On this day 7 June death of Robert the Bruce – Jean Harlow – Judy Holliday – Dorothy Parker – E. M. Forster – Henry Miller – Bob Welch – Christopher Lee

RobertthebruceOn this day in 1329, King of Scots from 25 March 1306, until his death, one of Scotland’s greatest kings and one of the most famous warriors of his generation, one of Scotland’s national heroes, Robert the Bruce, Robert I died on 7 June 1329, at the Manor of Cardross, near Dumbarton at the age of 54.  Born 11 July 1274 most likely in Turnberry Castle in Ayrshire, the head of his mother’s earldom.  Robert led Scotland during the Wars of Scottish Independence against England.  He fought successfully during his reign to regain Scotland’s place as an independent nation.

Dunfermline_Abbey_-_entrance

The Final Footprint – Robert’s final wish reflected conventional piety, and was perhaps intended to perpetuate his memrory.  After his death his heart was to be removed from his body and borne by a noble knight on a crusade against the Saracens and carried to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, before being brought back to Scotland.  He died utterly fulfilled, in that the goal of his lifetime’s struggle, untrammelled recognition of the Bruce right to the crown, had been realised, and confident that he was leaving the kingdom of Scotland safely in the hands of his most trusted lieutenant, Moray, until his infant son reached adulthood.  Six days after his death, to complete his triumph still further, papal bulls were issued granting the privilege of unction at the coronation of future Kings of Scots.

The king’s body was embalmed and his sternum was sawn to allow extraction of the heart, which Sir James Douglas placed in a silver casket to be worn on a chain around his neck.  The body was taken to Dunfermline Abbey, and Robert the Bruce was entombed in what was then the very centre of the abbey, beneath the high altar, and beside his queen.  The king’s tomb was carved in Paris by Thomas of Chartres from alabaster brought from England and was decorated with gold leaf.  The tomb was transported to Dunfermline via Bruges and was erected over the king’s grave in the autumn of 1330.  Ten alabaster fragments from the tomb are on display in the National Museum of Scotland and traces of gilding still remain on some of them.

When a projected international crusade failed to materialise, Douglas and his company sailed to Spain where Alfonso XI of Castile was mounting a campaign against the Moorish kingdom of Granada.  Douglas was killed in battle during the siege of Teba in August 1330 while fulfilling his promise.  His body and the casket containing the embalmed heart were found together upon the field.  They were both conveyed back to Scotland by Sir William Keith of Galston.  In accordance with Bruce’s written request, the heart was buried at Melrose Abbey in Roxburghshire.  In 1920, the heart was discovered by archaeologists and was reburied, but the location was not marked.  In 1996, a casket was unearthed during construction work.  Scientific study by AOC archaeologists in Edinburgh, demonstrated that it did indeed contain human tissue and it was of appropriate age.  It was reburied in Melrose Abbey in 1998, pursuant to the dying wishes of the King.

Portrayed in Mel Gibson’s film Braveheart by Angus Macfadyen.

jeanHarlow_stillOn this day in 1937, actress, Baby, the Blonde Bombshell, the Platinum Blonde, Jean Harlow died of renal failure in Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles at the age of 26.  Born Harlean Harlow Carpenter on 3 March 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri.  Howard Hughes signed Harlow to a contract and she appeared in his film Hell’s Angels (1930).  She was one of the biggest stars in Hollywood in the 1930’s and appeared in five films with Clark Gable.  Harlow married three times: Charles McGrew (1927-1929 divorce), Paul Bern (1932-1932 his death), Harold Rosson (1933-1934 divorce).  After her third marriage ended in 1934, Harlow met William Powell, another MGM star, and quickly fell in love.  Reportedly the couple were engaged for two years, but differences kept them from formalizing their relationship (she wanted children; he did not).  Harlow also said that Louis B. Mayer would never allow them to marry.

The Final Footprint – Harlow is entombed in a private family room in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California.  Her crypt is lettered; OUR BABY.  She was buried in the gown she wore in Libeled Lady and in her hands she held a white gardenia and a note which Powell had written: “Goodnight, my dearest darling.”  Spaces in the same room were reserved for Harlow’s mother and Powell.  Harlow’s mother was entombed there in 1958, but Powell remarried in 1940 and after his death in 1984 was cremated: his ashes were scattered over the Palm Springs Desert area.  Gable was a pallbearer.  Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Sam Cooke, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.

#RIP #OTD in 1965 actress (Bells are Ringing, The Solid Gold Cadillac, Adam’s Rib) , comedian, singer Judy Holliday died at Manhattan’s Mount Sinai Hospital from metastatic breast cancer aged 43. Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

On this day in 1967, poet, writer, screenwriter, critic, and satirist Dorothy Parker died of a heart attack in New York City, at the age of 73. Born Dorothy Rothschild on August 22, 1893 in Long Branch New Jersey. Perhaps best known for her wit, wisecracks, and eye for 20th-century urban foibles.

From a conflicted and unhappy childhood, Parker rose to acclaim, both for her literary works published in such magazines as The New Yorker and as a founding member of the Algonquin Round Table. Following the breakup of the circle, Parker traveled to Hollywood to pursue screenwriting. Her successes there, including two Academy Award nominations, were curtailed when her involvement in left-wing politics resulted in her being placed on the Hollywood blacklist.

Dismissive of her own talents, she deplored her reputation as a “wisecracker”. Nevertheless, both her literary output and reputation for sharp wit have endured. Some of her works have been set to music; adaptations notably include the operatic song cycle Hate Songs by composer Marcus Paus.

The Final Footprint

In her will, she bequeathed her estate to Martin Luther King Jr. Following King’s death, her estate was bequeathed by his family to the NAACP. Her executor, Lillian Hellman, unsuccessfully contested this disposition. She was cremated. Her cremated remains remained unclaimed in various places, including her attorney Paul O’Dwyer’s filing cabinet, for approximately 17 years. A portion of her cremated remains are interred at the Dorothy Parker Memorial Garden, Baltimore. She proposed “Excuse My Dust” as her epitaph.

Quotes…

  • Too fucking busy, and vice versa.
    • Response to an editor pressuring her for overdue work, as quoted in The Unimportance of Being Oscar (1968) by Oscar Levant, p. 89
  • It serves me right for putting all my eggs in one bastard.
    • On her abortion, as quoted in You Might as well Live by John Keats (1970)
  • You can lead a horticulture, but you can’t make her think.
    • Parker’s answer when asked to use the word horticulture during a game of Can-You-Give-Me-A-Sentence?, as quoted in You Might as well Live by John Keats (1970).
  • What fresh hell can this be?
    • “If the doorbell rang in her apartment, she would say, ‘What fresh hell can this be?’ — and it wasn’t funny; she meant it.” You might as well live: the life and times of Dorothy Parker, John Keats (Simon Schuster, 1970, p124). Often quoted as “What fresh hell is this?” as in the title of the 1987 biography by Marion Meade, “Dorothy Parker: What Fresh Hell Is This?”.
  • If you have any young friends who aspire to become writers, the second greatest favor you can do them is to present them with copies of The Elements of Style. The first greatest, of course, is to shoot them now, while they’re happy.
    • From a review of the revised edition of “The Elements of Style” by William Strunk Jr. and E. B. White published in Esquire, November 1959.

#RIP #OTD in 1970 author (A Room with a View, Howards End, A Passage to India) E. M. Forster died of a stroke in Coventry, Warwickshire, England, aged 91. Cremated remains, mingled with those of Bob Buckingham, scattered in the rose garden of Canley Garden Cemetery and Crematorium

#RIP #OTD in 1980 novelist (Tropic of Cancer, Black Spring, Tropic of Capricorn, The Rosy Crucifixion) Henry Miller died of circulatory complications at his home in Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles, aged 88. Cremated remains scattered in Big Sur

On this day in 2012, musician, songwriter, former member of Fleetwood Mac, Bob Welch died from a self-inflicted gunshot to the chest in his Nashville home, at the age of 66.  Born Robert Lawrence Welch, Jr. on 31 August 1945 in Los Angeles.  Welch had a successful solo career in the late 1970s. His singles included “Hot Love, Cold World”, “Ebony Eyes”, “Precious Love”, and his signature “Sentimental Lady”.

The Final Footprint – Memorial Park Cemetery in Memphis. Other notable final footprints at Memorial Park include; Bobby Bland, Isaac Hayes, Sam Phillips, and Charlie Rich.

christopherleeOn this day in 2015, actor, singer, and author Christopher Lee died at the Chelsea and Westminster Hospital, Chelsea, London, after being admitted for respiratory problems and heart failure, shortly after celebrating his 93rd birthday.  Born Christopher Frank Carandini Lee in BelgraviaWestminsterLondon, on 27 May 1922.  With a career spanning nearly 70 years, Lee initially portrayed villains and became known for his role as Count Dracula in a sequence of Hammer Horror films.  His other film roles include Francisco Scaramanga in the James Bond film The Man with the Golden Gun (1974), Saruman inThe Lord of the Rings film trilogy (2001–2003) and The Hobbit film trilogy (2012–2014), and Count Dooku in the final two films of the Star Wars prequel trilogy (2002 and 2005).

Lee was knighted for services to drama and charity in 2009, received the BAFTA Fellowship in 2011 and received the BFI Fellowship in 2013.  Noted as an actor for his deep strong voice, Lee was also known for his singing ability, recording various opera and musical pieces between 1986 and 1998 and the symphonic metal album Charlemagne: By the Sword and the Cross in 2010.  The heavy metal follow-up titled Charlemagne: The Omens of Death was released on 27 May 2013.  He was honoured with the “Spirit of Metal” award at the 2010 Metal Hammer Golden God awards ceremony.  Lee married Danish painter and former model Birgit “Gitte” Krøncke (1961-2015).

The Final Footprint – Cremains scattered, Surrey Hills in England.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Film Footprints, Literary Footprints, Musical Footprints, Royal Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

On this day 6 June death of Patrick Henry – Louis Lumière – Robert F. Kennedy – Kenneth Rexroth – Anne Bancroft – Billy Preston – Esther Williams – Dr. John

Patrick_henryOn this day in 1799, attorney, planter, politician, orator, and Founding Father, Patrick Henry died of stomach cancer at Red Hill, his plantation near Brookneal, Virginia at the age of 63.  Born 29 May 1736 in Hanover County, Virginia.  Remembered for his “Give me Liberty, or give me Death!” speech.


