photographed by Pierre Petit in 1900
On this day in 1921, composer, organist, conductor and pianist of the Romantic era, Charles-Camille Saint-Saëns died from a heart attack in Algiers at the age of 86. Born 9 October 1835 in Paris. His best-known works include Introduction and Rondo Capriccioso (1863), the Second Piano Concerto (1868), the First Cello Concerto (1872), Danse macabre (1874), the opera Samson and Delilah (1877), the Third Violin Concerto (1880), the Third (“Organ”) Symphony (1886) and The Carnival of the Animals (1886).
Saint-Saëns was a musical prodigy; he made his concert debut at the age of ten. After studying at the Paris Conservatoire he followed a conventional career as a church organist, first at Saint-Merri, Paris and, from 1858, La Madeleine, the official church of the French Empire. After leaving the post twenty years later, he was a successful freelance pianist and composer, in demand in Europe and the Americas.
Throughout the 1860s and early 1870s, Saint-Saëns had continued to live a bachelor existence, sharing a large fourth-floor flat in the Rue du Faubourg Saint-Honoré with his mother. In 1875, he surprised many by marrying. The groom was approaching forty and his bride Marie-Laure Truffot, the sister of one of the composer’s pupils, was 19. Saint-Saëns and his wife moved to the Rue Monsieur-le-Prince, in the Latin Quarter; his mother moved with them. The couple had two sons, both of whom died in infancy. In 1878, the elder, André, aged two, fell from a window of the flat and was killed; the younger, Jean-François, died of pneumonia six weeks later, aged six months. Saint-Saëns and Marie-Laure continued to live together for three years, but he blamed her for André’s accident; the double blow of their loss effectively destroyed the marriage.
The Final Footprint
After a state funeral at the Madeleine he was buried at the Cimetière de Montparnasse in Paris. Other notable Final Footprints at Montparnasse include; Charles Baudelaire, Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, Emmanuel Chabrier, César Franck, Guy de Maupassant, Adah Isaacs Menken, Man Ray, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Seberg, and Susan Sontag.
#RIP #OTD in 1956 Welsh artist, writer (Laughing Torso, Is She a Lady?), expert on sailors’ chanteys, the Queen of Bohemia, Nina Hamnett died from complications after falling out of her apartment window in London and being impaled on the fence forty feet below, aged 66.
On this day in 1965 playwright, novelist, short story writer W. Somerset Maugham died in Nice, France at the age of 91. Born William Somerset Maugham on 25 January 1874 in the U. K. Embassy in Paris. Among the most popular writers of his era and reputedly one of the highest paid authors during the 1930s. Maugham trained and qualified as a doctor. The first run of his first novel, Liza of Lambeth (1897), sold out so rapidly that Maugham gave up medicine to write full-time. During the First World War, he served with the Red Cross and in the ambulance corps, before being recruited in 1916 into the British Secret Intelligence Service, for which he worked in Switzerland and Russia before the Bolshevik Revolution of 1917. During and after the war, he traveled in India and Southeast Asia; all of these experiences were reflected in later short stories and novels. Maugham married Gwendoline Maud Syrie Barnardo Wellcome (1917 – 1928 divorce). Maugham’s love life apparently was almost never smooth. He once confessed: “I have most loved people who cared little or nothing for me and when people have loved me I have been embarrassed… In order not to hurt their feelings, I have often acted a passion I did not feel.”
The Final Footprint – Maugham was cremated and his cremains were scattered near the Maughan Library, The King’s School, Canterbury.
On this day in 1980, U. S. Army veteran, entrepreneur, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken, philanthropist, Colonel Sanders, died in Louisville, Kentucky at the age of 90. Born Harland David Sanders on 9 September 1890 in Henryville, Indiana. He opened his first restaurant in Corbin, Kentucky in 1930 when he was 40. Sanders began developing his distinctive appearance in 1950, growing his trademark mustache and goatee and donning a white suit and string tie. He never wore anything else in public during the last 20 years of his life, using a heavy wool suit in the winter and a light cotton suit in the summer. At age 65, Sanders’ restaurant failed due to the new Interstate 75 reducing his customer traffic. He took $105 from his first Social Security check and began visiting potential franchisees. Dave Thomas, founder of Wendy’s was offered a chance to turn around a failing Kentucky Fried Chicken restaurant. He helped save the restaurant, and revolutionized the fast food industry. Sanders was married twice; Josephine King (divorced) and Claudia Price.
