Day in History 30 December – Richard Rodgers – Artie Shaw – Luise Rainer – Dawn Wells – Barbara Walters

On this day in 1979, composer of music and one of only two people to win an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, a Tony and a Pulitzer Prize, Richard Rodgers, died in New York City at the age of 77.  Born Richard Charles Rodgers into a German Jewish family in Arverne, Queens, New York on 28 June 1902.   He is best known for his songwriting partnerships with the lyricists Lorenz Hart and Oscar Hammerstein II.  Rodgers composed music for more than 900 songs, for 43 Broadway musicals, films and television.  My favorite Rodgers and Hart songs are; “Blue Moon”, “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World”, “My Funny Valentine”, “The Lady is a Tramp”, “Falling in Love with Love”, “Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered”.  My favorite Rodgers and Hammerstein songs are; “Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin'”, “People Will Say We’re in Love”, “If I Loved You”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone”, “It Might as Well Be Spring”, “Some Enchanted Evening”, “Getting to Know You”, “My Favorite Things”, “The Sound of Music”,  “Climb Ev’ry Mountain.  In 1930, Rodgers married Dorothy Belle Feiner.  The other person with an EGOTP is Marvin Hamlisch.

The Final Footprint – Rodgers was cremated and his cremains were scattered at sea.

On this day in 2004, clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor, and writer Artie Shaw died in Thousand Oaks, California at the age of 94. Born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky on May 23, 1910 in New York City. In my opinion, one of jazz’s finest clarinetists, Shaw led one of the United States’ most popular big bands in the late 1930s through the early 1940s. Perhaps best known for his 1938 recording of Cole Porter’s “Begin the Beguine”. Before the release of “Beguine”, Shaw and his band had languished in obscurity for over two years. After its release, he became a major pop artist. The record eventually became one of the era’s defining recordings. Musically restless, Shaw was also an early proponent of what became known much later as Third Stream music, which blended elements of classical and jazz forms and traditions. His music influenced other musicians, such as John Barry in England, with the vamp of the James Bond Theme, possibly influenced by “Nightmare”, which also has a similar vamp to Kurt Weill’s “Lonely House”.

Shaw also recorded with small jazz groups drawn from within the ranks of the various big bands he led. He served in the US Navy from 1942 to 1944, (during which time he led a morale-building band that toured the South Pacific amidst the chaos of World War II) and, following his discharge in 1944, he returned to lead a band through 1945. Following the breakup of that band, he began to focus on other interests and gradually withdrew from the world of being a professional musician and major celebrity, although he remained a force in popular music and jazz before retiring from music completely in 1954.

Shaw was married eight times. Two marriages were annulled; the others ended in divorce: Jane Cairns (1932–33; annulled); Margaret Allen (1934–37); actress Lana Turner (1939–1940); Betty Kern, the daughter of songwriter Jerome Kern (1942–43); actress Ava Gardner (1945–46); Forever Amber author Kathleen Winsor (1946–48; annulled); actress Doris Dowling (1952–56), and actress Evelyn Keyes (1957–85). Both Turner and Gardner later described Shaw as being emotionally abusive. His controlling nature and verbal abuse drove Turner to have a nervous breakdown, soon after which she divorced him. In 1940, Shaw briefly dated actress Judy Garland and Lena Horne.

The Final Footprint

 Shaw’s grave at Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, California, is marked by a full ledger bronze marker. Another notable final footprint at Valley Oaks is Karen Carpenter.

#RIP #OTD in 2014 film actress (The Great Ziegfeld, The Good Earth), the first to win back-to-back Oscars, Luise Rainer died at her Belgravia, London home at the age of 104 from pneumonia. Cremation 

#RIP #OTD in 2020 actress (Mary Ann Summers on Gilligan’s Island, The Town that Dreaded Sundown) Dawn Wells died from COVID-19-related causes in Los Angeles, aged 82. Mountain View Cemetery, Reno, Nevada

#RIP #OTD in 2022 broadcast journalist and television personality (Today, ABC Evening News20/20, The View) Barbara Walters died at her home in Manhattan, aged 93. Lakeside Memorial Park, Doral, Florida

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 29 December – Thomas Becket – Wounded Knee – Christina Rossetti – Rainer Maria Rilke – Tim Hardin – Pierre Cardin – Pelé

St. Thomas and the men of Strood by Meister Francke from the St. Thomas Altarpiece

On this day in 1170, Archbishop of Canterbury, saint and martyr, Thomas Becket, died in Canterbury Cathedral.  Born c. 1118 in Cheapside, London.  He is venerated as a saint and martyr by both the Roman Catholic Church and the Anglican Communion.  Becket engaged in conflict with Henry II of England over the rights and privileges of the Church and was assassinated by knights loyal to the king.  He was beatified 21 February 1173 and canonized by Pope Alexander III.  St. Thomas’ feast day is 29 December.

Altar marking the spot of St. Thomas’s martyrdom

The Final Footprint – Becket was entombed beneath the floor of the eastern crypt of the Canterbury Cathedral.  A stone cover was placed over the burial place with two holes where pilgrims could insert their heads and kiss the tomb.  In 1220, Becket’s bones were moved to a new gold-plated and bejewelled shrine behind the high altar in the Trinity Chapel.  Canterbury, because of its religious history, had always seen a large number of pilgrims.  However, after the death of Becket, the number of pilgrims visiting the city grew rapidly.  The shrine was destroyed in 1538, around the time of the Dissolution of the Monasteries, on orders from King Henry VIII.  The king also destroyed Becket’s bones and ordered that all mention of his name be obliterated.  The pavement where the shrine stood is today marked by a lit candle.  Reportedly, his bones were cremated and shot out of cannon over the city of Canterbury.

 
 

Mass grave for the dead Lakota after the massacre

150-300 killed:
90 men killed
200 women and children killed
51 wounded (7 fatally)

On this day in 1890 The Wounded Knee Massacre (also called the Battle of Wounded Knee) occurred near Wounded Knee Creek (Lakota: Čhaŋkpé Ópi Wakpála) on the Lakota Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in the U.S. state of South Dakota.

The previous day, a detachment of the U.S. 7th Cavalry Regiment commanded by Major Samuel M. Whitside intercepted Spotted Elk’s band of Miniconjou Lakota and 38 Hunkpapa Lakota near Porcupine Butte and escorted them 5 miles (8.0 km) westward to Wounded Knee Creek, where they made camp. The remainder of the 7th Cavalry Regiment, led by Colonel James W. Forsyth, arrived and surrounded the encampment. The regiment was supported by a battery of four Hotchkiss mountain guns.

On the morning of December 29, the U.S. Cavalry troops went into the camp to disarm the Lakota. One version of events claims that during the process of disarming the Lakota, a deaf tribesman named Black Coyote was reluctant to give up his rifle, claiming he had paid a lot for it. Simultaneously, an old man was performing a ritual called the Ghost Dance. Black Coyote’s rifle went off at that point, and the U.S. army began shooting at the Native Americans. The disarmed Lakota warriors did their best to fight back.

By the time the massacre was over, more than 150 men, women, and children of the Lakota had been killed and 51 were wounded (4 men and 47 women and children, some of whom died later); some estimates placed the number of dead at 300. Twenty-five army soldiers also died, and 39 were wounded (6 of the wounded later died). At least twenty soldiers were awarded the Medal of Honor. In 2001, the National Congress of American Indians passed two resolutions condemning the military awards and called on the U.S. government to rescind them.

The site of the battlefield/massacre has been designated a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Department of the Interior. In 1990, both houses of the U.S. Congress passed a resolution on the historical centennial formally expressing “deep regret” for the massacre.

Indian Chief Spotted Elk lies dead after the massacre of Wounded Knee, 1890
 
View of canyon at Wounded Knee, dead horses and Lakota bodies are visible
Civilian burial party, loading victims on a cart for burial
 

The Final Footprint

Wounded Knee hill, location of Hotchkiss guns during battle and subsequent mass grave of Native American dead
 

St. John’s Episcopal Mission Church was built on the hill behind the mass grave in which the victims had been buried, some survivors having been nursed in the then-new Holy Cross Mission Church. In 1903, descendants of those who died in the battle erected a monument at the gravesite. The memorial lists many of those who died at Wounded Knee along with an inscription that reads:

“This monument is erected by surviving relatives and other Ogalala and Cheyenne River Sioux Indians in memory of the Chief Big Foot massacre December 29, 1890. Col. Forsyth in command of US troops. Big Foot was a great chief of the Sioux Indians. He often said, ‘I will stand in peace till my last day comes.’ He did many good and brave deeds for the white man and the red man. Many innocent women and children who knew no wrong died here.”

The Wounded Knee Battlefield was declared a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1965 and was listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1966.

Beginning in 1986, the group named “Big Foot Memorial Riders” was formed to continue to honor the dead. The ceremony has attracted more participants each year and riders and their horses live with the cold weather, as well as the lack of food and water, as they retrace the path that their family members took to Wounded Knee. They carry with them a white flag to symbolize their hope for world peace, and to honor and remember the victims so that they will not be forgotten.

Christina_Rossetti_3On this day in 1894, poet Christina Rossetti died in Torrington Square, Bloomsbury, London at the age of 64.  Born Christina Georgina Rossetti at 38 Charlotte Street (now 105 Hallam Street), London to Gabriele Rossetti, a poet and a political exile from Vasto, Abruzzo, and Frances Polidori, the sister of Lord Byron‘s friend and physician, John William Polidori.  Rossetti wrote a variety of romantic, devotional, and children’s poems.  Perhaps best known for her long poem Goblin Market, her love poem Remember, and for the words of the Christmas carol In the Bleak Midwinter.

The Final Footprint –  Rossetti is interred in Highgate Cemetery in London.  Other notable final footprints at Highgate include; George EliotKarl Marx, and Jean Simmons.

Rainer_Maria_Rilke,_1900And on this day in 1926, poet and novelist Rainer Maria Rilke died in the arms of his doctor in the Valmont Sanatorium in Switzerland at the age of 51 from leukemia.  Born René Karl Wilhelm Johann Josef Maria Rilke in Prague, capital of Bohemia (then part of Austria-Hungary, now the Czech Republic), on 4 December 1875.  In my opinion, one of the most lyrically intense German-language poets. For me, Rilke’s work is inherently mystical.  His writings include one novel, several collections of poetry, and several volumes of correspondence in which he invokes haunting images that focus on the difficulty of communion with the ineffable in an age of disbelief, solitude, and profound anxiety.  These deeply existential themes tend to position him as a transitional figure between the traditional and the modernist writers.  Rilke travelled extensively throughout Europe, including Russia, Spain, Germany, France, Italy, and in his later years settled in Switzerland.  These settings were key to the genesis and inspiration for many of his poems.  Perhaps best known for his contributions to German literature, over 400 poems were originally written in French and dedicated to the canton of Valais in Switzerland.  Among English-language readers, his best-known works include the poetry collections Duino Elegies (Duineser Elegien) and Sonnets to Orpheus (Die Sonette an Orpheus), the semi-autobiographical novel The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge (Die Aufzeichnungen des Malte Laurids Brigge), and a collection of ten letters that was published after his death under the title Letters to a Young Poet (Briefe an einen jungen Dichter).  In the later 20th century, his work has found new audiences through its use by New Age theologians and self-help authors, and through frequent quoting in television programs, books and motion pictures.

Rainer_Maria_Rilke_at_the_churchyard_in_Raron_-_SwizerlandThe Final Footprint – Rilke was interred on 2 January 1927 in the Raron cemetery to the west of Visp.  Rilke had chosen as his own epitaph this poem:

Rose, oh reiner Widerspruch, Lust,
Niemandes Schlaf zu sein unter soviel
Lidern.

