On this day in 1969, actor Boris Karloff died from emphysema in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex at age 81. Born William Henry Pratt at 36 Forest Hill Road, Honor Oak, London on 23 November 1887. Karloff is perhaps best remembered for his roles in horror films and especially for his portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which resulted in his immense popularity. His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch, as well as the narrator, in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). He also had a memorable role in the original Scarface (1932). For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Karloff married five times: Grace Harding (1910-1913, divorce), Montana Laurena Williams (1920, divorce), Helene Vivian Soule (1924-1928, divorce), Dorothy Stine (1928-1946, divorce) and Evelyn Hope Helmore (1946-1969, his death).
The Final Footprint – Karloff was cremated, following a requested low-key service, at Guildford Crematorium, Godalming, Surrey, where he is commemorated by a plaque in the Garden of Remembrance. A memorial service was held at St Paul’s, Covent Garden (the Actors’ Church), London, where there is also a plaque.
#RIP #OTD in 1972 American playwright, poet (Quelques Portraits-Sonnets de Femmes), novelist, salon host who lived as an expatriate in Paris (Aventures de l’Esprit), Natalie Clifford Barney died of heart failure in Paris, aged 95. Passy Cemetery, Paris
#RIP #OTD in 1995 actor (The Great Escape, Ernst Stavro Blofeld in the James Bond film You Only Live Twice, Halloween, Escape from New York) Donald Pleasence died in Saint-Paul-de-Vence, France, from heart failure following heart valve replacement surgery, aged 75. Cremation
On this day in 1996, dancer, Academy Award nominated actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer, Gene Kelly, died at his home in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 83. Born Eugene Curran Kelly on 23 August 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, style and the likeable characters that he played on screen in movie classics including, Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris. Kelly graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Economics and enrolled in law school at Pitt but dropped out later to pursue his career in entertainment. His Oscar nomination came from his role in Anchors Aweigh, co-starring with Frank Sinatra. Kelly was married three times Betsy Blair (1941 – 1957 divorce), Jeanne Coyne (1960 – 1973 her death), Patricia Ward (1990 – 1996 his death).
The Final Footprint – Kelly was cremated at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary (a Dignity Memorial® provider) and his cremains were given to his family. He left instructions that there was to be no funeral or memorial service.
| Philip Seymour Hoffman | |
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 Hoffman at the Paris premiere of The Ides of March in October 2011 |
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On this day in 2014, actor, director and producer Philip Seymour Hoffman died from an accidental drug overdose in his Manhattan apartment at the age of 46. Born July 23, 1967 in Fairport, New York. Perhaps best known for his distinctive supporting and character roles.
Drawn to theater as a teenager, Hoffman studied acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. He gained recognition for his supporting work, notably in Boogie Nights (1997), Happiness (1998), Patch Adams (1998), The Big Lebowski (1998), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Almost Famous (2000), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), Cold Mountain (2003), and Along Came Polly (2004). His portrayal of the author Truman Capote in Capote (2005), won multiple accolades including the Academy Award for Best Actor. Hoffman’s profile continued to grow, and he received three more Oscar nominations for his supporting work as a brutally frank CIA officer in Charlie Wilson’s War (2007), a priest accused of pedophilia in Doubt (2008), and the charismatic leader of a Scientology-type movement in The Master(2012).
While he mainly worked in independent films, including The Savages (2007) and Synecdoche, New York (2008), Hoffman also appeared in Hollywood blockbusters, such as Twister (1996) and Mission: Impossible III (2006), and in one of his final roles, as Plutarch Heavensbee in the Hunger Games series (2013–15). The feature Jack Goes Boating (2010) marked his debut as a filmmaker. Hoffman was also an accomplished theater actor and director. He joined the off-Broadway LAByrinth Theater Company in 1995, where he directed, produced, and appeared in numerous stage productions. His performances in three Broadway plays – True West in 2000, Long Day’s Journey into Night in 2003, and Death of a Salesman in 2012 – all led to Tony Award nominations.
For the last 14 years of his life, he was in a relationship with costume designer Mimi O’Donnell, whom he had met in 1999 when they were both working on the play In Arabia We’d All Be Kings, which Hoffman directed. They lived in New York City. Hoffman and O’Donnell separated in the fall of 2013, some months before his death.
The Final Footprint
A funeral was held at St. Ignatius Loyola Church in Manhattan on February 7, 2014. His remains were cremated.
