On this day in 1673, playwright and actor Molière (portrait by Pierre Mignard) died at his home in Paris from tuberculosis at the age of 51. Born Jean-Baptiste Poquelin on 15 January 1622 in Paris. In my opinion, one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature. Among Molière’s best-known works are The Misanthrope, The School for Wives, Tartuffe, The Miser, The Imaginary Invalid, and The Bourgeois Gentleman. Though he received the adulation of the court and Parisians, Molière’s satires attracted criticism from moralists and the Catholic Church. Tartuffe and its attack on perceived religious hypocrisy roundly received condemnations from the Church, while Don Juan was banned from performance. Molière’s hard work in so many theatrical capacities took its toll on his health and, by 1667, he was forced to take a break from the stage. Molière married Armande Béjart, a famous stage actor at the time. Her mother, Madeleine, had a relationship with Molière which perhaps continued after her marriage to him.
During a production of his final play, The Imaginary Invalid, Molière was seized by a coughing fit and a haemorrhage while playing the hypochondriac Argan. Molière insisted on completing his performance. Afterwards he collapsed again with another, larger haemorrhage before being taken home, where he died a few hours later, without receiving the last rites because two priests refused to visit him while a third arrived too late. The superstition that green brings bad luck to actors is said to originate from the colour of the clothing he was wearing at the time of his death.
The Final Footprint – Under French law at the time, actors were not allowed to be buried in the sacred ground of a cemetery. However, Armande, asked the King if her spouse could be granted a “normal” funeral at night. The King agreed and Molière’s body was buried in the part of the cemetery reserved for unbaptised infants. In 1792 his remains were brought to the museum of French monuments and in 1817 transferred to Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, close to those of La Fontaine. Other notable Final Footprints at Père Lachaise include; Guillaume Apollinaire, Honoré de Balzac, Georges Bizet, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Auguste Comte, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Max Ernst, Amedeo Modigliani, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, Sully Prudhomme, Gioachino Rossini, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Simone Signoret, Gertrude Stein, Dorothea Tanning, Alice B. Toklas, Oscar Wilde, and Richard Wright.
On this day in 1909 prominent leader of the Bedonkohe Apache, Geronimo died of pneumonia as a prisoner of the United States at Fort Sill, Oklahoma at the age of 79. Born June 1829, near Turkey Creek, a tributary of the Gila River in the modern-day state of Arizona, then part of Mexico, though the Apache disputed Mexico’s claim. His grandfather (Mahko) had been chief of the Bedonkohe Apache. Geronimo fought against Mexico and Texas for their expansion into Apache tribal lands for several decades during the Apache Wars. “Geronimo” was the name given to him during a battle with Mexican soldiers. Geronimo’s Chiricahua name is often rendered as Goyathlay or Goyahkla in English. After a Mexican attack on his tribe, where soldiers killed his mother, wife, and his three children in 1858, Geronimo joined a number of revenge attacks against the Mexicans. In 1886, after a lengthy pursuit, Geronimo surrendered to Texan faux-gubernatorial authorities as a prisoner of war. At an old age, he became a celebrity, appearing at fairs, but he was never allowed to return to the land of his birth. 
The Final Footprint – On his deathbed, he reportedly confessed to his nephew that he regretted his decision to surrender: “I should have never surrendered. I should have fought until I was the last man alive.” He was buried at Fort Sill in the Apache Indian Prisoner of War Cemetery. Other notable final footprints at Fort Sill include; Kiowa Chief Satanta, and Comanche Chief Quanah Parker.
#RIP #OTD in 1946 Titanic survivor, actress (Saved from the Titanic, A Lucky Holdup), socialite, artist’s model Dorothy Gibson died of a stroke in her apartment at the Hôtel Ritz Paris at the age of 56. Saint Germain-en-Laye Old Communal Cemetery, France
#RIP #OTD in 1961 silent film actress (Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, Blood and Sand, Cobra, The Ten Commandments) Nita Naldi died of a heart attack in her room at the Wentworth Hotel in Manhattan aged 66. Calvary Cemetery, Woodside, Queens County, New York
On this day in 1982, jazz pianist, composer, Thelonious Monk died in Englewood, New Jersey at the age of 64 from a stroke. Born Thelonious Sphere Monk on 10 October 1917 in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. In my opinion, one of the giants of American music. Known for his distinctive style in suits, hats and sunglasses. Monk made numerous contributions to the standard jazz repertoire, including “Epistrophy”, “‘Round Midnight”, “Blue Monk”, “Straight, No Chaser” and “Well, You Needn’t”. 