Rose, oh pure contradiction, delight
of being no one’s sleep under so
many lids.

A myth developed surrounding his death and roses. It was said: “To honour a visitor, the Egyptian beauty Nimet Eloui, Rilke gathered some roses from his garden. While doing so, he pricked his hand on a thorn. This small wound failed to heal, grew rapidly worse, soon his entire arm was swollen, and his other arm became affected as well”, and so he died.

#RIP #OTD in 2020 fasion designer Pierre Cardin died at the American Hospital of Paris, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, at the age of 98. Cimetière de Montmartre, Paris

#RIP #OTD in 2022 Brazilian professional footballer who played as a forward, widely regarded as one of the greatest players of all-time, Pelé died from colon cancer at Albert Einstein Israelite Hospital, São Paulo, aged 82. Cemitério Memorial Necrópole Ecumênica, Santos, São Paulo.

Have you planned yours yet? 

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 28 December – Rob Roy MacGregor – Maurice Ravel – Florence Lawrence – Dennis Wilson – Sam Peckinpah – John D. MacDonald – Susan Sontag – Lemmy – Debbie Reynolds – Rose Marie – John Madden

On this day in 1734, Scottish folk hero, cattleman, outlaw, the Scottish Robin Hood, Red MacGregor, Rob Roy, died at his house in Inverlochlarig Beg, Balquhidder, Scotland, at the age of 63.  Born Robert Roy MacGregor at Glengyle, Scotland at the age of 63.  Baptised 7 March 1671.  Rob Roy is anglicised from the Scottish Gaelic Raibeart Ruadh, or Red Robert. This is because Rob Roy had red hair, though it darkened to auburn in later life.  His father was Donald MacGregor, and his mother Margaret Campbell.  He later met Mary Helen MacGregor of Comar, who was born at Leny Farm, Strathyre, and they were married in Glenarklet in January 1693.  She bore him four sons: James (known as Mor or Tall), Ranald, Coll, and Robert (known as Robin Oig or Young Rob).  Rob Roy together with his father joined the Jacobite rising led by Viscount Dundee, Bonnie Dundee, to support the Stuart King James who had been deposed by William of Orange. 

The Final Footprint – Rob Roy is interred with his wife and sons Coll and Robert in Balquhidder Church Cemetery, Balquhidder, Scotland.  Their graves are enclosed by an ornamental bronze rail and marked by an upright stone marker with the inscription; MACGREGOR DESPITE THEM.  The publication of Rob Roy, by Sir Walter Scott in 1817, further added to his fame and fleshed out his biography.  William Wordsworth wrote a poem called “Rob Roy’s Grave” during a visit to Scotland.  Adaptations of his story has also been told in film, including the 1995 Rob Roy directed by Michael Caton-Jones and starring Liam Neeson.

On this day in 1937, composer, pianist and conductor Maurice Ravel died in Paris at the age of 62. Born Joseph Maurice Ravel on 7 March 1875 in the Basque town of Ciboure, France, near Biarritz. He is often associated with impressionism along with his elder contemporary Claude Debussy, although both composers rejected the term. In the 1920s and 1930s Ravel was internationally regarded as France’s greatest living composer.

Born to a music-loving family, Ravel attended France’s premier music college, the Paris Conservatoire; he was not well regarded by its conservative establishment, whose biased treatment of him caused a scandal. After leaving the conservatoire, Ravel found his own way as a composer, developing a style of great clarity and incorporating elements of modernism, baroque, neoclassicism and, in his later works, jazz. He liked to experiment with musical form, as in his best-known work, Boléro (1928), in which repetition takes the place of development. He made some orchestral arrangements of other composers’ music, of which his 1922 version of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition is the best known.

A slow and painstaking worker, Ravel composed fewer pieces than many of his contemporaries. Among his works to enter the repertoire are pieces for piano, chamber music, two piano concertos, ballet music, two operas and eight song cycles; he wrote no symphonies or church music. Many of his works exist in two versions: first, a piano score and later an orchestration. Some of his piano music, such as Gaspard de la nuit (1908), is exceptionally difficult to play, and his complex orchestral works such as Daphnis et Chloé (1912) require skilful balance in performance.

The Final Footprint

On 30 December 1937 Ravel was interred next to his parents in a granite tomb at Levallois-Perret cemetery, in north-west Paris. He was an atheist and there was no religious ceremony.

#RIP #OTD in 1938 stage performer, film actress, the “Biograph Girl”, “the first movie star”, Florence Lawrence died from ingesting ant poison and cough syrup at her home in West Hollywood, aged 52. Hollywood Forever Cemetery

#RIP #OTD in 1983 musician, singer, songwriter (“Little Bird”, “Forever”, “Farewell My Friend”) co-founder of the Beach Boys, Dennis Wilson drowned at Marina Del Rey, California, aged 39. Buried at sea by the US Coast Guard off the coast of California

#RIP #OTD in 1984 director, screenwriter (The Wild Bunch, Straw Dogs, Junior Bonner, The Getaway, Pat Garrett and Billy the Kid, Bring Me the Head of Alfredo Garcia,) Sam Peckinpah died of a heart attack in Inglewood CA, aged 59. Cremated remains scattered off the coast of Malibu

On this day in 1986, writer of novels and short stories John D. MacDonald died following complications of coronary artery bypass surgery in St. Mary’s Hospital in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, at the age of 70. Born John Dann MacDonald on July 24, 1916 in Sharon, Pennsylvania. MacDonald was a prolific author of crime and suspense novels, many of them set in his adopted home of Florida. Perhaps best known for his popular and critically acclaimed Travis McGee series, and his 1957 novel The Executioners, which was filmed as Cape Fear (1962) and remade in 1991.

In 1972, the Mystery Writers of America bestowed upon MacDonald its highest honor, the Grand Master Award for lifetime achievement and consistent quality. Stephen King praised MacDonald as “the great entertainer of our age, and a mesmerizing storyteller.” Kingsley Amis said, MacDonald “is by any standards a better writer than Saul Bellow, only MacDonald writes thrillers and Bellow is a human-heart chap, so guess who wears the top-grade laurels.”

MacDonald’s protagonists were often intelligent, introspective, and (sometimes) cynical men. Travis McGee, the “salvage consultant” and “knight-errant,” was all of that. McGee made his living by recovering the loot from thefts and swindles, keeping half to finance his “retirement,” which he took in segments as he went along. He first appeared in the 1964 novel The Deep Blue Good-by and starred in 21 novels through to the series’ final release, 1985’s The Lonely Silver Rain. All titles in the series include a color, a mnemonic device which was suggested by his publisher so that when harried travelers in airports looked to buy a book, they could at once see those MacDonald titles they had not yet read.

The McGee novels feature an ever-changing array of female companions; some particularly nasty villains; exotic locales in Florida, Mexico, and the Caribbean; and appearances by a sidekick known only as “Meyer,” an economist of international renown and a Ph.D. As Sherlock Holmes had his well-known address on Baker Street, McGee had his lodgings on his 52-foot (16 m) houseboat, the Busted Flush, named for the poker hand that started the run of luck which enabled him to win the boat. She is docked at Slip F-18, marina Bahia Mar, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.

The Final Footprint

He is buried in Milwaukee, at Holy Cross Cemetery and Mausoleum. He was survived by his wife Dorothy (1911-1989) and a son, Maynard.

On this day in 2004, writer, filmmaker, philosopher, teacher, and political activist Susan Sontag died from complications of myelodysplastic syndrome in New York City, at the age of 71. Born Susan Rosenblatt in New York City on January 16, 1933. She mostly wrote essays, but also published novels; she published her first major work, the essay “Notes on ‘Camp'”, in 1964. Perhaps her best-known works include On PhotographyAgainst InterpretationStyles of Radical WillThe Way We Live NowIllness as MetaphorRegarding the Pain of OthersThe Volcano Lover, and In America.

Sontag was active in writing and speaking about, or travelling to, areas of conflict, including during the Vietnam War and the Siege of Sarajevo. She wrote extensively about photography, culture and media, AIDS and illness, human rights, and communism and leftist ideology. Although her essays and speeches sometimes drew controversy, in my opinion, she was one of the most influential critics of her generation.

Sontag lived with the writer and model Harriet Sohmers Zwerling whom she first met at U. C. Berkeley from 1958 to 1959. Afterwards, Sontag was the partner of María Irene Fornés, a Cuban-American avant garde playwright and director. Upon splitting with Fornés, she was involved with an Italian aristocrat, Carlotta Del Pezzo, and the German academic Eva Kollisch. Sontag was romantically involved with the American artists Jasper Johns and Paul Thek. During the early 1970s, Sontag lived with Nicole Stéphane, a Rothschild banking heiress turned movie actress, and, later, the choreographer Lucinda Childs. She also had a relationship with the writer Joseph Brodsky. With Annie Leibovitz, Sontag maintained a relationship stretching from the later 1980s until her final years.

The Final Footprint

She is buried in Paris at Cimetière du Montparnasse. Other notable Final Footprints at Montparnasse include; Charles Baudelaire, Simone de Beauvoir, Samuel Beckett, Emmanuel Chabrier, César Franck, Guy de Maupassant, Adah Isaacs Menken, Man Ray, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jean-Paul Sartre, and Jean Seberg.

On this day in 2015, musician, singer-songwriter, founder and frontman for Motörhead, Lemmy died at his apartment in Los Angeles at 4pm PST, from prostate cancer, congestive heart failure, and cardiac arrhythmia at the age of 70. Born Ian Fraser Kilmister on 24 December 1945 in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom. In my opinion, their music was one of the foundations of the heavy metal genre. He was known for his appearance (including his friendly mutton chops), and his distinctive gravelly, raspy singing voice. He was also known for his unmistakable bass playing style, using a Rickenbacker bass and over-driven Marshall tube bass stacks. Alongside his music career, he also had many minor roles and cameo appearances in film and television.

He played in several rock groups in the 1960s, including the Rockin’ Vickers. He worked as a roadie for Jimi Hendrix and The Nice, before joining the space rock band Hawkwind in 1971, singing lead vocals on their hit “Silver Machine”. After being fired from Hawkwind for drug possession in 1975, he founded Motörhead during the same year as the lead singer, bassist, songwriter and frontman. Motörhead’s success peaked in 1980 and 1981 and included the hit single “Ace of Spades” and the top charting live album No Sleep ’til Hammersmith. Lemmy continued to record and tour regularly with Motörhead until his death.

Lemmy during Motörhead’s 2011 The Wörld Is Yours Tour

Lemmy in May 2005, at Reds, Edmonton

The Final Footprint 

Lemmy’s memorial service took place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills, on 9 January 2016.  The service was streamed live over YouTube with more than 230,000 people logging on to watch, while others gathered at the Rainbow Bar and Grill. His body was cremated following the funeral. His remains were placed in a 3D-printed mantelpiece shaped like his trademark cavalry hat and emblazoned with the slogan “born to lose, lived to win”. The piece was on display during his funeral and was later interred at Forest Lawn. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Brittany Murphy,  Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.

************************************************************************************

On this day in 2016, actress, singer, businesswoman, film historian, and humanitarian Debbie Reynolds died the day after her daughter Carrie Fisher, from a stroke at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 84. Born Mary Frances Reynolds on April 1, 1932 in El Paso, Texas. With a career spanning almost 70 years, She was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her portrayal of Helen Kane in the 1950 film Three Little Words, and her breakout role was her first leading role, as Kathy Selden in Singin’ in the Rain (1952). Other successes include The Affairs of Dobie Gillis (1953), Susan Slept Here (1954), Bundle of Joy (1956 Golden Globe nomination), The Catered Affair (1956 National Board of Review Best Supporting Actress Winner), and Tammy and the Bachelor (1957), in which her performance of the song “Tammy” reached number one on the Billboard music charts. In 1959, she released her first pop music album, titled Debbie.

