Unnatural Death
Actors who have died unnaturally
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- Karyn Kupcinet was born on 6 March 1941 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Little Shop of Horrors (1960), The Gertrude Berg Show (1961) and Hawaiian Eye (1959). She died on 28 November 1963 in West Hollywood, California, USA.Strangled in her own apartment. Her death has been linked to the death of John F. Kennedy.
1941-1963 (22 years old) - Liliana Lozano was born on 28 September 1978 in Guatavita, Colombia. She was an actress, known for La septima puerta (2004), Pasión de gavilanes (2003) and Decisiones (2005). She died on 10 January 2009 in Pradera, Valle del Cauca, Colombia.Tortured and shot to death, probably related to drug dealing, together with her boyfriend's brother. Her boyfriend was a major drug lord.
1978-2009 (30 years old) - Jenny Maxwell was an American actress of Norwegian descent. She had a relatively brief career during the late 1950s and the 1960s. Her most substantial role was that of Ellie Corbett in the musical comedy "Blue Hawaii" (1961), depicted as a flirtatious teenage girl who has suicidal thoughts.
Maxwell was born in New York City. Her father was reportedly a construction worker. The original family name was "Moksvold", but was Americanized to "Maxwell". In news reports of the 1950s, it was claimed that Maxwell was a cousin of fellow actress Marilyn Monroe (1926 -1962). This connection was used for publicity reasons, but it is unclear whether it was an actual relation or a mere fabrication.
In 1958, Maxwell was "discovered" by film director Vincente Minnelli (1903 -1986). He had brought her to Hollywood, where she auditioned for a substantial role in the drama film "Some Came Running". Maxwell did not get this part, but was offered guest start roles in television. She appeared in then-popular television series, such as "Bachelor Father ", "Father Knows Best ", and "Bonanza".
In 1959, Maxwell made her film debut in the drama film "Blue Denim". The film concerned teenage pregnancy, and teenagers raising the funds needed for an abortion. It was based on a theatrical play by James Leo Herlihy (1927 - 1993). Maxwell's role was uncredited, though her character did receive a name.
In 1961, Maxwell received a substantial role in "Blue Hawaii". Though she was not the film's female lead, Maxwell appeared in several of its key scenes and. Her character was depicted as a 17-year-old girl trying to seduce the film's protagonist Chadwick "Chad" Gates (played by Elvis Presley) , while feeling that nobody loves her and considering suicide. Her character received plenty of screen-time, and had its own subplots within the film. The film was a box office hit, the 10th highest-grossing film of 1961. This was probably the height of Maxwell's career.
In 1963, Maxwell had a small role in the comedy film "Take Her, She's Mine". The film concerned a father and daughter relationship, with a middle-aged father worried because his college-aged daughter is hanging out with beatniks. The film was a box office flop, grossing less than its own production costs.
In 1963, Maxwell had another role as a teenage girl in the comedy film "Shotgun Wedding". In the film, her character Honey Bee Heller wants to marry her boyfriend, who happens to be the son of her father's worst enemy. The film was a B-movie, mainly remembered because one of its screenwriters was the famous director Ed Wood ( 1924 -1978). This was Maxwell's last film's role.
Maxwell continued frequently appearing in television roles throughout the 1960s, mostly in guest star roles. Her career was not particularly lucrative, and she reportedly faced financial problems. In 1970, she married her second husband, the affluent lawyer Ervin "Tip" Roeder. Roeder was 21 years older than her, but could provide for her. At that point, Maxwell retired from acting.
In the early 1970s, Maxwell and her husband settled on a large home, located on Cherokee Lane in Beverly Hills. She decorated it in safari-style, and started inviting friends and associates for parties in her home. Roeder rarely attended these parties. Their marriage was reportedly turbulent, with the couple repeatedly trying to live separately and then reuniting. By 1980, Maxwell had started a divorce process. She was entitled to a "hefty" divorce settlement.
On June 9, 1981, Maxwell had a minor surgery at a hospital. While they lived separately at the time, Roeder offered to drive her home once she exited the hospital. She took the offer, though her friends distrusted Roeder. On June 10, Maxwell and Roeder visited a restaurant together. Afterwards, they drove to Roeder's residence in Beverly Hills.
Shortly afterwards, someone shot both Maxwell and Roeder. When Roeder called for help, Maxwell was already dead with "half her head blown away". Roeder died shortly afterwards, without identifying their assailant. Maxwell was 39-years-old at the time of her death. The police attributed the deaths to a botched robbery, though nothing was stolen from Roeder's residence. The case remains officially unsolved.
In 2018, veteran journalist Buddy Moorehouse (a cousin of Maxwell) started researching the murder. He found out that the police had further theories on the murder, though with no known suspects. He used his research to publish the novel "Murder of an Elvis Girl: Solving the Jenny Maxwell Case" (2021), a fictionalized depiction of the murder case.
Maxwell is long gone, though she is still remembered for her relatively few notable roles. Her unsolved murder has attracted the interest of true-crime writers, and still attracts some publicity. She is probably more famous than many struggling actresses of her era.Shot together with her husband at their home, probably by robbers.
1941-1981 (39 years old) - Gemma McCluskie was born on 5 February 1983 in Shoreditch, London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for EastEnders (1985) and No Sweat (1997). She died on 1 March 2012 in Bethnal Green, London, England, UK.Beheaded and dumped in a canal by her brother Tony McCluskie.
1983-2012 (29 years old) - Actress
- Writer
Mitchell began her career in 1909 playing stock in Portland. Working in films, she appeared a number of times with Western star William S. Hart playing a leading role in those films. She then appeared in "Diamond from the Sky" in 1916, which proved to be a disaster for everyone concerned; with only four chapters completed, it was the shortest serial in history. After that, her roles became smaller; she appeared in a handful of films through the mid-1930s, and in several bit parts during the early 1950s. During her retirement she managed an apartment building in Los Angeles, and it was in her apartment that a disgruntled houseboy strangled and killed the former actress.Strangled to death with a cord from her gown by tenant in her apartment building, Sonnie Hartford Jr.
1890-1957 (66 years old)- Anna Letenská was born on 29 August 1904 in Nürschan, Bohemia, Austria-Hungary [now Nyrany, Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Cekanky (1940), Babichka (1940) and Umlcené rty (1938). She died on 24 October 1942 in Mauthausen concentration camp, Austria.Shot in the head by German executioners at Mauthausen concentation camp.
1904-1942 (38 years old) - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Phil Hartman was born Philip Edward Hartmann on September 24, 1948, in Brantford, Ontario, Canada. His surname was originally "Hartmann", but he later dropped the second "n". He was one of eight children of Doris Marguerite (Wardell) and Rupert Loebig Hartmann, a salesman. He was of German, Irish, and English descent. The family moved to the United States when Phil was around ten, and he spent the majority of his childhood in Connecticut and Southern California. He later obtained his American citizenship in the early 1990s. He often would visit his homeland of Canada throughout his career, and the City of Brantford even erected a plaque on the Walk of Fame in the town in honor of Phil's career and memory. The Humber College Comedy: Writing & Performance program in Toronto, Ontario, also has an award in Phil's memory that is given out to their Post-Graduate comedy students.
Phil originally studied Graphic Design at California State University. He began to work part time as a graphic artist, designing album covers for such bands as Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young (see Crosby Stills Nash & Young) and Poco. In 1975, alongside doing album work, Phil joined the California comedy troupe, The Groundlings. While in The Groundlings, Phil worked with Paul Reubens and Jon Lovitz, who became good friends of his until his death. Phil and Paul created the character Pee Wee Herman together, and Phil even had a role on Pee-wee's Playhouse (1986) as pirate Captin' Carl.
In 1986, Phil joined the cast of Saturday Night Live (1975) and was on the show for a record of 8 seasons (which was later broken by Tim Meadows). Phil played a wide range of characters including: Frank Sinatra, Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, Ed McMahon, Barbara Bush, and many others. He was known to help out other writers who wanted to get their sketches read and onto the show. He held Saturday Night Live (1975) together during his 8-year reign, thus the nickname he garnered while on the show, "The Glue." Phil was also known for his voice work on commercials and cartoons. He was probably most well known for the voices of Troy McClure and Lionel Hutz on the animated comedy The Simpsons (1989). He also provided other minor voices for The Simpsons (1989). Phil left Saturday Night Live (1975) in 1994, and in 1995, was cast in the critically acclaimed NBC show NewsRadio (1995) as arrogant radio show host Bill McNeal.
After Phil's death, Phil's good friend Jon Lovitz attempted to fill the void as Max Lewis on NewsRadio (1995), but the struggling show's ratings dropped, and the show later fizzled out and ended in 1999. Phil had an interesting career in movies, mostly playing supporting characters. He was the lead in Houseguest (1995) and was also in Greedy (1994), Jingle All the Way (1996), Sgt. Bilko (1996), and his last live action film, Small Soldiers (1998). His last role was the English language dub of Kiki's Delivery Service (1989), as the quick-witted cat Jiji, which featured Small Soldiers co-star Kirsten Dunst in the lead voice role.
On May 28th, 1998, Phil was shot to death while sleeping in his Encino, California home by his wife, Brynn Hartman. Brynn left the house and later came back with a friend to show him Phil's body. When her friend went to call 911, Brynn locked herself in the bedroom with Phil's lifeless body and shot herself. It was later discovered by the coroner that Brynn had alcohol, cocaine, and the antidepressant, Zoloft, in her system. They left behind two children, Sean Edward (b. 1988) and Birgen (b. 1992). Phil and Brynn's bodies were cremated and spread upon Catalina Island, just off the coast of California, on June 4, 1998. Phil had specifically stated in his will that he wanted the ashes spread on Catalina Island because it was his favorite holiday getaway as he was an avid boater, surfer and general lover of the sea.
Phil was a very caring and sensitive person and was described as "very sweet and kind of quiet."Shot to death while sleeping at home, by his wife Brynn Omdahl.
1948-1998 (49 years old)- Actor
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Dick Kallman, an actor in movies and television in the late 50s and 60s, left Hollywood and began doing stage work. He toured in companies of "How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying" and "Half a Sixpence". He was also an accomplished singer who in 1963 recorded an album of standards for EMI in London, when he was accompanied by orchestras conducted by John Barry and Ennio Morricone. In 1975, he joined a partnership to manufacture women's play clothes and party clothes and also began working as a dealer in antiques, silver, and art. On February 22, 1980, Kallman and business associate Steven Szladek of Brooklyn were found shot to death in Kallman's posh Manhattan apartment. 27-year-old Charles Lonnie Grosso of Queens was convicted of the killings, which took place during a robbery, and sentenced to 25 years to life in prison. None of the paintings, jewelry, and antiques stolen from the apartment were ever recovered.Murdered at his apartment during a robbery.
1933-1980 (46 years old)- American character actor of gruff demeanor who played in dozens of films through the Thirties and Forties. A native of New Jersey, he was a wagon driver for his father's laundry business before joining a vaudeville company. He played in stock and touring companies, then was cast in the Walter Huston production of 'Desire Under the Elms' on Broadway. While working on the New York stage, he made a few appearances in films shot on Long Island. In 1935 he came to Hollywood and appeared with great frequency in supporting roles over the next decade and a half. In the early 1950s, he was blacklisted for his political beliefs during the Communist witch-hunts, and returned to the stage almost exclusively thereafter. In 1976, he gained perhaps his greatest fame, as the title character's libidinous grandfather on the Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman (1976) TV series. But three years later, he was beaten to death by robbers burgling his apartment.Beaten to death by burglars in his home.
1891-1979 (88 years old) - Son of Colin and Sally Knox. Brother of Jamie Knox.
Stabbed to death in bar brawl in London on 24 May 2008, while protecting his 16-year-old brother, four days after his last scene on Harry Potter and the Half Blood Prince was shot. His attacker was convicted of his murder on 4 March 2009.Stabbed to death outside a bar by Karl Norman Bishop.
1989-2008 (18 years old) - Music Artist
- Composer
- Actor
John Winston (later Ono) Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England, to Julia Lennon (née Stanley) and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman. He was raised by his mother's older sister Mimi Smith. In the mid-1950s, he formed his first band, The Quarrymen (after Quarry Bank High School, which he attended) who, with the addition of Paul McCartney and George Harrison, later became The Beatles.
After some years of performing in Liverpool and Hamburg, Germany, "Beatlemania" erupted in England and Europe in 1963 after the release of their singles "Love Me Do" and "Please Please Me". That same year, John's first wife Cynthia Lennon welcomed their only son Julian Lennon, named after John's mother. The next year the Beatles flew to America to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show (1948) (aka The Ed Sullivan Show), and Beatlemania spread worldwide. Queen Elizabeth II granted all four Beatles M.B.E. medals in 1965, for import revenues from their record sales; John returned his four years later, as part of an antiwar statement. John and the Beatles continued to tour and perform live until 1966, when protests over his calling the Beatles phenomenon "more popular than Jesus" and the frustrations of touring made the band decide to quit the road. They devoted themselves to studio work, recording and releasing albums such as "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band", "Magical Mystery Tour" and the "White Album". Instead of appearing live, the band began making their own "pop clips" (an early term for music videos), which were featured on television programs of the time.
