Death Anniversary Thread

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Joss Ackland died on this day a year ago, aged 95.

- Ackland started acting at the age of 17, with his first recognizable role being Inspector Todd in over 40 episodes of Z-Cars. He would provide the voice of a rabbit in the animated 1978 version of Watership Down, and his breakout role was as Jerry Westerby in the 1979 Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy miniseries.

- Ackland's career would peak in the 1980s and 1990s. Among his most famous roles during this time included Jock Broughton in White Mischief (for which he was nominated for a BAFTA), Hans in The Mighty Ducks, Chuck De Nomolos in Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey, and most famously Arjen Rudd in Lethal Weapon 2:

- Ackland retired from acting in 2014 and became somewhat reclusive afterwards, with one of his last recorded appearances being a 2020 video where he recites a letter to the British public during the COVID pandemic.

- Ackland appeared on the DeathList twice (2022 and 2023), and was the fifteenth death of that year- and also set the record for shortest time between death announcements between hits (24 minutes after Rosalynn Carter's death was announced).

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American writer and illustrator Louise Fitzhugh died on this day 50 years ago, aged 46.

 

[The Unknown Man 592]

Comedian and film and theater director Mike Nichols died on this date 10 years ago, aged 83.

[John "요한" Sulu 429]

On this day 1 year ago, First Lady Rosalynn Carter passed away at the age of 96.

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Allan Sherman died on this day 51 years ago, aged 48.

- Sherman was born as 'Allan Copelon', and took his mother's maiden name after his parents divorced.

- In 1952, Sherman would co-create the game show I've Got a Secret, originally conceiving it as I Know a Secret. He would serve as its producer until 1958, when he was fired following a particularly disastrous episode featuring Tony Curtis being confused by what Sherman wanted to do, and panelist Henry Morgan proceeding to tear into him after they ran out of scripted material early:

- Sherman was best known for being a musical humorist, where he would parody the tunes of classical music and Broadway musical numbers (a la Weird Al Yankovic), with his biggest hit being 1963's "Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh", set to the melody of "Dance of the Hours":

The song peaked at #2 on the Billboard Hot 100 that summer. The album it came from, My Son, the Nut would, however, peak atop the Billboard Hot 200 albums chart.

- Later on, Sherman would delve into topical satires (a la his contemporary Tom Lehrer) that ranged from subjects from Vietnam sit-in protests ("The Rebel") to Beatlemania:

- One of Sherman's last projects was providing the voice of the Cat in the Hat in two Dr. Seuss TV specials:

- Sherman was one to not particularly care about his health- he suffered from alcoholism, and his obesity led to him developing type 2 diabetes. He would die of respiratory failure shortly before his 49th birthday.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American aircraft designer, aviator and early aviation entrepreneur Clyde Cessna died on this day 70 years ago, aged 74.

 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Garret Hobart died on this day 125 years ago, aged 55.

- Hobart served as a teacher and a lawyer before being elected to the New Jersey General Assembly in 1872. He would be elected to the state's Senate in 1876 and served there until 1883, and was the Senate President for the last two years of his term.

- In 1896, Hobart became a dark horse choice to become William McKinley's running mate. He was selected due to being the campaign manager for John Griggs in the 1895 New Jersey gubernatorial election, where Griggs became the state's first Republican governor since 1869. McKinley viewed New Jersey as a key state- albeit the pair won the election by a comfortable margin of 271-176 electoral votes.

- As VP, Hobart was known for streamlining the passage of bills through the US Senate to where he was nicknamed the 'Assistant President', and would only break a tie once in which he denied the Philippines self-governance following the Spanish-American War.

- Hobart suffered from a chronic heart disease which he tried to hide, but was widespread knowledge by 1899. He suffered a reported heart attack in the spring of that year and was put on bed rest. As his condition worsened, McKinley expressed his opinion that he wished for him to resign before he died, but this did not occur. Hobart was the sixth and most recent US vice president to die in office.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American professional boxer Max Baer died on this day 65 years ago, aged 50.

