On this day 9 March death of Louise Colet – Robert Mapplethorpe – Charles Bukowski – George Burns – Jean-Dominique Bauby – The Notorious B.I.G. – Chris LeDoux – Anna Moffo – Brad Delp – Topol

#RIP #OTD in 1876 French poet, writer, lover (Gustave Flaubert, Alfred de Musset), La muse, Louise Colet died in Paris, aged 65. Municipal Cemetery Verneuil-sur-Seine.

#RIP #OTD in 1989 photographer, known for his controversial exhibit, The Perfect Moment, Robert Mapplethorpe died due to complications from HIV/AIDS in Boston, aged 42. Cremated remains interred at St. John’s Cemetery, Queens, at his parents’s grave-site

On this day in 1994, poet, novelist, and short story writer Charles Bukowski died of leukemia in San Pedro, Los Angeles, aged 73, shortly after completing his last novel, Pulp.  Born Heinrich Karl Bukowski in Andernach, Germany on 16 August 1920.  His writing was influenced by the social, cultural, and economic ambience of his home city of Los Angeles.  His work addresses the ordinary lives of poor Americans, the act of writing, alcohol, relationships with women, and the drudgery of work.  Bukowski wrote thousands of poems, hundreds of short stories and six novels, eventually publishing over sixty books.  The FBI kept a file on him as a result of his column, Notes of a Dirty Old Man, in the LA underground newspaper Open City.   In 1986 Time called Bukowski a “laureate of American lowlife“.  Regarding Bukowski’s enduring popular appeal, Adam Kirsch of The New Yorker wrote, “the secret of Bukowski’s appeal. . . [is that] he combines the confessional poet’s promise of intimacy with the larger-than-life aplomb of a pulp-fiction hero.”  In 1976, Bukowski met Linda Lee Beighle, a health food restaurant owner, aspiring actress and devotee of Meher Baba.  Two years later Bukowski moved from the East Hollywood area, where he had lived for most of his life, to the harborside community of San Pedro, the southernmost district of the City of Los Angeles.  Beighle followed him and they lived together intermittently over the next two years.  They were eventually married by Manly Palmer Hall, a Canadian-born author and mystic, in 1985.  Beighle is referred to as “Sarah” in Bukowski’s novels Women and Hollywood.

charlesbukowskigraveThe Final Footprint – Bukowski is interred in Green Hills Memorial Park, Rancho Palos VerdesCalifornia.  The funeral rites, orchestrated by his widow, were conducted by Buddhist monks.  An account of the proceedings can be found in Gerald Locklin’s book Charles Bukowski: A Sure Bet.  His gravestone reads: “Don’t Try”, a phrase which Bukowski uses in one of his poems, advising aspiring writers and poets about inspiration and creativity.  Bukowski explained the phrase in a 1963 letter to John William Corrington: “Somebody at one of these places […] asked me: ‘What do you do? How do you write, create?’ You don’t, I told them. You don’t try. That’s very important: not to try, either for Cadillacs, creation or immortality. You wait, and if nothing happens, you wait some more. It’s like a bug high on the wall. You wait for it to come to you. When it gets close enough you reach out, slap out and kill it. Or if you like its looks you make a pet out of it.

#RIP #OTD in 1996 comedian, actor (Burns and Allen; The Sunshine Boys; Oh, God), singer, writer, George Burns died of cardiac arrest at his home in Beverly Hills, aged 100. Entombed; Forest Lawn Memorial Park Cemetery, Glendale next to Gracie, Together Again. Say goodnight Gracie

On this day in 1997, French journalist, author and editor of the French fashion magazine ELLE, Jean-Dominique Bauby, died in Paris at the age of 44.  Born 23 April 1952 in Paris.  On 8 December 1995 at the age of 43, Bauby suffered a massive stroke.  Waking up twenty days later, he found he was entirely paralyzed; he could only blink his left eyelid, a condition referred to as locked-in syndrome.  He learned to communicate by blinking and in this manner dictated his memoir, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly (Le scaphandre et le papillon) (1997).  In 2007 the book was adapted into a feature film of the same name, directed by Julian Schnabel.  The film was nominated for four Academy Awards in 2008 for directing, cinematography, editing and writing.

The Final Footprint – Bauby is entombed in the Bauby family crypt in Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, the largest cemetery in Paris and one of the most visited cemeteries in the world.  Other notable Final Footprints at Père Lachaise include; Guillaume Apollinaire, Honoré de Balzac, Georges Bizet, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Auguste Comte, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Max Ernst, Molière, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, Sully Prudhomme, Gioachino Rossini, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Simone Signoret, Gertrude Stein, Dorothea Tanning, Alice B. Toklas, Oscar Wilde, and Richard Wright.

#RIP #OTD in 1997 rapper and songwriter rooted in the New York rap scene and gangsta rap traditions, the Notorious B.I.G., Biggie Smalls, Biggie, Christopher Wallace was murdered in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles, aged 24. Cremation

On this day in 2005, rodeo champion, country music singer and songwriter, bronze sculptor, Grammy Award nominee, Chris LeDoux, died in Casper, Wyoming from cancer at the age of 56.  Born Chris Lee LeDoux 2 October 1948 in Biloxi, Mississippi.  In 1976, LeDoux won the world bareback riding championship at the National Finals Rodeo in Oklahoma City.  During his music career LeDoux recorded 36 albums, many self-released.  His album, Whatcha Gonna Do with a Cowboy, was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America.

The Final Footprint – LeDoux was cremated.  Shortly after his death, he was named as one of six former rodeo cowboys to be inducted into the ProRodeo Hall of Fame in Colorado Springs in 2005.  He was the first person to ever be inducted in two categories, for his bareback riding and in the “notables” category for his contributions to the sport through music.  Shortly thereafter, the Academy of Country Music awarded LeDoux their Pioneer Award during ceremonies in 2005.  LeDoux’s friend Garth Brooks accepted the award on behalf of LeDoux’s family.  In late 2005, Brooks briefly emerged from retirement to record “Good Ride Cowboy” as a tribute to LeDoux.  Brooks remarked:

“I knew if I ever recorded any kind of tribute to Chris, it would have to be up-tempo, happy … a song like him … not some slow, mournful song. He wasn’t like that. Chris was exactly as our heroes are supposed to be. He was a man’s man. A good friend.”

Brooks performed the song on “The 39th Annual CMA Awards” on 15 November 2005 live from Times Square in New York City.  Later that evening, LeDoux was honored with the CMA Chairman’s Award of Merit, presented by Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn, to LeDoux’s family.  Friends have also collaborated to produce an annual rodeo, art show, and concert in Casper to honor LeDoux’s memory.  The art show features sculpture and sketches that LeDoux completed for friends; none of his works were ever exhibited before his death.  To mark the second anniversary of LeDoux’s death, in April 2007 Capitol Records released a six-CD boxed set featuring remastered versions of 12 of the albums he recorded between 1974 and 1993.  On 26 October 2006 LeDoux was inducted into the Rodeo Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  Son Beau LeDoux, himself a rodeo competitor, on 24 July 2007, spread his father’s ashes over Frontier Park Arena, the same arena where Lane Frost died when he was gored by a bull, during the annual Cheyenne Frontier Days rodeo:

“It was something my family and I thought would be right to do because this was such a special rodeo to him. … This has always been a special rodeo in my family. My dad rode here and came close to winning here a couple of times.”

Additionally the city in which LeDoux attended college; Casper, Wyoming, celebrates his life and legacy each November with the Chris LeDoux Memorial Rodeo.  A weekend event which includes an art show featuring a number of LeDoux’s works, a PRCA rodeo and a country music concert.  A larger-than-life bronze statue of LeDoux was dedicated to him in Kaycee, Wyoming.  The bronze statue titled “Good Ride Cowboy” was created by local artist D. Michael Thomas.

#OTD #RIP in 2006 lyric-coloratura soprano, television personality, and actress (Menage all’italiana, Una storia d’amore), “La Bellissima”, Anna Moffo died from a stroke in New York City at the age of 73. Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.

On this day in 2007, singer and songwriter Brad Delp died by suicide from carbon monoxide poisoning at his home in Atkinson, New Hampshire, at the age of 55. Born Bradley Edward Delp on June 12, 1951 in Peabody, Massachusetts. Perhaps best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Boston (“More Than a Feeling”, “Peace of Mind”, “Foreplay/Long Time”, “Rock and Roll Band”, “Smokin'”, “Don’t Look Back”).