The Final Footprint – Henry is entombed in a private mausoleum at Red Hill.

#RIP #OTD in 1948, along with brother Auguste, manufacturer of photography equipment & the Cinématographe motion picture system, filmmaker, Louis Lumière died in Bandol, France, aged 83. Family tomb, New Guillotière Cemetery, Lyon

Robert_F__Kennedy_1964-203x300On this day in 1968, politician, civil rights activist, RFK, Robert F. Kennedy died at Good Samaritan Hospital in Los Angeles from gunshot wounds sustained at The Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles at the age of 42.  Born Robert Francis Kennedy on 20 November 1925 in Brookline, Massachusetts.  He was the younger brother of John F. Kennedy and the older brother of Edward M. Kennedy.  RFK was a graduate of Harvard and obtained his law degree from the University of Virginia.  He served as Attorney General of the United States (1961-1964) first under his brother, JFK, then briefly under LBJ.  Following JFK’s assassination, at the 1964 Democratic National Convention in Atlantic City, New Jersey, RFK quoted Shakespeare (from Romeo and Juliet) in speaking of his brother;

“[…] and when [he] shall die
Take him and cut him out in little stars,
And he will make the face of heaven so fine
That all the world will be in love with night
And pay no worship to the garish sun”

RFK resigned as AG to successfully run for United States Senator from New York.  He declared his candidacy for the President of the United States on 16 March 1968, fifteen days before LBJ stunned the nation with his announcement that he would not seek reelection.  RFK was assassinated shortly after winning the California Democratic primary.  RFK was married to Ethel Sakel (1950-1968 his death).  One of my favorite quotes is by RFK:

“Some people see things as they are and ask why – I dream things that never were and say why not.”

The Final FootprintHis body was returned to New York City, where it lay in repose at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral for several days before the Requiem Mass held there on June 8.  His brother, Ted, eulogized him with the words:

“My brother need not be idealized, or enlarged in death beyond what he was in life; to be remembered simply as a good and decent man, who saw wrong and tried to right it, saw suffering and tried to heal it, saw war and tried to stop it. Those of us who loved him and who take him to his rest today, pray that what he was to us and what he wished for others will some day come to pass for all the world. As he said many times, in many parts of this nation, to those he touched and who sought to touch him: ‘Some men see things as they are and say why. I dream things that never were and say why not.’

The Requiem Mass concluded with the hymn, “The Battle Hymn of the Republic” sung by Andy Williams.  Immediately following the Requiem Mass, his body was transported by a private train to Washington, D.C.  Thousands of mourners lined the tracks and stations along the route, paying their respects as the train passed.  This slow transport delayed arrival at Arlington National Cemetery, causing it to be the first night burial to have taken place there.  RFK was buried near his brother, JFK. He had always maintained that he wished to be buried in Massachusetts, but his family believed that since the brothers had been so close in life, they should be near each other in death.  In accordance with his wishes, RFK was buried with the bare-minimum military escort and ceremony.  The casket was borne from the train by 13 pallbearers, including former astronaut John Glenn, former Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara, family friend Gen. Maxwell Taylor, RFK’s eldest son Joe and his brother Ted.  Archbishop Terence Cooke of New York and Patrick Cardinal O’Boyle, Archbishop of Washington, conducted the brief graveside service.  Afterward Glenn presented the folded flag on behalf of the United States to Ethel and Joe Kennedy.  In August 2009, Ted was also buried at Arlington, near his brothers.  Other notable Final Footprints at Arlington include; Space Shuttle Challenger, Space Shuttle Columbia, Medgar Evers, Dashiell Hammett, JFK, Jacqueline Bouvier Kennedy Onassis, Edward Kennedy, Malcolm Kilduff, Jr., Lee Marvin and Audie Murphy.

Kenneth_RexrothOn this day in 1982, poet, translator, essayist, “The Father of the Beats”, Kenneth Rexroth died in Santa Barbara, California at the age of 76.  Born Kenneth Charles Marion Rexroth in South Bend, Indiana on 22 December 1905.   In my opinion, one of the central figures in the San Francisco Renaissance.  Although he apparently did not consider himself to be a Beat poet, and disliked the association, he was dubbed the “Father of the Beats” by Time.  He was among the first poets in the United States to explore traditional Japanese poetic forms such as haiku.  Much of Rexroth’s work can be classified as “erotic” or “love poetry,” given his deep fascination with transcendent love.  Rexroth married four times;  Andrée Dutcher (1927-1940), Marie Kass (1941-1955), Marthe Larsen (1949- ), Carol Tinker ( – 1982 his death).

The Final Footprint – Rexroth is interred on the grounds of the Santa Barbara Cemetery Association overlooking the sea.  While all the other graves face inland, his alone faces the Pacific.  His epitaph reads, “As the full moon rises / The swan sings in sleep / On the lake of the mind.”  According to association records, he is interred near the corner of Island and Bluff boulevards, in Block C of the Sunset section, Plot 18.  Other notable Final Footprints at Santa Barbara include actor Laurence Harvey, Fess Parker, and Suzy Parker (no relation to Fess).

#RIP #OTD in 2005 actress (The Miracle Worker, The Pumpkin Eater, The Graduate, The Turning Point, Agnes of God) Anne Bancroft died from uterine cancer at Mount Sinai Hospital in Manhattan, aged 73. Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York


Billy_PrestonOn this day in 2006, musician and songwriter, the Fifth Beatle, Billy Preston died in Scottsdale, Arizona, of complications of malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications at the age of 59.  Born William Everett Preston on 2 September 1946 in Houston.  Preston became famous first as a session musician with artists such as Little Richard, Sam Cooke, Ray Charles and the Beatles, and was later successful as a solo artist with hit pop singles including “Outa-Space”, its sequel, “Space Race”, “Will It Go Round in Circles” and “Nothing from Nothing”, and a string of albums and guest appearances with Eric Clapton, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and others.  In addition, Preston was co-author, with The Beach Boys’ Dennis Wilson, of “You Are So Beautiful,” recorded by Preston and later a #5 hit for Joe Cocker.

Alongside Tony Sheridan, Billy Preston was the only other musician to be credited on a Beatles recording: the artists on the number-one hit “Get Back” are given as “The Beatles with Billy Preston”.  Stephen Stills asked Preston if he could use Preston’s phrase “if you can’t be with the one you love, love the one you’re with” and created the hit song.

The Final Footprint – His funeral was held on June 20 at the Faithful Central Bible Church in Inglewood, California, where his remains were entombed at Inglewood Park Cemetery.  Other notable Final Footprints at Inglewood Park include; Ray Charles, Ella Fitzgerald, Betty Grable, Etta James, Robert Kardashian, Gypsy Rose Lee, Cesar Romero, Big Mama Thornton, T-Bone Walker, and Syreeta Wright.

#RIP #OTD 2013 competitive swimmer, actress (Neptune’s Daughter, Dangerous When Wet, Jupiter’s Darling), Esther Williams died in her sleep in her Los Angeles home aged 91. cremated, and her cremated were scattered in the Pacific Ocean

#RIP #OTD in 2019 musician, singer (‘’Right Place, Wrong Time”), songwriter. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, funk, and R&B, Dr. John (Malcolm John Rebennack, Jr.) died of a heart attack in New Orleans aged 77. Saint Louis Cemetery Number 1, New Orleans


Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in American Icon, Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Musical Footprints, Political Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 5 June death of Stephen Crane – O. Henry – Maurice McIntire – Conway Twitty – Mel Tormé – Dee Dee Ramone – Ronald Reagan – Ray Bradbury

Crane2On this day in 1900, novelist, short story writer, poet and journalist Stephen Crane died from tuberculosis at a health spa in Badenweiler, Germany at the age of 28.  Born 1 November 1871, in Newark, New Jersey.  Prolific throughout his short life, he wrote notable works in the Realist tradition as well as early examples of American Naturalism and Impressionism.  He is recognized by modern critics as one of the most innovative writers of his generation.  Crane’s first novel was the 1893 Bowery tale Maggie: A Girl of the Streets, which critics generally consider the first work of American literary Naturalism.  He won international acclaim for his 1895 Civil War novel The Red Badge of Courage, which he wrote without any battle experience.

In 1896, Crane endured a highly publicized scandal after appearing as a witness in the trial of a suspected prostitute.  Late that year, he accepted an offer to cover the Spanish-American War as a war correspondent.  As he waited in Jacksonville, Florida, for passage to Cuba, he met Cora Taylor, the madam of a brothel, with whom he would have a lasting relationship.

At the time of his death, Crane was considered an important figure in American literature. After he was nearly forgotten for two decades, critics revived interest in his life and work.  Although recognized primarily for The Red Badge of Courage, which has become an American classic, Crane is also known for short stories such as “The Open Boat”, “The Blue Hotel”, “The Bride Comes to Yellow Sky”, and The Monster.

Cranegravestone
The Final Footprint – Crane was interred in the Evergreen Cemetery in what is now Hillside, New Jersey.

o henry_by_doubledayOn this day in 1910, writer O. Henry died of cirrhosis of the liver, complications of diabetes, and an enlarged heart in New York City at the age of 47.  Born William Sydney Porter on 11 September 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina.  O. Henry’s short stories are known for their wit, wordplay, warm characterization and clever twist endings.  Among his most famous stories are: “The Gift of the Magi”, “The Ransom of Red Chief”, “The Cop and the Anthem”, “A Retrieved Reformation”, and “The Duplicity of Hargraves”.

The Final Footprint – After funeral services in New York City, he was buried in the Riverside Cemetery in Asheville, North Carolina.

On this day in 1960, less than a month before I was born, my maternal grandfather, United States Army veteran, Mac, Maurice William McIntire died by suicide in Rockport, Texas aged 59.  He is interred in Fort Sam Houston Cemetery in San Antonio.

