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

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

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

Gallery

The Cradle, 1872, Musée d’Orsay

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

 Bergère nue couchée (Shepherdess – reclining nude)

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

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

    • On the Balcony, 1872, New York

    • Reading, 1873, Cleveland Museum of Art

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

    • Lady at her Toilette, 1875 The Art Institute of

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

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

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

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

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

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

Portraits of Morisot

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cliffs of Moher

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Wilhelmina Cooper

Wilhelmina Cooper in a photograph by Edgar de Evia.jpg

Wilhelmina photographed by Edgar de Evia

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

According to her obituary in Time magazine:

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

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

The Final Footprint

Cooper was cremated.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Russell in The Outlaw (1943)

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

With Robert Mitchum in His Kind of Woman (1951)

As Dorothy Shaw in Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953)

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

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

The Final Footprint

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

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

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

Promotional photo of Kennedy for the TV series Sarge, 1971

Kennedy as Bumper Morgan in The Blue Knight, 1976

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

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

The Final Footprint

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

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

#RIP #OTD in 2025, singer, songwriter, lead singer of the New York Dolls, actor (Scrooged), also known for his records and performances as Buster Poindexter, David Johansen died from cancer at his Staten Island home aged 75

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On this day 27 February death of Lillian Gish – Fred Rogers – William F. Buckley, Jr. – Leonard Nimoy – Richard Lewis

#RIP #OTD in 1993 actress (The Birth of a Nation, Duel in the Sun, The Night of the Hunter), director, screenwriter, “The First Lady of American Cinema” Lillian Gish died of heart failure in New York City, aged 99. Cremated remains Saint Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church, NYC

#RIP #OTD in 2003 television host (Mister Rogers’ Neighborhood from 1968 to 2001), author, producer, and Presbyterian minister, Fred Rogers died from stomach cancer at his home in Pittsburgh, aged 74. Private masoleum, Unity Cemetery in Latrobe, Pennsylvania

On this day in 2008, Yale alumnus, former CIA agent, conservative commentator, author, founder of the magazine National Review, host of the television show Firing Line, nationally syndicated newspaper columnist, pianist, sailor, WFB, William F. Buckley, Jr., died at his home, at his desk, in Stamford, Connecticut at the age of 82.  Born William Frank Buckley, Jr. on 24 November 1925 in New York City.  His father was of Irish descent and his mother, Aloise Josephine Antonia Steiner was a New Orleans native of Swiss-German descent.  WFB is one of my heroes.  He helped form my early political thought process; that being, fiscally conservative and socially conservative/libertarian or libertarian leaning.  Historian George H. Nash believed that Buckley was “arguably the most important public intellectual in the United States in the past half century“.  Nash wrote; “For an entire generation he was the preeminent voice of American conservatism and its first great ecumenical figure.”   WFB fused traditional American political conservatism with laissez-faire economic theory and anti-communism, laying the groundwork for the modern American conservatism of U.S. presidential candidate Barry Goldwater and President Ronald Reagan.  His first book was God and Man at Yale (1951); among over fifty further books on writing, speaking, history, politics, sailing and a series of novels featuring CIA agent Blackford Oakes.  He was a practicing Roman Catholic, regularly attending the traditional Latin Mass.  WFB was married to Patricia Aldyen Austin “Pat” Taylor (1950–2007 her death).  Michelle Tsai in Slate says that WFB spoke English with an idiosyncratic accent: something between an old-fashioned, upper class Mid-Atlantic accent, and British Received Pronunciation, with a Southern drawl.  I was a long time subscriber to National Review.  I have read many of his columns, his sailing books and his novels and thoroughly enjoyed them.  He had a vast command of the English language.  I suggest when you read him you should have a dictionary at hand and it would serve you well to brush up on your Latin.  WFB was witty and eloquent and is missed. 

The Final Footprint – WFB is interred next to his wife Pat in Saint Bernard Cemetery in Sharon, Connecticut.  Their graves are marked by a stone cross and a companion raised stone marker.  On 1 November 2009, the editorial/literary publication, The New Islander, was founded and dedicated to WFB.  In addition to occasionally publishing pieces reflecting on his life’s work, two of the magazine’s founding editors, Paul Young and Brianne Corcoran, hinted at the publication’s respect for and allegiance to his conservative political ideology.  In the magazine’s opening mission statement, they wrote:  “We will take a conservative stance in accordance to the fair [ideology]… of Mr. [William F.] Buckley, [Jr.]… that God-fearing sailing enthusiast from Connecticut.  Let Yale never forget him.”

220px-Leonard_Nimoy,_2011,_ST_Con-2On this day in 2015, actor, film director, photographer, author, singer, and songwriter, Mr. Spock, Leonard Nimoy died of complications from COPD at the age of 83, in his Bel Air home.  Born Leonard Simon Nimoy on March 26, 1931 in the West End of Boston, Massachusetts, the son of Jewish immigrants from Iziaslav, Ukraine.

