Death Anniversary Thread

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Christopher Reeve died on this day 20 years ago, aged 52.

- Reeve attended Juilliard before going into professional acting, and was classmates with Robin Williams there. His first major role was as Nicky in the Broadway play A Matter of Gravity, where he would befriend Katharine Hepburn.

- Reeve would quickly become a star when in 1978, he was cast as Superman, starring in a quadrilogy of films as the superhero until 1987's Superman IV: The Quest for Peace. He was planned to star in a fifth Superman movie, but Superman IV was panned to where its production company (Cannon Films) went bankrupt:

- Other movies Reeve was known for starring in included Deathtrap (alongside Michael Caine), Switching Channels, Bump in the Night, and The Rose and the Jackal.

- Reeve took up horse riding as a hobby in 1985 (despite the fact he was mildly allergic to horsehair, but soon overcame his allergies), and began competing in dressage competitions. A 1995 accident during one of these would put an end to that and his acting career- but began a new one for him.

- After snapping his neck in the injury (which rendered him quadriplegic), Reeve would become an activist for people with physical disabilities. He would host the 1996 Paralympics in Atlanta, and was elected the chairman of the American Paralysis Association that same year (which was renamed after him and his wife Dana in 2007). He was also known for making a guest appearance on Sesame Street in 2000 (he was also a guest star on The Muppet Show in 1980):

- Reeve died after going into cardiac arrest, believed to have been caused by an antibiotic he took which his body rejected.

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American comedian, actor, dancer, singer, songwriter, film producer, screenwriter and author Eddie Cantor died on this day 60 years ago, aged 72.

 

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Neal Hefti died on this day 16 years ago, aged 85.

- Hefti was inspired to become a musician after watching performances by people like Dizzy Gillespie and Cab Calloway, and would begin writing his own compositions in his late teens for local bands in Nebraska that included (lesser-remembered) bandleaders such as Nat Towles and Money Johnson. He would also join big bands as a trumpet player. In 1950 Hefti began writing songs for one of his idols- Count Basie, and he wrote most of the songs on one of his most well-received albums, 1958's The Atomic Mr. Basie.

- As the era of swing and jazz came to an end thanks to rock and roll, Hefti would soon seek work as a film and TV composer. Among his most well-known soundtracks included both the movie and TV show adaptations of Neil Simon's The Odd Couple, and the 1965 film Harlow for which he received a Grammy nomination for its title song "Girl Talk":

However, Hefti's most famous composition was the theme song for the Adam West Batman show:

- Hefti retired following his wife's death in 1978, and lived for another three decades.

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American chemist and inventor James Franklin Hyde died on this day 25 years ago, aged 96.

 

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Jay Ward died on this day 35 years ago, aged 69.

- Ward's first cartoon was 1948's Crusader Rabbit, the first animated series designed specifically for television. The show ran until 1952, but Ward ended up losing the rights to the characters to the network.

- Ward's most famous creation was The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle (titular moose and squirrel seen above), running from 1959 to 1964. The show would also introduce other famous cartoon characters in its other segments, Dudley Do-Right and Peabody's Improbable History. Ward followed this with the equally-famous George of the Jungle in 1967; each of these properties eventually got the film treatment (some better than others).

- Ward used his Rocky and Bullwinkle fame to lease an island, dubbing it "Moosylvania" after Bullwinkle's fictional home. He would make a petition to have Moosylvania become a state, and would end up going to Washington, DC to meet with John F. Kennedy- the only problem was that he arrived the day the Cuban Missile Crisis began and had to scrap these plans.

- Ward was also known for making the original design of Cap'n Crunch:

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Norwegian figure skater and film star Sonja Henie died on this day 55 years ago, aged 57.

 

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Ed Sullivan died on this day 50 years ago, aged 73.

- Sullivan was a varsity athlete during high school, and ended up writing sports news for his local paper; he would later be hired by them following his graduation.

- Sullivan would then join the New York Daily News in 1929, becoming their Broadway journalist, nicknamed "Mr. Broadway". He would co-direct a 1933 film of the same name where he gives a tour of New York celebrity hotspots, with walk-on celebrities including the likes of Jack Benny, Jack Dempsey, and two future Wizard of Oz actors (Bert Lahr and Jack Haley... lots of Jacks in this documentary).

- Sullivan was hired by CBS for a radio program in 1941, and in 1948 he would begin hosting The Ed Sullivan Show on their TV network- it was initially named Toast of the Town between 1948 and 1955. He was particularly well-known for introducing up-and-coming music superstars to a much wider audience on his show- notably Elvis Presley in 1956, and The Beatles in 1964:

Sullivan also often hosted Black entertainers on his show during the segregation period, notably Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, and Louis Armstrong.

- Sullivan was a lifelong smoker and was diagnosed with throat cancer in September 1974, losing his battle with the disease in just one month.

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2 years ago from almost last week, American Disc Jockey Art Laboe passed away at the age of 97.

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1 year ago from almost last week, American governor Ted Schwinden, who was a Montana governor from 1981 to 1989, passed away at the age of 98.

 

Photo Credit: MallonAllah12 per Creative Commons license

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2 years ago from 2 days ago, actress Angela Lansbury passed away at the age of 96.

