On this day in 1674, poet John Milton, died in Bunhill, London, England at the age of 65 from kidney failure. Born on 9 December 1608 in Bread Street, London, England. Best known for his epic poem in blank verse, Paradise Lost (1667). The poem concerns the Christian story of the Fall of Man; the temptation of Adam and Eve by the fallen angel Satan and their expulsion from the Garden of Eden. Milton incorporates Paganism, classical Greek references, and Christianity within the poem. It deals with diverse topics from marriage, politics to monarchy and grapples with many difficult theological issues, including; fate, predestination, the Trinity, the introduction of sin and death into the world, angels, fallen angels, Satan, and the war in heaven. Milton draws on his knowledge of languages and diverse sources – primarily Genesis, much of the New Testament, the deuterocanonical Book of Enoch, and other parts of the Old Testament. Milton’s epic is generally considered one of the greatest literary works in the English language. He remains generally regarded as one of the most significant writer’s in the English language. 
In 1643, he published a pamphlet called Doctrine and Discipline of Divorce. He wrote: “Marriage is a cov’nant the very beeing wherof consists, not in a forc’t cohabitation, and counterfet performance of duties, but in unfained love and peace. […] It is a lesse breach of wedlock to part with wise and quiet consent betimes, then still to soile and profane that mystery of joy and union with a polluting sadnes and perpetuall distemper; for it is not the outward continuing of mariage that keeps whole that cov’nant, but whosoever does most according to peace and love, whether in mariage, or in divorce, he it is that breaks mariage least; it being so often written, that Love only is the fulfilling of every Commandment.” A toast to unfained love and peace. Milton married three times; Mary Powell (ended in 1652 her death), Katherine Woodcock (1656 – 1658 her death) and Elizabeth Mynshull (1662 – 1674 his death).
The Final Footprint– Milton is interred in St. Giles Cripplegate Churchyard in London. There is a plaque and a statue of Milton inside the church. There is cenotaph of Milton in Poet’s Corner in Westminster Abbey. There is a plaque commemorating his birth place in Bread Street. There is a statue of Milton in Temple of British Worthies in Stowe. The French Romantic painter Eugène Delacroix portrayed Milton in his painting Milton Dictates the Lost Paradise to His Three Daughters, c. 1826.
On this day in 1887, dentist, gambler, gunfighter of the American Old West, usually remembered for his friendship with Wyatt Earp and his involvement in the Gunfight at the O.K. Corral, Doc Holliday died from tuberculosis in the Hotel Glenwood in Glenwood Springs, Colorado at the age of 36. Born John Henry Holliday on 14 August 1851 in Griffin, Georgia. The legend and mystique of his life is so great that he has been mentioned in countless books, and portrayed by various actors in numerous movies and television series. Debate continues about the exploits of his life. Earp said, “Doc was a dentist, not a lawman or an assassin, whom necessity had made a gambler; a gentleman whom disease had made a frontier vagabond; a philosopher whom life had made a caustic wit; a long lean ash-blond fellow nearly dead with consumption, and at the same time the most skillful gambler and the nerviest, speediest, deadliest man with a six-gun that I ever knew.”
The Final Footprint – Holliday is buried in Linwood Cemetery overlooking Glenwood Springs. The exact location of his grave was lost. Among the more notable portrayals of Holliday on film include; Kirk Douglas, Jason Robards, Stacy Keach, Dennis Hopper, Val Kilmer, and Dennis Quaid.
On this day in 1890, composer, pianist, organist, and music teacher César Franck died in Paris at the age of 67. Born César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck on 10 December 1822 in Liège, in what is now Belgium (though at the time of his birth it was part of the United Kingdom of the Netherlands). He studied privately in Paris from 1835. After a brief return to Belgium, and an unfavorable reception to an early oratorio Ruth, he moved to Paris, where he married and embarked on a career as teacher and organist. He gained a reputation as a formidable improviser, and travelled widely in France to demonstrate new instruments built by Aristide Cavaillé-Coll.
In 1858 he became organist at Sainte-Clotilde, a position he retained for the rest of his life. He became professor at the Paris Conservatoire in 1872; he took French nationality, a requirement of the appointment. After acquiring the professorship Franck wrote several pieces that have entered the standard classical repertoire, including symphonic, chamber, and keyboard works.
The Final Footprint
Tomb at Cimetiere du Montparnasse
Monument to Franck at the Square Samuel-Rousseau, 7th arrondissement.
