#RIP #OTD in 1957 writer (Little House on the Prairie) Laura Ingalls Wilder died at her Rocky Ridge Farm home in Mansfield, Missouri, in her sleep, aged 90. Mansfield Cemetery in Mansfield
#RIP #OTD in 1966 impresario, theatrical showman, columnist, lyricist, husband of Fanny Brice, Billy Rose died of lobar pneumonia at his vacation home in Montego Bay, Jamaica aged 66. Westchester Hills Cemetery Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.
On this day in 1992, writer Alex Haley died in Seattle, Washington, of a heart attack at the age of 70. Born Alexander Murray Palmer Haley on August 11, 1921 in Ithaca, New York. He was the author of the 1976 book Roots: The Saga of an American Family. ABC adapted the book as a television miniseries of the same name and aired it in 1977 to a record-breaking audience of 130 million viewers. In the United States, the book and miniseries raised the public awareness of African American history and inspired a broad interest in genealogy and family history.
Haley’s first book was The Autobiography of Malcolm X, published in 1965, a collaboration through numerous lengthy interviews with the subject, a major African-American leader.
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He is interred beside his childhood home in Henning, Tennessee.
On this day in 2005, playwright and essayist, Tony Award winner, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Drama, Arthur Miller, died at his home in Roxbury, Connecticut at the age of 89. Born Arthur Asher Miller on 17 October 1915 in Harlem, New York City. His notable plays include; All My Sons (1947), Death of a Salesman (1949), The Crucible (1953), and A View from the Bridge (one-act, 1955; revised two-act, 1956). Death of a Saleman was commercially successful and critically acclaimed, winning a Tony Award for Best Author, the New York Drama Circle Critics’ Award, and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama; the first play to win all three of these major awards. Miller received a BA in English from the University of Michigan. Miller married three times; Mary Slattery (1940 – 1956 divorce), Marilyn Monroe (1956 – 1961 divorce) and Inge Morath (1962 – 2002 her death). Miller also wrote the screenplay for the movie The Misfits (1961) starring Monroe, Clark Gable, Montgomery Clift and Eli Wallach. Miller and Monroe would divorce shortly before the movie’s premier. The film marked the final movie for both Monroe and Gable. Miller’s papers are housed at the Harry Ransom Humanities Research Center at The University of Texas at Austin. 
The Final Footprint – Miller is interred with his wife Inge in Roxbury Center Cemetery, Roxbury, Connecticut. Their grave is marked by an irregular granite upright marker and they each have flat granite foot markers. Her foot marker is inscribed; BEAUTE MON BEAU DESIR, which translates as, Beauty My Beautiful Desire.
On this day in 2008, amateur boxer, U.S. Air Force veteran, and actor Roy Scheider died from multiple myeloma in Little Rock, Arkansas, at the University of Arkansas Medical Sciences Hospital, at the age of 75. Born Roy Richard Scheider on November 10, 1932 in Orange, New Jersey. Perhaps best known for his role as Martin Brody in the film Jaws (1975), reprising the role in its sequel Jaws 2 (1978).
Scheider gained fame for his leading and supporting roles in celebrated films in addition to the Jaws films, from the 1970s through to the early to mid-1980s. These roles included NYPD Detective Buddy “Cloudy” Russo in The French Connection (1971); NYPD Detective Buddy Manucci in The Seven Ups (1973); Doc in Marathon Man (1976); choreographer and film director Joe Gideon (whose character was based on Bob Fosse) in All That Jazz (which was co-written and directed by Fosse) (1979); and Dr. Heywood R. Floyd in the 1984 film 2010, the sequel to 2001: A Space Odyssey.
Scheider was also known for playing Captain Nathan Bridger in the science-fiction television series seaQuest DSV (1993–1996). He was nominated for two Academy Awards, a Golden Globe Award, and a BAFTA Award.
Scheider married Cynthia Bebout on November 8, 1962. The couple divorced in 1986. On February 11, 1989, he married actress Brenda Siemer. They remained married until his death.
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Scheider was cremated.
