Death Anniversary Thread

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On this day  17 years ago in 2005  Fahd , King of Saudi Arabia for  a 23 year reign or rather rule from June 1982  until 2005 died 10 years after a stroke.  He was named  Crown  Prince in 1975 after one of his  brothers who was King was assainated  and replaced by another  brother King Khalid. This was arguably  a busier  time for him than when he became monarch in 1982.

 

His father  King Abdulaziz  was the founder of modern  Saudi Arabia. 

 

Fahd is credited with having introduced something akin to a constitution for the country as King.  It was called the Basic law of Saudi Arabia  and introduced in 1992 and is a charter  divided into 9 chapters and 83 articles.  Basically  it codified  Saudi Arabia as a theocracy legally.

He was however in the arena of foreign policy seen very pro Western  which did ferment hostility towards him in some quarters in Saudi society even in the upper echeleons of society and those with religious power.

 

His half brother  Crown Prince  Abdullah served as de facto regent  after Fahd had his stroke. 

Nevertheless with 23 years on the throne to date Fahd remains the longest serving Saudi King. 

Accounts differ on whether he was aged 82, 83 or 84 at the time of his death. 

 

 

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Corazon Aquino died on this day 13 years ago, aged 76.

She married Ninoy Aquino in 1952. During the "presidency" of Ferdinand Marcos, the Aquinos became fierce critics of him, resulting in Ninoy being taken as a political prisoner in 1972. In 1978, while imprisoned, Ninoy ran for president, coming in a distant second. The Aquinos went to the US for medical treatment in 1980 after Ninoy suffered a heart attack. When they returned to the Philippines in 1983, Ninoy was assassinated at the airport, presumably by Marcos government officials.

 

Following this, Aquino became the voice of resistance, running for president in 1986- she lost, and urged her supporters to engage in civil disobedience. Scuffles soon occurred between defected military personnel and government officials, and the Marcoses fled the country. Aquino was sworn in as the Philippines' first female president that day.

 

Among her achievements as president were the adoption of the Filipino Constitution in 1987 and the closure of American military bases in the country. Numerous unsuccessful coup attempts were made against her, and she also oversaw the sinking of the Dona Paz and the 1991 eruption of Mount Pinatubo. As the new constitution limited her to a single term, Aquino supported Ramon Mitra, then (the very recently deceased) Fidel Ramos as her successor. Ramos won the 1992 election, and the first peaceful transition of power in the country since 1965 occurred.

 

Aquino appeared on the 1990 DeathList for reasons unknown (for some reason listed as "ex-Philippines leader" while she was still in office). Aquino was diagnosed with terminal colorectal cancer in 2008, and after a serious downturn in her health in July 2009, she and her family decided to stop treatment.

 

Aquino's son Benigno III also served as president, from 2010 to 2016.

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Its 33 years since John Ogdon left the stage. A prodigious pianist, he studied at the Royal Manchester College of Music (later the Royal Northern College of Music), alongside Harrison Birtwistle and Peter Maxwell Davies, amongst others.

He won the London Liszt Competition in 1961 and the International Tchaikovsky Competition in Moscow in 1962 (jointly with Vladimir Ashkenazy), and in 1969 played the first modern recital -on TV - of Elgar's Concert Allegro Opus 46, an unpublished piece long since lost but which had been rediscovered the previous year.

 

While physically healthy, he suffered a mental breakdown in 1973, initially diagnosed as schizophrenia, later revised to manic depression (bipolar disorder). fter spening some time in hospital, he re-emerged to play at the opening of the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham, in 1983.

 

He died aged 52, from pneumonia brought on by undiagnosed diabetes.

 

 

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Polish film and stage actress and singer Pola Negri died on this day 35 years ago, aged 90.

 

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American actress, singer, and dancer Mary Carlisle died on this day 4 years ago, aged 104.

 

 

American film art director and production designer Robert F. Boyle died on this day 12 years ago, aged 100.

 

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Warren G. Harding, 29th president of the US, died on this day 99 years ago, aged 57.

The 1920 election, in which Harding won against James Cox, was the first election in which women were allowed to vote- he won the popular vote by 7 million votes, and the electoral vote 404-127.

 

Harding's administration is considered to be one of the most corrupt of all time. He filled his cabinet with his friends, and many of them proved to be corrupt. His Secretary of the Interior, Albert Fall, leased oil reserves that were set for emergency Navy usage to private companies with low rates and no competitive bidding, leading to the Teapot Dome scandal. Several other members, including his Attorney General Harry Daugherty, were imprisoned for defrauding the government.

 

Harding was the third US president to die in office of natural causes- this was believed to be from cardiac arrest, resulting from Harding's enlarged heart.

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On this day 41 years ago in 1981 Danish diver Stefanie Clausen died aged 81.

 

She won a gold medal at the 1920 Olympics. 

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Mexican composer, conductor, music theorist, educator, journalist, and founder and director of the Mexican Symphonic Orchestra Carlos Chavez died on this day 44 years ago, aged 79.

 

 

Scottish-born inventor, scientist and engineer who is credited with patening the first practical telephone Alexander Graham Bell died on this day 100 years ago, aged 75.