 

[polar duck 886]

18 minutes ago, The Ashes Urn said:

American professional boxer Max Baer died on this day 65 years ago, aged 50.

 

Here's a video of Baer, a Jew, fighting "Hitler's boxer" Max Schmeling.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Sterling Holloway died on this day 32 years ago, aged 87.

- Holloway's first acting role was in the 1926 silent film The Battling Kangaroo, where he played a carnival worker. During World War II, he would enlist in the army and create a soldier education series called Hey Rookie (probably like a live-action Private Snafu given his comedic roles).

- Holloway would work with Disney from almost the beginning of their feature-length animated films, with Walt Disney considering him to voice Sleepy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (a role that went to veteran voice actor Pinto Colvig). He provided Flower's adult voice in Bambi before voicing the Cheshire Cat in Alice in Wonderland, and was also known voicing Kaa in The Jungle Book:

In later years, he voiced Winnie the Pooh in the 1977 film The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh.

- Outside of animation, Holloway would make appearances in shows that included The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet, The Andy Griffith Show, The Twilight Zone, and Gilligan's Island. His last role was in a 1986 episode of Moonlighting. Afterwards he was offered to reprise his voice roles in the 1988 animated series The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh, but declined due to age causing him to no longer be able to properly voice Pooh- leading to Jim Cummings succeeding him in said role.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American cartoonist and comic book artist C. C. Beck died on this day 35 years ago, aged 79.

 

 

 

 

 

[Bentrovato 1,104]

1 minute ago, The Ashes Urn said:

American cartoonist died on this day 35 years ago.

You are probably right. One probably did. Any idea which one?

[time 8,677]

It's 124 years since the death of Sir Arthur Sullivan, half of the well-known Gilbert & Sullivan, of heart failure, aged 58. In addition to his operatic compositions, he also wrote "St. Gertrude", which achieved everlasting fame as the melody to "Onward Christian Soldiers".

 

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Elbridge Gerry died on this day 210 years ago, aged 70.

- Gerry's unusual first name was the result of his parents naming him after a great-great-grandfather of his, Thomas Elbridge.

- Gerry became known for his opposition to the importation of British goods due to high taxation rates, and would be elected to Massachusetts' general assembly in 1772. In 1776, he was one of the colony's representatives sent to sign the Declaration of Independence:

(his signature is on the rightmost column between those of Robert Treat Paine and Stephen Hopkins)

- Gerry would become unpopular due to his opposition to sign the Constitution. He was the nominee for the Anti-Federalist Party in Massachusetts' 1788 gubernatorial election, losing to John Hancock in an absolute landslide (81-19%). He was, however, elected to the US House, serving until 1793.

- In 1797, Gerry was one of the diplomats sent to France in the XYZ Affair, where he would remain for a few months after his colleagues departed. He himself would claim credit for keeping peace between the US and France.

- Gerry was elected the governor of Massachusetts in 1810 (after several more failed runs). In 1812, he would sign the document confirming the states' new partisan congressional districts (following the 1810 census), despite his vocal disagreement- this would lead to the term "gerrymandering", as one district resembled some sort of salamander, or any strange creature:

- Gerry was nominated as James Madison's VP in the 1812 election (after original nominee, New Hampshire governor John Langdon declined)- but died in office after a year.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American professional wrestler Art Barr died on this day 30 years ago, aged 28.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Freddie Mercury died on this day 33 years ago, aged 45.

- Before joining Brian May and Roger Taylor's band Smile, Mercury joined a band named Ibex in 1969- which was later renamed to 'Wreckage'. He cited Jimi Hendrix as his biggest influence at the time.

