Death Anniversary Thread

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Buddy Hackett died on this day 21 years ago, aged 78.

- Hackett's real name was Leonard Hacker. During his teenage years, he would perform stand-up comedy under the name "Butch Hacker", taking his stage name following WWII.

- Hackett's first film was a 1950 short about bowling techniques, where he would comedically perform deliberately errant bowls. The producer for the Three Stooges offered for him to join them after seeing it, but Hackett declined as he wanted to develop his solo career.

- Hackett would have successes on TV starring as the titular character in the 1956 sitcom Stanley, and would soon appear in films such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World and The Music Man:

- Hackett would take a break from acting in the 1970s to pursue poetry, culminating in the book The Naked Mind of Buddy Hackett. He would see a comeback in the late '80s by starring in Scrooged as Ebenezer Scrooge, and voicing Scuttle in Disney's The Little Mermaid:

- Hackett had longtime heart disease and refused surgery, and his death was hastened by diabetes and a stroke he suffered shortly before he died.

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Forrest Mars Sr. died on this day 25 years ago, aged 95.

- Mars was the son of Franklin Mars, the founder of Mars Inc. He would join his father at the company, and wished to expand the company internationally, unlike his father.

- Mars would supervise the development of Snickers and 3 Musketeers, before franchising the company to the UK. Mars himself would then proceed to create the Mars Bar and Maltesers there:

In 1941, Mars would create M&M's- specifically the milk chocolate flavor:

- After the death of his father, Mars would found another food business (the generically-named Food Products Manufacturing), where he would make pet food and created the Uncle Ben's brand of rice. He would merge this company into Mars Inc. in 1964.

- Mars would retire from Mars Inc. in 1973, giving control to his children. He would found another candy company in 1980, Ethel M Chocolates, which would be bought out by his kids in 1988.

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Henry the Fowler died on this day 1088 years ago, aged 59.

- Henry was the son of Otto, the duke of Saxony, and would succeed his father as duke after his death in 912.

- In 919, Henry would be elected king of East Francia, having been handpicked by his predecessor Conrad I before he died. Henry was the first non-Frank to take the throne (a Saxon), and reportedly got his epithet because he was reportedly fixing his bird traps when messengers arrived to inform him of his election as king.

- Henry was known for his military exploits during his reign, going to war with West Francia, Hungary, multiple Slavic tribes, and Denmark. He was nearly killed in battle with Hungarian troops in the Battle of Puchen in the first year of his rule, but had driven them away from Germany by 933.

- Henry was the founder of the Ottonian dynasty of German monarchs, named after his son and successor Otto I.

[John "요한" Sulu 434]

On this day 20 years ago, Marlon Brando, who played Vito Corleone in "The Godfather" trilogy passed away at the age of 80.

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Theodor Herzl died on this day 120 years ago, aged 44.

- Herzl's ancestors Germanized their last name from "Loebl"- both surnames mean 'little heart'. Theodor himself was a nationalist who highly regarded German culture, especially the works of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe.

- Herzl would move to Austria in 1878, working as a lawyer and journalist. He would join a pan-German nationalist group, but left soon after due to members' antisemitism.

- After covering the Dreyfus affair (in which a French Jewish captain was falsely accused and convicted of being a German spy), and following the election of noted antisemite Karl Lueger as mayor of his home city of Vienna in 1895, Herzl became convinced that Jewish people must flee Europe and create their own nation where they could practice their religion without being persecuted. This culminated in his most famous work, 1896's Der Judenstaat, in which he stated the proposed state should be established in the Jewish ancestral homeland in Palestine (then a part of the Ottoman Empire); Herzl also accused anti-Zionists (particularly those who wanted to assimilate into Europe or the US) of being self-loathing Jews.

- Herzl would manage to gain an audience with high-ranking Ottoman officials, which was declined by sultan Abdul Hamid II on the basis that the mayor of Jerusalem feared large immigration would spark Arab nationalist movements within the empire.

