On this day in 1943, French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist, Simone Weil died after a lifetime of battling illness and frailty in a sanatorium in Ashford, Kent, England, from cardiac failure at the age of 34. Born 3 February 1903 in Paris. Weil wrote throughout her life, though most of her writings did not attract much attention until after her death. In the 1950s and 1960s, her work became famous on continental Europe and throughout the English-speaking world. Her fame began to decline in the late 1960s and she is now rarely taught at universities. Yet her thought has continued to be the subject of extensive scholarship across a wide range of fields. A meta study from the University of Calgary found that between 1995 and 2012 over 2,500 new scholarly works had been published about her. Although sometimes described as odd, humourless, and irritating, she inspired great affection in many of those who knew her. Albert Camus described her as “the only great spirit of our times”.
The Final Footprint – Weil is interred in the Catholic Section of the Bybrook Cemetery Ashford Kent, England Plot.
On this day in 1978 Sicilian-American singer, actor, songwriter, and trumpeter, Grammy Award winner, “The King of the Swing” Louis Prima died from a cerebral hemorrhage in New Orleans at the age of 67. Born on 7 December 1910 in New Orleans. Known for his voice performance of the orangutan King Louie in the Walt Disney film, The Jungle Book (1967) and for singing the song “I Wanna be like You”. Also known for his arrangement and recording of the medley “Just a Gigolo”/”I Ain’t Got Nobody”, which was later covered by David Lee Roth. Prima wrote the swing standard “Jump Jive and Wail”.
The Final Footprint – Prima is entombed in the Prima family private mausoleum in Metairie Cemetery in New Orleans. The gray marble crypt is topped by a figure of Gabriel, the trumpeter-angel, sculpted in 1997 by Russian-born sculptor Alexei Kazantsev. The inscription on the crypt’s door is: A LEGEND “WHEN THE END COMES, I KNOW, THEY’LL SAY, “JUST A GIGOLO” AS LIFE GOES ON WITHOUT ME, LOVINGLY, YOUR LITTLE FAMILY…” Other notable final footprints at Metairie include; Pete Fountain, Jim Garrison, Al Hirt, and Anne and Stan Rice.
#RIP #OTD in 1987 political activist, prominent leader in social movements for civil rights, socialism, nonviolence, and gay rights, subject of the movie Rustin, Bayard Rustin died of a perforated appendix in Manhattan aged 75. Cremated remains interred in upstate New York
#RIP #OTD 2013 stage, film actress (Member of the Wedding, East of Eden, Requiem for a Heavyweight, The Haunting, Reflections in a Golden Eye) Julie Harris died of congestive heart failure at her home in West Chatham, Massachusetts, aged 87. Cremation
#RIP #OTD in 2014 actor (Brighton Rock (1948), I’m All Right Jack (1959), The Great Escape (1963), The Sand Pebbles (1966), Doctor Dolittle (1967), 10 Rillington Place (1971), Jurassic Park (1993), Miracle on 34th Street), filmmaker (Gandhi), entrepreneur Richard Attenborough died at Denville Hall, London aged 90. Cremated remains in a vault at St Mary Magdalene church in Richmond, London
#RIP #OTD in 2021 musician, the drummer of the Rolling Stones, Charlie Watts died at a London hospital at age 80, with his family. Laid to rest in Devon, England
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