The funeral mass for Franck was held at Sainte-Clotilde, attended by a large congregation including Léo Delibes (officially representing the Conservatoire), Camille Saint-Saëns, Eugène Gigout, Gabriel Fauré, Alexandre Guilmant, Charles-Marie Widor (who succeeded Franck as professor of organ at the Conservatoire), and Édouard Lalo. Emmanuel Chabrier spoke at the original gravesite at Montrouge. Later, Franck’s body was moved to its current location at Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris, into a tomb designed by his friend, architect Gaston Redon. A number of Franck’s students, led by Augusta Holmès, commissioned a bronze medallion from Auguste Rodin, a three-quarter bust of Franck, which in 1893 was placed on the side of the tomb. In 1904, a monument to Franck by sculptor Alfred Lenoir, César Franck at the Organ, was placed in the Square Samuel-Rousseau across the street from Sainte-Clotilde. Other notable Final Footprints at Montparnasse include; Charles Baudelaire, Samuel Beckett, Simone de Beauvoir, Emmanuel Chabrier, Guy de Maupassant, Adah Isaacs Menken, Man Ray, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jean-Paul Sartre, Jean Seberg, and Susan Sontag.
#RIP #OTD in 1908 French dramatist (La Tosca, Fédora, Madame Sans-Gêne, Gismonda), Victorien Sardou died in Paris aged 77. Cimetière Bouilhet, Marly-le-Roi, France
#RIP #OTD in 1978 painter (The Saturday Evening Post, Willie Gillis series, Rosie the Riveter, The Problem We All Live With, Saying Grace, Four Freedoms) Norman Rockwell died of emphysema at age 84 in his Stockbridge, Massachusetts, home. Stockbridge Cemetery
On this day in 1998 actor, writer, director, sculptor, Jean Cocteau’s muse and lover, Jean Marais died from cardiovascular disease in Cannes, aged 84. Born Jean-Alfred Villain-Marais in Cherbourg, France on 11 December 1913.
He performed in over 100 films and was the lover, muse and friend of acclaimed director Jean Cocteau. In 1996, he was awarded the French Legion of Honor for his contributions to French cinema.
Marais was Cocteau’s lover from 1937 to 1947, his muse and longtime friend. After Cocteau’s death, Marais wrote a memoir of Cocteau, L’Inconcevable Jean Cocteau, attributing authorship to “Cocteau-Marais”. He also wrote an autobiography, Histoires de ma vie, published in 1975. From 1948 until 1959, his companion was the American dancer George Reich. He is rumored to have been among the lovers of Umberto II of Italy.
The Final Footprint
Village cemetery at Vallauris, near Antibes
#RIP #OTD in 1998 author (Black Narcissus, The River, The Greengage Summer) Rumer Godden died from a stroke in Moniaive, Scotland aged 90. Rye Cemetery, Rye, Rother District, East Sussex, England
And on this day in 2020 game show host and television personality Alex Trebek died at his home in Los Angeles from pancreatic cancer, aged 80. Born George Alexander Trebek on July 22, 1940, in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.
He hosted the syndicated general knowledge quiz game show Jeopardy! for 37 seasons from its revival in 1984 until his death in 2020. Trebek also hosted a number of other game shows, including The Wizard of Odds, Double Dare, High Rollers, Battlestars, Classic Concentration, and To Tell the Truth. He also made appearances, usually as himself, in numerous films and television series. Trebek became a naturalized U.S. citizen in 1998. He received the Daytime Emmy Award for Outstanding Game Show Host eight times for his work on Jeopardy!
The Final Footprint – What is cremation?
After each posthumous episode in season 37, the title card read, “Dedicated to Alex Trebek. Forever in our hearts. Always our inspiration.”
On the one year anniversary of his death, which was also the day that the first episode Ken Jennings hosted in season 38 was aired, a different title card read, “Alex Trebek, July 22, 1940 – November 8, 2020. You are missed every day.”
Have you planned yours yet?
Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF
On this day in 1980, United States Marine Corp veteran, Academy Award-nominated actor, The King of Cool, Steve McQueen, died in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, Mexico at the age of 50 from complications related to pleural mesothelioma. Born Terence Steven McQueen on 24 March 1930 in Beech Grove, Indiana.
