amityisland
11-11-2005, 12:36 PM
from NBC news:
LOS ANGELES -- Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born Hollywood filmmaker behind the "Halloween" film franchise, died in a Jordanian hospital Friday of wounds suffered in this week's terror strikes on three hotels in Amman.
His 34-year-old daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, a USC graduate and former Brentwood resident, died immediately in Wednesday's bombings, for which al-Qaida in Iraq, the group led by the elusive Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
Some 60 people -- including two Americans and three suicide bombers -- were killed and more than 100 people were wounded in the attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels in the Jordanian capital.
Reports from Amman said Akkad, who suffered severe internal wounds in the blast at the Hyatt, died at 7:30 a.m. Jordan time after suffering a heart attack.
Akkad, who was born in 1935 in Aleppo, Syria, was executive producer on the eight "Halloween" films, made between 1978 and 2002.
He also produced and directed the 1976 film "The Message," about the birth of Islam, and 1981's "Lion of the Desert," about an Arab nationalist fighting Italy's conquest of Libya. Both films starred the late Anthony Quinn.
His daughter, Rima, had been living in Beirut, where she was born, with her Lebanese husband and their two young sons. She and her father were in Amman to attend a wedding.
Rima Akkad Monla "was beautiful inside and out," her mother, Patricia Akkad of Brentwood, who was divorced from Moustapha Akkad, said. "She was everybody's favorite. She was so sweet and so good and so caring."
Monla was buried Friday in Tripoli, Lebanon. Akkad will be buried in his native Aleppo, according to the Middle East Al Jazeera television station.
LOS ANGELES -- Moustapha Akkad, the Syrian-born Hollywood filmmaker behind the "Halloween" film franchise, died in a Jordanian hospital Friday of wounds suffered in this week's terror strikes on three hotels in Amman.
His 34-year-old daughter, Rima Akkad Monla, a USC graduate and former Brentwood resident, died immediately in Wednesday's bombings, for which al-Qaida in Iraq, the group led by the elusive Jordanian-born Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, claimed responsibility.
Some 60 people -- including two Americans and three suicide bombers -- were killed and more than 100 people were wounded in the attacks on the Grand Hyatt, Radisson SAS and Days Inn hotels in the Jordanian capital.
Reports from Amman said Akkad, who suffered severe internal wounds in the blast at the Hyatt, died at 7:30 a.m. Jordan time after suffering a heart attack.
Akkad, who was born in 1935 in Aleppo, Syria, was executive producer on the eight "Halloween" films, made between 1978 and 2002.
He also produced and directed the 1976 film "The Message," about the birth of Islam, and 1981's "Lion of the Desert," about an Arab nationalist fighting Italy's conquest of Libya. Both films starred the late Anthony Quinn.
His daughter, Rima, had been living in Beirut, where she was born, with her Lebanese husband and their two young sons. She and her father were in Amman to attend a wedding.
Rima Akkad Monla "was beautiful inside and out," her mother, Patricia Akkad of Brentwood, who was divorced from Moustapha Akkad, said. "She was everybody's favorite. She was so sweet and so good and so caring."
Monla was buried Friday in Tripoli, Lebanon. Akkad will be buried in his native Aleppo, according to the Middle East Al Jazeera television station.