Conway_Twitty_1974On this day in 1993, singer and songwriter Conway Twitty died in Springfield, Missouri, at Cox South Hospital, from an abdominal aortic aneurysm, aged 59.  Born Harold Lloyd Jenkins on 1 September 1933 in Friars Point in Coahoma County in northwestern Mississippi.  He held the record for the most number one singles of any act, with 40 No. 1 Billboard country hits, until George Strait broke the record in 2006.  From 1971 to 1976, Twitty received a string of Country Music Association awards for duets with Loretta Lynn.  Although never a member of the Grand Ole Opry, he was inducted into both the Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame.


The Final Footprint – Twitty is entombed in an outdoor garden mausoleum in Sumner Memorial Gardens in Gallatin, Tennessee.

#RIP #OTD in 1999 musician, singer, composer (“The Christmas Song” (“Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire”), arranger, drummer, actor, author, “The Velvet Fog” Mel Tormé  died from a stroke in Los Angeles, aged 73. Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles

#RIP #OTD in 2002 musician, singer, songwriter (“53rd & 3rd”, “Chinese Rock”, “Commando”, “Wart Hog”, “Rockaway Beach”, “Poison Heart”, “Bonzo Goes To Bitburg”), Dee Dee Ramone, Douglas Colvin died; heroin overdose at his home in Hollywood, aged 50. Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Ronald_Reagan_with_cowboy_hat_12-0071M_editOn this day in 2004, radio, film and television actor, 33rd Governor of California, 40th President of the United States, Dutch, Ronald Reagan died at his home in Bel Air, California of Alzheimer’s disease at the age of 93.  Born Ronald Wilson Reagan on 6 February 2011 in Tampico, Illinois.  His father was the descendant of Irish Catholic immigrants from County Tipperary while his mother had Scots-English ancestors.  His father nicknamed him Dutch after his Dutchboy haircut.

Reagan was educated at Eureka College in Eureka, Illinois with a Bachelor of Arts degree in economics and sociology.  After graduation, Reagan first moved to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then in 1937 to Los Angeles, California.  He began a career as an actor, first in films and later television, appearing in over 50 movie productions and earning enough success to become a famous, publicly recognized figure.  Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and later spokesman for General Electric (GE).  Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962.  After delivering a rousing speech in support of Barry Goldwater’s presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970.  He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but won both the nomination and election, defeating incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980.

As president, Reagan implemented sweeping new political and economic initiatives.  His supply-side economic policies, dubbed “Reaganomics,” advocated reducing tax rates to spur economic growth, controlling the money supply to reduce inflation, deregulation of the economy, and reducing government spending.  In his first term he survived an assassination attempt, took a hard line against labor unions, and ordered a military action in Grenada.  He was reelected in a landslide in 1984, proclaiming it was “Morning in America.”  I remember watching his election victory speech and I will never forget him saying, if you liked what you saw in the first four years, “You ain’t seen nothin’ yet!”  His support of anti-Communist movements worldwide, his decision to publicly call the Soviet Union an “evil empire”, and his policy of forgoing the strategy of détente by ordering a massive military buildup in an arms race with the USSR, contributed to the end of the Cold War.  Reagan went to the Berlin Wall and challenged Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”.  Reagan was married twice; Jane Wyman (1940-1948 divorce) and Nancy Davis (1952-2004 his death).  He ranks highly in public opinion polls of U.S. Presidents, and is a conservative icon.  He is one of my favorite presidents.  Reagan put the swagger back in America.

The Final Footprint – Reagan’s body was taken to the Kingsley and Gates Funeral Home in Santa Monica, California where well-wishers paid tribute by laying flowers and American flags in the grass.  On June 7, his body was removed and taken to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library, where a brief family funeral was held.  His body lay in repose in the Library lobby until June 9.  Reagan’s body was then flown to Washington, D.C. where he became the tenth United States president to lie in state.  On 11 June, a state funeral was conducted in the Washington National Cathedral, presided over by President George W. Bush.  Eulogies were given by former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, former Canadian Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and both Presidents Bush.  Also in attendance were Gorbachev, and many world leaders, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair, German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder, Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, and interim presidents Hamid Karzai of Afghanistan, and Ghazi al-Yawer of Iraq.  After the funeral, the Reagan entourage was flown back to the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in California, where another service was held, and President Reagan was interred.  His was the first state funeral in the United States since that of President Lyndon B. Johnson in 1973.  His burial site is inscribed with the words he delivered at the opening of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library: ”

Ray_Bradbury_(1975)_-cropped-On this day in 2012, fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery fiction writer, Ray Bradbury died in Los Angeles, California, at the age of 91, after a lengthy illness.  Born Ray Douglas Bradbury on 22 August 1920 in Waukegan, Illinois.  Perhaps best known for his dystopian novel Fahrenheit 451 (1953) and for the science fiction and horror stories gathered together as The Martian Chronicles (1950) and The Illustrated Man (1951).  Bradbury was one of the most celebrated 20th-century American writers.  Many of Bradbury’s works have been adapted into comic books, television shows and films.

The Final Footprint – Bradbury is interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery (a Dignity Memorial property) in Los Angeles.  Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Sammy Cahn, Truman Capote, James Coburn, Rodney Dangerfield, Janet Leigh, Farrah Fawcett, Hugh Hefner, Brian Keith, Don Knotts, Burt Lancaster, Peter Lawford, Peggy Lee, Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden, Dean Martin, Walter Mathau, Marilyn Monroe, Carroll O’Connor, Roy Orbison, George C. Scott, Dorothy Stratten, Natalie Wood, and Frank Zappa.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in American Icon, Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Film Footprints, Literary Footprints, Musical Footprints, Political Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

On this day 4 June death of Casanova – Ronnie Lane – Clarence Williams III

Casanova_ritratto-150x150On this day in 1798, Italian adventurer, author from the Republic of Venice, and famous lover, Giacomo Girolamo Casanova de Seingalt died at age 73 in Duchcov, Kingdom of Bohemia, Holy Roman Empire, now the Czech Republic.  Born Giacomo Girolamo Casanova in Venice on 2 April 1725.  His autobiography, Histoire de ma vie (Story of My Life), is regarded as one of the most authentic sources of the customs and norms of European social life during the 18th century.  As was not uncommon at the time, Casanova often used pseudonyms, the most frequent being Chevalier de Seingalt.  He also published abundantly in French under the name Jacques Casanova de Seingalt.  He has become so famous for his often complicated and elaborate affairs with women that his name is now synonymous with “womanizer”.  He spent his last 13 years in in the Castle of Dux, Bohemia (Duchcov Castle, Czech Republic) as a librarian in Count Waldstein’s household, and wrote the story of his life.

casanova grave

The Final Footprint –  Casanova was buried at Dux, but the exact place of his grave was forgotten over the years and remains unknown today.  His last words are said to have been “I have lived as a philosopher and I die as a Christian”.

ronnielane-205x300On this day in 1997, musician, songwriter, producer, member of both Small Faces and Faces, Ronnie Lane died from multiple sclerosis in Trinidad, Colorado at the age of 51.  Born Ronald Frederick Lane on 1 April 1946  in Forest Gate, a working class area in the East End of London.  Lane formed the Faces with Ian McLagan, Kenney Jones, Ronnie Wood and Rod Stewart in 1969.  Faces was a great band, one of my favorites.  Lane was married to Susan Gallegos at the time of his death.

The Final Footprint – Lane is interred in the Masonic Cemetery in Trinidad, Colorado.  His grave is marked by an upright companion granite monument.  On one side is engraved; LANE / God Bless Us All.

#RIP #OTD in 2021 actor (The Mod Squad, Purple Rain, 52 Pick-Up, Tales from the Hood, Hoodlum, Half Baked, Life, American Gangster,  Reindeer Games) Clarence Williams III died in Los Angeles from colon cancer, aged 81. St Charles Cemetery, East Farmingdale, New York

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

On this Day 3 June death of Georges Bizet – Johann Strauss II – Franz Kafka – Dory Funk – Roberto Rossellini – Will Sampson – Anthony Quinn – David Carradine – Koko Taylor – Muhammad Ali

Georges_bizetOn this day in 1875, composer and pianist of the Romantic era, Georges Bizet died on his sixth wedding anniversary, from heart failure at the age of 36 in Bougival (Yvelines), about 10 miles west of Paris.  Born Georges Alexandre César Léopold Bizet on 25 October 1838 at 26 rue de la Tour d’Auvergne in the 9th arrondissement of Paris.  Perhaps best know for his opera Carmen.  Carmen, which is based on a novella of the same title written in 1846 by the French writer Prosper Mérimée, premiered on 3 March 1875, at the Opéra-Comique in Paris, but received an initial lukewarm reception.  Bizet was reportedly bitterly disappointed.  Of course, Carmen has since become one of the most popular works in the entire operatic repertoire.  In June 1862 the Bizet family’s maid, Marie Reiter, gave birth to a son, Jean Bizet.  Bizet married Geneviève Halévy (1869–1875 his death).  Bravo Bizet!  Dear reader, I strongly suggest you purchase/download Carmen and see it live when you can.

The Final Footprint – Bizet is entombed in  Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris.  His tomb is marked by an upright marble or stone monument with his bronze bust on top.  The names of his operas are engraved on the side of the monument.  The following is engraved on the front; SA FAMILLE ET SES AMIS (His family and friends).  Other notable Final Footprints at Père Lachaise include; Guillaume Apollinaire, Honoré de Balzac, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Auguste Comte, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot, 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 1899 composer (“The Blue Danube”, “Kaiser-Walzer”, “Tales from the Vienna Woods”, operetta Die Fledermaus), “The Waltz King”, Johann Strauss II died from pleuropneumonia in Vienna, aged 73. Zentralfriedhof, Vienna

On this day in 1924, German-language writer of novels and short stories, one of the most influential authors of the 20th century, Franz Kafka died from complications of laryngeal tuberculosis at a sanatorium in Kierling near Vienna, at the age of 40.  Born near the Old Town Square in Prague on 3 July 1883.  Kafka strongly influenced genres such as existentialism.  His works, “Die Verwandlung” (“The Metamorphosis”), Der Process (The Trial), and Das Schloss (The Castle), are filled with the themes and archetypes of alienation, physical and psychological brutality, parent/child conflict, characters on a terrifying quest, and mystical transformations.  The term Kafkaesque has entered the English language to describe surreal situations.