- Herzl died at such a young age due to atherosclerosis. He is considered the founder of modern Zionism, and remains a very controversial figure due to the Israel-Palestine conflict that continues to this day (you all know what's happened since last October).

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3 years ago from yesterday, American jazz pianist, composer, conductor, and bandleader Elliot Lawrence passed away at the age of 96.

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2 years ago from yesterday, English stage and motion picture director Peter Brook, who directed "Marat/Sade", passed away at the age of 97.

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Marie Curie died on this day 90 years ago, aged 66.

- Curie's maiden name was Sklodowska, and she would move from Poland to Paris in her 20s, following in the steps of her sister Bronislawa.

- Curie would initially study magnetism in steel, before meeting Pierre Curie and developing feelings due to their mutual love for science. The two married in 1895, and had two daughters- Irene and Eve (Irene was a Nobel laureate, and Eve lived to be 102).

- Curie would research the radioactive properties of pitchblende, and after isolating the uranium from it in 1898, would discover two elements- polonium and radium:

Both Marie and Pierre (who had assisted her in her isolation efforts) would be awarded the 1903 Nobel Prize in Physics; Marie would be awarded a second Nobel Prize (in Chemistry) in 1911.

- Pierre was killed after being hit by and falling under a horse-drawn carriage in 1906, and the University of Paris would give his seat in their physics department to Marie. During World War I, Marie would serve as a nurse, operating X-ray ambulances near the front lines.

- Curie often surrounded herself with radium- which ended up leading to her demise; it is believed that she acquired aplastic anemia due to longtime radiation exposure, which damaged her bone marrow.

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Walter Gropius died on this day 55 years ago, aged 86.

- Gropius' family was already known for their architecture- his great-uncle Martin designed the Museum of Decorative Arts in Berlin.

- Gropius would begin work as an architect in 1908, notably designing the Fagus shoe factory in 1911, and the pavilion for the 1914 Werkbund Exhibition.

- Gropius served as a sergeant during World War I, getting wounded on the western front. He would receive two Iron Crosses for his service.

- In 1919, Gropius would found the Bauhaus art school, known for facilitating an art and architecture style of the same name:

Gropius would leave the Bauhaus in 1928 after leading for 9 years.

- Gropius would leave Germany in 1934 due to the fact the Nazis despised his modernist art style, before moving to the US three years later. He would live in Massachusetts for the last 32 years of his life, designing a house for him and his family:

- Gropius' first wife was Alma Schindler- the ex-wife of Gustav Mahler and later the wife of Franz Werfel; Alma would have affairs with Werfel due to the fact he was off fighting in World War I. Gropius was the only one of Alma's husbands to outlive her.

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On this day 3 years ago, American motion picture director Richard Donner, who directed the films Superman and Lethal Weapon passed away at the age of 91.

 

Photo Credit: Alan Light per Creative Commons license

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Van McCoy died on this day 45 years ago, aged 39.

- McCoy played the piano as a child, and would begin writing songs when he was 12. He and his older brother Norman would form a band with two of their friends, called "The Starlighters".

- McCoy's first single was 1961's "Hey Mr. DJ", and he would be signed on to Scepter Records as a songwriter. Among the singers and bands he wrote songs for included Jackie Wilson, the Shirelles, and Gladys Knight.

- In 1975, McCoy would release the album Disco Baby, not expecting much to come from it- and was shocked when his single "The Hustle" ended up peaking atop the Billboard Hot 100 and earned him a Grammy Award:

- In 1978, McCoy would sing the theme for the movie Sextette (Mae West's final film), and would have a cameo appearance in it.

- McCoy's early death was due to a heart attack.

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Thomas Hooker died on this day 377 years ago, aged 61.

- Hooker was a teacher and preacher who would acquire a sizable Puritan following, and would emigrate to what is now Massachusetts in 1633.

- Hooker became dissatisfied with the laws of the Massachusetts Bay Colony- he thought the towns were all too close together, and the fact that voting was limited to those who had formally admitted to their church. Hooker, along with Samuel Stone, would set out west with a group of about 100 settlers when the Massachusetts General Court allowed colonists to do so.