 

 

German Field Marshal and statesman who led the Imperial German Army during World War I and later became President of Germany from 1925 until his death in 1934 Paul von Hindenburg died on this day 88 years ago, aged 86.

 

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Thirty years since the death of French singer-songwriter Michel Berger. Two  months after the release of an album of duets with his wife, France Gall, he suffered a fatal heart attack after playing tennis, aged 44.

 

 

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American writer and visual artist William S. Burroughs died on this day 25 years ago, aged 83.

 

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On this day in 1986  Roy Cohn , a prominent  american lawyer, prosecutor and chief counsel for Joseph  McCarthy  during the notorious McCarthy political witch-hunt in the US in the 1950s died aged  59 from AIDS complications .

 A controversial  figure, many of his critics have accused him of demagogury tactics in his style of arguing when pursuing prosecutions. 

In 1951 Cohn  played a key prominent role in the famous espionage trial of Julius and  Ethel Rosenberg  that resulted in their execution.  A trial that a number of historians  feel established their guilt  at some level but not the case for  their execution which was given impetus by political  meddling and overblown exagerated bombastic rhetoric and arguing by the likes of Cohn. 

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Christopher Hewett died on this day 21 years ago, aged 80.

Hewett was first known for acting in plays- first in West End, then on Broadway. In 1967, Hewett starred in Mel Brooks' The Producers as Roger De Bris, the director who was hired to make sure Springtime for Hitler would flop.

 

Beginning in 1985, Hewett starred in his most well-known role as the title character of Mr. Belvedere, a British butler working for an American family who ends up becoming a mentor to them. The show ran until 1990.

 

I'd like to show you one of the more interesting and obscure roles of Hewett- this was as Bowser (or King Koopa, as he was known at the time) in a 1989 Ice Capades production of Super Mario Bros.

 

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On this day in 1995,  English American actress Ida Lupino died aged 77.

 

She had a 48 year career  starring in 59 films and branching out into directing 8 films herself too.

 

Some of her best known film credits include  The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes (1939), High Sierra (1941) with Humphrey Bogart,  Junior Bonner (1972) with Steve McQueen and  They drive by night (1940) with George Raft.

 

Some smallee lesa known film credits include  High Finance- a British film made in 1933, Yours for the asking (1936) a comedy starring George Raft  and Dolores Costello,  Ladies in retirement (1941)  and Escape me never (1947) with Errol Flynn. 

 

A personal and career struggle  struck  Ida in 1934 when she caught polio from a contaminated swimming pool , which severely affected her ability to work.  Her contract with Paramount pictures totally fell apart shortly after her diagnosis. 

She did eventually recover and  directed a film in 1949  called Never fear which was based loosely  on her polio ordeal.  She credits her struggle with illness  as being key in her shifting her work focus to use more of her intellect in terms of directing and producing films and focusing on roles that elevated her above just being beautiful eye candy.

 

 

 

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American actress of television and film Carolyn Jones died on this day 39 years ago, aged 53.

 

 

French humanist photographer considered a master of candid photography Henri Cartier-Bresson died on this day 18 years ago, aged 95.

 

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Its 45 years since the death of Michael Christodoulou Mouskos, better known as Archbishop Makarios.

 

Born in 1913 in the Paphos district of Cyprus, he entered Kykkos Monastery as a novice aged 13, and studied theology prior to, and during the early years of World War II, graduating from Athens University in 1942. He became a priest in the Cypriot Orthodox Church, and was elected Bishop of Kition while studying at Boston University, taking the name Makarios. He was elected Archbishop of Cyprus in 1950, aged 37.

 

After some years in exile, firstly as a 'guest'  in the Seychelles (after being abducted by the British) and latterly in Athens, he was elected President of Cyprus in December 1959, assuming the office 16 August 1960, serving until July 1974. He survived four assassination attempts and a coup d'etat while in office.

 

He died of a heart attack, attributed to many years of heavy smoking, aged 63.

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Chinese labour activist and politician Wang Hongwen died on this day 30 years ago, aged 56.

 

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On this day  in 1966 american stand up comedian and satirist Lenny Bruce died aged 40 from a morphine overdose.  Drug taking paraphernalia  was found by his dead body in his home in the Hollywood Hills- the photos of this were snapped up and bought by his friend  Phil Spector  to stop such photos being circulated and seen by the public and degrading his late friend. 

 

In 1961 Lenny was arrested on stage for using the word cocksucker  and was frequently  arrested over the years for similar reasons under  very zealous obscenity laws at the time. 

Eventually he was convicted but this was overturned posthumously. 

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On this day in 1999  american actor  Victor Mature  of Hollywoods golden age died aged 86 of leukemia. 

 

His most famous role would  be as Samson  in 1949 Hollywood Biblical epic Samson and Delilah opposite  Hedy Lamarr. 

Other film credits  include  another biblical epic The Robe (1953) playing the role of defiant Greek slave Demetrius.  The story being centered around the roman military  tribune  responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus,    My Darling  Clementine (1946)alongside  Linda Darnell,  musical comedy Red , Hot and Blue (1949) opposite leading lady Betty  Hutton  (Grable, Betty Hutton and Rita Hayworth being leading ladies he was  cast opposite in musicals), The Long Haul (1957) with Diana Dors and  and Dangerous  Mission (1954) along with Piper Laurie and Vincent Price.