The Final Footprint

The Atkinson police discovered his body on the floor of his master bathroom after his fiancée Pamela Sullivan saw a dryer vent tube connected to the exhaust pipe of Delp’s car. Two charcoal grills were found to have been lit inside the bathtub causing the room to fill with smoke. A suicide note was paper-clipped to the neck of his T-shirt, which read: “Mr. Brad Delp. ‘J’ai une âme solitaire’. I am a lonely soul.” Delp left four sealed envelopes in his office addressed to his children, his former wife Micki Sullivan, and another unnamed couple. One of the notes read “I have had bouts of depression and thoughts of suicide since I was a teenager … [Pamela] was my ‘ray of sunshine’, but sometimes even a ray of sunshine is no substitute for a good psychiatrist.”

The following day, Boston’s website was temporarily shut down, the webmaster having replaced their home page with a simple black background and white text message: “We’ve just lost the nicest guy in rock and roll.”

Delp was cremated.

#RIP #OTD in 2023 actor (Fiddler on the Roof, Galileo, Flash Gordon, For Your Eyes Only), singer, and illustrator, Topol died in Tel Aviv aged 87. Gan Shlomo Cemetery, Rehovot, Israel

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Cowboy Footprints, Day in History, Literary Footprints, Musical Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 8 March death of Hector Berlioz – George Stevens – Joe DiMaggio – Max von Sydow

Berlioz by Pierre Petit

On this day in 1869, composer Hector Berlioz died at his Paris home, No.4 rue de Calais, at 30 minutes past midday, surrounded by friends at the age of 65. Born Louis-Hector Berlioz on 11 December 1803 at No. 83 rue nationale, the family home in the French commune of La Côte-Saint-André in the département of Isère, near Grenoble. Perhaps best known for his compositions Symphonie fantastiqueGrande messe des morts (Requiem), Les Troyens, and La damnation de Faust. Berlioz made significant contributions to the modern orchestra with his Treatise on Instrumentation. He also composed around 50 compositions for voice, accompanied by piano or orchestra. His influence was important for the further development of Romanticism.

Drawing of Harriet Smithson as Ophelia in Shakespeare’s Hamlet

In March 1821, Berlioz left high school in Grenoble, and in late September, at age 18, he was sent to Paris to study medicine. He began to take advantage of the institutions to which he now had access in the city, including his first visit to the Paris Opéra, where he saw Iphigénie en Tauride by Christoph Willibald Gluck, a composer whom he came to admire above all, alongside Ludwig van Beethoven.

Despite his parents’ disapproval, in 1824 he formally abandoned his medical studies to pursue a career in music. He composed the Messe solennelle. This work was rehearsed and revised after the rehearsal but not performed until the following year. Later that year or in 1825, he began to compose the opera Les francs-juges, which was completed the following year but went unperformed. The work survives only in fragments, but the overture has been much recorded and is sometimes played in concert.

On 11 September 1827, he attended a production by a traveling English theatre company at the Odéon theatre with the Irish-born actress Harriet Smithson playing Ophelia and Juliet in the Shakespeare plays Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet. He immediately became infatuated with both actress and playwright. Prone to his impulses, Berlioz began flooding Smithson’s hotel room with love letters which both confused and terrified her. His advances led nowhere.

He began and finished composition of the Symphonie fantastique in 1830, a work which would bring Berlioz much fame and notoriety. He entered into a relationship with – and subsequently became engaged to – Marie Moke, despite the symphony being inspired by Berlioz’s obsession with Harriet Smithson.

Lithograph by August Prinzhofer, Vienna, 1845. Berlioz considered this to be a good likeness.

During his stay in Italy, he received a letter from the mother of his fiancée, Camille Moke, informing him that she had called off their engagement. Instead her daughter was to marry Camille Pleyel (son of Ignaz Pleyel), a rich piano manufacturer. Enraged, Berlioz decided to return to Paris and take revenge on Pleyel, his fiancée, and her mother by killing all three of them. He created an elaborate plan, going so far as to purchase a dress, wig and hat with a veil (with which he was to disguise himself as a woman in order to gain entry to their home). He even stole a pair of double-barrelled pistols from the Academy to kill them with, saving a single shot for himself. Planning out his action with great care, Berlioz purchased phials of strychnine and laudanum to use as poisons in the event of a pistol jamming.

Despite this careful planning, Berlioz failed to carry the plot through. By the time he had reached Genoa, he “left his disguise in the side pocket of the carriage”. After arriving in Nice (at that time, part of Italy), he reconsidered the entire plan, deciding it to be inappropriate and foolish.

Painting by Émile Signol, 1832.

On Berlioz’s return to Paris, he and Harriet were finally introduced and entered into a relationship. Despite Berlioz not understanding spoken English and Harriet not knowing any French, on 3 October 1833, they got married in a civil ceremony at the British Embassy with Liszt as one of the witnesses. The following year their only child, Louis Berlioz, was born – a source of initial disappointment, anxiety and eventual pride to his father. Unfortunately for Berlioz, he was soon to discover that living under the same roof as his beloved wife was far less appealing than worship from afar. Their marriage turned out a disaster as both were prone to violent personality clashes and outbursts of temper.

Painting by Gustave Courbet, 1850.

Harriet died in 1854. In October, Berlioz married Marie Recio. In a letter written to his son, he said that having lived with her for so long, it was his duty to do so. 

Photograph by Nadar, January 1857

Marie died unexpectedly of a stroke at the age of 48, on 13 June 1862. Berlioz soon met a young woman named Amélie at Montmartre Cemetery, and though she was only 24, they developed a close relationship despite a 35-year age difference. Amélie requested that they end their relationship, which Berlioz did, to his despair.

Last photograph of Berlioz, 1868

Berlioz met Estelle Fornier – the object of his childhood affections – in Lyon for the first time in 40 years, and began a regular correspondence with her. Berlioz soon realized that he still longed for her, and eventually she had to inform him that as a married woman there was no possibility that they could become closer than friends. 

Berlioz had a keen affection for literature, and many of his best compositions are inspired by literary works. For Symphonie fantastique, Berlioz was inspired in part by Thomas De Quincey’s Confessions of an English Opium-Eater. For La damnation de Faust, Berlioz drew on Goethe’s Faust; for Harold en Italie, he drew on Byron’s Childe Harold; for Benvenuto Cellini, he drew on Cellini’s own autobiography. For Roméo et Juliette, Berlioz turned, of course, to Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. For his magnum opus, the monumental opera Les Troyens, Berlioz turned to Virgil’s epic poem The Aeneid. In his last opera, the comic opera Béatrice et Bénédict, Berlioz prepared a libretto based loosely on Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing. His composition “Tristia” (for orchestra and chorus) drew its inspiration from Shakespeare’s Hamlet.

The Final Footprint

His funeral was held at the recently completed Église de la Trinité on 11 March, and he was buried in Montmartre Cemetery with his two wives, who were exhumed and re-buried next to him. Other notable final footprints at Montmartre include; Dalida, Edgar Degas, Léo Delibes, Alexandre Dumas, fils, Marie Duplessis, Theophile Gautier, Gustave Moreau, Henri Murger, Jacques Offenbach, Francis Picabia, Stendhal, François Truffaut, and Horace Vernet.

There is some debate about Berlioz’s last words. His last words were reputed to be “Enfin, on va jouer ma musique” (“At last, they are going to play my music”), but three other possible alternatives and accounts include:

  • Bidding farewell to a nationalist Russian composer: “One thousand greetings to Balakirev.”
  • Speaking to his dead wife, “Oh, Mère Recio, it is finished.”
  • After quoting from Macbeth’s final soliloquy in Shakespeare’s play of the same name: “‘Life’s but a walking shadow, a poor player, that struts and frets his hour upon the stage, and then is heard no more. It is a tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.’ That is my signal.”

Drawing by Gustave Doré, published in Journal pour rire, 27 June 1850

Pencil drawing by Alphonse Legros, c.1860

Commemorations of Berlioz include the 2000-seat Opera Berlioz at the Corum arts centre in Montpellier, Berlioz Point in Antarctica and asteroid 69288 Berlioz.

For the opening of Stanley Kubrick‘s film adaptation of The Shining (1980) by Stephen King, composer Wendy Carlos re-interpreted the “Dies Irae” section of Berlioz’s Symphonie Fantastique using a Moog Synthesizer.