On this day in November 1993; jazz singer and entertainer Adelaide Hall died at London’s Charing Cross Hospital aged 92. Born Adelaide Louise Hall on 20 October 1901 in Brooklyn. Her long career spanned more than 70 years from 1921 until her death and she was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. Hall entered the Guinness Book of World Records in 2003 as the world’s most enduring recording artist, having released material over eight consecutive decades. She performed with major artists such as Art Tatum, Ethel Waters, Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, Lena Horne, Cab Calloway, Fela Sowande, Rudy Vallee and Jools Holland, and recorded as a jazz singer with Duke Ellington (with whom she made her most famous recording, “Creole Love Call” in 1927) and with Fats Waller.
The Final Footprint – Honouring her wish, her funeral took place in New York at the Cathedral of the Incarnation (Garden City, New York) and she was laid to rest beside her mother at the Cemetery of the Evergreens in Brooklyn.
On this day in 2012, United States Army Air Corp veteran, football player at the University of Oklahoma, head coach of the Texas Longhorns (1957-1976), 3x National Champion, 11x Southwest Conference champion, Darrell Royal died due to complications of Alzheimer’s disease in Austin at the age of 88. Born Darrell K Royal on 6 July 1924 in Hollis, Oklahoma. Royal also served as the head coach at Mississippi State University (1954–1955), the University of Washington (1956), compiling a career college football record of 184–60–5. He won more games than any other coach in Texas Longhorns football history. Royal also coached the Edmonton Eskimos of the Canadian Football League for one season in 1953. He never had a losing season as a head coach for his entire career. Royal was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame as a coach in 1983. Darrell K Royal – Texas Memorial Stadium in Austin, Texas, where the Longhorns play their home games, was renamed in his honor in 1996.
On this day in 2016, singer, songwriter, musician, poet, novelist, and painter Leonard Cohen died at the age of 82 at his home in Los Angeles. Reportedly, his death was the result of a fall at his home on the night of November 7, and he subsequently died in his sleep. Cancer was a contributing cause. Born Leonard Norman Cohen on September 21, 1934 in Montreal.
His funeral was held on November 10, 2016, in Montreal, at a cemetery on Mount Royal. As was his wish, Cohen was laid to rest with a Jewish rite, in a simple pine casket, in a family plot in Shaar Hashomayim Cemetery in Montreal . The city of Montreal held a tribute concert to Cohen in December 2016, entitled “God is Alive, Magic Is Afoot” after a prose poem in his novel Beautiful Losers. It featured a number of musical performances and readings of Cohen’s poetry.
On this day in 1893, composer of the romantic period, Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky died in Saint Petersburg at the age of 53. Born on 7 May 1840 [O.S. 25 April] in Votkinsk, a small town in Vyatka Governorate (present-day Udmurtia) in the Russian Empire. His works are among the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1991, Academy Award-nominated actress, Gene Tierney, died of emphysema in Houston, Texas at the age of 70. Born Gene Eliza Tierney on 19 November 1920 in Brooklyn, New York. “Undeniably the most beautiful woman in movie history” – Darryl F. Zanuck, former chief of production and founder of 20th Century Fox. She met Howard Hughes, who reportedly tried to seduce her but she was not impressed by his wealth. They did become lifelong friends, and ironically, are interred in the same cemetery (see below). She married twice; fashion designer Oleg Cassini (1941 – 1952 divorce) and Texas oil baron W. Howard Lee (1960 – 1981 his death). During her separation from Cassini, Tierney allegedly had an affair with John F. Kennedy.
The Final Footprint – Tierney is interred in the Lee Family Private Estate in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston. One of the offices I worked in when I worked in Houston had a great view of Glenwood Cemetery. Other notable Final Footprints at Glenwood include; Maria Franklin Prentiss Langham Gable, Oveta Culp Hobby, William P. Hobby, Howard Hughes, Anson Jones, and Glenn McCarthy.
And on this day in 2007, singer songwriter Hank Thompson died from lung cancer in Keller, Texas at the age of 82. Born Henry William Thompson on 3 September 1925 in Waco, Texas. Perhaps his best known hit was his version of the Arlie Carter and William Warren song “The Wild Side of Life”. The 1987 novel Crazy Heart by Thomas Cobb was apparently inspired by Thompson’s life. In 2009 Cobb’s novel was turned into a successful film directed by Scott Cooper and starring Academy Award winner Jeff Bridges.
