* Richard Yates, 66, best known for his 1961 novel "Revolutionary Road," about a disillusioned Connecticut couple, died of emphysema Saturday in Birmingham, Ala. A former speech writer for Robert F. Kennedy, he had been writing a novel about Washington during the Kennedy administration.
* Erin Darden, 92, one of America's earliest women pilots, died Sunday in Dunwoody, Ga. She was a charter member of the Georgia chapter of the Ninety-Nines, a women's flying organization started in 1929 by pilot Amelia Earhart. Mrs. Darden often was seen flying loop-the-loops over an airfield south of Atlanta.
* Keith "Red" Mitchell, 65, a jazz bassist who played with such greats as Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holliday, died of a heart attack and stroke Sunday in Salem, Ore. His solo recordings included the soundtrack to the movie "I Want to Live."
* Theodore Thomas, 84, a musician whose band backed up such Motownacts as Stevie Wonder and Gladys Knight, died Saturday in Hartford, Conn. The lead saxophonist for the Downbeats, he also played with Lionel Hampton and Jelly Roll Morton.
* Gustav Zenkl, 51, one of Portugal's leading bullfighters, died Friday at his home in Lisbon after a three-year struggle with cancer. He began his career as a bullfighter in 1968 in Lisbon's prestigious Campo Pequeno ring. Unlike the Spanish version of bullfighting, the principal action in the Portuguese sport is carried out by riders on horseback.