- In 1636, Hooker and Stone would found the settlement of Hartford, and would name the new colony Connecticut after the nearby river. Hooker would assist in drafting the Fundamental Orders of Connecticut in 1639 (in which peoples' rights in the colony were defined), and as such has been referred to as the "father" of said state.

- Hooker died during the 1647 flu epidemic. He had six children, and among his descendants were William Howard Taft and Aaron Burr.

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Kim Il-sung died on this day 30 years ago, aged 82.

- Kim's original first name was Song-ju, and he was coincidentally born the same day the Titanic sank.

- Kim would attend high school in China, and joined the CCP in 1931. He would be expelled from the party in 1933 during the Minsaengdan incident (where the CCP believed Koreans supported the Japanese occupation of Manchuria- they themselves despised Japan because they also occupied Korea), but was reinstated the following year.

- Kim would return to Korea in the aftermath of World War II, and was made the secretary of the North Korean Branch Bureau- the Soviet Union put him in charge of their occupied Korean territories. An assassination attempt was made against him in 1946 by an anticommunist.

- After South Korea declared independence in 1948 and declared control over all former Korean territory, the Soviet Union would initiate elections in the North, where Kim was elected as premier. Wanting to unite all of Korea under communism, it is believed that Kim was responsible for initiating the Korean War, against the popular belief that Stalin initiated a proxy war.

- Kim would consolidate power by purging communist rivals and developing a cult of personality (to where North Korea's calendar begins with his birth date), which devolved into spreading propaganda that he was a god of sorts. Among the myths that were spread included that he was able to teleport, and North Korea's Ten Principles for the Establishment of a Monolithic Ideological System are effectively the country's equivalent of the Ten Commandments (these were made in 1974, and continue to include his name to this day).

- Kim made two appearances on the DeathList in 1993 and 1994; he was the 7th hit (of 9) of the 1994 list.

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Earl Warren died on this day 50 years ago, aged 83.

- Warren received a law degree in 1914 and would rise to prominence as an attorney; he was elected the Attorney General of California in 1938.

- From there, Warren would be elected the governor of California in 1942. Warren would build up California's school system, reformed mental asylums and prisons, and ended the segregation of Native Americans and Asians within the state (rectifying his initial advocacy for Japanese internment camps in WWII).

- In 1948, Warren was chosen as the running mate for Democratic nominee Thomas Dewey- the two lost 189-303 (with Strom Thurmond earning 39 electoral votes as a third party candidate). Warren would run for president in 1952, losing the Republican primary to Dwight D. Eisenhower.

- Eisenhower would nominate Warren to fill the vacancy in the Supreme Court following the death of chief justice Fred M. Vinson in 1953, and he was accepted by the Senate the following year. Among the cases he oversaw included Brown v. Board of Education (school desegregation), Miranda v. Arizona (right to remain silent), and Loving v. Virginia (legalization of interracial marriage).

- Warren is perhaps remembered best for leading the Warren Commission that investigated the assassination of John F. Kennedy, concluding that Lee Harvey Oswald acted alone (despite all the other theories that continue to float around).

- Warren would announce his resignation from the Supreme Court in 1968, hoping a successor would be appointed during the last months of the Johnson administration. This did not occur, and Richard Nixon's nominee Warren Burger would be Warren's successor as Chief Justice (a coincidental succession of Warrens- though one was a surname and the other was a first name). Warren would have a five-year retirement before he died of heart failure.

[John "요한" Sulu 434]

On this day 2 years ago, American comedian and actor Larry Storch, who starred in the TV show "F Troop", passed away at the age of 99.

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On this day 2 years ago, Mexican president Luis Echeverría Álvarez, who served his term from 1970 to 1976, passed away at the age of 100.

 

Photo Credit: Doralicia Carmona Dávila per Creative Commons license

[John "요한" Sulu 434]

On this day 1 year ago, American geneticist Evelyn Witkin passed away at the age of 102.

