Garson Kanin,a prolific playwright for Broadway and in Hollywood, died yesterday. He was 86. Mr. Kanin died of heart failure at his Manhattan home after a long illness, said his assistant, Martha Wilson.

Mr. Kanin wrote and directed the classic "Born Yesterday," the oft-revived play that made Judy Holliday a star of the theater in 1946 and won her an Oscar for the movie version in 1950. He also was the author or director of numerous stage and movie hits, including some of the celebrated screen pairings of Spencer Tracy and Katharine Hepburn.

Sir Arnold Machin,a master British sculptor whose bas-relief bust of Queen Elizabeth II became one of the world's most reproduced images, died Monday at his home in Staffordshire, England. He was 87 and had designed the portrait of the queen that has appeared on British postage stamp since 1967.

Les Barcus,inventor of an electronic pickup that could be used on an array of instruments from acoustic guitars to flutes died March 4 at age 89.

Muriel Bentley,a leading dancer with the American Ballet Theatre for more than 15 years, died March 8 of heart failure. She was 82. Ms. Bentley was best-known for her work in choreographer Jerome Robbins' "Fancy Free" and her role as Lizzie Borden's ill-fated stepmother in Agnes de Mille's 1948 "Fall River Legend."

Pub Date: 3/14/99