Berlioz

#RIP #OTD in 1975, film director (A Place in the Sun, Shane, Giant, The Diary of Anne Frank), producer, screenwriter and cinematographer George Stevens died from a heart attack on his ranch in Lancaster, California. Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles

On this day in 1999, baseball Hall of Fame player, 3-time MVP, 13-time All Star, 9-time World Series champion, “Joltin’ Joe”, “The Yankee Clipper”, Joe DiMaggio, died at his home in Hollywood, Florida at the age of 84 from lung cancer.  Born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio on 25 November 1914 in Martinez, California.  Perhaps best known for his 56-game hitting streak (15 May – 16 July 1941), a record that still stands.  I believe he is the only player to be named an all-star in every season he played.  The Yankees retired his number 5 in 1952.

DiMaggio was married twice; Dorothy Arnold (1939 – 1944) and Marilyn Monroe (1954 – 1954). They eloped at San Francisco City Hall on January 14, 1954. The relationship was reportedly tumultuous and Monroe filed for divorce on grounds of mental cruelty nine months after the wedding. After the failure of their marriage, DiMaggio underwent therapy, stopped drinking alcohol, and expanded his interests beyond baseball; he and Monroe read poetry together in their later years.

Monroe went on to marry Arthur Miller.  Reportedly, as that marriage was ending, Monroe and DiMaggio became friends and re-marriage rumours swirled.  Apparently devastated at the news of her death, DiMaggio claimed her body and arranged her funeral, barring Hollywood’s elite.  He had a half-dozen red roses delivered 3 times a week to her crypt for 20 years.  A true gentleman, he refused to talk about her publicly or otherwise exploit their relationship. DiMaggio never remarried.

On 17 September 1992, the Joe DiMaggio Children’s Hospital at Memorial Regional Hospital in Hollywood, Florida, opened.  DiMaggio’s popularity was such that he has been referenced in film, television, literature, art, and music both during his career and decades after he retired.

The Final Footprint – DiMaggio is entombed in a private single crypt mausoleum in Holy Cross Catholic Cemetery in Colma, California.  A raised granite cenotaph in front of the mausoleum was engraved with his name and birth and death dates and the term of endearment; GRACE, DIGNITY AND ELEGANCE PERSONIFIED.  His final words may or may not have been, “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.” Another notable final footprint at Holy Cross; Vince Guaraldi.

Yankee Stadium’s fifth monument was dedicated to DiMaggio on 25 April 1999.  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, George Steinbrenner, Roger Maris, Thurman Munson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, and Casey Stengel.

#RIP #OTD 2020 actor (The Seventh Seal, Through a Glass Darkly, The Greatest Story Ever Told, The Exorcist, Three Days of the Condor, Dune, Minority Report, Shutter Island, Robin Hood, Star Wars) Max von Sydow died at his home in Provence, France at age 90. Cremation

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Athletic Footprints, Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Musical Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 7 March death of Harriet Jacobs – E. Pauline Johnson – Alice B. Toklas – Stevie Smith – Stanley Kubrick – Paul Winfield – Steve Lawrence

#RIP #OTD 1897 African-American abolitionist, writer (Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl), Harriet Jacobs died in Washington, D.C. aged 82. Mount Auburn Cemetery in Cambridge, Massachusetts

#RIP #OTD in 1913, Native Canadian Mohawk poet, short story writer, performer, E. Pauline Johnson, Tekahionwake, dies of breast cancer in Vancouver at 51. Stanley Park Pioneer Cemetery, Vancouver

On this day in 1967, member of the Parisian avant-garde of the early 20th century, Alice B. Toklas died in Paris at the age of 89.  Born Alice Babette Toklas in San Francisco on 30 April 1877.  Toklas was the life partner of American writer Gertrude Stein.  Toklas met Stein in Paris on September 8, 1907, the day she arrived there from San Francisco after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.  Together they hosted a salon in the home they shared that attracted expatriate American writers and avant-garde painters.  Acting as Stein’s confidante, lover, cook, secretary, muse, editor, critic, and general organizer, Toklas remained a background figure, chiefly living in the shadow of Stein, until the publication by Stein of Toklas’ “memoirs” in 1933 under the title The Autobiography of Alice B. Toklas.  It became Stein’s bestselling book.  Toklas and Stein remained a couple until Stein’s death in 1946.  Although Stein willed much of her estate to Toklas, including their shared art collection (some of them by Picasso) housed in their apartment at 5, rue Christine, the couple’s relationship had no legal recognition.  As many of the paintings appreciated greatly in value, Stein’s relatives took action to claim them, eventually removing them from Toklas’s residence while she was away on vacation and placing them in a bank vault.  Toklas then relied on contributions from friends as well as her writing to make a living.

The Final Footprint – Toklas is interred next to Stein in Père Lachaise Cemetery, Paris.  Her name is engraved on the back of Stein’s headstone.  Other notable Final Footprints at Père Lachaise include; Guillaume Apollinaire, Honoré de Balzac, Georges Bizet, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Auguste Comte, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, Max Ernst, Amedeo Modigliani, Molière, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, Sully Prudhomme, Gioachino Rossini, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Simone Signoret, Gertrude Stein, Dorothea Tanning, Oscar Wilde, and Richard Wright.

#RIP #OTD in 1971, poet (“A Good Time Was Had By All”; “Not Waving but Drowning”), novelist whose life was turned into the play and film “Stevie”, Stevie Smith dies of a brain tumour in Ashburton, Devon, England at 68. Cremated at Torquay Crematorium, Torquay

On this day in 1999, film director, writer, producer, and photographer, Stanley Kubrick, died in his sleep at his home in Harpenden, Hertfordshire, England at the age of 70.  Born on 26 July 1928, at the Lying-In Hospital in Manhattan, New York.  Best known for his films, Spartacus (1960), Lolita (1962), Dr. Strangelove (1964), 2001: A Space Oddysey (1968), A Clockwork Orange (1971), The Shining (1980), Full Metal Jacket (1987) and Eyes Wide Shut (1999).

Kubrick was married three times; Toba Metz (1948 – 1951 divorce), Ruth Sobotka (1954 – 1957 divorce) and Christiane Harlan (1958 – 1999 his death).

The Final Footprint – Kubrick is interred next to his favorite tree at his home in Childwickbury Manor, Hertfordshire, England, U.K.  His grave is marked with an engraved stone with the term of endearment; “Here lies our love Stanley”.

#RIP #OTD in 2004 actor (Sounder, King, Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, The Terminator) Paul Winfield died of a heart attack at Queen of Angels – Hollywood Presbyterian Medical Center, Los Angeles, aged 64. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles with his partner Charles Gillan

#RIP #OTD in 2024, singer (“Go Away Little Girl”), member Steve and Eydie with wife Eydie Gormé, actor (The Lonely Guy; The Blues Brothers), Steve Lawrence dies of complications of Alzheimer’s disease in Los Angeles at 88. Hillside Memorial Park, Culver City, California

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Film Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 6 March death of The Alamo – Louisa May Alcott – Pearl S. Buck – Georgia O’Keeffe – Stompin’ Tom Connors – Robert Osborne

On this day in 1836, following a 13-day seige, Mexican troops under President General Antonio López de Santa Anna launched a final assault on the Alamo Mission near San Antonio de Béxar (modern-day San Antonio, Texas) killing all but two of the Texian defenders.  The Battle of the Alamo was a pivotal event in the Texas Revolution.  The Texians under General Sam Houston later defeated Santa Anna and the Mexican Army at the Battle of San Jacinto on 21 April 1836.  The Texians’ battle cry that day was “Remember the Alamo” and “Remember Goliad.”  The story has been made into two major motion pictures; The Alamo (1960) directed by John Wayne and The Alamo (2004) directed by John Lee Hancock.  Among those killed at the Alamo;

  • Portrait by John Gadsby Chapman

    Davy Crockett – folk hero, frontiersman, soldier, politician, “King of the Wild Frontier”.  Born David Crockett on 17 August 1786 in Greene County, Tennessee.  Crockett represented Tennessee in the U. S. House of Representatives.  When he was narrowly defeated for re-election he said; “I told the people of my district that I would serve them as faithfully as I had done; but if not … you may all go to hell, and I will go to Texas.”  Crockett married twice; Polly Finley (1806 – 1815 her death) and Elizabeth Patton (1815 – 1836 his death).  Crockett was 49 at the time of his death.  Crockett was portrayed in the Alamo films by Wayne and Billy Bob Thornton.

