive hit. <mask> was voted the most popular star in the country for 1959 and was the second most popular for the next three years.Less popular was The Last Sunset (1961), co-starring Kirk Douglas. <mask> then made two hugely popular comedies: Come September (1961) with Gina Lollobrigida, Sandra Dee and Bobby Darin, directed by Robert Mulligan; and Lover Come Back (1961) with Day. He made two dramas: The Spiral Road (1962), directed by Mulligan, and A Gathering of Eagles (1963), directed by Delbert Mann. <mask> still was voted the third most popular star in 1963. <mask> went back to comedy for Man's Favorite Sport? (1964), directed by Howard Hawks and the popular Send Me No Flowers (1964), his third and final film with Day. Along with Cary Grant, <mask> was regarded as one of the best-dressed male stars in Hollywood and received Top 10 Stars of the Year a record-setting eight times from 1957 to 1964.Decline as a star
Strange Bedfellows (1965), with Gina Lollobrigida, was a box-office disappointment. So too was A Very Special Favor (1965), despite having the same writer and director as Pillow Talk. <mask> next appeared in Blindfold (1966). Then, working outside his usual range, he starred in the science-fiction thriller Seconds (1966), directed by John Frankenheimer and co-produced through his own film production company Gibraltar Productions. The film may have been <mask>'s best performance. He also tried his hand in the action genre with Tobruk (1967), directed by Arthur Hiller. After the comedy A Fine Pair (1968) with Claudia Cardinale, he starred in the action thriller Ice Station Zebra (1968) at MGM, a role which remained his personal favorite.The film was a hit but struggled to recoup its large cost. <mask> dabbled in westerns, appearing opposite John Wayne in The Undefeated (1969). He co-starred opposite Julie Andrews in the Blake Edwards musical Darling Lili (1970), notorious for its huge cost. Television
During the 1970s and 1980s, he starred in a number of TV movies and series. His most successful television series was McMillan & Wife opposite Susan Saint James, which ran from 1971 to 1977. <mask> played police commissioner Stewart "Mac" McMillan, with Saint James as his wife Sally, and their on-screen chemistry helped make the show a hit. During the series, <mask> appeared in Showdown (1973), a western with Dean Martin, and Embryo (1976), a science-fiction film.<mask> took a risk and surprised many by making a successful foray into live theater late in his career, and the best received of his efforts was I Do! I Do! in 1974. After McMillan ended, <mask> made the disaster movie Avalanche (1978) and the miniseries Wheels (1978) and The Martian Chronicles (1980). He was one of several stars in The Mirror Crack'd (1980) and co-starred in The Beatrice Arthur Special (1980). Later years

In the early 1980s, following years of heavy drinking and smoking, <mask> began having health problems which resulted in a heart attack in November 1981. Emergency quintuple heart bypass surgery sidelined <mask> and his new TV show The Devlin Connection for a year, and the show was canceled in December 1982 soon after it aired.His health issues forced him to turn down the role of Col. Sam Trautman in First Blood. <mask> recovered from the heart surgery but continued to smoke. He nevertheless continued to work with appearances in several TV movies such as World War III (1982). He was in ill health while filming the action-drama film The Ambassador in Israel during the winter months from late 1983 to early 1984. He reportedly did not get along with his co-star Robert Mitchum, who had a serious drinking problem and often clashed off-camera with <mask> and other cast and crew members. From December 1984 to April 1985, <mask> appeared in a recurring role on the prime time soap opera Dynasty as Daniel Reece, a wealthy horse breeder and a potential love interest for Krystle Carrington (played by Linda Evans), as well as the biological father of the character Sammy Jo Carrington (Heather Locklear). While <mask> had long been known to have difficulty memorizing lines, which resulted in his use of cue cards, his speech began to visibly deteriorate on Dynasty.He was slated to appear for the duration of the show's second half of its fifth season; however, because of his progressing ill health, his character was abruptly written out of the show and died off-screen. Personal life
While his career developed, <mask> and his agent Henry Willson kept the actor's personal life out of the headlines. In 1955, Confidential magazine threatened to publish an exposé about <mask>'s secret homosexuality. Willson stalled this by disclosing information about two of his other clients. Willson provided information about Rory Calhoun's years in prison and the arrest of Tab Hunter at a party in 1950. According to some colleagues, <mask>'s homosexual activity was well known in Hollywood throughout his career, and former co-stars Julie Andrews, Mia Farrow, Elizabeth Taylor, and Susan Saint James claimed that they knew of his homosexuality and kept <mask>'s secret for him, as did friends Audrey Hepburn and Carol Burnett. Soon after the Confidential incident, <mask> married Willson's secretary Phyllis Gates.Gates later wrote that she dated <mask> for several months, lived with him for two months before his surprise marriage proposal, and married <mask> out of love and not (as it was reported later) to prevent an exposé of <mask>'s sexual past. Press coverage of the wedding quoted <mask> as saying: "When I count my blessings, my marriage tops the list." Gates filed for divorce after three years in April 1958, citing mental cruelty. <mask> did not contest the divorce and Gates received alimony of $250 per week for 10 years. Gates never remarried. According to the biography <mask>: His Story (1986) by <mask> and Sara Davidson, <mask> was good friends with novelist Armistead Maupin, who states that the two had a brief fling. The book also names certain of <mask>'s lovers, including Jack Coates; Tom Clark (who published the memoir <mask> Hudson: Friend of Mine); actor and stockbroker Lee Garlington; and Marc Christian (born Marc Christian MacGinnis), who later won a suit against the <mask> estate.In 2005, Bob Hofler published a biography of

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 <mask>'s agent Henry Willson, titled The Man Who Invented <mask>. He told The Village Voice that Phyllis Gates attempted to blackmail <mask> about his homosexual activities. The LGBT news magazine The Advocate published an article by Hofler, who claimed that Gates was actually a lesbian who believed from the beginning of their relationship that <mask> was gay. An urban legend states that <mask> married Jim Nabors in the early 1970s. Not only was same-sex marriage not recognized under the laws of any American state at the time, but, at least publicly, <mask> and Nabors were nothing more than friends. According to <mask>, the legend originated with a group of "middle-aged homosexuals who live in Huntington Beach" who sent out joke invitations for their annual get-together. One year, the group invited its members to witness "the marriage of <mask> and Jim Nabors", at which <mask> would take the surname of Nabors' character Gomer Pyle, becoming <mask>.The joke was in the mainstream by this time. In the October 1972 edition of MAD magazine (issue no. 154), an article titled "When Watching Television, You Can be Sure of Seeing...", gossip columnist 'Rona Boring' states: "And there isn't a grain of truth to the vicious rumor that movie and TV star <mask> and singer Jim Nelly were secretly married! <mask> and Jim are just good buddies! I repeat, they are not married! They are not even going steady!" Those who failed to get the joke spread the rumor, and as a result, <mask> and Nabors (then still not open) never spoke to each other again.Although he was raised Roman Catholic, <mask> later identified as an atheist. A week before <mask> died, his publicist Tom Clark asked a priest to visit. <mask> made a confession, received communion, and was administered last rites. <mask> also was visited by a Pentecostal prayer group, which included Shirley and Pat Boone. Illness and death