#RIP #OTD in 2014 actress, singer, dancer, and diplomat, Shirley Temple Black died from COPD at her home in Woodside, California aged 85. Alta Mesa Memorial Park, Palo Alta, California
#RIP #OTD in 2024 broadcast journalist, Peabody Award-winning member of the National Radio Hall of Fame host of National Public Radio’s All Things Considered, and Morning Edition, Bob Edwards died from metastatic bladder cancer and heart failure in Arlington, Virginia aged 76
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On this day in 1881, writer and essayist, Fyodor Dostoevsky, died in St. Petersburg, Russian Empire at the age of 59 from a pulmonary haemorrhage. Born Fyodor Mikhaylovich Dostoevsky on 11 November 1821 in Moscow, Russian Empire.
On this day in 1906; poet, novelist, playwright Paul Laurence Dunbar died 
He was interred in the Woodland Cemetery in Dayton.
On this day in 1587, Queen regnant of Scots,
Queen consort of France, Mary Stuart, Mary Queen of Scots, was executed at Fotheringhay Castle Northamptonshire, England, at the age of 44. Born on 8 December 1542 at Linlithgow Palace, Linlithgow, Scotland. Mary was the only surviving legitimate child of King James V of Scotland. Mary of Guise was her mother. She was 6 days old when her father died and she was crowned nine months later. In 1558, she married Francis, Dauphin of France, who ascended the French throne as Francis II in 1559. Mary was widowed on 5 December 1560 and then returned to Scotland, arriving in Leith on 19 August 1561. As a devout Catholic, she was regarded with suspicion by many of her subjects. Scotland was torn between Catholic and Protestant factions, and Mary’s illegitimate half-brother, James Stewart, 1st Earl of Moray, was a leader of the Protestant faction. The Protestant reformer John Knox also preached against Mary, condemning her for hearing Mass, dancing, dressing too elaborately, and many other real and imagined offences. In 1565, she married her first cousin, Henry Stuart, Lord Darnley. Their marriage was not a happy one. In February 1567, there was an explosion at their house, and Darnley was found dead, apparently strangled, in the garden. Mary then
On this day in 1959, New Orleans blues guitarist Guitar Slim died of pneumonia in New York City, at the age of 32. Born Eddie Jones on December 10, 1926 in Greenwood, Mississippi.
On this day in 2000, singer and songwriter, founder of the blues-rock band Foghat, Lonesome Dave, Dave Peverett, died in Orlando, Florida at the age of 56 from cancer. Born on 16 April 1943 in Dulwich, South East London, UK.
On this day in 2001, writer, film star and singer-songwriter, the third wife of singing cowboy Roy Rogers, Dale Evans died of congestive heart failure at the age of 88 in Apple Valley, California. Born Lucille Wood Smith in Uvalde, Texas on 31 October 1912. She took the name Dale Evans in the early 1930s to promote her singing career. Evans wrote one of the classic cowboy songs, “Happy Trails”. Evans married four times; Thomas Frederick Fox (1927–1929 divorce), August Wayne Johns (1929–1935 divorce), R. Dale Butts (1937–1946 divorce) and Roy Rogers (1947–1998 his death). My heroes have always been cowboys and cowgirls. 
On this day in 1916, “The Prince of Castillian Letters”, poet Rubén Darío died aged 49, in León, Nicaragua. Born Félix Rubén García Sarmiento on 18 January 1867 in Metapa, today known as Ciudad Darío, Matagalpa, Nicaragua.
On this day in 1918, painter Gustav Klimt died in Vienna at the age of 55, having suffered a stroke and pneumonia due to the influenza epidemic of that year. Born 14 July 1862 in Baumgarten, near Vienna in Austria-Hungary. Klimt was a symbolist painter and one of the most prominent members of the Vienna Secession movement. His primary subject was the female body, and his works are marked by a frank eroticism. In addition, he painted landscapes. Early in his artistic career, he was a successful painter of architectural decorations in a conventional manner. His work was the subject of controversy that culminated when the paintings he completed around 1900 for the ceiling of the Great Hall of the University of Vienna were criticized as pornographic. He subsequently accepted no more public commissions, but achieved a new success with the paintings of his “golden phase,” many of which include gold leaf. 
On this day in 1976, United States Army Veteran, Grammy award winning jazz musician and songwriter, Vince Guaraldi died of a heart attack at the age of 47 at the Red Cottage Inn in Menlo Park, California. Born Vincent Anthony Dellaglio on 17 July 1928 in San Francisco’s North Beach area. Noted for his innovative compositions and arrangements and for composing music for animated adaptations of the Peanuts comic strip. Guaraldi went on to compose scores for seventeen Peanuts television specials, including the Christmas special, plus the feature film A Boy Named Charlie Brown. 
