Death Anniversary Thread

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American composer and songwriter Cole Porter died on this day 58 years ago, aged 73.

 

 

American business magnate, computer programmer, researcher, investor, and philanthropist Paul Allen died on this day 4 years ago, aged 65.

 

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Marie Antoinette died on this day 229 years ago, aged 37.

Born as Maria Antonia of Austria, she was betrothed to the future Louis XVI of France at the age of 14. During her husband's reign, the country's debt exploded due to participating in the American Revolution, and multiple scandals regarding her arose (particularly one where she was accused of fraud).

 

In 1789, the French Revolution began (contrary to popular belief, Marie likely did not tell the poor majority to "eat cake"), and in June of 1791, the royal family was arrested. Louis was tried and executed first. During her imprisonment, the public either advocated for her execution, exchange for French prisoners of war, or in philosopher Thomas Paine's case, exile to the United States. Marie was put on trial on October 14 on charges of high treason, and found guilty two days later. She would be executed by guillotine a few hours after the verdict- her last words were "Pardon me, sir, I did not do it on purpose", after she accidentally stepped on the executioner's foot.

 

Initially buried in an unmarked grave, Marie and Louis' bodies would later be interred in the Basilica of Saint-Denis following Napoleon's final exile and the Bourbon Restoration in 1815.

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On this day in 2007 Scottish actress Deborah Kerr died aged 86 in Suffolk England. 

A big name Hollywood star during much of the 1940s and 50s ,Deborah Kerr was nominated six times for an Oscar  but to no avail.  Eventually  being awarded an honorary Oscar in 1994 in an increasingly rare public appearance for the Hollywood legend who had at this point been diagnosed with parkinsons disease. 

 

Her films include the incredibly successful 1950s musical  The King and I,  romantic war film From here to eternity (1953) with big name costars Burt Lancaster,  Frank Sinatra and Montgomery Clift.  romance film An Affair to remember(1957) with Cary Grant as her opposite , Drama Separate Tables (1958) along with Rita Hayworth and David Niven and Black Narcissus  (1947) with David Farrar and fellow British actress Jean Simmons.

 

 

 

 

Deborah married twice and had two children. 

In later years actor Stewart Granger claimed he was propositioned in a limunounise by Kerr whilst  married  and the duo went on to have an affair. 

When asked about this in any interview   Deborah replied "What a gallant man he is!!" taken by many as an annoyed confirmation of sorts. 

 

There is no doubt that Deborah Kerr was one of the UKs most successful and versatile actresses in Hollywood during the golden age of tinseltown. 

 

 

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Its 30 years since the death of Polish actor Vladek Sheybal.

Born in Zgeirz, he began acting at an early age. When Germany invaded, as a member of the Polish underground, he was imprisoned, escaped and was recaptured, twice, by the Nazis but survived to return to acting post-war. He left Poland for Vienna, via Paris, after becoming disillusioned by the Communist regime, but finding little success moved to Britain. He soon found work directing, one production at Oxford University attracting the attention of the BBC, which lead to more work on British TV.

 

His British film debut came with 1963's From Russia With Love, as the chess grandmaster Kronsteen, recommended by Sean Connery. He became a familiar face on TV and cinema screens, often playing Russian/Eastern European 'baddies', or enigmatic, sinister characters.

 

He died suddenly from an aortic aneurysm, aged 69. 

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American actor and screenwriter Adam Kennedy died on this day 25 years ago, aged 75.

 

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On this day in 1998 British actress  Joan Hickson,  best known for playing Miss Marple in the BBC TV series adaptation of the Agatha Christie novels, died aged 92.

 

Aside from her most famous role she was a veteran of film and stage- appearing in some early film shorts in the 1930s.

 

Joans film career included Trouble in store (1934 film short),  British War propaganda film Freedom Radio (1941),  1949 Comedy thriller  Celia co-starring with Hy Hazell and Bruce Lester,  British comedy Mad about men(1954) alongside Donald Sinden,  Margaret Rutherford  and a much requested potential future DeathList alumni Glynis Johns and a number of the slapstick British Comedy  films from the Carry on series-Carry on Nurse, Carry on Constable,  Carry on Admiral  and  Carry on Regardless. 