Unknown to the public, <mask> was diagnosed with HIV on June 5, 1984, three years after the emergence of the first cluster of symptomatic patients in the U.S., and only one year after the initial identification by scientists that HIV that causes AIDS. Over the next several months, <mask> kept his illness a secret and continued to work while, at the same time, traveling to France and other countries seeking a cure – or at least treatment to slow the progress of the disease. On July 16, 1985, <mask> joined his old friend Doris Day for a Hollywood press conference announcing the launch of her new TV cable show Doris Day's Best Friends in which <mask> was videotaped visiting Day's ranch in Carmel, California, a few days earlier.He appeared gaunt and his speech was nearly incoherent; during the segment, <mask> did very little speaking, with most of it consisting of Day and <mask> walking around as Day's recording of "My Buddy" played in the background, with <mask> noting he had quickly tired out. His appearance was enough of a shock that the reunion was broadcast repeatedly over national news shows that night and for days to come. Media outlets speculated on <mask>'s health. Day later acknowledged: "He was very sick. But I just brushed that off and I came out and put my arms around him and said 'Am I glad to see you.'" Two days later, <mask> traveled to Paris, France, for another round of treatment. After <mask> collapsed in his room at the Ritz Hotel in Paris on July 21, his publicist Dale Olson released a statement claiming that <mask> had inoperable liver cancer.Olson denied reports that <mask> had AIDS and only said that he was undergoing tests for "everything" at the American Hospital of Paris. But, four days later, July 25, 1985, <mask>'s French publicist Yanou Collart confirmed that <mask> did, in fact, have AIDS. He was among the early mainstream celebrities to have been diagnosed with the disease. <mask> flew back to Los Angeles on July 30. He was so weak that he was removed by stretcher from the Air France Boeing 747 he had chartered, and on which, he and his medical attendants were the only passengers. He was flown by helicopter to UCLA Medical Center, where he spent nearly a month undergoing further treatment. He was released from the hospital in late August 1985 and returned to his home in Beverly Crest, Los Angeles for private hospice care.At around 9:00 a.m. on the morning of October 2, 1985, <mask> died in his sleep from AIDS-related complications at his home in Beverly Crest at the age of 59, less than seven weeks before what would have been his 60th birthday. <mask> requested that no funeral be held. His body was cremated hours after his death and a cenotaph later was established at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Cathedral City, California. His ashes were scattered in the channel between Wilmington, Los Angeles and Santa Catalina Island. The disclosure of <mask>'s AIDS diagnosis provoked widespread public discussion of his homosexual identity. In Logical Family: A Memoir, gay author Armistead Maupin, who was a friend of <mask>, writes that he was the first person to confirm to the press that <mask> was gay in 1985. Maupin explains that he said it to Randy Shilts of the San Francisco Chronicle and that he was annoyed that producer Ross Hunter, who was gay, denied it.In its August 15, 1985 issue, People magazine published a story that discussed his disease in the context of his sexuality. The largely sympathetic article featured comments from show business colleagues such as Angie Dickinson, Robert Stack, and Mamie Van Doren, who claimed they knew about <mask>'s homosexuality and expressed their support for him. At that time, People had a circulation of more than 2.8 million, and, as a result of this and other stories, <mask>'s homosexuality became fully public. <mask>'s revelation had an immediate impact on the visibility of AIDS, and on the funding of medical research related to the disease. Shortly after <mask>'s press release disclosing his infection, William M. Hoffman, the author of As Is, a play about AIDS that appeared on Broadway in 1985, stated: "If <mask> can have it, nice people can have it. It's just a disease, not a moral affliction." At the same time, Joan Rivers was quoted as saying: "Two years ago, when I hosted a benefit for AIDS, I couldn't get one major star to turn out...<mask>'s admission is a horrendous way to bring AIDS to the attention of the American public, but by doing so, <mask>, in his life, has helped millions in the process.What <mask> has done takes true courage." Morgan Fairchild said that "<mask>'s death gave AIDS a face." In a telegram <mask> sent to a September 1985 Hollywood AIDS benefit, Commitment to Life, which he was too ill to attend in person, <mask> said: "I am not happy that I am sick. I am not happy that I have AIDS. But if that is helping others, I can at least know that my own misfortune has had some positive worth." Shortly after his death, People reported: "Since <mask> made his announcement, more than $1.8 million in private contributions (more than double the amount collected in 1984) has been raised to support AIDS research and to care for AIDS victims (5,523 reported in 1985 alone). A few days after <mask> died, Congress set aside $221 million to develop a cure for AIDS."Organizers of the Hollywood AIDS benefit, Commitment to Life, reported after <mask>'s announcement that he was suffering from the disease, it was necessary to move the event to a larger venue to accommodate the increased attendance. Shortly before his death <mask> made the first direct contribution, $250,000, to amfAR, The Foundation for AIDS Research, helping launch the non-profit organization dedicated to AIDS/HIV research and prevention; it was formed by a merger of a Los Angeles organization founded by Dr. Michael S. Gottlieb, <mask>'s physician, and Elizabeth Taylor, his friend and onetime co-star, and a New York-based group. However, <mask>'s revelation did not immediately dispel the stigma of AIDS. Although then-president Ronald Reagan and his wife Nancy were friends of <mask>, Reagan made no public statement concerning <mask>'s condition. However, Reagan did in fact phone <mask> privately in his Paris hospital room where he was being treated in July 1985 and released a condolence statement after his death. After <mask> revealed his diagnosis, a controversy arose concerning his participation in a scene in the television drama Dynasty in which he shared a long and repeated kiss with actress Linda Evans in one episode (first aired in February 1985). When filming the scene, <mask> was aware that he had AIDS, but did not inform Evans.Some felt that he should have disclosed his condition to her beforehand. At the time, it was incorrectly thought that the virus was present in low quantities in saliva and tears, but there had been no reported cases of transmission by kissing. Nevertheless, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention had warned against exchanging saliva with members of groups perceived to be at high risk for AIDS. According to comments given in August 1985 by Ed Asner, then president of the Screen Actors Guild, <mask>'s revelation caused incipient "panic" within the film and television industry. Asner said that he was aware of scripts being rewritten to eliminate kissing scenes. Later in the same year, the guild issued rules requiring that actors be notified in advance of any "open-mouth" kissing scenes, and provided that they could refuse to participate in such scenes without penalty. Linda Evans appears not to have been angry at <mask>, and asked to introduce the segment of the 1985 Commitment to Life benefit that was dedicated to <mask>.Legacy

For his contribution to the motion picture industry, <mask> was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (located at 6116 Hollywood Blvd). Following his death, Elizabeth Taylor, his co-star in the film Giant, purchased a bronze plaque for <mask> on the West Hollywood Memorial Walk. In 2002, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. Lawsuits
Following <mask>'s death, Marc Christian, <mask>'s former lover, sued his estate on grounds of "intentional infliction of emotional distress". Christian claimed <mask> continued having sex with him until February 1985, more than eight months after <mask> knew that he had HIV. Although he repeatedly tested negative for HIV, Christian claimed that he suffered from "severe emotional distress" after learning from a July 25, 1985 newscast that <mask> had been diagnosed with AIDS. Christian also sued <mask>'s personal secretary Mark Miller for $10 million because Miller allegedly lied to him about <mask>'s illness.In 1989, a jury awarded Christian $21.75 million in damages, later reduced to $5.5 million. Christian later defended <mask>'s reputation in not telling him he was infected: "You can't dismiss a man's whole life with a single act. This thing about AIDS was totally out of character for him", he stated in an interview. In 1990, Hudson's live-in publicist Tom Clark and publicist Dick Kleiner published Rock Hudson, Friend of Mine. In the book, Clark said he believed <mask> acquired HIV from blood transfusions during quintuple bypass open-heart surgery in 1981; never acknowledged that their relationship went beyond being roommates; and characterized Christian as disreputable. Christian filed a $22 million libel suit against the authors and publisher, charging that he had been labelled "a criminal, a thief, an unclean person, a blackmailer, a psychotic, an extortionist, a forger, a perjurer, a liar, a whore, an arsonist and a squatter". In 2010, Robert Park Mills, the attorney who represented the <mask> estate against Christian in court, released a book titled Between Rock and a Hard Place: In Defense of <mask> Hudson.In the book, Mills discusses details of the trial and also questions Christian's allegations against <mask>. Filmography