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On this day 1 year ago, Canadian astrophysicist Hubert Reeves, who was the author of "Origins: Cosmos, Earth, and Mankind", passed away at the age of 91.

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American pitcher and outfielder in Major League Baseball Sam Rice died on this day 50 years ago, aged 84.

 

 

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Lou Albano died on this day 15 years ago, aged 76.

- Albano started his career as a boxer in 1952, under the stage name "Leaping Lou", which soon became the "Mount Vernon Mauler". In the late '50s, he would be introduced to Vince McMahon Sr., and would then go from boxing to professional wrestling.

- Albano would be paired with Tony Altomare, and the two fought as a team known as 'The Sicilians' beginning in 1961, and the team won the WWWF United States Tag Team Championship in 1967. The two split up in 1969. Albano then became a wrestling manager in 1970, and it is during that time he received his most famous nickname, "Captain Lou".

- During the 1980s, Albano was well-known outside of wrestling for his portrayal of Cyndi Lauper's father in the "Girls Just Wanna Have Fun" music video...

...But far more well known for being the first live-action actor to portray Mario in the 1989 series The Super Mario Bros. Super Show (for which he also voiced him in the main animated segments):

- Albano suffered a heart attack in 2005, and died to a second one in 2009.

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Edit: Deleted. Birthday, not death day...

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Australian-American actor Errol Flynn died on this day 65 years ago, aged 50.

 

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Andreas Vesalius died on this day 460 years ago, aged 49.

- Vesalius was born in the Netherlands as Andries van Wesel, later choosing to Latinize his name. He came from a long line of doctors who often served the Holy Roman Emperor.

- During his time at university (majoring in medicine (obviously)), Vesalius would often take bones from charnel houses and would often attempt to reconstruct the skeleton. He would be hired as a professor at the University of Padua shortly after graduation.

- Vesalius would often receive the corpses of recently-executed criminals and would assist his students in dissecting them in order to understand human anatomy, and would bring the world of European anatomy into the then-modern age as he disproved Roman era theories, such as discovering the human mandible was a single bone (instead of two). He would also become famous for his extremely detailed depictions of human innards:

These were often replicated without Vesalius' permission, but he understood that this would be bound to happen (putting that statement in an author's note in one of his medical books).

- Vesalius left his job in 1550 to become physician for Holy Roman Emperor Charles V (and his son Philip II beginning in 1555). He was often mocked by his peers due to largely treating soldiers wounded in battle, and in 1564 Vesalius would eventually request to go on a pilgrimage to Jerusalem, which was accepted- it is believed he did so just to get away from his duties in the royal court and get back to his studies. He ended up getting shipwrecked in Greece (on an island then controlled by Venice), where he died soon after.

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On this day 1 year ago, American actress Piper Laurie passed away at the age of 91.

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Ukrainian far-right leader Stepan Bandera died on this day 65 years ago, aged 50.

 

 

 

 

 

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Shirley Booth died on this day 32 years ago, aged 94.

- Booth's real name was Marjory Ford, and took a stage name at the beginning of her acting career. Her first Broadway show was a production of Hell's Bells in 1925.

- Booth won two Tony Awards for her roles Goodbye, My Fancy in 1949, and Come Back, Little Sheba in 1951- she reprised her role of Lola Delaney in the film adaptation in 1952, and won an Oscar for Best Actress the following year.

- Booth would star as the titular maid of the TV show Hazel, running from 1961 to 1966 and earning her two Emmys (she never won a Grammy, so she wasn't an EGOT).

- Booth's final role was one of her most memorable- voicing Mrs. Claus in the 1974 Christmas classic The Year Without a Santa Claus:

- To avoid ageism in the acting industry, Booth claimed to have been born in 1907, and was therefore believed to have been 85 before her correct age was reported after she died.

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American journalist, author and politician Pierre Salinger died on this day 20 years ago, aged 79.

 

 

 

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3 years ago from 3 days ago, American politician Dale Kildee, who was a Michigan representative from 1977 to 2013, passed away at the age of 92.

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2 years ago from 3 days ago, American astronaut James McDivitt passed away at the age of 93.

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On this day 3 years ago, American actress Betty Lynn, who played Thelma Lou in "The Andy Griffith Show", passed away at the age of 95.

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On this day 2 years ago, Dutch-born American chemical engineer and astronaut Lodewijk van den Berg passed away at the age of 90.

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Pope Boniface II died on this day 1492 years ago, aged ~72.

- Boniface was believed to have been born in Rome to a Gothic immigrant named Sigibuld; he was the first pope of Germanic ancestry.

- Boniface was consecrated as an archdeacon by Pope Felix IV, who took a liking to him and vocally wanted him to succeed him as pope. As such, Boniface was elected pope in 530 after Felix's death- but was contested by Antipope Dioscorus, who was elected by clergy who feared Ostrogoth domination of the church. However, Dioscorus died only three weeks later, leaving Boniface as the only papal claimant.

- Boniface's opponents would end up submitting to him in a synod arranged by him. In another, he suggested a pope should be allowed to handpick their successor (as Felix had effectively done), but retracted his opinion due to backlash from the clergy.

- Boniface died after two years of being pope, and was succeeded by John II.