He trained as a lawyer and after completing his legal education was employed full-time by an insurance company, forcing him to relegate writing to his spare time. Over the course of his life, Kafka wrote hundreds of letters to family and close friends, including his father, with whom he had a strained and formal relationship. He became engaged to several women but never married. 

Few of Kafka’s works were published during his lifetime: the story collections Betrachtung (Contemplation) and Ein Landarzt (A Country Doctor), and individual stories (such as “Die Verwandlung“) were published in literary magazines but received little public attention. His work has influenced writers, critics, artists, and philosophers during the 20th and 21st centuries.

Kafka graveThe Final Footprint – Kafka’s body was brought back to Prague where he was buried on 11 June 1924, in the New Jewish Cemetery in Prague-Žižkov. In his will, Kafka instructed his executor and friend Max Brod to destroy his unfinished works, including his novels Der Prozess, Das Schloss and Der Verschollene (translated as both Amerika and The Man Who Disappeared), but Brod ignored these instructions.

Dory_FunkOn this day in 1973, United States Navy veteran, professional wrestler, humanitarian, Dory Funk died at St. Anthony’s Hospital in Amarillo, Texas from a heart attack at the age of 54.  Born Dorrance Wilhelm Funk on 4 May 1919 in Hammond, Indiana.  Funk is the father of wrestlers Dory Funk, Jr. and Terry Funk.  He founded The Double Cross Ranch near Amarillo.  He was a long time supporter of the Cal Farley Boys Ranch.  As a boy growing up in the Texas Panhandle, I watched the Funks wrestle on television.  We called it “big time wrastlin'”.


The Final Footprint
– Funk is interred in Dreamland Cemetery in Canyon, Texas.

On this day in 1977, film director, screenwriter, and producer Roberto Rossellini died of a heart attack in Rome at the age of 71. Born Roberto Gastone Zeffiro Rossellini on 8 May 1906 in . Rossellini was one of the directors of the Italian neorealist cinema, contributing to the movement with films such as Rome, Open City (1945), Paisan (1946), Germany, Year Zero (1948), and General Della Rovere (1959).

On 26 September 1936, he married Marcella De Marchis (17 January 1916, Rome – 25 February 2009, Sarteano), a costume designer with whom he collaborated even after their marriage was over. This was after a quick annulment from Assia Noris, a Russian actress who worked in Italian films. Rossellini and De Marchis separated in 1950 (and eventually divorced). Rossellini produced two films now classified as the ‘Transitional films’: L’Amore (1948) (with Anna Magnani) and La macchina ammazzacattivi (1952), on the capability of cinema to portray reality and truth (with recalls of commedia dell’arte). In 1948, Rossellini received a letter from a famous foreign actress proposing a collaboration:

Dear Mr. Rossellini,
I saw your films Open City and Paisan, and enjoyed them very much. If you need a Swedish actress who speaks English very well, who has not forgotten her German, who is not very understandable in French, and who in Italian knows only “ti amo,” I am ready to come and make a film with you.
Ingrid Bergman

With this letter began one of the best known love stories in film history, with Bergman and Rossellini both at the peak of their careers. Their first collaboration was Stromboli terra di Dio (1950) (in the island of Stromboli, whose volcano quite conveniently erupted during filming). This affair caused a great scandal in some countries with Bergman and Rossellini both being married to other people. Rossellini and Bergman married in 1950.

In 1957, Jawaharlal Nehru, the Indian Prime Minister at the time, invited him to India to make the documentary India and put some life into the floundering Indian Films Division. Though married to Bergman, he had an affair with Sonali Das Gupta, a screenwriter, herself married to local filmmaker Hari Sadhan Das Gupta, who was helping develop vignettes for the film. Given the climate of the 1950s, this led to a scandal in India as well as in Hollywood. Nehru had to ask Rossellini to leave. Soon after, Bergman and Rossellini separated.

Rossellini eloped with Sonali Das Gupta, when she was only 27 years old and later married her in 1957. In 1973 Rossellini left Sonali for a young woman, Silvia D’Amico.

The Final Footprint

 Rossellini is entombed in the Rossellini family mausoleum in Cimitero Comunale Monumentale Campo Verano. Another notable final footprints at Camp Verano include; Grazia Deledda and Marcelo Mastroianni. 

willsampson

On this day in 1987, actor and artist, Native American Muscogee (Creek), Will Sampson died in Houston after undergoing a heart and lung transplant of post-operative kidney failure and pre-operative malnutrition problems, at the age of 53.  Born in Okmulgee, Oklahoma on 27 September 1933.  Perhaps his most notable roles were as “Chief Bromden” in the Miloš Forman film One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975)based on the 1962 novel of the same name by Ken Kesey; as “Ten Bears” in the Clint Eastwood film The Outlaw Josey Wales (1976) based on the novel Gone to Texas by Forrest Carter; and as Crazy Horse in The White Buffalo (1977).  Sampson was also an artist.  His large painting depicting the Ribbon Dance of his Muscogee people is in the collection of the Creek Council House Museum in Okmulgee, Oklahoma.

The Final Footprint – Sampson was interred at Graves Creek Cemetery in Hitchita, Oklahoma.

On this day in 2001, actor, painter, writer and film director Anthony Quinn died of respiratory failure, pneumonia and throat cancer in Boston, Massachusetts at the age of 86. Born Antonio Rodolfo Quinn Oaxaca on April 21, 1915 in Chihauhau, Mexico. He starred in numerous critically acclaimed and commercially successful films, including La StradaThe Guns of NavaroneZorba the GreekGuns for San SebastianLawrence of ArabiaThe Shoes of the FishermanThe MessageLion of the DesertLast Action Hero and A Walk in the Clouds. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor twice: for Viva Zapata! in 1952 and Lust for Life in 1956. In addition, he received two Academy Award nominations in the Best Leading Actor category, along with five Golden Globe nominations. In 1987, he was presented with the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Lifetime Achievement Award.

Quinn’s first wife was the adopted daughter of Cecil B. DeMille, the actress Katherine DeMille. They wed in 1937. The couple had five children. 

Quinn with Jolanda Addolori

In 1965, Quinn and DeMille were divorced, because of his affair with Italian costume designer Jolanda Addolori, whom he married in 1966. They had three children including the actor Francesco Quinn (March 22, 1963 – August 5, 2011). His marriage with Addolori finally ended in divorce in August 1997. He then married Katherine Benvin in December 1997. Quinn and Benvin remained married until his death, in June 2001.

The Final Footprint

His funeral was held in the First Baptist Church in America in College Hill, Providence, Rhode Island. Late in life, he had rejoined the Foursquare evangelical Christian community. He is buried in a family plot in Bristol, Rhode Island.

David Carradine
David Carradine Polanski Unauthorized.jpg

Carradine in April 2008

 

On this day in 2009 United States Army veteran, actor and martial artist David Carradine was found dead in a closet in his hotel room in Bangkok, Thailand due to a fatal autoerotic asphyxiation accident. Born John Arthur Carradine on December 8, 1936 in Hollywood. He is noted for his leading role as peace-loving Shaolin monk, Kwai Chang Caine, in the television series Kung Fu (1972–1975). He was also known for playing Frankenstein in Death Race 2000 (1975) and Bill in both Kill Bill films (2003–2004).

He was a member of the Carradine family of actors that began with his father, John Carradine. His father’s acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage and television, and in cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific “B” movie actor, David Carradine appeared in more than 100 feature films in a career spanning over sixty years. He received nominations for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award for his work on Kung Fu, and received three further Golden Globe nominations for his performances in Woody Guthrie biopic Bound for Glory (1976), the miniseries North and South (1985), and Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill: Volume 2, for which he won the Saturn Award for Best Supporting Actor.

Films that featured Carradine continued to be released after his death. These posthumous credits were from a variety of genres including action, documentaries, drama, horror, martial arts, science fiction, and westerns. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was a director and musician. Moreover, influenced by his Kung Fu role, he studied martial arts. On April 1, 1997, Carradine received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

Carradine as Caine.

 

Carradine in April 2005

 

Carradine in 2006

Shortly after being drafted into the Army in 1960, Carradine proposed marriage to Donna Lee Becht (born September 26, 1937), whom he had met while they were students at Oakland High School. They were married on Christmas Day that year. The marriage dissolved in 1968, whereupon Carradine left New York and headed back to California to continue his television and film careers.

In 1969, Carradine met actress Barbara Hershey while the two of them were working on Heaven with a Gun. The pair lived together until 1975. They appeared in other films together, including Martin Scorsese’s Boxcar Bertha. In 1972, they appeared together in a nude Playboy spread, recreating some sex scenes from Boxcar Bertha. The couple’s relationship fell apart around the time of Carradine’s 1974 burglary arrest, when Carradine began an affair with Season Hubley, who had guest-starred on Kung Fu. Carradine was engaged to Hubley for a time, but they never married.

In February 1977, Carradine married, in a civil ceremony in Munich, Germany, his second wife, Linda (née Linda Anne Gilbert), immediately following the filming of The Serpent’s Egg.

Carradine’s second marriage ended in divorce, as did the two that followed. He was married to Gail Jensen from 1986 to 1997. She died in April 2010, at the age of 60, of an alcohol-related illness. He was married to Marina Anderson from 1998 to 2001. By this time, Carradine had proclaimed himself to be a “serial monogamist.”

On December 26, 2004, Carradine married the widowed Annie Bierman (née Anne Kirstie Fraser, born December 21, 1960) at the seaside Malibu home of his friend Michael Madsen. Vicki Roberts, his attorney and a longtime friend of his wife’s, performed the ceremony.

The Final Footprint

Carradine was in Bangkok to shoot his latest film, titled Stretch. A police official said that he was found naked, hanging by a rope in the room’s closet.