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On this day in 1851, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley died in Chester Square, London, at the age of fifty-three from what her physician suspected was a brain tumour. Born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in Somers Town, London, on 30 August 1797. Perhaps best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), she also edited and promoted the works of her husband. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1816, Mary and Percy famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. 
On this day in 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed during re-entry over Texas killing all seven crew members. The crew: Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, Laurel B. Clark, and Ilan Ramon. 
On this day in 2006, Scottish prima ballerina and actress, Moira Shearer, Lady Kennedy, died at the Radcliffe Infirmary, Oxford, England at the age of 80. Born Moira Shearer King on 17 January 1926 in Dunfermline, Fife, Scotland.
On this day in 2012, painter, printmaker, sculptor, writer, and poet Dorothea Tanning died at her Manhattan home at age 101. Born Dorothea Margaret Tanning on August 25, 1910 in Galesburg, Illinois.
On this day in 1972, in the Bogside area of Derry, Northern Ireland, 26 civil-rights protesters and bystanders were shot by soldiers of the British Army. Thirteen males, seven of whom were teenagers, died immediately or soon after, while the death of another man four-and-a-half months later was attributed to the injuries he received on that day. Two protesters were also injured when they were run down by army vehicles. Five of those wounded were shot in the back. The incident occurred during a Northern Ireland Civil Rights Association march; the soldiers involved were members of the First Battalion of the Parachute Regiment (1 Para). Two investigations have been held by the British government. The Widgery Tribunal, held in the immediate aftermath of the event, largely cleared the soldiers and British authorities of blame. Widgery described the soldiers’ shooting as “bordering on the reckless” but was widely criticised. The Saville Inquiry, chaired by Lord Saville of Newdigate, was established in 1998 to reinvestigate the events. Following a 12-year inquiry, Saville’s report was made public on 15 June 2010. The report found that all of those shot were unarmed, and that the killings were both “unjustified and unjustifiable.” On the publication of the Saville report the British prime minister, David Cameron, made a formal apology on behalf of the United Kingdom. The Provisional Irish Republican Army’s (IRA) campaign against the partition of Ireland had begun in the two years prior to Bloody Sunday, but public perceptions of the day boosted the status of, and recruitment into, the organisation. Bloody Sunday remains among the most significant events in the Troubles of Northern Ireland, chiefly because those who died were shot by the British army rather than paramilitaries, in full view of the public and the press.
On this day in 1982, country blues singer, songwriter, guitarist, and musician Lightnin’ Hopkins died of esophageal cancer in Houston, at the age of 69. Born Samuel John Hopkins on March 15, 1912 in Centerville, Texas. He made his debut at Carnegie Hall on October 14, 1960, alongside Joan Baez and Pete Seeger, performing the spiritual “Mary Don’t You Weep”. In 1960, he signed with Tradition Records. The recordings which followed included his song “Mojo Hand” in 1960.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2006, author, activist, civil rights leader, and the wife of Martin Luther King Jr., the “First Lady of the Civil Rights Movement” Coretta Scott King died of respiratory failure due to complications from ovarian cancer at a rehabilitation center in Rosarito Beach, Mexico, at the age of 78. Born on April 27, 1927 in Marion, Alabama. King met her husband while attending graduate school in Boston. They both became increasingly active in the American Civil Rights Movement. She was also a singer, and often incorporated music into her civil rights work.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1863, a detachment of California Volunteers engage the Shoshone at Bear River, Washington Territory, killing hundreds of men women and children. The site is located near the present-day city of Preston in Franklin County, Idaho. The death toll was large, but some Shoshone survived. Chief Sagwitch gathered survivors to keep his community alive. Sagwitch was shot twice in the hand and tried to escape on horseback, only to have the horse shot out from under him. He went to the ravine and escaped into the Bear River near a hot spring, where he floated under some brush until nightfall.
Sagwitch’s son, Beshup Timbimboo, was shot seven times but survived and was rescued by family members. Other members of the band hid in the willow brush of the Bear River, or tried to act as if they were dead. After the officers concluded the battle was over, they returned with the soldiers to their temporary encampment near Franklin. Sagwitch and other survivors retrieved the wounded and built a fire to warm the survivors.
