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. 
The Final Footprint – According to her daughter-in-law, Jane Shelley, Mary had asked to be buried with her mother and father; but Percy (her son) and Jane, judging the graveyard at St Pancras to be “dreadful”, chose to bury her instead at St Peter’s Church, Bournemouth, near their new home at Boscombe. In order to fulfil Mary’s wishes, Percy and Jane had the coffins of Mary’s parents exhumed and buried with her. On the first anniversary of Mary’s death, the Shelleys opened her box-desk. Inside they found locks of her dead children’s hair, a notebook she had shared with her husband, and a copy of his poem Adonaïs with one page folded round a silk parcel containing some of his ashes and the remains of his heart.
#RIP #OTD in 1966 actor (Sherlock Jr., The General, The Cameraman, The Twilight Zone “Once Upon a Time”), comedian and filmmaker Buster Keaton died of lung cancer, aged 70, in Woodland Hills, California. Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Hollywood Hills, California.
#RIP #OTD 1988 child actress (Carol Anne in Poltergeist) Heather O’Rourke died from congenital stenosis of the intestine and septic shock at Children’s Hospital of San Diego, aged 12. Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery, Los Angeles
#RIP #OTD in 1989 singer-songwriter (“If I Could Only Fly”, “Clay Pigeons”), poet, and artist, Blaze Foley (Michael Fuller) died from gunshot wounds in Austin aged 39. Live Oak Cemetery, Manchaca, Texas
#RIP #OTD in 1989 Abstract Expressionist and Figurative Expressionist painter, editorial associate for Art News magazine, Elaine de Kooning died of lung cancer in Southampton, New York, aged 70. Green River Cemetery, East Hampton, New York.
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. 
The Final Footprint – A large granite memorial with a bronze plaque was erected at Arlington National Cemetery in memory of the crew. The memorial is placed near a similar memorial for the crew of the Space Shuttle Challenger. Other notable Final Footprints at Arlington include; Medgar Evers, JFK, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, RFK, Edward Kennedy, Lee Marvin, Audie Murphy and Malcolm Kilduff, Jr.
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 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. 
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. 