In December 1964, he made his first appearance in the rejected Star Trek pilot “The Cage”, and went on to play the character of Spock until the end of the production run in early 1969, followed by eight feature films and guest slots in the various spin-off series.  The character has had a significant cultural impact and garnered Nimoy three Emmy Award nominations.  TV Guide named Spock one of the 50 greatest TV characters.  Nimoy’s profile as Spock was such that both of his autobiographies, I Am Not Spock (1975) and I Am Spock (1995), were written from the viewpoint of sharing his existence with the character.   Nimoy was married twice.  In 1954, he married actress Sandra Zober (1927–2011).  The couple divorced in 1987.  On New Year’s Day 1989, Nimoy married actress Susan Bay. Leonard Nimoy lived long and he prospered.  

The Final Footprint – A few days before his death, Nimoy shared some of his poetry on social media website Twitter: “A life is like a garden. Perfect moments can be had, but not preserved, except in memory. LLAP”.  Nimoy’s cremains were interred in Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City.  His funeral service was attended by nearly 300 family members, friends and former colleagues, as well as Zachary Quinto, Chris Pine, and J. J. AbramsWilliam Shatner could not attend, but he was represented by his daughters.  On June 2, 2015, an asteroid, discovered in 1988, was named 4864 Nimoy in his honor.  Other notable Final Footprints at Hillside Memorial include; Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Cyd Charisse, Lorne Greene, Moe Howard, Al Jolson, Michael Landon, Suzanne Pleshette, Dinah Shore, Lupita Tovar, and Shelley Winters.

#RIP #OTD in 2024 comedian, actor (Anything But Love; Robin Hood: Men in Tights; Curb Your Enthusiasm), Richard Lewis dies of a heart attack at his home in Los Angeles aged 76. Temple of Aaron Cemetery in Roseville, Minnesota

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On this day 26 February death of Jimmie Lee Jackson – Bukka White – Lawrence Tierney

#RIP #OTD in 1965 Baptist church deacon, African American civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson was beaten by troopers and fatally shot while participating in a peaceful voting rights march in Marion, Alabama, at the age of 26. Heard Cemetery, Marion, Alabama

On this day in 1977, delta blues guitarist and singer, Bukka White, died from cancer in Memphis, Tennessee at the age of 70.  Born Booker T. Washington White on 12 November 1909 between Aberdeen and Houston, Washington.  “Bukka” was not a nickname, but a phonetic misspelling of White’s given name Booker, by his second (1937) record label (Vocalion).  White himself disliked the spelling “Bukka” and preferred to be called Booker.  White was a cousin of B.B. King, and gave him a Stella guitar, King’s first guitar.  In my opinion, his best songs are; “Shake ’em on Down”, “Po’ Boy”, “Fixin’ to Die Blues” and “Parchman Farm Blues”. 

The Final Footprint – White is interred in New Park Cemetery in Memphis, Tennessee.  His grave is marked by an individual granite marker with the epitaph; LOVED BY ALL.

#RIP #OTD in 2002, actor (Dillinger, Step by Step, The Devil Thumbs a Ride, Born to Kill, The Greatest Show on Earth, Tough Guys Don’t Dance, Reservoir Dogs), Lawrence Tierney died in his sleep of pneumonia in a Los Angeles nursing home at the age of 82. Cremation

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On this day 25 February death of Thomas Moore – Grace Metalious – Elijah Muhammad – Tennessee Williams – Darren McGavin – Bill Paxton

Thomas_Moore_from_NPGOn this day in 1852, poet, singer, songwriter, and entertainer Thomas Moore died being cared for by his wife at Sloperton Cottage, Bromham, Wiltshire, England at the age of 72.  Born at 12 Aungier Street in Dublin, over his father’s grocery shop, his father being from the Kerry Gaeltacht and his mother, Anastasia Codd, from Wexford.  Perhaps best remembered for the lyrics of “The Minstrel Boy” and “The Last Rose of Summer”.  He was responsible, with John Murray, for burning Lord Byron‘s memoirs after his death, at the urging of Byron’s family.  In his lifetime he was often referred to as Anacreon Moore.  Moore married an actress, Elizabeth “Bessy” Dyke.  Moore is often considered Ireland’s National Bard.


The Final Footprint – Moore is entombed at St. Nicholas churchyard, Bromham, within view of his cottage-home, beside his daughter Anastasia.

#RIP #OTD in 1964 author (Peyton Place) Grace Metalious died from cirrhosis of the liver in Boston aged 39. Smith Meeting House Cemetery, Gilmanton, New Hampshire
Elijah Muhammad

Elijah Muhammad NYWTS-2.jpg

Muhammad speaking in 1964.

On this day in 1975, religious leader Elijah Muhammad died in Mercy Hospital in Chicago of congestive heart failure at age 77. Born Elijah Robert Poole in Sandersville, Georgia on October 7, 1897. He led the Nation of Islam (NOI) from 1934 until his death in 1975. He was a mentor to Malcolm X, Louis Farrakhan, Muhammad Ali, as well as his own son, Warith Deen Mohammed.

Elijah married Clara Muhammad in Georgia in 1917, with whom he had eight children. Elijah also had three children with Lucille Rosary Muhammad, one child with Evelyn Muhammad, and four children with Tynnetta Muhammad. He also fathered several children from other relationships.

GLENWOOD, IL – the grave of Nation of Islam leader Hon. Elijah Muhammed at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens cemetery

The Final Footprint

He is buried at Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens (South), Glenwood, Illinois.