The Final Footprint – Sanders is interred with his wife Claudia in the Sanders Private Estate, Cave Hill Cemetery, Louisville, Kentucky. The estate is marked by a large granite monument bearing his name and a bronze bust of Sanders on a granite pedestal. Their graves are marked by a full ledger granite marker.
On this day in 1989, United States Navy Veteran, actor Lee Van Cleef died from a heart attack at his home in Oxnard, California, at the age of 64. Throat cancer was listed as a secondary cause of death.
Born Clarence Leroy Van Cleef Jr. on January 9, 1925 in Somerville, New Jersey. His sinister features overshadowed his acting skills and typecast him as a minor villain for a decade before he achieved stardom in Spaghetti Westerns such as The Good, the Bad and the Ugly. He declined to have his hook nose altered to play a sympathetic character in his film debut, High Noon, and was relegated to a non-speaking outlaw as a result. After suffering serious injuries in a car crash, Van Cleef began to lose interest in his apparently waning career by the time Sergio Leone gave him a major role in For a Few Dollars More. The film made him a box-office draw, especially in Europe.
Van Cleef possessed the rare physical characteristic of heterochromatic eyes, having eyes of two different colors; in his case, one green and one blue.
Van Cleef in Kansas City Confidential (1952)
Van Cleef was married three times. He and his first wife, Patsy Ruth Kahle, his high school sweetheart, were married December 10th, 1943, had three children, Alan, Deborah and David, and divorced in 1960. Later that year, he married his second wife, Joan Marjorie Drane, on April 9th, 1960, and adopted their daughter, Denise. He and Joan divorced in 1974. Two years later, he married his third wife, Barbara Havelone, on July 13th, 1976, to whom he remained married until his death in 1989
The Final Footprint
Van Cleef is interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Hollywood Hills, California, with an inscription on his gravestone referring to his many acting performances as sinister, threatening characters: “BEST OF THE BAD”. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson (see below), Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Brittany Murphy, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, and Paul Walker.
On this day in 1997, singer Nicolette Larson died of cerebral edema and liver failure, at the age of 45. Born on July 17, 1952 in Helena, Montana. Perhaps best known for her work in the late 1970s with Neil Young and her 1978 hit single of Young’s “Lotta Love”, which hit No. 1 on the Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart and No. 8 on the pop singles chart. It was followed by four more adult contemporary hits, two of which were also minor pop hits.
By 1985, she shifted her focus to country music, charting six times on the US country singles chart. She had a top-40 country hit with “That’s How You Know When Love’s Right”, a duet with Steve Wariner. She died in 1997 of cerebral edema and liver failure.
Through her early work in the 1970s with Emmylou Harris, Larson met guitarist and songwriter Hank DeVito. Larson and DeVito later married and divorced. In the early 1980s, Larson was engaged to Andrew Gold, which ended shortly after the completion of Larson’s 1982 album All Dressed Up and No Place to Go, which Gold had produced. In the late 1980s, she briefly dated “Weird Al” Yankovic.
In 1990, Larson married drummer Russ Kunkel, and the two were married until her death in 1997.
The Final Footprint
Larson’s remains are buried in Forest Lawn – Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. A benefit concert was held in Larson’s honor in February 1998 with tribute concerts held on the 10th anniversary of her death in December 2007 and also the following year. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Brittany Murphy, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef (see above), and Paul Walker.
#RIP #OTD in 2007 singer, songwriter (“Longer”, “Same Old Lang Syne”, “Leader of the Band”), composer, musician, Dan Fogelberg died from prostate cancer at his home in Deer Isle, Maine, aged 56. Cremated remains scattered, Atlantic Ocean off the Maine coast. Memorial, Peoria IL
On this day in 2013, Grammy award winning singer, songwriter, guitarist, The Cherokee Cowboy, Ray Price died from complications of pancreatic cancer at his home in Mt. Pleasant, Texas at the age of 87. Born Noble Ray Price on 12 January 1926 Perryville, Texas.
In my opinion, his wide ranging baritone was among the best male voices of country music. Some of his well-known recordings include “Release Me”, “Crazy Arms”, “Heartaches by the Number”, “For the Good Times”, “Night Life”, and “You’re the Best Thing That Ever Happened to Me”. Price was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1996. He continued to record and tour well into his mid-eighties. 
The Final Footprint – Price is entombed at Restland Memorial Park in Dallas.
