Joan Hackett
On this day in 1983, Oscar nominated actress Joan Hackett died from ovarian cancer in Encino, California at the age of 49. Born Joan Ann Hackett on 1 March 1934 in East Harlem, New York City, New York. In my opinion, her best roles were in Will Penny with Charlton Heston and Support Your Local Sheriff with James Garner. Hackett was married to actor Richard Mulligan (1967 – 1973 divorce).
The Final Footprint– Hackett is entombed in the Sanctuary of Faith corridor in the Abbey of the Psalms mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California. Along with her name and birth and death years, her bronze crypt plate reads:
GO AWAY – I’M ASLEEP.
Other notable Final Footprints at Hollywood Forever include; Mel Blanc, Lana Clarkson, Iron Eyes Cody, Chris Cornell, Cecil B. DeMille, Victor Fleming, Judy Garland, John Huston, Hattie McDaniel’s cenotaph, Jayne Mansfield’s cenotaph, Tyrone Power, Dee Dee Ramone, Johnny Ramone, Virginia Rappe, Nelson Riddle, Mickey Rooney, Ann Sheridan, Bugsy Siegel, Rudolph Valentino, Fay Wray, and Anton Yelchin.
And on this day in 2015, chef Paul Prudhomme died in New Orleans at the age of 75. Born on July 13, 1940 in Opelousas, Louisiana. His specialties were Creole and Cajun cuisines, which he was also credited with popularizing. He was the chef proprietor of K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in New Orleans, and had formerly owned and run several other restaurants. He developed several culinary products, including hot sauce and seasoning mixes, and wrote 11 cookbooks.
Prudhomme opened his first restaurant in Opelousas in 1957, a hamburger restaurant called Big Daddy O’s Patio. The restaurant went out of business in nine months, which also saw the end of his first marriage. He became a magazine seller initially in New Orleans, and afterwards several restaurant jobs took him around the country. During this period he began creating his own spice mixes and giving them away to customers. In 1970, he moved back to New Orleans to work as a sous chef at Le Pavillon Hotel. He left after a short while to open Clarence Dupuy’s restaurant Maison du Puy. While there, he met his second wife, Kay Hinrichs, who worked at the restaurant as a waitress. In 1975, Prudhomme left to become the first American-born executive chef at Commander’s Palace under Richard Brennan, Sr. Chef Paul turned the Garden District restaurant into a world-class destination.
In 1979, he and Kay (now his wife) opened K-Paul’s Louisiana Kitchen in the French Quarter of New Orleans. The restaurant was named as a portmanteau of their names, with Paul working as head chef and Kay as restaurant manager. For a while he attempted to operate the restaurant while still working at Commander’s Palace, but the demand in his new restaurant was such that he moved to work there full-time, while also appointing Emeril Lagasse to take over as Executive Chef at Commanders Palace. In 1980, he was made a Chevalier (Knight) of the French Ordre National du Mérite Agricole in honor of his work with Cajun and Creole cuisines. I have eaten at K-Paul’s, and yes it was wonderful.
The Final Footprint
Prudhomme is entombed in the Prudhomme private mausoleum in Saint Louis Cemetery No. 3 in New Orleans .
#RIP #OTD in 2020, baseball pitcher, New York Yankee, 6-x World Series champ, #16 retired, “The Chairman of the Board”, Whitey Ford died at his home on Long Island watching the Yankees in Game 4 of the 2020 ALDS, with his family, aged 91. Locust Valley Cemetery, Locust Valley NY
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