On this day in 1963 poet Robert Frost died in Boston from prostrate cancer surgery complications at the age of 88. Born Robert Lee Frost on 26 March 1874 in San Francisco. His work was initially published in England before it was published in America. He is highly regarded for his realistic depictions of rural life and his command of American colloquial speech. His work frequently employed settings from rural life in New England in the early twentieth century, using them to examine complex social and philosophical themes. In my opinion, he is one of the most popular and critically respected American poets of the twentieth century. Frost was honored frequently during his lifetime, receiving four Pulitzer Prizes for Poetry and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1960 for his poetical works. My favorite Frost poems include; “The Witch of Coös,” “Home Burial,” “A Servant to Servants,” “Directive,” “Neither Out Too Far Nor In Too Deep,” “Provide, Provide,” “Acquainted with the Night,” “After Apple Picking,” “Mending Wall,” “The Most of It,” “An Old Man’s Winter Night,” “To Earthward,” “Stopping by the Woods on a Snowy Evening,” “Spring Pools,” “The Lovely Shall Be Choosers,” “Design,” and “Desert Places.” 
On this day in 1977, stand-up comedian and actor Freddie Prinze died from a gunshot wound to his head at UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 22. Born Frederick Karl Pruetzel on June 22, 1954 in New York City. Prinze was the star of NBC-TV sitcom Chico and the Man from 1974 until his death in 1977.
The Final Footprint
The Final Footprint
In 1889, Yeats met Maud Gonne, then a 23-year-old English heiress and ardent Irish Nationalist. Gonne was eighteen months younger than Yeats and later claimed she met the poet as a “paint-stained art student.”. Gonne had admired Yeat’s poem “The Isle of Statues” and sought out his acquaintance. Yeats apparently developed an obsessive infatuation with her beauty and outspoken manner, and she had a significant and lasting effect on his poetry and his life thereafter.
he Final Footprint – Yeats was buried after a discreet and private funeral at Roquebrune-Cap-Martin. He and George had often discussed his death, and his express wish was that he be buried quickly in France with a minimum of fuss. According to George, “His actual words were ‘If I die bury me up there [at Roquebrune] and then in a year’s time when the newspapers have forgotten me, dig me up and plant me in Sligo’.” In September 1948, Yeats’ body was moved to Drumcliff, County Sligo, on the Irish Naval Service corvette LÉ Macha. The person in charge of this operation for the Irish Government was Sean MacBride, Maud’s son, and then Minister of External Affairs. His epitaph is taken from the last lines of “Under Ben Bulben”, one of his final poems:
On this day in 1960, folklorist, anthropologist, and author Zora Neale Hurston died at St. Lucie County Welfare Home in St. Lucie, Florida of hypertensive heart disease at the age of 69. Born in Notasulga, Alabama, on 7 January 1891. Of Hurston’s four novels and more than 50 published short stories, plays, and essays, she is perhaps best known for her 1937 novel Their Eyes Were Watching God. Hurston’s work slid into obscurity for decades, for a number of cultural and political reasons. During the 1930s and 1940s when her work was published, the pre-eminent African-American author was Richard Wright. Unlike Hurston, Wright wrote in explicitly political terms using the struggle of African Americans for respect and economic advancement as both the setting and the motivation for his work. Other popular African-American authors of the time, such as Ralph Ellison, dealt with the same concerns as Wright. Hurston’s work, which did not engage these political issues, therefore did not fit in with this struggle. In 1951, for example, Hurston argued that New Deal economic support created a harmful dependency by African Americans on the government, and that this dependency ceded too much power to politicians. In addition, some critics objected to the representation of African-American dialect in Hurston’s novels, given the racially charged history of dialect fiction in American literature. Her stylistic choices in terms of dialogue were influenced by her academic experiences. Thinking like a folklorist, Hurston strove to represent speech patterns of the period which she documented through ethnographic research. For example, a character in Jonah’s Gourd Vine expresses herself in this manner:
On this day in 1986, the Space Shuttle Challenger broke apart 73 seconds into its flight leading to the deaths of all seven crew members; 
Michael J. Smith, Dick Scobee, Ronald McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Christa McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnick. That night, President Ronald Reagan had been scheduled to give his annual State of the Union address. He initially announced that the address would go on as scheduled, but then postponed the State of the Union address and instead gave a national address on the Challenger disaster from the Oval Office of the White House. It was written by Peggy Noonan, and finished with the following statement, which quoted from the poem “High Flight” by John Gillespie Magee, Jr.:
On this day in 1972 gospel singer, Civil Rights activist, The Queen of Gospel, Mahalia Jackson died at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Evergreen Park, Illinois, of heart failure and diabetes complications, at the age of 60. Born on October 26, 1911 in New Orleans. Possessing a powerful contralto voice, she became one of the most influential gospel singers in the world. She was described by entertainer Harry Belafonte as “the single most powerful black woman in the United States”. She recorded about 30 albums (mostly for Columbia Records) during her career.