The Final Footprint – Thompson requested that no funeral be held. On November 14, a “celebration of life,” open to both fans and friends, took place at Billy Bob’s Texas, a Fort Worth, Texas nightclub that bills itself as The World’s Largest Honky Tonk. Thompson is interred in Waco Memorial Park in Waco.
On this day in 1660, English courtier known for her beauty and wit and for her involvement in many political intrigues during the English Civil War, Lucy Hay died of apoplexy probably in London, age 60 or 61. Born Lucy Percy possibly in 1599. She became the second wife of James Hay, 1st Earl of Carlisle. Her charms were celebrated in verse by contemporary poets, including Thomas Carew, William Cartwright, Robert Herrick and John Suckling, and by Sir Toby Matthew in prose. She was a conspicuous figure at the court of King Charles I. Alexandre Dumas probably based Milady in his The Three Musketeers on Hay. She was the subject of a risqué poem by Suckling; “Upon My Lady Carlisle’s Walking in Hampton Court Garden.”
The Final Footprint – She died suddenly after ‘dining well’ at lunchtime she fell suddenly sick around 2pm whilst ‘cutting a piece of ribbon’. She was dead by 5 or 6pm that same day. Lucy is entombed in the Percy Family Vault, St. Mary the Virgin Chuchyard, Petworth, Chichester District, West Sussex, England.
On this day in 1933 actress, producer and speakeasy club manager Texas Guinan died in Vancouver, aged 49. Born Mary Louise Cecilia Guinan in Waco, Texas on January 12, 1884.
The Final Footprint – While on the road with Too Hot for Paris, she contracted amoebic dysentery in Chicago, Illinois, during the epidemic outbreak at the Congress Hotel during the run of the Chicago World’s Fair. The epidemic was traced to tainted water. She fell ill in Vancouver, British Columbia, and died, exactly one month before Prohibition was repealed; 7,500 people attended her funeral. Bandleader Paul Whiteman was a pallbearer along with two of her former lawyers and writer Heywood Broun.
On this day in 1960 singer, songwriter Johnny Horton died from injuries in a car crash in Milano, Texas, age 35. Born John LaGale Horton in Los Angeles on 30 April 1925.
The Final Footprint – On the night of November 4–5, 1960, Horton and two other band members, Tommy Tomlinson and Tillman Franks, were traveling from the Skyline Club in Austin, Texas, to Shreveport when they collided with an oncoming truck on a bridge near Milano in Milam County, Texas. Horton died en route to the hospital, and Tomlinson (1930–1982) was seriously injured; his leg later had to be amputated. Franks (1920–2006) suffered head injuries, and James Davis, the driver of the truck, had a broken ankle and other minor injuries.
On this day in 2005, United States Army veteran, 
On this day in 1847 Romantic composer, pianist, organist, conductor Felix Mendelssohn died in Leipzig after a series of strokes, age 38. Born on 3 February 1809, in Hamburg.
The Final Footprint – Mendelssohn suffered from poor health in the final years of his life, probably aggravated by nervous problems and overwork. A final tour of England left him exhausted and ill, and the death of his sister, Fanny, on 14 May 1847, caused him further distress. Less than six months later, on 4 November, aged 38, Mendelssohn died in Leipzig after a series of strokes. His grandfather Moses, Fanny, and both his parents had all died from similar apoplexies. Although he had been generally meticulous in the management of his affairs, he died intestate.
On this day in 1918, English poet and soldier Wilfred Owen was killed in World War I action, at the age of 25, during the crossing of the Sambre–Oise Canal, exactly one week (almost to the hour) before the signing of the Armistice. Born Wilfred Edward Salter Owen on 18 March 1893 at Plas Wilmot, a house in Weston Lane, near Oswestry in Shropshire. One of the leading poets of the First World War, his shocking, realistic war poetry on the horrors of trenches and gas warfare was heavily influenced by his friend and mentor Siegfried Sassoon, and stood in stark contrast both to the public perception of war at the time and to the confidently patriotic verse written by earlier war poets such as Rupert Brooke. Among his best-known works – most of which were published posthumously – are “Dulce et Decorum est”, “Insensibility”, “Anthem for Doomed Youth”, “Futility” and “Strange Meeting”.
The Final Footprint – His mother received the telegram informing her of his death on Armistice Day, as the church bells were ringing out in celebration. He is interred at the Communal Cemetery in Ors, France.