Carradine’s funeral was held on June 13, 2009, in Los Angeles. His bamboo casket was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills. Among the many stars and family members who attended his private memorial were Tom Selleck, Lucy Liu, Frances Fisher, and James Cromwell. His grave was marked on December 3, 2009. The monument proclaimed him to be “The Barefoot Legend” and included a quote from “Paint”, a song he wrote and performed as the theme to Sonny Boy, as an epitaph. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larsen, Liberace, Strother Martin, Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, John Ritter, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, Paul Walker, and Jack Webb.

#RIP #OTD in 2009 blues singer (“Wang Dang Doodle”), “The Queen of the Blues”, Koko Taylor died from complications following surgery for gastrointestinal bleeding in Chicago, aged 80. Washington Memory Gardens, Homewood, Illinois

Muhammad Ali
Muhammad Ali NYWTS.jpg

Ali in 1967

 

On this day in 2016, 3x World Heavyweight Boxing Champion, activist, and philanthropist, The Greatest, Muhammad Ali died in Scottsdale, Arizona at the age of 74 from septic shock. Born Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. on January 17, 1942 in Louisville, Kentucky. He is widely regarded as one of the most significant and celebrated sports figures of the 20th century. From early in his career, Ali was known as an inspiring, controversial, and polarizing figure both inside and outside the ring.

He began training as an amateur boxer when he was 12 years old. At age 18, he won a gold medal in the light heavyweight division at the 1960 Summer Olympics in Rome and turned professional later that year. At age 22 in 1964, he won the WBA, WBC, and lineal heavyweight titles from Sonny Liston in a major upset. He then announced his conversion to Islam and changed his name from Cassius Clay, which he called his “slave name”, to Muhammad Ali. He set an example of racial pride for African Americans and resistance to white domination during the Civil Rights Movement.

In 1966, two years after winning the heavyweight title, Ali further antagonized the white establishment by refusing to be drafted into the U.S. military, citing his religious beliefs and opposition to American involvement in the Vietnam War. He was eventually arrested, found guilty of draft evasion charges, and stripped of his boxing titles. He successfully appealed the decision to the U.S. Supreme Court, which overturned his conviction in 1971, by which time he had not fought for nearly four years and thereby lost a period of peak performance as an athlete. Ali’s actions as a conscientious objector to the war made him an icon for the larger counterculture generation.

Ali remains the only three-time lineal heavyweight champion. He was ranked the greatest heavyweight boxer of all time by Ring Magazine and The Associated Press. He was also ranked as the greatest athlete of the 20th century by Sports Illustrated, and the Sports Personality of the Century by the BBC. Nicknamed “the Greatest”, he was involved in several historic boxing matches. Notable among these were the Liston fights; the “Fight of the Century”, “Super Fight II” and the “Thrilla in Manila” against his rival Joe Frazier; and “The Rumble in the Jungle” against George Foreman. 

At a time when most fighters let their managers do the talking, Ali thrived in and indeed craved the spotlight, where he was often provocative and outlandish. He was known for trash talking, and often freestyled with rhyme schemes and spoken word poetry, anticipating elements of rap and hip hop music. As a musician, Ali recorded two spoken word albums and a rhythm and blues song, and received two Grammy Award nominations. As an actor, he performed in several films and a Broadway musical. Additionally, Ali wrote two autobiographies, one during and one after his boxing career.

As a Muslim, Ali was initially affiliated with Elijah Muhammad’s Nation of Islam (NOI) and advocated their black separatist ideology. He later disavowed the NOI, adhering to Sunni Islam, practicing Sufism, and supporting racial integration, like his former mentor Malcolm X.

After retiring from boxing at age 39 in 1981, Ali focused on religion and charity. His efforts in philanthropy and humanitarianism include campaigning for various causes, donating millions to charity organizations and disadvantaged people, and helping to feed more than 22 million people afflicted by hunger. In 1984 Ali was diagnosed with Parkinson’s syndrome, which his doctors attributed to boxing-related brain injuries.

Ali in 1966
 

President Jimmy Carter greets Ali at a White House dinner, 1977
 

Ali was married four times and had seven daughters and two sons. Ali was introduced to cocktail waitress Sonji Roi by Herbert Muhammad and asked her to marry him after their first date. They were wed approximately one month later on August 14, 1964. They quarrelled over Sonji’s refusal to adhere to strict Islamic dress and behavior codes, and her questioning of Elijah Muhammad’s teachings. According to Ali, “She wouldn’t do what she was supposed to do. She wore lipstick; she went into bars; she dressed in clothes that were revealing and didn’t look right.” The marriage was childless and they divorced on January 10, 1966. Just before the divorce was finalized, Ali sent Sonji a note: “You traded heaven for hell, baby.”

On August 17, 1967, Ali married Belinda Boyd. After the wedding, she, like Ali, converted to Islam. She changed her name to Khalilah Ali, though she was still called Belinda by old friends and family. 

Ali was a resident of Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in the early 1970s. At age 32 in 1974, Ali began an illicit extramarital relationship with 16-year-old Wanda Bolton (who subsequently changed her name to Aaisha Ali). While still married to Belinda, Ali married Aaisha in an Islamic ceremony that was not legally recognized. 

In 1975, Ali began an affair with Veronica Porché, an actress and model. While Ali was in the Philippines for the “Thrilla in Manila” bout vs. Joe Frazier, Belinda was enraged when she saw Ali on television introducing Veronica to Ferdinand Marcos. She flew out to Manila to confront Ali and scratched his face when they argued. Belinda later said that her marriage to Ali was a “rollercoaster ride—it had its ups and its downs but it was fun”. 

By the summer of 1977, his second marriage was over and he had married Porché. By 1986, Ali and Porché were divorced.

On November 19, 1986, Ali married Yolanda (“Lonnie”) Williams. They had been friends since 1964 in Louisville.

Ali (seen in background) at an address by Elijah Muhammad in 1964

 
Malcolm X is holding a camera and taking a picture of Ali, who is sitting at a luncheonette counter

Malcolm X photographs Ali in February 1964, after Ali had defeated Sonny Liston to become world heavyweight champion.

 

President Ronald Reagan clowning with Ali in the Oval Office in 1983

 

Ali and Michael J. Fox testify before a Senate committee on providing government funding to combat Parkinson’s

 
 

The Final Footprint

Ali was hospitalized in Scottsdale on June 2, 2016, with a respiratory illness. Though his condition was initially described as “fair”, it worsened, and he died the following day at age 74 from septic shock. BET played their documentary Muhammad Ali: Made In Miami. ESPN played four hours of non-stop commercial-free coverage of Ali. News networks, such as ABC News, BBC, CNN, and Fox News, also covered him extensively.

Ali was mourned globally, and a family spokesman said the family “certainly believes that Muhammad was a citizen of the world … and they know that the world grieves with him.” Politicians such as Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, Bill Clinton, Donald Trump, David Cameron and more paid tribute to Ali. Ali also received numerous tributes from the world of sports including Michael Jordan, Tiger Woods, Floyd Mayweather, Mike Tyson, the Miami Marlins, LeBron James, Steph Curry and more. Louisville Mayor Greg Fischer stated, “Muhammad Ali belongs to the world. But he only has one hometown.”

Ali’s funeral had been preplanned by himself and others for several years prior to his actual death. The services began in Louisville on June 9, 2016, with an Islamic Janazah prayer service at Freedom Hall on the grounds of the Kentucky Exposition Center. On June 10, 2016, the funeral procession went through the streets of Louisville and ended at Cave Hill Cemetery, where Ali was interred during a private ceremony. His grave is marked with a simple granite marker that bears only his name. A public memorial service for Ali in downtown Louisville was held in the afternoon of June 10. The pallbearers included Will Smith, Lennox Lewis and Mike Tyson, with honorary pallbearers including George Chuvalo, Larry Holmes and George Foreman.

As Mrs. Lonnie Ali looks on, President George W. Bush embraces Muhammad Ali after presenting him with the Presidential Medal of Freedomon November 9, 2005, during ceremonies at the White House.

 

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

On this Day 2 June death of Lou Gehrig – Vita Sackville-West – Imogene Coca – Bo Diddley

louGehrig_croppedOn this day in 1941, baseball player, New York Yankee, 7x All-Star, 6x World Series Champion, Hall of Famer, The Iron Horse, Lou Gehrig died at his home in the Riverdale section of the Bronx, New York at the age of 37 from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), now commonly known in the United States and Canada as Lou Gehrig’s disease.  Born Henry Louis Gehrig on 19 June 1903 in the Yorkville section of Manhattan.  His legendary 17-year career was cut short by the disease.  Perhaps even more legendary is the strong dignity with which he faced his prognosis.  The Yankees announced his retirement and proclaimed 4 July 1939 as “Lou Gehrig Appreciation Day.”  In his speech that day, wearing his Yankee’s uniform, Gehrig in part said; “Fans, for the past two weeks you have been reading about the bad break I got.  Yet today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth.”  The Yankees retired his number four that day.  Gehrig was married to Eleanor Twitchell (1933-1941 his death).  She did not remarry.

The Final Footprint – Gehrig was cremated and his cremains are interred in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.  Eleanor was interred next to him following her death in 1984.  Their graves are marked by a companion upright granite marker.  Other notable final footprints at Kensico include; Anne Bancroft, Tommy Dorsey, Geraldine Farrar, Robert Merrill, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Ayn Rand, and Beverly Sills. Gary Cooper portrayed Gehrig in the movie The Pride of the Yankees (1942).  The Yankees added a monument to Monument Park to honor Gehrig.  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; Joe DiMaggio, Babe Ruth, George Steinbrenner, Roger Maris, Thurman Munson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Billy Martin, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, and Casey Stengel.

Vita_Sackville-WestOn this day in 1962, author, poet and one-time lover of Virginia Woolf, The Hon Victoria Mary Sackville-West, Lady Nicolson, died at the age of 70 in Sissinghurst Castle, Kent, England.  Born Victoria Mary Sackville-West at Knole House near Sevenoaks, Kent on 9 March 1892.  She won the Hawthornden Prize in 1927 and 1933.  She was known for her exuberant aristocratic life, her passionate affair with the novelist Woolf, and Sissinghurst Castle Garden, which she and her husband, Sir Harold Nicolson, created at their estate.  Woolf wrote one of her most famous novels, Orlando, described by Sackville-West’s son Nigel Nicolson as “the longest and most charming love-letter in literature”, as a result of her affair with Sackville-West.  The moment of the conception of Orlando was documented from Woolf’s diary on 5 October 1927: “And instantly the usual exciting devices enter my mind: a biography beginning in the year 1500 and continuing to the present day, called Orlando: Vita; only with a change about from one sex to the other”.