Film

Television

Awards

In popular culture
<mask> was parodied as actor <mask> in The Flintstones episode "The Rock Quarry Story" (1961). <mask> has been the subject of three plays: <mask> (2008), starring Michael Xavier as <mask>, For Roy (2010), starring Richard Henzel as <mask>, and Hollywood Valhalla (2011), starring Patrick Byrnes as <mask>. The story of <mask>'s marriage was depicted in the 1990 TV film <mask>, starring Daphne Ashbrook (as Gates) and Thomas Ian Griffith (as <mask>). <mask> is portrayed by Jake Picking in the 2020 miniseries Hollywood, a revisionist tale of post World War II Hollywood. <mask>'s inability to get his only line right in Winchester '73 – "Would that it were so simple" is parodied in Hail, Caesar! by the Coen Brothers.British band Big Audio Dynamite's debut album This Is Big Audio Dynamite contains a song about the AIDS crisis titled "Stone Thames." The phrase was derived from "<mask> Hudson" by replacing "<mask>" with "Stone," and "Hudson" (also the name of a river) with "Thames." See also
 <mask> Hudson's Home Movies

References

Bibliography

External links

 Transcript of CNN Larry King, 7 June 2001, Special on <mask> offscreen with Dale Olson
 Transcript of CNN Larry King,  1 October 2003, 18th anniversary of <mask>'s death
 FBI Records: The Vault – <mask> at vault.fbi.gov
 Image of <mask>, Gene Roddenberry, and Roger Vadim posing with women cast members for motion picture "Pretty Maids All in a Row," California, 1970. Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429). UCLA Library Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, University of California, Los Angeles. 1925 births
1985 deaths
20th-century American male actors
AIDS-related deaths in California
American adoptees
American atheists
American male film actors
American male television actors
Burials at Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City)
American gay actors
LGBT people from Illinois
Male actors from Illinois
New Trier High School alumni
People from Studio City, Los Angeles
People from Winnetka, Illinois
United States Navy personnel of World War II
United States Navy sailors
Universal Pictures contract players
20th-century

masks:
Hudson
Rock Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Rock Hudson
Hudson
Rock Pyle
Rock Heman
Rock
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Rock Hudson
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Rock
Hudson
Hudson
Rock Quarry
Hudson
Rock
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Rock Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Hudson
Rock
Rock
Rock
Rock Hudson
Hudson
Rock Hudson
Rock Hudson


texts:
<mask>, originally Heinrich Wilhelm Ferdinand Bölckow, (8 December 1806 – 18 June 1878) was a Victorian industrialist and Member of Parliament, acknowledged as being one of the founders of modern Middlesbrough. In a lifelong partnership with John Vaughan, Bolckow set up and ran an ironmaking business which became the company Bolckow Vaughan. It came to operate coal mines, limestone quarries and a major ironworks which stimulated the growth of Middlesbrough. <mask> became the town's Mayor and its first Member of Parliament. Biography

Early life
Heinrich Bölckow, the son of Heinrich Bölckow of Varchow, in the region of Western Pomerania, and his wife, Caroline Duscher, was born at Sülten in the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin. When he was fifteen his parents placed him in a merchant's office in nearby Rostock, to learn about commerce, and there he made the acquaintance of Christian Allhusen, who in 1827 invited him to move to Newcastle upon Tyne to become his business partner in the corn trade. Career in England
After several years in business in the north of England, Bölckow became a naturalised British subject in 1841 by act of Parliament and anglicised his name as "<mask>".He was persuaded by the ironmaster of the Walkergate works in Newcastle, John Vaughan, to invest in the burgeoning iron trade. At the suggestion of Joseph Pease they set up their first iron foundry and rolling mill at Vulcan Street, Middlesbrough, where they processed pig iron imported from Scotland. In 1846 the pair opened Witton Park Ironworks,  to the west of the town, where ironstone from Grosmont, could be smelted in blast furnaces to produce the pig iron for the Vulcan Street works. The high transport costs generated by this operation led the partners to look closer to home for their raw materials, and in the end they found what they were looking for on their own doorstep. In 1850, Vaughan and his geologist John Marley discovered large seams of iron ore at Eston, in the nearby Cleveland Hills. A year later they began mining there, and soon a branch railway line was built to transport the ore to Middlesbrough. The rapid success of their business enabled them to expand their operations, acquiring coal mines, limestone quarries, brickworks, gasworks and a machine works.Founding Bolckow, Vaughan

In 1864, the firm of Bolckow, Vaughan was formed into a limited liability company with a capital of £2,500,000, and with Bolckow as its first chairman. By 1868, Middlesbrough was producing four million tons of iron per year, and the town's population had risen to 40,000. It became a centre of such importance that, in 1853, the town received a charter of incorporation, Bolckow becoming the first Mayor of the new municipal corporation, with Vaughan following him two years later. The introduction of the Bessemer process in the 1850s and the subsequent mass-production of both mild steel and hardened tooling steel impacted greatly on the iron manufacturers, as the new process could produce metals far more cheaply. The firm of Bolckow & Vaughan were slow to adapt, mainly because the local iron ore had a high phosphorus content and the original 'acid' Bessemer process required pig-iron low in phosphorus to produce usable steel; thus by the late 1870s the town was suffering a major economic downtown with unemployment running very high. In 1875 a rival firm, Dorman Long, was set up in the Middlesbrough area, producing steel from imported iron. Bolckow was aware that the townsfolk worked long hours and lived in cramped conditions.He spent £20,000 purchasing and landscaping  of land near the town centre to create a free public park for them. Albert Park was opened on 11 August 1868 and named in memory of Albert, Prince Consort, who like Bolckow came from Germany. The following year he spent £7,000 of his own money to build a school in the St Hilda's district of the town. Later life

When the town was granted parliamentary representation under the Representation of the People Act 1867, Bolckow stood as a Liberal Party candidate. <mask> was elected unopposed as its first Member of Parliament (MP) on 16 November 1868, and he held that position for 10 years until his death. In 1877 Bolckow became ill, suffering from kidney disease. In May 1878 he was taken to Ramsgate, where it was thought the sea air would do him good.He made a temporary recovery but had a relapse and died on 18 June at the Granville Hotel, Ramsgate. He was 71. He was buried at St Cuthbert's Church, Marton, near to where his friend and partner Vaughan had been buried ten years before (9 September 1868). Their gravestones, which were neglected and fell into disrepair during the twentieth century, were restored in early 2009. <mask> was twice married. In 1841, he married a widow Miriam Hay, whose sister was married to Vaughan. Miriam died the following year and <mask> remarried in 1851, when he wed Harriet, only daughter of James Farrar, of Halifax.In his lifetime, Bolckow collected paintings, nearly all of them by living French and English artists. A statue commemorating <mask> stands in Middlesbrough's Exchange Square, diagonally opposite the railway station. During his spell as Mayor, Bolckow erected a granite urn dedicated to Captain James Cook in the grounds of his residence, Marton Hall, near to the reputed site of the cottage in which Cook was born. The Hall burnt down in 1960, but the urn remains in what is now Stewart Park, which also contains the Captain Cook Birthplace Museum. <mask>'s Mastiff, Lady Marton, became one of the foundation bitches of the modern breed. References