 

It was reported that when Hickson met the Queen to have  her OBE bestowed on her in 1987 the Queen delighted Joan by saying "You play the part just as one envisages it".

A huge compliment. 

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Levi Stubbs died on this day 14 years ago, aged 72.

In 1953, while in high school, Stubbs created the band The Four Tops with three of his friends, and was their lead singer. They would join the Motown label in 1963, and in 1965, had their first number-one hit, "I Can't Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)".

The Four Tops would have several more top ten singles, such as "Reach Out I'll Be There", "Bernadette", and "Standing in the Shadows of Love". Stubbs would remain with the band until 2004.

 

In 1986, Stubbs provided the voice of Audrey II in Little Shop of Horrors, based on the off-Broadway musical that in turn was based off of Roger Corman's 1960 film The Little Shop of Horrors. The song "Mean Green Mother From Outer Space" was nominated for an Oscar.

 

Stubbs was also the voice of Mother Brain in Captain N: The Game Master from 1989 to 1991- the main villain, pulled from Metroid.

 

Stubbs was diagnosed with cancer in 1995, and had a stroke in 2000. His only appearance on the DeathList was in 2008 in the number 47 spot, and was the twelfth death of the year.

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American competition swimmer and diver Aileen Riggin died on this day 20 years ago, aged 96.

 

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Canadian rock singer-songwriter, musician, writer and activist Gordon Downie died on this day 5 years ago, aged 53.

 

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On this day in 2007 american  comic entertainer,  talk show host and actor Joey Bishop died aged 89.

 

He starred in the well known 1960s film Oceans 11 and was part of Frank Sinatras  famous social drinking and partying group  The rat pack along with Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jnr. 

 

 

 

[The Unknown Man 584]

50's pop singer Teresa Brewer died on this day 15 years ago, aged 76.

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On this day in 1984 american model and up and coming actor Jon -Erik Hexum died aged 26  on the 20th Century Fox  lot whilst filming tv series  Cover Up. His character was involved in a scene that required  them to load cartridges into a 44 Magnum handgun.  The scene was filmed but  was not to the liking and exact specifications  of the director in terms of the primary/master shot so it was requested to be filmed again. There was a delay on set snd a bored,  impatient and restless Hexum  decided to play around with the gun to lighten the atmosphere on set  

He  unloaded all of the blànks bar one before he started messing around 'playing Russian roulette '  with the gun , putting it to his temple and pulling the trigger. Totally unaware that shooting a blank at such close proximity was potentially very  damaging  and dangerous .The plastic wadding covering the blank was propelled with such force that the blast caused  a small amount of blunt force trauma to his skull that  caused a massive brain haemorrhage. 

Six days later his life support was switched off but not before his mother gave permission for his heart ,kidneys and cornea to be donated to  transplant patients.

 

 

 

 

Other shows part of his sadly short  acting credits include  Sci fi  series Voyagers!(1982/1983),  made for TV movie The Making of a male model which also starred Joan Collins,  1984 film The Bear, a biopic of head football coach at the University of Alabama played by Gary Busey  and  US Primetime  tv soap Hotel.

 

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Pope Gregory XII died on this day 605 years ago, aged ~90.

Gregory was born as Angelo Corraro, and was appointed as the bishop of Castello in 1380. In 1405, he was anointed as a cardinal by Pope Innocent VII.

 

Innocent died the following year, and Corraro was elected to succeed him. At this point in time, there was a schism within the Catholic Church between him and Antipope Benedict XIII. Gregory decided to get Benedict to relinquish his claim to the papacy, and in turn would resign. Gregory's relatives, as well as king Ladislaus of Naples, tried to prevent the meeting due to political reasons.

 

In 1414, Gregory initiated the ecumenical Council of Constance, and in July of 1415, he resigned as pope in an attempt to end the schism, and the council dismissed another claimant to the papacy, Antipope John XXIII, to complete it. The next pope, Martin V, would not be elected until November of 1417.

 

Gregory was the most recent pope to resign until Benedict XVI did so in 2013.

