Amanda Blake, 60, who from 1955 to 1974 played Miss Kitty Russell, the stunning owner and operator of the legendary Longbranch saloon in the television series "Gunsmoke," died of cancer Aug. 16 at a hospital in Sacramento. "Gunsmoke" told the story of the Old West through the lives of several much admired characters. It starred James Arness as Marshal Matt Dillon. Crusty town physician Dr. Galen "Doc" Adams, portrayed by Milburn Stone, was the only other character to appear all 20 years of the show's run. Other stars included Dennis Weaver as deputy Chester Goode and Burt Reynolds as Quint Asper. "Gunsmoke" was described by critics as television's first "adult" western. If there was never any confusion about right and wrong in the plots, the characters had some real emotions and they also had sort of an aw-shucks-I'm-not-gonna-pass-judgment belief in redemption. This applied in particular to Miss Kitty's past, which was understood to have been lurid but details of which were never spelled out. After a slow start, "Gunsmoke" was television's top show from 1957 to 1961. It then lagged for a time, but from 1967 to 1973 it was always in the top 10. It left the air in 1975, after spawning numerous imitations. Miss Kitty was the savvy businesswoman entirely at ease in a man's world. Beneath her tough exterior, of course, there beat a heart of gold. It beat in particular for the laconic Matt Dillon (who was so tall that he had to play some scenes standing in a trench so that he and the person he was talking to could appear in the same picture frame). On the radio version of "Gunsmoke," which aired beginning in 1952, Matt and Miss Kitty were lovers. On television it never got that far -- the time never seemed right. Her long run on "Gunsmoke" and a series of wise investments left Miss Blake financially independent. After leaving the show, she lived on a farm near Phoenix, where she raised cheetahs and was active in wildlife preservation groups. She later moved to the Sacramento area. She made occasional guest-star appearances on such television series as "The Edge of Night," "Hart to Hart" and "The Love Boat." She also appeared on network game shows and movies of the week. One of her last television appearances was in a "Gunsmoke" reprise with Arness two years ago. In 1977, after surgery for oral cancer, she began making appearances throughout the country for the American Cancer Society. In 1984, she received its Courage Award, in a White House Oval Office ceremony from President Reagan. Miss Blake was born Beverly Louise Neill in Buffalo. She lived in Gainesville, Ga., and Claremont, Calif., where she moved with her parents in 1943. She made her dramatic debut as a 10-year-old in a school pageant in Buffalo, and later studied acting at Buffalo's Studio Club. She signed a contract with MGM while still in her teens, and her first film role was in the 1950 film "Stars in My Crown." She also appeared in such Hollywood classics as "High Society" and "A Star is Born." Miss Blake was at CBS when she heard that the successful "Gunsmoke" radio show was going to be made into a television pilot. "I knew I had to have the part of Kitty, so I hounded the producer until I got it," she said in a 1971 interview. Her fifth marriage, in April 1984, was to Mark Spaeth, an Austin city council member and developer. They later divorced. CYNTHIA BANKS JOHNSON UDC Budget Official Cynthia Delores Banks Johnson, 53, a retired senior budget analyst and deputy director of the office of budget of the University of the District of Columbia, died of cancer Aug. 16 at her home in Washington. Mrs. Johnson, who moved here in 1956, was a native of York County, Va. She attended what is now Hampton University and graduated from the Cortez Peters business school here. She was an accounting technician with the State Department's Foreign Service Institute from 1956 to 1966. She then joined Federal City College, a predecessor college of UDC, as a budget analyst. She retired from UDC in November 1987. Mrs. Johnson had been a member of Asbury Methodist Church since 1978, and Southeast Neighbors Inc. since 1969. She had belonged to several city PTA groups and to the Hampton University Parents Club. Survivors include her husband, William B. Johnson, a retired chief of the D.C. Recreation Department, and a son, Eric Lavon Johnson, both of Washington; a daughter, Stephanie Carol Johnson White of London; her parents, Ivey and Madie C. Banks, and a brother, Leon Banks Sr., all of Tabb, Va.; two sisters, Carolyn Banks Watson of Hampton and Hilda Banks Davis of