External links
 Grace's Guide

Attribution

Middlesbrough
1806 births
1878 deaths
Liberal Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1868–1874
UK MPs 1874–1880
Mayors of Middlesbrough
German emigrants to England
People from the Duchy of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
People from Ludwigslust-Parchim
Naturalised citizens of the United Kingdom
19th-century English businesspeople

masks:
Henry William Ferdinand Bolckow
Bolckow
Henry Bolckow
Bolckow
Henry
Henry
Henry Bolckow
Bolckow


texts:
<mask> (born September 20, 1959) is an American classical trombonist with the New York Philharmonic. Life
<mask> was born in Detroit, Michigan and attended high school in San Rafael, California. His father, also named <mask>, was a professional trumpet player, and his mother, Maria (née Leone) sang in the Metropolitan Opera chorus. His younger brother <mask> is a jazz trumpeter. Displaying notable talent himself from an early age, <mask> graduated early from high school at age 16 and successfully auditioned to join the San Francisco Ballet Orchestra. During this time he appeared as a soloist with the San Francisco Symphony. In 1976-77, following a previously unsuccessful audition, Alessi gained entry to the Curtis Institute of Music (in Philadelphia), where he studied until 1980.Career
During his third year at Curtis, <mask> joined the Philadelphia Orchestra as interim Second Trombone; he later won the job permanently and performed with the orchestra for four seasons. Following one season as Principal Trombone at the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, Alessi joined the New York Philharmonic as Principal Trombone in the Spring of 1985. <mask> made his solo debut with the New York Philharmonic in 1990 when he performed the Fantasy for Trombone by Paul Creston. In 1992, he performed with the New York Philharmonic in the world premiere of the Trombone Concerto by Christopher Rouse, which later received the 1993 Pulitzer Prize for Music. <mask> has since developed an increasingly active solo career, performing throughout the United States and internationally. His discography consists of over 14 full-length albums, in addition to guest appearances on albums by other artists. Recordings of the Rouse Concerto have been released by the New York Philharmonic and the Colorado Symphony, both featuring Alessi as soloist.His 1999 recording of Star-Child, by George Crumb, was voted Best Classical Contemporary Composition at the 43rd Grammy Awards in 2001. Alessi joined the faculty of the Juilliard School in 1986, shortly after joining the New York Philharmonic. The Juilliard trombone studio has since furthered its international reputation as one of the finest trombone college programs, and the Juilliard Trombone Choir has regularly performed with Alessi on his recording projects. Since 1999 Alessi has conducted the Alessi Seminar; a biennial trombone workshop that attracts trombonists from around the world to spend time with him in lessons, masterclasses, and recitals. Several of his past students now occupy senior positions in major orchestras throughout the world. <mask> and Swedish trombone virtuoso Christian Lindberg are widely regarded as the finest players of the instrument today, arguably the finest in history. In recognition of Alessi's immense contributions to the trombone community, he was awarded the 2002 ITA Award, the most prestigious award offered by the International Trombone Association.Playing style
<mask>'s playing is often noted for refined musicianship, a particularly rich sound quality and complete technical control. The music he chooses to play is mainly romantic and modern (but mainly tonal) music, while also developing his jazz playing. - with Edward Neumeister, James E. Pugh, and David Taylor (TNC CD 1441) - 2013
 Just for Fun - World Trombone Quartet with Michel Becquet, Jörgen van Rijen, and Stefan Schulz (arcantus arc 16004) - 2016
 Slide Monsters- with Eijiro Nakagawa, Marshall Gilkes, and Brandt Attema - 2018

Orchestral recordings
 George Crumb: 70th Birthday Album - The Complete Works, Volume 3 - with Warsaw Philharmonic Orchestra (Bridge 9095)
 Mahler: Symphonie No. 3 in d minor - with New York Philharmonic, Leonard Bernstein, conductor (Deutsche Grammophon 427 328-2)
 Charles Wuorinen: Choral Works - with Minnesota Orchestra (Koch 37336-2)

References

External links

 Discography of Classical Trombone CDs

American classical trombonists
Male trombonists
Musicians from Detroit
Juilliard School faculty
Curtis Institute of Music alumni
Living people
Musicians from San Rafael, California
1959 births
Educators from Michigan
Classical musicians from California
Classical musicians from Michigan
20th-century classical trombonists
20th-century American male musicians
21st-century classical trombonists
21st-century American male musicians
Summit Records artists

masks:
Joseph Norman Alessi
Joseph Norman Alessi
Joseph Alessi
Ralph Alessi
Alessi
Alessi
Alessi
Alessi
Joseph Alessi
Joseph Alessi


texts:
<mask> (9 September 1921 – 7 August 2005) was a général of the French Army who served primarily in the French Foreign Legion taking part in World War II and the conflicts of Indochina and Algeria. Military career

<mask> commenced his arms in the resistance where he was captured and interned on 4 December 1942 until 3 June 1943. Escaped, he disembarked in Spain where he was interned at Figueras. He was liberated at Setubal in Portugal, and embarked to Morocco on 21 August. During this time, he registered an engagement for the duration of the war by joining the 501e Régiment de chars de combat 501e RCC. His services counted as retroactive, counting from 4 December 1942. He passed to the instruction depot of Dellys, then joined the school of Cherchell as an aspirant.He was assigned to the Marching Regiment of the Foreign Legion RMLE with the rank of aspirant on 1 April 1944. With his unit, he participated to the disembarking at Saint-Raphaël in September then to the offensive of the Ist Army, an offensive during which he was wounded by a mine. He was evacuated on 28 November 1944 and cited at the orders of the brigade with his first croix de guerre 1939–1945. It was at the head of his section, in Germany, that he was awarded the Médaille militaire in 1945. On 8 February 1945 he was assigned to the 11th company of the RMLE. Leading a section (platoon), he distinguished leadership on 20 March 1945, at the crossroad south of Buchelberg; during the siege of Mulhausen, on 4 April, on the bridge of Enns, the 7; then in Herrenberg, the 18; at Hattingen, the 25; at Immendingen the 26; accordingly being awarded three citations at the orders of the armed forces and the Médaille militaire in one trimester. At the end of the war, he was sent to the École militaire interarmes, since September 1945, to validate his connaissances of an officer.The RMLE was dissolved. Accordingly, <mask> joined the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment 3e REI on 20 December 1945. A decree of February 1946 designated him as sous-lieutenant, to be effective starting 1 February 1944. He was then promoted to the rank of lieutenant on 1 February 1946. He participated to the campaigns of Indochina, he disembarked at Saigon and joined the 11th company of the 3e REI on 11 June 1946. He was wounded by a machine gun, at My Duc Thay, on 22 January 1947. On 23 October 1947 he was assigned the company of camions bennes CCB.Accordingly, he was awarded a new citation at the orders of the armed forces and the knight croix of the Légion d’honneur, bestowed on 14 July 1947. This last one was matched with the croix de guerre des TOE, for his personal action in Cai Lay in Cochinchine; at Am Thai Dong in the province of Mytho. During the creation of the Parachute Company of the 3rd Foreign Infantry Regiment, Co. Para du 3e REI, on 1 April 1948, he assumed the command of a platoon section under the order of lieutenant Jacques Morin. On 16 May he was awarded a citation at the orders of the division during a combat exchange battle at the fortified village of Tho Truong. Repatriated sanitary, he disembarked in Marseille, was hospitalized and benefitted of a break. He was assigned to the regional administrative company of Versailles. Promoted to captain on 2 January 1952, he reassumed the service on 14 October 1952.He was entrusted with the command of the 2nd company of the 1st battalion of the 1st Foreign Infantry Regiment 1er REI on the 20. On 13 March 1953 he commanded the platoons of the 1e REI at Saida. In November he joined the moral service of the legion as editor-in-chief of Képi Blanc in Sidi Bel Abbès until dissolution in July 1955. He was then assigned in the qualities of a commandant of the 5th company of the 2nd battalion of the 4th Foreign Infantry Regiment 4e REI at Fes in Morocco. The  5e du 2/4e REI became the 6e CP du 4e REI, on 16 November 1956. At the corps of this unit, he partook to operations of maintaining order in the Rif and notably at Hibel, Tembouzid, and Zoua Ouah. He was cited at the orders of the division with croix de la Valeur militaire on 11 July 1956.He joined metropole in 1957 and was assigned to the depot of the legion. Detached the provisionary commando group, in qualities of an instructor in garrison at El Hadjeb from 16 February to 4 July 1956, he was awarded a citation at the orders of the armed corps. Another citation at the orders of the armed corps, was conferred for another engagement. On 1 August 1957 he was assigned to the depot of the Legion in Marseille. He was promoted officer in the order of the Légion d’honneur on 18 December 1958. He joined the ESMIA de Coëtquidan groupment, on 1 June 1959. He was accordingly promoted to  on 1 October 1959.He integrated the 74 promotion of the école supérieure de guerre in August 1960. Following, he was assigned to the operation means bureau of the 2nd Foreign Parachute Regiment 2e REP, on 1 July 1962. On 1 October 1963 he was assigned to EMAT bureau, where he was promoted to the rank of lieutenant-colonel, on 1 October 1964. Designated during his command time, he embarked to Mers el Kebir and became regimental commander of the 2e REP, on 1 June 1965 at Bou Sfer. On 15 June 1967 the REP was repatriated on Corsica. With the finalization of this command tenure, he joined the EMA on 1 July. Accordingly, he was promoted to commander of the Légion d’honneur, on 14 July and to the rank of colonel, on 1 October.He was designated to serve at the 1st Parachute Brigade 1re BP and placed in subsistence at the 420th command and service battalion on 1 August 1972. The following January he was promoted to rank of brigadier general. In August 1974 he was designated in a director quality, hors-cadre, of the Secrétariat général de la défense et de la sécurité nationale, under the orders of the Prime Minister of France and occupied the vice-presidency of the permanent council for military service in 1975. Reintegrated, he joined the 11th Parachute Division 11e DP and was division commander on 29 November 1975. He was promoted to division general, in December 1976. Promoted to the rank and designation of a général de corps d’armée on 1 August 1979, he became director of the enseignement militaire supérieur of the French Army in October. On 17 September 1981 he was nominated as a grand officier de la Légion d’honneur.Attained by the reglementary age limit of his rank to the section of officer generals, on 10 September 1981. Decorations