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Its 27 years since the death of singer and actor Bryan Johnson*, who represented UK in the 1960 Eurovision son contest, with "Looking High, High, High". He came second, which was the same position achieved by his brother, Teddy Johnson & sister-in-law, Pearl Carr, the previous year. He was also an actor in the company of Sir Donald Wolfit, and later appearing in musicals. He was 69.

 

 

 

* not to be confused with B.S. Johnson, the writer, who killed himself in 1973, nor with Brian Johnson, singer with AC/DC, who is more deaf than dead.

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American radio and television journalist Nancy Dickerson Whitehead died on this day 25 years ago, aged 70.

 

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United States Secretary of State from 2001 to 2005, and one of just two people to receive the Presidential Medal of Freedom twice Colin Powell died as a result of a COVID-19 infection 1 year ago today. 

 

 

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Jonathan Swift died on this day 277 years ago, aged 77.

Swift was considered to be one of the best satirists of his time, with his first major work A Tale of a Tub being an allegory of the division between religious sects of Christianity, represented by three brothers (Peter- Catholicism, Martin- Anglicanism, Jack- Protestantism). Published in 1704, it was considered profane at the time- with Queen Anne being one of its detractors.

 

In 1726, Swift wrote his most famous book, Gulliver's Travels- which on the surface seems like a fantasy adventure story, but has since been interpreted as satirizing the relation between France and Great Britain (as seen with the nations of Liliput and Blefuscu), and the character Flimnap is reportedly a parody of prime minister Robert Walpole.

 

In his almanac Predictions for the Year 1708, Swift predicted that the astrologer John Partridge would die on March 29th- Partridge himself could absolutely be considered an early deadpooler, as he made yearly predictions of the deaths of notable people, particularly church officials (Partidge has no discernable death date, so I'm mentioning him here). This was due to Partridge calling the Church of England "infallible", but the sarcasm went over Swift's head. Swift would then write a letter claiming Partridge died, and when Partridge refuted it, Swift said "they were sure no man alive ever to writ such damned stuff as this". Partridge's unpopularity amongst the church led to the hoax continuing until his actual death in 1714 or 1715.

 

Swift wrote his own obit in 1731, and it was published in 1739, six years before his death. It has been speculated that he began suffering from dementia by 1738, and had a stroke in 1742.

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It's 30 years since the death of Jamaican athlete Arthur Wint.

 

As a schoolboy, he was Jamaican Boy Athlete of the Year in 1937, and Central American Games gold medallist in 800m the following year. He joined the British Commonwealth Air Training Plan in 1942, becoming the Canadian 400meters record holder while training there. He was sent to Britain on active service as a pilot, leaving the RAF in 1947, becoming a medical student at St. Bartholomew's.

 

In the 1948 London Olympics, he won Gold in the 400m, becoming the first Jamaican Olympic champion. He also won silver in the 800m, missing the chance of a third medal when he pulled a muscle during the 4 x 400m relay final.

 

In 1952, in Helsinki, he was part of the 4 x 400m relay team that broke the world record while winning gold, and also won silver again in the 800m. He retired from running the following year and graduated as a doctor, returning to Jamaica to practice in 1955.

 

From 1974 to 1978, he was Jamaica's High Commissioner to Britain and Ambassador to Sweden & Denmark.

 

He was awarded the MBE in 1954, and the Jamaican Order of Distinction in 1973, and has been inducted into the Black Athlete's, the Jamaica Sports and the Central American & Caribbean Athletic Confederation Halls of Fame.

 

He died after a short illness, aged 72.

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American musician Glen Buxton died on this day 25 years ago, aged 49.

 

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On this day in 2019 Scottish journalist Deborah Orr died of cancer aged 57.

 

She previously had been a columnist  at various times for The Guardian and The Independent newspapers in the UK. 

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American voice actor, comedian, and radio personality Jack Angel died on this day a year ago, aged 90.

 

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On this day five years ago in 2017  australian actress  Judith McGrath died aged 70.

 

She was a bit of a veteran of long running aussie television soaps  most notably starring in All Saints , A Country Practice and most famously Prisoner Cell Block H as cynical, dry witted prison officer and latterly  deputy governor  Colleen  Powell- nicknamed Po-face by the inmates. 