 

Victor had a bit of a falling  out with 20th Century Fox who he was in contract with.  They wanted him to be a supporting cast member to Tyrone Power and Susan  Hayward in Untamed in 1955. He refused complaining he had worked almost non stop for two years and needed a holiday.  They replaced him with Richard Egan and put him on a 'friendly suspension ' 

 

Mature later signed a two film  contract with  Columbia  Pictures  but just before he began shooting his first film The Last Frontier  Fox insisted he had to fulfil his contractual obligations to them first and was hauled back to film his last Fox studios film-Violent Saturday. 

 

Victor got bored of acting and retired aged 46 saying the job wasn't fun anymore and his finances were now OK.  He was lured back though after 5 years  to parody himself in Neil Simon cowritten film After the Fox about an ageing actor.

 

He married 5 times and had

one child from his final marriage  to opera singer Loretta Sebena- as well as having previously been engaged to  Rita Hayworth and Anne Shirley. 

 

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Jeanne Calment, the person with the longest verified lifespan, died on this day 25 years ago, aged 122.

 

Calment was born in Arles, France, and remembered meeting Vincent van Gogh at her uncle's shop. A little over a century after their encounter, she appeared in the 1990 film Vincent and Me, and is the oldest person to appear in a motion picture.

 

Calment married her second cousin Fernand, and they had a daughter, Yvonne. Yvonne died in 1934 from pneumonia (on her 36th birthday), and Fernand died in 1942 from food poisoning.

 

At the age of 111 (June 20, 1986), Calment became the oldest living person in France, following the death of 112-year-old Eugenie Roux. On January 11, 1988, Calment became the world's oldest living person after the death of 114-year old American Florence Knapp, a title which she would hold for 9 and a half years.

 

On May 12, 1990, Calment reached the age of 115 years, 80 days, becoming the oldest person ever, surpassing Augusta Holtz, who died in 1986. Additionally, Calment was the first person to reach the ages of 116-119, and the only person ever so far to reach and surpass the age of 120.

 

After Calment's death, 116-year old Canadian Marie-Louise Meilleur became the world's oldest living person, while 111-year old Marie-Helene Chanteperdrix became the oldest living French resident.

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American country music singer, songwriter and actor Kenny Price died on this day 35 years ago, aged 56.

 

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American actress, singer, and model Marilyn Monroe died on this day 60 years ago, aged 36.

 

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On this day in  1955  famous Portuguese born Brazilian samba singer , dancer, Broadway and film actress Carmen Miranda died aged 46 in Beverly Hills from a heart attack thought to have been brought on by years of alcoholism and smoking as well as latterly using barbiturates and amphetamines. 

Among her film credits in Hollywood were  Greenwich Village (1944) with Don America,   Weekend in Havana (1941) alongside Alice Faye  and  The Gangs all here (1943) again with Alice Faye. 

There were some earlier work in Brazilian films and a huge and  succesful  career in music.

Carmen was notoriously private and discreet but there are lots of rumours and claims about  men she had romances with including  John Wayne and Dana Andrews.

She was nicknamed early on as the Brazilian bombshell and a fruit hat was her signature fashion.

 

 

 

On this day in 2015  former Welsh footballer  Tony Millington died aged 72. He played for Wales national team as well as West Bromwich Albion, Crystal Palace,  Peterborough and Swansea.

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English actor Alec Guinness died on this day 22 years ago, aged 86.

 

 

Welsh actor Richard Burton died on this day 38 years ago, aged  58.

 

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Victoria, Princess Royal, died on this day 121 years ago, aged 60.

As the first child of Queen Victoria and her consort Prince Albert, Victoria was heir to the throne from her birth until the birth of her younger brother, the future Edward VII, a year later (this was due to male primogeniture laws at the time). Victoria's parents educated her in the fields of multilinguist studies, history, philosophy, and mathematics from a young age. 

 

In 1851, Victoria met Prince Frederick of Prussia, guiding him through the Great Exhibition, speaking his native German tongue. They soon began a correspondence, and after Frederick returned to the UK in 1855, he was given the blessing by the royal family to marry Victoria. They were engaged in 1856 and wed in 1858- Victoria was 17, Frederick 26. Their first of eight children, the future Wilhelm II (who would fight his cousin George V in World War I), was born the following year.

 

Frederick's father Wilhelm I died in 1888, and Frederick ascended to the throne as Friedrich III. However, Victoria's length as empress consort would last just 99 days- Friedrich was diagnosed with laryngeal cancer in 1887.

 

Victoria built her own residence after her son decided to take the royal castle as his own, with it being completed in 1894. She took up painting in her retirement. In 1898, she was diagnosed with inoperable breast cancer, which metastasized to her spine by late 1900. Victoria's death came six and a half months after her mother's.

 

 

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American drummer, songwriter and record producer Jeff Porcaro died on this day 30 years ago, aged 38.