Tennessee_Williams_NYWTSOn this day in 1983, playwright, two-time Pulitzer Prize winner, Tony winner, Tennessee Williams, died from an overdose of barbiturates in his suite at the Hotel Elysée in New York City at the age of 71.  Born Thomas Lanier Williams on 26 March 1911 in Columbus, Mississippi.  Oh my, where to begin.  Clearly one of my favorite writers.  If I were suddenly limited to having one book, I would probably choose a book of his collected plays.  In my opinion, no one ever wrote better dialogue.  Every year on his birthday I read one of his plays.  Williams moved from St. Louis to New Orleans in 1939 and changed his first name to “Tennessee”, his father’s birthplace.  He won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Streetcar Named Desire in 1948 and for Cat on a Hot Tin Roof in 1955.  His 1952 play The Rose Tattoo received the Tony Award for best play.  His play The Glass Menagerie was adapted into a film in 1950 starring Jane Wyman and Kirk DouglasA Streetcar Named Desire was adapted into a film in 1951 starring Vivien Leigh, Kim Hunter, Marlon Brando and Karl Malden.  The film was nominated for 12 awards and won four at the 24th Academy Awards; Actress in a Leading Role (Leigh), Actor in a Supporting Role (Malden), Actress in a Supporting Role (Hunter) and Art Direction.  Cat on a Hot Tin Roof was adapted into a film in 1958 starring Elizabeth Taylor and Paul Newman.  Williams said:  “A high station in life is earned by the gallantry with which appalling experiences are survived with grace.”  And:  “Make voyages.  Attempt them.  There’s nothing else.” 

The Final Footprint – He wrote in his will in 1972:

I, Thomas Lanier (Tennessee) Williams, being in sound mind upon this subject, and having declared this wish repeatedly to my close friends-do hereby state my desire to be buried at sea. More specifically, I wish to be buried at sea at as close a possible point as the American poet Hart Crane died by choice in the sea; this would be ascrnatible [sic], this geographic point, by the various books (biographical) upon his life and death. I wish to be sewn up in a canvas sack and dropped overboard, as stated above, as close as possible to where Hart Crane was given by himself to the great mother of life which is the sea: the Caribbean, specifically, if that fits the geography of his death. Otherwise—whereever fits it [sic].

However, his brother Dakin Williams arranged for him to be buried at the Roman Catholic Calvary Cemetery in St. Louis, Missouri, where their mother is buried.  His grave is marked with an upright granite marker engraved; “The violets in the mountains have broken the rocks!” Camino Real.  The quote is from his play Camino Real (1953).  Another notable Final Footprint at Calvary is Dred Scott.

#RIP #OTD in 2006 actor (Kolchak: The Night Stalker No Deposit, No Return; Airport ’77; Hot Lead and Cold Feet; A Christmas Story; Happy Hell Night; Billy Madison; The Natural) Darren McGavin died of cardiovascular disease in a Los Angeles hospital, aged 83. Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Bill Paxton

Bill Paxton 2014 retouched.jpg

Paxton in April 2014

On this day in 2017, actor and director Bill Paxton died at the age of 61 from a stroke, precipitated by complications after a heart valve and aorta surgery in Los Angeles. Born William Paxton in Fort Worth, Texas on May 17, 1955. He appeared in films such as The Terminator (1984), Weird Science (1985), Aliens (1986), Predator 2 (1990), Tombstone (1993), True Lies (1994), Apollo 13 (1995), Twister (1996), Titanic (1997), U-571 (2000), Vertical Limit (2000), Edge of Tomorrow (2014), and Nightcrawler (2014). He also starred in the HBO drama series Big Love (2006–2011), earning three Golden Globe Award nominations during the show’s run. He was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award for portraying Randall McCoy in the History channel miniseries Hatfields & McCoys (2012). Paxton’s final film appearance was in The Circle (2017), released two months after his death.

  

Paxton (the child seen raised above the crowd) before JFK emerges from Hotel Texas on November 22, 1963

Paxton at the Dallas International Film Festival, 2010

Paxton was married to Kelly Rowan from 1979 to 1980. In 1987, he married Louise Newbury.

The Final Footprint 

A representative for the family released the following statement to the press on February 26:

He is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills. Other notable final footprints at Hollywood Hills include; Gene Autry, 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, Lemmy Kilmister, Jack LaLanne, Nicolette Larsen, Liberace, Strother Martin, Ricky Nelson, Brock Peters, Freddie Prinze, Lou Rawls, John Ritter, Debbie Reynolds, Telly Savalas, Lee Van Cleef, Paul Walker, and Jack Webb.