The Final Footprint – cremated remains entombed  in the Sackville family vault at Withyham Parish Church in East Sussex.

#RIP #OTD in 2001 actress (Your Show of Shows, National Lampoon’s Vacation) Imogene Coca died at her home in Westport, Connecticut, aged 92. Cremation.  Cremated remains scattered

On this day in 2008, singer, guitarist, songwriter and music producer Bo Diddley died of heart failure at his home in Archer, Florida at the age of 79. Born Ellas Otha Bates on December 30, 1928 in McCombs, Mississippi.  Diddley played a key role in the transition from the blues to rock and roll.

In my opinion, his use of African rhythms and a signature beat, a simple five-accent hambone rhythm, is a cornerstone of hip hop, rock, and pop. In recognition of his achievements, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and received Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Rhythm and Blues Foundation and a Grammy Award from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. He is also recognized for his technical innovations, including his distinctive rectangular guitar.

The Final Footprint – The gospel song, ‘Walk Around Heaven’ was sung at his bedside and when it was done he said ‘wow’ with a thumbs up.  His last words he said ‘I’m going to heaven.'”

His funeral, a four-hour “homegoing” service, took place on June 7, 2008, at Showers of Blessings Church in Gainesville, Florida, and kept in tune with the vibrant spirit of Bo Diddley’s life and career. The many in attendance chanted “Hey Bo Diddley” as a gospel band played the legend’s music. A number of notable musicians sent flowers, including George Thorogood, Tom Petty and Jerry Lee Lewis. Little Richard, who had been asking his audiences to pray for Bo Diddley throughout his illness, had to fulfill concert commitments in Westbury and New York City the weekend of the funeral. He took time at both concerts to remember his friend of a half-century, performing Bo’s namesake tune in his honor.

After the funeral service, a tribute concert was held at the Martin Luther King Center in Gainesville, Florida and featured guest performances by his son and daughter, Ellas McDaniel Jr. and Evelyn “Tan” Cooper; long-time background vocalist Gloria Jolivet; former Offspring guitarist and long-time friend and coproducer of “Bo Diddley put the rock in rock’n’roll,” Scott “Skyntyte” Free and Eric Burdon.  

Diddley is interred at Rosemary Hill Cemetery in Bronson, Florida.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Athletic Footprints, Day in History, Extravagant Footprints, Literary Footprints, Musical Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On this day 1 June death of Lizzie Borden – Leslie Howard – Helen Keller – Tito Puente – Jean Ritchie

#RIP #OTD 1927; woman tried and acquitted of the August 4, 1892, axe murders of her father and stepmother, Lizzie Borden died of pneumonia in Fall River, Massachusetts, aged 66. Interred next to her sister Emma in the family plot in Oak Grove Cemetery, Fall River

On this day in 1943, Academy Award nominated actor, director and producer, Leslie Howard died at the age of 50 when the civilian airliner he was flying on was shot down by German fighters over the Bay of Biscay, a gulf of the northeast Atlantic Ocean located south of the Celtic Sea.  Born Leslie Howard Steiner on 3 April 1893 in Forest Hill, London, England.
Perhaps best remembered for his role as Ashley Wilkes in Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind, produced by David O. Selznick and directed by Victor Fleming and starring Vivien Leigh as Scarlett O’ Hara, Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Butterfly McQueen as Prissy and Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O’ Hara.  Howard was married to Ruth Martin (1916-1943 his death).  Allegedly widely known for his affairs, he reportedly said that he “didn’t chase women but … couldn’t always be bothered to run away.”

The Final Footprint – Howard’s body was lost at sea in the Bay of Biscay.  Howard’s son and daughter each published memoirs of their father: In Search of My Father: A Portrait of Leslie Howard (1984) by Ronald Howard, and A Quite Remarkable Father: A Biography of Leslie Howard (1959) by Leslie Ruth Howard.  Estel Eforgan’s biography, Leslie Howard: The Lost Actor was published in 2010. Monument to the memory of Leslie Howard and his companions in Cedeira, Galicia (Spain).

#RIP #OTD in 1968 author, disability rights advocate, political activist and lecture Helen Keller died in her sleep at her home, Arcan Ridge, in Easton, Connecticut, aged 87. Cremated remains Washington National Cathedral in Washington, D.C.

#RIP #OTD in 2000, musician, songwriter (“Oye Como Va”), bandleader, record producer, known for his mambo & Latin jazz compositions, Tito Puente died from complications after heart valve surgery in New York City, aged 77. Saint Anthonys Church Cemetery, Nanuet, New York

#RIP #OTD in 2015 folk singer, songwriter, Appalachian dulcimer player, the “Mother of Folk”, Jean Ritchie died at home in Berea, Kentucky, aged 92. Ritchie Cemetery, Viper, Kentucky.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

On this Day 31 May death of Isabella of Angoulême – Joseph Haydn – Jean Stapleton – Martha Hyer

IsabelledAngoulemeOn this day in 1246, queen consort of England as the second wife of King John, from 1200 until John’s death in 1216, renowned beauty, the “Helen” of the Middle Ages, and  mother of the future King Henry III, Isabella of Angoulême died at Fontevraud Abbey in France at the approximate age of 57.

The Final Footprint – By her own prior arrangement, she was first buried in the Abbey’s churchyard, as an act of repentance for her many misdeeds.  On a visit to Fontevraud, Henry III was shocked to find his mother buried outside the Abbey and ordered her immediately moved inside.  She was finally placed beside Henry II and Eleanor of Aquitaine.

Joseph_Haydn-150x150On this day in 1809, composer, “Father of the Symphony” and “Father of the String Quartet”, Joseph Haydn died at his home in the Vienna suburb of Gumpendorf, at the age of 77.  Born Franz Joseph Haydn on 31 March 1732 in Rohrau, Austria.

He was instrumental in the development of chamber music such as the string quartet and piano trio.  His contributions to musical form have led him to be called “Father of the Symphony” (he composed 107 symphonies) and “Father of the String quartet”.  Haydn spent much of his career as a court musician for the wealthy Esterházy family at their remote estate. Until the later part of his life, this isolated him from other composers and trends in music so that he was, as he put it, “forced to become original”. Yet his music circulated widely, and for much of his career he was the most celebrated composer in Europe.  Haydn was a prolific and prominent composer of the Classical period.  He was reportedly a friend of Mozart and a teacher of Beethoven.

The Final Footprint – Some of his last words reportedly were attempts to calm and reassure his servants as the French army under Napoleon launched an attack on Vienna:  “My children, have no fear, for where Haydn is, no harm can fall.”  On 15 June 1809, a memorial service was held in the Schottenkirche at which Mozart’s Requiem was performed.  Haydn’s remains were interred in the local Hundsturm cemetery until 1820, when they were moved to the Bergkirche in Eisenstadt, Austria by Prince Nikolaus. His head took a different journey; it was stolen by phrenologists shortly after burial, and the skull was reunited with the other remains only in 1954.

#RIP #OTD in 2013 actress of stage, television (All in the Family), film (Up the Down Staircase) Jean Stapleton died at her apartment in Manhattan aged 90. Lincoln Cemetery in Chambersburg, Pennsylvania

#RIP #OTD 2014 actress (Some Came Running, The Sons of Katie Elder, The Chase), screenwriter (Rooster Cogburn) Martha Hyer died from natural causes in Santa Fe, aged 89. Great Mausoleum, Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Posted in Day in History, Extravagant Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

On this Day 30 May death of Joan of Arc – Christopher Marlowe – Pieter Paul Rubens – Alexander Pope – Voltaire – Boris Pasternak – Claude Rains – Sun Ra

On this day in 1431, peasant girl, national heroine of France, Catholic saint, The Maid of Orléans, Saint Joan of Arc was executed by burning in Rouen, France at the age of 19.  Born around the year 1412 in Domrémy, a village which was then in the duchy of Bar (later annexed to the province of Lorraine and renamed Domrémy-la-Pucelle).

Joan claimed divine guidance and led the French army to several important victories during the Hundred Years’ War, which paved the way for the coronation of Charles VII.  She asserted that she had visions from God that instructed her to recover her homeland from English domination.  The uncrowned Charles VII sent her to the siege of Orléans as part of a relief mission.  She gained prominence when she overcame the dismissive attitude of veteran commanders and lifted the siege in only nine days.  Several more swift victories led to Charles VII’s coronation at Reims and settled the disputed succession to the throne.  She was captured by the Burgundians, sold to the English, tried and sentenced by an ecclesiastical court.

The Final Footprint – Joan’s ashes were cast into the Seine.  A monument in Rouen dedicated to her is inscribed with the words of André Malraux: “O Jeanne, without sepulchre, without portrait, you know that the tomb of heroes is the heart of the living.”  A statue in her honor was erected in the Notre Dame de Paris Cathedral, interior.  Twenty-five years after the execution, Pope Callixtus III examined the trial, pronounced her innocent and declared her a martyr.  Joan of Arc was beatified in 1909 and canonized in 1920.   She is one of the patron saints of France, along with St. Denis, St. Martin of Tours, St. Louis IX, and St. Theresa of Lisieux.

Down to the present day, Joan of Arc has remained a significant figure in Western culture.  From Napoleon onward, French politicians of all leanings have invoked her memory.  Writers and composers who have created works about her include: Shakespeare (Henry VI, Part 1), Voltaire (see below) (The Maid of Orleans poem), Schiller (The Maid of Orleans play), Verdi (Giovanna d’Arco), Tchaikovsky (The Maid of Orleans opera), Mark Twain (Personal Recollections of Joan of Arc), and George Bernard Shaw.  Depictions of her continue in film, theatre, television, video games, music and performance.