On this day in 1924 composer, organist, pianist and teacher Gabriel Fauré died in Paris from pneumonia at the age of 79. Born Gabriel Urbain Fauré in Pamiers, Ariège, France on 12 May 1845. He was given a state funeral at the Église de la Madeleine and is buried in the Passy Cemetery in Paris. He was one of the foremost French composers of his generation, and his musical style influenced many 20th-century composers. Among his best-known works are his Pavane, Requiem, Sicilienne, nocturnes for piano and the songs “Après un rêve” and “Clair de lune”.
The Final Footprint – He was given a state funeral at the Église de la Madeleine and is buried in the Passy Cemetery in Paris.
On this day in 1955 baseball Hall of Famer, Cy Young, died on his farm near Newcomerstown, Ohio at the age of 88. Born Denton True Young on 29 March 1867 in Gilmore, Ohio. During his 22-year career he pitched for five different teams; Cleveland Spiders, St. Louis Perfectos, Boston Americans/Red Sox, Cleveland Naps and the Boston Rustlers. He pitched three no hitters and one perfect game, earned one world series ring and still holds five MLB records.
Their graves are marked by a large upright granite marker inscribed as follows: FROM 1890 TO 1911 “CY YOUNG” PITCHED 874 MAJOR LEAGUE BASE BALL GAMES. HE WON 511 GAMES, THREE NO HIT, AND ONE PERFECT GAME IN WHICH NO MAN REACHED FIRST BASE. One year after Young’s death, the Cy Young Award was created to honor the previous season’s best pitcher. The first award was given to Brooklyn’s Don Newcombe. Originally, it was a single award covering the whole of baseball. The honor was divided into two Cy Young Awards in 1967, one for each league. In 1957, Warren Spahn became the first left-handed pitcher to win the award. In 1963, Sandy Koufax became the first pitcher to win the award in a unanimous vote; two years later he became the first multiple winner. In 1974, Mike Marshall won the award, becoming the first relief pitcher to win the award. Roger Clemens currently holds the record for the most awards won, with seven won the most.
On this day in 2008, author, screenwriter, film director and producer Michael Crichton died from lymphoma in Los Angeles at the age of 66. Born John Michael Crichton October 23, 1942 in Chicago. Perhaps best known for his work in the science fiction, thriller, and medical fiction genres.
On this day in 1793, playwright, abolitionist, and feminist Olympe de Gouges mounted a Paris scaffold to the guillotine, at the age of 45. Born Marie Gouze on 7 May 1748 in Montauban, Quercy (in the present-day department of Tarn-et-Garonne), in southwestern France. She began her career as a playwright in the early 1780s. As political tension rose in France, de Gouges began writing political pamphlets. She became an outspoken advocate for improving the condition of slaves in the colonies of 1788. Perhaps best known as an early feminist who demanded that French women be given the same rights as French men. In her Declaration of the Rights of Woman and the Female Citizen (1791), she challenged the practice of male authority and the notion of male–female inequality. She wrote; “
The Final Footprint – De Gouges was interred in a communal grave in the Madeleine Cemetery, a former cemetery in the 8th arrondissement of Paris, one of the four cemeteries (the others being Errancis Cemetery, Picpus Cemetery and the Cemetery of Saint Margaret) used to dispose of the corpses of guillotine victims during the French Revolution. In 1844, the cemetery was cleared and the skeletal remains were transferred to the l’Ossuaire de l’Ouest (West Ossuary). When the ossuary was closed, the contents were transferred to the Paris catacombs (Catacombes de Paris), an underground ossuary in Paris which hold the remains of more than six million people located in a part of a tunnel network built to consolidate Paris’ ancient stone mines. Extending south from the Barrière d’Enfer (“Gate of Hell”) former city gate, this ossuary was created as part of the effort to eliminate the city’s overflowing cemeteries. Preparation work began not long after a series of basement wall collapses at Saint Innocents cemetery. Beginning in 1786, nightly processions of covered wagons transferred remains from most of Paris’ cemeteries to a mine shaft opened near the Rue de la Tombe-Issoire.
On this day in 1926 sharpshooter who starred in Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show Annie Oakley died of pernicious anemia in Greenville, Ohio, at the age of 66. Born Phoebe Ann (Annie) Mosey on August 13, 1860, in a log cabin less than two miles (3.2 km) northwest of Woodland, now Willowdell, in Darke County, Ohio.