She starred in How the West Was Won (1962), and The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), a biographical film about the famously boisterous Molly Brown. Her performance as Brown earned her a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Her other films include The Singing Nun (1966), Divorce American Style (1967), What’s the Matter with Helen? (1971), Charlotte’s Web (1973), Mother (1996) (Golden Globe nomination), and In & Out (1997). Reynolds was also a cabaret performer. In 1979, she founded the Debbie Reynolds Dance Studio in North Hollywood, which still operates today.

In 1969, she starred on television in The Debbie Reynolds Show, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination. In 1973, Reynolds starred in a Broadway revival of the musical Irene and was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Lead Actress in a Musical. She was also nominated for a Daytime Emmy Award for her performance in A Gift of Love (1999) and an Emmy Award for playing Grace’s mother Bobbi on Will & Grace. At the turn of the millennium, Reynolds reached a new younger generation with her role as Aggie Cromwell in Disney’s Halloweentown series. In 1988, she released her autobiography, titled Debbie: My Life. In 2013, she released a second autobiography, Unsinkable: A Memoir.

Reynolds also owned a Las Vegas hotel and casino, and she was an avid collector of film memorabilia, beginning with items purchased at the landmark 1970 MGM auction. She served as president of The Thalians, an organization dedicated to mental health causes. Reynolds continued to perform successfully on stage, television, and film into her eighties. In January 2015, Reynolds received the Screen Actors Guild Life Achievement Award. In 2016, she received the Academy Awards Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. In the same year, a documentary about her life was released titled Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds, which turned out to be her final film appearance; the film premiered on HBO on January 7, 2017.

Reynolds and Eddie Fisher on their wedding day, 1955

Reynolds was married three times. Her first marriage was to singer Eddie Fisher in 1955. They became the parents of Carrie (1956–2016) and Todd Fisher (1958). The couple divorced in 1959 when it was revealed shortly after the death of Elizabeth Taylor‘s husband Mike Todd that Fisher had been having an affair with her. The affair was a great public scandal which led to the cancellation of Eddie Fisher’s television show.

Reynolds’ second marriage, to millionaire businessman Harry Karl, lasted from 1960 to 1973. For a period during the 1960s, she stopped working at the studio on Friday afternoons to attend Girl Scout meetings, since she was the leader of the Girl Scout Troop of which 13-year-old Carrie and her stepdaughter Tina Karl, also 13, were members. Reynolds later found herself in financial difficulty because of Karl’s gambling and bad investments. Reynolds’ third marriage was to real estate developer Richard Hamlett from 1984 to 1996.

The Final Footprint

Her son Todd later said Reynolds had been seriously impacted by Carries’s death, and grief was partially responsible for her stroke, noting that his mother had stated “I want to be with Carrie” shortly before she died.  He said his mother had joined his sister in death because Reynolds “didn’t want to leave Carrie and did not want her to be alone”.  He added, “she didn’t die of a broken heart” as some news reports had implied, but rather “just left to be with Carrie”.

Reynolds was entombed while Carrie was cremated. A portion of Fisher’s ashes were laid to rest beside Reynolds’s crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills, during a larger joint memorial service held on March 25, while the remainder of Carrie’s ashes are held in a giant, novelty Prozac pill. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Carrie Fisher, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Brittany Murphy,  Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.

On this day in 2017 actress, singer, comedian, and vaudeville performer with a career ultimately spanning nine decades, which included film, radio, records, theater, night clubs and television, Rose Marie died at her home in the Van Nuys neighborhood of Los Angeles at the age of 94 .  Born Rose Marie Mazzetta in Manhattan, New York, on August 15, 1923.

As a child performer during the years just after the silent film era, she had a successful singing career under the stage name Baby Rose Marie.  was widely known for her role on the CBS situation comedy The Dick Van Dyke Show (1961–1966), as television comedy writer Sally Rogers, “who went toe-to-toe in a man’s world”.[2] Later, she portrayed Myrna Gibbons on The Doris Day Show and was a featured celebrity on The Hollywood Squares for 14 years.

She is the subject of a 2017 documentary film, Wait for Your Laugh, which includes interviews with her and her co-stars including Carl Reiner, Dick Van Dyke, Peter Marshall, and Tim Conway.

The Final Footprint

Marie was memorialized as “the patron saint of female comedy writers”.  Marie’s long-time friend and agent, Harlan Boll, says that the legendary actress’s death had to do with “age problems.”  Boll was with Marie shortly before she passed away. He explained to reporters that Marie had laid down to rest on Thursday afternoon, and by the time her caregiver checked in on her, to see if she wanted something to eat, and discovered she had stopped breathing.”

And on this day in 2021, American football coach and sports commentator in the National Football League (NFL) John Madden died in Pleasanton, California, aged 85.  Born John Earl Madden in Austin, Minnesota on April 10, 1936.

He served as the head coach of the Oakland Raiders from 1969 to 1978, who he led to eight playoff appearances, seven division titles, seven AFL / AFC Championship Game appearances, and the franchise’s first Super Bowl title in Super Bowl XI. Never having a losing season, Madden holds the highest winning percentage among NFL head coaches who coached 100 games.

After retiring from coaching, Madden was a color commentator for NFL telecasts from 1979 to 2008, which earned him 16 Sports Emmy Awards. Madden appeared on all four major American television networks, providing commentary for games broadcast by CBS, Fox, ABC, and NBC. He also lent his name, expertise, and commentary to the Madden NFL video game series (1988–present), which became the best-selling football video game franchise of all time. Madden was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2006.

The Final Footprint

In a press release announcing Madden’s death, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said that Madden “was football”, adding, “there will never be another John Madden, and we will forever be indebted to him for all he did to make football and the NFL what it is today.”  Madden is entombed in Cathedral of Christ the Light Mausoleum in Oakland.

Have you planned yours yet? 

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 27 December – Stephen F. Austin – Gustave Eiffel – Chris Bell – Hoagy Carmichael – George Roy Hill – Carrie Fisher

Stephen_f_austinOn this day in 1836, empresario, The Father of Texas, Stephen F. Austin died of pneumonia at noon at the home of George B. McKinstry right outside of what is now West Columbia, Texas.  Born Stephen Fuller Austin in the mining region of southwestern Virginia (Wythe County) in what is now known as Austinville, some 256 miles (412 km) southwest of Richmond, Virginia.  Austin led the second, and ultimately successful, colonization of Texas by bringing 300 families from the United States.  Austin never married.  On 10 June 1836, Austin was in New Orleans, where he received word of Santa Anna‘s defeat by Sam Houston at the Battle of San Jacinto.  On August 4, Ausitn announced his candidacy for president of Texas.  He felt confident he could win the election until two weeks before the election, when on August 20, Houston entered the race.  Houston went on to win the election.

The Final Footprint

Austin’s last words were “The independence of Texas is recognized! Don’t you see it in the papers?…” Upon hearing of Austin’s death, Houston ordered an official statement proclaiming: “The Father of Texas is no more; the first pioneer of the wilderness has departed.”  Austin was originally buried at Gulf Prairie Cemetery in Brazoria County, Texas.  Austin’s body was moved, however, in 1910 to the Texas State Cemetery in Austin, Texas.  The capital of Texas, Austin in Travis County, Austin County, Austin Bayou, Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Austin College in Sherman, and a number of K-12 schools are named after Austin.  Angleton, Texas, features a statue of Austin, sponsored by The Stephen F. Austin 500, sculpted by David Adickes, with a base of 12 feet and a total statue height of 67 feet, similar in height to the statue of Sam Houston found in Huntsville, Texas.  The base is 2 feet taller than the base of the Houston statue.  The National Statuary Hall Collection permits each state to select just two statues for display at the Capital in Washington, DC. Texas selected Sam Houston and Stephen F. Austin; these statues were sculpted by German immigrant Elisabet Ney.  In 1959, Austin was posthumously inducted into the Hall of Great Westerners at the National Cowboy Hall of Fame in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.  In Austinville, Virginia, Austin’s birthplace, a monument was erected along the New River near a junction with the New River Trail State Park.  In Bellville, Texas, the county seat of Austin County, a large bust of Austin by sculptor David Adickes is located at the intersection of State Highways 36 and 159.  Other notable final footprints at Texas State Cemetery include; John B. and Nellie Connally,  J. Frank Dobie, Barbara Jordan, Tom Landry (cenotaph), James A. Michener (cenotaph), Ann Richards, Edwin “Bud” Shrake, Big Foot Wallace, and Walter Prescott Webb.

#RIP #OTD in 1923 civil engineer (Garabit Viaduct, Eiffel Tower, Statue of Liberty) Gustave Eiffel died while listening to Beethoven’s 5th symphony andante, in his home on Rue Rabelais in Paris, aged 91. Eiffel family tomb Levallois-Perret Cemetery

HoagyCarmichaelOn this day in 1981, Oscar-winning composer, pianist, singer, actor, and bandleader, Hoagy Carmichael, died from a heart attack in Rancho Mirage, California at the age of 82.  Born Hoagland Howard Carmichael on 22 November 1899 in Bloomington, Indiana.  He is best known for writing the music to “Stardust”, “Georgia On My Mind”, “The Nearness of You”, and “Heart and Soul”, four of the most-recorded American songs of all time.  In my opinion, Carmichael was one of the most talented, inventive, sophisticated and jazz-oriented of the hundreds of writers composing pop songs in the first half of the 20th century.  The Oscar was awarded for “In the Cool, Cool, Cool, of the Evening”, lyrics by Johnny Mercer.  Carmichael attended Indiana University and the Indiana University School of Law, where he received his Bachelor’s degree in 1925 and a law degree in 1926.  He married twice; Ruth Menardi in 1935 and Dorothy Wanda McKay in 1977. 

The Final Footprint

Carmichael is interred in Rose Hill Cemetery, Bloomington, Indiana.  His grave is marked by an individual upright granite marker and a granite foot marker.  Carmichael wrote two autobiographies: The Stardust Road (1946) and Sometimes I Wonder (1965).  Dick Sudhalter wrote the first full biography of Carmichael, Stardust Melody: The Life and Music of Hoagy Carmichael.  Author Ian Fleming wrote in his novels Casino Royale and Moonraker that British secret agent James Bond resembled Carmichael, but with a scar down one cheek.  In the book Casino Royale, James Bond compares himself unfavorably with Carmichael.  Former Beatles singer and songwriter John Lennon reportedly announced that Carmichael was his favourite songwriter. 

#RIP #OTD in 2002 film director (Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid, The Sting, Slaughterhouse-Five, Slap Shot, The World According to Garp, Funny Farm) George Roy Hill died at his home in New York City from complications of Parkinson’s disease, aged

Carrie Fisher

Fisher in September 2013

in 2013

On this day in 2016, actress and writer Carrie Fisher died at UCLA Medical Center of sudden cardiac death, at age 60, four days after experiencing a medical emergency during a transatlantic flight from London to Los Angeles. Born Carrie Frances Fisher on October 21, 1956 in Burbank, California. Perhaps best known for playing Princess Leia in the Star Wars films. Her other film credits include Shampoo (1975), The Blues Brothers (1980), Hannah and Her Sisters (1986), The ‘Burbs (1989), When Harry Met Sally… (1989), Soapdish (1991), and The Women (2008).