Tabb; and four grandchildren. ELISABETH S. JACKSON GU Law Librarian Elisabeth Schell Jackson, 49, an associate director of administration at the Georgetown University law library died of cancer Aug. 16 at Columbia Hospital for Women. She lived in Washington. Mrs. Jackson, who came here in 1965, was a native of Flushing, N.Y. She was a graduate of Hofstra University, received a master's degree in library science at Simmons College, and attended Antioch Law School here. She began her Washington career with the Office of Economic Opportunity, where she worked from 1966 to 1973 and was head of technical services. From 1973 until she joined Georgetown in 1977, she was library director and law bibliographer at Antioch Law. Before moving here, she had worked in the Harvard University medical library. Mrs. Jackson had served as group secretary for contemporary social problems of the American Association of Law Librarians and also had chaired the AALL committee on academic libraries. She had been recording secretary and committee chairman of the Law Librarians Society of Washington, and had served on the Mayor's Preliminary White House Conference on Library and Information Services. She was a member of the Pennsylvania Avenue Baptist Church in Washington and sang in its choir. Survivors include her husband, Richard O., of Washington; a son, Richard M., stationed with the Air Force at Shepherd AFB, Tex.; two daughters, Allyson R. Jackson of New Haven, Conn., and Jeffri P. Jackson of Washington; her mother, Anna Mae Schell of Addison, Pa.; and a brother, James C. Schell of Rockport, Mass. GILBERT E. HARDY Washington Lawyer Gilbert E. Hardy, 38, a Washington lawyer who was active in professional groups and the Democratic Party here, died Aug. 2 in a scuba diving accident off Gibraltar while on vacation. Mr. Hardy, a native of Philadelphia, had lived in Washington since 1977, when he came here to practice law. He specialized in public utilities and administrative matters and also in sports and entertainment law. He began his career with the firm of Wald, Harkrader & Ross, becoming a partner in 1981. In 1985, he joined the firm of O'Connor & Hannan. Since the spring of 1988 he had conducted a practice on his own. Mr. Hardy was a member of the Judicial Evaluation Committee of the D.C. Bar and a director of the D.C. Legal Aid Society and the D.C. Neighborhood Legal Services Program. He was a governor of the National Bar Association. As a member of the Democratic Party, he had been campaign treasurer for D.C. Council member Frank Smith. He also had been chairman of The Rep, a local theater group, and a director of radio station WPFW-AM. A graduate of Holy Cross College, Mr. Hardy got his law degree at Yale University. He was a clerk for U.S. District Judge Almeric L. Christian in the Virgin Islands before moving here. His marriage to Vivian Osborne Hardy ended in divorce. Survivors include his parents, Melvin Hardy Sr. and Avis Hardy of Philadelphia; two brothers, Leland Hardy of New York City and Melvin Hardy Jr. of Philadelphia; and a sister, Judith Hardy Fluellen of Cartersville, Ga. HELEN TODD NASH Psychologist Helen Todd Nash, 67, a psychologist who had served on the staffs of St. Elizabeths and Freedman's hospitals and Howard University and maintained a private practice here, died Aug. 16 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center after a heart attack. Dr. Nash, who lived in Washington, was born in Montgomery and graduated from Atlanta's Spelman College. She received a master's degree in psychology at New York University and a doctorate in behavioral science at the University of Wisconsin at Madison. She was a Peace Corps psychologist in Puerto Rico, South America and East Africa from 1966 to 1971 and had served on the faculties of Johns Hopkins, the University of Wisconsin and the University of Washington at Seattle before moving to the Washington area in 1976. From 1976 to 1980 Dr. Nash was on the Howard University faculty and also served at Freedman's Hospital. She had worked at the D.C. Community Mental Health Project and was on the staff of St. Elizabeths Hospital until retiring about two years ago. She continued to maintain a private practice in retirement. She was the author of several articles in professional journals. Her husband, Earl H. Nash, died in 1964. Survivors include a son, Peter D. Nash of Tinton Falls, N.J.; four sisters, Hazel Hundley and Gladys Nan Henderson of Montgomery, Henrietta Beasley of Queens, N.Y., and Doris Carter of Newport News, Va.; and three grandchildren. EDWARD