  • James “Jim” Bowie – pioneer, Texas Ranger and soldier.  Born on 10 April 1796 in Logan County, Kentucky.  He popularized the Bowie knife.  Bowie was 39 at the time of his death.  Bowie, Texas and Bowie County are named in his honor.  Bowie was portrayed in the Alamo movies by Richard Widmark and Jason Patric.

William Barret Travis – lawyer and soldier.  Born 9 August 1809 in Saluda County, South Carolina.  Travis married once, Rosanno Cato (1828 – 1836 divorce).  Travis was 26 years old when he died.  Travis was portayed in the Alamo movies by Laurence Harvey and Patrick Wilson.  On 24 February 1836, during the siege, Travis wrote the now famous letter addressed “To the People of Texas and All Americans in the World”:

Fellow citizens and compatriots;
I am besieged, by a thousand or more of the Mexicans under Santa Anna. I have sustained a continual Bombardment and cannonade for 24 hours and have not lost a man. The enemy has demanded a surrender at discretion, otherwise, the garrison are to be put to the sword, if the fort is taken. I have answered the demand with a cannon shot, and our flag still waves proudly from the walls. I shall never surrender or retreat. Then, I call on you in the name of Liberty, of patriotism & everything dear to the American character, to come to our aid, with all dispatch. The enemy is receiving reinforcements daily and will no doubt increase to three or four thousand in four or five days. If this call is neglected, I am determined to sustain myself as long as possible and die like a soldier who never forgets what is due to his own honor & that of his country. Victory or Death.

William Barret Travis
Lt. Col. Comdt.
P.S. The Lord is on our side. When the enemy appeared in sight we had not three bushels of corn. We have since found in deserted houses 80 or 90 bushels and got into the walls 20 or 30 head of Beeves.Travis

The Final Footprintthe bodies of the Texians including Crockett, Bowie and Travis were stacked and burned.  Juan Seguín returned to Béxar in February 1837 to examine the remains and found ashes from the funeral pyres.  He had the ashes placed in a simple coffin inscribed with the names Crockett, Bowie and Travis.  According to a 28 March 1837 article in the Telegraph and Texas Register, Seguín buried the coffin under a peach tree grove.  The spot was not marked and cannot now be identified.  However, Seguín later claimed that he had placed the coffin in front of the altar at the San Fernando Cathedral in San Antonio.  Remember the Alamo!

#RIP #OTD in 1888 novelist, short story writer, poet perhaps best known as the author of the novel Little Women, Louisa May Alcott died of a stroke in Boston, aged 55. Sleepy Hollow Cemetery in Concord, Mass. near Emerson, Hawthorne, & Thoreau, on a hillside now known as “Authors’ Ridge”

#RIP #OTD in 1973 writer and novelist (The Good Earth) Pearl S. Buck died of lung cancer in Danby, Vermont aged 80. Green Hills Farm in Perkasie, Pennsylvania

Georgia O’Keeffe, 1918, photograph by Alfred Stieglitz

On this day in 1986, artist Georgia O’Keeffe died in Santa Fe, New Mexico at the age of 98. Born Georgia Totto O’Keeffe on November 15, 1887 in Town of Sun Prairie, Wisconsin. Perhaps best known for her paintings of enlarged flowers, New York skyscrapers, New Mexico landscapes, and the stunning photographs taken of her by Alfred Stieglitz. In my opinion, O’Keeffe is the “Mother of American modernism”.

In 1905, O’Keeffe began her serious formal art training at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and then the Art Students League of New York, but she felt constrained by her lessons that focused on recreating or copying what was in nature. In 1908, unable to fund further education, she worked for two years as a commercial illustrator, and then spent seven years between 1911 and 1918 teaching in Virginia, Texas, and South Carolina. During that time, she studied art during the summers between 1912 and 1914 and was introduced to the principles and philosophies of Arthur Wesley Dow, who espoused created works of art based upon personal style, design, and interpretation of subjects, rather than trying to copy or represent them. This caused a major change in the way she felt about and approached art, as seen in the beginning stages of her watercolors from her studies at the University of Virginia and more dramatically in the charcoal drawings that she produced in 1915 that led to total abstraction. Alfred Stieglitz, an art dealer and photographer, held an exhibit of her works in 1916. Over the next couple of years, she taught and continued her studies at the Teachers College, Columbia University in 1914 and 1915.

She moved to New York in 1918 at Stieglitz’s request and began working seriously as an artist. They developed a professional relationship—he promoted and exhibited her works—and a personal relationship that led to their marriage in 1924. O’Keeffe created many forms of abstract art, including close-ups of flowers, such as the Red Canna paintings, that many found to represent women’s genitalia, although O’Keeffe consistently denied that intention. The reputation of the portrayal of women’s sexuality was also fueled by explicit and sensuous photographs that Stieglitz had taken and exhibited of O’Keeffe.

O’Keeffe and Stieglitz lived together in New York until 1929, when O’Keeffe began spending part of the year in the Southwest, which served as inspiration for her paintings of New Mexico landscapes and images of animal skulls, such as Cow’s Skull: Red, White, and Blue and Ram’s Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills. After Stieglitz’s death, she lived permanently in New Mexico at Georgia O’Keeffe Home and Studio in Abiquiú, until the last years of her life when she lived in Santa Fe.

In June 1918, O’Keeffe accepted Stieglitz’s invitation to move to New York and accept his financial support. Stieglitz, who was married, moved in with her in July.

In February 1921, Stieglitz’s photographs of O’Keeffe were included in a retrospective exhibition at the Anderson Galleries. Stieglitz started photographing O’Keeffe when she visited him in New York City to see her 1917 exhibition, and continued taking photographs, many of which were in the nude. It created a public sensation. When he retired from photography in 1937, he had made more than 350 portraits of her. In 1978, she wrote about how distant from them she had become, “When I look over the photographs Stieglitz took of me—some of them more than sixty years ago—I wonder who that person is. It is as if in my one life I have lived many lives.”

In 1924, Stieglitz was divorced from his wife Emmeline, and he married O’Keeffe. For the rest of their lives together, their relationship was, “a collusion… a system of deals and trade-offs, tacitly agreed to and carried out, for the most part, without the exchange of a word. Preferring avoidance to confrontation on most issues, O’Keeffe was the principal agent of collusion in their union,” according to biographer Benita Eisler.

They primarily lived in New York City, but spent their summers at his family home, Oaklawn, in Lake George in upstate New York.

In 1928, Stieglitz had an affair with Dorothy Norman. O’Keeffe began to spend the summers painting in New Mexico in 1929.

In August 1934, she visited Ghost Ranch, north of Abiquiú, for the first time and decided to live there; in 1940, she moved into a house on the ranch property. The varicolored cliffs of Ghost Ranch inspired some of her most famous landscapes. In 1977, O’Keeffe wrote: “[the] cliffs over there are almost painted for you—you think—until you try to paint them.” Among guests to visit her at the ranch over the years were Charles and Anne Lindbergh, singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell, poet Allen Ginsberg, and photographer Ansel Adams.

Stieglitz died on July 13, 1946. She buried his ashes at Lake George. She spent the next three years mostly in New York settling his estate, and moved permanently to New Mexico in 1949, spending time at both Ghost Ranch and the Abiquiú house that she made into her studio.

Gallery

Drawing XIII, 1915, Charcoal on paper, Metropolitan Museum of Art

O’Keeffe as a teaching assistant to Alon Bement at the University of Virginia in 1915

Ram’s Head White Hollyhock and Little Hills, 1935, The Brooklyn Museum

O’Keeffe’s “White Place,” the Plaza Blanca cliffs and badlands near Abiquiú

Alfred Stieglitz, Georgia O’Keeffe, platinum print, 1920

My Shanty, Lake George, oil on canvas, 20 × 27 1/8 in., The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.

Cerro Pedernal, viewed from Ghost Ranch. This was a favorite subject for O’Keeffe, who once said, “It’s my private mountain. It belongs to me. God told me if I painted it enough, I could have it”

The Final Footprint

Her body was cremated and her cremains were scattered, as she wished, on the land around Ghost Ranch.

Georgia O'Keeffe.jpg

The Georgia O’Keeffe Museum opened in Santa Fe in 1997. The assets included a large body of her work, photographs, archival materials, and her Abiquiú house, library, and property. The Georgia O’Keeffe Home and Studio in Abiquiú was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1998 and is now owned by the Georgia O’Keeffe Museum.

In 1991, the PBS aired the American Playhouse production A Marriage: Georgia O’Keeffe and Alfred Stieglitz, starring Jane Alexander as O’Keeffe and Christopher Plummer as Alfred Stieglitz.