- Before adopting the 'Freddie Mercury' stage name, Mercury went by the alias 'Larry Lurex', where he covered The Ronettes' "I Can Hear Music" and Dusty Springfield's "Goin' Back":

- Mercury was well known for his love of cats, often having their caretakers hold them up to the phone while calling when he was on tour. His favorite was apparently Delilah, who he wrote a song about on Queen's 1991 album Innuendo:

- While Mercury was officially diagnosed with HIV in 1987, he showed symptoms beginning sometime in 1982 with a lesion on his tongue. His gaunt appearance was heavily scrutinized by the tabloid press, with the song "Scandal" being a direct response to that:

Mercury died about a day after publicly disclosing his battle with the disease. (Incidentally Magic Johnson announced his HIV diagnosis earlier that month, leading to further awareness of HIV/AIDS.)

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

French statesman Georges Clemenceau died on this day 95 years ago, aged 88.

 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Malcolm II of Scotland died on this day 990 years ago, aged 80.

- Malcolm was a son of king Kenneth II. He became the king of Scotland in 1005 after killing his cousin Kenneth III in battle.

- Malcolm's reign was more known for domestic affairs rather than foreign ones (save his slight rivalry with king Cnut of England/Norway/Denmark), and in order to secure alliances with smaller kingdoms such as Moray and Orkney, he would marry his daughters off to their rulers. As Malcolm had no sons (at least alive when he died), he was the last monarch of the Alpin dynasty, with his grandson Duncan I (of the Dunkeld dynasty) succeeding him. Malcolm was also a grandfather to Duncan's successor and cousin, Macbeth.

- One rumor about Malcolm's death was that he was reportedly killed, either while being mugged by bandits or that Duncan orchestrated his murder.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American jurist Kenesaw Mountain Landis died on this day 80 years ago, aged 78.

 

 

 

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

Pope Siricius died on this day 1625 years ago, aged 65.

- Siricius lived in Rome his entire life, and his father was a certain Tiburtius. He entered the Catholic clergy as a young adult.

- Siricius would be unanimously elected pope in 384 after the death of Pope Damasus I. Among his first papal acts was writing the Directa decretal in 385, the oldest surviving papal letter, clarifying his viewpoints to its recipient, a Spanish bishop named Himerius.

- Some believe that Siricius was the first pope to call himself as such (rather than "Bishop of Rome"), albeit this is a disputed claim (as the title was used earlier and was more or less an honorific).

- Siricius would die after 15 years as pope, and would be succeeded by Pope Anastasius I.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

French film director Philippe de Broca died on this day 20 years ago, aged 71.

 

[John "요한" Sulu 429]

On this day 1 year ago, American actress Frances Sternhagen, who starred in the film "Starting Over" and once guest starred in the TV series "Cheers", passed away at the age of 93.

[Drewsky1211 4,817]

PD James died on this day 10 years ago, aged 94.

- The 'PD' in her name stood for 'Phyllis Dorothy'. Before she became an author, she would work various jobs to support her family- ranging from an assistant stage director at a local theatre to a member of a hospital board.

- In 1962 James published her first novel, Cover Her Face. This was the first of her 'Adam Dalgliesh' series, which lasted for fourteen books up to 2008. She named Dalgliesh after a high school English teacher of hers- whose father was coincidentally also named Adam (which James was unaware of).

- James' other well-known detective novel was the Cordelia Gray series, with only two books: 1972's An Unsuitable Job for a Woman, and 1982's The Skull Beneath the Skin.

- In 1992 James would write the dystopian sci-fi novel The Children of Men, famously adapted into a movie in 2006. James was reportedly pleased with the film despite some deviations from its source material.

- James was named as a life peer in 1991, becoming a baroness. She was a member of the Tory Party and opposed Scottish independence.

- James made three appearances on the DeathList, debuting in 2012 and remaining on the list until her death from cancer. She was the ninth hit (of 10) of the 2014 list.

[The Ashes Urn 1,359]

American bank robber Baby Face Nelson died on this day 90 years ago, aged 25.

 

 

 

[John "요한" Sulu 429]

On this day 1 year ago, American government official Julius W. Becton Jr., who was the director of FEMA from 1985 to 1989, passed away at the age of 97.