Upon learning of his death, a number of storm chasers paid tribute to his Twister role by spelling out his initials via the Spotter Network

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On this day 24 February death of Johnnie Ray – Webb Pierce – Dinah Shore – Octavia E. Butler – Don Knotts – Harold Ramis – Sally Kellerman – Roberta Flack

#RIP #OTD in 1990 singer (“Cry”, “The Little White Cloud That Cried”), songwriter, pianist, pioneering figure in the development of rock and roll, Johnnie Ray died from liver failure at Cedars-Sinai, Los Angeles, aged 63. Hopewell Cemetery near Hopewell, Oregon

#RIP #OTD in 1991 honky-tonk vocalist (“In the Jailhouse Now”, “There Stands the Glass”, “Wondering”), songwriter (“I Ain’t Never”, “I Don’t Care”) and guitarist, Webb Pierce died from pancreatic cancer in Nashville, aged 69. Woodlawn Memorial Park Cemetery in Nashville

On this day in 1994, singer, actress, and television personality Dinah Shore died from ovarian cancer at her home in Beverly Hills, aged 77. Born Fannye Rose Shore on February 29, 1916 in . She was the top-charting female vocalist of the 1940s and achieved success a decade later, in television, mainly as hostess of a series of variety programs for Chevrolet.

After failing singing auditions for the bands of Benny Goodman, and both Jimmy and Tommy Dorsey, Shore struck out on her own to become the first singer of her era to achieve solo success. She had a string of 80 charted popular hits, spanning 1940–1957, and after appearing in a handful of feature films, she went on to a four-decade career in American television, starring in her own music and variety shows from 1951 through 1963 and hosting two talk shows in the 1970s.

Shore, who played golf, was a longtime supporter of women’s professional golf. In 1972, she helped found the Colgate Dinah Shore Golf Tournament, which in its current identity as the ANA Inspiration, is one of the five major golf tournaments on the LPGA Tour. The tournament is held each spring at Mission Hills Country Club, near Shore’s former home in Rancho Mirage, California. Shore was the first female member of the Hillcrest Country Club in Los Angeles.

Shore was married to actor George Montgomery from 1943 to 1962. After her divorce from Montgomery, she briefly married Maurice Smith. Romances of the later 1960s involved comedian Dick Martin, singer Eddie Fisher, and actor Rod Taylo. In the early 1970s, Shore had a long romance with actor Burt Reynolds, who was 20 years her junior.

The Final Footprint

She was cremated the day of her death. Some of her cremains were inurned in two memorial sites: the Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California, and Forest Lawn Cemetery (Cathedral City). Other cremains went to relatives.

In both Cathedral City and Rancho Mirage, California, streets are named after her. Her hometown of Winchester, Tennessee, honored her with Dinah Shore Boulevard. In 1996, a Golden Palm Star on the Palm Springs Walk of Stars was dedicated to her. Other notable final footprints at Hillside Memorial include; Jack Benny, Milton Berle, Cyd Charisse, Moe Howard, Al Jolson, Michael Landon, Leonard Nimoy, Lupita Tovar, and Shelley Winters. Other notable final footprints at Forest Lawn Cathedral City include; Rock Hudson, Jerry Vale, Nancy Wilson, and Jane Wyman.

#RIP #OTD in 2006 science fiction author (Kindred, Fledgling), Octavia E. Butler died of a stroke/head injury from a fall at her home in Lake Forest Park, Washington, aged 58. Mountain View Cemetery & Mausoleum, Altadena, California

On this day in 2006, comedic actor, Don Knotts, died at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from pulmonary and respiratory complications related to lung cancer at the age of 81.  Born Jesse Donald Knotts on 21 July 1924 in Morgantown, West Virginia.  Perhaps best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960’s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards. He also played landlord Ralph Furley on the 1970’s television sitcom Three’s CompanyThe Andy Griffith Show was televised by CBS between 3 October 1960 and 1 April 1968.  Andy Griffith portrayed a widowed sheriff in the fictional small town of Mayberry, North Carolina.  In addition to the character Fife, the show featured his spinster aunt and housekeeper, Aunt Bee (Frances Bavier), and his young son, Opie (Ron Howard, billed as Ronny).  The show was a major hit, never placing lower than seventh in the Nielsen ratings and ending its final season at number one and spawned a spin-off series, Gomer Pyle, U.S.M.C. (1964), a sequel series, Mayberry R.F.D. (1968), and a reunion telemovie, Return to Mayberry (1986).  Reruns currently air across the United States, and the complete series is available on DVD.  The opening theme song, “The Fishin’ Hole”, was composed by Earle Hagen.  Rare is the person who has not whistled that tune.  Knotts and Griffith formed a lifelong friendship.  Knotts was married three times; Kathryn Metz 1(947–1964 divorce); Loralee Czuchna (1974–1983 divorce); and Frances Yarborough from (2002-2006 his death).  He graduated from the University of West Virginia. 

The Final Footprint – Knotts is interred at Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park and Mortuary ( a Dignity Memorial property).  His grave is marked by a montage flat bronze on granite marker with the inscription; HE SAW THE POIGNANCY IN PEOPLE’S PRIDE AND PAIN AND TURNED IT INTO SOMETHING HILARIOUS AND ENDEARING.  His statue stands in a memorial park on Don Knotts Boulevard in Morgantown.  Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Ray Bradbury, Sammy Cahn, Truman Capote, James Coburn, Rodney Dangerfield, Hugh Hefner, Janet Leigh, Farrah Fawcett, Brian Keith, Burt Lancaster, Peter Lawford, Peggy Lee, Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden, Dean Martin, Walter Mathau, Marilyn Monroe, Carroll O’Connor, Roy Orbison, George C. Scott, Dorothy Stratten, Billy Wilder, Natalie Wood and Frank Zappa.

