On this day in 1848, novelist Emily Brontë died from tuberculosis at the Brontë family home in Haworth Parsonage, Haworth, England at the age of 30. Born Emily Jane Brontë on 30 July 1818 in the village of Thornton, Yorkshire, in the North of England, to Maria Branwell and Patrick Bronte. She was the younger sister of Charlotte Brontë. Perhaps best remembered for her only novel, Wuthering Heights, now considered a classic of English literature. She never married.
The Final Footprint – She was interred in the Church of St Michael and All Angels family capsule, Haworth. Brontë would never know the extent of fame she achieved with her one and only novel, Wuthering Heights, as she died a year after its publication. Wuthering Heights is the name of the farmhouse on the Yorkshire moors where the story unfolds. The book’s core theme is the destructive effect that jealousy and vengefulness have, both on the jealous or vengeful individuals and on their communities. Wuthering Heights received mixed reviews when first published, and was considered controversial because its depiction of mental and physical cruelty was unusually stark, and it challenged strict Victorian ideals of the day, including religious hypocrisy, morality, social classes and gender inequality. Poet and painter Dante Gabriel Rossetti referred to it as a “fiend of a book — an incredible monster.” Wuthering Heights has inspired adaptations, including film, radio and television dramatisations, a musical by Bernard J. Taylor, a ballet, operas (by Bernard Herrmann, Carlisle Floyd, and Frédéric Chaslin), a role-playing game, and a 1978 song by Kate Bush.
On this day in 1996, Academy Award-nominated actor, Marcello Mastroianni, died from pancreatic cancer in Paris at the age of 72. Born Marcello Vincenzo Domenico Mastroianni on 28 September 1924 in Fontana Liri, Italy. A man who worked with and loved some of the most beautiful women in the world. His prominent films include La dolce vita (1960), La Notte (1961), Ieri, oggi, domani (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow) (1963), Matrimonio all’italiana (Marriage Italian-Style (1964), Una giornata particolare (A Special Day) (1977), and Ready to Wear (Prêt-à-Porter) (1994). Mastroianni and Sophia Loren were one of the most successful and enduring screen couples of cinema history, paired up in 14 movies over twenty years.
Mastroianni married Flora Carabella (1926–1999) on 12 August 1950. They separated in 1970 because of his affairs with younger women. Mastroianni’s first serious relationship after the separation was with Faye Dunaway, his co-star in A Place for Lovers (1968). Dunaway wanted to marry and have children, but Mastroianni, a Catholic, refused to divorce Carabella. In 1971, after three years of waiting for Mastroianni to change his mind, Dunaway left him. Decades later, Dunaway said: “I wish to this day it had worked out.”
Mastroianni and actress Catherine Deneuve, who was nearly 20 years his junior, lived with with each other for four years in the 1970s. During that time, the couple made four movies together: It Only Happens to Others (1971), La cagna (1972), A Slightly Pregnant Man (1973) and Don’t Touch the White Woman! (1974).
Reportedly Mastroianni’s other lovers included actresses Anouk Aimee, Ursula Andress, Claudia Cardinale and Lauren Hutton. Around 1976, he became involved with Anna Maria Tatò, an author and filmmaker. They remained together until his death.
The Final Footprint – Both his daughters and Deneuve were at his bedside when he died, as was Tatò. The Trevi Fountain in Rome, associated with his role in Federico Fellini’s La dolce vita, was symbolically turned off and draped in black as a tribute.Mastroianni is interrred in the Mastroianni Family Estate in Cimitero Monumentale del Verano, Rome, Italy. His grave is marked by a granite full ledger marker.
#RIP #OTD in 1999 actor (Q in 17 of the James Bond films between 1963 and 1999) Desmond Llewelyn died from injuries sustained in a car crash at Eastbourne District General Hospital, Eastbourne, England, aged 85. Cremation. Llewelyn’s death occurred three weeks after the premiere of The World Is Not Enough. Roger Moore, who starred with Llewelyn in six of his seven Bond films, spoke at his funeral on 6 January 2000 at St Mary the Virgin Church in Battle, Sussex. The service was followed by a private cremation at Hastings Crematorium.
#RIP #OTD in 2004 lirico-spinto soprano, star of La Scala, San Carlo and the Metropolitan Opera, La Voce d’Angelo, Renata Tebaldi died at her home in San Marino, aged 82. Tebaldi family chapel at Mattaleto cemetery in Langhirano, Itlay
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