#RIP #OTD 2013 Canadian country and folk singer-songwriter (“Sudbury Saturday Night”, “Bud the Spud”, “The Hockey Song”) Stompin’ Tom Connors died of kidney failure at his home in Ballinafad, Ontario, aged 77. Erin Union Cemetery in Erin, Ontario

RIP #OTD in 2017 film historian, television presenter, author, actor, primary host for more than 20 years of Turner Classic Movies (TCM), Robert Osborne died at his Manhattan apartment, The Osborne, aged 84. Body donated to Borough of Manhattan Community College

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History, Military Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 5 March death of Marie d’Agoult – Max Jacob – Sergei Prokofiev – Patsy Cline – Anna Akhmatova – Jay Silverheels – Yip Harburg – John Belushi

#RIP #OTD in 1876 French romantic author (Nélida), historian, known also by her pen name, Daniel Stern, lover of Franz Liszt, Marie d’Agoult died in Paris, aged 70, and was buried in Division 54 of Père Lachaise Cemetery.

#RIP #OTD in 1944, poet (Le cornet à dés, Le laboratoire central, La défense de Tartuffe), painter, writer (Saint Matorel), critic, Max Jacob died from pneumonia at the Nazi interment camp in Drancy, France aged 67. Abbaye de Saint-Benoît-sur-Loire, France

#RIP #OTD in 1953 composer (March from The Love for Three Oranges, the suite Lieutenant Kijé, the ballet Romeo and Juliet, Peter and the Wolf, the opera War and Peace), pianist, and conductor Sergei Prokofiev died in Moscow aged 61. Moscow’s Novodevichy Cemetery

On this day in 1963, country music singer, songwriter, one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century, Patsy Cline, died in a private plane crash near Camden, Tennessee at the age of 30.  Born Virginia Patterson Hensley on 8 September 1932 in Winchester, Virginia.  In my opinion, the best ever female country music singer and one of my all-time favorite singers.  Her contralto voice had such a rich tone and was so emotionally expressive.  Her life and career have been the subject of numerous books, movies, documentaries, articles and stage plays.  Her hits included “Walkin’ After Midnight”, “I Fall to Pieces”, “She’s Got You”, “Crazy”, and “Sweet Dreams”.  A biographical film Sweet Dreams was released in 1985 starring Jessica Lange and Ed Harris.  Lange would be nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress.  For all the musical scenes Lange lip-synched to Cline recordings.  Cline was married twice; Gerald Cline (1953 – 1957 divorce) and Charlie Dick (1957 – 1963 her death).

The Final Footprint – Cline is interred in Shenandoah Memorial Park, Winchester, Virginia.  Her grave is marked by a companion flat bronze on granite marker with the inscription; “Death Cannot Kill What Never Dies: Love.”  A bell tower in her memory at the cemetery, erected with the help of Loretta Lynn and Dottie West, plays hymns daily at 6:00 p.m., the hour of her death.  A memorial marks the place where the plane crashed in the still-remote forest outside of Camden, Tennessee.

#RIP #OTD in 1966 one of the most significant Russian poets of 20th century, Anna Akhmatova died of heart failure in Moscow at the age of 76. Komarovo Cemetery in St. Petersburg

#RIP #OTD in 1980 Indigenous Canadian actor (Tonto on The Lone Ranger) athlete, Jay Silverheels died from a stroke in Calabasas, California, aged 67. Cremated at Chapel of the Pines Crematory, Los Angeles; cremated remains scattered Six Nations Reserve in Ontario

#RIP #OTD in 1981 lyricist (“Brother, Can You Spare a Dime?”, “April in Paris”, “It’s Only a Paper Moon”, “Over the Rainbow”), librettist, Yip Harburg died from a heart attack while driving on Sunset Boulevard in Los Angeles, aged 84. Cremated remains scattered at sea

On this day in 1982, comedian, actor, and singer John Belushi died from combined drug intoxication caused by an injection of a heroin and cocaine mixture, known as a speedball at the age of 33 in Chateau Marmont Hotel in Hollywood. Born John Adam Belushi in Chicago on January 24, 1949. Perhaps best known for his intense energy and attitude which he displayed as one of the seven original cast members of the NBC sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live (SNL). Throughout his career, Belushi had a close personal and artistic partnership with his fellow SNL star Dan Aykroyd, whom he met while they were both working at Chicago’s The Second City comedy club. Belushi was offered a chance to perform with The Second City after being discovered by Bernard Sahlins. There, he met Brian Doyle-Murray and Harold Ramis.

In 1975, Belushi was recommended to SNL founder Lorne Michaels by Chevy Chase and Michael O’Donoghue. He developed a series of characters on the show that reached high success, including his notable performances such as the belligerent Samurai Futaba, Henry Kissinger, the Greek owner of the Olympia Café, Captain James T. Kirk, Ludwig van Beethoven, and a contributor of furious opinion pieces on Weekend Update, during which he coined his catchphrase, “But N-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O-O!”. Belushi later appeared in films such as Animal House, 1941The Blues Brothers, and Neighbors. He formed the Blues Brothers with Aykroyd, Lou Marini, Tom Malone, Steve Cropper, Donald “Duck” Dunn, and Paul Shaffer. Belushi was Jake and Ackroyd was Elwood. In 1978 The Blues Brothers released their debut album, Briefcase Full of Blues, with Atlantic Records. The album reached #1 on the Billboard 200 and went double platinum. Two singles were released, “Rubber Biscuit”, which reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100 and “Soul Man”, which reached number 14.

The Final Footprint

In the early morning hours on the day of his death, he was visited separately by friends Robin Williams and Robert De Niro, as well as Catherine Evelyn Smith. His death was investigated by forensic pathologist Michael Baden, among others, and, while the findings were disputed, it was officially ruled a drug-related accident.

Two months later, Smith admitted in an interview with the National Enquirer that she had been with Belushi the night of his death and had given him the fatal speedball shot. After the appearance of the article “I Killed Belushi” in the Enquirer edition of June 29, 1982, the case was reopened. Smith was extradited from Ontario, Canada, arrested and charged with first-degree murder. A plea bargain reduced the charge to involuntary manslaughter, and she served 15 months in prison.

Belushi’s wife arranged for a traditional Orthodox Christian funeral which was conducted by an Albanian Orthodox priest. He has been interred twice at Abel’s Hill Cemetery in Chilmark, Massachusetts on Martha’s Vineyard. A tombstone marking the original burial location has a skull and crossbones with the inscription, “I may be gone but Rock and Roll lives on.” His name is included on the Belushi family stone marking his mother’s grave at Elmwood Cemetery in River Grove, Illinois. This stone reads, “He gave us laughter.”

Belushi’s life was detailed in the 1984 biography Wired: The Short Life and Fast Times of John Belushi by Bob Woodward and 1990’s Samurai Widow by his wife Judith. 

At the conclusion of the first live SNL episode (Robert Urich/Mink DeVille on March 20, 1982) two weeks after Belushi’s death, Brian Doyle-Murray gave a tribute to him.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History, Musical Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 4 March death of Nikolai Gogol – Jesse Chisholm – William Carlos Williams – Elizabeth Smart – John Candy – Minnie Pearl – Horton Foote – Pat Conroy – Luke Perry

#RIP #OTD in 1852 novelist (Dead Souls), short story writer (“The Overcoat”, “Viy”, “The Nose”, “Diary of a Madman”, “The Portrait”, “The Carriage”), playwright (Marriage) Nikolai Gogol died in Moscow, aged 42. Novodevichy Cemetery, Moscow

On this day in 1868, Native American Indian trader, guide, and interpreter, Jesse Chisholm, died at Left Hand Spring, near the site of present Geary, Oklahoma from food poisoning.  Born in the Hiwassee region of Tennessee, probably in 1805 or 1806.  His father, Ignatius, was Scottish and his mother was Cherokee.  Primarily known for being the namesake of the Chisholm Trail, which ranchers used to drive their cattle to eastern markets.  Chisholm had built a number of trading posts in what is now western Oklahoma.  The trail had several variations but seemed to start at the Rio Grande in Texas and ran though San Antonio and ended in Abilene, Kansas.

The Final Footprint – Chisholm is interred at the Jesse Chisholm Gravesite near Geary, Oklahoma.

