As former rebel fighters mount attacks on the town of Bani Walid, one of the last strongholds still under the control of Gaddafi, a new message was heard from the ousted leader.
“This is the zero hour,” Gaddafi said from hiding, in an audio message to his supporters. “Shame on you if you don’t fight. If you don’t fight, you will go to hell,” he kept saying, in the message that was broadcast over and over from a Bani Walid radio station.
Gaddafi’s “this is the zero hour” message seems to be the swan song of the four-decade-long rule of the military leader, whose forces are being crushed from every side. In addition to fighters attacking Bani Walid, NATO has also confirmed that it is conducting sorties over the town, but declined to comment on the operations there. There were also reports of two killed among the anti-Gaddafi fighters according to Abdullah Kanshil, a negotiator working for the former rebels.
While Gaddafi’s loyalists fight to hold on to Bani Walid, on Sunday, the leader of the former rebels, Mustafa Abdul-Jalil, was welcomed into the capital city of Tripoli with a raucous red-carpet welcome, a clear indication that he intends to take charge of the interim government set up to replace Gaddafi’s regime.
Academy Award-winning actor Cliff Robertson dies of natural causes one day after his 88th birthday. The accomplished movie and stage actor is probably best known by the current generation for his role as Ben Parker, Peter Parker’s uncle in the Spider-Man movies.
Cliff Robertson won his academy award for Charly, a movie adaptation of a television program called The Two Worlds of Charly Gordon: after winning an Emmy for his role as Charly, he bought the rights and took it all the way to the Oscars.
Robertson dies leaving a popular tale of strength of character, and is famous in the movie circles as the man who was a ‘profile in courage’ after blowing a check-forging scandal out of the water in the 70s during his time with Columbia Pictures. Robertson blew the whistle on studio head David Begelman, who forged his signature on a $10,000 check; the actor was considered a hero by many for putting his career at risk and taking on a powerful figure who could have completely ruined his acting chances.
Cliff Robertson also dies leaving behind him a list of famous personalities he has portrayed on film, including a young JFK in PT-109 and Playboy head Hugh Hefner in Star 80. He is survived by a daughter from each of his two marriages, the first to Cynthia Stone Lemmon and the second to actress Dina Merrill.