  Grand Officier of the Légion d'Honneur
  Commandeur of the Légion d'Honneur (1967)
  Officier of the Légion d'Honneur (1958)
  Chevalier of the Légion d'Honneur (1947)
  Médaille militaire (1945)
  Grand Croix of the Ordre national du Mérite (1966)
  Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (3 palms, 1 star)
  Croix de guerre des Théatres d'Opérations Exterieures
  Croix de la Valeur Militaire
  Médaille des Evades
  Croix du combattant volontaire (1939–1945)
  Croix du combattant
  Médaille coloniale with agrafe (clasp) « E.O »
  Knight of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques
  Médaille de la Jeunesse et des Sports
  Indochina Campaign commemorative medal
  North Africa Security and Order Operations Commemorative Medal with agrafes (clasps) « Algérie » and « Maroc »
  Bronze Star Medal, U.S. Army (U.S.)
  Officer of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite (Morocco)

He totalized 9 citations.

masks: Paul Marie Félix Jacques René Arnaud de Foïard


texts:
<mask> (8 August 1929 – 18 December 2013) was an English criminal who helped plan and carry out the Great Train Robbery of 1963. He subsequently became notorious for his escape from prison in 1965, living as a fugitive for 36 years, and for his various publicity stunts while in exile. In 2001, <mask> returned to the United Kingdom and spent several years in prison, where his health rapidly declined. He was released from prison on compassionate grounds in August 2009 and died in a nursing home in December 2013. Early life
<mask> was born in Stockwell, London, on 8 August 1929. As a child during the Second World War, he was evacuated to Flitwick, Bedfordshire, and then Delabole, Cornwall. Career
In 1947, at age 18, <mask> enlisted in the Royal Air Force.He was dishonourably discharged for desertion two years later after breaking into a local chemist shop. One month after that, he was convicted of stealing a car and sentenced to prison. On his release, <mask> took part in a failed robbery attempt of a bookmaker's office in Lambeth, London. During his incarceration in HM Prison Wandsworth, he met Bruce Reynolds. After his third prison sentence, <mask> tried to go straight and trained as a carpenter. In February 1960, he married 21-year-old Charmian (Brent) Powell in Swanage, the daughter of a primary school headmaster. They had three sons together.Great Train Robbery