In the late 1960s John began performing and making albums with his second wife Yoko Ono, as the Beatles began to break up. Their first two albums, "Two Virgins" and "Life With The Lions", were experimental and flops by Beatles standards, while their "Wedding Album" was almost a vanity work, but their live album "Live Peace In Toronto" became a Top Ten hit, at the end of the 1960s.
In the early 1970s John and Yoko continued to record together, making television appearances and performing at charity concerts. After the release of John's biggest hit, "Imagine", they moved to the US, where John was nearly deported because of his political views (a late-'60s conviction for possession of hashish in the U.K. was the excuse given by the government), but after a four-year legal battle he won the right to stay. In the midst of this, John and Yoko separated for over a year; John lived in Los Angeles with personal assistant May Pang, while Yoko dated guitarist David Spinozza. When John made a guest appearance at Elton John's Thanksgiving 1974 concert, Yoko was in the audience, and surprised John backstage. They reconciled in early 1975, and Yoko soon became pregnant. After the birth of their son Sean Lennon, John settled into the roles of "househusband" and full-time daddy, while Yoko became his business manager; both appeared happy in their new life together.
After a five-year break from music and the public eye, they made a comeback with their album "Double Fantasy", but within weeks of their re-emergence, Lennon was murdered on the evening of December 8, 1980 by Mark David Chapman, a one-time Beatles fan angry and jealous over John's ongoing career, who fatally shot Lennon four times in the back outside his apartment building, The Dakota, as Lennon was returning from a recording session. Within minutes after being shot, John Lennon was dead at age 40. His violent death was a sudden and tragic end to the life of a talented singer and musician who wanted to make a difference in the world.Shot in the back outside his apartment building by fan Mark David Chapman.
1940-1980 (40 years old)- Harry Liedtke was born on 12 October 1882 in Königsberg, East Prussia, Germany [now Kaliningrad, Russia]. He was an actor, known for Die Konkurrenz platzt (1929), Der Mann ohne Namen - 1. Der Millionendieb (1921) and Die Liebe einer Königin (1923). He was married to Käthe Dorsch, Ernestine Emaline Johanne Proft, Christa Tordy and Hanne Schutt. He died on 28 April 1945 in Bad Saarow, Brandenburg, Germany.Killed by Soviet Red Army soldiers in his home, together with his wife Christa Tordy.
1882-1945 (62 years old) - Dragan Maksimovic was born on 7 February 1949 in Podujevo, Serbia, Yugoslavia. He was an actor, known for Pretty Village, Pretty Flame (1996), Meetings with Remarkable Men (1979) and Smeker (1986). He died on 4 February 2001 in Belgrade, Serbia, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.Beaten by a group of FK Rad football supporters.
1949-2001 (51 years old) - Actor
- Music Department
- Additional Crew
Salvatore (Sal) Mineo Jr. was born to Josephine and Sal Sr. (a casket maker), who emigrated to the U.S. from Sicily. His siblings were Michael, Victor and Sarina. Sal was thrown out of parochial school and, by age eight, was a member of a street gang in a tough Bronx neighborhood. His mother enrolled him in dancing school and, after being arrested for robbery at age ten, he was given a choice of juvenile confinement or professional acting school.
He soon appeared in the theatrical production "The Rose Tattoo" with Maureen Stapleton and Eli Wallach and as the young prince in "The King and I" with Gertrude Lawrence and Yul Brynner. At age 16 he played a much younger boy in Six Bridges to Cross (1955) with Tony Curtis and later that same year played Plato in James Dean's Rebel Without a Cause (1955). He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in this film and again for his role as Dov Landau in Exodus (1960).
Expanding his repertoire, Mineo returned to the theatre to direct and star in the play "Fortune and Men's Eyes" with successful runs in both New York and Los Angeles. In the late 1960s and 1970s he continued to work steadily in supporting roles on TV and in film, including Dr. Milo in Escape from the Planet of the Apes (1971) and Harry O (1973). In 1975 he returned to the stage in the San Francisco hit production of "P.S. Your Cat Is Dead". Preparing to open the play in Los Angeles in 1976 with Keir Dullea, he returned home from rehearsal the evening of February 12th when he was attacked and stabbed to death by a stranger. A drifter named Lionel Ray Williams was arrested for the crime and, after trial in 1979, convicted and sentenced to life in prison for the murder, but was paroled in 1990. Although taken away far too soon, the memory of Sal Mineo continues to live on through the large body of TV and film work that he left behind.Stabbed outside his home by pizza delivery man Lionel Ray Williams.
1939-1976 (37 years old)- Director
- Actor
- Writer
Bill E. London was born on 26 July 1965 in Eau Claire, Wisconsin, USA. He was a director and actor. He died on 29 October 1990 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Dismembered and dumped in a dumpster. The murder remains unsolved.
1965-1990 (25 years old)- Georg John was born on 23 July 1879 in Schmiegel, Poland. He was an actor, known for M (1931), Dr. Mabuse, the Gambler (1922) and Die Nibelungen: Kriemhild's Revenge (1924). He died on 18 November 1941 in Lódz, Lódzkie, Poland.Died after being deported to the Lodz Ghetto during WWII.
1879-1941 (62 years old) - Actor
- Writer
- Director
John Gottowt was born on 15 June 1881 in Lemberg, Galicia, Austria-Hungary [now Lviv, Ukraine]. He was an actor and writer, known for Nosferatu (1922), Das schwarze Los (1913) and The Student of Prague (1913). He died on 27 August 1942 in Wieliczka, Malopolskie, Poland.Murdered by SS officers during WWII.
1881-1942 (61 years old)- Writer
- Actor
- Music Department
Fritz Grünbaum was born on 7 April 1880 in Brünn, Moravia, Austria-Hungary [now Brno, Czech Republic]. He was a writer and actor, known for Die Csikosbaroneß (1930), 1. April 2000 (1952) and Liebeskommando (1931). He was married to Lilly Herzl, Mizzi Dressl and Karolina Nagelmüller. He died on 14 January 1941 in Dachau concentration camp, Bavaria, Germany.Died in the Dachau concentration camp.
1880-1941 (60 years old)- Actor
- Writer
- Composer
Karel Hasler was born on 31 October 1879 in Prague, Austria-Hungary [now Czech Republic]. He was an actor and writer, known for Ircin románek (1936), Batalion (1927) and Písnickár (1932). He died on 22 December 1941 in Mauthausen concentration camp, Upper Danube, Germany [now Upper Austria, Austria].Tortured to death in the Mauthausen concentration camp.
1879-1941 (62 years old)- Coen Hissink was born on 5 October 1878 in Kampen, Overijssel, Netherlands. He was an actor, known for De zwarte tulp (1921), Der Mann im Hintergrund (1922) and De man op den achtergrond (1922). He died on 17 December 1942 in Neuengamme, Germany.Died in the Neuengamme concentration camp.
1878-1942 (64 years old) - Kurt Lilien was born on 6 August 1882 in Berlin, Germany. He was an actor, known for Harry Hill, der Herr der Welt (1923), Was Frauen träumen (1933) and Baby (1932). He died on 28 May 1943 in Sobibór Concentration Camp, Lubelskie, Poland.Died in the Sobibor extermination camp.
1882-1943 (60 years old) - Henri Monteux was born on 23 February 1874 in Paris, France. He was an actor, known for Un roman parisien (1913), La maison du baigneur (1914) and Mon curé chez les riches (1938). He died on 12 April 1943 in Sachsenhausen concentration camp, Oranienburg, Germany.Died in Sachsenhausen concentration camp.
1874-1943 (69 years old) - Actress
- Writer
- Music Department
Marilyn Monroe was an American actress, comedienne, singer, and model. Monroe is of English, Irish, Scottish and Welsh descent. She became one of the world's most enduring iconic figures and is remembered both for her winsome embodiment of the Hollywood sex symbol and her tragic personal and professional struggles within the film industry. Her life and death are still the subjects of much controversy and speculation.
She was born Norma Jeane Mortenson at the Los Angeles County Hospital on June 1, 1926. Her mother, Gladys Pearl (Monroe), was born in Piedras Negras, Coahuila, Mexico, to American parents from Indiana and Missouri, and was a film-cutter at Consolidated Film Industries. Marilyn's biological father has been established through DNA testing as Charles Stanley Gifford, who had been born in Newport, Rhode Island, to a family with deep roots in the state. Because Gladys was mentally and financially unable to care for young Marilyn, Gladys placed her in the care of a foster family, The Bolenders. Although the Bolender family wanted to adopt Marilyn, Gladys was eventually able to stabilize her lifestyle and took Marilyn back in her care when Marilyn was 7 years old. However, shortly after regaining custody of Marilyn, Gladys had a complete mental breakdown and was diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic and was committed to a state mental hospital. Gladys spent the rest of her life going in and out of hospitals and rarely had contact with young Marilyn. Once Marilyn became an adult and celebrated as a film star, she paid a woman by the name of Inez Melson to look in on the institutionalized Gladys and give detailed reports of her progress. Gladys outlived her daughter, dying in 1984.
Marilyn was then taken in by Gladys' best friend Grace Goddard, who, after a series of foster homes, placed Marilyn into the Los Angeles Orphan's Home in 1935. Marilyn was traumatized by her experience there despite the Orphan's Home being an adequate living facility. Grace Goddard eventually took Marilyn back to live with her in 1937 although this stay did not last long as Grace's husband began molesting Marilyn. Marilyn went to live with Grace's Aunt Ana after this incident, although due to Aunt Ana's advanced age she could not care properly for Marilyn. Marilyn once again for the third time had to return to live with the Goddards. The Goddards planned to relocated and according to law, could not take Marilyn with them. She only had two choices: return to the orphanage or get married. Marilyn was only 16 years old.
She decided to marry a neighborhood friend named James Dougherty; he went into the military, she modeled, they divorced in 1946. She owned 400 books (including Tolstoy, Whitman, Milton), listened to Beethoven records, studied acting at the Actors' lab in Hollywood, and took literature courses at UCLA downtown. 20th Century Fox gave her a contract but let it lapse a year later. In 1948, Columbia gave her a six-month contract, turned her over to coach Natasha Lytess and featured her in the B movie Ladies of the Chorus (1948) in which she sang three numbers : "Every Baby Needs a Da Da Daddy", "Anyone Can Tell I Love You" and "The Ladies of the Chorus" with Adele Jergens (dubbed by Virginia Rees) and others. Joseph L. Mankiewicz saw her in a small part in The Asphalt Jungle (1950) and put her in All About Eve (1950) , resulting in 20th Century re-signing her to a seven-year contract. Niagara (1953) and Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) launched her as a sex symbol superstar.
When she went to a supper honoring her in the The Seven Year Itch (1955) , she arrived in a red chiffon gown borrowed from the studio (she had never owned a gown). That same year, she married and divorced baseball great Joe DiMaggio (their wedding night was spent in Paso Robles, California). After The Seven Year Itch (1955) , she wanted serious acting to replace the sexpot image and went to New York's Actors Studio. She worked with director Lee Strasberg and also underwent psychoanalysis to learn more about herself. Critics praised her transformation in Bus Stop (1956) and the press was stunned by her marriage to playwright Arthur Miller . True to form, she had no veil to match her beige wedding dress so she dyed one in coffee; he wore one of the two suits he owned. They went to England that fall where she made The Prince and the Showgirl (1957) with Laurence Olivier , fighting with him and falling further prey to alcohol and pills. Two miscarriages and gynecological surgery followed. So had an affair with Yves Montand . Work on her last picture The Misfits (1961) , written for her by departing husband Miller, was interrupted by exhaustion. She was dropped from the unfinished Something's Got to Give (1962) due to chronic lateness and drug dependency.
On August 4, 1962, Marilyn Monroe's day began with threatening phone calls. Dr. Ralph Greenson, Marilyn's physician, came over the following day and quoted later in a document "Felt it was possible that Marilyn had felt rejected by some of the people she had been close to." Apart from being upset that her publicist slept too long, she seemed fine. Pat Newcombe, who had stayed the previous night at Marilyn's house, left in the early evening as did Greenson who had a dinner date. Marilyn was upset he couldn't stay, and around 7:30pm she telephoned him to say that her second husband's son had called her. Peter Lawford also called Marilyn, inviting her to dinner, but she declined. Lawford later said her speech was slurred. As the evening went on there were other phone calls, including one from Jose Belanos, who said he thought she sounded fine. According to the funeral directors, Marilyn died sometime between 9:30pm and 11:30pm. Her maid unable to raise her but seeing a light under her locked door, called the police shortly after midnight. She also phoned Ralph Greenson who, on arrival, could not break down the bedroom door. He eventually broke in through French windows and found Marilyn dead in bed. The coroner stated she had died from acute barbiturate poisoning, and it was a 'probable suicide' though many conspiracies would follow in the years after her death.Overdosed on barbiturates at her home.