On this day in 1593, playwright, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era, Kit Marlowe, Christopher Marlowe, died in Deptford, Kent, England at the age of 29. Baptised 26 February 1564 in Canterbury, Kent, England. Marlowe was the foremost Elizabethan tragedian of his day. He greatly influenced William Shakespeare, who was born in the same year as Marlowe and who rose to become the pre-eminent Elizabethan playwright after Marlowe’s mysterious early death. Marlowe’s plays are known for the use of blank verse and their overreaching protagonists.

A warrant was issued for Marlowe’s arrest on 18 May 1593. No reason was given for it, though it was thought to be connected to allegations of blasphemy—a manuscript believed to have been written by Marlowe was said to contain “vile heretical conceipts”. On 20 May, he was brought to the court to attend upon the Privy Council for questioning. There is no record of their having met that day, however, and he was commanded to attend upon them each day thereafter until “licensed to the contrary”. Ten days later, he was stabbed to death by Ingram Frizer. Whether or not the stabbing was connected to his arrest remains unknown.

Marlowe’s first play performed on the regular stage in London, in 1587, was Tamburlaine the Great, about the conqueror Timur (Tamerlane), who rises from shepherd to warlord. It is among the first English plays in blank verse, and, with Thomas Kyd’s The Spanish Tragedy, generally is considered the beginning of the mature phase of the Elizabethan theatre. Tamburlaine was a success, and was followed with Tamburlaine the Great, Part II.

The two parts of Tamburlaine were published in 1590; all Marlowe’s other works were published posthumously. The sequence of the writing of his other four plays is unknown; all deal with controversial themes.

  • The Jew of Malta (first published as The Famous Tragedy of the Rich Jew of Malta), about the Jew Barabas’ barbarous revenge against the city authorities, has a prologue delivered by a character representing Machiavelli. It was probably written in 1589 or 1590, and was first performed in 1592. It was a success, and remained popular for the next fifty years. The play was entered in the Stationers’ Register on 17 May 1594, but the earliest surviving printed edition is from 1633.
  • Edward the Second is an English history play about the deposition of King Edward II by his barons and the Queen, who resent the undue influence the king’s favourites have in court and state affairs. The play was entered into the Stationers’ Register on 6 July 1593, five weeks after Marlowe’s death. The full title of the earliest extant edition, of 1594, is The troublesome reigne and lamentable death of Edward the second, King of England, with the tragicall fall of proud Mortimer.
  • The Massacre at Paris is a short and luridly written work, the only surviving text of which was probably a reconstruction from memory of the original performance text, portraying the events of the Saint Bartholomew’s Day Massacre in 1572, which English Protestants invoked as the blackest example of Catholic treachery. It features the silent “English Agent”, whom subsequent tradition has identified with Marlowe himself and his connections to the secret service. The Massacre at Paris is considered his most dangerous play, as agitators in London seized on its theme to advocate the murders of refugees from the low countries and, indeed, it warns Elizabeth I of this possibility in its last scene. Its full title was The Massacre at Paris: With the Death of the Duke of Guise.
  • Doctor Faustus (or The Tragical History of the Life and Death of Doctor Faustus), based on the German Faustbuch, was the first dramatised version of the Faust legend of a scholar’s dealing with the devil. While versions of “The Devil’s Pact” can be traced back to the 4th century, Marlowe deviates significantly by having his hero unable to “burn his books” or repent to a merciful God in order to have his contract annulled at the end of the play. Marlowe’s protagonist is instead carried off by demons, and in the 1616 quarto his mangled corpse is found by several scholars.

The Final Footprint

Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St Nicholas, Deptford. The plaque shown here is modern.

Marlowe was buried in an unmarked grave in the churchyard of St. Nicholas, Deptford immediately after the inquest, on 1 June 1593.

The mightiest kings have had their minions;
Great Alexander loved Hephaestion,
The conquering Hercules for Hylas wept;
And for Patroclus, stern Achilles drooped.
And not kings only, but the wisest men:
The Roman Tully loved Octavius,
Grave Socrates, wild Alcibiades.

The Muse of Poetry, part of the Marlowe Memorial in Canterbury

A Marlowe Memorial in the form of a bronze sculpture of The Muse of Poetry by Edward Onslow Ford was erected by subscription in Buttermarket, Canterbury in 1891.

In July 2002, a memorial window to Marlowe – a gift of the Marlowe Society – was unveiled in Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey.

Come live with me and be my Love,
And we will all the pleasures prove
That hills and valleys, dales and fields,
Or woods or steepy mountain yields.

And we will sit upon the rocks,
And see the shepherds feed their flocks
By shallow rivers, to whose falls
Melodious birds sing madrigals.

And I will make thee beds of roses
And a thousand fragrant posies.

  • The Passionate Shepherd to His Love (unknown date)

Che serà, serà:
What will be, shall be.

  • Faustus, Act I, scene i, lines 47–58
  • Hell hath no limits, nor is circumscrib’d
    In one self place; but where we are is hell,
    And where hell is, there must we ever be.

    • Mephistopheles, Act II, scene i, line 118

Was this the face that launch’d a thousand ships,
And burnt the topless towers of Ilium?
Sweet Helen, make me immortal with a kiss!

  • Faustus, Act V, scene i, lines 91–93

Rubens_Self-portrait_1623On this day in 1640, Flemish Baroque painter, Pieter Paul Rubens died in Antwerp at the age of 62 from heart failure, which was a result of his chronic gout. born in Siegen in Germany on 28 June 1577.

His unique and popular Baroque style emphasized movement, colour, and sensuality, which followed the immediate, dramatic artistic style promoted in the Counter-Reformation. Rubens specialized in making altarpieces, portraits, landscapes, and history paintings of mythological and allegorical subjects.

In addition to running a large studio in Antwerp that produced paintings popular with nobility and art collectors throughout Europe, Rubens was a classically educated humanist scholar and diplomat who was knighted by both Philip IV of Spain and Charles I of England. Rubens was a prolific artist. The catalogue of his works by Michael Jaffé lists 1,403 pieces, excluding numerous copies made in his workshop. The Museo del Prado owns the largest collection of Rubens’ paintings, and one of the finest as well, and almost all of it comes from Spain’s royal collections.

Gallery

The Final Footprint – Rubens was interred in Saint Jacob’s church, Antwerp.

Alexander_Pope_by_Michael_DahlOn this day in 1744, English poet, best known for his satirical verse and for his translation of Homer and for his use of the heroic couplet, Alexander Pope died at the age of 56 in his villa in Twickenham surrounded by friends.

Perhaps best known for his satirical and discursive poetry, including The Rape of the LockThe Dunciad, and An Essay on Criticism, as well as for his translation of Homer. After Shakespeare, Pope is the second-most quoted writer in the English language, per The Oxford Dictionary of Quotations, some of his verses having even become popular idioms in common parlance (e.g., Damning with faint praise).

Pope’s poetic career testifies to his indomitable spirit in the face of disadvantages, of health and of circumstance. The poet and his family were Catholics and thus fell subject to the Test Acts, prohibitive measures which severely hampered the prosperity of their co-religionists after the abdication of James II; one of these banned them from living within ten miles of London, and another from attending public school or university. He was taught to read by his aunt and became a lover of books. He learned French, Italian, Latin, and Greek by himself, and discovered Homer at the age of six. As a child Pope survived being once trampled by a cow, but when he was 12 began struggling with tuberculosis of the spine (Pott disease), along with fits of crippling headaches which troubled him throughout his life.

In the year 1709, Pope showcased his precocious metrical skill with the publication of Pastorals, his first major poems. They earned him instant fame. By the time he was 23 he had written An Essay on Criticism, released in 1711. A kind of poetic manifesto in the vein of Horace’s Ars Poetica, the essay was met with enthusiastic attention.

The Rape of the Lock, perhaps the poet’s most famous poem, appeared first in 1712, followed by a revised and enlarged version in 1714. When Lord Petre forcibly snipped off a lock from Miss Arabella Fermor’s head (the “Belinda” of the poem), the incident gave rise to a high-society quarrel between the families. With the idea of allaying this, Pope treated the subject in a playful and witty mock-heroic epic. The narrative poem brings into focus the onset of acquisitive individualism and conspicuous consumption, where purchased goods assume dominance over moral agency.

A folio comprising a collection of his poems appeared in 1717, together with two new ones written about the passion of love. These were Verses to the Memory of an Unfortunate Lady and the famous proto-romantic poem Eloisa to Abelard. Though Pope never married, about this time he became strongly attached to Lady M. Montagu, whom he indirectly referenced in the popular poem Eloisa to Abelard, and to Martha Blount, with whom his friendship continued throughout his life.

As his health was failing, and when told by his physician, on the morning of his death, that he was better, Pope replied: “Here am I, dying of a hundred good symptoms”.

The Final Footprint – He lies buried in the nave of the Church of St Mary the Virgin in Twickenham. In his will Pope asked to be carried at his funeral by 6 of the poorest men of Twickenham, kitted out in grey mourning suits; his manuscripts & publications he left to Lord Bolingbroke “either to be preserved or destroyed”. His epitaph in Latin; Qui nil molitur inepte, in nothing was he inept. 

Voltaire-BaquoyOn this day in 1778, French Enlightenment writer, historian and philosopher famous for his wit and for his advocacy of civil liberties, including freedom of religion, freedom of expression, free trade and separation of church and state, Voltaire died in Paris at the age of 83.  Born François-Marie Arouet in Paris either on 21 November 1694 or 20 February 1694.  Voltaire was a versatile writer, producing works in almost every literary form, including plays, poems, novels, essays, and historical and scientific works.  He wrote more than 20,000 letters and more than 2,000 books and pamphlets.  He was an outspoken advocate, despite the risk this placed him in under the strict censorship laws of the time.  As a satirical polemicist, he frequently made use of his works to criticize intolerance, religious dogma, and the French institutions of his day.