#RIP #OTD in 2017 jazz and popular music singer (“I Wish You Love”, “You’re Breaking My Heart”, with then-husband Louis Prima “That Old Black Magic”) Keely Smith died of heart failure in Palm Springs, aged 89. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
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On this day in 1675, artist Johannes Vermeer died after a short illness in Delft, Dutch Republic, at the age of 43. Baptized On 31 October 1632 in the Reformed Church in Delft. Perhaps best known for his painting, 
The Final Footprint – Vermeer is entombed in the Oude Kerk (Old Church), nicknamed Oude Jan (“Old John”), a Gothic Protestant church in the old city center of Delft. Its most recognizable feature is a 75-meter-high brick tower that leans about two meters from the vertical. Tracy Chevalier‘s novel Girl with a Pearl Earring and the film of the same name (2003) are named after the painting; they present a fictional account of its creation by Vermeer and his relationship with the (equally fictional) model. The film was nominated for Oscars in cinematography, art direction, and costume design
On this day in 1890, a Hunkpapa Lakota holy man, tribal chief, Sitting Bull was killed by Indian agency police on the Standing Rock Indian Reservation in South Dakota, during an attempt to arrest him, at a time when authorities feared that he would join the Ghost Dance movement, at the age of 58 or 59. Tȟatȟáŋka Íyotake in Standard Lakota Orthography Jumping Badger, also nicknamed Slon-he or “Slow”, in the Dakota Territory c. 1831. In 2007, Sitting Bull’s great-grandson asserted from family oral tradition that Sitting Bull was born along the Yellowstone River, south of present-day Miles City, Montana. Sitting Bull led his people as a tribal chief during years of resistance to United States government policies. Before the Battle of the Little Bighorn, Sitting Bull had a vision in which he saw the defeat of the 7th Cavalry under Lt. Col. George Armstrong Custer on 25 June 25 1876. Sitting Bull’s leadership inspired his people to a major victory. Months after their victory at the battle, Sitting Bull and his group left the United States for Wood Mountain, North-West Territories (now Saskatchewan), where he remained until 1881, at which time he and most of his band returned to US territory and surrendered to U.S. forces. After working as a performer with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show, Sitting Bull returned to the Standing Rock Agency in South Dakota.
On this day in 1943, influential jazz pianist, organist, composer, singer, Fats Waller died from pneumonia on a cross-country train trip near Kansas City, Missouri at the age of 39. Born Thomas Wright Waller in New York City on 21 May 1904. Waller’s innovations to the Harlem stride style laid the groundwork for modern jazz piano, and his best-known compositions, “Ain’t Misbehavin'” and “Honeysuckle Rose”, were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame posthumously, in 1984 and 1999.
On this day in 1944, 
On this day in 1966, film producer, director, screenwriter, voice actor, animator, entrepreneur, entertainer, international icon, philanthropist, co-founder (with his brother Roy) of Walt Disney Productions, Walt Disney, died in Burbank, California at the age of 65. Born Walter Elias Disney on 5 December 1901 in Hermosa, Chicago, Illinois. His father, Elias, was of Irish-Canadian descent. His mother, Flora Call, was of German-American descent. Disney married once, Lillian Bounds (1925 – 1966 his death). Disney holds the record for most Academy Award nominations (with 59) and most Oscars awarded (with 22). The first movie I remember watching was Disney’s animated production of The Jungle Book (1967) based on the book by Rudyard Kipling.
The Final Footprint – Disney was cremated and his cremated remains reside in the Disney Family Private Garden, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. Shortly before his death, he apparently wrote down the name of actor Kurt Russell. No one seems to know why. Before Disney died he made a short film for the Disney Company executive board in which he addressed each board member and ended the film by saying, “I’ll be seeing you.” In 2009, the Walt Disney Family Museum opened in the Presidio of San Francisco. Disney has two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, one for movies and one for television. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Natalie Cole, Nat King Cole, Sam Cooke, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Michael Jackson, Jennifer Jones, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
n this day in 1978 actor Chill Wills died from cancer in Encino, California, aged 76. Born Theodore Childress Wills in Seagoville, Texas, on July 18, 1902.
On this day in 2010 actor, film director, producer and screenwriter, Blake Edwards died of complications of pneumonia at the Saint John’s Health Center in Santa Monica, California, aged 88. Born William Blake Crump July 22, 1922, in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
On this day in 2011 author and journalist who wrote or edited over 30 books (including five essay collections) on culture, politics, and literature, Christopher Hitchens died of complications from esophageal cancer at the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, aged 62. Born Christopher Eric Hitchens in Portsmouth, Hampshire on 13 April 1949.