#RIP #OTD in 1963 poet, writer, and physician William Carlos Williams died at his home in Rutherford, New Jersey, aged 79. Hillside Cemetery in Lyndhurst, New Jersey

#RIP #OTD in 1986 Canadian poet and novelist (By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept) Elizabeth Smart died in London of a heart attack, aged 72. St George’s churchyard, Saint Cross South Elmham, Suffolk

On this day in 1994, comedian and actor John Candy died of a heart attack in Durango, Mexico, aged 43. Born John Franklin Candy on October 31, 1950 in Newmarket, Ontario, Canada. Candy rose to fame as a member of the Toronto branch of the Second City and its related Second City Television series, and through his appearances in such comedy films as StripesSplashCool RunningsSummer RentalHome AloneThe Great OutdoorsSpaceballs, and Uncle Buck, as well as more dramatic roles in Only the Lonely and JFK. One of his most renowned onscreen performances was as Del Griffith, the talkative shower-curtain ring salesman in the John Hughes comedy Planes, Trains and Automobiles.

The Final Footprint

Candy is entombed at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. Other notable final footprints at Holy Cross include; Bing Crosby, Jimmy DuranteJohn Ford, Rita Hayworth, Chick Hearn, Conrad Hilton, Jr., Bela Lugosi, Al Martino, Audrey Meadows, Ricardo Montalban, Chris Penn, Jo Stafford, and Sharon Tate.

#RIP #OTD in 1996, comedienne who appeared at the Grand Ole Opry for more than 50 years (from 1940 to 1991) and on the television show Hee Haw from 1969 to 1991, Minnie Pearl died from a stroke in Nashville, aged 83. Mount Hope Cemetery in Franklin, Tennessee.

On this day in 2009 playwright and screenwriter Horton Foote died in Hartford, Connecticut at the age of 92. Born Albert Horton Foote Jr. on March 14, 1916 in Wharton, Texas. Perhaps best known for his screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television. He received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1995 for his play The Young Man From Atlanta and two Academy Awards, one for an original screenplay, Tender Mercies, and one for adapted screenplay, To Kill a Mockingbird. In 1995, Foote was the inaugural recipient of the Austin Film Festival’s Distinguished Screenwriter Award. In 2000, he was awarded the National Medal of Arts.

Foote was married to Lillian Vallish Foote (1923–1992) from June 4, 1945 until her death in 1992.

  The Final Footprint

Foote is interred in the Wharton City Cemetery. The Fine Arts Building at the college located in Wharton, Texas, Wharton County Junior College, is named the Horton Foote Theatre.

On this day in 2016, author Pat Conroy died in Beaufort, South Carolina from pancreatic cancer at the age of 70. Born Donald Patrick Conroy in Atlanta, Georgia on October 26, 1945. He wrote several acclaimed novels and memoirs. Two of his novels, The Prince of Tides (one of my personal favorites) and The Great Santini, were made into Oscar-nominated films. In my opinion, he is a leading figure of late-20th century Southern literature.

In 1976, Conroy published his first novel, The Great Santini. The main character of the novel is Marine fighter pilot Colonel “Bull” Meecham, who dominates and terrorizes his family. Bull Meecham also psychologically abuses his teenage son Ben. The character is based on Conroy’s father Donald.

In 1986, Conroy published The Prince of Tides about Tom Wingo, an unemployed South Carolina teacher who goes to New York City to help his sister, Savannah, a poet who has attempted suicide, to come to terms with their past.

In 1995, Conroy published Beach Music, a novel about an American ex-patriate living in Rome who returns to South Carolina upon news of his mother’s terminal illness. The story reveals his attempt to confront personal demons, including the suicide of his wife, the subsequent custody battle with his in-laws over their daughter, and the attempt by a film-making friend to rekindle old friendships which were compromised during the days of the Vietnam War.

In 2009, Conroy published South of Broad, which again uses the familiar backdrop of Charleston following the suicide of newspaperman Leo King’s brother, and alternates narratives of a diverse group of friends between 1969 and 1989.

Conroy was married three times. His first marriage was to Barbara (née Bolling) Jones on October 10, 1969, while he was teaching on Daufuskie Island. Jones, who had been Conroy’s next door neighbor in Beaufort, South Carolina, had been widowed when her first husband, Joseph Wester Jones III, a fighter pilot stationed in Vietnam, had been shot down and killed. They divorced in 1977.

Conroy then married Lenore (née Gurewitz) Fleischer in 1981. Conroy and Fleischer divorced on 26 October 1995, Conroy’s 50th birthday. Conroy married his third wife, writer Cassandra King, author of four novels, in May 1998.

Conroy lived in Beaufort with wife Cassandra until his death. In 2007, he commented that she was a much happier writer than he was: “I’ll hear her cackle with laughter at some funny line she’s written. I’ve never cackled with laughter at a single line I’ve ever written. None of it has given me pleasure. She writes with pleasure and joy, and I sit there in gloom and darkness.”

The Final Footprint 

On February 15, 2016, Conroy stated on his Facebook page that he was being treated for pancreatic cancer. Conroy’s funeral was held on March 8, 2016 at St. Peter’s Catholic Church in Beaufort, South Carolina. Conroy was interred at St. Helena Memorial Garden on Ernest Road on St. Helena Island, South Carolina. His epitaph reads; MY WOUND IS GEOGRAPHY, IT IS ALSO MY ANCHORAGE, MY PORT OF CALL. 

#RIP #OTD on this day in 2019, actor (8 Seconds (1994), The Fifth Element (1997), Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (2019)) Luke Perry died from a stroke in Burbank, California at the age of 52. His interment site is at the Perry Family Farm in Vanleer, Tennessee

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Cowboy Footprints, Day in History, Film Footprints, Literary Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 3 March death of Lou Costello – Danny Kaye – Marguerite Duras – Harlan Howard – Malcolm Kilduff, Jr. – Horst Buchholz – Tom Sizemore

#RIP #OTD in 1959 comedian, actor (Abbott & Costello, “Who’s on First?”) Lou Costello died at Doctors Hospital, Beverly Hills from a heart attack, aged 52. Calvary Cemetery, East Los Angeles.

#RIP #OTD in 1987 actor (The Kid from Brooklyn, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hans Christian Andersen, White Christmas, The Court Jester), singer, dancer, philanthropist, cook, Danny Kaye died of heart failure in Los Angeles, aged 76. Kensico Cemetery, Valhalla, New York.

#RIP #OTD in 1996, novelist (L’Amant), playwright, screenwriter (Hiroshima mon amour), essayist, and experimental filmmaker Marguerite Duras died in Paris at the age of 81. Cimetière du Montparnasse, Paris

#RIP #OTD in 2002, songwriter (Heartaches by the Number, I Fall to Pieces, Busted, Tiger by the Tail, Streets of Baltimore), Harlan Howard died in Nashville at the age of 74. Nashville City Cemetery

On this day in 2003, U. S. Navy veteran, journalist, Assistant White House Press Secretary, Malcolm MacGregor “Mac” Kilduff, Jr. died in a nursing home in Beattyville, Kentucky at the age of 75.  Born on 26 September 1927 in New Jersey.  As the ranking press secretary accompanying JFK on his trip to Dallas, Texas in November 1963,  Kilduff announced to the assembled press in the nurse’s room at Parkland Hospital in Dallas, “President John F. Kennedy died at approximately 1:00 CST today here in Dallas. He died of a gunshot wound to the brain. I have no other details regarding the assassination of the president.”  Shortly before his announcement to the press, Kilduff told the news to LBJ by simply walking up to Johnson and calling him, Mr. President.  Johnson’s wife, Lady Bird, let out a short scream, realizing what that meant.  Kilduff maintained that Oswald was the lone gunman that day, but he believed that Governor John B. Connally was the intended target and not JFK.  According to Kilduff’s biographical sketch on Arlington National Cemetery’s website, Oswald had appealed his dishonorable discharge from the Marine Corps to Connally, who served as secretary of the Navy before being elected governor in 1962.

The Final Footprint – Kilduff is interred in Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia.  His grave is marked by an upright marble VA marker.  Other notable Final Footprints at Arlington include; Space Shuttle Challenger, Space Shuttle Columbia, Medgar Evers, JFK, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, RFK, Edward Kennedy, Lee Marvin, and Audie Murphy.

Also on this day in 2003 actor Horst Buchholz died unexpectedly at the age of sixty-nine in the Berlin Charité from pneumonia that developed after an operation for a hip fracture. Born Horst Werner Buchholz on 4 December 1933 . He appeared in more than sixty feature films from 1951 to 2002. During his youth he was sometimes called “the German James Dean.” He is perhaps best known in English-speaking countries for his role as Chico in The Magnificent Seven (1960), as a communist in Billy Wilder’s One, Two, Three (1961) and as Dr. Lessing in Life Is Beautiful (1997).