The Final Footprint
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2010, writer J. D. Salinger died in Cornish, New Hampshire at the age of 91. Born Jerome David Salinger in Manhattan on January 1, 1919. Perhaps best known for his widely-read novel The Catcher in the Rye. Following his early success publishing short stories and The Catcher in the Rye, Salinger led a very private life for more than a half-century. He published his final original work in 1965 and gave his last interview in 1980.
On this day in 2014 singer, songwriter and social activist Pete Seeger died 
On this day in 1855, French writer, poet, essayist and translator Gérard de Nerval died by hanging himself from a sewer grating in the Rue de la vieille-lanterne, a narrow lane in the fourth arrondissement of Paris, at the age of 46. Born Gérard Labrunie in Paris on 22 May 1808. He was a major figure of French romanticism who worked in many genres. He is best known for his poems and novellas, especially the collection Les Filles du feu (The Daughters of Fire), which includes the novella Sylvie and the poem El Desdichado.
On this day in 1962, Sicilian mobster, Charlie “Lucky” Luciano, died from a heart attack in the Naples International Airport in Naples, Italy at the age of 64. Born Salvatore Lucania on 24 November 1897 in Lercara Friddi, Palermo, Sicily. Luciano is considered the father of modern organized crime in America. He was instrumental in creating the five Mafia crime families in New York City and in establishing the first commission. Luciano was the first official boss of the modern Genovese crime family. He and his associate Meyer Lansky, were instrumental in the development of the “National Crime Syndicate” in the United States. On 17 January 1919, the Eighteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution was ratified. The Amendment prohibited the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages. Prohibition remained in force until its repeal in 1933 and reduced the consumption of alcohol but had the unintended effect of stimulating the proliferation of rampant underground, organized and widespread criminal activity. Organized crime gained a new source of revenue through illegal alcohol sales. 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. 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, Vito Genovese, and Joe Adonis. Maranzano then declared Luciano his number two man, and set up the Five Families of New York (Genovese, Gambino, Lucchese, Colombo, and Bonanno) under him, promising that they would all be equal and all be free to make money. However, Maranzano declare
d himself capo di tutti capi (Boss of all Bosses), which meant every Don in the country had to pay up to him. Luciano began planning to eliminate Maranzano. Luciano became the most powerful mobster in the country when Maranzano was killed in his office. Luciano set up The Commission comprised of the heads of the Five Familes plus; the Philadelphia crime family, the Buffalo crime family, Los Angeles crime family and the Chicago Outfit of Al Capone; later, the Detroit crime family, and Kansas City crime family. Genovese became Luciano’s Underboss, while Frank Costello was his consigliere. Michael “Trigger Mike” Coppola, Anthony Strollo, Adonis, and Anthony Carfano all served as caporegimes. Lansky and Siegel were both unofficial advisors. I suppose he was lucky in that he died from a heart attack as opposed to being murdered.
The Final Footprint – Luciano is entombed in the Lucania Family Private Mausoleum in Saint John Cemetery, Middle Village, New York. The inscription on his crypt plate reads: IL NOSTRO CARO FRATELLO (our dear brother) SALVATORE LUCANIA and shows his birth and death dates.
On this day in 2020, 5x NBA Champion, Black Mamba, Kobe Bryant died along with his 
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1990, Oscar nominated actess, Ava Gardner, died from pneumonia, in her London home at the age of 67. Born Ava Lavinia Gardner on 24 December 1922 in Grabtown, North Carolina. Her Academy Award for Best Actress nomination was for her work in Mogambo (1953). Gardner appeared in several high-profile films from the 1950s to 1970s, including; Show Boat (1951), The Snows of Kilimanjaro (1952), The Barefoot Contessa (1954), The Sun Also Rises (1957), On the Beach (1959), The Night of the Iguana (1964), Earthquake (1974), and The Cassandra Crossing (1976). She was married three times; Mickey Rooney (1942 – 1943 divorce), Artie Shaw (1945 – 1946 divorce) and Frank Sinatra (1951 – 1957 divorce). Gardner would later say in her autobiography that of all the men she had had, Sinatra was the love of her life. Sinatra left his wife, Nancy, for Ava and their subsequent marriage made headlines and Sinatra was savaged by gossip columnists, the Hollywood establishment, the Roman Catholic Church, and by his fans. Sinatra’s career was suffering while hers was prospering. Reportedly, Gardner used her considerable clout to get Sinatra cast in his Oscar-winning role in From Here to Eternity (1953). That role and the award revitalized both Sinatra’s acting and singing careers. They reportedly remained friends after the divorce. Gardner had other famous friendships; Howard Hughes and Ernest Hemingway.