The Final Footprint – Cremated remains interred at Brock Cemetery, near Greenville. A collection of Oakley’s personal possessions, performance memorabilia, and firearms are on permanent exhibit in the Garst Museum and the National Annie Oakley Center in Greenville, Ohio. She has been inducted into the Trapshooting Hall of Fame, the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame in Fort Worth, Texas, the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the Ohio Women’s Hall of Fame, and the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Her story has been adapted for stage musicals and films, including Annie Get Your Gun, musical with lyrics and music by Irving Berlin and a book by Dorothy Fields and her brother Herbert Fields.
On this day in 1954, artist, painter, sculptor Henri Matisse died in Nice, Alpes-Maritimes, France at the age of 84. Born Henri-Émile-Benoît Matisse on 13 December 1869 in Le Cateau-Cambrésis, Nord, France. In my opinion, along with with Picasso and Marcel Duchamp, Matisse is one of the leading figures of modern art.
The Final Footprint – Matisse is interred with his wife Noellie Matisse-Parayre in the cemetery of the Monastère Notre Dame de Cimiez, near Nice. Their graves are marked by a large marble upright monument.
On this day in 1990, actress and singer, Mary Martin died of cancer four weeks before her 77th birthday at her home in Rancho Mirage, California. Born Mary Virginia Martin in Weatherford, Texas on 1 December 1913.
The Final Footprint – She is buried in City Greenwood Cemetery in Weatherford, Texas.
And on this day in 2018, actress and director, Sondra Locke died at her Los Angeles home from cardiac arrest related to breast and bone cancer at the age of 74. Born Sandra Louise Smith on May 28, 1944 in Shelbyville, Tennessee.
On this day in 1887 opera singer, the “Swedish Nightingale”, Jenny Lind died at Wynd’s Point, Herefordshire, on the Malvern Hills near the British Camp, at the age of 67. Born Johanna Maria Lind on 6 October 1820 in Klara in central Stockholm. One of the most highly regarded singers of the 19th century, she performed in soprano roles in opera in Sweden and across Europe, and undertook an extraordinarily popular concert tour of America beginning in 1850. She was a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Music from 1840.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1950, playwright, Nobel Prize winner and Academy Award winner, George Bernard Shaw died at his home, Shaw’s Corner, in Hertfordshire, England at the age of 94. Born 26 July 1856 in Dublin, Ireland. Shaw is the only person to have been awarded both a Nobel and an Oscar. His play Pygmalion was adapted by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe into the musical My Fair Lady. In 1898, Shaw married Charlotte Payne-Townshend, whom he survived. Reportedly, the marriage was never consummated, at Charlotte’s insistence. Shaw reportedly had a number of affairs with married women.
On this day in 1975 poet, filmmaker, writer, journalist, novelist, playwright, artist, actor Pier Paolo Pasolini was murdered, run over by his car, on the beach at Ostia, Italy. Born in Bologna on 5 March 1922.
And on this day in 1996 singer and guitarist Eva Cassidy died from melanoma at her family’s home in Bowie, Maryland, at the age of 33. Born Eva Marie Cassidy on February 2, 1963, at the Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.
On this day in 1972, poet Ezra Pound died in the Civil Hospital of Venice at the age of 87 with his long-time mistress Olga Rudge at his side. Born Ezra Weston Loomis Pound on 30 October 1885 in Hailey, Idaho Territory. His contribution to poetry began with his promotion of Imagism, a movement that called for a return to more Classical values, stressing clarity, precision and economy of language. Perhaps his best-known works include Ripostes (1912), Hugh Selwyn Mauberley (1920) and his unfinished 120-section epic, The Cantos (1917–1969). Working in London and Paris in the early 20th century as foreign editor of several American literary magazines, Pound helped to discover and shape the work of contemporaries such as T. S. Eliot, James Joyce, Robert Frost and Ernest Hemingway. He was responsible for the publication in 1915 of Eliot’s “The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock” and for the serialization from 1918 of Joyce’s Ulysses. Hemingway wrote of him in 1925: “He defends [his friends] when they are attacked, he gets them into magazines and out of jail. … He writes articles about them. He introduces them to wealthy women. He gets publishers to take their books. He sits up all night with them when they claim to be dying … he advances them hospital expenses and dissuades them from suicide”. Outraged by the loss of life during the First World War, he lost faith in England, blaming the war on usury and international capitalism. He moved to Italy in 1924, where throughout the 1930s and 1940s he wrote for publications owned by Oswald Mosley. The Italian government paid him to make hundreds of radio broadcasts criticizing the United States, as a result of which he was arrested for treason by American forces in Italy in 1945. He spent months in detention in a U.S. military camp in Pisa. Deemed unfit to stand trial, he was incarcerated in St. Elizabeths psychiatric hospital in Washington, D.C., for over 12 years. While in custody in Italy, he had begun work on sections of The Cantos that became known as The Pisan Cantos (1948), for which he was awarded the Bollingen Prize in 1949 by the Library of Congress, triggering enormous controversy. He was released from St. Elizabeths in 1958 and returned to live in Italy until his death. His political views ensure that his work remains controversial; in 1933 Time magazine called him “a cat that walks by himself, tenaciously unhousebroken and very unsafe for children.” Hemingway nevertheless wrote: “The best of Pound’s writing – and it is in the Cantos – will last as long as there is any literature.”