Fisher wrote several semi-autobiographical novels, including Postcards from the Edge and an autobiographical one-woman play, and its non-fiction book, Wishful Drinking, based on the play. She wrote the screenplay for the film version of Postcards From The Edge. Her one-woman stage show of Wishful Drinking was filmed for television. In later years, she earned praise for speaking publicly about her experiences with bipolar disorder and drug addiction.

Fisher met musician Paul Simon while filming Star Wars, and the pair dated from 1977 until 1983. In 1980, she was briefly engaged to Canadian actor and comedian Dan Aykroyd, who proposed to her on the set of their film The Blues Brothers. She said: “We had rings, we got blood tests, the whole shot. But then I got back together with Paul Simon.” Fisher was married to Simon from August 1983 to July 1984, and they dated again for a time after their divorce. During their marriage, she appeared in Simon’s music video for the song “Rene and Georgette Magritte with Their Dog after the War”. Simon’s song “Hearts and Bones” is about their romance.

She subsequently had a relationship with Creative Artists Agency principal and talent agent Bryan Lourd. Eddie Fisher. The couple’s relationship ended when Lourd left to be in a homosexual relationship. In interviews, Fisher described Lourd as her second husband, but a 2004 profile of the actress and writer revealed that she and Lourd were never legally married.

In her 2016 autobiography The Princess Diarist, Fisher wrote that she and Harrison Ford had a three-month affair during the filming of Star Wars in 1976.

The Final Footprint 

The day after Fisher’s death, her mother Debbie Reynolds suffered a stroke at the home of son Todd, where the family was planning Fisher’s burial arrangements. She was taken to a hospital, where she died later that afternoon. According to Todd Fisher, Reynolds had said, “I really want to be with Carrie” immediately prior to suffering the stroke. On 5 January 2017, a joint private memorial was held for Fisher and Reynolds. A portion of Fisher’s ashes were laid to rest beside Reynolds in a crypt at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Hills. The remainder of her ashes are held in a giant, novelty Prozac pill. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, Albert “Cubby” Broccoli, David Carradine, Scatman Crothers, Bette Davis, Sandra Dee, Ronnie James Dio, Michael Clarke Duncan, Bobby Fuller, Andy Gibb, Michael Hutchence, Jill Ireland, Al Jarreau, Buster Keaton, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larson, Liberace, Strother Martin, Jayne Meadows, Brittany Murphy,  Ricky Nelson, Bill Paxton, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, and Paul Walker.

Her final film, Star Wars: The Last Jedi, was released on December 15, 2017 and is dedicated to her.

In her 2008 book, Wishful Drinking, Fisher wrote about what she hoped would eventually be her obituary: “I want it reported that I drowned in moonlight, strangled by my own bra.” Several obituaries and retrospectives featured the quote. In the absence of a star for Fisher on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, fans created their own memorial using a blank star. Along with flowers and candles, words put on the blank star read, “Carrie Fisher may the force be with you always”. Lightsaber vigils and similar events in Fisher’s honor were held at various Alamo Drafthouse Cinemas theaters and other sites. On January 6, 2017, the lights on Broadway in Manhattan were darkened for one minute in honor of Fisher and her mother. On March 25, 2017, a public memorial for mother and daughter was held at the Hall of Liberty theater in Forest Lawn Memorial Park. The event was streamed live on Reynolds’ website. On April 14, a special tribute to Fisher was held by Mark Hamill during the Star Wars Celebration in Orlando.

Have you planned yours yet? 

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 26 December – Frederic Remington – Jack Benny – Howard Hawks – Elsa Lanchester – Glenn McCarthy – JonBenét Ramsey – Curtis Mayfield – Jason Robards – Vincent Schiavelli – Teena Marie

Frederic_RemingtonOn this day in 1909, painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer, Frederic Remington died after an emergency appendectomy led to peritonitis, at the age of 48 in Ridgefield, Connecticut.  Born Fredieric Sackrider Remington in Canton, New York on 4 October 1861.  Remington specialized in depictions of the Old American West, specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th-century American West and images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U. S. Cavalry.  Remington married Eva Caten (1884 – 1909 his death).

The Final Footprint – Remington is interred in Evergreen Cemetery, Canton, New York.

Gallery

 

On this day in 1974, comedian, vaudevillian, radio, television and film actor, and violinist Jack Benny died from pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles at the age of 80. Born Benjamin Kubelsky on February 14, 1894 in Chicago. In my opinion, one of the leading 20th-century American entertainers, Benny often portrayed his character as a miser, playing his violin badly, and claiming to be 39 years of age, regardless of his actual age.

Benny was known for his comic timing and the ability to cause laughter with a pregnant pause or a single expression, such as his signature exasperated “Well!” His radio and television programs, popular from 1932 until his death in 1974, were a major influence on the sitcom genre.

The Final Footprint

At the funeral George Burns, Benny’s best friend for more than fifty years, attempted to deliver a eulogy but broke down shortly after he began and was unable to continue. Bob Hope also delivered a eulogy in which he stated, “For a man who was the undisputed master of comedy timing, you would have to say this is the only time when Jack Benny’s timing was all wrong. He left us much too soon.” He was entombed in a crypt at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California. Benny’s will arranged for a single long-stemmed red rose, to be delivered to his widow, Mary Livingstone, every day for the rest of her life. Livingstone died nine years later on June 30, 1983. Other notable Final Footprints at Hillside Memorial include; Milton Berle, Neil Bogart, Cyd CharisseLorne Greene, Moe HowardAl Jolson, Michael LandonJerry Leiber, Peggy Lipton, Leonard Nimoy, Suzanne PleshetteDinah Shore, Lupita Tovar, and Shelley Winters.

#RIP #OTD in 1977 film director, producer, screenwriter (To Have and Have Not, The Big Sleep, Red River, Rio Bravo) Howard Hawks died from complications from a fall tripping over his dog at home in Palm Springs, aged 81. Cremated remains scattered in the desert near Calimesa CA

#RIP #OTD in 1986 actress (Bride of Frankenstein, Witness for the Prosecution, Willard) Elsa Lanchester died in Woodland Hills, California at the Motion Picture Hospital, from pneumonia, aged 84. Cremated remains scattered over the Pacific Ocean.

 

glennmccarthyOn this day in 1988, oil tycoon, King of the Wildcatters, Diamond Glenn, Glenn McCarthy died in Houston at the age of 81.  Born Glenn Herbert McCarthy on 25 December 1907 in Beaumont, Texas almost seven years after the discovery of oil at Spindletop.  McCarthy was an oil prospector and entrepreneur who owned many businesses in various sectors of the economy.  McCarthy founded the Shamrock Hotel in Houston, which gained him national fame and inspired the fictional character Jett Rink in Edna Ferber’s 1952 novel Giant  along with its 1956 film adaptation, which starred James Dean in the role.  McCarthy married Faustine Lee.

The Final Footprint – McCarthy is interred in the Lee Family Private Estate in Glenwood Cemetery in Houston.  One of the offices I worked in when I worked in Houston had a great view of Glenwood Cemetery.  Other notable Final Footprints at Glenwood include; Maria Franklin Prentiss Langham Gable, Oveta Culp Hobby, William P. Hobby, Howard Hughes, Anson Jones and Gene Tierney, who married into the Lee family and is interred in the same estate.

#RIP #OTD in 1996 child beauty queen JonBenét Ramsey was killed by strangulation at the age of six in her family’s home in Boulder, Colorado. Saint James Episcopal Church, Marietta, Georgia

On this day in 1999, singer-songwriter, guitarist Curtis Mayfield died from complications of type 2 diabetes at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia at the age of 57. Born Curtis Lee Mayfield on June 3, 1942 in Chicago. In my opinion, Mayfield was one of the most influential musicians behind soul and politically conscious African-American music. He first achieved success and recognition with The Impressions during the civil rights movement of the late 1950s and 1960s, and later worked as a solo artist.

Mayfield started his musical career in a gospel choir. Moving to the North Side, he met Jerry Butler in 1956 at the age of 14, and joined the vocal group The Impressions. As a songwriter, Mayfield became noted as one of the first musicians to bring more prevalent themes of social awareness into soul music. In 1965, he wrote “People Get Ready” for the Impressions, which displayed his more politically charged songwriting. The song received numerous awards, and was included in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll, as well as being inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1998.

After leaving the Impressions in 1970 in the pursuit of a solo career, Mayfield released several albums, including the soundtrack for the blaxploitation film Super Fly in 1972. The soundtrack was noted for its socially conscious themes, mostly addressing problems surrounding inner city minorities such as crime, poverty and drug abuse. 

Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after lighting equipment fell on him during a live performance at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York, on August 13, 1990. Despite this, he continued his career as a recording artist, releasing his final album New World Order in 1996. Mayfield won a Grammy Legend Award in 1994 and a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995, and was a double inductee into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, as a member of the Impressions in 1991, and again in 1999 as a solo artist. He was also a two-time Grammy Hall of Fame inductee. He died from complications of type 2 diabetes in 1999 at the age of 57.

The Final Footprint

Mayfield was cremated.

JasonrobardsOn this day in 2000, United States Navy veteran, Emmy, Tony and Academy award-winning actor, Jason Robards, died of lung cancer in Bridgeport, Connecticut at the age of 78.  Born Jason Nelson Robards, Jr. on 26 July 1922 in Chicago, Illinois.  I particularly enjoyed his performances in; A Big Hand for the Little Lady (1966), Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), Comes a Horseman (1978), Melvin and Howard (1980), A Thousand Acres (1997).  Robards married four times; Eleanor Pittman (1948 – 1958 divorce), Rachel Taylor (1959 – 1961 divorce), Lauren Bacall (1961 – 1969 divorce), Lois O’Connor (1970 – 2000 his death). 

The Final Footprint

Robards was cremated and his cremated remains were interred in Oak Lawn Cemetery, Fairfield, Connecticut. 

On this day in 2005, actor and food writer Vincent Schiavelli died of lung cancer, aged 57, at his home in Polizzi Generosa, Sicily. Born Vincent Andrew Schiavelli on November 11, 1948 in Brooklyn. Perhaps best known as a sad-faced character actor, Schiavelli was diagnosed Marfan syndrome in childhood. His roles include Fredrickson in One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest (1975), Mr. Vargas in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), the Subway Ghost in Ghost (1990), Organ Grinder in Batman Returns (1992), Chester in The People vs Larry Flynt (1996), Dr. Kaufman in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), and ABC executive Maynard Smith in Man on the Moon (1999). Before his death in 2005, Vincent Schiavelli was considered by many as one of Hollywood’s best character actors. Roger Ebert stated “Schiavelli had a way of slipping into films without people knowing his name, but they remembered his great performances as unique characters.”

Polizzi Generosa, is the town where his grandfather, Andrea Coco, was born, and about which he wrote in his 2002 book Many Beautiful Things: Stories and Recipes from Polizzi Generosa.

Schiavelli was married to actress Allyce Beasley from 1985 until their 1988 divorce. He guest-starred as the love interest of Beasley’s character on one episode of Moonlighting. In 1992, Schiavelli married American harpist Carol Mukhalian.

The Final Footprint

Schiavelli was entombed at Polizzi Generosa Cemetery, near Palermo, Sicily. His epitaph reads:

Quando un grande artiste
vive dentro a un grande uomo
la sua anima e destinata
a rimanere eterna
Grazie
(When a great artist
lives inside a great man
his soul is destined
to remain eternal
Thanks)

Two documentaries were made about Schiavelli’s Sicilian life. The first, Once Upon a Time in Polizzi, was released on October 11, 2005 (two months before his death) and the second, Many Beautiful Things (Tanti Beddi Cosi is the Sicilian title), was produced by Aurelio Gambadoro and released in 2014. The film Hey Arnold!: The Jungle Movie is dedicated to his memory. (Schiavelli provided a guest voice appearance as the Pigeon Man in the original series.)