HaroldRamisOct2009On this day in 2012, actor, director and writer Harold Ramis died from complications from autoimmune inflammatory vasculitis at his home on Chicago’s North Shore, at age 69.  Born Harold Allen Ramis on 21 November 1944 in Chicago.  Perhaps his best-known film acting roles are as Egon Spengler in Ghostbusters (1984) and Russell Ziskey in Stripes (1981); he also co-wrote both films.  As a writer-director, his films include the comedies Caddyshack (1980), National Lampoon’s Vacation (1983), Groundhog Day (1993) and Analyze This (1999).  Ramis was the original head writer of the television series SCTV, on which he also performed, and one of three screenwriters of the film National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978).  His films have influenced subsequent generations of comedians and comedy writers.  Ramis was married twice; Anne Plotkin (1967 – 1984 separated, later divorced) and Erica Mann (1989 – 2014 his death). 

The Final Footprint – A private funeral was held for Ramis with family, friends, and several collaborators in attendance including Dan Aykroyd, Chevy Chase, Eugene Levy, Dave Thomas, and John Belushi’s widow, Judith Jacklin Belushi.  Ramis is interred at Shalom Memorial Park in Arlington Heights.

#RIP #OTD in 2022 actress (Star Trek, Twilight Zone, M*A*S*H, Brewster McCloud, Welcome to L.A., The Player, Prêt-à-Porter) Sally Kellerman died from heart failure at a care facility in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles aged 84. Cremated remains scattered at sea

#RIP #OTD in 2025, pianist, singer (“The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”, “Killing Me Softly with His Song”, “Feel Like Makin’ Love”), Roberta Flack died of cardiac arrest on her way to a hospital in Manhattan, aged 88. A memorial ceremony was held on March 10, 2025, at Abyssinian Baptist Church. Lauryn Hill sang a tribute performance of “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” and, alongside Wyclef Jean and Stevie Wonder, “Killing Me Softly with His Song”. Wonder also sang “I Won’t Complain”, and Lisa Fischer sang “Somewhere”. Oak hill cemetery, Washington DC

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On this day 23 February death of John Keats – Joanna Baillie – Edward Elgar – Stan Laurel – Katherine Helmond

Portrait by William Hilton, National Portrait Gallery, London

On this day in 1821, English Romantic poet, John Keats, died in a villa on the Spanish Steps in Rome, today the Keats-Shelley Memorial House museum, at the age of 25 from tuberculosis.  Born on 31 October 1795 in central London.  Keats, Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley were the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement, even though his work had been in publication for only four years before his death.  After his death, his reputation grew to the extent that by the end of the 19th century, he had become one of the most beloved of all English poets.  Keats has had a significant influence on a diverse range of later poets and writers.  The poetry of Keats is characterized by sensual imagery.  His poems and letters are some of the most popular and most analyzed in English literature.  Certainly, one of my favorite poets.  His great, unconsummated love was Fanny Brawne.  Keats wrote her hundreds of notes and letters.  He wrote to her; “I have two luxuries to brood over in my walks; …your loveliness, and the hour of my death“.   And again; “My love has made me selfish. I cannot exist without you — I am forgetful of every thing but seeing you again — my Life seems to stop there — I see no further. You have absorb’d me. I have a sensation at the present moment as though I was dissolving — I should be exquisitely miserable without the hope of soon seeing you. […] I have been astonished that Men could die Martyrs for religion — I have shudder’d at it — I shudder no more — I could be martyr’d for my Religion — Love is my religion — I could die for that — I could die for you.” (Letter, 13 October 1819).  My favorite Keats poem is La Belle Dame sans Merci (The Beautiful Lady without Pity) where love and death both stalk.

The Final Footprint – Keats is interred in the Protestant Cemetery (Italian: Cimitero protestante), officially called the Cimitero acattolico (“Non-Catholic Cemetery”) and often referred to as the Cimitero degli Inglesi (“Englishmen’s Cemetery”), a cemetery in Rome, located near Porta San Paolo.  Shelley’s cremated remains are interred there as well.   Keats’ last request was to be placed under a unnamed tombstone which contained only the words (in pentameter), “Here lies one whose name was writ in water.”  His friends, Joseph Severn and Charles Armitage Brown, erected the stone, which under a relief of a lyre with broken strings, contains the epitaph:  “This Grave / contains all that was Mortal / of a / Young English Poet / Who / on his Death Bed, in the Bitterness of his Heart / at the Malicious Power of his Enemies / Desired / these Words to be / engraven on his Tomb Stone: / Here lies One / Whose Name was writ in Water. 24 February 1821″

#RIP #OTD in 1851, poet, dramatist (Plays on the Passions Fugitive Verses), Joanna Baillie died in Hamstead, London aged 88. Bothwell Parish Church Graveyard, Bothwell, Scotland

#RIP #OTD in 1934 composer (Enigma Variations, Pomp and Circumstance Marches, The Dream of Gerontius), Edward Elgar died of colorectal cancer in Worcester, Worcestershire, England, aged 76. Interred next to his wife Caroline at St Wulstan’s Roman Catholic Church in Little Malvern