In 1963, <mask>, who needed money to fund a deposit on the purchase of a house for his family, happened to be working on the house of a train driver who was about to retire. The driver has been variously identified as "Stan Agate", or because of his age, "Old Pete" or "Pop". The train driver's real name is unknown, since he was never caught. It was this train driver who introduced <mask> to the train robbery plot, which involved Reynolds. <mask> was given the job of arranging for Agate to move the Royal Mail train after it had been waylaid. On the night of the hold up, <mask> told his wife he was off logging with Reynolds in Wiltshire. The gang then stopped the mail train in the early hours of 8 August 1963, which was <mask>'s 34th birthday.Agate was unable to operate the main line diesel-electric locomotive because he had only driven shunting locomotives on the Southern Region. Therefore, the driver of the intercepted train, Jack Mills, was coshed with an iron bar and forced to move the engine and mail carriages forward to a nearby bridge over a roadway, which had been chosen as the unloading point. <mask>'s main task had been to get Agate to move the train and when it became obvious that the two were useless in that regard, they were banished to a waiting vehicle while the train was looted. Having unloaded 120 of the 128 mailbags from the train within Reynolds' allotted timetable, and returned to their hideout at Leatherslade Farm, various sources show that the robbery yielded the participants £2.6 million (equivalent to £ million in ); <mask>'s share was £147,000 (equivalent to £ in ). With their timetable brought forward due to the police investigation closing in, <mask> returned home on the following Friday, with his stash in two canvas bags. After an accomplice failed to carry out his instructions to burn down Leatherslade Farm to destroy any evidence there, <mask>'s fingerprints were found on a ketchup bottle by Metropolitan Police investigators. Three weeks later, he was arrested in South London, along with 11 other members of the gang.In 1964, nine of the 15-strong gang, including <mask>, were jailed for the crime. Most received sentences of 30 years. Escape and abscondment
<mask> served 15 months before escaping from Wandsworth Prison on 8 July 1965, scaling the wall with a rope ladder and dropping onto a waiting removal van. He fled to Brussels by boat then sent a note to his wife to join him in Paris where he had acquired new identity papers and was undergoing plastic surgery. During his time in prison, Charmian had started an extramarital relationship and was pregnant by the time of his escape to the Continent. Choosing to support her husband, she had an illegal abortion in London and then travelled with their two sons to Paris to join <mask>. Australia
In 1966, <mask> fled to Sydney, where he lived for several months before moving to the seaside suburb of Glenelg in Adelaide, South Australia.By the time <mask> and his family arrived in 1966, they had spent all but £7,000 (equivalent to £ in ) of his £147,000 share of the train robbery proceeds: £40,000 (equivalent to £ in ) on plastic surgery in Paris; £55,000 (equivalent to £ in ) paid as a package deal to get him out of the UK to Australia; and the rest on legal fees and expenses. In 1967, just after their third child was born, <mask> received an anonymous letter from Britain telling him that Interpol suspected that he was in Australia and that he should move. In May 1967, the family moved to Melbourne, where he rented a house in the suburb of Blackburn North while his wife Charmian and their three sons lived in Doncaster East. <mask> had a number of jobs in Melbourne before undertaking set construction work at the GTV Channel 9 Television City studios. In October 1969, a newspaper report by a Reuters correspondent revealed that <mask> was living in Melbourne and claimed that police were closing in on him. The story led the evening news bulletin at Channel 9 and <mask> fled his home, staying with family friends in the outer eastern suburbs of Melbourne. Five months later, he fled on a passenger liner from the Port of Melbourne, using the altered passport of a friend; his wife and sons remained in Australia.Twenty days later, the ship berthed in Panama and within two weeks <mask> had flown to Brazil. Following disclosure of <mask>'s fathering a child in Brazil, Charmian agreed to a divorce in 1974, which was completed in 1976. Allowed by authorities to remain in Australia, she reverted to her maiden name of Brent and sold her story for £40,000 to an Australian media group to enable her to purchase the rented house that the family had lived in at the time of <mask>'s flight to Brazil. Charmian later undertook a degree and became an editor, publisher and journalist. Her sons—who later visited <mask> a few times in Brazil—live anonymously. In 2012 Charmian acted as a consultant on the five-part ITV Studios docu-drama Mrs Biggs, which recounts the couple's time from first meeting to <mask>'s flight to Brazil. Rio de Janeiro
In 1970, when <mask> arrived in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil did not have an extradition treaty with the United Kingdom.In 1971, <mask>'s eldest son, Nicholas, aged 10, died in a car crash in Melbourne. In 1974, Daily Express reporter Colin MacKenzie received information suggesting that <mask> was in Rio de Janeiro; a team consisting of MacKenzie, photographer Bill Lovelace and reporter Michael O'Flaherty confirmed this and broke the story. Scotland Yard detective Jack Slipper arrived soon afterwards, but <mask> could not be extradited because his girlfriend, nightclub dancer Raimunda de Castro, was pregnant. Brazilian law at the time did not allow a parent of a Brazilian child to be extradited. During 1974, in Rio, <mask>, an avid jazz fan, collaborated with Bruce Henri (an American double bass player), Jaime Shields, and Aureo de Souza to record Mailbag Blues, a musical narrative of his life that he intended to use as a movie soundtrack. This album was left undiscovered until it was finally released in 2004 by whatmusic.com. In April 1977 <mask> attended an informal drinks party on board the Royal Navy frigate , which was in Rio for a courtesy visit, but he was not arrested.Though in Brazil he was safe from extradition, <mask>'s status as a known criminal meant he could not work, visit bars or be away from home after 10:00 p.m. To provide an income, <mask>'s family hosted barbecues at his home in Rio, where tourists could meet <mask> and hear him recount his involvement in the robbery, which, in fact, was minor. <mask> was even visited by former footballer Stanley Matthews, whom <mask> afterwards invited to his apartment after hearing that he was in Rio. "We had tea on the small balcony at the rear of his home, and one of the first things he asked was, 'How are Charlton Athletic doing?' It turned out he had supported Charlton from being a small boy and had often seen me play at The Valley." Around this time, "<mask>gs" mugs, coffee cups and T-shirts also appeared throughout Rio. Biggs recorded vocals on two songs for The Great Rock 'n' Roll Swindle, Julien Temple's film about the Sex Pistols. The basic tracks for "No One is Innocent" (a.k.a."The Biggest Blow (A Punk Prayer)"/"Cosh The Driver") and "Belsen Was a Gas" were recorded with guitarist Steve Jones and drummer Paul Cook at a studio in Brazil shortly after the Sex Pistols' final performance, with overdubs added in an English studio at a later date. "No One is Innocent" was released as a single in the UK on 30 June 1978 and reached number 7 in the UK Singles Chart. The sleeve showed a British actor dressed as Nazi leader Martin Bormann playing bass with the group. In March 1981, <mask> was kidnapped by a gang of British ex-soldiers. The boat they took him aboard suffered mechanical problems off Barbados, and the stranded kidnappers and <mask> were rescued by the Barbados coastguard and towed into port in Barbados. The kidnappers hoped to collect a reward from the British police; however, like Brazil, Barbados was found to have had no valid extradition treaty with the United Kingdom (a fact which chess player David Levy claimed to have paid lawyers to unearth) and Biggs was sent back to Brazil. In February 2006, Channel 4 aired a documentary featuring dramatisations of the attempted kidnapping and interviews with John Miller, the ex-British Army soldier who carried it out.The team was headed by security consultant Patrick King. In the documentary, King claimed that the kidnapping may have been a deniable operation. The ITN reporter Desmond Hamill paid to accompany <mask> on the private Learjet returning him to Brazil and secured an exclusive interview as well as convincing <mask> to kiss the tarmac upon landing. The kidnapping attempt was the subject of the film Prisoner of Rio (1988), which was co-written by <mask>. In the film, <mask> was played by Paul Freeman. <mask>'s son by de Castro, <mask>, was seven years old when he became a member of the highly successful Brazilian children's programme and music band Balão Mágico (1982–1986), bringing relative financial security to his father. In 1991, <mask> sang vocals for the songs "Police on My Back" and "Carnival in Rio" by German punk band Die Toten Hosen.In 1993, <mask> sang on three tracks for the album Bajo Otra Bandera by Argentinian punk band Pilsen. In 1997 the UK and Brazil ratified an extradition treaty. Two months later, the UK Government made a formal request to the Brazilian government for <mask>'s extradition. <mask> had stated that he would no longer oppose extradition. English lawyer Nigel Sangster QC travelled to Brazil to advise <mask>. The extradition request was rejected by the Brazilian Supreme Court, giving <mask> the right to live in Brazil for the rest of his life. Return to the United Kingdom
In 2001 <mask> announced to The Sun newspaper that he would be willing to return to the UK.Imprisonment
Having 28 years of his sentence left to serve, Biggs was aware that he would be detained upon arrival in Britain. His trip back to Britain on a private jet was paid for by The Sun newspaper, which reportedly paid <mask> £20,000 plus other expenses  in return for exclusive rights to the news story. <mask> arrived on 7 May 2001, whereupon he was immediately arrested and re-imprisoned. His son Michael said in a press release that, contrary to some press reports, <mask> did not return to the UK simply to receive health care which was not available in Brazil, and he had friends who would have contributed to such expenses, but that it was his desire to "walk into a Margate pub as an Englishman and buy a pint of bitter". John Mills, son of train driver Jack Mills, was unforgiving: "I deeply resent those, including Biggs, who have made money from my father's death. Biggs should serve his punishment." Mills never fully recovered from his injuries sustained during the robbery.He died of an unrelated cause (leukaemia) in 1970. On 14 November 2001, <mask> petitioned Governor Hynd of HMP Belmarsh for early release on compassionate grounds based on his poor health. He had been treated four times at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital, London, in less than six months. His health was deteriorating rapidly, and he asked to be released into the care of his son for his remaining days. The application was denied. On 10 August 2005, it was reported that <mask> had contracted MRSA. His representatives, seeking for his release on grounds of compassion, said that their client's death was likely to be imminent.On 26 October 2005, Home Secretary Charles Clarke declined his appeal, stating that his illness was not terminal. Home Office compassion policy is to release prisoners with three months left to live. <mask> was claimed by his son Michael to need a tube for feeding and to have "difficulty" speaking. On 4 July 2007, <mask> was moved from Belmarsh Prison to Norwich Prison on compassionate grounds. In December, <mask> issued a further appeal, from Norwich Prison, asking to be released from jail to die with his family: "I am an old man, and often wonder if I truly deserve the extent of my punishment. I have accepted it, and only want freedom to die with my family and not in jail. I hope Mr.Straw decides to allow me to do that. I have been in jail for a long time, and I want to die a free man. I am sorry for what happened. It has not been an easy ride over the years. Even in Brazil, I was a prisoner of my own making. There is no honour to being known as a Great Train Robber. My life has been wasted."In January 2009 a series of strokes were said to have rendered him unable to speak or walk. His son Michael had also claimed that the Parole Board might bring the release date forward to July. On 13 February that year, it was reported that <mask> had been taken to hospital from his cell at Norwich Prison, suffering from pneumonia. This was confirmed the following day by his son Michael, who said Biggs had serious pneumonia but was stable. News of his condition prompted fresh calls from his son Michael for his release on compassionate grounds. On 23 April 2009, the Parole Board recommended that <mask> be released on 4 July, having served a third of his 30-year sentence. However, on 1 July, Straw did not accept the Parole Board's recommendation and refused parole, stating that <mask> was 'wholly unrepentant'.On 28 July, <mask> was readmitted to Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital with pneumonia. He had been admitted to the same hospital a month earlier, with a chest infection and a fractured hip, but returned to prison on 17 July. His son Michael said, in one of his frequent news releases: "It's the worst he's ever been. The doctors have just told me to rush there." On 30 July, it was claimed by representatives of <mask> that he had been given "permission" to challenge the decision to refuse him parole. However, the Home Office stated only that an application for the early release on compassionate grounds of a prisoner at HMP Norwich had been received by the public protection casework section in the National Offender Management Service. <mask> was released from custody on 6 August 2009, two days before his 80th birthday, on 'compassionate grounds'.Later life
Following his release from prison, <mask>'s health improved, leading to suggestions that he might soon be moved from hospital to a nursing home. In response to claims that <mask>'s state of health had been faked, his lawyer stated, "This man is going to die, there is going to be no Lazarus coming back from the dead, he is ill, he is seriously ill." However, <mask> himself stated, "I've got a bit of living to do yet. I might even surprise them all by lasting until Christmas, that would be fantastic." On 29 May 2010, <mask> was again admitted to hospital in London after complaining of chest pain. He underwent tests at Barnet Hospital. His son Michael stated, "he's conscious but he's in a lot of pain". In August 2010, it was claimed by the Sunday Mirror that <mask> would be attending a gala dinner where he would be collecting a lifetime achievement award for his services to crime.On 10 February 2011, <mask> was admitted to Barnet Hospital with another suspected stroke. His son Michael said he was conscious and preparing to have a CT scan and a series of other tests to determine what had happened. On 17 November 2011, <mask> launched his new and updated autobiography, <mask>: Odd Man Out – The Last Straw, at Shoreditch House, London. He was unable to speak and used a word board to communicate with the press. On 12 January 2012, ITV Studios announced it had commissioned a five-part drama, Mrs Biggs, to be based around the life of <mask>'s wife Charmian, played by Sheridan Smith and <mask> by Daniel Mays. Charmian <mask> acted as a consultant on the series and travelled to Britain from Australia to visit <mask> in February 2012, just before filming for Mrs Biggs. In March 2013, <mask> attended the funeral of fellow train robber, Bruce Reynolds.In July 2013, The Great Train Robbery 50th Anniversary: 1963–2013 was published, with input from <mask> and Reynolds. Death
On 18 December 2013, aged 84, <mask> died at the Carlton Court Care Home in Barnet, north London, where he was being cared for. His death coincidentally occurred hours before the first broadcast of a two-part BBC television series The Great Train Robbery, in which <mask> was portrayed by actor Jack Gordon. <mask>'s body was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium on 3 January 2014. The coffin was covered with the Union Flag, the flag of Brazil and a Charlton Athletic scarf. An honour guard of British Hells Angels escorted his hearse to the crematorium. The Reverend Dave Tomlinson officiated at <mask>'s funeral, for which he drew public criticism; Tomlinson responded to critics by using the Bible verse "Judge not, that ye be not judged".References