On this day in 1944, 
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1963, singer, pianist, Grammy winner, Rock and Roll Hall of Famer inductee, Queen of the Blues, Dinah Washington died in Detroit, Michigan from a combination of secobarbital and amobarbital, at the age of 39. Born Ruth Lee Jones was born in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, on 29 August 1924. She and her family moved to Chicago as a child. In my opinion, on of the best recording artists of the ’50s. Primarily a jazz vocalist, she performed and recorded in a wide variety of styles including blues, R&B, and traditional pop music. Washington married seven times, including NFL Hall of Famer Dick “Night Train” Lane.
The Final Footprint – Washington is interred in Burr Oak Cemetery in Alsip, Illinois. In 1964, Aretha Franklin recorded a tribute album, Unforgettable: A Tribute to Dinah Washington. In 1993, the U.S. Post Office issued a Dinah Washington 29 cent commemorative postage stamp. In 2005, the Board of Commissioners renamed a park, near where Washington had lived in Chicago in the 1950s, Dinah Washington Park in her honor. In 2008, the city of Tuscaloosa renamed the section of 30th Avenue between 15th Street and Kaulton Park “Dinah Washington Avenue.” On 29 August 2013, the city of Tuscaloosa dedicated the old Allen Jemison Hardware building, on the northwest corner of Greensboro Avenue and 7th Street (620 Greensboro Avenue) as the newly renovated Dinah Washington Cultural Arts Center. Other notable final footprints at Burr Oak Cemetery include Willie Dixon and Emmett Till.
On this day in 1985, 7 time All-Star, 3 time World Series Champion, 2 time AL MVP, Gold Glove winner, 
New York Yankee and single season home run king, Roger Maris, died from 
The Final Footprint – Maris is interred in Holy Cross Cemetery, Fargo, North Dakota. His grave is marked by a large upright granite marker in the shape of a baseball diamond. The Yankees placed a plaque in Monument Park in Yankee Stadium in honor of Maris. Monument Park is an open-air museum containing a collection of monuments, plaques, and retired numbers honoring distinguished members of the Yankees. Other notable Yankees whose final footprints include memorialization in Monument Park; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, George Steinbrenner, Thurman Munson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, and Casey Stengel.
On this day in 1993 dancer, film, television and stage actress Myrna Loy died at Lenox Hill Hospital in Manhattan, aged 88. Born Myrna Adele Williams in Helena, Montana on 2 August 1905.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 2013, stage and film actor Peter O’Toole died from stomach cancer at Wellington Hospital in St John’s Wood, London, aged 81. Born Peter Seamus O’Toole on 2 August 1932 
On this day in 1466, acclaimed Italian sculptor, Donatello, died in Florence, Italy at the age of 80. Born Donato di Niccolò di Betto Bardi c. 1386 in Florence, Italy. One of the most important Renaissance sculptors, known for his work in bas-relief, a form of shallow relief sculpture that, in Donatello’s case, incorporated significant 15th century developments in perspectival illusionism. His main works include:
The Final Footprint – Donatello is entombed next to Cosimo de’ Medici the Elder in the Basilica di San Lorenzo (Basilica of St Lawrence), one of the largest churches of Florence, Italy, situated at the centre of the city’s main market district, and the burial place of all the principal members of the Medici family from Cosimo il Vecchio to Cosimo III.
On this day in 1784, poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer, Dr. Johnson, Samuel Johnson died at a friends house in Islington, London at the age of 75. Possibly the most distinguished man of letters in English history. He is also the subject of one of the most famous single works of biographical art in the whole of literature: James Boswell‘s Life of Samuel Johnson. Johnson married Elizabeth “Tetty” or “Testsey” Jervis Porter (1735 – 1752 her death). They married on 9 July 1735 at St. Werburgh’s Church, Derby, where the event is reenacted annually. Johnson called the marriage “a love-match on both sides,” and always recalled her affectionately and with grief, especially on the anniversary of her death. Born on 18 September 1709 in the family home above his father’s bookshop in Lichfield, Staffordshire.
The Final Footprint – Johnson was buried on 20 December 1784 at Westminster Abbey. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Robert Browning, Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward The Confessor, Elizabeth I, George II, George Friederic Handel, Stephen Hawking, James I (James VI of Scotland), Ben Jonson, Charles II, Edward III, Edward VI, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, Richard II, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Laurence Olivier, Henry Purcell, Mary I, Mary II, Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Shadwell, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1944 painter and art theorist Wassily Kandinsky died in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France, aged 77. Born Wassily Wassilyevich Kandinsky in Moscow on 16 December 1866.