#RIP #OTD in 1965 comic actor, writer, director, one half of the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy, Stan Laurel died from a heart attack in Santa Monica, aged 74. Forest Lawn–Hollywood Hills Cemetery

#RIP #OTD in 2019 actress (Jessica Tate on the sitcom Soap), Katherine Helmond died from complications of Alzheimer’s disease at her home in Los Angeles, aged 89. Cremation

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On this day 22 February death of Vespucci – La Voisin – Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot – Sophie Scholl – Florence Ballard – Andy Warhol – Simone Simon – Marie Colvin – Sonny James – Lawrence Ferlinghetti

Marble statue outside the Uffizi in Florence

On this day in 1512, explorer, navigator and cartographer, Amerigo Vespucci, died in Seville, Spain at the age of 57 from an unknown cause.  Born on 9 March 1454 in Florence.  One of the early explorers of the New World.  The Americas are generally believed to have derived their name from the feminized Latin version of his first name. 

The Final Footprint – Vespucci is entombed in the Chiesa di Ognissanti (All-Saints Church), a Franciscan church in Florence, founded by the lay order of the Umiliati.  The church was dedicated to all the saints and martyrs, known and unknown.

#RIP #OTD in 1680 French fortune teller, commissioned poisoner, professional provider of alleged sorcery, abortion provider, La Voisin, Catherine Monvoisin was executed by burning on the Place de Grève in Paris, aged 39 or 40.

Jean-Baptiste-Camille_Corot_c1850On this day in 1875,  landscape and portrait painter as well as a printmaker in etching, Jean-Baptiste-Camille Corot died in his home, rue du Faubourg-Poissionnière, Paris, 10th arr. of a stomach disorder aged 78.  Born in Paris on 16 July 1796, in a house at 125 Rue du Bac, now demolished.  In my opinion, Corot is a pivotal figure in landscape painting and his vast output simultaneously references the Neo-Classical tradition and anticipates the plein-air innovations of Impressionism.

The Final Footprint – Corot is entombed at Père Lachaise Cemetery.  Other notable Final Footprints at Père Lachaise include; Guillaume ApollinaireHonoré de Balzac, Georges Bizet, Jean-Dominique Bauby, Maria Callas, Chopin, Colette, Auguste Comte, Amedeo Modigliani, Molière, Jim Morrison, Édith Piaf, Camille Pissarro, Marcel Proust, Sully Prudhomme, Gioachino Rossini, Georges-Pierre Seurat, Simone Signoret, Gertrude Stein, Dorothea Tanning, Alice B. Toklas, Oscar Wilde, and Richard Wright.

Gallery

 A Woman Reading, 1869/1870, Metropolitan Museum of Art

La Trinité-des-Monts, seen from the Villa Medici, 1825–1828, oil on canvas. Paris: Musée du Louvre.

The Bridge at Narni, 1826, oil on paper. Paris: Musée du Louvre. A product of one of the artist’s youthful sojourns to Italy, and in Kenneth Clark’s words “as free as the most vigorous Constable”. 

View of the Forest of Fontainebleau (1830) 

 

Venise, La Piazzetta, 1835

Plaque on the home of Camille Corot where he died, rue du Faubourg-Poissionnière, Paris, 10th arr.

 St Sebastian Succoured by Holy Women, between 1851 and 1873 oil on canvas, The Walters Art Museum 

 Ville d’Avray, ca. 1867, oil on canvas. Washington, D.C.: National Gallery of Art.

Bornova, İzmir, 1873 

The Little Bird Nesters (1873-1874) detail 

Monk Reading Book, 1850-1855

#RIP #OTD in 1943 German student and anti-Nazi political activist, active within the White Rose non-violent resistance group in Nazi Germany, Sophie Scholl was executed by guillotine in Munich’s Stadelheim Prison, aged 21. Perlacher Friedhof, next to the Stadelheim prison

#RIP #OTD in 1976 singer, founding member of the Motown vocal female group the Supremes (“Baby Love”) Florence Ballard died from a coronary thrombosis, at Mt. Carmel Mercy Hospital, Detroit, aged 32. Detroit Memorial Park Cemetery in Warren, Michigan

Andy_Warhol_by_Jack_MitchellOn this day in 1987 artist Andy Warhol died in New York City at New York Hospital from a sudden post-operative cardiac arrhythmia following gall bladder surgery, at the age of 58.  Born Andrej Varhola, Jr. on 6 August 1928 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.  Warhol was a leading figure in the visual art movement known as pop art.  His works explore the relationship between artistic expression, celebrity culture and advertisement that flourished by the 1960s.  After a successful career as a commercial illustrator, Warhol became a renowned and sometimes controversial artist.  The Andy Warhol Museum in his native city, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, holds an extensive permanent collection of art and archives.  It is the largest museum in the United States dedicated to a single artist.  His art used many types of media, including hand drawing, painting, printmaking, photography, silk screening, sculpture, film, and music.  He was also a pioneer in computer-generated art using Amiga computers that were introduced in 1984, two years before his death.  He founded Interview Magazine and was the author of numerous books, including The Philosophy of Andy Warhol and Popism: The Warhol Sixties. Warhol managed and produced the Velvet Underground, a rock band which had a strong influence on the evolution of punk rock music.  His studio, The Factory, was a famous gathering place that brought together distinguished intellectuals, playwrights, Bohemian street people, Hollywood celebrities, and wealthy patrons.  Warhol has been the subject of numerous retrospective exhibitions, books, and feature and documentary films.  He coined the widely used expression “15 minutes of fame”.  andyWarhol's_grave