Buchholz was married to Myriam Bru from 1958 until his death in 2003.

  The Final Footprint

Berlin was the city to which his loyalty was constant, and he was buried there in the Friedhof Heerstraße. The word below his name on his marker means “actor”. Below his birth and death dates it says in German, “Love the world and the world will love you”.

#RIP #OTD in 2023, actor (Passenger 57, True Romance, Striking Distance, Natural Born Killers, Strange Days, Heat, The Relic), Tom Sizemore died from a brain aneurysm at Providence Saint Joseph Medical Center, Burbank, California aged 61. Cremation

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History, Political Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 2 March death of Berthe Morisot – D. H. Lawrence – Philip K. Dick – Randolph Scott – Serge Gainsbourg – Sandy Dennis – Dusty Springfield – Anita Morris – Mercedes McCambridge – Bettina Graziani

Berthe_Morisot,_1875On this day in 1895, painter Berthe Morisot died in Paris, of pneumonia at the age of 54.  Born Berthe Marie Pauline Morisot on 14 January 1841 in Bourges, Cher, France.  She was a member of the circle of painters in Paris who became known as the Impressionists.  She was described by Gustave Geffroy in 1894 as one of “les trois grandes dames” of Impressionism alongside Marie Bracquemond and Mary Cassatt.  In 1864, she exhibited for the first time in the esteemed Salon de Paris.  Sponsored by the government, and judged by Academicians, the Salon was the official, annual exhibition of the Académie des beaux-arts in Paris.  Her work was selected for exhibition in six subsequent Salons until 1874 when she joined the “rejected” Impressionists in the first of their own exhibitions.  She was married to Eugène Manet, the brother of her friend and colleague Édouard Manet.

 The Final Footprint – Morisot is interred in the Cimetière de Passy.  Other notable final footprints as Passy include; Claude Debussy, Gabriel Faure, Hubert de Givenchy, Édouard Manet, and Octave Mirbeau.

Gallery

The Cradle, 1872, Musée d’Orsay

 Édouard Manet, Berthe Morisot with a Bouquet of Violets (in mourning for her father), 1872, Musée d’Orsay 

 Bergère nue couchée (Shepherdess – reclining nude)

The Artist’s Daughter Julie with her Nanny, c. 1884. Minneapolis Institute of Art

 La Coiffure 
    • The Harbor at Lorient, 1869, National Gallery of Art

    • On the Balcony, 1872, New York

    • Reading, 1873, Cleveland Museum of Art

    • Hanging the Laundry out to Dry, 1875, National Gallery of Art

    • Lady at her Toilette, 1875 The Art Institute of

    • The Dining Room, c. 1875 National Gallery of Art

    • Winter aka Woman with a Muff, 1880, Dallas Museum of Arts

    • Child among the Hollyhocks, 1881, Wallraf-Richartz Museum

    • The Artists’ Daughter Julie With Her Nanny, c.1884, Minneapolis Institute of Art

    • The Bath (Girl Arranging Her Hair), 1885–86, Clark Art Institute

  • Julie Manet et son Lévrier Laerte, 1893, Musée Marmottan Monet

Portraits of Morisot

D_H_Lawrence_passport_photographOn this day in 1930, novelist, poet, playwright, essayist, literary critic and painter D. H. Lawrence died at the Villa Robermond in Vence, France, from complications of tuberculosis at the age of 44.  Born David Herbert Richards Lawrence 11 September 1885 in Eastwood, Nottinghamshire, England.  Perhaps best known for his novel, Lady Chatterley’s Lover, first published in 1928.  The first edition was printed privately in Florence, Italy; an unexpurgated edition could not be published openly in the United Kingdom until 1960.  (A private edition was issued by Mandrake Press in 1929.)  The book soon became notorious for its story of the physical (and emotional) relationship between a working class man and an upper class woman, its explicit descriptions of sex, and its use of then-unprintable words.

Lawrence’s opinions earned him many enemies and he endured official persecution, censorship, and misrepresentation of his creative work throughout the second half of his life, much of which he spent in a voluntary exile which he called his “savage pilgrimage”.  At the time of his death, his public reputation was that of a pornographer who had wasted his considerable talents.  E. M. Forster, in an obituary notice, challenged this widely held view, describing him as, “The greatest imaginative novelist of our generation.”  Later, the influential Cambridge critic F. R. Leavis championed both his artistic integrity and his moral seriousness, placing much of Lawrence’s fiction within the canonical “great tradition” of the English novel.  In March 1912 Lawrence met Frieda Weekley (née von Richthofen), with whom he was to share the rest of his life.  Six years older than her new lover, she was married to Ernest Weekley, his former modern languages professor at University College, Nottingham, and had three young children.  She eloped with Lawrence to her parents’ home in Metz.

The Final Footprint – Frieda commissioned an elaborate headstone for his grave bearing a mosaic of his adopted emblem of the phoenix.  After Lawrence’s death, Frieda lived with Angelo Ravagli on a ranch in Taos, New Mexico and eventually married him in 1950.  In 1935 Ravagli arranged, on Frieda’s behalf, to have Lawrence’s body exhumed and cremated.  However, upon boarding the ship he learned he would have to pay taxes on the cremated remains, so he instead spread them in the Mediterranean, a more preferable resting place, in his opinion, than a concrete block in a chapel. Some dust and dirt was interred on the Taos ranch in a small chapelhis ashes brought back to the D. H. Lawrence Ranch, east of Taos, New Mexico, to be interred there in a small chapel.

#RIP #OTD in 1982 science fiction writer (The Man in the High Castle, Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, The Minority Report) Philip K. Dick died from a stroke in Santa Ana, California, aged 53. Cremated remains Riverside Cemetery in Fort Morgan, Colorado.

#RIP #OTD in 1987 actor (Ride the High Country) Randolph Scott died of heart and lung ailments at the age of 89 in Beverly Hills. Elmwood Cemetery, Charlotte, North Carolina

#RIP #OTD in 1991 French singer-songwriter (“Je t’aime… moi non plus”, “Bonnie and Clyde”), actor, composer, director, Serge Gainsbourg died from a heart attack at his home in Paris aged 62. Jewish section of Montparnasse Cemetery in Paris

#RIP #OTD  in 1992 actress (Splendor in the Grass, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, The Out-of-Towners) Sandy Dennis died from ovarian cancer at her home in Westport, Connecticut, at age 54. Cremated remains Lincoln Memorial Park, Lincoln, Nebraska

On this day in 1999, British pop singer, “The White Queen of Soul”, Dusty Springfield, died in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, England from cancer at the age of 59.  Born Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O’Brien on 16 April 1939 in West Hampstead, North London to an Irish Catholic family.  Her voice was distinctively sensual and soulful.  My favorite Springfield album is Dusty in Memphis and of course my favorite song from that album is “Son of a Preacher Man.”

The Final Footprint – Springfield was cremated.  Part of her cremains were interred at the parish church St. Mary the Virgin in Henley-on-Thames, South Oxfordshire, England.  A marker dedicated to her memory was placed there.

Cliffs of Moher

A part of her cremains were scattered at the Cliffs of Moher, County Clare, Ireland.

#RIP #OTD in 1994 actress on stage (Jesus Christ Superstar, Seesaw, Nine) and film (The Hotel New Hampshire, Absolute Beginners, Ruthless People), singer and dancer, Anita Morris died from ovarian cancer in Los Angeles, aged 50. Maplewood Cemetery in Durham, North Carolina.

#RIP #OTD in 2004 actress (All the King’s Men, Giant, The Exorcist) Mercedes McCambridge died in La Jolla in San Diego, aged 87. Cremated remains scattered at sea.