On this day in 1961 folk artist Grandma Moses died at the Health Center in Hoosick Falls, New York, aged 101. Born Anna Mary Robertson in Greenwich, New York on September 7, 1860.
On this day in 2007, Sioux musician, political activist, and actor, Kanghi Duta (Red Crow in Dakota), Floyd Westerman died from complications of leukemia at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles with his family, at the age of 71. Born on August 17, 1936 on the Lake Traverse Indian Reservation, home of the Sisseton Wahpeton Oyate, one of the tribes of the Eastern Dakota subgroup of the Great Sioux Nation, living within South Dakota. After establishing a career as a country music singer, he became a leading actor depicting Native Americans in American films and television. He worked as a political activist for Native American causes.
On this day in 1889, poet and playwright, one of the foremost Victorian poets, Robert Browning died at his son’s home Ca’ Rezzonico in Venice at the age of 77. Born on 7 May 1812 in Camberwell, a district now forming part of the borough of Southwark in South London, England. Perhaps as well known for his poetry as for his famously romantic marriage to the poet Elizabeth Barrett. Their love letters to each other are among the most romantic letters ever written.
The Final Footprint – Browning was buried in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey; his grave now lies immediately adjacent to that of Alfred Tennyson. Other notable Final Footprints at Westminster include; Lord Byron, Geoffrey Chaucer, Oliver Cromwell, Charles Darwin, Charles Dickens, Edward The Confessor, Elizabeth I, George II, George Friederic Handel, Stephen Hawking, James I (James VI of Scotland), Samuel Johnson, Ben Jonson, Charles II, Edward III, Edward VI, Henry III, Henry V, Henry VII, Richard II, Rudyard Kipling, Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, John Milton, Sir Isaac Newton, Laurence Olivier, Henry Purcell, Mary I, Mary II, Mary Queen of Scots, Thomas Shadwell, Lord Alfred Tennyson, Dylan Thomas, and William III.
On this day in 1929, Texas Ranger, cattle rancher, The Father of the Texas Panhandle, Charles Goodnight, died in Tucson, Arizona at the age of 93. Born on 5 March 1836 in Macoupin County, Illinois. In 1846 his family moved to Texas. At the age of 20, Goodnight began cowboyin’ and joined the Texas Rangers a year later in 1857. Following the Civil War, he became involved in the herding of feral Texas Longhorn cattle, “making the gather”, a wide ranging round-up of cattle that had roamed near state-wide during the four years of war, northward from West Texas to railroads. In 1866, he and Oliver Loving drove their first herd of cattle northward along what would become known as the Goodnight-Loving Trail. Goodnight invented the chuckwagon, which was first used on the initial cattle drive. Upon arriving in New Mexico, they formed a partnership with New Mexico cattleman John Chisum for future contracts to supply the United States Army with cattle. After Loving’s death, Goodnight and Chisum extended the trail from New Mexico to Colorado, and eventually to Wyoming. Goodnight is reported to have kept a photograph of Loving in his pocket for a long time after his death. As requested by the dying Loving, Goodnight carried the body from New Mexico to Weatherford, the seat of Parker County, Texas, for burial. I have crossed and recrossed and walked and hiked various stretches of the Goodnight-Loving Trail in New Mexico and Colorado.
The Final Footprint – Goodnight and his first wife Molly are interred next to each other in Goodnight Cemetery, Goodnight, Texas. Their graves are marked by a large upright granite marker inscribed with their names and the following: “TOGETHER THEY CONQUERED A NEW LAND AND PERFORMED A DUTY TO MAN AND GOD. HE WAS A TRAIL BLAZER AND INDIAN SCOUT. SHE WAS A QUIET HOME-LOVING WOMAN. TOGETHER THEY BUILT A HOME IN THE PALO DURO CANYON IN 1876. THEY DEVELOPED THE CATTLE INDUSTRY. THEY FATHERED HIGHER EDUCATION AND CIVIC ENTERPRISES. TO THEM THE PANHANDLE PAYS REVERENT AND GRATEFUL TRIBUTE.
