Death Anniversary Thread

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Alex Trebek died on this day 4 years ago, aged 80.

- Trebek started off as a radio news reporter for CBC, hosting its Music Hop segment beginning in 1963.

- Trebek would move to the US in 1973 to host the game show The Wizard of Odds, which would be followed by hosting gigs on shows that included High Rollers and Battlestars.

- In 1984, Trebek would begin hosting Jeopardy! (taking over from Art Fleming), hosting over 8,200 episodes over 36 years and earning eight Emmy Awards for it. He would also often guest star as fictionalized versions of himself on other shows, which included The Simpsons, Arthur, Rugrats and Family Guy:

- Trebek had two minor heart attacks in 2007 and 2012, before being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2019. He would battle the disease for a year and a half. His final episode of Jeopardy! aired two months after he died.

- Trebek appeared on the DeathList only once, in 2020- the sixteenth of the twenty hits that year.

[The Ashes Urn 1,353]

American rhythm-and-blues singer, songwriter and pianist Ivory Joe Hunter died on this day 50 years ago, aged 60.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Dylan Thomas died on this day 71 years ago, aged 39.

- Thomas dropped out of school to become a news journalist, and he would also provide poetry to the papers he contributed to.

- Thomas was initially unsuccessful in selling his poetry collections, and during World War II he would help produce films for the Ministry of Information. In the immediate aftermath he would become a screenwriter himself, with the most notable production of his being 1948's No Room at the Inn.

- In 1951, Thomas would make his magnum opus, the villanelle poem "Do not go gentle into that good night":

- During a trip to New York, Thomas caught a bout of pneumonia- this would cause his brain to swell due to a lack of oxygen, and he would fall into a coma, spending the last four days of his life unconscious.

[John "요한" Sulu 419]

2 years ago from yesterday, English actor Leslie Phillips passed away at the age of 98.

 

Photo Credit: Caroline Bonarde Ucci per Creative Commons license

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American motion picture and television actor Ed Kemmer died on this day 20 years ago, aged 83.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Pope Leo I died on this day 1563 years ago, aged 61.

- Leo was ordained as a deacon by the 430s, and would be elected pope after the death of Sixtus III in 440.

- In 451, Leo would hold the Council of Chalcedon, the fourth ecumenical council in the Catholic Church's history. The following year, he would lead an embassy to the camp of Attila the Hun during his invasion of Italy, and would successfully convince him to spare Rome. However, he was unable to prevent a siege by the Vandals in 455.

- Leo was a staunch enemy of those who practiced Manichaeism (a major religion between the third and seventh centuries), and was also known to have had heretics confess to crimes via torture.

- Leo died after 21 years as pope, and would be succeeded by Pope Hilarius.

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American film director, screenwriter and actor Robert Kramer died on this day 25 years ago, aged 60.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Queen Liliuokalani died on this day 107 years ago, aged 79.

- Liliuokalani was raised as a Protestant and was given the English name Lydia. She would be named the heir apparent to the Hawaiian throne in 1877, and would serve as regent when king Kalakaua was away on foreign trips. Among the events that occurred during her regencies were a smallpox epidemic in 1881 that she tried to minimize.

- Liliuokalani would become queen herself after Kalakaua's death in 1891. In 1893, she would propose a new constitution for the kingdom which would restore monarchial powers and give more voting rights to native Hawaiians- resulting in riots from foreign American residents, who quickly ousted Liliuokalani and ending the monarchy. Hawaii would be annexed by the US in 1898 (and given statehood in 1959).

- Following an 1895 attempt to restore the monarchy by her supporters, Liliuokalani would be placed under arrest but was freed and pardoned a year later. In 1909, she would attempt to sue the US government for her land back (citing the Fifth Amendment), but was denied as the Supreme Court did not view Hawaii as private property.

- Liliuokalani was also well-known for being a songwriter, with her most famous work being 1878's "Aloha 'Oe":

- Liliuokalani's last months saw her lose the use of her legs and being unable to remember her house, believed to have been complications that arose following a stroke.

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Palestinian political leader Yasser Arafat died on this day 20 years ago, aged 75.

 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Duncan II of Scotland died on this day 930 years ago, aged 34.

- Duncan was a son of king Malcolm III, and it remains uncertain whether he was a legitimate or bastard child based on conflicting contemporary sources.

- When he was 12 years old, Duncan would be taken as a hostage by the English following an altercation between England and Scotland, and was raised as a member of William the Conqueror's court, receiving training as a knight. He was officially released after William's death in 1087 but decided to remain in England to serve William II.

- In early 1094, Duncan would lead an incursion into Scotland to oust his brother Donald III with the support of local nobles dissatisfied with him. He would reign for only six months before being killed in another battle, with Donald regaining the Scottish throne.

[The Ashes Urn 1,353]

American sprinter Wilma Rudolph died on this day 30 years ago, aged 54.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Ol' Dirty Bastard died on this day 20 years ago, aged 35.

- ODB's real name was Russell Jones. His cousins (soon to be known as RZA and GZA) would form a hip hop group called Force of the Imperial Master in 1992, and when the three added six more members to the group the following year, the Wu-Tang Clan was formed.

- ODB would also have a solo career of his own, with his 1995 debut album Return to the 36 Chambers: The Dirty Version going platinum:

- ODB found himself marred by controversy in 1996 when he took his children to receive food stamps when he just received a $45,000 cash advance (and was receiving profit from his music sales), which partially led to the passing of the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Act (which diminished welfare) that year.

- In 1998, ODB would abruptly crash the Grammy Awards by running on-stage, expecting to win the award for Best Rap Album (the nominee in question being Wu-Tang is Forever)- which he ended up losing to P. Diddy (in hindsight Wu-Tang Clan getting the win wouldn't have aged as poorly):

- ODB suffered from drug abuse throughout his adulthood, specifically with cocaine. He was arrested for illegal drug possession in 2001, and would end up dying of an overdose two days before his 36th birthday.

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American actress Dorothy Arnold died on this day 40 years ago, aged 66.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,705]

Gottfried Leibniz died on this day 308 years ago, aged 70.

- Leibniz' father was the noted philosopher Friedrich Leibniz, who died when the younger Leibniz was a child. Part of his inheritance were the books owned by his father, and he would enter the field of philosophy himself, receiving his master's at just 17 years old.

- In 1673, Leibniz went to London to convene with the Royal Society, showing off a mechanical calculator he had built. He would also try to join the French Academy of Sciences, but was declined due to the group having a full quota on foreign members.

- Leibniz is best known for independently developing the mathematical branch of calculus starting in 1674 (and first publishing his work in 1684), which Isaac Newton was also doing at the time. This would lead to a feud between the two of them, with Newton and his friends in the Royal Society claiming he plagiarized from him. This dispute would last until Leibniz' death in 1716, but nowadays both are given credit.

 

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American college football player and film actor Johhny Mack Brown died on this day 50 years ago, aged 70.