The Final Footprint – Warhol’s body was taken back to Pittsburgh by his brothers for burial.  The wake was at Thomas P. Kunsak Funeral Home and was an open-coffin ceremony.  The coffin was a solid bronze casket with gold plated rails and white upholstery.  Warhol was dressed in a black cashmere suit, a paisley tie, a platinum wig, and sunglasses.  He was posed holding a small prayer book and a red rose.  The funeral liturgy was held at the Holy Ghost Byzantine Catholic Church on Pittsburgh’s North Side.  The eulogy was given by Monsignor Peter Tay.  Yoko Ono and John Richardson were speakers.  The coffin was covered with white roses and asparagus ferns.  After the liturgy, the coffin was driven to St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Cemetery in Bethel Park, a south suburb of Pittsburgh.  At the grave, the priest said a brief prayer and sprinkled holy water on the casket.  Before the coffin was lowered, Paige Powell dropped a copy of Interview magazine, an Interview T-shirt, and a bottle of the Estee Lauder perfume “Beautiful” into the grave.  Warhol was buried next to his mother and father.  A memorial service was held in Manhattan for Warhol on 1 April 1987, at St. Patrick’s Cathedral, New York.

Triple Elvis
Andy Warhol Triple Elvis.jpg

Painting from the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art
Artist Andy Warhol
Year 1963

#RIP #OTD in 2005 actress (La Bête humaine, The Devil and Daniel Webster, Cat People, The Curse of the Cat People), Simone Simon died in Paris aged 93. Cimetière du Château-Gombert, France

#RIP #OTD in 2012 journalist who worked as a foreign affairs correspondent for the British newspaper The Sunday Times, Marie Colvin died while covering the siege of Homs in Syria, aged 56. Cremated remains scattered in Oyster Bay, New York and Thames river in England

#RIP #OTD in 2016 singer (“Young Love”), songwriter, the “Southern Gentleman”, Sonny James died of natural causes at Nashville’s Alive Hospice, aged 87. Cedar Tree Cemetery, in Hackleburg, Alabama

#RIP #OTD in 2021 poet (A Coney Island of the Mind), translator, painter, social activist, and co-founder of City Lights Booksellers & Publishers, Lawrence Ferlinghetti died of interstitial lung disease, at his home in San Francisco at age 101. Bolinas Cemetery, California

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On this day 21 February death of James I King of Scots – Gustave Caillebotte – Malcolm X – Charles Beaumont – Tim Horton – Peter Tork

On this day in 1437, James I, King of Scots, was assassinated in a failed coup by his kinsman and former ally Walter Stewart, Earl of Atholl, at the Blackfriars monastery on the outskirts of Perth, Scotland.  Born in Dunfermline Palace about July 1394; the son of Robert III of Scotland and Annabella Drummond.  On 4 April 1406 Robert III died and the 12 year old prince became the uncrowned king of Scots.  James was crowned on 21 May 1424.  He ruled with a firm hand, achieving numerous legal and financial reforms, including remodeling the Scottish parliament after its English counterpart, and renewing the Auld Alliance with France.  His actions, although very effective, upset many, namely the descendents of his grandfather, Robert II‘s second marriage (James was descended from the first marriage). Conflict arose between the two factions over who should be on the throne.  The main conspirators in the regicide, Walter of Atholl, his grandson Robert Stewart and Robert Graham were executed.  James was married to Joan Beaufort.  James was succeeded on the throne by his son James II.  A king named James would rule Scotland for 136 years through James I’s descendents; James II through James V.  James V was succeeded by his only surviving legitimate child, Mary, Queen of Scots.  Mary would be succeeded by the final James, her son James I of England, James VI, King of Scots.  In My Defens, God Me Defend!

Royal Standard

Seal of Perth Charterhouse

The Final Footprint – James is interred in the ruins at Perth Charterhouse or Perth Priory, known in Latin as Domus Vallis Virtutis (“House of the Valley of Virtue”), a monastic house of Carthusian monks based at Perth.

#RIP #OTD in 1894 painter who was a member and patron of the Impressionists, Gustave Caillebotte died of pulmonary congestion while working in his garden at Petit-Gennevilliers in 1894 at age 45. Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris

Malcolm X

Malcolm X in March 1964

Malcolm X in March 1964

On this day in 1965, African-American Muslim minister and human rights activist Malcolm X was assassinated by gunshots in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom at the age of 39. Born Malcolm Little on 19 May 1925 in Omaha, Nebraska. To his admirers he was a courageous advocate for the rights of blacks, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans; detractors accused him of preaching racism and violence. In my opinion, one of the greatest and most influential African Americans in history.