The Final Footprint – Four gondoliers dressed in black rowed Pound’s body to the island cemetery, Isola di San Michele, where he was buried near Sergei Diaghilev and Igor Stravinsky. Dorothy died in England the following year. Olga died in 1996 and was buried next to Pound.
On this day in 1918, painter Egon Schiele died from the Spanish Flu in Vienna, three days after his wife Edith, at the age of 28. Born on 12 June 1890 in Tulln, Lower Austria. A protégé of Gustav Klimt, Schiele was a major figurative painter of the early 20th century. His work is noted for its intensity and its raw sexuality, and the many self-portraits the artist produced, including naked self-portraits. The twisted body shapes and the expressive line that characterize Schiele’s paintings and drawings mark the artist as an early exponent of Expressionism.
The Final Footprint
On this day in 1926, magician and escapologist, Harry Houdini died at Grace Hospital in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 52. Born Erik Weisz on 24 March 1874 in Budapest, Austria-Hungary.
Every year on the anniversary of his death, Bess conducted a seance and tried to contact her husband’s spirit. After the tenth year she stopped, allegedly saying that ten years was long enough to wait for any man. Bess wished to be interred next to him but when she died her Catholic family refused to bury her in a Jewish cemetery.
On this day in 1993, film director and screenwriter, Federico Fellini died from complications of a stroke in Rome at the age of 73, a day after his fiftieth wedding anniversary. Born 20 January 1920 in 
The Final Footprint – A memorial service was held in Studio 5 at Cinecittà. At the request of Masina, trumpeter Mauro Maur played the “Improvviso dell’Angelo” by Nino Rota during the funeral ceremony. Five months later on 23 March 1994, Masina died of lung cancer. Fellini, Masina and their son Pierfederico are entombed in a bronze sepulchre sculpted by Arnaldo Pomodoro. Designed as a ship’s prow, the tomb is located at the main entrance to the Cemetery of Rimini. The Federico Fellini Airport in Rimini is named in his honour.
On this day in 1993 actor, musician, activist River Phoenix died from a drug overdose on the sidewalk outside the West Hollywood nightclub The Viper Room at the age of 23. Born River Jude Phoenix (né Bottom) on August 23, 1970 in Madras, Oregon. He was the older brother of Rain Phoenix, Joaquin Phoenix, Liberty Phoenix, and Summer Phoenix.
And on this day in 2020 actor Sean Connery died in his sleep at his home in Lyford Cay, Nassau in The Bahamas. Born Thomas Connery at the Royal Maternity Hospital in Edinburgh, Scotland, on 25 August 1930.
On this day in 1919 author, poet Ella Wheeler Wilcox died of cancer in Short Beach CT, aged 68. Born Ella Wheeler on 5 November 1850 on a farm in Johnstown, Wisconsin.
The Final Footprint – Wilcox Estate Burial Site, Short Beach, Connecticut.
On this day in 1991, the last recorded position of the commercial fishing vessel Andrea Gail was reported. The Andrea Gail began her final voyage on 20 September 1991, departing from Gloucester, Massachusetts.
The Final Footprint –
On this day in 2007, singer and actor Robert Goulet died from pulmonary fibrosis at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 73. Born Robert Gérard Goulet on November 26, 1933 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Cast as Sir Lancelot and originating the role in the 1960 Broadway musical Camelot starring opposite stars Richard Burton and Julie Andrews, he achieved instant recognition with his performance and interpretation of the song “If Ever I Would Leave You”, which became his signature song. His debut in Camelot marked the beginning of a stage, screen, and recording career. A Grammy Award and Tony Award winner, his career spanned almost six decades.
