#RIP #OTD in 1797 writer (A Vindication of the Rights of Woman), philosopher, advocate of women’s rights, mother of Mary Shelley, Mary Wollstonecraft died of septicaemia after giving birth to Mary aged 38. St Pancras Old Church, Somers Town, Central London
On this day in 1827, writer, revolutionary and poet Ugo Foscolo died at Turnham Green, England, at the age of 49. Born Niccolò Ugo Foscolo on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, Republic of Venice, on 6 February 1778. Perhaps best known for his 1807 long poem Dei Sepolcri, which may be described as an effort to seek refuge in the past from the misery of the present and the darkness of the future.
From Dei Sepolcri, 1807
All’ombra de’ cipressi e dentro l’urne
confortate di pianto è forse il sonno
della morte men duro? Ove piú il Sole
per me alla terra non-fecondi questa
bella d’erbe famiglia e d’animali,
e quando vaghe di lusinghe innanzi
a me non-danzeran l’ore future,
né da te, dolce amico, udrò piú il verso
e la mesta armonia che lo governa,
né piú nel cor mi parlerà lo spirto
delle vergini Muse e dell’amore,
unico spirto a mia vita raminga,
qual fia ristoro a’ dí perduti un sasso
che distingua le mie dalle infiniteossa che in terra e in mar semina morte?
Lines 1–15 English translation by Foscolo:
Beneath the cypress shade, or sculptured urn
By fond tears watered, is the sleep of death
Less heavy? — When for me the sun no more
Shall shine on earth, to bless with genial beams
This beauteous race of beings animate —
When bright with flattering hues the coming hours
No longer dance before me — and I hear
No more, regarded friend, thy dulcet verse,
Nor the sad gentle harmony it breathes —
When mute within my breast the inspiring voice
Of youthful poesy, and love, sole light
To this my wandering life — what guerdon then
For vanished years will be the marble reared
To mark my dust amid the countless throng
Wherewith the Spoiler strews the land and sea?
The Final Footprint – Foscolo was entombed in Old Chiswick Cemetery, in Chiswick, England. Forty-four years after his death, on 7 June 1871, his remains were brought to Florence, and with all the pride, pomp and circumstance of a great national mourning, found their final resting-place beside the monuments of Machiavelli and Alfieri, of Michelangelo and Galileo, in the church of Santa Croce, the pantheon of Italian glory he had celebrated in Dei sepolcri. His tomb in the cemetery of St. Nicholas parish church, Chiswick, in West London has recently been restored, it refers to him as the “wearied citizen poet” and incorrectly states his age as 50.
On this day in 1931, Sicilian organized crime figure, early Cosa Nostra boss in the United States, capo di tutti capi, boss of bosses, Salvatore Maranzano died inside his office on the 9th floor of The Helmsley Building in Midtown Manhattan, from multiple gunshot and stab wounds, at the age of 45. Born on 31 July 1886 in Castellammare del Golfo, Sicily. He instigated the Castellammarese War to seize control of the American Mafia operations, and briefly became the Mafia’s “Boss of Bosses”. He was assassinated by a younger faction led by Lucky Luciano, who established a power-sharing arrangement rather than a “boss of bosses” to prevent future wars.
The Final Footprint – Maranzano and his wife Elisabetta (who died in 1964) are buried in Saint John’s Cemetery, Queens, located in New York City. Maranzano plays a small fictionalized role in Mario Puzo’s The Godfather. Maranzano refused Don Vito Corleone’s proposal to share his monopoly on gambling in New York City, in exchange for police and political contacts and expansion into Brooklyn and the Bronx. Maranzano arranged for two of Al Capone’s gunmen to come to New York and finish Corleone. Through his contacts in Chicago, Corleone found out, and sent Luca Brasi to murder the gunmen. With Capone out of the picture, the great mob war of 1933 had begun. Desperate for peace, Maranzano agreed to a sit down in a restaurant in Brooklyn, where he was killed by Salvatore Tessio and his men. Afterwards, Corleone called a meeting to reorganize the American Mafia, something that the real life Maranzano did. Other notable, and infamous, final footprints at Saint John’s include Joe Colombo, Carlo Gambino, John Gotti, Luciano, and Vito Genovese.
On this day in 1935, the 40th Governor of Louisiana, United States Senator, The Kingfish, Huey Long died from gunshot wounds he sustained at the Louisiana State Capitol building in Baton Rouge during a confrontation with Dr. Carl Weiss. Born Huey Pierce Long, Jr. 0n 30 August 1893 in Winnfield, Louisiana. A Democrat, he was an outspoken populist, partially inspired by sansepolcrista Italian fascism. During his tenure, he commanded large networks of supporters and was willing to take forceful action, influencing claims that he was a political boss. He established the political prominence of the Long political family. Long is best known for his Share Our Wealth program, created in 1934 under the motto “Every Man a King.” It proposed new wealth redistribution measures in the form of a net asset tax on corporations and individuals to curb the poverty and homelessness endemic nationwide during the Great Depression. To stimulate the economy, Long advocated federal spending on public works, schools and colleges, and old age pensions. He was an ardent critic of the policies of the Federal Reserve System. A supporter of Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 presidential election, Long split with Roosevelt in June 1933 to plan his own presidential bid for 1936 in alliance with the influential Catholic priest and radio commentator Charles Coughlin. Under Long’s leadership, hospitals and educational institutions were expanded, a system of charity hospitals was set up that provided health care for the poor, massive highway construction and free bridges brought an end to rural isolationism, and free textbooks for schoolchildren were introduced to tackle illiteracy.
The Final Footprint – Long’s body was dressed in a tuxedo and his open double casket (made of bronze with a copper inner liner covered with a glass lid) was placed in the State Capitol rotunda. An estimated 200,000 people flooded Baton Rouge to witness the event. Tens of thousands of Louisianans crowded in front of the Capitol on September 12, 1935, for the 4 p.m. funeral handled by Merle Welsh of Rabenhorst Funeral Home. Welsh remembered that flowers came from all over the world and extended from the House of Representatives to the Senate chamber. Airline Highway between New Orleans and Baton Rouge was jammed bumper-to-bumper. Newsreel cameras clicked while airplanes circled overhead to record the service for posterity. Long was buried on the grounds of the State Capitol in Baton Rouge. A large bronze statue on top of a marble column marks the site of his grave. A plaque marks the site of the assassination inside the capitol. Also, a bronze statue of Long is located in Statuary Hall of the U. S. Capitol. Long’s assassination put an end to his national movement, but his legacy continued in Louisiana through his wife, Senator Rose McConnell Long, and his son, Senator Russell B. Long. The character Willie Stark from the novel All the King’s Men by Robert Penn Warren appears to be loosely based on Long. This is perhaps my all time favorite book. The book has inspired two movies; the Oscar-winning 1949 version and a 2006 version starring Sean Penn.
On this day in 1971, singer, model, actress Pier Angeli died of a barbiturate overdose at her home in Beverly Hills, aged 39. Born Anna Maria Pierangeli on 19 June 1932 in Cagliari, Sardinia, Italy. She starred in American, British and European films throughout her career. Her American motion picture debut was in the starring role of the film Teresa (1951), for which she won a Golden Globe Award for Young Star of the Year – Actress.
Angeli was fluent in Italian and English, and could speak and understand spoken French. She was good friends with Debbie Reynolds, Louis Jourdan, and Richard Attenborough.
According to Kirk Douglas’ autobiography The Ragman’s Son, he and Angeli were engaged in the 1950s after meeting on the set of the film The Story of Three Loves (1953). Angeli also had a passionate romantic relationship with James Dean. They met while she was shooting The Silver Chalice (1954) and he was shooting East of Eden (1955), on an adjoining Warner lot. Elia Kazan, the director of East of Eden (1955), remembered hearing Dean and Angeli loudly making love in Dean’s dressing room. Much against her will, she was forced to break it off mainly because her mother was not happy with their relationship as Dean was not Catholic. There were rumors that she and Dean secretly saw each other up until his death; Joe Hyams, in his 1992 biography of Dean, James Dean: Little Boy Lost, claims that he visited Dean just as Angeli, then married to Damone, was leaving his home. An Order for the Solemnization of Marriage pamphlet with the name “Pier” lightly penciled in every place the bride’s name is left blank was found amongst Dean’s personal effects after his death. She would later say that he was the love of her life: “He is the only man I ever loved deeply as a woman should love a man.” Friends of Angeli have said she never fully recovered from his death and that she had nightmares about him up until her own death.
Angeli was married to singer and actor Vic Damone from 1954 to 1958. Singer and actor Dean Martin performed at their wedding. It was reported by several people who attended the wedding that they saw James Dean, claiming Dean watched the wedding from across the road on his motorcycle, even gunning the engine during the ceremony, although Dean later denied doing anything so “dumb”. During their marriage, they appeared as guests on the June 17, 1956 episode of What’s My Line?. She had one son with Vic Damone; their divorce was followed by highly publicized court battles for the custody of their only child, son Perry (1955–2014).
Angeli next married Italian composer Armando Trovajoli in 1962 with whom she had another son, Howard, in 1963. She and Trovajoli separated in 1969.
In the early 1970s she returned to California, after having lived in Britain and Europe throughout the 1960s, and briefly lived with her close friend Debbie Reynolds until she found a little apartment in Beverly Hills.
The Final Footprint – On the day of her death, Angeli had been given an injection of Compazine by her doctor. Death due to anaphylaxis has been suggested; however, it is not supported by the findings of her autopsy. Her former lover Kirk Douglas and his wife Anne Buydens were among those who were invited to her funeral. She is interred in the Cimetière des Bulvis in Rueil-Malmaison, Hauts-de-Seine, France.
On this day in 1976, screenwriter Dalton Trumbo died in Los Angeles of a heart attack at the age of 70. Born James Dalton Trumbo on December 9, 1905 in Montrose, Colorado. He scripted many award-winning films, including Roman Holiday (1953), Exodus, Spartacus (both 1960), and Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944). One of the Hollywood Ten, he refused to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) in 1947 during the committee’s investigation of alleged Communist influences in the motion picture industry. Trumbo, the other members of the Hollywood Ten, and hundreds of other professionals in the industry were blacklisted by Hollywood. He was able to continue working clandestinely on major films, writing under pseudonyms or other authors’ names. His uncredited work won two Academy Awards for Best Story: for Roman Holiday (1953), which was presented to a front writer, and for The Brave One (1956), which was awarded to a pseudonym used by Trumbo. When he was given public screen credit for both Exodus and Spartacus in 1960, it marked the beginning of the end of the Hollywood Blacklist for Trumbo and other affected screenwriters. He finally was given full credit by the Writers’ Guild for Roman Holiday in 2011, nearly 60 years after the fact.
In 1938, Trumbo married Cleo Fincher, who was born in Fresno, California, on July 17, 1916, and had moved with her divorced mother and her brother and sister to Los Angeles. The Trumbos had three children: Nikola Trumbo (1939), who became a psychotherapist; Christopher Trumbo (1940), a filmmaker and screenwriter who became an expert on the Hollywood blacklist; and Melissa Trumbo (1945), known as Mitzi, a photographer.
Cleo died of natural causes at the age of 93 on October 9, 2009, at the home she shared with Mitzi in Los Altos, California.
The Final Footprint – He donated his body to scientific research.
On this day in 2005, musician, singer Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown died in Orange, Texas at the apartment of a grandniece, at the age of 81. Born on April 18, 1924 in Vinton, Louisiana. He won a Grammy Award for Best Traditional Blues Album in 1983 for his album, Alright Again!.
Brown was married and divorced three times.
In September 2004, Brown was diagnosed with lung cancer. He already had emphysema and heart disease, and he and his doctors decided to forego treatment for the cancer. This greatly affected his musical career. His home in Slidell, Louisiana, was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, although he had been evacuated to his childhood hometown of Orange, Texas, and lived with his brother before the storm hit.
The Final Footprint – Brown is buried in the Hollywood Cemetery in Orange. Flooding caused by Hurricane Ike in September 2008 damaged his grave. His grave has since been refurbished and through the estate funds, a headstone has been erected in his honor. A marker honoring Brown was placed by the Texas Historical Commission next to the flagpole at Hollywood Cemetery.
#RIP #OTD in 2007 actress (Stage Fright, So Big, Magnificent Obsession, All That Heaven Allows, Johnny Belinda, Falcon Crest) Jane Wyman died in her sleep at her home in Rancho Mirage, aged 90. Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Cathedral City, California
#RIP #OTD in 2011 actor (Charly, Twilight Zone, Three Days of the Condor, Spiderman) Cliff Robertson died in Stony Brook, New York, aged 88. Cremated remains Cedar Lawn Cemetery, East Hampton, New York
On this day in 2014, actor Richard Kiel died from a heart attack at St. Agnes Medical Center in Fresno, California, at the age of 74. Born Richard Dawson Kiel on September 13, 1939 in Detroit, Michigan. Standing 7 ft 2 in (218 cm) tall, he was perhaps best known for his role as Jaws in the James Bond franchise, portraying the character in The Spy Who Loved Me (1977) and Moonraker (1979). Kiel’s other notable roles include; Mr. Larson in Happy Gilmore (1996), The Longest Yard (1974), Silver Streak (1976), Force 10 from Navarone (1978), Cannonball Run II (1984), Pale Rider (1985) and Tangled (2010).
Kiel’s first marriage was to Faye Daniels in 1960. They divorced in the early 1970s. He later married Diane Rogers. They had four children and nine grandchildren.
The Final Footprint
Kiel is interred in Belmont Memorial Park in Fresno, California.
On this day in 2020 actress (The Avengers, On Her Majesty’s Secret Service, Game of Thrones) Diana Rigg died from lung cancer at her London home, aged 82. Her roles include Emma Peel in the TV series The Avengers (1965–1968); Countess Teresa di Vicenzo, wife of James Bond, in On Her Majesty’s Secret Service (1969); Olenna Tyrell in Game of Thrones (2013–2017); and the title role in Medea in the West End in 1993 followed by Broadway a year later.
Rigg made her professional stage debut in 1957 in The Caucasian Chalk Circle and joined the Royal Shakespeare Company in 1959. She made her Broadway debut in Abelard & Heloise in 1971. Her role as Emma Peel made her a sex symbol. For her role in Medea, both in London and New York, she won the 1994 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play. She was made a CBE in 1988 and a Dame in 1994 for services to drama.
Rigg appeared in numerous TV series and films, playing Helena in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1968); Lady Holiday in The Great Muppet Caper (1981); and Arlena Marshall in Evil Under the Sun (1982). She won the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress for the BBC miniseries Mother Love (1989) and an Emmy Award for her role as Mrs. Danvers in an adaptation of Rebecca (1997). Her other television credits include You, Me and the Apocalypse (2015), Detectorists (2015), the Doctor Who episode “The Crimson Horror” (2013) with her daughter Rachael Stirling, and playing Mrs Pumphrey in All Creatures Great and Small (2020). Her final role was in Edgar Wright’s 2021 psychological horror film Last Night in Soho, completed just before her death.
As an Emmy and Tony Award winner, Rigg was an Academy Award away from achieving the Triple Crown of Acting status.
The Final Footprint – Rigg was cremated at Breakspear Crematorium Ruislip, London Borough of Hillingdon, Greater London, England.
#RIP #OTD in 2023 singer-songwriter (I Want You Bad, My Hometown, El Cerrito Place, Good Times) Charlie Robison died after suffering from cardiac arrest and other complications at a San Antonio, Texas, hospital aged 59. Bandera Cemetery, Bandera, Texas
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