#RIP #OTD singer-songwriter, musician, composer, arranger, and producer Lady T, The Ivory Queen of Soul, Teena Marie died at her home in Pasadena, California, aged 54. Cremation

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 25 December – Charlie Chaplin – Joan Miró – Billy Martin – Dean Martin – Birgit Nilsson – James Brown – Eartha Kitt – George Michael

by Strauss-Peyton Studio, bromide print, circa 1920

On this day in 1977, actor, filmmaker, and composer Charlie Chaplin died at his home Manoir de Ban, or Champ de Ban Estate Manor, located at Corsier-sur-Vevey on the banks of Lake Geneva in Switzerland after suffering a stroke in his sleep at the age of 88. Born Charles Spencer Chaplin on 16 April 1889 possibly at East Street, Walworth, in South London. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, “the Tramp”, and in my opinion, is one of the most important figures in the history of the film industry. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy.

Chaplin’s childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship, as his father was absent and his mother struggled financially, and he was sent to a workhouse twice before the age of nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the prestigious Fred Karno company, which took him to America. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon developed the Tramp persona. By 1918, he was one of the best-known figures in the world.

In 1919, Chaplin co-founded the distribution company United Artists which gave him complete control over his films. His first feature-length film was The Kid(1921), followed by A Woman of Paris (1923), The Gold Rush (1925), and The Circus (1928). He refused to move to sound films in the 1930s, instead producing City Lights (1931) and Modern Times (1936) without dialogue. He became increasingly political, and his next film The Great Dictator (1940) satirized Adolf Hitler. The 1940s were a decade marked with controversy for Chaplin, and his popularity declined. He was accused of communist sympathies, while he created scandal through his involvement in a paternity suit and his marriages to much younger women. An FBI investigation was opened, and Chaplin was forced to leave the United States and settle in Switzerland. He abandoned the Tramp in his later films, which include Monsieur Verdoux (1947), Limelight (1952), A King in New York (1957), and A Countess from Hong Kong (1967).

Chaplin wrote, directed, produced, edited, starred in, and composed the music for most of his films. He was a perfectionist, and his financial independence enabled him to spend years on the development and production of a picture. His films are characterized by slapstick combined with pathos, typified in the Tramp’s struggles against adversity. Many contain social and political themes, as well as autobiographical elements. He received an Honorary Academy Award for “the incalculable effect he has had in making motion pictures the art form of this century” in 1972, as part of a renewed appreciation for his work. He continues to be held in high regard, with The Gold RushCity LightsModern Times, and The Great Dictator often ranked on lists of the greatest films of all time.

Before the creation of United Artists, Chaplin married for the first time. The 16-year-old actress Mildred Harris had revealed that she was pregnant with his child, and in September 1918, he married her quietly in Los Angeles to avoid controversy. Soon after, the pregnancy was found to be false. Chaplin was unhappy with the union and, feeling that marriage stunted his creativity, struggled over the production of his film Sunnyside. Harris was by then legitimately pregnant, and on 7 July 1919, gave birth to a son. Norman Spencer Chaplin was born malformed and died three days later. The marriage ended in April 1920, with Chaplin explaining in his autobiography that they were “irreconcilably mismated”.

While making The Gold Rush, Chaplin married for the second time. Mirroring the circumstances of his first union, Lita Grey was a teenage actress, originally set to star in the film, whose surprise announcement of pregnancy forced Chaplin into marriage. She was 16 and he was 35, meaning Chaplin could have been charged with statutory rape under California law. He therefore arranged a discreet marriage in Mexico on 25 November 1924. Their first son, Charles Spencer Chaplin, Jr., was born on 5 May 1925, followed by Sydney Earl Chaplin on 30 March 1926.

It was an unhappy marriage, and Chaplin spent long hours at the studio to avoid seeing his wife. In November 1926, Grey took the children and left the family home. A bitter divorce followed, in which Grey’s application – accusing Chaplin of infidelity, abuse, and of harbouring “perverted sexual desires” – was leaked to the press. Chaplin was reported to be in a state of nervous breakdown, as the story became headline news and groups formed across America calling for his films to be banned. Eager to end the case without further scandal, Chaplin’s lawyers agreed to a cash settlement of $600,000 – the largest awarded by American courts at that time. His fan base was strong enough to survive the incident, and it was soon forgotten, but Chaplin was deeply affected by it.

In his autobiography, Chaplin recalled that on his return to Los Angeles, “I was confused and without plan, restless and conscious of an extreme loneliness”. He briefly considered retiring and moving to China. Chaplin’s loneliness was relieved when he met 21-year-old actress Paulette Goddard in July 1932, and the pair began a relationship. 

Modern Times was announced by Chaplin as “a satire on certain phases of our industrial life.” Featuring the Tramp and Goddard as they endure the Great Depression, it took ten and a half months to film. Chaplin intended to use spoken dialogue but changed his mind during rehearsals. Like its predecessor, Modern Times employed sound effects but almost no speaking. Following the release of Modern Times, Chaplin left with Goddard for a trip to the Far East. The couple had refused to comment on the nature of their relationship, and it was not known whether they were married or not. Some time later, Chaplin revealed that they married in Canton during this trip. By 1938, the couple had drifted apart, as both focused heavily on their work, although Goddard was again his leading lady in his next feature film, The Great Dictator. She eventually divorced Chaplin in Mexico in 1942, citing incompatibility and separation for more than a year.

The Final Footprint

The funeral, on 27 December, was a small and private Anglican ceremony, according to his wishes. Chaplin was interred in the cemetery of Corsier-sur-Vevey, Switzerland. 

On 1 March 1978, Chaplin’s coffin was dug up and stolen from its grave by two unemployed immigrants, Roman Wardas, from Poland, and Gantcho Ganev, from Bulgaria. The body was held for ransom in an attempt to extort money from his daughter Oona Chaplin. The pair were caught in a large police operation in May, and Chaplin’s coffin was found buried in a field in the nearby village of Noville. It was re-interred in the Corsier cemetery surrounded by reinforced concrete.

On this day in 1983, painter, sculptor, and ceramicist, Joan Miró died from heart disease in his home in Palma, Majorca at the age of 90.  Born Joan Miró i Ferrà on 20 April 1893 in Barcelona.  Earning international acclaim, his work has been interpreted as Surrealism, a sandbox for the subconscious mind, a re-creation of the childlike, and a manifestation of Catalan pride.  In numerous interviews dating from the 1930s onwards, Miró expressed contempt for conventional painting methods as a way of supporting bourgeois society, and famously declared an “assassination of painting” in favour of upsetting the visual elements of established painting.  A museum dedicated to his work, the Fundació Joan Miró, was established in his native city of Barcelona in 1975, and another, the Fundació Pilar i Joan Miró, was established in his adoptive city of Palma de Mallorca in 1981.  Miró married Pilar Juncosa in Palma (Majorca) on 12 October 1929. 

The Final Footprint – Miró is entombed in Cementiri de Montjuïc, Barcelona. 

Gallery

 

April 1917, Portrait of Vincent Nubiola (Portrait de Vincenç Nubiola), oil on canvas, 104 x 113 cm, Folkwang Museum

1918, La casa de la palmera (House with Palm Tree), oil on canvas, 65 x 73 cm, Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

1918, Portrait of Heriberto Casany (Le chauffeur), oil on canvas, 70.2 x 62 cm, Kimbell Art Museum

1919, Nu au miroir (Nude with a Mirror, Naakt met mirror), oil on canvas, 113 x 102 cm, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen

1920, Les cartes espagnoles (The Spanish Playing Cards), oil on canvas, 63.5 x 69.5 cm, Minneapolis Institute of Arts

1920, Horse, Pipe and Red Flower, oil on canvas, 82.6 × 74.9 cm, Philadelphia Museum of Art

 
 

billy_Martin_1954On this day in 1989, baseball player, All-Star second BillyMartin1baseman, manager, 5× World Series champion (1951–1953, 1956, 1977), New York Yankees #1 retired, Billy Martin died in a low speed, single vehicle collision during an ice storm at the end of the driveway to his farm in Port Crane, north of Binghamton, New York, at the age of 61.  Born Alfred Manuel Martin, Jr. on 16 May 1928 in Berkeley, California.  Perhaps best known as the manager of the New York Yankees, a position he held five different times.  As Yankees manager, he led the team to consecutive American League pennants in 1976 and 1977; the Yankees were swept in the 1976 World Series by the Cincinnati Reds but triumphed over the Los Angeles Dodgers in six games in the 1977 World Series.  As a manager, Martin was known for turning losing teams into winners, and for arguing animatedly with umpires, including a widely parodied routine in which he kicked dust on their feet.  On 10 August  1986, the Yankees retired Martin’s uniform number 1 and dedicated a plaque in his honor for Monument Park at Yankee Stadium.  The plaque contains the words, There has never been a greater competitor than Billy.  Martin told the crowd, “I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform, but I am the proudest.”  On 24 May 1986, on the season finale of Saturday Night Live, co-host Martin was “fired” by executive producer Lorne Michaels for being “drunk” in a skit, slurring his lines.  During the goodnights, Martin “sets fire” to the dressing room in retaliation.  In 1988, on Saturday Night Live’s “Weekend Update,” comedian Dennis Miller opened the sports segment with, “In Calgary tonight, Katarina Witt won the gold medal in figure skating, prompting Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to fire manager Billy Martin.”  Steinbrenner and Martin appeared together in a series of funny commercials for Miller Lite beer.  Martin was married four times Lois Berndt, Gretchen Winkler, Heather Ervolino, and Jillian Guiver. 

The Final Footprint – Martin was eulogized by Cardinal John O’Connor at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York, before his funeral at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.  His grave is located about 150 feet (46 m) from the grave of Babe Ruth in Section 25.  The following epitaph appears on the headstone: I may not have been the greatest Yankee to put on the uniform, but I was the proudest.  Former United States President Richard Nixon and Steinbrenner, along with many former New York Yankees greats attended Martin’s funeral service.  Other notable Yankees whose final footprints include memorialization in Monument Park; Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig, Joe DiMaggio, George Steinbrenner, Thurman Munson, Mickey Mantle, Roger Maris, Phil Rizzuto, Mel Allen, Bob Sheppard, and Casey Stengel.  Other notable final footprints at Gate of Heaven include; James Cagney, Babe Ruth, Sal Mineo, and Dutch Schultz.