The Final Footprint 
On this day in 41 AD, Roman Emperor Caligula was assassinated, the result of a conspiracy by officers of the Praetorian Guard, senators, and courtiers, in the cryptoporticus (underground corridor) beneath the imperial palaces on the Palatine Hill, at the age of 28. Born Gaius Julius Caesar Augustus Germanicus in Antium (modern Anzio and Nettuno) on 31 August 12 AD. Caligula was a member of the house of rulers conventionally known as the Julio-Claudian dynasty. Caligula’s father Germanicus, the nephew and adopted son of Emperor Tiberius, was a very successful general and one of Rome’s most beloved public figures. The young Gaius earned the nickname Caligula (meaning “little soldier’s boot”, the diminutive form of caliga, hob-nailed military boot) from his father’s soldiers while accompanying him during his campaigns in Germania. When Germanicus died at Antioch in AD 19, his wife Agrippina the Elder returned to Rome with her six children where she became entangled in a bitter feud with Tiberius. The conflict eventually led to the destruction of her family, with Caligula as the sole male survivor. Untouched by the deadly intrigues, Caligula accepted the invitation to join the emperor on the island of Capri in AD 31, to where Tiberius, himself, had withdrawn five years earlier. With the death of Tiberius in AD 37, Caligula succeeded his great uncle and adoptive grandfather as Emperor. There are few surviving sources about the reign of Emperor Caligula, although he is described as a noble and moderate ruler during the first six months of his reign. After this, the sources focus upon his cruelty, sadism, extravagance, and sexual perversity, presenting him as an insane tyrant. While the reliability of these sources is questionable, it is known that during his brief reign, Caligula worked to increase the unconstrained personal power of the emperor, as opposed to countervailing powers within the principate. He directed much of his attention to ambitious construction projects and luxurious dwellings for himself; he initiated the construction of two aqueducts in Rome: the Aqua Claudia and the Anio Novus. During his reign, the Empire annexed the Kingdom of Mauretania as a province. 
On this day in 1920, painter and sculptor Amedeo Modigliani died of tubercular meningitis at the Hôpital de la Charité in Paris at the age of 35. Born Amadeo Clemente Modigliani on 12 July 1884 in Livorno, Italy. Modigliani worked mainly in France and is known for portraits and nudes in a modern style characterized by elongation of faces and figures, that were not received well during his lifetime, but later found acceptance. Modigliani spent his youth in Italy, where he studied the art of antiquity and the Renaissance, until he moved to Paris in 1906. 
On this day in 1965, British Army veteran, politician, statesman, author, historian, The Right Honourable Sir Winston Churchill, Knight of the Garter, Order of Merit, Companion of Honour, Territorial Decoration, Her Majesty’s Most Honourable Privy Council, Deputy Lieutenant, Fellow of the Royal Society, died at his home in Hyde Park, London, England at the age of 90. Born Winston Leonard Spencer-Churchill on 30 November 1874 in Blenheim Palace, Woodstock, Oxfordshire, England into the Spencer family a British noble family descended in the male line from Henry Spencer (died c. 1478), male-line ancestor of the Earls of Sunderland, the later Dukes of Marlborough, and the Earls Spencer. Churchill was a grandson of the 7th Duke of Marlborough. Diana, Princess of Wales was a member of the Spencer family as a daughter of the 8th Earl Spencer. As of this date, he is the only British prime minister to have received the Nobel Prize in Literature and he was the first person to be made an honorary citizen of the United States. Beginning in 1932, Churchill took the lead in warning about the danger of German rearmament. On the outbreak of WWII, he was again appointed First Lord of the Admiralty. Following the resignation of Neville Chamberlain on 10 May 1940, Churchill became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. His steadfast refusal to consider defeat, surrender or a compromise peace, helped inspire British resistance, especially during the difficult early days of the War when Britain stood alone in its active opposition to Hitler. Churchill was particularly noted for his speeches and radio broadcasts, which helped inspire the British people and the embattled Allied forces. His first speech as prime minister was the famous “I have nothing to offer but blood, toil, tears, and sweat”. Two other equally famous quotes were given just before the Battle of Britain. One included the words:
