On this day in 1943, Academy Award nominated actor, director and producer, Leslie Howard died at the age of 50 when the civilian airliner he was flying on was shot down by German fighters over the Bay of Biscay, a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea. Born Leslie Howard Steiner on 3 April 1893 in Forest Hill, London, England. Perhaps best remembered for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming and starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’ Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Butterfly McQueen as Prissy and Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O’ Hara. Howard was married to Ruth Martin (1916-1943 his death). Allegedly widely known for his affairs, he reportedly said that he “didn’t chase women but … couldn’t always be bothered to run away.”
The Final Footprint – Howard’s body was lost at sea in the Bay of Biscay. Howard’s son and daughter each published memoirs of their father: In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard (1984) by Ronald Howard, and A Quite Remarkable Father: A Biography of Leslie Howard (1959) by Leslie Ruth Howard. Estel Eforgan’s biography, Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor was published in 2010. Monument to the memory of Leslie Howard and his companions in Cedeira, Galicia (Spain).
#RIP #OTD in 1968 author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecture Helen Keller died in her sleep at her home, Arcan Ridge, in Easton, Connecticut, aged 87. Cremated remains Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.
#RIP #OTD in 2000, musician, songwriter (“Oye Como Va”), bandleader, record producer, known for his mambo & Latin jazz compositions, Tito Puente died from complications after heart valve surgery in New York City, aged 77. Saint Anthonys Church Cemetery, Nanuet, New York
#RIP #OTD in 2015 folk singer, songwriter, Appalachian dulcimer player, the “Mother of Folk”, Jean Ritchie died at home in Berea, Kentucky, aged 92. Ritchie Cemetery, Viper, Kentucky.
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