Dean_Martin_-_Rio_Bravo_1959On this day in 1995, legendary singer and actor, American icon, member of the Rat Pack, The King of Cool, Dean Martin, died from emphysema at his Beverly Hills home at the age 78.  Born Dino Paul Crocetti on 7 June 1917 in Steubenville, Ohio to Italian parents.  Martin was a major star in four areas of show business: concert stage/night clubs, recordings, motion pictures, and television.  Martin was on the nightclub circuit when he met the comic Jerry Lewis at the Glass Hat Club in New York.  They formed a friendship and soon began participating in each other’s acts combining their musical and comedic talents.  Martin and Lewis made their offical debut at Atlantic City’s 500 Club on 24 July 1946.  From then until 1956 they were one of the hottest acts in America appearing in clubs, on television and in movies.  By the mid ’60s, Martin was a top movie, recording, and nightclub star.  He first starred alongside Frank Sinatra in the Vincente Minnelli drama, Some Came Running (1958).  Martin was acclaimed for his performance as Dude in Rio Bravo (1959), directed by Howard Hawks and also starring John Wayne and singer Ricky Nelson.  He teamed up again with Wayne in The Sons of Katie Elder (1965), although perhaps unconvincingly cast as brothers.  As a singer, Martin was influenced by Harry Mills, Bing Crosby, and Perry Como until he developed his own style and could hold his own in duets with Sinatra and Crosby.  Like Sinatra, he could not read music, but he recorded more than 100 albums and 600 songs.  His signature tune, “Everybody Loves Somebody”, improbably knocked The Beatles’ “A Hard Day’s Night” out of the number-one spot in the United States in 1964.  Elvis was said to have been influenced by Martin’s style.  In the late 1950s and early 1960s, Martin and Sinatra, along with friends Joey Bishop, Peter Lawford, and Sammy Davis, Jr. formed the legendary Rat Pack, so called by the public after an earlier group of social friends, the Holmby Hills Rat Pack centered on Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall, of which Sinatra had been a member.  The Martin-Sinatra-Davis-Lawford-Bishop group referred to themselves as “The Summit” or “The Clan”.  Martin launched his weekly NBC comedy-variety series, The Dean Martin Show in 1965 which ran until 1974.  After the show’s cancellation, NBC continued to air the Dean Martin Celebrity Roast format in a series of TV specials through 1984.  Martin was married three times; Betty McDonald (1941 – 1949 divorce) Jeanne Biegger (1949 – 1972 divorce), Catherine Hawn (1973 – 1976 divorce).  Perhaps my all-time favorite entertainer: Rio Bravo is one of my favorite movies; the Martin and Lewis movies are great; I remember wathcing his show on television; the roast specials were some of the funniest shows I ever saw; and of course he is one of my favorite singers.  The holiday season does not officially start for me until I hear him sing, Baby it’s cold Outside

The Final Footprint – Martin is entombed in the Sanctuary of Love Mausoleum at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary (a Dignity Memorial® provider) in Los Angeles, California.  The bronze plaque on his crypt has his name and birth and death dates and this inscription; EVERYBODY LOVES SOMEBODY SOMETIME.  The lights of the Las Vegas Strip were dimmed in his honor.  Martin has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: One at 6519 Hollywood Blvd. (for movies), one at 1817 Vine (for recordings) and one at 6651 Hollywood Boulevard (for television).  His footprints were immortalized at Grauman’s Chinese Theater in 1964.  Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Ray Bradbury,  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, Donna Reed, George C. Scott, Dorothy Stratten, Natalie Wood, and Frank Zappa.

#RIP #OTD in 2005 Wagnerian dramatic soprano Birgit Nilsson died at her home at Bjärlöv, a small village near Kristianstad in Skåne, Sweden, aged 87. Västra Karups kyrkogård, Bastad, Båstads kommun, Skåne län, Sweden

JamesBrownOn this day in 2006, recording artist, musician, songwriter, the Hardest Working Man in Show Business, the Godfather of Soul, James Brown died from congestive heart failure resulting from complications of pneumonia, at age 73 with his personal manager and longtime friend Charles Bobbit at his bedside in the Emory Crawford Long Memorial Hospital in Atlanta.  Born James Joseph Brown, Jr. on 3 May 1933, in Barnwell, South Carolina in a small wooden shack.  One of the founding fathers of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century popular music and dance.  In a career that spanned six decades, Brown influenced the development of several music genres.  He began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia.  Joining an R&B vocal group called the Avons that later evolved to become The Famous Flames, Brown served as the group’s lead singer.  First coming to national public attention in the late 1950s as a member of The Flames with the ballads “Please, Please, Please” and “Try Me”, Brown built a reputation as a tireless live performer with the The Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes known as the James Brown Band or the James Brown Orchestra.  His success peaked in the 1960s with the live album Live at the Apollo and hit singles such as “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”, “I Got You” and “It’s a Man’s Man’s Man’s World”.  During the late 1960s, Brown moved from a continuum of blues and gospel-based forms and styles to a profoundly “Africanized” approach to music-making that influenced the development of funk music.  By the early 1970s, Brown had fully established the funk sound after the formation of The J.B.’s with records such as “Get Up (I Feel Like Being a) Sex Machine” and “The Payback”.  Brown also became notable for songs of social commentary, including the 1968 hit “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud”.  He continued to perform and record for the duration of his life until his death.  Brown recorded 16 number-one singles on the Billboard R&B charts.  Brown was honored by many institutions including inductions into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Songwriters Hall of Fame.  Brown is included in most rankings of greatest artists of all time.  Brown was married three times; Velma Warren (1953 – 1969 divorce), Deidre “Deedee” Jenkins (1970 – 1981 divorce) and Adrienne Lois Rodriguez (1984 – 1996 her death).  A fourth marriage to Tomi Rae Hynie in 2002 was later ruled invalid. 

The Final Footprint

Public memorial at the Apollo Theater in Harlem

 

Public funeral in Augusta, Georgia, with Michael Jackson attending

 

After Brown’s death, Brown’s relatives and friends, a host of celebrities and thousands of fans attended public memorial services at the Apollo Theater in New York on 28 December 2006 and at the James Brown Arena on 30 December 2006 in Augusta, Georgia.  A separate, private memorial service was also held in North Augusta, South Carolina on 29 December 2006, which was attended by Brown’s family and close friends.  Celebrities who attended Brown’s public and/or private memorial services included among others; Michael Jackson, Jimmy Cliff, Joe Frazier, Buddy Guy, Ice Cube, Ludacris, Dr. Dre, Little Richard, Dick Gregory, MC Hammer, Prince, Jesse Jackson, Ice-T, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bootsy Collins, LL Cool J, Lil Wayne, Lenny Kravitz, 50 Cent, Stevie Wonder, Todd Williams and Don King.  All of the public and private memorial services were officiated by Rev. Al Sharpton.  Brown’s public and private memorial ceremonies were elaborate, complete with costume changes for Brown and videos featuring him in concert performances.  Brown’s body, which was placed in a Promethean casket, which is bronze polished to a golden shine, was driven through the streets of New York to the Apollo Theater in a white, glass-encased horse-drawn carriage.  In Augusta, Georgia, the procession for Brown’s public memorial visited Brown’s statue as the procession made its way to the James Brown Arena.  During the public memorial at the James Brown Arena, nachos and pretzels were served to mourners, as a video showed Brown’s last performance in Augusta, Georgia and the Ray Charles version of “Georgia on My Mind” played soulfully in the background.  Brown’s last backup band, The Soul Generals, also played the music of Brown’s hits during the memorial service at the James Brown Arena.  The group was joined by Bootsy Collins on bass, with MC Hammer performing a dance in James Brown style.  Former Temptations lead singer Ali-Ollie Woodson performed “Walk Around Heaven All Day” at the memorial services.  Brown is entombed in the Thomas Family Home Crypt, Beech Island, Aiken County, South Carolina.

Eartha_Kitt_2007On this day in 2008, Tony nominated actress, singer, cabaret star, dancer, stand-up comedienne, activist and voice artist, Eartha Kitt died from colon cancer at her home in Weston, Connecticut at the age of 81, with her daughter by her side.  Born Eartha Mae Keith on a cotton plantation in North, a small town in Orangeburg County near Columbia, South Carolina, on 17 January 1927.  Known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of “C’est Si Bon” and the enduring Christmas novelty smash “Santa Baby”, which were both US Top 10 hits.  Orson Welles once called her the “most exciting woman in the world”.  Kitt began her career in 1943 with the Katherine Dunham Company and appeared in the 1945 original Broadway production of the musical Carib Song.  In the early 1950s, she had six US Top 30 hits, including “Uska Dara” and “I Want to be Evil”.  Her other notable recordings include the UK Top 10 hit “Under the Bridges of Paris” (1954), “Just an Old Fashioned Girl” (1963) and “Where Is My Man” (1983).  She took over the role of Catwoman in 1967 for the third and final season of the Batman television series, replacing Julie Newmar.  In 1968, her career in America suffered after she made anti-war statements at a White House luncheon. Ten years later, she made a successful return to Broadway in the 1978 original production of the musical Timbuktu!, for which she received the first of her two Tony Award nominations.  Her second was for the 2000 original production of the musical The Wild Partfy.  After romances with the cosmetics magnate Charles Revson and banking heir John Barry Ryan III, she married John William McDonald, an associate of a real estate investment company, on 6 June 1960.  They divorced in 1965.

The Final Footprint – Kitt was cremated.

On this day in 2016, singer, songwriter George Michael died from heart failure in his Oxfordshire home at the age of 53. Born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou on 25 June 1963 in East Finchley, London. Herose to fame as a member of the music duo Wham! and later embarked on a solo career. He was widely known for his work in the 1980s and 1990s, including hit Wham! singles such as “Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go” and “Last Christmas” and solo albums such as Faith (1987) and Listen Without Prejudice Vol. 1 (1990).

Michael achieved seven number one singles in the UK and eight number one songs on the Billboard Hot 100 in the US, including “Careless Whisper” and “Praying for Time”. Michael won various music awards throughout his 30-year career, including three Brit Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, six Ivor Novello Awards, three American Music Awards, and two Grammy Awards from eight nominations. Michael, who came out as gay in 1998, was an active LGBT rights campaigner and HIV/AIDS charity fundraiser.

The Final Footprint

Tributes are seen surrounding Michael’s home in Goring-on-Thames, South

 

Unofficial memorial garden outside Michael’s home in Highgate, 29 July 2017

 

In a private ceremony, Michael was buried at Highgate Cemetery in north London, near his mother’s grave. Other notable final footprints as Highgate include; George Eliot, George Henry Lewes, Karl Marx, and Christina Rossetti

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 24 December – William Makepeace Thackeray – John Muir – Peter Lawford – Toshiro Mifune – Harold Pinter – Charles Durning – Jack Klugman – Allee Willis

William_Makepeace_Thackeray_by_Jesse_Harrison_Whitehurst-cropOn this day in 1863, novelist William Makepeace Thackeray died from a stroke in his bed in London at the age of 52.  Born on 18 July 1811 in Calcutta, India, where his father, Richmond Thackeray (1 September 1781 – 13 September 1815), was secretary to the board of revenue in the British East India Company.  Thackeray was famous for his satirical works, particularly Vanity Fair, a panoramic portrait of English society.  He married Isabella Gethin Shawe.

William_Thackeray_grave_Kensal_Green_2014The Final Footprint – Due to his unexpected death, his family, friends, and reading public were shocked.  An estimated 7000 people attended his funeral at Kensington Gardens.  He was buried on 29 December at Kensal Green Cemetery, and a memorial bust sculpted by Marochetti can be found in Westminster Abbey.  Other notable final footprints at Kensal Green include Leigh Hunt and Harold Pinter (see below).  In addition, Ingrid Bergman, Freddie Mercury and Alan Rickman were cremated at Kensal Green.

#RIP #OTD in 1914 naturalist, author, environmental philosopher, botanist, zoologist, glaciologist, founder of the Sierra Club, John Muir died at California Hospital, Los Angeles of pneumonia, aged 76. Muir-Strentzel Hanna Cemetery, Martinez, California

Peter_Lawford_in_Royal_Wedding_2On this day in 1984, actor, member of the Rat Pack Peter Lawford, died from cardiac arrest at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles at the age of 61.  Born Peter Sydney Vaughn Aylen on 7 September 1923 in London.  A member of the “Rat Pack” with Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr. and Joey Bishop.  Lawford was married four times; Patricia Kennedy (1954 – 1966 divorce) sister of then-US Senator John F. Kennedy (Lawford, along with other members of the “Rat Pack”, helped campaign for Kennedy and the Democratic Party; Sinatra famously dubbed him “Brother-in-Lawford” at this time), Mary Rowan (1971 – 1975 divorce) the daughter of comedian Dan Rowan, Deborah Gould (1976 – 1977 divorce), and Patricia Seaton (1984 – 1984 his death). 