External links
Guardian photo gallery of <mask>
"The Big One: <mask> and the Great Train Robbery", Crime Library
Obituary at the Daily Telegraph
Ronald Arthur (<mask><mask>, Great Train Robber, died on December 18th, aged 84 The Economist, Obituary, 4 January 2014. 1929 births
2013 deaths
20th-century British criminals
British expatriates in Australia
British expatriates in Brazil
British people convicted of theft
Criminals from London
English autobiographers
English escapees
English punk rock singers
Escapees from England and Wales detention
Golders Green Crematorium
Great Train Robbers
Great Train Robbery (1963)
People from Lambeth
Inmates of HM Prison Belmarsh
20th-century Royal Air Force personnel
Sex Pistols
Royal Air Force airmen

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<mask>g () (727 – September 7, 787), né <mask> (), was a Chinese politician  serving as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Dezong. Background
<mask>u was born in 727, during the reign of Emperor Xuanzong. His family traced its ancestry to the Jin Dynasty official <mask>a. His father <mask> had previously been a chancellor under Emperor Xuanzong and continued to serve in prominent positions after his removal in 723. <mask> died in 729, however, when <mask>u was only two years old. Near the end of Emperor Xuanzong's Kaiyuan era (713-741), the mayor of Jingzhao Municipality (京兆, i.e., the region of the Tang capital Chang'an), Han Chaozong (), who had previously been recommended by <mask>, stated to Emperor Xuanzong:

Emperor Xuanzong, hearing this, was saddened, and he summoned <mask>u and made him an army officer. Emperor Xuanzong also gave him a new name — Yanshang, meaning "extended favor."It was said that <mask>g was well-versed in the Confucian classics and histories and he also became known for administrative talent. The official Miao Jinqing, who later served as a chancellor as well, was impressed with his talent and gave him a daughter in marriage. During Emperor Suzong's reign
During the Anshi Rebellion, Emperor Xuanzong's son and successor Emperor Suzong was, for some time, at Fengxiang (鳳翔, in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), and while there, he made <mask>g an imperial censor, initially with the rank Jiancha Yushi (), then as Dianzhong Shiyushi (). Thereafter, the general Wang Sili (), who then carried the title of military governor (Jiedushi) of Guanzhong Circuit, requested to have <mask> serve as his assistant, and when Wang was later made the military governor of Hedong Circuit (河東, headquartered in modern Taiyuan, Shanxi), <mask> served as the deputy mayor of Taiyuan Municipality under Wang. He was later recalled to Chang'an to serve as a low-level official at the ministry of justice (刑部, Xingbu). During Emperor Daizong's reign
After Emperor Suzong died in 762 and was succeeded by his son Emperor Daizong, the chancellor Yuan Zai became a dominant figure at court. As Yuan had been recommended by Miao Jinqing, he treated <mask>g, as Miao's son-in-law, with kindness.When Emperor Daizong was forced to flee to Shan Prefecture (陝州, in modern Sanmenxia, Henan) in 763, at Yuan's recommendation, Emperor Daizong made <mask> an imperial attendant (給事中, Jishizhong). Soon thereafter, he became deputy chief imperial censor (御史中丞, Yushi Zhongcheng) and Zhongshu Sheren (), a mid-level official at the legislative bureau of government (中書省, Zhongshu Sheng). In 767, <mask> was made the mayor of Henan Municipality (河南, i.e., the region of the eastern capital Luoyang). During the Anshi Rebellion, Luoyang suffered greatly from the wars, and much of it was in ruins. It was said that <mask> was diligent and hardworking, and he ruled simply. He also reopened the canals and rebuilt the palaces and imperial temples. Within several years, refugees returned, and Luoyang returned to prosperity.Emperor Daizong thus praised him in an edict. In 770, when the office of deputy supreme commander of the Henan, Huaixi (淮西, headquartered in modern Zhumadian, Henan), and Shannan (i.e., the region south of the Qinling Mountains) Regions was abolished, the troops formerly attached to that office were transferred to <mask>. Subsequently, <mask> was recalled to Chang'an to serve as chief imperial censor (御史大夫, Yushi Daifu). While he was serving in that role, there was an occasion when the junior official Li Shaoliang () submitted a number of accusations against Yuan, and Yuan's associates, in turn, accused Li of false accusations and had him arrested and detained at the office of the imperial censors. <mask> disapproved of the action and did not want to be involved, and he was sent to Huainan Circuit (淮南, headquartered in modern Yangzhou, Jiangsu) to serve as its military governor as well as the prefect of its capital Yang Prefecture (). At that time, there was a drought in the circuit, and a large number of the people were trying to depart for other regions. <mask>'s subordinates detained them, but <mask>, pointing out that the people should be given the opportunity to survive the drought, allowed them to leave and, in their absence, kept their houses maintained and exempted them from taxes.As a result, many returned thereafter. He later left governmental service when his mother died, to observe a period of mourning for her. After the mourning period was over, he was recalled to serve as the military governor of Jingnan Circuit (荊南, headquartered in modern Jingzhou, Hubei), as well as the mayor of its capital, Jiangling Municipality. During Emperor Dezong's reign
Emperor Daizong died in 779 and was succeeded by his son Emperor Dezong. Later that year, Emperor Dezong made <mask>shang the military governor of Xichuan Circuit (西川, headquartered in modern Chengdu, Sichuan) and the mayor of its capital Chengdu Municipality. During this time, when Xichuan was under attack by Tufan and Nanzhao forces, and imperial forces, commanded by Li Sheng and Qu Huan () were in Xichuan to aid Xichuan forces; they were ultimately able to repel Tufan and Nanzhao attacks. (At the end of the campaign, however, there was a serious dispute between <mask> and Li Sheng — Li Sheng had, after the campaign, taken the military prostitute Gao Hong () with him.<mask>, angry with this, sent messengers to chase after Li Sheng's army to demand Gao back, thus causing a grudge between Li Sheng and <mask>.) In 783, there was a mutiny by his subordinate <mask> (), who had been posted in the mountains in the west of Chengdu in defense against Tufan. <mask> attacked Chengdu, forcing <mask>g to flee to Han Prefecture (漢州, in modern Deyang, Sichuan). It was only after another subordinate of <mask>g's, Chigan Sui (), attacked and killed <mask>, that <mask>g was able to return to Chengdu. It was said that <mask> followed the law and ruled the circuit leniently, allowing the people of the circuit to recover from the wars that had ravaged the circuit ever since Anshi Rebellion. At that time, Emperor Dezong was faced with a rebellion by the general Zhu Ci and was forced to flee Chang'an. During the times that he was at Fengtian (奉天, in modern Xianyang, Shaanxi) and then at Liang Prefecture (梁州, in modern Hanzhong, Shaanxi), until he was able to return to Chang'an after Zhu was defeated by the general Li Sheng in fall 784, Emperor Dezong relied on supplies from Xichuan Circuit, and in summer 784, he gave <mask> the honorary chancellor designation of Tong Zhongshu Menxia Pingzhangshi ().In 785, when the chancellor Liu Congyi was seriously ill (and Liu would die later in the year), Emperor Dezong thus recalled <mask> to Chang'an, intending to make him an actual chancellor. Li Sheng, still displeased with <mask>, submitted a petition accusing <mask> of a number of crimes, and Emperor Dezong, not willing to go against Li's wishes, for the time being only made <mask>uo Pushe (), one of the heads of the executive bureau (尚書省, Shangshu Sheng). By 786, however, <mask> was beginning to gain the upper hand against Li in their struggle, as Li's son-in-law <mask> (), displeased that Li had held a grander ceremony and given more dowry when marrying another daughter to Cui Shu () than when marrying <mask>'s wife to him, became an associate of <mask>'s, as did another subordinate of Li's, Zheng Yunkui (). Emperor Dezong also had been suspicious of Li due to his longtime hold on the loyalty of the army, as well as various rumors fostered by Tufan agents that Li was planning treason. Li, hearing that Emperor Dezong was suspecting him, offered to resign his post as military governor of Fengxiang Circuit (鳳翔, headquartered in modern Baoji, Shaanxi), in winter 786 when he was Chang'an. Emperor Dezong declined, and instead requested the intervention of the chancellor Han Huang, who was friendly with LI. Han and the general Liu Xuanzuo (), the military governor of Xuanwu Circuit (宣武, headquartered in modern Kaifeng, Henan), therefore, held a feast for <mask> and Li, hoping to dissolve their enmity.Both agreed, and Li further tried to dissolve <mask>'s resentment by endorsing him as chancellor. In spring 787, Emperor Dezong, accordingly, made <mask> a chancellor. However, while <mask> agreed to dissolve his resentment, the resentment persisted, and when Li requested that <mask> give a daughter to one of his sons in marriage, <mask> refused, causing Li to comment:

Later in 787, <mask>, in conflict with his chancellor colleague Qi Ying, who had already offended Emperor Dezong by his honest words, and <mask> opined to Emperor Dezong that Qi did not have the talent to be a chancellor. Emperor Dezong demoted Qi to be a prefectural prefect. Around the same time, Han died, and both <mask> and the general Ma Sui, who also had a grudge against Li, advocated for peace for Tufan, which Li had opposed. Emperor Dezong, who personally favored an alliance with Tufan against Huige, used Li's opposition against the Tufan alliance to remove Li from his post at Fengxiang. <mask> recommended Zheng, but Emperor Dezong allowed Li to recommend his successor; Li recommended his officer Xing Junya ().Emperor Dezong recalled Li to Chang'an to serve as Zhongshu Ling and Taiwei (太尉, one of the Three Excellencies) and relieved him of all of his military duties. It was said that once Li returned to Chang'an, despite the suspicions that he was under, he nevertheless spoke honestly whenever he had opinions about the matters of state. In light of <mask>'s involvement in Li's command being lifted, subsequently, when <mask> wanted Li Baozhen the military governor of Zhaoyi Circuit (昭義, headquartered in modern Changzhi, Shanxi), and then Liu, to serve as the new commander of defense forces on the borders with Tufan, both Li Baozhen and Liu declined. Meanwhile, <mask> also drew resentment from other officials when he made major cuts into the ranks of prefectural and county officials — eliminating about 1,000 positions — hoping to use the savings in reduced salaries for military purposes, despite objections from Ma, Wei Lun (), and Bai Zhizhen (). By summer 787, Emperor Dezong and Tufan's chancellor Shang Jiezan () had negotiated a peace treaty, and the general Hun Jian, as Emperor Dezong's emissary, was set to meet with Shang at Pingliangchuan (平涼川, in modern Pingliang, Gansu). Li Sheng, fearing Tufan treachery, instructed Hun to be careful, but <mask>, hearing this, accused Li Sheng of interfering with the peace with Tufan. Emperor Dezong thus instructed Hun to relax, not to aggravate Tufan in any way.On July 8, 787, at the meeting site, Shang laid a trap for Hun and launched a sudden attack, killing and capturing many of Hun's attendants, but Hun escaped. When the news reached Chang'an, Emperor Dezong was so panicked that he considered fleeing Chang'an, but remained due to Li Sheng's advice. As a result of this debacle, <mask> claimed an illness and retired, while Emperor Dezong recalled Ma to the capital and stripped him of his command. Subsequently, the reduction in officer ranks was reversed under the advice of another chancellor, Li Mi. Meanwhile, <mask>'s rivalry with another official — Li Shuming () the military governor of Dongchuan Circuit (東川, headquartered in modern Mianyang, Sichuan) — which formed when they governed neighboring circuits, led <mask> to carry out some additional actions intended to bring down Li Shuming. At that time, Li Shuming's son Li Shēng (李昇, note different tone and character than the great general) was repeatedly seen visiting Emperor Dezong's aunt Princess Gao, whose daughter was the wife and crown princess of Emperor Dezong's son and crown prince Li Song. He informed this to Emperor Dezong, intimating that Li Shēng was having an affair with Princess Gao.When Emperor Dezong asked Li Mi to investigate this, however, Li Mi correctly guessed that it was <mask> who informed Emperor Dezong of this and suggested no investigation, pointing out that <mask>'s accusations also appeared to be intended to endanger Li Song. Emperor Dezong agreed, and thereafter moved Li Shēng to the position of head of Li Song's household, away from Princess Gao. <mask> died in winter 787 and was given posthumous honors. He was also given the posthumous name of Chengsu (成肅, meaning "successful and solemn"). His son <mask>jing later served as a chancellor during the reign of Emperor Dezong's grandson Emperor Xianzong. Ouyang Xiu, the lead editor of the New Book of Tang, commented thus about <mask>:

Notes and references

 Old Book of Tang, vol. 129.New Book of Tang, vol. 127. Zizhi Tongjian, vols. 224, 226, 229, 230, 232. 727 births
787 deaths
Chancellors under Emperor Dezong of Tang
Mayors of Chengdu
Mayors of Luoyang
Tang dynasty jiedushi of Huainan Circuit
Tang dynasty jiedushi of Jingnan Circuit
Tang dynasty jiedushi of Xichuan Circuit

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