The Final Footprint – Because of his well-known criticism of the Church, which he had refused to retract before his death, Voltaire was denied a Christian burial, but friends managed to bury his body secretly at the Abbey of Scellières in Champagne before this prohibition had been announced.  His heart and brain were embalmed separately.  On 11 July 1791, the National Assembly of France, which regarded him as a forerunner of the French Revolution, had his remains brought back to Paris to enshrine him in the Panthéon.  It is estimated that a million people attended the procession, which stretched throughout Paris.  There was an elaborate ceremony, complete with an orchestra, and the music included a piece that André Grétry had composed specially for the event.  A widely repeated story, that the remains of Voltaire were stolen by religious fanatics in 1814 or 1821 during the Pantheon restoration and thrown into a garbage heap, is false.  Such rumours resulted in the coffin being opened in 1897, which confirmed that his remains were still present.  Other notable Final Footprints at the Panthéon include: Louis Braille, Pierre and Marie Curie, Alexandre Dumas, Victor Hugo, André Malraux, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Émile Zola.

#RIP #OTD in 1960 poet (My Sister, Life), novelist (Doctor Zhivago), literary translator Boris Pasternak died of lung cancer in his dacha in Peredelkino near Mosscow, aged 70. Peredelkino Cemetery

#RIP #OTD in 1967 actor (The Invisible Man, The Adventures of Robin Hood, The Wolf Man, Casablanca, Kings Row, Notorious, Lawrence of Arabia) Claude Rains died from cirrhosis of the liver, aged 77. Red Hill Cemetery in Moultonborough, New Hampshire

#RIP #OTD in 1993 jazz composer, bandleader, piano and synthesizer player, poet, Sun Ra died at Princeton Baptist Medical Center, Birmingham, Alabama, aged 79. Elmwood Cemetery, Birmingham

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPPTFF

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

On this Day 29 May death of Joséphine de Beauharnais – Fanny Brice – Mary Pickford – Romy Schneider – Tamara Toumanova – Jeff Buckley – Harvey Korman – Dennis Hopper – Doc Watson – Betsy Palmer – Agnès Varda – B. J. Thomas

Josephine_de_Beauharnais,_Keizerin_der_FransenOn this day in 1814, first wife of Napoléon Bonaparte, and thus the first Empress of the French, Joséphine de Beauharnais died of pneumonia in Rueil-Malmaison, four days after catching cold during a walk with Tsar Alexander in the gardens of Malmaison, at the age of 50.  Born Marie Josèphe Rose Tascher de La Pagerie in Les Trois-Îlets, Martinique to a wealthy white Creole family that owned a sugar plantation.  Her first husband Alexandre de Beauharnais was guillotined during the Reign of Terror, and she was imprisoned in the Carmes prison until her release five days after Alexandre’s execution.  Through her daughter, Hortense, she was the maternal grandmother of Napoléon III. Through her son, Eugène, she was the great-grandmother of later Swedish and Danish kings and queens.  The reigning houses of Belgium, Norway and Luxembourg also descend from her.  She did not bear Napoleon any children; as a result, he divorced her in 1810 to marry Marie Louise of Austria.  Joséphine was the recipient of numerous love letters written by Napoleon, many of which still exist.  Her Château de Malmaison was noted for its magnificent rose garden, which she supervised closely, owing to her passionate interest in roses, collected from all over the world.

The Final Footprint – She was entombed at the church of Saint Pierre-Saint Paul in Rueil.  Napoleon learned of her death via a French journal while in exile on Elba, and reportedly stayed locked in his room for two days, refusing to see anyone.  He claimed to a friend, while in exile on Saint Helena, that “I truly loved my Joséphine, but I did not respect her.”  Despite his numerous affairs, eventual divorce, and remarriage, the Emperor’s last words on his death bed at St. Helena were: “France, the Army, the Head of the Army, Joséphine.”(“France, l’armée, tête d’armée, Joséphine”).

#RIP #OTD in 1951 comedian, illustrated song model, singer (“My Man”, “Second Hand Rose”), theater and film actress, inspiration for Funny Girl, Fanny Brice died at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Hollywood from a cerebral hemorrhage, aged 59.

#RIP #OTD in 1979 actress, producer, pioneer in the American film industry, co-founder of Pickford–Fairbanks Studios and United Artists, Mary Pickford died from a cerebral hemorrhage in Santa Monica, aged 87. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale, California

#RIP #OTD in 1982 actress (Sissi, What’s New Pussycat?, The Trial, The Cardinal, L’important c’est d’aimer, Une femme à sa fenêtre, Une histoire simple) Romy Schneider died; heart attack; her Paris apartment aged 43. Cimetière de Boissy-sans-avoir, France.

#RIP #OTD in 1996 prima ballerina (Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo), actress (Days of Glory, Torn Curtain), Tamara Toumanova died in Santa Monica, California, aged 77. Hollywood Forever, Hollywood

On this day in 1997 singer, songwriter and guitarist Jeff Buckley accidentally drowned in the Mississippi River in Memphis, at the age of 30. Born Jeffrey Scott Buckley on November 17, 1966 (raised as Scott Moorhead) in Orange, California. After a decade as a session guitarist in Los Angeles, Buckley amassed a following in the early 1990s by playing cover songs at venues in Manhattan’s East Village, such as Sin-é, gradually focusing more on his own material. After rebuffing much interest from record labels and his father Tim Buckley’s manager Herb Cohen, he signed with Columbia, recruited a band, and recorded what would be his only studio album, Grace, in 1994.

Over the following three years, the band toured extensively to promote the album, including concerts in the U.S., Europe, Japan, and Australia. In 1996, they stopped touring and made sporadic attempts to record Buckley’s second album in New York City.

In 1997, Buckley moved to Memphis, Tennessee, to resume work on the album, to be titled My Sweetheart the Drunk, recording many four-track demos while also playing weekly solo shows at a local venue.

On the evening of May 29, 1997, Buckley’s band flew to Memphis intending to join him in his studio there to work on the newly written material. The same evening, Buckley went swimming in Wolf River Harbor, a slack water channel of the Mississippi River, while wearing boots and all of his clothing and singing the chorus of the song “Whole Lotta Love” by Led Zeppelin.

The Final Footprint

A memorial to Buckley was placed at the Memphis Zoo.

Since his death, there have been many posthumous releases of his material, including a collection of four-track demos and studio recordings for his unfinished second album My Sweetheart the Drunk, expansions of Grace, and the Live at Sin-é EP. Chart success also came posthumously: with his cover of Leonard Cohen‘s song “Hallelujah” he attained his first number one on Billboards Hot Digital Songs in March 2008 and reached number 2 in the UK Singles Chart that December.

On this day in 2008, actor Harvey Korman died at the age of 81 on May 29, 2008, at UCLA Medical Center as the result of complications from a ruptured abdominal aortic aneurysm he had suffered four months previously.  He was buried at Santa Monica’s Woodlawn Cemetery.

dennishopperOn this day in 2010, actor, screenwriter, director and photographer, Dennis Hopper, died at his home in the coastal Los Angeles district of Venice at the age of 74 from prostate cancer.  Born Dennis Lee Hopper on 17 May 1936 in Dodge City, Kansas.  He appeared in an impressive list of great, even iconic movies, including: as a goon in Rebel without a Cause (1955) starring James Dean; as Jordan Benedict III in Edna Ferber’s Giant (1956) with Rock Hudson, Elizabeth Taylor and James Dean; as Dave Hastings in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965) with John Wayne and Dean Martin; as Babalugats in Cool Hand Luke (1967) with Paul Newman, Strother Martin and George Kennedy; as the Prophet in Hang ’em High (1968) with Clint Eastwood; as Billy in Easy Rider (1969) which he directed and co-wrote with Peter Fonda and Terry Southern and which he starred in with Fonda and Jack Nicholson; as Moon in True Grit (1969) with John Wayne, Glen Campbell, Kim Darby, Robert Duvall and Strother Martin; as a photojournalist in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness (1902),  Apocalypse Now (1979) with Marlon Brando, Martin Sheen and Robert Duvall; as Frank Booth in David Lynch’s Blue Velvet (1986) with Kyle MacLachlan and Isabella Rossellini; as Shooter in Hoosiers (1986) with Gene Hackman; as Lyle from Dallas in Red Rock West (1993) with Nicholas Cage and Lara Flynn Boyle; as Clifford Worley in True Romance (1993) which was written by Quentin Tarrantino and featured Christian Slater, Patricia Arquette, Val Kilmer, Gary Oldman, Brad Pitt and Christopher Walken; as Howard Payne in Speed (1994) with Sandra Bullock and Keanu Reeves.

Hopper was married five times; Brooke Hayward (1961-1969 divorce), Michelle Phillips (1970-1970 divorce), Daria Halprin (1972-1976 divorce), Katherine LaNasa (1989-1992 divorce), Victoria Duffy (1996-2010 separated). 

The Final Footprint – Hopper’s funeral took place on 3 June 2010 at San Francisco de Asis Mission Church in Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico.  He is interred in Jesus Nazareno Cemetery in Ranchos de Taos.  His grave is marked by a burial mound where various momentos have been left in his honor.  As someone who has spent some time in Ranchos de Taos, this is one of the special places in America and it is easy to understand why Hopper chose this for his final footprint.  It is enchanting.

Doc_Watson_Sugar_GroveOn this day in 2012, guitarist, songwriter and singer, 7x Grammy Award winner, Doc Watson died at Wake Forest Baptist Medical Center in Winston-Salem, North Carolina at the age of 89.  Born Arthel Lane “Doc” Watson on 3 March 1923 in Deep Gap, North Carolina.  He was predeceased by his son Merle who died in a tractor accident at their farm.  One of my favorite Guy Clark songs, “Dublin Blues”, has a line that pays tribute to Watson:

I have seen the David
I’ve seen the Mona Lisa too
And I have heard Doc Watson
Play Columbus Stockade Blues 

The Final Footprint – Doc and Merle are interred at the Merle and Doc Watson Memorial Cemetery in Deep Gap, North Carolina.

#RIP #OTD in 2015 actress (Mister Robert’s, The Tin Star, Friday the 13th) Betsy Palmer died of natural causes at a hospice care center in Danbury, Connecticut, aged 88. Cremation

#RIP #OTD in 2021 singer (“Hooked on a Feeling”, “Raindrops Keep Fallin’ on My Head”, “(Hey Won’t You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song”) B. J. Thomas died from lung cancer at his home in Arlington, Texas, aged 78. Galveston Memorial Park Hitchcock, Texas

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF



Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...

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