On this day in 2006, actor Peter Boyle died from multiple myeloma and heart disease in New York Presbyterian Hospital in New York City , at the age of 71. Born Peter Lawrence Boyle on October 18, 1935 in Norristown, Pennsylvania. Primarily known as a character actor, he played the comical monster in Mel Brooks’ film spoof Young Frankenstein (1974). He also starred in The Candidate. Boyle, who won an Emmy Award in 1996 for a guest-starring role on the science-fiction drama The X-Files, won praise in both comedic and dramatic parts following his breakthrough performance in the 1970 film Joe.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1964, gospel, R&B, soul, and pop singer, songwriter, entrepreneur, a pioneer and founder of soul music, The King of Soul, Sam Cooke, died at the Hacienda Motel at 9137 South Figueroa Street in Los Angeles, California at the age of 33, from a gunshot wound to the torso. The motel’s manager said that she shot Cooke in self-defense after he broke into her office residence and attacked her. However, the details of the case involving Cooke’s death are still in dispute. Born Samuel Cook on 22 January 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In my opinion, his contribution in pioneering Soul music helped pave the way for others. He had 30 U.S. top 40 hits between 1957 and 1964, plus three more posthumously. Cooke was also among the first modern black performers and composers to attend to the business side of his musical career. He founded both a record label and a publishing company as an extension of his careers as a singer and composer. He also took an active part in the Civil Rights Movement. My favorite songs of his are “You Send Me”, “A Change Is Gonna Come”, “Chain Gang”, “Wonderful World”, and “Bring It on Home to Me”.
The Final Footprint – Cooke’s funeral was held in Chicago at A.R. Leak Funeral Home, where thousands of fans had lined up for over four city blocks to view his body. Cooke is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California. His grave is marked with a bronze individual marker with his name, year of birth and death, the phrase “I LOVE YOU” and the inscription “UNTIL THE DAY BREAK, AND THE SHADOWS FLEE AWAY”. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Jean Harlow, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
On this day in 2008, model, the Queen of Pinups, Bettie Page died in Los Angeles at the age of 85. Born Bettie Mae Page on April 22, 1923 in Nashville. She gained a significant profile in the 1950s for her pin-up photos. Her jet-black hair, blue eyes, and trademark fringe outfits have influenced artists for generations.
On this day in 2021 author of gothic fiction and erotic literature, Anne Rice died from complications of a stroke at a hospital in Rancho Mirage, California, aged 80. Born in New Orleans on 4 October 1941.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1896, chemist, engineer, innovator, the inventor of dynamite and armaments manufacturer, Alfred Nobel, died in San Remo, Italy at the age of 63. Born Alfred Bernhard Nobel on 21 October 1833 in Stockholm, Sweden. In 1888 Alfred’s brother Ludvig died while visiting Cannes and a French newspaper erroneously published Alfred’s obituary. It condemned him for his invention of dynamite. The obituary stated Le marchand de la mort est mort (“The merchant of death is dead”) and went on to say, “Dr. Alfred Nobel, who became rich by finding ways to kill more people faster than ever before, died yesterday.” Nobel was disappointed with what he read and concerned with how he would be remembered. On 27 November 1895, at the Swedish-Norwegian Club in Paris, Nobel signed his last will and testament and set aside the bulk of his estate to establish the Nobel Prizes, to be awarded annually without distinction of nationality. Since 1901, the prize has honored men and women for outstanding achievements in physics, chemistry, medicine, literature and for work in peace. Though Nobel remained unmarried, his biographers note that he had at least three loves. Nobel’s first love was in Russia with a girl named Alexandra, who rejected his proposal. In 1876 Austro-Bohemian Countess Bertha Kinsky became Alfred Nobel’s secretary. But after only a brief stay she left him to marry her previous lover, Baron Arthur Gundaccar von Suttner. Though her personal contact with Alfred Nobel had been brief, she corresponded with him until his death in 1896, and it is believed that she was a major influence in his decision to include a peace prize among those prizes provided in his will. Nobel’s third and long-lasting love was with a flower girl named Sofie Hess from Vienna. This liaison lasted for 18 years and in many of the exchanged letters, Nobel addressed his love as ‘Madame Sofie Nobel’.
On this day in 1909, war leader and a chief of the Oglala Lakota, Red Cloud died at the age of 88 on the Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota. Born 
On this day in 1965, singer and songwriter, record producer, arranger, The King of Soul, The Big O, The Mad Man from Macon, Rockhouse Redding, Otis Redding died at the age of 26 when his twin engine Beechcraft Model 18 plane crashed into Lake Monona near Madison, Wisconsin. In my opinion, he is one of the major figures in soul music and rhythm and blues, and one of the greatest singers in the history of music. Among the songs he wrote or co-wrote are; “Respect” and “Dock of the Bay”. Born Otis Ray Redding, Jr. on 9 September 1941 in Dawson, Georgia.