1926-1962 (36 years old)- Dorothy Hale was born Dorothy Anderson Donovan on January 11, 1905 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Her father, James P. Donovan, was a successful real estate agent. Dorothy was educated at a convent and attended drama school. When she was a teenager she ran away from home to become an actress. Her first professional job was in the 1924 Broadway musical Lady Be Good. She appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies but left the show when she was injured falling down a flight of stairs. Then she decided to move to France to study art. Dorothy married Gaillard Thomas, a millionaire stockbroker, in 1925. They divorced a few years later. In 1929 she married Gardner Hale, a successful painter. The couple had homes in Paris and New York. She became a popular socialite and was called one of the best dressed women in the country. Sadly on December 28, 1931 Gardner was killed in a car accident. The following year she met producer Samuel Goldwyn at a dinner party. He said she was a "great movie find" and announced she would play the lead in Cynara.
Unfortunately she was replaced by Kay Francis and only had a bit part in the film. Then she appeared in the 1934 drama. Her friend Claire Booth Luce cast her in the play Abide By Me. The show was a flop and her performance was panned. By 1937 her acting career was over and she was nearly bankrupt. Dorothy was devastated when her close friend Rosamond Pinchot committed suicide. During the Spring of 1938 she started dating Harry Hopkins, an advisor to President Roosevelt. When he refused to marry her she fell into a deep depression. On October 20, 1938 she had a small party in her Manhattan apartment and attended the theater with some friends. After returning home she spent several hours writing farewell notes. Tragically at 5:15 A.M. on October 21 she committed suicide by jumping out of her sixteenth floor window. The thirty-three year old was still wearing her black evening gown and a flower corsage.. Dorothy was cremated and her ashes were buried at Fresh Pond Crematory and Columbarium in Middle Village, New York. Artist Frieda Kahlo later immortalized her in the painting "The Suicide Of Dorothy Hale".Jumped to her death from her apartment, after staging a huge farewell party.
1905-1938 (33 years old) - Lois Hamilton (Areno) personified a new wave of actresses who built careers on both beauty and brains. Lois attend Temple University in Philadelphia, Pennslyvannia, and the University of Florence in Florence, Italy, where she received degrees in Psychology and Fine Arts. As a top Ford model in the late 1970s, Lois graced the covers and pages of countless magazines, such as "Cosmopolitan", "Fortune", "Mademoiselle", "Italian Vogue", "Prevue", "Neue Revue Illustrierte", "Newsweek", "Paris Match", "Hello", "Redbook", "Ladies' Home Journal", "Glamour", "Time", and many others. Some of her ad campaigns included Chanel, Clarol, Halston, Pucci and Hermes, and she appeared in over 150 commercials worldwide. She was one of the pioneers who made the successful transition from model to actress. When she came to Los Angeles her career immediately took off and she found herself splashed all over the television and movie screens. Within a year she landed more TV stints than any other actress at ICM. She worked with such luminaries as Ivan Reitman, Neil Simon, Sydney Pollack, Robert Redford, Ned Beatty, Burt Reynolds, John Candy, John Larroquette, Dom DeLuise, Roger Moore, Bill Murray, Jane Fonda, Dean Martin, Carl Reiner, David Carradine, Sammy Davis Jr., Steve Guttenberg, Howard W. Koch, Albert S. Ruddy, Hal Needham, and Thomas R. Bond II to name a few. She was one of the privileged few to be photographed by George Hurrell Sr. before his death. When she wasn't involved in a feature film or television project, she took to the skies--she was a licensed private pilot. She logged over 600 hours and was an accomplished aerobatic pilot flying her 1936 German biplane. In addition, Lois was also a titled Italian baroness with a family that lays claim to the most noble of ancestries dating back to 11th-century Naples. Not one to be typecast as just another pretty face, and in keeping with her artistic talents, she was also an accomplished sculptress, painter and writer. She exhibited her bronze sculptures and oil paintings in many one-woman shows in Los Angeles. An author as well, she penned her first novel, "Move Over Tarzan," a woman's guide on how to be as assertive as the most aggressive, successful man using a woman's femininity. Lois Hamilton was definitely a woman ahead of her time.Overdosed on sleeping pills, after struggling with depression after a car accident that caused her injuries.
1952-1999 (47 years old) - Actress
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A slender, striking, red-haired, freckle-faced American leading lady, Mary Elizabeth Hartman was born in Boardman, Ohio on December 23, 1943, as the middle of three children born to building contractor Bill C. Hartman (May 7, 1914, Ohio - October 26, 1964, Youngstown, Ohio) and housewife Claire Mullaly (October 13, 1918, Youngstown, Ohio - October 28, 1997, Youngstown, Ohio). Hartman had an older sister named Janet and a younger brother named William. Hartman grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, and appeared in the play "A Clearing in the Woods" in the Youngstown Playhouse.
After graduating from Boardman High School in 1959, Hartman took a job at a Brooks Brothers store in Cleveland, and then attended Carnegie Tech in Pittsburgh in 1961, where she met her future husband Gill Dennis two years later. While in summer school in 1963, Hartman participated in "Bus Stop" with Ann B. Davis, who suggested that Hartman try Broadway. In 1964, Hartman left for New York, where she starred in the play "Everybody Out, the Castle is Sinking". While in New York, she landed the role of Selina D'Arcy, a blind, abused, uneducated white girl who falls in love with a compassionate black man played by Sidney Poitier in the racially charged drama "A Patch of Blue (1965)". For this role, she was nominated for an Academy Award and won the Golden Globe award. A week after she finished that film, Hartman began six months on location in New York as an upperclass collegiate in "The Group (1966)". Hartman married Dennis in 1968.
Other roles followed, such as a go-go dancer in Francis Ford Coppola's film "You're a Big Boy Now (1966)", a lonely, unmarried, handicapped woman in "The Fixer (1968)", a nurse who tends to Clint Eastwood in "The Beguiled (1971), "Intermission (1973)" and Pauline Pusser, the wife of sheriff Buford Pusser in "Walking Tall (1973)". Hartman also appeared in a television pilot of "Willow B: Women in Prison (1980)" (aka "Cages" ) and made numerous television appearances. She appeared in more plays, such as "Our Town" in 1969, also appearing in "The Glass Menagerie", "The Madwoman of Chaillot", "Bus Stop" and "Beckett". She also completed a road tour of the play, "Morning's at Seven".
Hartman's life was plagued by acute depression and insecurity; Hartman spent a year at the Institute of Living in Hartford in 1978. After her role as Mrs. Brisby in "The Secret of NIMH (1982)", Hartman retired from acting, and divorced her husband in 1984. Hartman was also frequently a patient at Western Psychiatric Institute and Clinic in Pittsburgh, where her sister Janet took care of her.
On June 10, 1987, Hartman called her doctor and told him that she had been feeling despondent. Just before noon that same day, Hartman committed suicide by throwing herself out of her fifth-floor studio flat window at the King Edward Apartments in the Pittsburgh neighborhood of Oakland. She was 43 years old.Jumped to her death from her apartment, after suffering from depression most of her life.
1943-1987 (43 years old)- Phyllis Haver was born Phyllis O'Haver on January 6, 1899, in Douglas, KS. When she was a child her family moved to California. Young Phyllis got a job playing piano at a local movie theater. Producer Mack Sennett saw her and hired her to be one of his "Sennett Bathing Beauties". Between 1916-20 she appeared in more than 35 short films. With her curvy figure and blonde hair she quickly became one of the most popular of Sennett's bathing beauties. Eventually she left Sennett compact and signed a contract with Cecil B. DeMille. She co-starred with Olive Borden in Fig Leaves (1926) and with Victor McLaglen in What Price Glory (1926). She also won rave reviews for her performances as Roxie Hart in Chicago (1927).
In 1929 she married millionaire William Seeman. Although she was at the peak of her career, she decided to retire from acting. She and William moved into an 11-room penthouse in New York City. Phyllis said she loved being a wife and never wanted to return to Hollywood. Sadly, after 16 years of marriage she and William divorced. The couple had no children. As she grew older Phylis became more reclusive. She lived in a large house in Connecticut and rarely had visitors. Her only companion was her longtime housekeeper. She reportedly made several suicide attempts and was devastated when her former boss Mack Sennett died.
On November 19, 1960, 61-year-old Phyllis took her own life with an overdose of barbiturates. She was found in her bed fully dressed and wearing make-up. Phyllis was buried at Grassy Hills Cemetery in Falls Village, CT.Overdosed on barbiturates.
1899-1960 (61 years old) - Actress
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Born in Portland, Oregon, she grew up in on a farm in Ketchum, Idaho. But dad was Jack Hemingway, son of the Nobel prize-winning author Ernest Hemingway and, with that heritage, fame was almost foreordained. By the time she was 21, after the lead in the rape melodrama Lipstick (1976), she had a budding movie career, a $1 million promotional contract with Faberge perfume, and her face on magazine covers around the world. But, within the decade, it was all lost. Her sister Mariel Hemingway, whose role in Lipstick (1976) had been suggested by Margaux, was a much greater success. Margaux had started drinking heavily; two marriages had failed. In 1988, she checked herself into the Betty Ford Center for rehabilitation. Attempts to parley her recovery from alcohol into a revived career failed and, by the time she was 41, almost nothing was left. She lived alone in a studio apartment, no children, no lover, few friends. Neighbors informed police that she had not been seen for days and, on July 1, they entered through a 2nd-floor window. Dental records had to be used to confirm her identity.Overdosed on phenobarbital in her own apartment. Her body was badly decomposed when found, suggesting she had been dead for a while.
1954-1996 (42 years old)- Actress
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Evelyn Hoey started her career on stage at age 10 in Minneapolis, MN. The height of her prominence on the stage was achieved when she appeared with Leon Errol in "Yours Truly" in 1928. She went to London to appear in "Good News" and in 1929 was singing Cole Porter's songs in a Paris nightclub. It was there E. Ray Goetz heard her and signed her as the torch singer for "Fifty-Million Frenchmen" in 1929. She appeared in the "Vanderbuilt Revue," "Walk a Little Faster," and in films in The 20th Amendment (1930).
A diminutive, blue-eyed actress with honey-colored hair, she was known for her musical comedy singing and a drawling lyrical "blues" voice that enraptured audiences in New York, Paris and London. She was found dead with a .45-cal. bullet wound through her head on September 12, 1935, in the home of Henry H. Rogers III, grandson of the co-founder of the Standard Oil Co. Also present was cinematographer William J. Kelly. Rogers had co-produced with the explorer Henry McCracken the film "An Old Fashioned Garden," a prim comedy about life among the nudists. It passed the censors, but it may never have been released.Shot to death at her friend, oil heir Henry H. Rogers III's farm. The death was ruled a suicide.
1910-1935 (24 years old)- Actress
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Libby Holman's life was one of early poverty, extraordinary talent, scandal, fabulous wealth and tragedy. She's the stuff books and movies are ripe for. Born into a once-prosperous Jewish family in Ohio, her family's stock brokerage business collapsed in 1904 when her uncle disappeared after embezzling nearly $1 million, leaving her innocent father scandalized and bankrupt. Her mother raised her three daughters in anger over their loss of wealth and position, undoubtedly affecting Libby's ambitious nature.
Primarily known today as a Broadway actress and torch singer of the 1920s-30s, Libby got her start in the theater by touring in "The Fool." The author of the play, Channing Pollock, recognized her talent and advised her to drop out of college and pursue a theatrical career. Joining the Theatre Guild, in 1925 she appeared in the chorus of "The Garrick Gaieties" before gaining notice in "The Greenwich Village Follies" the following year. She continued to appear in "Merry-Go-Round" (1927), "Rainbow," (1928) and "Ned Wayburn's Gambols" (1929). Libby appeared with Clifton Webb in "The Little Show" (a big 1929 hit; Libby singing "Moanin' Low", becoming one of her earliest trademark songs) and "Three's A Crowd" (1930; Libby introducing the standard, "Body and Soul"), which made them both top-ranked musical stars. Her early breakthrough successes would result from her associations with Howard Dietz, one of her greatest benefactors, and Clifton Webb, who complimented her on stage. She and Webb remained longtime friends but ultimately had a falling out of sorts after 1938.
Libby was exceedingly complex. Bisexual, she preferred the company of gay men, but two of the three most significant intimate relationships of her life were with avowed lesbians, the equally fascinating unconventional DuPont heiress Louisa d'Andelot Carpenter Jenny (from 1929) and later, with writer Jane Auer Bowles (from the mid-1940s). However, she periodically sought out men (often sexually conflicted, as with her third most important relationship, actor Montgomery Clift) invariably far younger than herself, only to summarily cast them aside on the basis of some seemingly insignificant slight. She was a fascinating confluence of allure, talent and vanity, masked with a droll sarcastic wit capable of rivaling that of society columnist Lucius Beebe, Robert Benchley, Dorothy Parker or Noël Coward, all of whom were in her social circle. Although she wasn't conventionally beautiful, audiences were drawn to her by her voice and stunning figure (she reputedly invented the strapless evening gown, it becoming one of her trademarks). She could have easily succeeded in Hollywood after the advent of talkies, but was decidedly "East Coast", sharing her clique's snobbish disdain for film (although many of them would eventually relent and go on to gain immortality in Hollywood) and harboring some inner insecurity over her looks. To a large degree, however, Libby thrived on the immediate rewards of a live audience, which she could wrap around her little finger with any one of her sexually charged smoky torch songs.
One smitten fan was tobacco heir Zachary "Smith" Reynolds, who caught her act on a lark and spent a fortune following her around the world. As the youngest son of tobacco magnate R.J. Reynolds, the 20-year-old playboy was the real-life "Roaring '20s" manifestation of a character, drawn straight from an F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. He had complete disinterest in the family business, an inexhaustible allowance and a volatile temper. Smith, whose one real accomplishment was learning how to fly, also owned a plane, and he literally stalked Libby with it. He wore the 27-year-old singer down and, encouraged by Louisa (herself briefly married) who saw him as a convenient veil of wealth and propriety, Libby married him in 1931. Their marriage was a clash of wills, however; Smith wanted her to leave Broadway and she had no intention of doing so. They agreed on a one-year sabbatical at the family's vast North Carolina estate, Reynolda. Libby, who was born into poverty had always aspired to be wealthy, quickly grew tired of the kind of idle life expected of her. She invited a stream of her flamboyant theatrical friends to the estate and they clashed headlong with the conservative Reynolds family. There were accusations of lesbianism and hedonism that her in-laws could barely stomach. In 1932, over the family's annual alcohol-fueled July 4th holiday party held at the estate, she told her husband she was pregnant and there was reportedly a tense confrontation - stories differ, but there was a gunshot and Libby and Ab Walker (whispered to be her lover), a close friend of Smith's, were indicted for murder. Fearing scandal over their son's activities, the intensely secretive Reynolds family persuaded local authorities to drop the charges; the death was ruled a suicide. The scandal stuck to Libby and her career suffered. Her son Christopher (or "Topper", as she called him) received a large inheritance and Libby received a sizable maintenance agreement that left her independently wealthy for the rest of her life. After the Reynolds debacle was legally settled, Libby and her son went to live with Louisa (who herself had adopted a daughter) and the couple lived openly throughout the remainder of the 1930s in what was then called a "Boston Marriage" in local gossip. Their relationship eventually changed, but Louisa would remain a lifelong friend and confidant. Libby also continued to pursue a Broadway career, with ever-diminishing returns. Despite her undeniable talent, she was keenly aware that producers hired her in hopes that her scandalized personal life would increase the box office. One of her most ardent supporters during this period was the unabashedly gay Herald-Tribune columnist Lucius Beebe, who never missed an opportunity to document her moves within New York's café society, always portraying her in the best possible light. His support of her came as a welcome relief during this first dark period of her career, although she certainly didn't need the money.
From the early to mid-'30s she gained dramatic experience in 'Jasper Deeter''s Hedgerow Theatre and returned to Broadway in "Revenge With Music," (1934; singing "You and the Night and Music") along with performing in nightclubs in New York and London. Despite her excellent performances, the Reynolds scandal dogged her and she was often hissed and booed. She received star billing (singing the title song as Mme. Baltin/Jeanne Montaigne) in the 1938 Cole Porter musical flop, "You Never Know" with Clifton Webb, Lupe Velez (whom she despised) and Toby Wing. Not content to live the life of the typical millionaire grand dame, she became a yoga enthusiast and financed experimental theater (1942's "Mexican Mural" starring one of her obsessions, Montgomery Clift, who would become a lifelong friend and infrequent lover), continued to sing and record smoky torch songs. She traveled extensively and was unhappily married two more times (her second husband, sometime-actor Ralph Holmes or "Rafe" to his friends, committed suicide shortly after returning from duty in WW II; her third husband survived her) and adopted two sons. In the mid-40s she met writer Jane Auer Bowles and their attraction was immediate. The unconventionally married writer, married openly homosexual author Paul Bowles ("The Sheltering Sky"), shared Libby's disdain for their common Jewish heritage -- another one of Libby's psychological quirks -- and, as in the case of Louisa, lived together openly. Enamored by the blues, she caused a stir in the 1940s nightclub scene by touring with famed black guitarist Josh White (ironic, given her sexual ambivalence toward men in general). Together they appeared in her sole IMDB film credit, the experimental and aptly-yet-coincidentally named, Dreams That Money Can Buy (1947) in 1947.
Tragically, her son died with a friend climbing California's Mt. Whitney in 1950. She channeled her grief into a foundation dedicated to promoting racial understanding and equality. She continued to record and perform in a one-woman show, "Blues, Ballads and Sin Songs" with pianist Gerald Cook into the 1950s. Although she could still belt out a tune, her later renditions of her standards were seldom recorded and are not generally well known today, having been banned on the radio for decades due to their sexual overtones. She fell into a deep depression in 1957 and broke out of it by taking courses in Zen Buddhism at the New School, and through a mutual friend met an art teacher and sculptor, Louis Schanker. The two met infrequently over the next few weeks before seeing each other on a regular basis. Whatever attracted Libby to him eluded her friends. Schanker was older than Libby--uncharacteristically for her--and, despite having a reputation as an important abstract expressionist, he was unworldly, inarticulate and not exactly handsome. In fact, during most of their courtship he was living with a much younger woman. For her part, Libby seemed to be living in fear that this was her last chance at love, and sought someone to anchor her life; companionship, on her terms. His entry into wealth by marriage stifled whatever artistic ambitions he possessed. His standing in the art world quickly evaporated, he increasingly drank and clashed with her teenage sons. It was an unhappy marriage, but one that would take. The 1960s were marked by Schanker's banishment of most of her old friends (like her previous husbands, he banned homosexuals from their homes and was intensely jealous of anyone she ever slept with, male or female), Jane Bowles' debilitating stroke and the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, whom she and her foundation actively supported, affected her deeply. Increasingly emotionally isolated from her friends and depressed, Libby sank into alcoholism after 1968. Sadly, she herself committed suicide in June, 1971, found slumped over in her Rolls-Royce at her Connecticut mansion. Coretta Scott King attended her funeral. Jane Bowles, blind and schizophrenic, died in a sanitarium in 1973 and Louisa was killed flying her private plane on February 8, 1976.Took her own life by carbon monoxide poisoning in her own home, after suffering depression from numerous things, including the death of John F. Kennedy, the deaths of young men in the Vietnam War and the death of her own son.
1904-1971 (67 years old)- Lorraine Huling was born on 19 January 1897 in Whitman County, Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for King Lear (1916), The Fall of a Nation (1916) and Fifty Years After Appomattox (1915). She was married to Richard Field Maynard. She died on 15 November 1971 in Fairfield, Connecticut, USA.Took her own life at home, after getting increasingly dismayed at growing old.
1897-1971 (74 years old) - Actress
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Leona Hutton was born in 1892. She was an actress and writer, known for The Raiders (1914), The Secret of the Submarine (1916) and The Snarl (1917). She died on 1 April 1949 in Toledo, Ohio, USA.Overdosed on codeine, and died in an iron lung eighteen hours after being found by her husband.
1892-1949 (56 years old)- Actress
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Deep-voiced and statuesque, Phyllis Hyman sang with a life-affirming energy and emotional intensity found in few other female vocalists. Born in Philadelphia in 1949 (and raised in Pittsburgh), her professional career began in New York City where, during an engagement, she was spotted by producer Norman Connors and contemporaries Jean Carne and Roberta Flack, among others. She was immediately offered a guest appearance on Connors' "You Are My Starship" album (1976), which included her classic rendition of "Betcha By Golly Wow" (previously a hit for The Stylistics in the early 1970s).
In 1977 Buddah Records released her self-titled debut LP, which featured the hits "Loving You/Losing You" and "I Don't Wanna Lose You". A year later she was signed to Arista Records. Her premiere album for the label, "Somewhere In My Lifetime", was released in 1978 (it included many tracks that she recorded for a second album at Buddah titled "Sing A Song", which is now available on CD!). The title track for the album--produced by a newcomer named Barry Manilow, a longtime admirer of hers--became Phyllis' first solo radio hit. A cover version of Exile's "Kiss You All Over" was remixed for club play as part of Arista's promotion, showcasing her versatility. The following year, the James Mtume-/Reggie Lucas-produced "You Know How To Love Me" album, also on Arista, hit the record stores, and the title track became one of her biggest dance anthems. She would include it in her repertoire until the time of her passing. The album, which also contained fan favorites like "Complete Me" and "Under Your Spell", was remastered & re-released in the US in 2002.
In 1981 Phyllis co-starred (with Gregory Hines and Judith Jamison) in the hit Broadway tribute to Duke Ellington "Sophisticated Ladies" and continued in the role for 2-1/2 years, garnering a Tony Award nomination and a Theatre World Award for Best newcomer (the original cast recording was released by RCA and the CD is now out of print). While performing in "Ladies", Phyllis cut her next album, "Can't We Fall In Love Again" (1981) with the title track a duet with Michael Henderson and the album itself a production by Norman Connors. Phyllis was at the peak of her career at this point, and was widely recognized as a New York celebrity. She was everywhere! The follow-up album, "Goddess Of Love" (1983), featured a sensational cover shot of Hyman at her most seductive, draped in a silver bugle beaded gown (which, according to Phyllis, weighed 30 pounds!) and sporting chandelier-sized earrings, a Hyman trademark. The album (produced by Narada Michael Walden and Thom Bell), although containing two strong tracks, was patchy at best and Phyllis, discontented with the material chosen for this project, was blunt about her feelings toward Arista and its cavalier attitude towards her. "Firstly, I came to the label because of the takeover of Buddah. So I didn't have much choice in the matter," she recalled. "There were some nice records, but I'd say I was pretty much overlooked and ignored." Ironically, the title "Goddess of Love" stuck with Phyllis as a term of endearment from both critics and fans. "Goddess" would be her final Arista album, and even though it is a highly sought collector's item, Arista never released it on CD, though many of the songs can be found on a variety of Phyllis Hyman compilations.
She didn't record for four years due to contractual discrepancies with Arista, and since she was still legally bound to the Clive Davis-owned company, signing with another label wasn't possible. Arista also tried to destroy Hyman's career by deleting key albums/CDs, and by preventing her from recording full-length albums elsewhere. During her tenure as a "prisoner" at Arista, the label used all of its resources to promote Aretha Franklin and Whitney Houston's self-titled debut album in 1985, while Angela Bofill was barely holding on herself. As legal battles continued, Phyllis appeared on numerous movie soundtracks and albums as a guest vocalist, most notably with Chuck Mangione, Manilow, The Whispers and The Four Tops. Keeping in the public eye, Phyllis also toured extensively with her band, did a college lecture tour and lent her voice to several television commercials.
In mid-1985 Phyllis was finally free from Arista, and in 1986 she recorded the classic "Living All Alone" album for the resurgent Philadelphia International record label (released through Manhattan/EMI and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff). The release of the first single, "Old Friend", brought her back to the forefront of the industry with saturated radio play, international concert bookings, talk-show appearances and countless magazine articles. Arista also attempted to cash in on her new success by releasing the shabby "Under Your Spell" compilation, which totally missed the mark. Phyllis also had a cameo role in the Spike Lee film School Daze (1988), performing the jazzy tune "Be One", to which a video was later released. Other film appearances include Lenny (1974), Too Scared to Scream (1984) and a co-starring role with Fred Williamson in the action drama The Kill Reflex (1989). "Prime of My Life" (1991, P.I.R./Zoo/BMG) was Phyllis' eagerly awaited follow-up album after a four-year lull, but was well worth the wait as she took an active role in selecting the material. While making the album, she agonized over a recent breakup. "It made the songs difficult to record, but the results were fabulous," Phyllis conceded. The up-tempo song "Don't Wanna Change The World" was enthusiastically received by clubs and radio, attaining international status and becoming her first #1 record, according to Billboard. When the song's popularity soared, P.I.R./Zoo issued a remixed version to accommodate the demands of disc jockeys around the country.
In 1992 Phyllis was voted Number One Best Female Vocalist in the United Kingdom by Blues & Soul magazine readers, beating out the likes of Anita Baker, Whitney Houston and Aretha Franklin. During this time Phyllis became involved in combating the AIDS crisis by lending her voice to countless benefit shows and visiting wards and hospices in and around New York. Many patients requested Phyllis' presence, which left the singer feeling inadequate and perplexed as to their reasons for wanting to see her as opposed to a family member or friends. The visits took a heavier toll on Phyllis than she realized. By now, her own personal problems were becoming evident. An ongoing battle with alcohol and weight gain, combined with career and financial woes, were making life difficult for her and those around her. In 1993 she was dealt another blow when both her mother and grandmother died within a month of one another.
Although Phyllis continued to record new material and perform live, her bouts of depression were clearly overwhelming her. Her irrational, self-destructive behavior was becoming common knowledge to those inside the music industry, her friends and also her fans. On June 30, 1995, only hours before a scheduled performance at the Apollo Theater in New York, Phyllis' lifeless body was found in her apartment; she had taken an overdose of sleeping pills and left a suicide note. Her suicide, while shocking, was not a surprise to many insiders. We, like so many others who know her, believed she would pull her life together. Sadly, we were mistaken.Overdosed on pentobarbital and secobarbital in her apartment.
1949-1995 (45 years old)- Actress
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Well-endowed, attractive Joyce Jameson was typecast as "broads," "dames," and dizzy blondes -- somewhat in the vein of Barbara Nichols. In real life, she was said, like such other ditzy blondes as Judy Holliday and Jayne Mansfield, to have been the antithesis of her screen personae, a graduate in theatre arts from UCLA, highly intelligent and well-read.
Born in Chicago in 1927 (not 1932 as has been misreported) as Joyce Kingsley as per the Cook County, Illinois Birth Index, 1916-1935 (File Number 6045258), she began acting in films from 1951, after being 'spotted' at the small Cabaret Club by Steve Allen. At that time, she was already a seasoned performer on stage in musical revue, featured playing multiple parts in shows staged by her then-husband and mentor, Billy Barnes, initially at the Cabaret Club, then at the Las Palmas Theatre in Hollywood, and finally on Broadway.
After several small supporting bits on the big screen and the odd ghost-written TV script, Jameson's career gained momentum from the late 1950s. She was seen in better productions, such as Billy Wilder's The Apartment (1960). Adept at dialects and mimicry, Jameson made a name for herself on The Tonight Show Starring Jack Paar (1957) with a ventriloquist act, featuring her 'alter ego,' an imaginary dummy, unsurprisingly named "Marilyn." Jameson was said to have derived the idea of being subsumed by this 'other personality' from the British horror classic Dead of Night (1945). Reputedly still more uproarious, were her biting impersonations of Judy Garland, Grace Kelly, and, above all, Marlene Dietrich.
She may be most-fondly remembered for her first two cult Gothic horrors she made for Roger Corman, loosely based on stories by Edgar Allan Poe. Tales of Terror (1962), finds her (in story number two, 'The Black Cat') as perpetually inebriated Peter Lorre's philandering wife Annabel, who suffers the ignominious fate of being entombed alive in a wine cellar, alongside paramour Vincent Price. Her performance on the way to that demise -- at once funny and tragic -- amply demonstrated her ability to hold her own in a leading role opposite such dominant personalities as Lorre and Price. She was quite good (and certainly very decorative) in her second outing for Corman, The Comedy of Terrors (1963) albeit in a more typical role as decrepit Boris Karloff's ditzy daughter, Amaryllis Trumbull.
On television, she had a recurring spot on The Andy Griffith Show (1960) and guested in many classic series, including westerns and science fiction, though her forte was almost certainly comedy. Unable to escape her typecasting, she rarely got roles her acting talent would have justified. Jameson once commented acerbically in an interview, "Everyone expects to cast me as the dumb or victimized blonde. After they interview me, I can just hear them say, 'Hey! She's intelligent, but what do you do with it?'" (The Pittsburgh Press, July 27,1958).Overdosed on pills after suffering from depression.
1932-1987 (54 years old)- Actress
- Music Department
Jiah Khan was born on 20 February 1988 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Ghajini (2008), Nishabd (2007) and Housefull (2010). She died on 3 June 2013 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.Hanged herself from a ceiling fan in her home, however her death is still being investigated as a murder, with her boyfriend Sooraj Pancholi as prime suspect.
1988-2013 (25 years old)- Allyn King was born on February 1, 1899 in Wilmington, North Carolina. Tragically her father, Dr. Allyn King, was murdered in 1909. A few years later her mother moved them to New Haven, Connecticut. Allyn started performing in vaudeville when she was a teenager. In September of 1916 she became the headliner of the Ziegfeld Follies. She spent five seasons starring in the Follies where she earned five hundred dollars a week. Allyn was cast in the 1920 Broadway show Ladies Night. Over the next three years she starred in several more shows including Sun Showers and Moonlight. She was nicknamed "Broadway's Sweetest Girl". Allyn was obsessed with her weight because of a clause in her contract that said she would be fired if she gained ten pounds. She began starving herself and taking thyroid pills to maintain her boyish figure. In 1923 she made her film debut in The Fighting Blade. Unfortunately it would be her only movie role.
Allyn was romantically involved with Carl Wiedemann, a wealthy brewer from Kentucky. There were rumors they were engaged but the relationship ended when she refused to give up her career. By 1927 years of extreme dieting left her thirty pounds underweight and suffering from severe anemia. She entered a sanitarium to recover and remained there for almost two years. After being released Allyn started studying music and hoped to return to Broadway. Unfortunately she became very depressed when she gained weight. On March 29, 1930 she jumped out of a five-story apartment window. She survived the fall but died from her injuries on March 31. Allyn had committed suicide at the young age of thirty-one. She left a note saying she was unhappy about her failed career and recent weight gain. Allyn was buried at Mount Hope Cemetery in New York City.Jumped from her aunt's apartment. She survived the fall, but died two days later from the injuries. She had long struggled to satisfy the demands to stay abnormally slim.
1899-1930 (31 years old) - Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Carole Landis was born on New Year's Day in 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin, as Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. Her father, a railroad mechanic, was of Norwegian descent and her mother was Polish. Her father walked out, leaving Carole, her mother and an older brother and sister to fend for themselves.
After graduating from high school, she married Jack Robbins (Irving Wheeler), but the union lasted a month (the marriage was annulled because Carole was only 15 at the time). The couple remarried in August 1934, and the two headed to California to start a new life. For a while she worked as a dancer and singer, but before long the glitter of show business drew her to Los Angeles.
She won a studio contract with Warner Brothers but was a bit player for the most part in such films as A Star Is Born (1937), A Day at the Races (1937), and The Emperor's Candlesticks (1937). The following year started out much the same way, with more bit roles. By 1939, she was getting a few speaking roles, although mostly one-liners, and that year ended much as had the previous two years, with more bit roles; also, she and Wheeler were divorced.
In 1940 she was cast as Loana in the Hal Roach production of One Million B.C. (1940); she finally got noticed (the skimpy outfit helped), and her career began moving. She began getting parts in B pictures but didn't star in big productions -- although she had talent, the really good roles were given to the established stars of the day.
Her busiest year was 1942, with roles in Manila Calling (1942), The Powers Girl (1943), A Gentleman at Heart (1942), and three other movies. Unfortunately, critics took little notice of her films, and when they did, reviewers tended to focus on her breathtaking beauty. By the middle 1940s, Carole's career was beginning to short-circuit. Her contract with 20th Century-Fox had been canceled, her marriages to Willis Hunt Jr. and Thomas Wallace had failed, and her current marriage to Horace Schmidlapp was on the skids; all of that plus health problems spelled disaster for her professionally and personally.
Her final two films, Brass Monkey (1948) and The Silk Noose (1948) were released in 1948. On July 5, 1948, Carole committed suicide by taking an overdose of Seconal in her Brentwood Heights, California, home. She was only 29 and had made 49 pictures, most of which were, unfortunately, forgettable. If Hollywood moguls had given Carole a chance, she could have been one of the brightest stars in its history.Overdosed on Seconal, after her lover, actor Rex Harrison, refused to divorce his wife for her.
1919-1948 (29 years old)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Nora Bennett Schilling was born in Chester, Illinois. She grew up and went to school near St. Louis. After modeling for a time, she went to visit a friend in California and was noticed by someone in the film industry. She successfully passed her screen test and began playing small parts in silent films in 1927, taking on the name Lane. In her 17 year career she played in over 80 films. Her notable works include her role as Zerelda in Jesse James (1927), her role as Sally in The Cisco Kid (1931), the villainous role of Goldie in Western Frontier (1935), as well as her supporting part in Jimmy the Gent (1934) which starred James Cagney and Bette Davis. She played in four Hopalong Cassidy films, two of which she was cast as the widowed ranch owner, Nora Blake. In her personal life, she was noted as an excellent swimmer and won many awards. On August 5, 1931, she and fellow actors Warner Baxter and Edmund Lowe were involved in a Southern Pacific train crash 20 miles east of Yuma, Arizona, but managed to escape uninjured. In 1941 she married Burdette Henney and retired from movies in 1944. The two lived a happy marriage until tragedy struck in 1948 when they went on a fishing trip in Bishop, California, during which Nora's husband died suddenly of a heart attack. On October 16, exactly one month after Burdette's death, the grief stricken widow shot herself dead after leaving a note to her step-son, simply saying she could not go on without him.Shot herself one month after her husband's death.
1905-1948 (43 years old)- Pepi Lederer was born on 18 March 1910 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. She was an actress, known for The Cardboard Lover (1928). She died on 11 June 1935 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Jumped to her death out of the window in a mental hospital, after struggling with drug addiction.
1910-1935 (25 years old) - Actress
- Soundtrack
Jeanette Loff was born Janette Lov in Orofino, Idaho, on October 9, 1906. Her father Maurice was a successful violinist from Denmark who moved their family to Canada when Jeanette was a child. She loved to sing and she studied music at the Ellison-White Conservatory in Portland, Oregon. At age sixteen she had a starring role in the operetta Treasure Hunters. In Portland, Loff played the organ at local theaters. She made her acting debut in the 1927 film Uncle Tom's Cabin. Cecil B. Demille offered her a contract and she quickly became one of Hollywood busiest starlets. In 1928 she appeared in Annapolis, Love Over Night, and Hold 'Em Yale. After her parents divorced Jeanette's mother Inga and sisters Irene and Myrtle came to live with her in California. Jeanette married a salesman named Harry Rosenbloom but they divorced in 1929. She also had a love affairs with producer Paul Bern, song writer Walter O'Keefe, and actor Gilbert Roland. Jeanette got the chance to show off her soprano voice in films like King Of Jazz and Party Girl. By 1931 she was tired of playing ingénues and decided to take a break from making movies. She moved to New York city and starred in several Broadway shows. Jeanette tried to make a comeback with the 1934 drama St. Louis Woman but it was not a hit. After a few more small roles her career stalled. Her final film was the comedy Million Dollar Baby. She retired from acting and married producer and liquor salesman Bert E. Friedlob. Sadly she did not get to enjoy her new life for very long. On August 5, 1942 Jeanette died after ingesting ammonia. She was only thirty-five years old. Although many believe she committed suicide her death may have been accidental. Her family does not believe she took her own life. Jeanette is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.Died of ammonia poisoning, though it is not known if it was accidentally or intentionally.
1906-1942 (35 years old)- Kitty McHugh was born on 3 October 1902 in Harmony, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for The Grapes of Wrath (1940), Blonde Trouble (1937) and Wife Insurance (1937). She was married to Ned Glass. She died on 3 September 1954 in North Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.Committed suicide.
1902-1954 (51 years old) - Maggie McNamara -- with her brown hair in a ponytail -- arrives in Rome in Three Coins in the Fountain (1954) expecting great things to happen. Petite and slender, she looks almost like a schoolgirl in her prim blue suit. She is bright and vivacious and goes for what she wants -- a proposal from "Prince Dino De Cessi" played by Louis Jourdan. She was in her mid-20s, then, and at the height of her career as she made her second film. One of four children of Irish-American parents, Maggie had come a long way since attending Textile High in New York to prepare for a modeling career. Pert as well as petite, she must have reminded people of the young Debbie Reynolds. Both had a look that was popular in the late 1940s. Maggie's picture appeared twice on the cover of Life Magazine and people were saying she too ought to be in movies. She started taking lessons with a dramatic coach and, at the age of 23, she was discovered by Otto Preminger. He signed her to play the role of a proper young lady who lets herself be lured to a bachelor's apartment in the Chicago production of a play of F. Hugh Herbert. She played the ingénue role in "The Moon Is Blue" in the national company for 18 months. Then, in 1951, she made it to Broadway in "The King of Friday's Men". Brooks Atkinson, drama critic for the New York Times, said of her performance in that play that she was "remarkably pretty and has a gift for acting". Then Maggie was offered the female lead in the Otto Preminger's film version of The Moon Is Blue (1953) with William Holden and David Niven. Theater patrons in New York and Chicago had found the stage version of the story amusing. The Catholic Legion of Decency was not amused when it previewed the film. It was stamped "C" for Condemned. The New York Times noted in 1978: "The Moon Is Blue aroused a storm of controversy because of what some observers regarded as 'indecent' discussion of sex, and the ridicule of the rules of parental protection. By current standards, it was, in fact, a prim and proper work". Maggie was supporting herself as a typist when she died in 1978. The New York Times obituary appeared four weeks after her death. It said she was 48. The relative who confirmed that she had died did not give the newspaper the date of her birth. The relative said Maggie had been doing some writing recently and a film script, "The Mighty Dandelion", had been accepted by a new film producing company.Overdosed on sleeping pills and tranquilizers, after struggling with mental illness and depression.
1928-1978 (49 years old) - Eve Miller was born on 8 August 1923 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for There's No Business Like Show Business (1954), April in Paris (1952) and The Big Trees (1952). She died on 17 August 1973 in Van Nuys, California, USA.Committed suicide, after earlier attempts.
1923-1973 (50 years old) - Kelly Van Dyke was born on 5 June 1958 in Danville, Illinois, USA. She was an actress. She was married to Jack Nance and Jeffrey Archer. She died on 17 November 1991 in Los Angeles, California, USA.Hanged herself in her apartment.
1958-1991 (33 years old) - Maruja Montes was born on 24 March 1930 in Sao Paulo, Brazil. She was an actress, known for Estrellas de Buenos Aires (1956), La potranca (1960) and Bacará (1955). She was married to Césari, Mario. She died on 11 June 1993 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.Committed suicide.
1930-1993 (63 years old) - Actress
- Soundtrack
Mary Hardy was born on 14 October 1931 in Warrnambool, Victoria, Australia. She was an actress, known for Good Morning, Mr. Doubleday (1969), Bellbird (1967) and Once Upon a Twilight (1975). She died in January 1985 in Middle Park, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.Committed suicide.
1931-1985 (53 years old)- Nora Gregor was an operetta diva, stage and film actress. She made her debut in Graz, Austria, and from there went to the Volksbühne an das Raimund-Theater in Vienna. She also worked at the Reinhardt Bühne in Berlin. From 1930 to 1933 she lived in Hollywood and also in Berlin. She made her first silent movie in 1921 and her first talkie in 1930 (Olympia (1930)). In 1937 she worked at the Burgtheater in Vienna and emigrated to Switzerland, France and Chile, where she died in Vina del Mar.Probably took her own life, despressed due to her South American exile. Her biographer, however, notes that her death was probably from natural causes.
1901-1949 (47 years old) - Eva May was born Eva Maria Mandel on May 29, 1902 in Vienna, Austria. Her mother was actress Mia May and her father was producer and director Joe May. Eva made her film debut in her father's 1914 German film The Black Triangle. At the age of sixteen she married director Erik Lund. The couple worked together in numerous films including The Foolish Heart, Black Pearls, and The Bride Of The Incapacitated. She was directed by her father again in the 1920 drama The Legend Of Holly Simplicity,. The press called her "The German Mary Pickford". Unfortunately Eva developed a reputation for being difficult to work with. The young actress was also jealous of her mother's beauty and greater success. She divorced Erik in 1922 and married director Lothar Mendes. They split up a year later.
In 1923 she costarred with Lya De Putti in Die Fledermaus and with Conrad Veidt in Paganini. Her third marriage, to director Manfred Noa, only lasted a few months. Eva started dating producer Rudolf Sieber. When he left her for Marlene Dietrich she slashed her wrists. It was one of several suicide attempts she had made. Then she fell in love with director Fritz Mandl (who was also her second cousin). She was devastated when he refused to marry her. On September 10, 1924 the twenty-two year old committed suicide by shooting herself in the head. In her hand she clutched a photo of Fritz Mandl. Eva left a note that said "Fritz family object - always there is something to mar my happiness - Life is not worth living". Thousands of friends and fans attended her funeral in Vienna. She was cremated and her ashes were given to her parents.Shot herself.
1902-1924 (22 years old) - Leila Lopes was born on 19 November 1959 in São Leopoldo, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil. She was an actress, known for The King of the Cattle (1996), Renascer (1993) and Marcas da Paixão (2000). She died on 3 December 2009 in São Paulo, São Paulo, Brazil.Took her own life with rat poison.
1959-2009 (50 years old) - Actress
- Soundtrack
Lucy Gordon was born on 22 May 1980 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Spider-Man 3 (2007), The Four Feathers (2002) and Serendipity (2001). She died on 20 May 2009 in Paris, France.Hanged herself in her apartment, which she shared with cinematographer Jérôme Alméras.
1980-2009 (28 years old)- Lilian Hall Davis was born June 23, 1898, in Mile End, London, England, the daughter of a London cab driver. For publicity purposes, she changed the spelling of her name to to the tonier Lillian Hall-Davis and reported her birthplace as the more fashionable Hampstead, London. She began acting in films in 1917 and by the early 1920s, Hall-Davis was one of the leading actresses of British silent film. She was Alfred Hitchcock's favorite actress during the early days of his career. He directed her in The Ring (1927) and The Farmer's Wife (1928) Hall-Davis was married to Walter Pemberton, a British stage actor. Her last film was a supporting role in Her Reputation (1931). By 1933, her film career was over, she was being treated for neurasthenia and was suffering a nervous breakdown. On October 25, 1933, she locked herself in the kitchen of her home in Golders Green, turned on the gas, stuck her head in the oven, and cut her throat with her brother's straight razor. Her 14-year-old son Grovsvenor, came home from school, found her suicide note in the hall and summoned the neighbors for help. They were too late. Hall-Davis was dead at the age of 34.Cut her throat and poisoned herself with gas at her home, after a sharp career decline and poor health.
1898-1933 (35 years old) - Imogen Hassall is sometimes referred to as "The Countess of Cleavage" as she was better known for her glamorous celebrity than her acting talent. Imogen was born on August 25 1942, in Woking, Surrey, England and rose to prominence in the late 1960s and early 1970s as an international B-movie starlet. To her frustration, her fame was brief and she never became a star in her own right. She died at age 38, in London on November 16 1980, after taking an overdose of sleeping pills.Overdosed on Tuinal barbiturate tablets at her home, after getting depressed due to failed relationships, career decline and inability to have children.
1942-1980 (38 years old) - Margaret Leahy was born on August 17, 1902 in London, England. Her father, William Leahy, was a garage mechanic. Margaret's family nicknamed her "Bubbles". When she was eighteen she opened a costume shop where she designed her own clothes. In 1922 she beat out 80,000 other girls to win a beauty contest sponsored by Norma and Constance Talmadge. Margaret, who was five feet, five inches tall with dark blue eyes, was described as "the most ravishing girl in England". Producer Joseph Schenck signed her to a three year contract and she moved to Hollywood. The press called her the "Cinderella Girl". She said "It all feels like a dream, like some fantastic fairy tale". Margaret was chosen to be one the 1923 Baby Wampas stars and appeared on the cover of Movie Weekly. The first movie she was cast in was the drama Within The Law. Unfortunately the director didn't like her acting and she was fired from the film. She was also told she needed to lose ten pounds.
Then she costarred with Buster Keaton in the comedy Three Ages. Her performance got mixed reviews and she would never make another film. She decided to sue Joseph Schenck for $50,000 for breach of contract and injured feelings. Margaret remained in California and married businessman Ernest Vogt in June of 1924. The couple divorced eleven years later. In court she testified that Ernest was cheap and forced her to wear shabby clothes. She started working as an interior decorator at Bullock's department store. By the early 1960s she had divorced her second husband and was living in a small apartment on Bronson Avenue. Her friends said she was very bitter about her failed acting career and had burned all her memorabilia. She was devastated when her beloved mother died in 1964. Tragically on February 23, 1967 she committed suicide by drinking drain cleaner, Margaret was sixty-four years old. She is buried at Hollywood Forever Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.Committed suicide.
1902-1967 (64 years old) - This ill-fated British actress was born in the Shepherd's Bush area of London, England, on February 27, 1936. After the outbreak of World War II, young Virginia and her family were evacuated to South Africa. She eventually returned to London and entered a convent school where the pretty, gray-eyed brunette developed an interest in acting.
Virginia attended drama school and finally broke into the business with TV parts, usually playing demure young lasses in assorted dashing action series such as "The Buccaneers" and The Adventures of Robin Hood." Making a minor film debut for director Roy Boulting with Happy Is the Bride (1958), she achieved better notices with her second film. In Our Virgin Island (1958), she played the bride of John Cassavetes who learns to adapt to a Robinson Crusoe-styled existence. Co-starring an up-and-coming Sidney Poitier, the story lightly tinges on racial issues.
On the strength of this, Virginia won a contract with British Lion Pictures and showcased well in The Man Upstairs (1958) with Richard Attenborough, but less so playing a airline stewardess in the mediocre Jet Storm (1959) which also wasted a top-notch cast including Attenborough, Mai Zetterling, Diane Cilento, Stanley Baker and Sybil Thorndike.
Virginia's reticent but sincere approach to films worked remarkably well in an understated way, and she proved just as quietly compelling on stage with a prime role in "The Catalyst" in 1958 with Phil Brown and Renée Asherson. She showed escalating promise and earned BAFTA nominations for her memorable work in Young and Willing (1962) and as Peter Sellers' forlorn wife in Only Two Can Play (1962), but then all filming stopped.
This abrupt end was primarily due to her marriage in 1962 and a change of focus on family life. Other than occasional TV appearances in such popular series as "Danger Man" and "The Prisoner," Virginia was seldom seen. It was learned that following the birth of her second son in February, 1966, she began showing acute signs of post-natal depression.
In the summer of 1967 Virginia returned auspiciously to filming with a remake of the soap drama Interlude (1968) playing the cast-off wife of orchestra conductor Oskar Werner. She suffered a severe nervous breakdown following the film's shoot and never recovered.
On a bitterly cold day on January 24, 1968, Virginia took a major overdose of antidepressants, drove away from her home at Princes Risborough. She was found collapsed in a nearby wooded area the next day suffering from acute hypothermia. Although she was revived briefly, she died shortly after at a nearby hospital.
Virginia won a posthumous National Board of Review award and a BAFTA nomination for her work in "Interlude." During her relatively short career, the actress seemed doomed to play unhappy, sympathetic third parties in romantic triangles. While a notable sadness touched many of Virginia Maskell's roles, her performances are all the more haunting to watch knowing her personal tragedy.Overdosed on barbiturates and walked for hours through the woods, after a nervous breakdown and post-natal depression.
1936-1968 (31 years old) - Briony McRoberts was born in Hertfordshire in February 1957. One of her earliest acting roles was in The Pink Panther Strikes Again at the age of 19. She appeared in numerous theatrical and film roles, though the majority of her work was in television. She appeared in over 15 series, including EastEnders and Take The High Road. Outside her professional life, she was a supporter of Scottish Friends of the Earth's Fight the Fumes campaign.Threw herself in front of a train at a subway station, after struggling with anorexia and severe depression.
1957-2013 (56 years old) - Actress
- Soundtrack
Pauline Julien was born on 23 May 1928 in Trois-Rivières, Québec, Canada. She was an actress, known for The Death of a Lumberjack (1973), Bulldozer (1974) and La terre à boire (1964). She was married to Gérald Godin and Jacques Galipeau. She died on 30 September 1998 in Montréal, Québec, Canada.Took her own life after getting a brain disease.
1928-1998 (70 years old)- Actress
Xia Ai was born on 29 November 1912 in Tianjin, China. She was an actress, known for Feng nian (1933), Zhifen shichang (1933) and Chun can (1933). She died on 15 February 1934 in Shanghai, China.Took her own life by eating raw opium.
1912-1934 (21 years old)- Born to a family Li in Shandong province of China, Chiang Ching became a stage and film actress (stage name as Lanping) in Shanghai in left-wing groups and film companies in the 1930s. Her careers with the left-wing / pro-communist groups paved her way to become wife to Mao Tse-tung, leader of the Communist Party and subesequently as a political figure in the new People's Republic, where she was known as Chiang Ch'ing/Jiang Qing.Hanged herself in the bathroom of a hospital, after being diagnosed with throat cancer while serving a lifetime imprisonment sentence. She was first given a death sentence due to her marriage with chairman Mao Zedong and her involvement in the nation's politics.
1914-1991 (77 years old) - Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Dai Lin was born on 26 December 1934 in Guilin, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, China. She was an actress, known for Les Belles (1961), Love Without End (1961) and Madame White Snake (1962). She was married to Shun-shing Lung. She died on 17 July 1964 in Hong Kong.Overdosed on sleeping pills and inhaled methane gas, due to problems within the family.
1934-1964 (29 years old)- Actress
Zorka Janu was born on 9 July 1921 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]. She was an actress, known for Cekanky (1940), Ohnivé léto (1939) and Minulost Jany Kosinové (1940). She died on 24 March 1946 in Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic].Jumped to her death after being expelled from work, due to her family's activities during WW2.
1921-1946 (24 years old)- Actress
- Soundtrack
Born in interwar Prague as Miroslava Stanclová, her father died and she was adopted by a Jewish doctor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Oskar Leo Stern (1900-1972) who married her mother, Miroslava (née Becka; 1898-1945). Dr. and Mrs. Stern had a son, Ivo (1931-2011), the actress's half-brother. The family was, at one point, interned in a concentration camp after they fled their native Czechoslovakia in 1939. They sought refuge in various Scandinavian countries before emigrating to Mexico in 1941.
After winning a beauty contest in Mexico City, young Miroslava spent some time in Los Angeles studying acting. Due to her European features and accent, she rarely found roles other than mysterious women or foreign beauties. She was eventually offered a role in what would become her last and most remembered film: Luis Buñuel's The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955).
Soon after the film wrapped, she committed suicide reportedly because the man she loved married another woman. In a macabre coincidence, the premiere of The Criminal Life of Archibaldo de la Cruz (1955), in which a mannequin in her likeness is incinerated, was released during her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her short, tragic life inspired a short story in 1990, and a film, Miroslava (1993).Overdosed on sleeping pills at her home, with a picture of bullfighter Luis Miguel Dominguín in her hand.
1925-1955 (30 years old)- Actress
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Souad Muhammad Kamal Hosny Al Baba was born on January 26th, 1942 in Ataba, Cairo, Egypt. She was the 10th sibling of 17 brothers and sisters. Husni was known as the "Cinderella" of Arab cinema and one of the most influential actresses in the Arabic art world. She ascended to stardom in the end of the 1950s, performing in more than 83 films between 1959 and 1991. A majority of her films were shot in the 1960s and 1970s. Souad was nicknamed the "Cinderella" of Arab Cinema and was one of the most influential female icons in the Arab Acting World. She first ascended into stardom in the late 1940s with her debut in "Hassan & Naima," which was the Arabic version of Romeo and Juliet. She performed in more than 83 films between 1948 and 1991... majority of them being in the 1960s and 1970s. Some famous include "Saghira El Hob," "Khally Balek Min ZouZou," and many more! And, in many of her films she acted alongside many famous actors like Hussein Fahmy, Salah Zulfikar and Roshdy Abaza, and the late belly-dancing legend Taheya Karioka. Souad was also infamous for her love affairs and many marriages which always ended in failure and divorce. Sadly, on June 22nd, 2001, she fell from a window from her best friend's London flat and died. Ironically, the same day as Abdel Halim Hafez's birthday, the one she loved.
Her final screen appearance was 10 years before in 1991, with the movie "Al Ra'i We El Nissa." To this day, she goes down as one of the most legendary and most classically beautiful actresses in Middle Eastern history.Fell from the balcony at her home in Stuart Tower in London.
1942-2001 (59 years old)- Simone Mareuil was born on 25 August 1903 in Périgueux, Dordogne, France. She was an actress, known for Polish Jew (1931), Un chien andalou (1929) and Genêt d'Espagne (1927). She was married to Philippe Hersent. She died on 24 October 1954 in Périgueux, Dordogne, France.Burned herself to death in a public square in Perigueux, having suffered from severe depression.
1903-1954 (51 years old) - Mitsouko was born on 3 September 1941 in Tianjin, China. She was an actress, known for Z7 Operation Rembrandt (1966), License to Kill (1964) and Les femmes d'abord (1963). She died on 28 March 1995 in Paris, France.Committed suicide.
1943-1995 (52 years old) - Jola Jobst was born on 25 November 1915. She was an actress, known for Die Fledermaus (1937), Model Husband (1937) and Der Gefangene des Königs (1935). She was married to Wolfgang Kieling. She died in October 1952.Committed suicide.
1915-1952 (36 years old) - Jayalakshmi was born on 1 November 1958 in Andhra Pradesh, India. She was an actress, known for Pattikatu Raja (1975), Kaali (1980) and Ram Robert Rahim (1980). She died on 21 November 1980 in Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India.Committed suicide.
1958-1980 (22 years old) - Nafisa Joseph was born March 28, 1978 Bangalore, Karnataka, India to Nirmal Joseph, a Keralite Syrian Christian and Usha Joseph, a Bengali, who was a descendant of Tagore and first cousin of Sharmila Tagore. Nafisa studied at Bishop Cotton Girls' School and St. Joseph's College, both at Bangalore. She was Catholic, but owed her Islamic first name to the fact that her paternal grandmother was Muslim. Had an older sister.
Never married and had no children, she committed suicide by jumping on July 29, 2004 at the age of 26. On February 8, 2006, a year and 4 months after her death, her close friend Kuljeet Randhawa committed suicide by the same way at the age of 30.Hanged herself in her apartment in Mumbai, after her upcoming marriage to businessman Gautam Khanduja was called off.
1978-2004 (26 years old) - Shikha Joshi was born on 4 June 1976 in India. She was an actress, known for Agneepath (2012), B.A. Pass (2012) and Devon Mein Dev Shanidev (2007). She was married to Riyaz Pathan. She died on 16 May 2015 in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India.Bled to death after slitting her throat with a kitchen knife in the bathroom of her apartment in Mumbai.
1975-2015 (40 years old) - Mayoori was born on 27 March 1983 in Kolkata, India. She was an actress, known for Puthukkottaielerenthu Saravanan (2004), 7/G Rainbow Colony (2004) and Sarvabhouma (2004). She died on 16 June 2005 in Kolkata, West Bengal, India.Committed suicide.
1983-2005 (22 years old) - Actress
Hanged herself in her room in Chennai, after breaking off with her boyfriend, choreographer Prasanna Sujit.
1981-2002 (21 years old)- Dorian Gray was born on 2 February 1931 in Bolzano, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy. She was an actress, known for Nights of Cabiria (1957), Mogli pericolose (1958) and Totò, Peppino e la... malafemmina (1956). She died on 15 February 2011 in Torcegno, Trentino-Alto Adige, Italy.Shot herself in her home in Torcegno.
1928-2011 (83 years old) - Composer
- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Daisy Lumini was born on 18 August 1930 in Florence, Tuscany, Italy. She was a composer, known for Howlers of the Dock (1960), La bugiarda (1965) and Suicide Commandos (1968). She was married to Tino Schirinzi. She died on 18 August 1993 in Barberino di Mugello, Tuscany, Italy.Jumped to her death together with her husband, actor Tino Schirinzi, from a viaduct near Barberino di Mugello.
1936-1993 (57 years old)- Kazumi Kawai was born on 9 July 1964 in Tokyo, Japan. She was an actress, known for Headphone Lullaby (1983), Lusty Discipline in Uniform (1982) and Sayonara konnichiwa (1990). She died on 9 May 1997 in Tokyo, Japan.Jumped to her death from an apartment building in Tokyo.
1964-1997 (32 years old) - Sumako Matsui was born on 1 November 1886 in Nagano, Nagano, Japan. She was an actress, known for Katyusha no uta (1914). She died on 5 January 1919 in Japan.Hanged herself after her lover, director Hogetsu Shimamura, had died of the Spanish flu.
1886-1919 (32 years old) - Inna Gulaya was born on 9 May 1940 in Kharkov, Ukrainian SSR, USSR [now Kharkiv, Ukraine]. She was an actress, known for When the Trees Were Tall (1962), Vremya, vperyod! (1965) and Dolgaya schastlivaya zhizn (1966). She was married to Gennady Shpalikov. She died on 27 May 1990 in Moscow, USSR [now Russia].Overdosed on sleeping pills 16 years after her husband, poet Gennady Shpalikov, killed himself.
1940-1990 (50 years old) - Marlia Hardi was born on 10 March 1927 in Magelang, Java, Indonesia. She was an actress, known for Tuan Tanah Kedawung (1971), Tenang menanti (1952) and Para Perintis Kemerdekaan (1977). She died on 18 June 1984 in Jakarta, Indonesia.Hanged herself in her home in Jakarta, after being unable to pay her debts.
1927-1984 (57 years old) - Born and raised in Seoul, South Korea, Jeong Da-bin, whose real name is Jung Hye-sun, was mostly known for playing ever cheerful and effervescent every girl roles. Known primarily for playing schoolgirl types, she gained quite a popular following in Taiwan as well particularly for her roles in numerous "Korean wave" miniseries. She attended Yongdok Girls High School and Gongguk University for two years where she majored in Drama.
Her first breakout role was in the Korean fantasy movie "Danjeogbiyeonsu" in 2000 where she played alongside Kim Yun-jin, the star of the miniseries "Lost".
In 2004, she starred in a Korean high school romantic comedy called "Geunomeun Meoshitosda", or 'He Was Cool'. In that movie, she played an outgoing, spunky, comical and animated -- yet very naive, awkward and infatuated -- schoolgirl named Han Ye-won -- which was to become her signature role.
She also garnered several Korean television awards for her roles in such sitcoms like "The Summer Typhoon" (SBS, 2005); "She is Nineteen (SBS,2004); "Attic Cat" (MBC, 2003); "New Nonstop 2 & 3" (MBC 2002-3); "Trio" (MBC 2002); "The Full Sun" (KBS, 2001); and "Taeyangun Gadukhe" (KBS, 2001).
Among her awards was the 2004 SBS Year-end Award for her role in "She is 19", as well as the 2004 New Star Award. In 2003, she was awarded the MBC Best Actress Award in a Miniseries for "Attic Cat". Jeong Da-bin also did numerous television commercials for Korean companies like DNS, BYC, LG Monitor, GS-25 Mart, CJ Jelly, Korea Telecom (KT), and GameTube, among others.
On the morning of Saturday, Februay 10, 2007, Jeong Da-bin committed suicide in the apartment of her boyfriend in Seoul. She was found by her boyfriend hanging in his bathroom with a towel wrapped around her neck. While no apparent suicide note was left behind, an entry in her on-line bog shortly before her death indicated she was suffering from depression.
Jeong, who has always been known for her outgoing, funny, cheerful and positive schoolgirl image, is survived by her father, mother and one younger brother in Seoul.Hanged herself in the bathroom of her boyfriend's house in Seoul, having been depressed about lack of work, the imprisonment of her former manager and personal attacks on the internet.
1980-2007 (26 years old) - Born in Gunsan, North Jeolla, Lee made her debut in 1997. She was a popular actress, starring in the hit movie Taegukgi hwinalrimyeo in 2004.
On the night of February 22, 2005, only a few days after her graduation from Dankook University, Lee suddenly committed suicide at her apartment room in Seongnam City, aged only twenty-five years old. According to experts, Lee had suffered severe depression and anger from her family after performing nude scenes for her role as a sultry jazz singer in the Korean crime movie The Scarlet Letter.Slit her wrists and handed herself in her apartment in Seongnam, having struggled with depression and mental illness.
1980-2005 (24 years old) - Elena Mayorova was born on 30 May 1958 in Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk, Sakhalin Oblast, Russian SFSR, USSR [now Russia]. She was an actress, known for Skoryy poezd (1988), Neustanovlennoe litso (1990) and Odin i bez oruzhiya (1984). She was married to Vladimir Chaplygin and Sergey Sherstyuk. She died on 23 August 1997 in Moscow, Russia.Unknown whether accidentally or intentionally, she set fire to the dress she was wearing while at her house in Moscow. She died later that day at a hospital.
1958-1997 (39 years old) - Director
- Editor
- Actor
Tom Graeff was born on 12 September 1929 in Ray, Arizona, USA. He was a director and editor, known for Teenagers from Outer Space (1959), The Noble Experiment (1955) and Toast to Our Brother (1951). He died on 19 December 1970 in San Diego, California, USA.Took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage in La Mesa. Graeff had been unable to find work after a somewhat erratic behavior, including placing an add in the paper insisting on being called Jesus Christ II.
1929-1970 (41 years old)- Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Frank Graham was born on 22 November 1914 in Detroit, Michigan, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Cosmo Jones in the Crime Smasher (1943), The Three Caballeros (1944) and Horton Hatches the Egg (1942). He died on 2 September 1950 in Hollywood, California, USA.Took his own life by carbon monoxide poisoning in his garage in Los Angeles.
1914-1950 (35 years old)- Actor
- Writer
Spalding Gray was born on 5 June 1941 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Swimming to Cambodia (1987), Kate & Leopold (2001) and The Killing Fields (1984). He was married to Kathleen Russo and Renée Shafransky. He died on 10 January 2004 in New York City, New York, USA.Probably killed himself after jumping off the Staten Island Ferry. Gray went missing in January 2004, and was found two months later in the East River. He had attempted suicide in 2002, after suffering serious injuries in a 2001 car crash.
1941-2004 (62 years old)- Actor
- Director
- Special Effects
Handsome, athletic leading man Jon Hall was the son of actor Felix Locher and a Tahitian princess. Hall was married three times, two of which were to entertainers: singer Frances Langford and actress Raquel Torres. His third wife was a psychiatrist. They married in 1969 and lived in Los Angeles with her two sons and a daughter.Shot himself in his sister's home in North Hollywood, while undergoing painful chemotherapy treatments for bladder cancer.
1915-1979 (64 years old)- Actor
- Soundtrack
A deadpan, freckle-faced, curly red-haired, highly talented child actor of the late 50s, Rusty Hamer entered films and TV at age 5 and became a precocious TV celebrity the very next year, trading clever quips with volatile top comedian Danny Thomas as his smart-alecky son, Rusty Williams, on the hit sitcom, The Danny Thomas Show (1953), in 1953. The popular sitcom co-starred Jean Hagen as Rusty's level-headed mother, and pretty, pig-tailed Sherry Jackson as his older sister.
Born Russell Craig Hamer on February 15, 1947, in Tenafly, New Jersey, he was the youngest of three sons born to shirt salesman Arthur Walter (who died when Rusty was 6) and former silent screen actress Dorothy Hamer (nee Chretin). Moving to Los Angeles in 1951, Rusty and his brothers, John and Walter, were prodded by the parents to perform in local theatre productions. Rusty learned to recited stories and perform skits at various community for service club and church functions.
Rusty's first on-camera role was a tiny part in the western Fort Ti (1953) as George Montgomery's young nephew and was given a role in an episode of the TV anthology "Fireside Theatre." While spotted in one of his theatre stage shows, Rusty was brought in to test for the Thomas series and won the role of "Rusty Williams." His mother and older brother John Hamer would appear briefly on Rusty's TV show.
Playing a 'second banana' scamp to the well-loved comedy star was no easy task, yet this boy showed an incredibly sharp comedy sense far beyond his years and the show ran a very healthy eleven seasons. During the long run, Rusty appeared only occasionally elsewhere. Seen in an episode of "Four Star Playhouse," he played, alongside the equally delightful young Gigi Perreau, orphan kids under the wing of mushy-hearted Lou Costello in Abbott & Costello's last film together Dance with Me, Henry (1956). Rusty also appeared on various variety shows ("The Red Skelton Show," "The Tennessee Ernie Ford Show," "The Dinah Shore Chevy Show") usually in tandem with his beloved TV family.
A major cast change in the series erupted when Hagen asked to leave the show (her character dies) and Jackson grew up and left home for college. Rusty's stepmother and little stepsister, played by Marjorie Lord and Angela Cartwright, respectively, were a delightful addition to the show and contributed greatly to the show's enduring popularity. Performing in 300 plus episodes, Rusty was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for his TV work in 1960.
In 1964, and with the end of the TV series, 17-year-old Rusty Hamer, at age 17, found himself out of work for the first time. The talented kid had become an awkward teen and offers dried up immediately. Hoping to branch out into dramatic roles, outside of an isolated appearance on "Green Acres" and appearances reprising his "Rusty Williams" persona, the only work he was able to find in later years were reunion specials and a new, updated sitcom revolving around his old TV family now playing Rusty as a married medical student. Make Room for Granddaddy (1970) not successful, however, and was canceled after the 1970-1971 season. Nothing else came his way although he continued to take acting classes and worked at a messenger service and as a carpenter's apprentice to support himself.
The aimless, embittered young man, left Hollywood for good for Louisiana in 1976 to help care for his Alzheimer's-stricken mother and his life quickly fell apart. Left with no job skills, Rusty had extreme difficulty finding direction, consequently living a wanderlust lifestyle, taking menial jobs that ranged from working on Exxon oil rigs to delivering newspapers to toiling as a short order cook in older brother John's cafe. His poverty-ridden status, so different from his youthful celebrity, caused him to spiral into deep depression and, eventually, alcohol abuse. Increasingly violent and delusional and suffering from chronic back pain, he shot himself to death in his trailer on January 18, 1990. He was only 42.
Chalking up another child star statistic who met a tragic, untimely end, Rusty had the true makings of a terrific comedy actor. Danny Thomas himself once said that Rusty was "the best boy actor I ever saw in my life. He had a great memory . . . great timing and you could change a line on him at the last minute and he came right back with it." It was Hamer's suicide, in fact, that prompted former child actor Paul Petersen to establish his support group A Minor Consideration. The group has been successful in assisting many former child actors with no other work skills to make a positive career transition.Shot himself in his trailer home in DeRidder, after struggling with depression due to his inability to transition into adult acting, and chronic back pain.
1947-1990 (42 years old)- Roland Harrah III was born on 20 January 1973 in Colorado, USA. He was an actor, known for Airwolf (1984), Magnum, P.I. (1980) and Braddock: Missing in Action III (1988). He died on 3 January 1995 in Riverside County, California, USA.Committed suicide.
1973-1995 (21 years old) - Actor
- Stunts
With his genial demeanor and strong presence, Will Haze managed to move quickly from featured to leading player. On one of his very first auditions for a small role in a feature film, he was asked to read for the leading role and booked it. Since then, he has appeared in over 30 films and television shows. Taking on many challenging roles such as portraying a robot in National Lampoon's "Robodoc", the ruthless drug dealer on "One Tree Hill" and working alongside some of Hollywood's greats like playing Susan Sarandon's lover in "Middle of Nowhere," appearing with Naomi Watts in "Sunlight Jr." and appearing in two of Michael Bay's films, "Transformers" and "Pain and Gain", Will Haze has the passion and the will to take on any role.Committed suicide.
1966-2016 (50 years old)- Benjamin Hendrickson was born on 26 August 1950 in Huntington, Long Island, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for As the World Turns (1956), Manhunter (1986) and Regarding Henry (1991). He died on 3 July 2006 in Huntington, Long Island, New York, USA.Shot himself in his home in Huntington, after suffering from depression since the death of his mother in 2003.
1950-2006 (55 years old) - In the role of Commando Cody, Judd Holdren patrolled America's threatened skies after actors Tristram Coffin and George Wallace hung up their flying suits. (Coffin was Rocket Man in "King of the Rocket Man" and Wallace was Commando Cody in "Radar Men from the Moon.") Holdren played the airborne hero in "Zombies of the Stratosphere" and also in "Commando Cody, Sky Marshal of the Universe", which was shown theatrically as well as on TV. Holdren acted in films from the late '40s through the '50s, then gave up the business and began making his living in the insurance business. He died in 1974.Shot himself.
1915-1974 (58 years old) - Actor
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Anthony Holland was born on 3 March 1928 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for All That Jazz (1979), Klute (1971) and The Lonely Lady (1983). He died on 9 July 1988 in New York City, New York, USA.Took his own life at his apartment in Manhattan. Holland had AIDS.
1928-1988 (60 years old)- Actor
- Director
- Additional Crew
Russell Hopton was born on 18 February 1900 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Once in a Lifetime (1932), The Little Giant (1933) and Star of Midnight (1935). He died on 7 April 1945 in North Hollywood, California, USA.Overdosed on sleeping pills.
1900-1945 (45 years old)- Tim Hovey was born on 19 June 1945 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Private War of Major Benson (1955), Matinee Theatre (1955) and Man Afraid (1957). He was married to Helen G Cassimos. He died on 9 September 1989 in Watsonville, California, USA.Died of an intentional drug overdose in his home in Watsonville.
1945-1989 (44 years old) - Actor
- Director
- Writer
An American character actor of prodigious output who also directed and wrote silent films, Paul Hurst spent much of his early work in low-budget westerns. A native of Traver, California (in the San Joaquin Valley), Hurst had first-hand knowledge of western lore, growing up surrounded by the multimillion-acre Lux & Miller ranches that ran cattle throughout the state. Visiting San Francisco as a young man, he became involved in amateur theatricals and thereafter traveled to Los Angeles to join the emerging film industry there. He began appearing in films as early as 1912, most of them westerns. By 1916 Hurst was directing them as well (some sources report that he served in World War I as a member of the French Foreign Legion, but the dates of his film projects make this story highly suspect).
In the early 1920s Hurst wrote several scenarios for films he directed and in which he appeared. He proved adept at working as a director for some of the cheapest producers along Gower Gulch, where movies were normally shot on location in a week or less and where stuntmen were often the highest-paid folks on the set. Within a few years he focused all of his energies into acting, however, notably becoming one of the few successes to emerge from "Poverty Row".
Hurst quickly became one of the more prolific and familiar characters in American movies. With his stocky build and squinty demeanor, and with a raspy voice that enhanced his memorability once sound pictures came in, Hurst played villains, cops and comedy sidekicks in more than 250 films. His most famous role was that of the deserter shot dead on the stairway of Tara by Vivien Leigh in Gone with the Wind (1939). Hurst was the sidekick to Monte Hale in a number of B westerns. Former Gower Gulch veteran John Wayne hired Hurst for Big Jim McLain (1952) knowing that Hurst was ill with terminal cancer. In 1953, at age 64, owing to his health problems, Paul Hurst committed suicide.Committed suicide after being diagnosed with terminal cancer.
1888-1953 (64 years old)- Actor
- Stunts
- Additional Crew
Born in East Boston, Johnny Indrisano was from a poverty stricken family. As a youth he vowed to "have money" some day. He boxed 155 amateur fights. He turned professional and went on to fight 83 main events in which he won 80. He defeated 5 world champions. His career lasted from 1924 to 1934. He defeated among others, Joe Dundee(World Welterweight Champ/non-title fight), Nick Testo, Johnny Freeman, Sig Keppen, and Sammy Baker. From 1934 to 1949 he worked as a boxing referee. He began as a boxing coach for movie stars and from there became a full-time boxing adviser on films. He also worked as a character actor. Among the stars he trained were John Garfield, Spencer Tracy, Carey Grant, Mickey Rooney, Robert Ryan, Robert Taylor, Jimmy Durante, Fred MacMurray, Ricardo Montalban, and William Lundigan. He died under mysterious conditions - possibly a suicide.Hanged himself in his home in Los Angeles, having long struggled with depression. However, his death has been described as mysterious.
1905-1968 (62 years old)- Actor
- Director
The only child of a stockbroker and well-to-do mother, Richard Jacobson (who changed his surname to "Jason") described himself as "second-generation nouveau riche" and a born romantic. His behavior got him expelled from eight prep schools before he managed to graduate from the Rhodes School. His father bought him a seat on the New York Stock Exchange, but Jason sold the seat and enlisted in the Army Air Corps (1943-45). After the war, he attended the American Academy of Dramatic Arts (AADA) on the GI Bill. While attending a New York play, he was spotted by actor-director Hume Cronyn, who immediately cast him in "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep" in 1950 as "Anselmo". Although the play closed after a month, the role earned Jason a Theater World Award and a Hollywood contract with Columbia Pictures. For the first year he was under contract, a frustrated Jason did not work. Meanwhile, MGM was searching for an actor to replace the departed Fernando Lamas in Sombrero (1953). Jason, now released from Columbia, landed the role. This success led to The Saracen Blade (1954) and RKO's This Is My Love (1954).
Twentieth Century-Fox then signed him for the male lead in The Lieutenant Wore Skirts (1956), after which he was signed to a multi-picture contract. His first project, an adaptation of John Steinbeck's "The Wayward Bus" (The Wayward Bus (1957)), earned him critical acclaim; a string of strong performances, both in films and TV, followed. In 1960, he starred as suave insurance investigator Robin Scott in The Case of the Dangerous Robin (1960). The series ran 38 episodes and made Jason the first actor seen using martial arts (karate) on television. In September 1962 he exploded onto prime-time screens as the cool, calm, and collected Lt. Gil Hanley in ABC's hit series Combat! (1962), Five seasons and 152 episodes later, Jason was a household name.
After "Combat!", Jason returned to the stage. He also made films in Japan and Israel. In 1970 he took the lead in the 1970 pilot Prudence and the Chief (1970). His TV career remained strong, and in the 1970s and 1980s he appeared in Matt Houston (1982), Police Woman (1974), Murder, She Wrote (1984), Wonder Woman (1975), Fantasy Island (1977), Airwolf (1984) and Dallas (1978). In 1973, he was a regular on the then-new soap opera The Young and the Restless (1973). After retirement, he kept busy doing voice-overs for commercials and ran the Wine Locker, a 4,000-square-foot facility used to store fine wines under optimal conditions. Sadly, he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound at age 77 in October 2000.Shot himself in his home in Moorpark, having been depressed.
1923-2000 (77 years old)- Actor
- Writer
- Additional Crew
Richard Jeni was born on 14 April 1957 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for The Mask (1994), Richard Jeni: Platypus Man (1993) and Platypus Man (1995). He died on 10 March 2007 in West Hollywood, California, USA.Shot himself in his home, having been diagnosed with severe clinical depression, psychotic paranoia and schizophrenia. His girlfriend had heard him talk to himself a week earlier, saying "Just squeeze the trigger."
1957-2007 (49 years old)- Actor
- Director
- Soundtrack
Son of character actor Robert Keith and stage actress Helena Shipman. He grew up on the road with his parents while they toured in plays. First appeared at age 3 in film Pied Piper Malone (1924) with his father. Began acting in radio programs and on stage before World War II. Joined the Marines and served as a machine gunner. Returned to Broadway stage after the war and branched out into television and film. Worked as an extra in several films before achieving speaking roles and subsequent stardom.Shot himself in his home in Malibu, two months after his daughter Daisy committed suicide. He was also in financial troubles.
1921-1997 (75 years old)- Actor
- Additional Crew
- Stunts
Wyatt Knight was born on 20 January 1955 in Mojave, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Porky's (1981), Porky's II: The Next Day (1983) and Baby Geniuses (1999). He was married to Silvina Knight, Harriet Birnholz and Jean C Kline. He died on 25 October 2011 in Maui, Hawaii, USA.Shot himself while staying at a house on Maui. Painful cancer treatment had left him in physical and emotional pain.
1955-2011 (56 years old)- Actor
- Director
- Editor
Andrew Koenig was born on 17 August 1968 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for InAlienable (2007), Batman: Dead End (2003) and Growing Pains (1985). He died on 14 February 2010 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.Hanged himself from a tree in Stanley Park in Vancouver. He had last been seen alive on February 14, and was found eleven days later. Koenig had previously gone missing, having struggled with depression.
1968-2010 (41 years old)- Ben Lackland came to New York in 1925 to study at the Theater Guild School and lived in Manhattan until 1958. During his career, he appeared in many plays with such figures as Josephine Hull, Walter Hampden, Ruth Gordon, Otis Skinner and Ethel Barrymore. He met his future wife, stage actress Marjorie Dulin, during the Lakeland Players' production of "Yes, My Darling Daughter" in Maine, and he played in thirty Broadway productions before switching to the infant medium of television in 1946. By 1950 he was a five-night-a-week regular on "Captain Video and His Video Rangers" as the benevolent Commissioner of Public Safety Charles Carey. He was 58 when he died at home from an overdose of barbiturates. The Essex County Medical Examiner's Office's autopsy report said that Ben Lackland was a "suicide by ingestion of an overdose of sleeping pills."Overdosed on sleeping pills.
1901-1959 (58 years old) - Alan Lake was born on 24 November 1940 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, UK. He was an actor, known for The Growing Summer (1968), Department S (1969) and The Avengers (1961). He was married to Diana Dors. He died on 10 October 1984 in Sunningdale, Berkshire, England, UK.Shot himself in his son's bedroom in their home, five months after his wife, actress Diana Dors, had died from cancer. Lake fell into depression, and had also for years struggled with alcoholism.
1940-1984 (43 years old)