Errol Flynn
On this day in 1959 actor Errol Flynn died in Vancouver, British Columbia at the age of 50 from a heart attack. Born Errol Leslie Flynn on 20 June 1909 in Hobart, Tasmania, Australia. His movie career was defined by his portrayal of dashing, romantic, swashbuckling heroes. A man of passion, his flamboyant lifestyle equalled and often exceeded his on-screen roles. His love of women and his reputation as a ladies man led to the popular phrase, “in like Flynn”. His autobiography My Wicked, Wicked Ways has been described as compelling and appalling. Reportedly, his final words were,”I’ve had a hell of a lot of fun and I’ve enjoyed every minute of it.” Flynn was married three times: actress Lili Damita (1935 – 1942 divorce), Nora Eddington (1943 – 1949 divorce), actress Patrice Wymore (1950 – 1959 his death).
The Final Footprint – Flynn is interred in Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. His grave is marked by a single flat bronze marker. Other notable Final Footprints at Forest Lawn Glendale include; L. Frank Baum, Humphrey Bogart, Lon Chaney, Nat King Cole, Dorothy Dandridge, Sammy Davis, Jr., Jean Harlow, Sam Cooke, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Clark Gable, Michael Jackson, Carole Lombard, Tom Mix, Casey Stengel, Jimmy Stewart, Elizabeth Taylor, and Spencer Tracy.
On this day in 1977, singer and actor Bing Crosby died of a heart attack at the age of 74 on a golf course in La Moraleja, Spain, near Madrid. Born Harry Lillis Crosby, Jr. on 3 May 1903 in Tacoma, Washington. Crosby’s trademark bass-baritone voice made him one of the best-selling recording artists of the 20th century. A multimedia star, from 1934 to 1954 in records, radio, and motion pictures. Yank magazine recognized Crosby as the person who had done the most for American G.I. morale during World War II. Along with Frank Sinatra, Crosby was one of the principal backers behind the famous United Western Recorders recording studio complex in Los Angeles. Crosby won an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Father Chuck O’Malley in the 1944 motion picture Going My Way, and was nominated for his reprise of the role in The Bells of St. Mary’s opposite Ingrid Bergman the next year, becoming the first of four actors to be nominated twice for playing the same character. Crosby starred with Bob Hope and actress Dorothy Lamour in seven Road to musical comedies between 1940 and 1962, cementing the two entertainers as an on-and-off duo. In 1963, Crosby received the first Grammy Global Achievement Award. Crosby is one of the 22 people to have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (a star for motion pictures, radio, and audio recording). Crosby was married twice; singer Dixie Lee (1930 – 1952 her death) and Kathryn Grant (1957 – 1977 his death).
The Final Footprint – Reportedly his last words were “That was a great game of golf, fellas.” Crosby is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, California. Note the incorrect birth year on the marker. Other notable final footprints at Holy Cross include; John Candy, Jimmy Durante, John Ford, Rita Hayworth, Chick Hearn, Conrad Hilton, Jr., Mario Lanza, Bela Lugosi, Al Martino, Audrey Meadows, Ricardo Montalbán, Chris Penn, Jo Stafford, and Sharon Tate.
On this day in 1990, composer, conductor, author, music lecturer, and pianist Leonard Bernstein died from a heart attack at his apartment The Dakota in Manhattan at the age of 72. Born Louis Bernstein on August 25, 1918 in Lawrence, Massachusetts. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the US to receive worldwide acclaim. His fame derived from his long tenure as the music director of the New York Philharmonic, from his conducting of concerts with most of the world’s leading orchestras, and from his music for West Side Story, Peter Pan, Candide, Wonderful Town, On the Town, On the Waterfront, his Mass, and a range of other compositions, including three symphonies and many shorter chamber and solo works.
He was a skilled pianist, often conducting piano concertos from the keyboard. He was also a key figure in the modern revival of the music of Gustav Mahler, the composer he was most passionately interested in.
Bernstein married actress Felicia Cohn Montealegre on September 10, 1951. One suggestion is that he chose to marry partly to dispel rumors about his private life to help secure a major conducting appointment. In a book released in October 2013, The Leonard Bernstein Letters, his wife acknowledges his homosexuality.
The Final Footprint
On the day of his funeral procession through the streets of Manhattan, construction workers removed their hats and waved, calling out “Goodbye, Lenny.” Bernstein is buried in Green-Wood Cemetery, Brooklyn, New York, next to his wife and with a copy of Mahler’s Fifth Symphony lying across his heart.
#RIP #OTD in 2004 guitarist, songwriter, thought to be the first woman to produce, engineer, arrange and promote music on her own rock and roll music label, Moon Records, Cordell Jackson died of pancreatic cancer in Memphis aged 81. Cremation
On this day in 2006, singer, musician Freddy Fender died from lung cancer at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas, at the age of 69. Born Baldemar Garza Huerta on June 4, 1937 in San Benito, Texas. Perhaps best known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados, and his 1975 hits “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” and the subsequent remake of his own “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights”.
The Final Footprint
He was interred at San Benito Memorial Park Cemetery.
A Freddy Fender Museum and The Conjunto Music Museum opened November 17, 2007, in San Benito. They share a building with the San Benito Historical Museum. His family maintains the Freddy Fender Scholarship Fund and donates to philanthropic causes that Fender supported.
#RIP #OTD in 2014 actress (Batteries Not Included, La Bamba, Down and Out in Beverly Hills, Jacob’s Ladder, The Incredibles, Lone Star) Elizabeth Peña died from cirrhosis of the liver at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, aged 55. Cremated remains scattered at sea.
#RIP #OTD in 2022 actor (Harry Potter films, the James Bond films GoldenEye, The World Is Not Enough) Robbie Coltrane died at Forth Valley Royal Hospital in Larbert, Scotland, aged 72. Cremated remains scattered at Washington Square Park, New York
#RIP #OTD in 2023 actress (The Hustler, Carrie, Children of a Lesser God, The Thorn Birds, Twin Peaks), Piper Laurie died in Los Angeles aged 91. Cremation
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