The Final Footprint – Lawford was cremated and his cremated remains were initially entombed at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, a Dignity Memorial property.  Later the cremains were removed and scattered in the Pacific Ocean.  Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Ray Bradbury,  Sammy Cahn, Truman Capote, James Coburn, Rodney Dangerfield, Farrah Fawcett, Hugh Hefner, Brian Keith, Don Knotts, Burt Lancaster, Peggy Lee, Janet Leigh, 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.

#RIP #OTD in 1997 actor (Rashomon, Seven Samurai, The Hidden Fortress, Throne of Blood, Yojimbo, Red Sun) Toshiro Mifune died in Mitaka, Tokyo, of multiple organ failure at the age of 77. Shunjuen Cemetery, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa, Japan

Harold-pinter-atpOn this day in 2008, Nobel Prize-winning English playwright, screenwriter, director and actor, Harold Pinter died at Hammersmith Hospital in London, from liver cancer at the age of 78.  Born on 10 October 1930, in Hackney, east London.  In my opinion, one of the most influential modern British dramatists, his writing career spanned more than 50 years.  Perhaps his best-known plays include The Birthday Party (1957), The Homecoming (1964), and Betrayal (1978), each of which he adapted for the screen.  His screenplay adaptations of others’ works include The Servant (1963), The Go-Between (1971), The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), The Trial (1993), and Sleuth (2007).  Pinter also directed or acted in radio, stage, television, and film productions of his own and others’ works.  In 1956 he married actress Vivien Merchant.  He left Merchant in 1975 and married author Lady Antonia Fraser in 1980.  Pinter received over 50 awards, prizes, and other honours, including the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2005 and the French Légion d’honneur in 2007. 

The Final Footprint – Pinter’s funeral was a private, half-hour secular ceremony conducted at the graveside at Kensal Green Cemetery, 31 December 2008.  The eight readings selected in advance by Pinter included passages from seven of his own writings and from the story “The Dead”, by James Joyce, which was read by actress Penelope WiltonMichael Gambon read the “photo album” speech from No Man’s Land and three other readings, including Pinter’s poem “Death” (1997).  Other readings honoured Pinter’s widow and his love of cricket.  At its end, Pinter’s widow, Antonia Fraser, stepped forward to his grave and quoted from Shakespeare; Horatio’s speech after the death of Hamlet: “Goodnight, sweet prince, / And flights of angels sing thee to thy rest.”

Other notable final footprints at Kensal Green include Leigh Hunt and William Makepeace Thackeray (see above).  In addition, Ingrid Bergman, Freddie Mercury and Alan Rickman were cremated at Kensal Green.

#RIP #OTD in 2012 US Army veteran, actor (The Sting, Dog Day Afternoon, True Confessions, Tootsie, Dick Tracy, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, To Be or Not to Be) Charles Durning died at his home in Manhattan, aged 89. Arlington National Cemetery @ArlingtonNatl

#RIP #OTD in 2012 actor of stage, film, and television (12 Angry Men, Cry Terror!, The Twilight Zone, The Odd Couple) Jack Klugman died in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, of prostate cancer, aged 90. Cremated remains inurned at Westwood Memorial Park cemetery in Los Angeles

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPPTFF

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

Day in History 23 December – John Chisum – Peggy Guggenheim – Jack Webb – Victor Borge – Joan Didion

JohnSimpsonChisumOn this day in 1884, cattle baron in the American West, John Chisum died in Eureka Springs, Arkansas, where he had repeatedly sought treatments, due to complications from surgery to remove a growth from his jaw, at the age of 60.  Born John Simpson Chisum on 15 August 1824 in Hardeman County, Tennessee.  Chisum moved with his family to Texas in 1837, finding work as a building contractor.  He also served as county clerk in Lamar County.  Chisum was of Scottish, English, and Welsh descent.  In 1854, Chisum became engaged in the cattle business and became one of the first to send his herds to New Mexico Territory.  He obtained land along the Pecos River by right of occupancy and eventually became the owner of a large ranch in the Bosque Grande, about forty miles south of Fort Sumner, with over 100,000 head of cattle.  In 1866-67, Chisum formed a partnership with cattlemen Charles Goodnight and Oliver Loving to assemble and drive herds of cattle for sale to the United States Army in Fort Sumner and Santa Fe, New Mexico, to provide cattle to miners in Colorado as well as provide cattle to the Bell Ranch.  A gambler, Chisum frequently played poker with Texas John Slaughter, a lawman in Texas and later the Arizona Territory.  Chisum with money, advice, and influence behind the scenes, played a role in the Lincoln County War between the opposing factions of cattle farmers and business owners, and involving Billy the Kid.  Chisum never married.

The Final Footprint – Chisum is interred in the Chisum Family Cemetery in Paris, Texas.  He left his estate worth $500,000 to his brothers Pitzer and James.  While living in Bolivar, Texas, he lived with a young slave girl named Jensie and had two daughters with her.  The relationship is described in a book titled Three Ranches West.  Chisum had an extended family living with him at the South Springs ranch in Roswell.  Chisum’s niece Sallie, daughter of his brother James, became a beloved figure in the area, where she lived until 1934.  Sallie kept a diary or journal that has historical importance because of its references to Billy the Kid and Pat Garrett, both of whom she knew.  She and John Chisum are honored by statues to their memory in Roswell and Artesia, New Mexico.  Chisum has been portrayed on film by John Wayne in Chisum (1970) and James Coburn in Young Guns II (1990).

On this day in 1979, art collector, bohemian and socialite Peggy Guggenheim died from a stroke in Camposampiero near Padua, Italy at the age of 81. Born Marguerite Guggenheim on August 26, 1898 in Born to the wealthy New York City Guggenheim family, she was the daughter of Benjamin Guggenheim, who went down with the Titanic in 1912, and the niece of Solomon R. Guggenheim, who would establish the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. Peggy Guggenheim created a noted art collection in Europe and America primarily between 1938 and 1946. She exhibited this collection as she built it and in 1949, settled in Venice, where she lived and exhibited her collection for the rest of her life. The Peggy Guggenheim Collection is a modern art museum on the Grand Canal in Venice, Italy, and is one of the most visited attractions in Venice.

She claimed to have had affairs with numerous artists and writers, and in return many artists and others have claimed affairs with her. 

Her first marriage was to Laurence Vail, a Dada sculptor and writer with whom she had two children, Michael Cedric Sindbad Vail (1923–1986) and Pegeen Vail Guggenheim (1925-1967). They divorced about 1928 following his affair with writer Kay Boyle, whom he later married. Soon after her first marriage dissolved, she had an affair with John Ferrar Holms, a writer with writer’s block who had been a war hero. Starting in December 1939, she and Samuel Beckett had a brief but intense affair, and he encouraged her to turn exclusively to modern art. She married her second husband, painter Max Ernst, in 1941 and divorced him in 1946. 

The Final Footprint

Her cremated remains are interred in the garden (later: Nasher Sculpture Garden) of her home, the Palazzo Venier dei Leoni (inside the Peggy Guggenheim Collection), next to her beloved Lhasa Apso dogs.

#RIP #OTD in 1982 actor, television producer, director, and screenwriter (Dragnet) Jack Webb died of a heart attack in West Hollywood, aged 62. Sheltering Hills Plot 1999, Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles

victorBorgeOn this day in 2000, comedian, conductor and pianist, The Clown Prince of Denmark, The Unmelancholy Dane, The Great Dane, Victor Borge, died in Greenwich, Connecticut at the age of 91.  Born Børge Rosenbaum on 3 January 1909 in Copenhagen, Denmark.  Borge was married twice; Elsie Chilton (1933 – divorce) and Sarabel Sanna Scraper (1953 – 2000 her death).

The Final Footprint – Borge was cremated.  Part of his cremated remains were interred with his second wife at Putnam Cemetery in Greenwich, with a replica of Danish icon The Little Mermaid sitting on a large rock at the gravesite, the other part with his parents in Western Jewish Cemetery (Mosaisk Vestre Begravelsesplads), Copenhagen, Denmark.

#RIP #OTD in 2021 writer (Slouching Towards Bethlehem, Play It as It Lays, The White Album, The Year of Magical Thinking), journalist, Joan Didion died from complications of Parkinson’s disease at her home in Manhattan aged 87. Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, Manhattan.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 22 December – Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer – George Eliot – Ma Rainey – Beatrix Potter – Samuel Beckett – Butterfly McQueen – Joe Cocker

On this day in 1870, post-romanticist poet and writer, also a playwright, literary columnist, and artist, Gustavo Adolfo Bécquer died from tuberculosis in Madrid at the age of 34. Born Gustavo Adolfo Claudio Domínguez Bastida on February 17, 1836 in  Seville. In my opinion, one of the most important figures in Spanish literature. He adopted the alias of Bécquer as his brother Valeriano Bécquer, a painter, had done earlier. It was after his death that most of his works were published. Perhaps his best known works are the Rhymes and the Legends, usually published together as Rimas y leyendas. These poems and tales are essential to the study of Spanish literature and common reading for high-school students in Spanish-speaking countries.

Glorieta de Bécquer in Seville, Spain

In 1861, Bécquer met Casta Esteban Navarro, and married her in May 1861. Bécquer was believed to have had a romance with another girl named Elisa Guillén shortly before the marriage, which is thought to have been arranged, by the parents of Casta. The poet was not happy in the marriage, and took any chance he got to follow his brother Valeriano on his constant trips. Casta began to take up with a man with whom she had had a relationship shortly before marrying Bécquer, something that was later blamed on Bécquer’s trips and lack of attention by Casta’s acquaintances. The poet wrote very little about Casta, as most of his inspiration at this time, (as it is the case with the famous rima LIII), came from his feelings towards Elisa.

Rhymes (Rimas)

Volverán las oscuras golondrinas
En tu balcón sus nidos a colgar
Y otra vez con el ala a sus cristales,
Jugando llamarán.

Pero aquellas que el vuelo refrenaban
Tu hermosura y mi dicha a contemplar,
Aquellas que aprendieron nuestros nombres,
¡Esas… no volverán!

The dark swallows will return
their nests upon your balcony, to hang.
And again with their wings upon its windows,
Playing, they will call.

But those who used to slow their flight
your beauty and my happiness to watch,
Those, that learned our names,
Those… will not come back!

The refrain “¡Esas… no volverán!” appears in the 20th novel Yo-Yo Boing! by Latina poet Giannina Braschi, who references Bécquer’s swallows to describe the sorrow and angst of a failed romance.

In Rhymes (Rhyme 21) Becquer wrote one of the most famous poems in the Spanish language. The poem can be read as a response to a lover who asked what was poetry:

¿Qué es poesía?, dices mientras clavas
en mi pupila tu pupila azul.
¡Qué es poesía! ¿Y tú me lo preguntas?
Poesía… eres tú.

What is poetry? you ask, while fixing
your blue pupil on mine.
What is poetry! And you are asking me?
Poetry… is you.

The Final Footprint

His body was buried in Madrid, and afterwards was moved to Seville along with his brother’s at Capilla de la Universidad de Sevilla.

