On this day in 1986, American jazz and swing musician, clarinetist and bandleader; widely known as the “King of Swing”, Benny Goodman died from a heart attack in New York City at the age of 77, in his home at Manhattan House, 200 East 66th Street. Born Benjamin David Goodman on 30 May 1909 in Chicago.
In the mid-1930s, Goodman led one of the most popular musical groups in the United States. His concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City on January 16, 1938 is described by critic Bruce Eder as “the single most important jazz or popular music concert in history: jazz’s ‘coming out’ party to the world of ‘respectable’ music.”
Goodman’s bands started the careers of many jazz musicians. During an era of racial segregation, he led one of the first integrated jazz groups. He performed nearly to the end of his life while exploring an interest in classical music.
The Final Footprint – Goodman is interred in the Long Ridge Cemetery, Stamford, Connecticut.
#RIP #OTD in 1987 actress (Hondo, Sweet Bird of Youth, What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice?, The Beguiled, The Pope of Greenwich Village, The Trip to Bountiful) Geraldine Page died from a heart attack at her home in Manhattan, aged 62. Cremation
On this day in 1993, American World War II pilot and later, one of the original NASA Mercury Seven astronauts, Deke Slayton died of a brain tumor in League City, Texas at the age of 69. Born Donald Kent Slayton on 1 March 1924 in Sparta, Wisconsin. He was portrayed in the movie The Right Stuff (1983) by Scott Paulin. The original seven Mercury astronauts included Alan Shepard, Virgil Ivan “Gus” Grissom, John Herschel Glenn, Jr., Malcolm Scott Carpenter, Walter Marty “Wally” Schirra, Jr., and Leroy Gordon Cooper, Jr. The film is based on the book by Tom Wolfe, and also featured; Sam Shepard as Chuck Yeager, Ed Harris as John Glenn, Dennis Quaid as Gordon Cooper, Fred Ward as Gus Grissom, Charles Frank as Scott Carpenter and Lance Henriksen as Wally Shirra. The Final Footprint – Slayton was cremated and his cremains were scattered over the Slayton family farm in Wisconsin.
On this day in 2008, American television journalist and lawyer who appeared for more than 16 years as the longest-serving moderator of NBC’s Meet the Press, Tim Russert died from a heart attack in Washington D.C. at the age of 58. Born Timothy John Russert on 7 May 1950 in Buffalo, New York.
The Final Footprint – Russert is buried at Rock Creek Cemetery, next to the historic Soldiers’ Home, in Washington’s Petworth neighborhood. Other notable final footprints at Rock Creek include; Upton Sinclair and Gore Vidal.
On this day in 2010, American country music singer, television host, actor and businessman, Jimmy Dean died at the age of 81 of natural causes at his home in Varina, Virginia. Born Jimmy Ray Dean on 10 August 1928 in Olton, Texas.
He was the creator of the Jimmy Dean sausage brand as well as the spokesman for its TV commercials. He became a national television personality starting on CBS in 1957. He rose to fame for his 1961 country music crossover hit into rock and roll with “Big Bad John” and his 1963 television series The Jimmy Dean Show, which gave puppeteer Jim Henson his first national media exposure. His acting career included appearing in the early seasons in the Daniel Boone TV series as the sidekick of the famous frontiersman played by star Fess Parker. Later he was on the big screen in a supporting role as billionaire Willard Whyte in the James Bond movie Diamonds Are Forever (1971).
The Final Footprint – He was entombed in a 9-foot-tall (2.7 m) piano-shaped mausoleum overlooking the James River on the grounds of his estate. His epitaph reads “Here Lies One Hell of a Man”, a quote from a lyric from his uncensored version of the Dean and Roy Acuff song, “Big Bad John”.
#RIP #OTD in 2017 Italian actress, artist, model, style icon and “It Girl” of the 1960s and 1970s, muse of The Rolling Stones, Anita Pallenberg died, aged 75, due to complications from hepatitis C. Cremation
#RIP #OTD in 2021 actor (Deliverance, All the President’s Men, Network, Superman) Ned Beatty died at his home in Los Angeles, aged of 83. Cremation
#RIP #OTD in 2023 Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist (The Road; All the Pretty Horses; No Country for Old Men) Cormac McCarthy died at his home in Santa Fe at the age of 89
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