On this day in 1990, composer Jimmy Van Heusen died in Rancho Mirage, California, from complications following a stroke, at the age of 77. Born Edward Chester Babcock on January 26, 1913 in Syracuse, New York. He wrote songs for films, television and theater, and won an Emmy and four Academy Awards for Best Original Song.
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On this day in 1991, nightclub comedian, singer, actor, producer, and philanthropist Danny Thomas died of heart failure at age 79, in Los Angeles, California. Born Amos Muzyad Yakhoob Kairouz on January 6, 1912 in Deerfield, Michigan. His career spanned five decades. He created and starred in one of the most successful and long-running situation comedies in the history of American network television. In addition to guest roles on many of the comedy, talk, and musical variety programs of his time, his legacy includes a lifelong dedication to fundraising for charity.
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On this day in 1993, U. S. Army veteran, tennis legend and social activist, Arthur Ashe, died in New York City at the age of 49 from AIDS-related pneumonia. He contracted the HIV virus from blood transfusions during heart bypass surgery. Born Arthur Robert Ashe. Jr. on 10 July 1943 in Richmond, Virginia. Ashe attended UCLA and was the first African-American man to win Wimbledon and the U. S. Open. I enjoyed playing tennis once ago and Ashe has always been one of my favorite players. I was pulling for him to win that match at Wimbledon. I used Head tennis rackets because Ashe did. Ashe was married to Jeanne Moutoussamy.
The Final Footprint – Ashe is interred in the Ashe Private Estate in Woodland Cemetery, Richmond, Virginia. His grave is marked by a large black granite marker. The marker features the inscription; Distinguished Athlete, Scholar and Humanitarian, and A HARD ROAD TO GLORY. After his death, Arthur Ashe’s body lay in state at the governor’s mansion in Virginia. The last time this was allowed was for Stonewall Jackson of the Confederate Army during the Civil War. The city of Richmond posthumously honored Ashe’s life with a statue on Monument Avenue, a place traditionally reserved for statues of key figures of the Confederacy. In 1993, Ashe was posthumously awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Bill Clinton. The main stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows Park, where the US Open is played, is named Arthur Ashe Stadium in his honor. This is also the home of the annual Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day. His memoir is entitled Days of Grace. 
On this day in 1941, Australian bush poet, journalist and author Banjo Paterson died of a heart attack in Sydney, aged 76. Born Andrew Barton Paterson at the property “Narrambla”, near Orange, New South Wales, the eldest son of Andrew Bogle Paterson, a Scottish immigrant from Lanarkshire, and Australian-born Rose Isabella Barton, related to the future first Prime Minister of Australia Edmund Barton. Paterson wrote many ballads and poems about Australian life, focusing particularly on the rural and outback areas, including the district around Binalong, New South Wales, where he spent much of his childhood. His more notable poems include “Waltzing Matilda”, “The Man from Snowy River” and “Clancy of the Overflow”. On 8 April 1903 he married Alice Emily Walker, of Tenterfield Station, in St Stephen’s Presbyterian Church, in Tenterfield, New South Wales.
On this day in 1995, actor Doug McClure died from lung cancer in Sherman Oaks, California at the age of 59. Born Douglas Osborne McClure on 11 May 1935 in Glendale, California. Perhaps best remembered for his role as Trampas on the Western television servies The Virginian which ran from 1962 to 1971. One of my favorite shows as a kid. McClure was married five times; Faye Brash (1957 – 1961 divorce), BarBara Luna (1961 – 1963 divorce), Helen Crane (1965 – 1968 divorce), Diane Soldani (1970 – 1979 divorce) and Diane Furnberg (1979 – 1995 his death). 
On this day in 2020, 
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On this day in 1983, drummer, singer and songwriter, Karen Carpenter, died at her parents’s home in Downey, California at the age of 32 from complications related to anorexia nervosa. Born Karen Anne Carpenter on 2 March 1950 in New Haven, Connecticut. Along with her brother Richard, they formed the duo The Carpenters. Best known for their album, 1970’s Close to You, featuring two big hit singles: “(They Long to Be) Close to You” and “We’ve Only Just Begun.” The songwriter Tom Bahler wrote the song “She’s Out of My Life” after she broke up with him. The song would eventually became a hit single for Michael Jackson. Carpenter married Thomas James Burris (1980 – 1983 her death). 
On this day in 1987, 
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On this day in 1995, novelist and short story writer Patricia Highsmith died from lung cancer at Carita hospital in Locarno, Switzerland, at the age of 74. Born Mary Patricia Plangman on January 19, 1921 in Ft. Worth, Texas. Perhaps best known for her psychological thrillers, including her series of five novels featuring the character Tom Ripley. She wrote 22 novels and numerous short stories throughout her career spanning nearly five decades. Her writing derived influence from existentialist literature, and questioned notions of identity and popular morality. She was dubbed “the poet of apprehension” by novelist Graham Greene.
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On this day, in 1959, singer and songwriter, rock and roll pioneer, Buddy Holly died in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa, at the age of 22. Ritchie Valens, J. P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson and the pilot, Roger Peterson, were also killed in the crash. Holly’s bandmate Waylon Jennings reportedly gave up his seat on the plane, causing Holly to jokingly tell Jennings, “I hope your ol’ bus freezes up!” Jennings shot back facetiously, “Well, I hope your ol’ plane crashes!” It was a statement that would haunt Jennings for decades. Born Charles Hardin Holley on 7 September 1936 in Lubbock, Texas. Music critic Bruce Elder described Holly as “the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll.” Holly apparently inspired contemporary and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and Eric Clapton. In my opinion he exerted a profound influence on popular music. Paul McCartney owns the publishing rights to Holly’s song catalogue. In his 1998 Grammy acceptance speech for his Time out of Mind being named Album of the Year, Dylan said; “And I just want to say that when I was sixteen or seventeen years old, I went to see Buddy Holly play at Duluth National Guard Armory and I was three feet away from him…and he looked at me. And I just have some sort of feeling that he was — I don’t know how or why — but I know he was with us all the time we were making this record in some kind of way.” Keith Richards reportedly said that Holly had “an influence on everybody.” In a 24 August 1978 Rolling Stone interview, Bruce Springsteen told Dave Marsh, “I play Buddy Holly every night before I go on; that keeps me honest.” Don McLean’s popular 1971 ballad “American Pie” is inspired by Holly and the day of the plane crash. The American Pie album is dedicated to Holly. Holly was married to Maria Elena Santiago. My favorite Holly songs are “That’ll be the Day” and “Not Fade Away”. Holly co-wrote “That’ll be the Day” with Jerry Allison apparently after watching the movie The Searchers, starring John Wayne. In the movie Wayne’s character, Ethan Edwards says that line four times; once in response to Jeffrey Hunter’s character Martin Pawley telling Ethan, “I hope you die!” Ethan responds. “That’ll be the day.” Holly’s music has certainly not faded away. Indeed, 3 February 1959; the day the music died.
The Final Footprint – Holly is interred in the City of Lubbock Cemetery in Lubbock. His grave is marked be a flat granite marker, with the inscription; IN LOVING MEMORY OF OUR OWN BUDDY HOLLEY. A memorial has been created near the crash site, where fans still leave mementos in honor of those who died in the crash. There is a bronze statue of Holly on Lubbock’s Walk of Fame and a Holly mural on 19th street. In June 1988, a four-foot tall granite memorial bearing the names of the three entertainers and Peterson was dedicated outside The Surf Ballroom in Clear Lake, the site of their final performance. In 1988, Ken Paquette, a Wisconsin fan of the 1950s era, erected a stainless-steel monument depicting a steel guitar and a set of three records bearing the names of each of the three performers. It is located on private farmland, about one quarter mile west of the intersection of 315th Street and Gull Avenue, approximately eight miles north of Clear Lake. I have visited the crash sight. Stood there in the blowin’ cold, thinkin’ about what happened. Paquette also created a similar stainless steel monument to the three musicians near the Riverside Ballroom in Green Bay, Wisconsin. That memorial was unveiled on 17 July 2003. Holly’s life story inspired a Hollywood biographical film, The Buddy Holly Story (1978). Gary Busey received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of Holly. Paul McCartney produced and hosted a documentary about Holly in 1985, titled The Real Buddy Holly Story. In 1987, Marshall Crenshaw portrayed Buddy Holly in the movie La Bamba. Other notable final footprints in Lubbock cemetery include Bobby Layne.
Born Jiles Perry Richardson, Jr. on 24 October 1930 in Sabine Pass, Texas. Perhaps best known for his recording of “Chantilly Lace”, a song he co-wrote with Jerry Foster and Bill Rice. 
Born Richard Steven Valenzuela on 13 May 1941 in Pacoima, a neighborhood in the San Fernando Valley region of Los Angeles. Valens is considered rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement. His recording career lasted only eight months but he had several hits, most notably “La Bamba”, which was originally a Mexican folk song. Valens transformed the song into one with a rock rhythm and beat, and it became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement. 
The Final Footprint – Valens was interred at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, Mission Hills, California. Valens has been the subject of several biopic films, including the 1987 film La Bamba. Primarily set in 1957-1959, it depicted Valens from age 16 to 17 and introduced Lou Diamond Phillips as Valens.
On this day in 1961, actress Anna May Wong died of a heart attack as she slept at home in Santa Monica, at the age of 56. Born Wong Liu Tsong on January 3, 1905 in near Chinatown in Los Angeles. Considered to be the first Hong Kong-Chinese American Hollywood movie star, as well as the first Chinese American actress to gain international recognition. Her long and varied career spanned silent film, sound film, television, stage, and radio.
And on this day in 2011, actress Maria Schneider died of breast cancer in Paris at age 58. Born Maria-Hélène Schneider on 27 March 1952 in Paris. She starred opposite Marlon Brando in Bernardo Bertolucci‘s film Last Tango in Paris (1972).
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On this day in 1969, actor Boris Karloff died from emphysema in King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Sussex at age 81. Born William Henry Pratt at 36 Forest Hill Road, Honor Oak, London on 23 November 1887. Karloff is perhaps best remembered for his roles in horror films and especially for his portrayal of Frankenstein’s monster in Frankenstein (1931), Bride of Frankenstein (1935), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), which resulted in his immense popularity. His best-known non-horror role is as the Grinch, as well as the narrator, in the animated television special of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (1966). He also had a memorable role in the original Scarface (1932). For his contribution to film and television, Boris Karloff was awarded two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Karloff married five times: Grace Harding 
On this day in 1996, dancer, Academy Award nominated actor, singer, film director and producer, and choreographer, Gene Kelly, died at his home in Beverly Hills, California at the age of 83. Born Eugene Curran Kelly on 23 August 1912 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Known for his energetic and athletic dancing style, his good looks, style and the likeable characters that he played on screen in movie classics including, Singin’ in the Rain and An American in Paris. Kelly graduated from the University of Pittsburgh with a BA in Economics and enrolled in law school at Pitt but dropped out later to pursue his career in entertainment. His Oscar nomination came from his role in Anchors Aweigh, co-starring with Frank Sinatra. Kelly was married three times Betsy Blair (1941 – 1957 divorce), Jeanne Coyne (1960 – 1973 her death), Patricia Ward (1990 – 1996 his death).
On this day in 1851, novelist, short story writer, dramatist, essayist, biographer, and travel writer, wife of poet Percy Bysshe Shelley, Mary Shelley died in Chester Square, London, at the age of fifty-three from what her physician suspected was a brain tumour. Born Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin in Somers Town, London, on 30 August 1797. Perhaps best known for her Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818), she also edited and promoted the works of her husband. Her father was the political philosopher William Godwin, and her mother was the philosopher and feminist Mary Wollstonecraft. In 1816, Mary and Percy famously spent a summer with Lord Byron, John William Polidori, and Claire Clairmont near Geneva, Switzerland, where Mary conceived the idea for her novel Frankenstein. The Shelleys left Britain in 1818 for Italy, where their second and third children died before Mary gave birth to her last and only surviving child, Percy Florence. In 1822, her husband drowned when his sailing boat sank during a storm near Viareggio. A year later, Mary Shelley returned to England and from then on devoted herself to the upbringing of her son and a career as a professional author. 
On this day in 2003, Space Shuttle Columbia was destroyed during re-entry over Texas killing all seven crew members. The crew: Commander Rick D. Husband, Pilot William C. McCool, David M. Brown, Kalpana Chawla, Michael P. Anderson, Laurel B. Clark, and Ilan Ramon. 