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Canadian professional ice hockey right winger Bill Mosienko died on this day 30 years ago, aged 72.

 

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Leopold I, Margrave of Austria died on this day 1030 years ago, aged ~54.

- Leopold's parentage is disputed. He has been named either the son of Berthold, Count of the Nordgau, or the son of Arnulf, Duke of Bavaria (which would put his birth year no later than 937).

- Leopold was a staunch follower of Holy Roman Emperors Otto I and Otto II, and the latter would appoint him the margrave of Austria in 976 following the deposition of margrave Burkhard due to Burkhard participating in a rebellion against Otto.

- Leopold would seek to wrest control of Austrian territory from supporters of Burkhard, particularly the city of Melk. He would fully take control of the city by 984, taking residence there and founding a monastery to commemorate his feat. By 991, Leopold had expanded Austrian territory to the Wienderwald Mountains and Fischa River.

- Leopold would travel to Wurzburg (in modern-day Germany) in 994 to help his probable cousin Henry of Schweinfurt settle a dispute. While there, Leopold and Henry would enter a tournament; Leopold ended up getting hit in the eye by an arrow and died of his wounds two days later.

- Leopold was the first Austrian ruler from the House of Babenberg, and was succeeded as margrave by his son Henry I. The Babenbergs would rule Austria until 1246.

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Alexander Hamilton died on this day 220 years ago, aged 47.

- Hamilton was born on the island of Nevis, eventually settling in New York in 1772.

- Serving in a New York militia during the American Revolution, Hamilton would participate in the Battle of Princeton in early 1777, and soon became an aide to George Washington. Hamilton was among the leaders of the Battle of Yorktown, the final major battle of the war.

- Hamilton served as a delegate to the Constitutional Convention in 1787, and supervised The Federalist Papers- a publication in which he (alongside James Madison and John Jay) wrote to convince the state legislatures to ratify the Constitution.

- Hamilton became the first Secretary of the Treasury in 1789, and would divide the national debt into categories (national, state, foreign and domestic), and would establish the National Bank and US Mint. As such, Hamilton remains depicted on the 10 dollar bill:

- Hamilton would resign from office in 1795 in order to care for his wife Elizabeth following a miscarriage. In 1797, Hamilton would become embroiled in a sex scandal alleging that he had an affair in office (in 1791)- said affair was set up by a man seeking to extort Hamilton, who ended up being arrested in an unrelated incident for counterfeiting money.

- In 1804, a letter written by Hamilton voicing his opposition to Aaron Burr being nominated as the Federalist nominee for governor of New York was published in a newspaper. Burr viewed this as disrespecting him and demanded Hamilton write an apology letter, but he refused, believing he was not being insulting to him, and soon a duel was arranged between them. Burr shot Hamilton, who died the following day from his wound:

Coincidentally enough, Hamilton's son Philip was killed in a duel in 1801. This duel was also known for effectively ending Burr's political career.

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Henry II, Holy Roman Emperor died on this day 1000 years ago, aged 51.

- Henry was the son of duke Henry II of Bavaria, and succeeded his father as the duke following his death in 995.

- In 1002, Holy Roman Emperor Otto III died childless, creating a succession crisis. Henry attempted to gain the crown by getting the nobles' support, but after failing to, had himself crowned by the archbishop of Mainz. Some of his rivals, such as Hermann II of Swabia, would continue to politically contest him afterwards, but Henry would consolidate power by the end of 1003.

- Henry would lead an invasion of Italy to oust king Arduin of Ivrea, and also led multiple wars against Poland.

- Henry died after ruling Germany for 22 years due to an unspecified UTI. He had taken an oath of celibacy, and was the last Holy Roman Emperor of the Ottonian dynasty (Conrad II of the Salian dynasty was elected afterwards).

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Its 70 years since the death of Mexican artist Frida Kahlo.

After being confined to bed suffering from bronchopneumonia, she died aged 47, officially of a pulmonary embolism, but a nurse stated that she'd taken an overdose. 

