#RIP #OTD in 1981 photographer best known for her black and white pictures featuring either herself or female models, Francesca Woodman died jumping out of a loft window of a building on the East Side of New York City, aged 22.
On this day in 1997, U.S. Army and U.S Air Force veteran, poet, novelist, eighteenth Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress, James Dickey, died in Columbia, South Carolina at the age of 73. Born James Lafayette Dickey on 2 February 1923 in Atlanta, Georgia. He attended Clemson and later graduated from Vanderbilt. Dickey taught at Rice University and The University of South Carolina. Perhaps best known for his novel Deliverance (1970). The film version was released in 1972 starring Burt Reynolds, Jon Voight and Ned Beatty and was nominated for an Academy Award. Both the book and the movie are unforgettable. I highly recommend both.
The Final Footprint – Dickey is interred in All Saints Episcopal Church Cemetery in Pawleys Island, South Carolina. His grave is marked with an upright marble marker inscribed with his name, birth and death years and; POET and “I MOVE AT THE HEART OF THE WORLD”.
On this day in 1998, singer, songwriter, musician, the King of Rockabilly, Carl Perkins died at the age of 65 at Jackson-Madison County Hospital in Jackson, Tennessee from throat cancer after suffering several strokes. Born Carl Lee Perkins on 9 April 1932 in Tiptonville, Tennessee. Perkins, who recorded most notably at Sun Records Studio in Memphis, Tennessee, beginning in 1954, is perhaps best known for his song is “Blue Suede Shoes”. Charlie Daniels said, “Carl Perkins’ songs personified the rockabilly era, and Carl Perkins’ sound personifies the rockabilly sound more so than anybody involved in it, because he never changed.” Paul McCartney claimed that “if there were no Carl Perkins, there would be no Beatles.” Perkins was inducted into the Rock and Roll, the Rockabilly, and the Nashville Songwriters Halls of Fame; and was a Grammy Hall of Fame Award recipient.
The Final Footprint – Among mourners at Perkin’s funeral at Lambuth University were George Harrison, Jerry Lee Lewis, Wynonna Judd, Garth Brooks, Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash. Perkins was entombed at Ridgecrest Cemetery in Jackson.
Publicity photo for the film The Heavenly Body, 1944
On this day in 2000, actress and inventor Hedy Lamarr died in Casselberry, Florida of heart disease, aged 85. Born Hedwig Eva Maria Kiesler on November 9, 1914 in Vienna.
After a brief early film career in Czechoslovakia, including the controversial Ecstasy (1933), she fled from her husband, a wealthy Austrian ammunition manufacturer, and secretly moved to Paris. Traveling to London, she met Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studio head Louis B. Mayer, who offered her a movie contract in Hollywood. She became a film star with her performance in Algiers (1938). Her MGM films include Lady of the Tropics (1939), Boom Town(1940), H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), and White Cargo (1942). Perhaps her greatest success was as Delilah in Cecil B. DeMille‘s Samson and Delilah (1949). She also acted on television before the release of her final film, The Female Animal (1958). She was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1960.
At the beginning of World War II, she and composer George Antheil developed a radio guidance system for Allied torpedoes that used spread spectrum and frequency hopping technology to defeat the threat of jamming by the Axis powers. Although the US Navy did not adopt the technology until the 1960s, the principles of their work are incorporated into Bluetooth technology and are similar to methods used in legacy versions of CDMA and Wi-Fi. This work led to their induction into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in 2014.
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Lamarr was married and divorced six times:
- Friedrich Mandl (married 1933–1937), chairman of the Hirtenberger Patronen-Fabrik
- Gene Markey (married 1939–1941), screenwriter and producer. Lamarr and Markey lived at 2727 Benedict Canyon Drive in Beverly Hills, California during their marriage.
- John Loder (married 1943–1947), actor.
- Ernest “Ted” Stauffer (married 1951–1952), nightclub owner, restaurateur, and former bandleader
- W. Howard Lee (married 1953–1960), a Texas oilman (who later married film actress Gene Tierney)
- Lewis J. Boies (married 1963–1965), Lamarr’s divorce lawyer
Following her sixth and final divorce in 1965, Lamarr remained unmarried for the last 35 years of her life.
The Final Footprint
Her son Anthony Loder spread her ashes in Austria’s Vienna Woods in accordance with her last wishes. Lamarr was given an honorary grave in Vienna’s Central Cemetery in 2014.
On this day in 2006, singer, songwriter, the Wicked Pickett, Wilson Pickett died from a heart attack in Reston, Virginia at the age of 64. Born on 18 March 1941 in Prattville, Alabama. A major figure in the development of American soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which hit the US R&B charts, and frequently crossed over to the US Billboard Hot 100. Among his best known hits are “In the Midnight Hour” (which he co-wrote), “Land of 1,000 Dances”, “Mustang Sally”, and “Funky Broadway”. The impact of Pickett’s songwriting and recording led to his 1991 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 
The Final Footprint – Pickett was laid to rest in a mausoleum in Louisville, Kentucky at Evergreen Cemetery on Preston Highway. The eulogy was delivered by Pastor Steve Owens of Decatur, Georgia. Little Richard, a long-time friend of Pickett’s, spoke about him and preached a message at the funeral. He was remembered on 20 March 2006, at New York’s B.B. King Blues Club with performances by the Commitments, Ben E King, his long-term backing band the Midnight Movers, soul singer Bruce “Big Daddy” Wayne, and Southside Johnny in front of an audience that included members of his family, including two brothers.
#RIP #OTD in 2008 actress (Rome Adventure, The Birds, The Bob Newhart Show) Suzanne Pleshette died from lung cancer at her Los Angeles home, aged 70. Interment near her third husband, Tom Poston, in Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery in Culver City, California
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