Carol Easton, "whose curiosity about creativity inspired her to write biographies of four prominent figures in the arts--Stan Kenton, Samuel Goldwyn, Jacqueline du Pré and Agnes de Mille," died June 17, the New York Times reported. She was 87.
"She was always fascinated with people, especially creative people in the arts," said her daughter, Liz Kinnon. "After working as a freelance writer for years, she decided she wanted to write her first biography."
Her first subject was the jazz composer and orchestra leader in Straight Ahead: The Story of Stan Kenton (1973). Easton followed that with The Search for Sam Goldwyn (1976), a profile of the pioneering Hollywood producer; Jacqueline du Pré: A Biography (1989), about the child prodigy cellist who developed career-ending multiple sclerosis in her late 20s; and No Intermissions: The Life of Agnes de Mille (1996), which explored the life of the choreographer.
Easton was raised in Hollywood. Her son Kelly told the Times she used to sneak onto the Samuel Goldwyn Studios lot as a child and managed to be cast as an extra in the 1943 antiwar film The North Star.