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Ivana Trump died on this day 2 years ago, aged 73.

- Ivana was a native of Czechoslovakia, her maiden name being 'Zelníčková', and was a professional skier. She married ski instructor Alfred Winklmayr in 1971, but divorced him in 1973.

- She would then move to Canada and then the US, before meeting Donald Trump in 1976, and marrying him the following year. The couple would often work together on Donald's construction projects, such as Trump Tower and the Trump Taj Mahal casino. They also had three children- Don Jr, Ivanka, and Eric.

- Ivana and Donald's relationship was often tabloid news during the 1980s, and by the end of the decade the marriage had become quite strained- Donald soon began seeing Marla Maples, and in 1990, the two divorced.

- Following the divorce, Ivana would seek out business ventures of her own, developing lines of clothing, jewelry, and makeup. She would also write several books regarding divorce, and ran an advice column for the Globe tabloid newspaper from 1995 to 2010.

- In 2010, Ivana competed on the 7th season of the British version of Celebrity Big Brother, placing 6th of the 12 contestants.

- Ivana Trump died following a fall down her stairs, and was buried at her ex-husband's golf club in New Jersey:

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General Tom Thumb died on this day 141 years ago, aged 45.

- General Thumb's real name was Charles Stratton, and his body effectively stopped growing when he was six months old. His final height was 3'4" (102 cm).

- PT Barnum heard about Stratton, and as such made a deal with his father to take him on a tour with his show, and Stratton was given acting roles such as that of Cupid and Napoleon Bonaparte.

- Stratton was known for his acting and comedic skills, which led to him becoming one of the most recognizable actors of the mid-19th century. Stratton is believed to have been responsible for changing public perception on freak shows from negative to positive due to his talent. Among the shows he performed on Barnum's tour included one with another dwarf actor- Commodore George Nutt, who was often portrayed as General Tom Thumb's rival. The two of them became good friends, and Nutt was the best man at Stratton's wedding- which was to another dwarf in Barnum's employment, Lavinia Warren:

Stratton's fame inevitably led to wealth, and he was known for owning many expensive suits, a steam yacht, and a house designed to cater to his short stature on Connecticut's Cut in Two Island. Stratton would also donate money to PT Barnum when he was having financial woes, and the two soon became business partners.

- Stratton (and his wife) were survivors of the 1883 Newhall House Hotel Fire- the deadliest fire in Milwaukee's history.

- After Stratton's death, Barnum purchased a life-sized statue to put atop his even larger tombstone:

20,000 fans attended his funeral.

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Biz Markie died on this day 3 years ago, aged 57.

- Markie's real name was Marcel Hall. His stage name arose during the late 1970s when he took the name of a member of the L Brothers hip-hop group called Busy Bee, and started calling himself 'Bizzy Bee Markie' before abbreviating it.

- Markie performed at nightclubs and college campuses, and in 1988 would briefly appear in the background of the music video for Rob Base's "It Takes Two". In 1989, Markie was catapulted into stardom with his song "Just a Friend":

The song peaked at number 9 on the Billboard Hot 100.

- Markie was sued by Gilbert O'Sullivan in 1991 for his song "Alone Again", who claimed it used an unauthorized sample of "Alone Again (Naturally)". The lawsuit ended up causing artists to make sure the original artist is okay with using their work as sampling:

Throughout the decade, Markie often collaborated with artists such as Will Smith and the Beastie Boys.

- Markie would begin to have acting roles in the 2000s with appearances in Men in Black II and Wild n' Out, and had a recurring segment on Nick Jr.'s Yo Gabba Gabba! called "Biz's Beat of the Day":

He would also voice act, which included cartoons such as Cartoon Network's Mad (as a rapping Bilbo Baggins), Adventure Time (as Snorlock, a giant beatboxing slug Finn and Jake need to help), and SpongeBob SquarePants (as Kenny the Cat in the episode with the same name).

- Markie suffered from diabetes in his later years, with death rumors arising two weeks before it actually occurred.