Emmy award-winning producer David Angell of the beloved sitcom Frasier was among the passengers travelling on one of Tuesday’s hijacked planes and is now presumed to be dead. He and his wife Lynn were aboard the American Airlines flight bound for Los Angeles, the first aircraft to crash into the World Trade Center. The attacks have also claimed the life of CNN commentator and lawyer Barbara Olson, who was aboard the ill-fated jet that crashed into the Pentagon.
Angell created Frasier and the long-running comedy Wings alongside Peter Casey and David Lee. “He was a kind and gentle man with a quiet exterior that masked one of the sharpest comedy minds ever to write for television. His fingerprints are all over some of the funniest moments in Cheers, Wings and Frasier,” said Casey and Lee in a statement.
The 54-year-old producer served in the Army before heading out to Los Angeles in 1977. In 1983 he became a staff writer on the Ted Danson series Cheers.
Executives from Paramount and NBC, the companies behind Frasier, were said to be deeply saddened by the reports. “The news that David and Lynn Angell were on American Airlines Flight 11 from Boston has devastated all of us at Paramount,” read a statement from the studio. “Words cannot express our sorrow at this incredible loss. David has been at Paramount since 1983 and his grace, humour and talent with be greatly missed.”
NBC too expressed their deep sympathy: “David was one of televisions’s premier talents and was a valued member of the NBC family for a long time. Words can’t begin to express how much he’ll be missed by all of us at NBC.”
Barbara Olson, a frequent CNN commentator and the wife of US Solicitor General Ted Olson, lost her life on board American Airlines Flight 77 which crashed into the Pentagon. She was originally scheduled to have flown to LA on Monday. However, she took the Tuesday morning flight so she could have breakfast with her husband on his birthday.
The lawyer and TV personality was able to call her husband twice during the hijacking. She told him the passengers, flight crew and pilots had all been herded to the back of the aircraft. “What shall I tell the pilot to do?” she asked her husband. Before anything could be done the plane had crashed.
Family and friends mourn Olson today. Her close friend Barbara Ledeen said: “Barbara was one of the dearest, most loyal people. Sunny, witty and wonderful, she was a brilliant wife and friend.”
Olson was the first victim identified by worldwide news organisations.
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
Photo: © Alphapress.com
