Radio dramatist, audiobook producer Yuri Rasovsky dies

LOS ANGELES — Radio dramatist and audiobook producer Yuri Rasovsky has died in Los Angeles at 67.

His companion Lorna Raver told the Los Angeles Times that Rasovsky died of esophageal cancer on Jan. 18 at his Los Angeles home.

In the 1970s, Rasovsky and his National Radio Theater of Chicago earned a Peabody Award for weekly radio plays.

Rasovsky productions included "Craven Street," an account of Benjamin Franklin's life, and "Dateline 1787," which employed 35 actors to convey the writing of the U.S. Constitution.

His 2007 audio book "Sweeney Todd and the String of Pearls" won three industry Audie Awards.

Another Rasovsky audio drama, "The Mark of Zorro" with Val Kilmer as the adventurer, has been nominated for a spoken-word Grammy at the Feb. 12 awards show.