The Final Footprint – Monk is interred in Ferncliff Cemetery and Mausoleum, Hartsdale, New York. His daughter Barbara “Booboo” and his wife Francis “Nellie” were later interred with him. Their graves are marked by a flat bronze marker. Other notable Final Footprints at Ferncliff include: Aaliyah, James Baldwin, Joan Crawford, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Malcolm X, and Ed Sullivan. In addition, John Lennon and Nelson Rockefeller were cremated at Ferncliff.
On this day in 1982, actor, director, and theatre practitioner Lee Strasberg died from a heart attack in New York City, aged 80. Born Israel Lee Strassberg on November 17, 1901 in Budzanów, Austrian Poland (part of Austria-Hungary, now in Ukraine). He co-founded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931. In 1951 he became director of the nonprofit Actors Studio in New York City and in 1966 he was involved in the creation of Actors Studio West in Los Angeles.
Although other highly regarded teachers also developed “the Method,” Strasberg is often considered the “father of method acting in America,”. From his base in New York, he trained several generations of theatre and film notables, including Anne Bancroft, Dustin Hoffman, Montgomery Clift, James Dean, Marilyn Monroe, Jane Fonda, Julie Harris, Paul Newman, Ellen Burstyn, Al Pacino, Geraldine Page, Eli Wallach, and directors Frank Perry and Elia Kazan.
By 1970 Strasberg had become less involved with the Actors Studio and, with his third wife, Anna, opened the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute with branches in New York City and in Hollywood, to continue teaching for contemporary actors.
Former student Elia Kazan directed James Dean in East of Eden (1955), for which Kazan and Dean were nominated for Academy Awards. As a student, Dean wrote that Actors Studio was “the greatest school of the theater [and] the best thing that can happen to an actor.” Playwright Tennessee Williams, writer of A Streetcar Named Desire, said of Strasberg’s actors, “They act from the inside out. They communicate emotions they really feel. They give you a sense of life.” Directors such as Sidney Lumet, a former student, have intentionally used actors skilled in Strasberg’s “method.”
As an actor, Strasberg is perhaps best known for his supporting role as Hyman Roth alongside his former student Pacino in The Godfather Part II (1974), a role he took at Pacino’s suggestion after Kazan turned down the role, and which earned him a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. He also appeared in …And Justice for All (1979).
His first marriage was to Nora Krecaum on October 29, 1926, until her death three years later in 1929. In 1934 he married actress and drama coach Paula Miller (1909–66) until her death from cancer in 1966. His third wife was the former Anna Mizrahi from 1967 till his death.
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Strasberg is interred at Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York. His personal papers, including photos, are archived at the Library of Congress. Other notable final footprints at Westchester Hills include; George and Ira Gershwin and Roberta Peters.
#RIP #OTD in 2010 actress and coloratura soprano (Thousands Cheer, Anchors Aweigh, Show Boat, Kiss Me Kate, Camelot, La bohème, Madama Butterfly, Orpheus in the Underworld, La traviata) Kathryn Grayson died at her home in Los Angeles, aged 88. Cremation
#RIP #OTD in 2013 country music singer, (“Guys Do It All the Time”, “Ten Thousand Angels”, “A Girl’s Gotta Do (What a Girl’s Gotta Do)”), Mindy McCready died from a gunshot wound at her home in Herber Springs, Arkansas, aged 37. Alva Cemetery in Alva, Florida
#RIP #OTD in 2023 actress (Say One for Me; Girls! Girls! Girls!; The Nutty Professor; How to Save a Marriage and Ruin Your Life; The Poseidon Adventure), Stella Stevens died of complications from Alzheimer’s disease in Los Angeles aged 84. Cremated remains in a columbarium niche at Hollywood Forever
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On this day in 1922, rancher, gambler, Texas Ranger, Texas John Slaughter, died in Douglas, Arizona at the age of 80. Born John Horton Slaughter on 2 October 1841 in Sabine Parish, Arizona.
The Final Footprint – Slaughter is interred in Calvary Cemetery, Douglas, Arizona. His wife Cora was interred next to him following her death in 1941. Their graves are marked by a large upright granite monument.