#RIP #OTD in 2015, French fashion model, muse to Hubert de Givenchy, designer, poet, composer, Bettina Graziani died in Paris aged 89.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Artistic Footprints, Day in History, Literary Footprints, Musical Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 1 March death of Dino Campana – Charles Lindbergh, Jr. – Gabriele D’Annunzio – Wilhelmina Cooper – Jackie Coogan – Bonnie Franklin – Iris Apfel

#RIP #OTD in 1932, Italian visionary poet (Canti Orfici (“Orphic Songs”)), poète maudit, Dino Campana died from sepsis at a psychiatric hospital in Castel Pulci, Scandicci, Italy aged 46. Abbazia dei Santi Salvatore e Lorenzo a Settimo, Scandicci

On this day in 1932, the 20 month old son of Charles Lindbergh, Charles Augustus Lindbergh, Jr., was kidnapped and murdered in Hopewell, New Jersey.  Born on 22 June 1930 in Englewood Bergen, New Jersey.  In what came to be referred to as “The Crime of the Century”, the boy was abducted from his family home in East Amwell, New Jersey, near the town of Hopewell, New Jersey, on the evening of 1 March 1932.  His body was discovered a short distance from the Lindberghs’ home on 12 May 1932.  A medical examination determined that the cause of death was a massive skull fracture.  After an investigation that lasted more than two years and was ostensibly run by New Jersey State Police superintendent Colonel Herbert Norman Swarzkopf, the father of the future General H. Norman Swarzkopf, Jr., Bruno Richard Hauptmann was arrested and charged with the crime.  Hauptmann was found guilty of murder in the first degree and sentenced to death.  He was executed by electric chair at the New Jersey State Prison on 3 April 1936, at 8:44 in the evening.  Hauptmann proclaimed his innocence to the end.  Newspaper writer H. L. Mencken called the kidnapping and subsequent trial “the biggest story since the Resurrection”.  The crime spurred Congress to pass the Federal Kidnapping Act, commonly called the “Lindbergh Law”, which made transporting a kidnapping victim across state lines a federal crime.

The Final Footprint – Lindbergh was cremated and his cremains were scattered in the Atlantic Ocean. 

#RIP #OTD in 1938 Italian poet, playwright, orator, journalist, aristocrat, army officer during World War I, Il Vate, Il Profeta, Gabriele D’Annunzio died of a stroke, at his home in Gardone Riviera, aged 74. Il Vittoriale degli Italiani, Gardone Riviera

Wilhelmina Cooper

Wilhelmina Cooper in a photograph by Edgar de Evia.jpg

Wilhelmina photographed by Edgar de Evia

On this day in 1980 model and founder of Wilhelmina Models, Wilhelmina Cooper died at age 40 in Grennwich, Connecticut from lung cancer. Born Gertrude Behmenburg on 1 May 1939 in Culemborg, Netherlands. She began modeling with Ford Models and, at the peak of her success, founded Wilhelmina Models, in New York City in 1967. During her career as a model she was on the cover of 255 magazines.

According to her obituary in Time magazine:

During her cover-girl days, Wilhelmina boasted that she was “one of the few high-fashion models built like a woman.” And she was. With her 5 ft. 11 in., 38-24-36 frame, doe eyes, delicate cheekbones and mane of high-piled dark hair, she epitomized the classical, aristocratic look that she helped to make the style standard of the 1950s and ’60s…

In 1965 she married Bruce Cooper, former executive producer of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson. In 1967 they founded Wilhelmina Models, which became the other leading model agency alongside Ford Models.

The Final Footprint

Cooper was cremated.

Cooper was portrayed by Faye Dunaway in the 1998 movie Gia, which tells the story of Gia Carangi, a model who was discovered by Cooper and later died of AIDS.

#RIP #OTD in 1984, comedian, actor (The Addams Family – “Uncle Fester”; The Kid; Oliver Twist), ex-husband of Betty Grable, Jackie Coogan died of a heart attack in Santa Monica aged 69. Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California

#RIP #OTD in 2013 actress (Ann Romano in One Day at a Time) Bonnie Franklin died from pancreatic cancer at her home in the Los Angeles Area, aged 69. Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles

#RIP #OTD in 2024 businesswoman, interior designer, fashion designer, style icon, model, Iris Apfel died at her home in Palm Beach, Florida at the age of 102. Beth David Cemetery, Elmont, New York

Have you planned yours yet? 

Follow us on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 28 February death of Paul Harvey – Jane Russell – George Kennedy

On this day in 2009, radio broadcaster, Paul Harvey, died in Phoenix, Arizona at the age of 90.  Born Paul Harvey Aurandt on 4 September 1918 in Tulsa, Oklahoma.  He broadcast News and Comment on weekday mornings and mid-days, and at noon on Saturdays, as well as his famous The Rest of the Story segments.  His listening audience was estimated, at its peak, at 24 million people a week.  Paul Harvey News was carried on 1,200 radio stations, 400 Armed Forces Network stations and 300 newspapers.  Harvey was noted for his folksy delivery and his dramatic pauses and quirky intonations.  He explained his relationship with his sponsors, saying “I am fiercely loyal to those willing to put their money where my mouth is.”  Harvey was married to Lynne “Angel” Cooper (1940 – 2008 her death). 

The Final Footprint – Harvey is entombed with his wife Angel in the Harvey private mausoleum in Forest Home Cemetery, Forest Park, Illinois.

On this day in 2011 actress Jane Russell died at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness at the age of 89. Born Ernestine Jane Geraldine Russell on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota. She was one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols in the 1940s and 1950s.

Russell had her first film role in 1943 in The Outlaw. In 1947, Russell delved into music before returning to films. After starring in several films in the 1950s, including Gentlemen Prefer Blondes in 1953, Russell again returned to music while completing several other films in the 1960s. She starred in more than 20 films throughout her career.

Russell married three times, adopted three children, and in 1955 founded Waif, the first international adoption program. She received several accolades for her achievements in films, including having her hand and footprints immortalized in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, and having a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Russell in The Outlaw (1943)

With Dorothy Lamour, Bing Crosby, and Bob Hope in Road to Bali (1952)

With Robert Mitchum in His Kind of Woman (1951)

As Dorothy Shaw in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

Marilyn Monroe and Russell putting signatures, hand, and footprints in wet concrete at Grauman’s Chinese Theater, 1953.

Russell was married three times, first to Bob Waterfield; they were married from 1943 until their divorce in July, 1968. He was a UCLA All-America, Cleveland Rams quarterback, Los Angeles Rams quarterback, Los Angeles Rams head coach, and member of the Pro Football Hall of Fame. Two months after her divorce from Waterfield, Russell married actor Roger Barrett; the marriage ended when he died of a heart attack only two months later in November, 1968. She married real-estate broker John Calvin Peoples on January 31, 1974, living with him until his death from heart failure on April 9, 1999. Russell and Peoples lived in Sedona, Arizona, for a few years, but spent the majority of their married life residing in Montecito, California.

The Final Footprint

Her funeral was held on March 12, 2011, at Pacific Christian Church, Santa Maria. Her cremains were scattered at sea.

On this day in 2016, United States Army veteran, actor George Kennedy died of a heart ailment at an assisted living facility in Middleton, Idaho, ten days after his 91st birthday. Born George Harris Kennedy Jr. on February 18, 1925 in New York City. Kennedy appeared in more than 200 film and television productions. He played “Dragline” opposite Paul Newman in Cool Hand Luke (1967), winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for the role and being nominated for the corresponding Golden Globe. He received a second Golden Globe nomination for portraying Joe Patroni in Airport (1970).

Kennedy was the only actor to appear in all four films in the Airport series, having reprised the role of Joe Patroni three times. He also played Police Captain Ed Hocken in the Naked Gun series of comedy films, Lew Slade in the 1974 movie Earthquake and corrupt oil tycoon Carter McKay on the original Dallas television series.

Promotional photo of Kennedy for the TV series Sarge, 1971

Kennedy as Bumper Morgan in The Blue Knight, 1976

Kennedy wrote three books. In 1983, he wrote the murder mystery Murder On Location, set on a film shoot. A second novel, Murder on High, was released in 1984. In 2011, he wrote his autobiography, Trust Me.

Kennedy was married four times, to three women. In the 1940s, he married Dorothy Gillooly (1926-2012), who had served in the Women’s Army Corps. They divorced in the 1950s. In 1959, Kennedy married Norma Wurman, also known as Revel Wurman (1929-2007). Kennedy and Norma were divorced for the first time in 1971, got remarried in 1973, and were divorced for a second and final time in 1978. That same year (1978), Kennedy married Joan McCarthy (nee Castagna), daughter of John Castagna and former wife of William James McCarthy. They remained married until her death in September 2015.

The Final Footprint

Kennedy resided in Eagle, Idaho, at the time of his death. He had also been much affected by the death of Joan, his third wife, less than six months previously.

At the time of his death, Kennedy was the oldest living Oscar winner in the Best Supporting Actor category. Coincidentally, he died the day of the 88th Academy Awards ceremony. Kennedy was cremated

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Posted in Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Film Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment