Portrait of Shelley by Alfred Clint (1819)
On this day in 1822, Romantic and lyric poet Percy Bysshe Shelley drowned in a sudden storm in the Golfo di Genova (Gulf of Genoa) while sailing back from Livorno, Italy to Lerici in his schooner, Don Juan, at the age of 29. Born on 4 August 1792 in Field Place, Horsham, England. Shelley, John Keats, and Lord Byron were the key figures in the second generation of the Romantic movement. Shelley married twice; Harriet Westbrook (1811-1816 her death) and Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin (who would go on to write the Gothic novel Frankenstein: or, The Modern Prometheus (1818)) (1816-1822 his death).
Perhaps best known for classic poems such as “Ozymandias”, “Ode to the West Wind”, “To a Skylark”, “Music, When Soft Voices Die”, “The Cloud” and The Masque of Anarchy. His other major works include a groundbreaking verse drama, The Cenci (1819), and long, visionary, philosophical poems such as Queen Mab (later reworked as The Daemon of the World), Alastor, The Revolt of Islam, Adonais, Prometheus Unbound (1820), Hellas: A Lyrical Drama (1821) and his final, unfinished work, The Triumph of Life (1822).
Shelley’s close circle of friends included some of the most important progressive/radical thinkers of his day, including his father-in-law, the philosopher William Godwin (1756–1836), and Leigh Hunt (1784–1859). Though Shelley’s poetry and prose output remained steady throughout his life, most publishers and journals declined to publish his work for fear of being arrested for either blasphemy or sedition. Shelley’s poetry sometimes had only an underground readership during his day, but his poetic achievements have become widely recognized today, and his political and social thought had an impact on the Chartist and other movements in England, and reach down to the present day. Shelley’s theories of economics and morality, for example, had a profound influence on Karl Marx (1818–1883); his early—perhaps first—writings on nonviolent resistance influenced Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910), whose writings on the subject in turn influenced Mahatma Gandhi, and through him Martin Luther King Jr. and others practicing nonviolence during the American civil rights movement.
Shelley became a lodestar to the subsequent three or four generations of poets, including Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite poets such as Robert Browning (1812–1889) and Dante Gabriel Rossetti (1828–1882). Admirers have included Oscar Wilde, Thomas Hardy, George Bernard Shaw, Leo Tolstoy, Bertrand Russell, W. B. Yeats, Upton Sinclair and Isadora Duncan. Henry David Thoreau’s Civil Disobedience (1849) apparently shows the influence of Shelley’s writings and theories on nonviolence in protest and political action. Shelley’s popularity and influence has continued to grow in contemporary poetry circles.
The Final Footprint
In keeping with quarantine regulations, Shelley was cremated on the beach where his body washed up, near Viareggio, Italy by Byron, and his friends Leigh Hunt and Edward Trelawny. In Shelley’s pocket was a small book of Keats’ poetry. The ashes of his heart are entombed in Saint Peter’s churchyard in Bournemouth, England. The remainder of his cremains are interred in Cimitero Acattolico, The Old Cemetery for Non Catholic Foreigners, Campo Cestio in Rome. His grave bears the Latin inscription, Cor Cordium (“Heart of Hearts”), and, in reference to his death at sea, a few lines of “Ariel’s Song” from Shakespeare’s The Tempest: “Nothing of him that doth fade / But doth suffer a sea-change / Into something rich and strange.” Shelley was memorialized later at Poets’ Corner in Westminster Abbey. Other notable final footprints at Cimitero Acattolico include; Gregory Corso, Keats and Trelawny (next to Shelley). Shelley’s cremation at Viareggio and the removal of his heart by Trelawny are described in Tennessee Williams’ play Camino Real by a fictionalized Lord Byron.
The Funeral of Shelley by Louis Édouard Fournier (1889). Pictured in the centre are, from left, Trelawny, Hunt, and Byron. In fact, Hunt did not observe the cremation, and Byron left early. Mary Shelley, who is pictured kneeling at left, did not attend the funeral.
On this day in 1967, Academy Award-winning actress Vivien Leigh, Lady Olivier died from tuberculosis in London at the age of 53. Born Vivian Mary Hartley on 5 November 1913 in Darjeeling, Bengal, India. Her father was a British officer in the Indian Cavalry. One of film’s great dark haired beauties. Perhaps best known for her role as Scarlett O’Hara in the David O. Selznick and Victor Fleming film version of Margaret Mitchell’s Gone with the Wind (1939) with Clark Gable as Rhett Butler, Leslie Howard as Ashley Wilkes, Olivia de Havilland as Melanie Hamilton Wilkes, Hattie McDaniel as Mammy, Butterfly McQueen as Prissy, and Thomas Mitchell as Gerald O’Hara. My other favorite role performed by Leigh is Blanche DuBois in Elia Kazan’s film version of Tennessee Williams’s A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) with Marlon Brando as Stanley Kowalski. Leigh married twice; Herbert Leigh Holman (1932-1940 divorce) and Sir Laurence Olivier (1940-1960 divorce).
The Final Footprint – Leigh was cremated at the Golders Green Crematorium in London and her cremains were scattered on the lake at her home, Tickerage Mill, near Blackboys, East Sussex, England. A memorial service was held at St Martin-in-the-Fields, with a final tribute read by actor John Gielgud. GGC was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The crematorium, the Philipson Family mausoleum, designed by Edwin Lutyens, the wall, along with memorials and gates, the Martin Smith Mausoleum, and Into The Silent Land statue are all Grade II listed buildings. The gardens are included in the National Register of Historic Parks and Gardens. GGC is in Hoop Lane, off Finchley Road, Golders Green, London NW11, ten minutes’ walk from Golders Green tube station. It is directly opposite the Golders Green Jewish Cemetery. The crematorium is secular, accepts all faiths and non-believers; clients may arrange their own type of service or remembrance event and choose whatever music they wish. Other notable cremations at GGC include; Kingsley Amis, Neville Chamberlain, T. S. Eliot, Sigmund Freud, Henry James, Rudyard Kipling, Keith Moon, Peter Sellers, Bram Stoker, H. G. Wells, and Amy Winehouse.
#RIP #OTD in 1972, Chicago bandleader, session musician, composer, singer, arranger during the 1920s classic blues era, Lovie Austin died in Chicago, aged 84. Mount Glenwood Memory Gardens South, Glenwood, Illinois
RIP #OTD in 2012 US Navy veteran, actor (From Here to Eternity, Vera Cruz, Bad Day at Black Rock, The Wild Bunch, Marty) Ernest Borgnine died of kidney failure at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, aged 95. Cremation. Memorial bench Forest Lawn Cemetery, Hollywood HIlls
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The Final Footprint – Jefferson is interred in the family cemetery at Monticello. His grave is marked by a large upright stone monument. Jefferson wrote his own epitaph, which reads:
On this day in 1826, the 50th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, the 2nd president of the United States (1797–1801), the first vice president of the United States, an American Founding Father, statesman, diplomat, father of John Quincy Adams (the 6th President of the United States), John Adams died at his home in Quincy, Massachusetts at the age of 90. Born on 30 October 1735, in what is now Quincy, Massachusetts (then called the “north precinct” of Braintree, Massachusetts). A leading advocate of American independence from Great Britain. Well educated, he was an Enlightenment political theorist who promoted republicanism and wrote prolifically about his often seminal ideas, both in published works and in letters to his wife and key adviser Abigail Adams, as well as to other Founding Fathers. Adams came to prominence in the early stages of the American Revolution. A lawyer and public figure in Boston, as a delegate from Massachusetts to the Continental Congress, he played a leading role in persuading Congress to declare independence. He assisted Thomas Jefferson in drafting the Declaration of Independence in 1776, and was its primary advocate in the Congress. Later, as a diplomat in Europe, he helped negotiate the eventual peace treaty with Great Britain, and was responsible for obtaining vital governmental loans from Amsterdam bankers. A political theorist and historian, Adams largely wrote the Massachusetts Constitution in 1780, which together with his earlier Thoughts on Government, influenced American political thought. One of his greatest roles was as a judge of character: in 1775, he nominated George Washington to be commander-in-chief, and 25 years later nominated John Marshall to be Chief Justice of the United States.
The Final Footprint – Told that it was the Fourth, he answered clearly, “It is a great day. It is a good day.” His last words have been reported as “Thomas Jefferson survives” (Jefferson himself, however, had died hours before Adams did). Adams is entombed at United First Parish Church (also known as the Church of the Presidents) in Quincy. Originally, he was buried in Hancock Cemetery, across the road from the Church.
On this day in 1831, 12th and 16th Governor of Virginia, 7th United States Secretary of State, the fifth President of the United States (1817–1825), the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, the third of them to die on Independence Day, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation, James Monroe died at his daughters home in New York City from heart failure and tuberculosis at the age of 73. Born on 28 April 1758, in his parents’ house located in a wooded area of Westmoreland County, Virginia. Monroe was of the planter class and fought in the American Revolutionary War. After studying law under Thomas Jefferson from 1780 to 1783, he served as a delegate in the Continental Congress. As an anti-federalist delegate to the Virginia convention that considered ratification of the United States Constitution, Monroe opposed ratification, claiming it gave too much power to the central government. He took an active part in the new government, and in 1790 he was elected to the Senate of the first United States Congress, where he joined the Jeffersonians. He gained experience as an executive as the Governor of Virginia and rose to national prominence as a diplomat in France, when he helped negotiate the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. During the War of 1812, Monroe held the critical roles of Secretary of State and the Secretary of War under President James Madison. Facing little opposition from the fractured Federalist Party, Monroe was easily elected president in 1816, winning over 80 percent of the electoral vote and becoming the last president during the First Party System era of American politics. As president, he bought Florida from Spain and sought to ease partisan tensions, embarking on a tour of the country that was generally well received. With the ratification of the Treaty of 1818, under the successful diplomacy of his Secretary of State John Quincy Adams, the United States extended from the Atlantic to the Pacific, giving America harbor and fishing rights in the Pacific Northwest. The landmark Treaty of 1819 secured the border of the United States along the 42nd Parallel to the Pacific Ocean and represented America’s first determined attempt at creating an “American global empire”. As nationalism surged, partisan fury subsided and the “Era of Good Feelings” ensued until the Panic of 1819 struck and dispute over the admission of Missouri embroiled the country in 1820. Nonetheless, Monroe won near-unanimous reelection. In 1823, he announced the United States’ opposition to any European intervention in the recently independent countries of the Americas with the Monroe Doctrine, which became a landmark in American foreign policy. His presidency concluded the first period of American presidential history before the beginning of Jacksonian democracy and the Second Party System era.
On this day in 1997, United States Army Air Forces veteran, United States Air Force Reserve veteran, film and stage actor, Jimmy Stewart died from a heart attack at his home in Beverly Hills at the age of 89. Born James Maitland Stewart on 20 May 1908 in Indiana, Pennsylvania.
The Final Footprint – Landon was entombed at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, in Culver City, California. His crypt plate reads;
On this day in 1996, granddaughter of Ernest Hemingway, sister of Mariel Hemingway, fashion model and actress, Margaux Hemingway died, one day before the anniversary of her grandfather’s suicide, from an overdose of phenobarbital in her studio apartment in Santa Monica, California at age 42. Born Margot Louise Hemingway in Portland, Oregon on 16 February 1954.
On this day in 1997, actor, author, composer and singer, Robert Mitchum died in Santa Barbara, California, due to complications of lung cancer and emphysema at the age of 79. Born Robert Charles Durman Mitchum on 6 August 1917 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. In my opinion, one of the greatest male American screen legends of all time. Mitchum rose to prominence for his starring roles in several major works of the film noir style, and is considered a forerunner of the anti-heroes prevalent in film during the 1950s and 1960s. My favorite Mitchum film roles include: as Max Cady in Cape Fear (1962), based on the John D. MacDonald book The Executioners with Gregory Peck; as sheriff J. P. Harrah in Howard Hawk‘s El Dorado (1967) with John Wayne and James Caan. Mitchum was married to Dorothy Spence (1940–97 his death).
On this day in 2000, actor Walter Matthau died of a heart attack in Santa Monica at the age of 79. Born Walter John Matthow in New York City’s Lower East Side on 1 October 1920. Perhaps best known for his role as Oscar Madison in The Odd Couple and his frequent collaborations with Odd Couple co-star Jack Lemmon, as well as his role as Coach Buttermaker in the 1976 comedy The Bad News Bears. He won an Academy Award for his performance in the 1966 Billy Wilder film The Fortune Cookie. Other notable roles included: as Max Goldman in Grumpy Old Men (1993) with Ann-Margret, Lemmon and Burgess Meredith and in the sequel Grumpier Old Men (1995) with Ann-Margret, Sophia Loren, and Meredith. Matthau married twice; Grace Geraldine Johnson (1948–58; divorced; 2 children) and Carol Grace (1959–2000 his death; one child).
The Final Footprint – interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery (a Dignity Memorial property) in Los Angeles. Less than a year later, Lemmon was buried at the same cemetery. After Matthau’s death, Lemmon as well as other friends and relatives had appeared on Larry King Live in an hour of tribute and remembrance; many of those same people appeared on the show one year later, reminiscing about Lemmon. His wife Carol, died of a brain aneurysm in 2003. Her remains are buried next to Matthau’s. The remains of actor George C. Scott are also buried next to Matthau, in an unmarked grave. Other notable final footprints at Westwood include; Ray Bradbury, Sammy Cahn, Truman Capote, James Coburn, Rodney Dangerfield, Hugh Hefner, Janet Leigh, Farrah Fawcett, Brian Keith, Don Knotts, Burt Lancaster, Peter Lawford, Peggy Lee, Jack Lemmon, Karl Malden (see below), Dean Martin, Marilyn Monroe, Carroll O’Connor, Roy Orbison, George C. Scott, Dorothy Stratten, Natalie Wood, and Frank Zappa.
On this day in 2004, Academy Award-winning actor and activist, Marlon Brando died at the Ronald Reagan UCLA Medical Center in Los Angeles of respiratory failure brought on by pulmonary fibrosis at the age of 80. Born Marlon Brando, Jr. on 3 April 1924 in Omaha, Nebraska. In my opinion, one of the greatest and most influential actors in the history of film. Jack Nicholson said of Brando; “When Marlon dies, everybody moves up one.” My favortie Brando roles include: as Stanley Kowalski in Elia Kazan‘s adaptation of Tennessee Williams’ play, A Streetcar Named Desire (1951) with Vivien Leigh, and Karl Malden; as Vito Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola’s adaptation of Mario Puzo’s novel, The Godfather (1972) with Al Pacino, James Caan, Robert Duvall, Diane Keaton, and Talia Shire; as Robert E. Lee Clayton in The Missouri Breaks (1976) with Nicholson; as Colonel Walter E. Kurtz in Coppola’s adaptation of Joseph Conrad’s novel Heart of Darkness, Apocalypse Now (1979) with Martin Sheen, Duvall, and Dennis Hopper. Brando was married three times; Anna Kashfi (1957-1959 divorce), Movita Castaneda (1960-1962 divorce), and Tarita Teriipia (1962-1972 divorce). Brando reportedly had an affair with Marilyn Monroe.
The Final Footprint – Mansfield is interred in Fair View Cemetery in Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania. Her grave is marked by an upright granite marker in the shape of a heart with the inscription; WE LIVE TO LOVE YOU MORE EACH DAY. A memorial cenotaph, showing an incorrect birth year, was erected in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Hollywood, California. The cenotaph was placed by The Jayne Mansfield Fan Club. Other notable Final Footprints at Hollywood Forever include; Mel Blanc