Probably one of the more nuanced of the prison staff characters in the show. Somewhere in between the more saintly Officer Meg Morris and the sadistic corrupt Officer Joan Ferguson. 

 

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On this day in 1994 legendary American actor  Burt Lancaster   , a huge star in the 1950s during the golden age of Hollywood,  died aged 80.

He starred opposite or alongside  numerous  big female lead stars during his career  including,  Ava Gardner, Barbara Stanwyck,  Joan Fontaine, Virginia Mayo, Lizabeth Scott, Shirley Booth, Gina Lollobrigida, Audrey Hepburn, Shelley Winters and Deborah Kerr. 

His first film was  in 1946 and a slice of film noir in The Killers. Other films include  Desert Fury(1947),  Vengeance Valley (1951),  From here to eternity (1953)-for which he was nominated by the academy in the best actor category,  Sweet smell of success (1957) with Tony Curtis,   epic legal  war drama Judgement at Nuremberg- a film  which garnered a huge amount of critical acclaim and awards, Birdman of Alcatraz (1962) which earned him another Oscar nomination,  Trapeze (1956),  The Leopard (1963) with Alain Delon,  Atlantic City (1980) a film that earned him another oscar nomination and co-starred  Susan Sarandon. Burt did win a best actor Oscar for 1960 drama Elmer Gantry playing a bit of a  travelling salesman con artist. 

His last movie was a small role in Kevin Costners  baseball drama Field of Dreams in 1989.

 

 

 

 

In his personal life he had five children, all to his second wife  Norma a stenographer   who he met when she substituted for an ill actress  in a USO production for US troops in Italy. 

There are claims and rumours of affairs in biographies and interviews including claims by family members that he was bisexual and had numerous relationships with men and women.

  Some of his friends claimed he had an affair with From here to eternity costar Deborah Kerr but she denied this only confirming that there was a spark  between them but it was never acted upon.

Actresses Shelley Winters and Joan Blondell are other reported affairs.

 

He died after years of ill health and his third  heart attack. 

 

 

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Herbert Hoover died on this day 58 years ago, aged 90.

At the age of two, Hoover became sick with croup, and was momentarily thought to have been dead before his uncle resuscitated him.

 

Hoover initially started off as a geologist, and eventually got a job as a mine inspector. Hoover would eventually climb the corporate ladder, and was given a job position in China, where he helped develop more mines. Hoover quit in 1908 after his bosses were sued, but would later found the Zinc Corporation in Australia (ultimately, Hoover was based in London), and would have a net worth of $4 million by 1914.

 

Once World War I broke out, Hoover and other American businessmen working in London established a committee attempting to return 100,000 Americans stuck in Europe. Hoover would oversee the operation, distributing food to those who could not escape. In 1917, president Woodrow Wilson appointed Hoover as the head of the Food Administration. Hoover would continue to give relief in the aftermath of the war.

 

Hoover was appointed as Secretary of Commerce by Warren G. Harding in 1921, and in 1928, sought the presidency, winning the Republican primary in a landslide and defeating Al Smith in the electoral vote 444-87. In October 1929, the stock market crashed, and many Americans blamed Hoover for the ensuing Great Depression- by 1932, one in four Americans were unemployed. Hoover was defeated by Franklin D. Roosevelt in the 1932 election, whose New Deal policies helped the economy rebound.

 

Hoover would remain active in politics until his death- his post-presidency lasted 31 years and would not be surpassed until 2012 (Jimmy Carter). Hoover attended every Republican National Convention until 1960.

 

Hoover was the second American president to become a nonagenarian, after John Adams. Hoover had a growth removed from his colon in 1962, and died of intestinal bleeding two years later. His last known words were in written form- a humorous get well message to former president Harry S. Truman, after Truman fell in his bathroom:

"Bathtubs are a menace to ex-presidents for as you may recall a bathtub rose up and fractured my vertebrae when I was in Venezuela on your world famine mission in 1946. My warmest sympathy and best wishes for your recovery."

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American scientist and political activist Harlow Shapley died on this day 50 years ago, aged 86.