His father was killed when he was six and his mother was placed in a mental hospital when he was thirteen, after which he lived in a series of foster homes. In 1946, at age twenty, he went to prison for larceny and breaking and entering. While in prison, he became a member of the Nation of Islam (NOI), changing his birth name to Malcolm X. After his parole in 1952 he quickly rose to become one of the organization’s most influential leaders, serving as the public face of the controversial group for a dozen years. In his autobiography, Malcolm X wrote proudly of some of the social achievements the Nation made while he was a member, particularly its free drug rehabilitation program. The Nation promoted black supremacy, advocated the separation of black and white Americans, and rejected the civil rights movement for its emphasis on integration.

By March 1964, Malcolm X had grown disillusioned with the Nation of Islam and its leader Elijah Muhammad. Expressing many regrets about his time with them, which he had come to regard as largely wasted, he embraced Sunni Islam. After a period of travel in Africa and the Middle East, which included completing the Hajj, he also became known as el-Hajj Malik el-ShabazzHe repudiated the Nation of Islam, disavowed racism and founded Muslim Mosque, Inc. and the Organization of Afro-American Unity. He continued to emphasize Pan-Africanism, black self-determination, and black self-defense.

In 1955, Betty Sanders met Malcolm X after one of his lectures, then again at a dinner party; soon she was regularly attending his lectures. In 1956 she joined the Nation of Islam, changing her name to Betty X. One-on-one dates were contrary to the Nation’s teachings, so the couple courted at social events with dozens or hundreds of others, and Malcolm X made a point of inviting her on the frequent group visits he led to New York City’s museums and libraries.

Malcolm X proposed during a telephone call from Detroit in January 1958, and they married two days later. 

Elijah Muhammad is speaking at a podium and people are listening intently

Cassius Clay (in dark suit) watches Elijah Muhammad speak, 1964

Malcolm X before a 1964 press conference

Malcolm X before a 1964 press conference

Malcolm X and Martin Luther King speak to each other thoughtfully as others look on

Malcolm X’s only meeting with Martin Luther King Jr., March 26, 1964

 
Malcolm X in 1964

Malcolm X, after his 1964 pilgrimage to Mecca

Malcolm X, carrying a rifle, peers out the window

Malcolm X guards his family in an iconic Ebony photo.

An overturned chair in front of a mural, on which several chalk circles have been drawn around bullet-holes

The Audubon Ballroom stage after the murder. Circles on backdrop mark bullet holes.

The Final Footprint

The public viewing, February 23–26 at Unity Funeral Home in Harlem, was attended by some 14,000 to 30,000 mourners. For the funeral on February 27, loudspeakers were set up for the overflow crowd outside Harlem’s thousand-seat Faith Temple of the Church of God in Christ, and a local television station carried the service live.

Actor and activist Ossie Davis delivered the eulogy, describing Malcolm X as “our shining black prince … who didn’t hesitate to die, because he loved us so”:

There are those who will consider it their duty, as friends of the Negro people, to tell us to revile him, to flee, even from the presence of his memory, to save ourselves by writing him out of the history of our turbulent times. Many will ask what Harlem finds to honor in this stormy, controversial and bold young captain‍—‌and we will smile. Many will say turn away‍—‌away from this man, for he is not a man but a demon, a monster, a subverter and an enemy of the black man‍—‌and we will smile. They will say that he is of hate‍—‌a fanatic, a racist‍—‌who can only bring evil to the cause for which you struggle! And we will answer and say to them: Did you ever talk to Brother Malcolm? Did you ever touch him, or have him smile at you? Did you ever really listen to him? Did he ever do a mean thing? Was he ever himself associated with violence or any public disturbance? For if you did you would know him. And if you knew him you would know why we must honor him … And, in honoring him, we honor the best in ourselves.

Malcolm X was buried at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York. Friends took up the gravediggers’ shovels to complete the burial themselves. Other notable Final Footprints at Ferncliff include: Aaliyah, Harold Arlen, James Baldwin, Béla Bartók, Cab Calloway, Joan Crawford, Ossie Davis, Oscar Hammerstein II, Jerome Kern, Thelonious Monk, Toots ShorEd Sullivan, and Nikola Tesla.

Malcolm X is surrounded by reporters with microphones, while a television camera captures the scene

Malcolm X at a 1964 press conference

Portrait of Malcolm X by the artist Robert Templeton

Portrait of Malcolm X by Robert Templeton, from the collection Lest We Forget: Images of the Black Civil Rights Movement

Denzel Washington played the title role in the 1992 motion picture Malcolm X.

#RIP #OTD in 1967, writer of short stories and Twilight Zone episodes (The Howling Man, Static, Miniature, Printer’s Devil, Number Twelve Looks Just Like You), Charles Beaumont died from a degenerative brain disorder at Motion Picture Country Home, Los Angeles aged 38. San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California

#RIP #OTD in 1974 Canadian professional ice hockey defenceman, co-founder of Tim Hortons restaurant chain, Tim Horton died in a car crash on the Queen Elizabeth Way in St. Catharines, Ontario, aged 44. York Cemetery, Toronto

#RIP #OTD in 2019 musician, composer, and actor who was perhaps best known as the keyboardist and bass guitarist of the Monkees, Peter Tork died from cancer at his home in Mansfield, Connecticut, aged 77. Cremated remains scattered at sea

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