C. CLIFFORD Tax Consultant Edward C. Clifford, 73, a former administrative aide with the Treasury Department's Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms and a tax consultant, died Aug. 16 at the Washington Hospital Center. He had cancer. Mr. Clifford, a resident of Bladensburg until moving to Annapolis a month ago, was born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He attended the College of the City of New York. During World War II he served in the Navy. He began his career with the Treasury Department in New York in the late 1940s. He transferred to Washington in 1954 and worked in the BATF until retiring about 1971. He was a private tax consultant from then until his death. His marriage to Marian Clifford ended in divorce. His second wife, the former Gertrude Connors, died in 1968. His third wife, the former Dorothy Bolen, died in 1988. Survivors include one child by his first marriage, Judith G. Smith of Flushing, N.Y.; three children by his second marriage, Kathleen Buc of Washington, Edward J. Clifford of Greenbelt and Michael F. Clifford of Greensburg, Pa.; three stepchildren, Michael D. Bacher of Milton, Del., Sharon L. Davis of Crofton and Patricia J. Davis of Jessup; two sisters, Ruth Olsen of Brooklyn and Mary Snyder of Staten Island, N.Y.; 13 grandchildren; and three great-grandchildren. ALICE B. JONES Teacher Alice B. Jones, 78, a former English teacher with Montgomery County public schools and a retired secretary with Southern Railway, died of cancer Aug. 17 at her home at Knollwood, formerly the Army Distaff Hall in Washington. She taught at Belt Junior High School in Wheaton from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. From 1966 to 1977, she worked for Southern Railway. Mrs. Jones was a past president of the Robert E. Lee chapter of the United Daughters of the Confederacy and a past vice president of its Southern relief society. She also was a member of the National Presbyterian Church in Washington, the Daughters of the American Revolution, the Reserve Officers Association ladies club, the Capitol Historical Society and the Civil War and National Society of American Revolutionary roundtables. She was a graduate of Presbyterian College in her native Clinton, S.C., and did graduate work in English at George Washington and American universities. She had lived in the Washington area since 1952. Her husband, retired Army Lt. Col. Willard Jones Sr., died in 1980. Survivors include two sons, Willard Jr., of Indian Head, Md., and Edwin T., of Newport News; two daughters, Elizabeth Parashis and Sara Darnley, both of San Jose, Calif.; eight grandchildren; and five great-grandchildren. PERRY WHEELER Landscape Architect Perry Wheeler, 75, a landscape architect who specialized in the design of gardens at private homes, died of cancer Aug. 17 at Loudoun County Memorial Hospital in Leesburg. Mr. Wheeler, who lived in Middleburg, was born in Cordele, Ga. He attended the University of Georgia and graduated from Emory University. During World War II he served in the Office of Strategic Services. He moved to the Washington area after the war and became a landscape architect, achieving a national reputation over the years for the quality of his work. He had designed many gardens at homes in Georgetown, and his work included gardens in private homes throughout the United States. His work on the garden here of former secretary of state and Massachusetts governor Christian Herter was among the best known of his projects. Mr. Wheeler was a member at large of the Garden Club of American and of the American Landscape Society. He retired about 10 years ago, but had continued to do consulting work. There are no immediate survivors. WILLIAM MAURY KNOTT CIA Security Officer William Maury Knott, 78, a retired Central Intelligence Agency security officer, died Aug. 16 at his home in Seminole, Fla., after a stroke. Mr. Knott was born in Omaha. He came to Washington in 1933 and worked on the staff of Sen. Edward R. Burke (D-Neb.) while attending George Washington University, where he received a bachelor's degree in 1940. During World War II he served in the Navy, then worked for the Immigration and Naturalization Service, until joining the staff of the CIA in 1949. He retired in 1969. A former resident of Arlington, he moved to Seminole on retirement. His wife, the former Elsie May Rowson, died in 1982. Survivors include two children, Mary Ellen Bena of Maxwell Air Force Base, Ala., and Frank M. Knott of Great Falls; and seven grandchildren.
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