On this day in 1965, musician, jazz pianist, singer, song writer, Nat King Cole, died at St, John’s Hospital in Santa Monica, California at the age of 45 from lung cancer. Born Nathaniel Adams Cole on 17 March, St. Patrick’s Day, 1919 in Montgomery, Alabama. Cole’s first hit was “Straighten Up and Fly Right”, a song he co-wrote with Irving Mills. Johnny Mercer invited him to record the song for Capitol Records. Cole married two times; Nadine Robinson, Maria Hawkins Ellington (1948 – 1965 his death). If you have not listened to Cole sing Irving Gordon‘s “Unforgettable” with a beautiful woman by your side, you have not lived. One of my very favorite singers. 
On this day in 1984, actress and singer Ethel Merman died from brain cancer at her home in Manhattan at the age of 76. Born Ethel Agnes Zimmermann on January 16, 1908 in Astoria, Queens. Perhaps best known for her distinctive, powerful voice and leading roles in musical theatre, she has been called “the undisputed First Lady of the musical comedy stage”.
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On this day ca. 269, Roman saint, Saint Valentine was martyred. Saint Valentine has been associated since the High Middle Ages with a tradition of courtly love. All that is reliably known about Saint Valentine is his name and that he was martyred on this day. It is uncertain whether St. Valentine is to be identified as one saint or the conflation of two saints of the same name. Several different martyrologies have been added to later hagiographies that are unreliable.
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On this day in 1969, Italian mafioso, Vito Genovese, died in federal prison in Springfield, Missouri at the age of 71. Born 27 November 1897 in Rosiglino, Tufino, Province of Naples, Italy. Genovese rose to power in America during the Castellammarese War to later become leader of the Genovese crime family. Genovese served as mentor to many future mob bosses including Vincent “The Chin” Gigante, and Michael “Mike the Pipe” Genovese. In the 1920’s, New York’s two leading mobsters were Joe “The Boss” Masseria and Salvatore Maranzano. They were engaged in what would be known as the infamous Castellammarese War. Lucky Luciano worked his way up to be Masseria’s top aide, but Luciano made a deal with Maranzano whereby Luciano would set up the death of Masseria in return for Maranzano’s support of Luciano becoming the head of the Masseria family and thus ending the destructive war. Masseria was assassinated in a Coney Island restaurant by Bugsy Siegel, Genovese, and Joe Adonis. Maranzano then declared Luciano his number two man, and set up the Five Families of New York (Luciano/Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, Colombo, and Bonanno). When Luciano was sent to prison in 1936, Genovese became the acting boss of the Lucianao family. However in 1937, Genovese was indicted on a murder charge and he fled to Italy. When he returned to the U. S. he regained power over the Luciano family and renamed the family Genovese. In 1959, Genovese was convicted of selling heroin and sentenced to 15 years in prison. 
On this day in 1988, composer Frederick Loewe died from a heart attack in Palm Springs, California at the age of 86. Born June 10, 1901 in Berlin. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including My Fair Lady (1956) and Camelot (1960), both of which were made into films.
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On this day in 2002, singer and songwriter, Waylon Jennings, died of diabetic complications in Chandler, Arizona at the age of 64. Born Waylon Arnold Jennings on 15 June 1937 in Littlefield, Texas. Jennings played bass for Buddy Holly following the break-up of The Crickets. Jennings escaped death in the 3 February 1959, plane crash that took the lives of Holly, Ritchie Valens, and J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, when he gave up his seat on the plane to Richardson. One of the founding members of the outlaw movement in country music. Jennings was a member of the supergroup The Highwaymen along with Johnny Cash and fellow Texans Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson. Jennings married four times, the last to Jessi Colter (1969 – 2002 his death). One of my songwriting heroes. My list of favorite Waylon songs would be lengthy. 