On this day in 2005, stand-up comedian, actor, and social critic Richard Pryor died from a heart attack in Encino, Los Angeles at the age of 65. Born Richard Franklin Lennox Thomas Pryor on December 1, 1940 in Peoria, Illinois. Perhaps best known for uncompromising examinations of racism and topical contemporary issues, which employed colorful vulgarities and profanity, as well as racial epithets. He reached a broad audience with his observations and storytelling style. In my opinion, he is one of the most important and influential stand-up comedians of all time: Jerry Seinfeld called Pryor “The Picasso of our profession” and Bob Newhart heralded Pryor as “the seminal comedian of the last 50 years”. Dave Chappelle said of Pryor, “You know those, like, evolution charts of man? He was the dude walking upright. Richard was the highest evolution of comedy.” This legacy can be attributed, in part, to the unusual degree of intimacy Pryor brought to bear on his comedy. As Bill Cosby reportedly once said, “Richard Pryor drew the line between comedy and tragedy as thin as one could possibly paint it.” 
The Final Footprint – Pryor was cremated. His cremated remains were later spread in 2019 by his widow, Jennifer, in Hana, Hawaii.
The Final Footprint – Rickey is interred in Rushtown Cemetery, Rushtown, Ohio. His wife, Jane Moulton, is interred next to him. Their graves are marked by a large upright granite marker.
On this day in 2002, husband of Anne Rice, painter and poet Stan Rice died of brain cancer at the age of 60 in New Orleans. Born on 7 November 1942 in Dallas. He met his future wife in a high school journalism class in Richardson, Texas, and they married in Denton, Texas on October 14, 1961. It was the death of his and Anne’s first child, daughter Michele (1966–1972), at age six of leukemia, which sparked Rice’s becoming a published author. His first book of poems, based on his daughter’s illness and death, was titled Some Lamb, and was published in 1975. Rice encouraged his wife to quit her work as a waitress, cook and theater usher in order to devote herself full-time to her writing. Rice, his wife and their son Christopher moved to Garden District, New Orleans in 1988, where he eventually opened the Stan Rice Gallery.
The Final Footprint – Rice is entombed in the Rice Family private mausoleum in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. Other notable final footprints at Metairie include; Jim Garrison, Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, and Louis Prima.
On this day in 1980, Grammy award-winning musician and singer-songwriter John Lennon, was shot to death in front of his apartment The Dakota in New York City, at the age of 40. Born John Winston Lennon on 9 October 1940 in Liverpool, England. Founding member along with Paul McCartney of The Beatles. The Lennon/McCartney songwriting partnership is widely regarded as one of the most influential and successful in music history. Lennon was married twice; Cynthia Powell (1962 – 1968 divorce) and Yoko Ono (1969 – 1980 his death). I learned of his death, as did many others, while watching Monday Night Football when Howard Cosell made the live announcement. The game was between the Miami Dolphins and the New England Patriots. Word had been passed to Cosell and Frank Gifford by Roone Arledge, who was president of ABC’s news and sports divisions at the time, near the end of the game and Cosell’s announcement was prefaced by Gifford saying, “And I don’t care what’s on the line, Howard, you have got to say what we know in the booth.” Cosell then announced:
The Final Footprint – Lennon was cremated at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Ono scattered his cremated remains in New York’s Central Park, where the Strawberry Field’s memorial was later created. On what would have been Lennon’s 70th birthday 9 October 2010, the John Lennon Peace Monument was unveiled in Chavasse Park, Liverpool, by Cynthia and Julian Lennon. The sculpture entitled ‘Peace & Harmony’ exhibits peace symbols and carries the inscription “Peace on Earth for the Conservation of Life · In Honour of John Lennon 1940–1980”. On one of the benches in John Lennon Park in Havana, Cuba, there is a sculpture of Lennon, sculpted by Cuban artist José Villa Soberón, seated on the bench’s right half. On a marble tile at the foot of the bench there is an inscription reading: “Dirás que soy un soñador pero no soy el único” John Lennon, which is a Spanish translation of the English lyrics, “You may say I’m a dreamer, but I’m not the only one,” from the song Imagine. On 16 January 1997, a bronze sculpture of Lennon was unveiled outside The Cavern Club in Liverpool. Nelson Rockefeller was cremated at Ferncliff as well.