On this day in 1880, novelist, poet, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era, George Eliot died at the age of 61 in Chelsea, Middlesex, England.  Born Mary Ann Evans on 22 November 1819 in Nuneaton, Warwickshire, England.  She is the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871–72), and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight.  Eliot used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously.  Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot’s life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances.  She also wished to have her fiction judged separately from her already extensive and widely known work as an editor and critic.  An additional factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived for over 20 years.  In my opinion, Middlemarch is one of the greatest novels in the English language.  Eliot married John Cross (1880 – 1880 her death).

georgeEliot_George_graveThe Final Footprint – Eliot was not buried in Westminster Abbey because of her denial of the Christian faith and her “irregular” though monogamous life with Lewes.  She was interred in Highgate Cemetery (East), Highgate, London in the area reserved for religious dissenters or agnostics, next to Lewes.  In 1980, on the centenary of her death, a memorial stone was established for her in the Poets’ Corner.  Several buildings in her birthplace of Nuneaton are named after her or titles of her novels, such as The George Eliot School (previously George Eliot Community School) and Middlemarch Junior School.  In 1948, Nuneaton Emergency Hospital was named George Eliot Hospital in Eliot’s honour.  George Eliot Road, in Foleshill, Coventry was named in her honour.  Nuneaton motor cycle manufacturer John Birch named his motor cycles after her.  A statue of Eliot is in Newdegate Street, Nuneaton, and Nuneaton Museum & Art Gallery has a display of material related to her.  Other notable final footprints at Highgate include; Karl Marx, Christina Rossetti and Jean Simmons.

#RIP #OTD in 1939 singer (“Bo-Weevil Blues”, “Moonshine Blues”, “See See Rider Blues”, “Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom”, “Soon This Morning”), the “Mother of the Blues” Ma Rainey died of a heart attack in Columbus, Georgia, aged 53. Porterdale Cemetery, Columbus.

#RIP #OTD in 1943 writer (The Tale of Peter Rabbit), illustrator, natural scientist and conservationist (Lake District National Park) Beatrix Potter died of pneumonia and heart disease at her home in Near Sawrey, Cumbria, England at the age of 77. Cremation

Samuel_Beckett,_Pic,_1On this day in 1989, avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet, member of the French Resistance, Samuel Beckett died in a nursing home in Paris at the age of 83.  Born Samuel Barclay Beckett on Good Friday, 13 April 1906 in Foxrock, Dublin.  Beckett lived in Paris for most of his adult life and wrote in both English and French.  His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature.  In my opinion, Beckett is among the most influential writers of the 20th century.  He is considered one of the last modernists. As an inspiration to many later writers, he is also sometimes considered one of the first postmodernists.  Beckett is one of the key writers in what has been called the “Theatre of the Absurd”. His work became increasingly minimalist in his later career.  Beckett was awarded the 1969 Nobel Prize in Literature “for his writing, which—in new forms for the novel and drama—in the destitution of modern man acquires its elevation”.  He was elected Saoi of Aosdána in 1984.  Suzanne Déchevaux-Dumesnil (1900 – 17 July 1989) was the tennis partner, lover, and later wife (1961 – 1989 her death) of Beckett.  Barbara Bray had a long term relationship with Beckett, from 1961 to his death.

samuelBeckett-grave-parisThe Final Footprint – Suzanne died on 17 July 1989.  The two were interred together in the Cimetière du Montparnasse in Paris and share a simple granite gravestone that follows Beckett’s directive that it should be “any colour, so long as it’s grey.”  Other notable Final Footprints at Montparnasse include; Charles Baudelaire, Simone de Beauvoir, Emmanuel Chabrier, César Franck, Guy de Maupassant, Adah Isaacs Menken, Man Ray, Camille Saint-Saëns, Jean-Paul Sartre,  Jean Seberg, and Susan Sontag.

On this day in 1995, actress, Butterfly McQueen, died at the Augusta Regional Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia at the age of 84.  Born Thelma McQueen on 7 January 1911 in Tampa, Florida.  Apparently, her nickname was a tribute to her constantly moving hands.  She appeared as Prissy, Scarlett O’Hara’s maid in the film version of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind.  The cast of GWTW included; Vivien Leigh, Clark Gable, Thomas Mitchell, and Hattie McDaniel.  She never married.

The Final Footprint – McQueen’s body was donated to medical science, per her wishes.

On this day in 2014, singer and musician Joe Cocker died from lung cancer in Crawford, Colorado, at the age of 70. Born John Robert “Joe” Cocker on 20 May 1944 in Sheffield, West Riding of Yorkshire, England. Perhaps best known for his gritty voice, spasmodic body movement in performance and definitive versions of popular songs of varying genre.

Cocker’s cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” reached number one in the UK in 1968. He performed the song live at Woodstock in 1969 and performed the same year at the Isle of Wight Festival, and at the Party at the Palace concert in 2002 for the Golden Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II. His version also became the theme song for the TV series The Wonder Years. His 1974 cover of “You Are So Beautiful” reached number five in the US. Cocker was the recipient of several awards, including a 1983 Grammy Award for his US number one “Up Where We Belong”, a duet with Jennifer Warnes.

In 2007, Cocker was awarded a bronze Sheffield Legends plaque in his hometown and in 2008 he received an OBE at Buckingham Palace for services to music. 

In 1963, Cocker began dating Eileen Webster, also a resident of Sheffield. The couple dated intermittently for the next 13 years, and separated permanently in 1976.

In 1978, Cocker moved onto a ranch owned by Jane Fonda in Santa Barbara, California. Pam Baker, a local summer camp director and fan of Cocker’s music, persuaded the actress to lend the house to Cocker. Baker began dating Cocker, and they married on 11 October 1987. The couple resided on the Mad Dog Ranch in Crawford, Colorado.

Cocker in concert at Palasport, Rome, July 1972

Cocker performing on 16 October 1980 in the National Stadium, Dublin

Cocker in Hallandale Beach, Florida, in 2003

The Final Footprint

On 11 September 2015 a “Mad Dogs & Englishmen” tribute concert to Joe Cocker was performed at the Lockn’ Festival featuring Tedeschi Trucks Band, Chris Stainton, Leon Russell, Rita Coolidge, Claudia Lennear, Pamela Polland, Doyle Bramhall II, Dave Mason, John Bell, Warren Haynes and Chris Robinson, amongst others. In commemoration, a Joe Cocker Mad Dogs and Englishmen Memory Book was created by Linda Wolf to celebrate the event. Cocker was cremated and his cremated remains are interred at Garden of Memories Cemetery in Crawford.

Have you planned yours yet?

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

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

Day in History 21 December – Giovanni Boccaccio – F. Scott Fitzgerald – Carl Van Vechten – Albert King – Billie Whitelaw

giovanniBoccaccio_by_Morghen-150x150On this day in 1375 Italian author and poet, a friend, student, and correspondent of Petrarch, an important Renaissance humanist and the author of a number of notable works including the Decameron, On Famous Women, and his poetry in the Italian vernacular, Giovanni Boccaccio died at the age of sixty-two in Certaldo, Tuscany, Italy, where he is buried.  Other notable works include Filostrato and Teseida (the sources for Chaucer’s Troilus and Criseyde and The Knight’s Tale, respectively), Filocolo, a prose version of an existing French romance and the source for Chaucer’s The Canterbury Tales, and La caccia di Diana, a poem in terza rima listing Neapolitan women.

On this day in 1940, novelist, essayist, screenwriter, and short-story writer F. Scott Fitzgerald, died from a heart attack in Hollywood at the age of 44.  Born Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald on 24 September 1896 in St. Paul, Minnesota into an Irish Catholic family.  Named after his famous second cousin Francis Scott Key, three times removed.  Fitzgerald attended Princeton University.  He and his wife Zelda Sayre Fitzgerald helped define the Jazz Age, a term he coined.  In my opinion, one of the greatest writers of the 20th century.  He finished four novels, This Side of Paradise, The Beautiful and Damned, Tender Is the Night and his most famous, the celebrated classic, The Great Gatsby.  A fifth, unfinished novel, The Love of the Last Tycoon was published posthumously.  He and Zelda married in 1920.  At the time of his death he was living with his lover Sheilah Graham.

The Final Footprint – Fitzgerald was originally buried in Rockville Union Cemetery, Rockville, Maryland.  Zelda died in 1948, in a fire at the Highland Mental Hospital in Asheville, North Carolina.  Their daughter, Frances Scott Fitzgerald Lanahan worked to overturn the Archdiocese of Baltimore ruling that Fitzgerald died a non practicing Catholic, so that he could be at rest at the Roman Catholic cemetery where his father’s family was laid.  Both Scott’s and Zelda’s remains were moved to the family plot in Saint Mary’s Cemetery, in Rockville, Maryland in 1975.  Their graves are marked by a large companion marble monument and a marble full ledger.  The inscription on the ledger is the last line from his novel, The Great Gatsby;  SO WE BEAT ON, BOATS AGAINST THE CURRENT, BORNE BACK CEASELESSLY INTO THE PAST. – The Great Gatsby.  A cenotaph, in memoriam, is placed at Oakwood Cemetery in Montgomery, Alabama, Zelda’s hometown.

On this day in 1964, writer and artistic photographer Carl Van Vechten died in New York City at the age of 84. Born June 17, 1880 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He was a patron of the Harlem Renaissance and the literary executor of Gertrude Stein.  In his later years, he took up photography and took many portraits of notable people.

Van Vechten met Stein in Paris in 1913.  He became a devoted friend and champion of Stein and was considered to be one of Stein’s most enthusiastic fans.  They continued corresponding for the remainder of Stein’s life, and, at her death, she appointed Van Vechten her literary executor; he helped to bring into print her unpublished writings.  Acollection of the letters between Van Vechten and Stein has been published

By the start of the 1930s and at the age of 50, Van Vechten took up photography, using his apartment at 150 West 55th Street as a studio, where he photographed many notable people.

The Final Footprint

Van Vechten was cremated and his cremains were scattered over Shakespeare Gardens, Central Park, Manhattan.  He was the subject of a 1968 biography by Bruce Kellner, Carl Van Vechten and the Irreverent Decades, as well as Edward White’s 2014 biography, The Tastemaker: Carl Van Vechten and the Birth of Modern America.

Gallery

0 R

On this day in 1992, blues guitarist and singer Albert King died from a heart attack at his Memphis home at the age of 69. Born Albert Nelson on April 25, 1923 in Indianola, Mississippi. His playing influenced many other blues guitarists. Perhaps best known for the popular and influential album Born Under a Bad Sign (1967) and its title track.

He was known as “The Velvet Bulldozer” because of his smooth singing and large size—he stood taller than average, with sources reporting 6 ft 4 in (1.93 m) or 6 ft 7 in (2.01 m), and weighed 250 lb (110 kg)—and also because he drove a bulldozer in one of his day jobs early in his career.

King was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in May 2013. 

The Final Footprint

King was given a funeral procession with the Memphis Horns playing “When the Saints Go Marching In” and was buried in Paradise Gardens Cemetery in Edmondson, Arkansas, near his childhood home. B.B. King delivered a eulogy, stating, “Albert wasn’t my brother in blood, but he was my brother in blues.”

And on this day in 2014 actress, muse who worked in close collaboration with Irish playwright Samuel Beckett for 25 years and was regarded as one of the foremost interpreters of his works, also known for her portrayal of Mrs. Baylock, the demonic nanny in the 1976 horror film The Omen, Billie Whitelaw died as a resident of Denville Hall, the actors’ retirement and nursing home in Northwood, Hillingdon, England from pneumonia at the age of 82.  Born Billie Honor Whitelaw on 6 June 1932 in Coventry, Warwickshire, England. 

Have you planned yours yet? 

Follow TFF on twitter @RIPTFF

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...
Posted in Day in History, Literary Footprints | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 1 Comment