On this day in 1554, English noblewoman, great-granddaughter of Henry VII, cousin of Edward VI, de facto monarch of England from 10 July until 19 July 1553, The Nine Days Queen, Lady Jane Grey and her husband Lord Guildford Dudley were executed by beheading at the Tower of London for high treason against Queen Mary I. Lady Jane Grey was 16 or 17 years old. Dudley was 18 or 19. Lady Jane Grey was the eldest daughter of Henry Grey, 1st Duke of Suffolk, and his wife, Lady Frances Brandon. The traditional view is that she was born at Bradgate Park in Leicestershire in October 1537, while more recent research indicates that she was born somewhat earlier, possibly in London, in late 1536 or in the spring of 1537. Guildford Dudley was born c. 1535, the second youngest surviving son of John Dudley, 1st Duke of Northumberland and his wife Jane, daughter of Sir Edward Guildford. Lady Jane Grey was the great-granddaughter of Henry VII through his younger daughter Mary, and a first cousin once removed of Edward VI. When the 15-year-old King lay dying in June 1553, he nominated Jane as successor to the Crown in his will, thus subverting the claims of his half-sisters Mary and Elizabeth under the Third Succession Act. Jane was imprisoned in the Tower of London when the Privy Council decided to change sides and proclaim Mary as queen on 19 July 1553. Jane was convicted of high treason in November 1553, which carried a sentence of death, although her life was initially spared. Wyatt’s rebellion of January and February 1554 against Queen Mary I’s plans for a Spanish match led to the executions. Lady Jane Grey had an excellent humanist education and a reputation as one of the most learned young women of her day. A committed Protestant, she was posthumously regarded as not only a political victim but also a martyr. 
On this day in 2000, Texas Longhorn, U. S. Army Air Corp veteran, Hall of Fame coach, Tom Landry died in Dallas, Texas at the age of 75. Born Thomas Wade Landry on 11 September 1924 in Mission, Texas. Landry played fullback and defensive back for the Longhorns and was an all-pro defensive back for the New York Giants. He began his coaching career with the Giants, serving as their defensive coordinator from 1954 to 1959. The Giants offensive coordinator at that time was Vince Lombardi. The Giants appeared in three NFL Championship games during Landry’s tenure. Landry was the first coach to employ a 4-3 defensive formation. In 1960 he became the head coach of the newly established Dallas Cowboys. Landry served as head coach of the Cowboys until 1988 during which time the Cowboys won two Super Bowl titles (VI, XII), 5 NFC titles, 13 Divisional titles, and compiled a 270-178-6 record, the 3rd most wins of all time for an NFL coach. His 20 career playoff victories are the most of any coach in NFL history. Landry coached the Cowboys to 20 consecutive winning seasons (1966–1985), an NFL record that remains unbroken and unchallenged. It remains one of the longest winning streaks in all of professional sports history. Landry was married to Alicia Wiggs (1949 – 2000 his death). My heroes have always been Cowboys. 
On this day in 2014, comic actor and writer Sid Caesar died at his home in Beverly Hills, California, at the age of 91, after a short illness. Born Isaac Sidney Caesar on September 8, 1922 in Yonkers. Perhaps best known for two pioneering 1950s live television series: Your Show of Shows, which was a 90-minute weekly show watched by 60 million people, and its successor, Caesar’s Hour. Your Show of Shows and its cast received seven Emmy nominations between the years 1953 and 1954 and tallied two wins. He also acted in movies; he played Coach Calhoun in Grease (1978) and its sequel Grease 2 (1982) and appeared in the films It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963), Silent Movie (1976), History of the World, Part I (1981), Cannonball Run II (1984), and “Vegas Vacation” (1997).
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The Final Footprint
On this day in 1862, wife of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, artists’ model, muse, poet and artist Elizabeth ‘Lizzie’ Siddal died at the age of 32, from complications related to an overdose of laudanum, at her home at 14 Chatham Place, London, now demolished and covered by Blackfriars Station. Born Elizabeth Eleanor Siddall, on 25 July 1829, at the family’s home at 7 Charles Street, Hatton Garden, London. Siddal was painted and drawn extensively by artists of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, including Walter Deverell, William Holman Hunt, John Everett Millais (including his notable 1852 painting Ophelia) and her husband. She featured prominently in Rossetti’s early paintings of women. Rossetti’s relationship with Siddal is explored by Christina Rossetti (Dante’s sister) in her poem “In an Artist’s Studio”:
The Final Footprint – Siddal was interred at Highgate Cemetery in London. Rossetti enclosed in his wife’s coffin a journal containing the only copy he had of his many poems. He reportedly slid the book into Siddal’s red hair. By 1869, before publishing any newer poems, he became obsessed with retrieving the poems he had slipped into his wife’s coffin. Rossetti and his agent, Charles Augustus Howell, applied to the Home Secretary for an order to have her exhumed. It was done at night to avoid public curiosity and attention. Rossetti was not present. Howell reported that her corpse was remarkably well preserved and her delicate beauty intact, probably as a result of the laudanum. Her hair was said to have continued to grow after death so that the coffin was filled with her flowing coppery hair. Rossetti published the old poems with his newer ones. They were not well received by some critics because of their eroticism, and he was reportedly haunted by the exhumation through the rest of his life.
On this day in 1963 poet, novelist, short story writer, Pulitzer Prize recipient, Sylvia Plath committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in the kitchen of her flat at 23 Fitzroy Road near Primrose Hill, London, at the age of 30. Born on 27 October 1932, in Massachusetts Memorial Hospital, in Boston’s Jamaica Plain neighborhood. Plath studied at Smith College and Newnham College, Cambridge, before receiving acclaim as a professional poet and writer. She married fellow poet Ted Hughes in 1956 and they lived together first in the United States and then England, having two children together, Frieda and Nicholas. Plath suffered from depression for much of her adult life. Controversy continues to surround the events of her life and death, as well as her writing and legacy. Plath is generally credited with advancing the genre of confessional poetry with her two published collections, The Colossus and Other Poems and Ariel. In 1982, she won a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for The Collected Poems. She also wrote The Bell Jar, a semi-autobiographical novel published shortly before her death. 
On this day in 2012, singer, actor, model Whitney Houston died of accidental drowning in her hotel room at the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, at the age of 48. Born Whitney Elizabeth Houston on August 9, 1963 in Newark, New Jersey. Houston is one of the best-selling music artists of all-time. She released seven studio albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum, or gold certification. Houston’s crossover appeal on the popular music charts, as well as her prominence on MTV, starting with her video for “How Will I Know”, influenced several artists who follow in her footsteps.
On February 11, Houston was found unconscious in Suite 434 at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, submerged in the bathtub. Beverly Hills paramedics arrived at approximately 3:30 p.m. and found the singer unresponsive and performed CPR. Houston was pronounced dead at 3:55 p.m. PST. On March 22, 2012, the Los Angeles County coroner’s office reported the cause of Houston’s death was drowning and the “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use”. The manner of death was listed as an “accident”.
On this day in 1992, writer Alex Haley died in Seattle, Washington, of a heart attack at the age of 70. Born Alexander Murray Palmer Haley on August 11, 1921 in Ithaca, New York. He was the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of African American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history.
On this day in 2005, playwright and essayist, Tony Award winner, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Drama, Arthur Miller, died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut at the age of 89. Born Arthur Asher Miller on 17 October 1915 in Harlem, New York City. His notable plays include; All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (one-act, 1955; revised two-act, 1956). Death of a Saleman was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics’ Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; the first play to win all three of these major awards. Miller received a BA in English from the University of Michigan. Miller married three times; Mary Slattery (1940 – 1956 divorce), Marilyn Monroe (1956 – 1961 divorce) and Inge Morath (1962 – 2002 her death). Miller also wrote the screenplay for the movie The Misfits (1961) starring Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach. Miller and Monroe would divorce shortly before the movie’s premier. The film marked the final movie for both Monroe and Gable. Miller’s papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. 
On this day in 2008, amateur boxer, U.S. Air Force veteran, and actor Roy Scheider died from 
On this day in 1881, writer and essayist, Fyodor Dostoevsky, died in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire at the age of 59 from a pulmonary haemorrhage. Born Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevsky on 11 November 1821 in Moscow, Russian Empire.
On this day in 1906; poet, novelist, playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar died 
He was interred in the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.
On this day in 1587, Queen regnant of Scots,
Queen consort of France, Mary Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle Northamptonshire, England, at the age of 44. Born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, Scotland. Mary was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland. Mary of Guise was her mother. She was 6 days old when her father died and she was crowned nine months later. In 1558, she married Francis, Dauphin of France, who ascended the French throne as Francis II in 1559. Mary was widowed on 5 December 1560 and then returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. As a devout Catholic, she was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects. Scotland was torn between Catholic and Protestant factions, and Mary’s illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, was a leader of the Protestant faction. The Protestant reformer John Knox also preached against Mary, condemning her for hearing Mass, dancing, dressing too elaborately, and many other real and imagined offences. In 1565, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Their marriage was not a happy one. In February 1567, there was an explosion at their house, and Darnley was found dead, apparently strangled, in the garden. Mary then