On this day in 1982, United States Navy veteran, singer, songwriter, musician, race car driver Marty Robbins died from complications after cardiac surgery in Nashville at the age of 57. Born Martin David Robinson on 26 September 1925 in Glendale, Arizona. In my opinion, one of the most popular and successful country and Western singers of all time. During his nearly four-decade career, Robbins often topped the country music charts, and several of his songs also became pop hits. My favorite songs are his cowboy and outlaw songs including; “Big Iron” and “El Paso”. Robbins married Marizona Baldwin (1948 – 1982 his death).
The Final Footprint – Robbins is interred in Woodlawn Memorial Park in Nashville. The city of El Paso, Texas, later honored Robbins by naming a park and a recreational center after him. Other notable final footprints at Woodlawn include; Other notable final footprints at Woodlawn include: Lynn Anderson, Eddy Arnold, Otis Blackwell, Boudleaux and Felice Bryant, Dobie Gray, Red Foley, D. J. Fontana, George Jones, Johnny Paycheck, Webb Pierce, Jerry Reed, Dan Seals, Red Sovine, Porter Wagoner, and Tammy Wynette..
On this day in 1983, rodeo performer and film and television actor Slim Pickens died after surgery for a brain tumor in Modesto, California, at the age of 64. Born Louis Burton Lindley Jr. on June 29, 1919 in Kingsburg, California. Perhaps best known for his roles in Dr. Strangelove and Blazing Saddles.
On this day in 2004, guitarist and songwriter Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed by a deranged fan while on stage with Damageplan at the Alrosa Villa nightclub in Columbus, Ohio, at the age of 38. Born Darrell Lance Abbott on August 20, 1966 in Ennis, Texas. He was the guitarist of the heavy metal bands Pantera and Damageplan, both of which he co-founded alongside his brother Vinnie Paul. As one of the driving forces behind the development of groove metal, he is considered among the most influential guitarists in heavy metal history.
On this day in 43 BC, Roman statesman, orator, lawyer and philosopher Marcus Tullius Cicero was executed by soldiers operating on behalf of Marc Antony and the Second Triumvirate, leaving his villa in Formiae, at the age of 63. Born on 3 January 106 BC in Arpinum, a hill town 100 kilometers (62 mi) southeast of Rome. He served as consul in the year 63 BC. He came from a wealthy municipal family of the Roman equestrian order. In my opinion, he is one of Rome’s greatest orators and prose stylists.
On this day in 1941, Japanese imperial forces attacked Pearl Harbor and the island of O’ahu. Four U.S. Navy battleships were sunk (two of which were raised and returned to service later in the war) and four other battleships were damaged. Also sunk or damaged were three cruisers, three destroyers, an anti-aircraft training ship, one mine-layer and 188 U.S. aircraft were destroyed. Casualties included 2,402 military personnel killed and 57 civilians killed. The attack came as a profound shock to the American people and led directly to the United States entry into World War II in both the Pacific and European theaters. The following day the United States declared war on Japan. Domestic support for isolationism, which had been strong, disappeared. Clandestine support of Britain (for example the Neutrality Patrol) was replaced by active alliance and full participation in the European Theater. Subsequent operations by the U.S., as well as the Axis alliance, prompted Germany and Italy to declare war on the U.S. on December 11, which was reciprocated by the U.S. the same day. President Franklin D. Roosevelt proclaimed 7 December 1941, “a date which will live in infamy”.
The Final Footprint – The USS Arizona Memorial marks the resting place of 1,102 of the 1,177 sailors killed on the USS Arizona during the Attack on Pearl Harbor and commemorates the events of that day. Elvis staged a benefit concert to raise money for the construction. The memorial, dedicated in 1962 spans the sunken hull of the battleship without touching it. Historical information about the attack, boat access to the memorial, and general visitor services are available at the associated USS Arizona Memorial Visitor Center, opened in 1980 and operated by the National Park Service. The sunken remains of the battleship were declared a National Historic Landmark on 5 May 1989. The shrine at the far end is a marble wall that bears the names of all those killed on the USS Arizona, protected behind velvet ropes. The inscription reads; “To the Memory of the Gallant Men Here Entombed and their shipmates who gave their lives in action on December 7, 1941, on the U.S.S. Arizona.” Contrary to popular belief, the USS Arizona is no longer in commission. She is, however, an active U.S. military cemetery. As a special tribute to the ship and her lost crew, the United States flag flies from the flagpole, which is attached to the severed mainmast of the sunken battleship. The USS Arizona Memorial has come to commemorate all military personnel killed in the Pearl Harbor attack. To this day, oil can still be seen rising from the wreckage to the surface of the water. The oil seeping is sometimes referred to as “the tears of the Arizona” or “black tears.”
