Death Anniversary Thread

[Drewsky1211 4,894]

Gerry Rafferty died on this day 14 years ago, aged 63.

- Rafferty's first band was The Fifth Column, joining it in 1966. He would then join The Humblebums in 1969 (playing alongside Billy Connolly), and then in 1972 founded Stealers Wheel, notable for their top-10 single "Stuck in the Middle with You":

 

- In 1978 Rafferty would release his signature song "Baker Street":

The song contains what is considered one of the most famous saxophone riffs in music (up there with "Careless Whisper"'s), and has been covered from everyone from Foo Fighters to Waylon Jennings to Rick Sanchez:

- Rafferty's career would decline in the '80s, believed to have been attributed to hisaversion to performing live. His final album was 2009's (ironically titled) Life Goes On.

- Rafferty suffered from alcoholism from a young age, and ended up dying of liver failure. He was the first hit of the 2011 DeathList (of seven that year), having also debuted that year.

[The Ashes Urn 1,368]

French philosopher, author, dramatist, journalist, world federalist and political activist Albert Camus died on this day 65 years ago, aged 46.

 

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Hans Conried died on this day 43 years ago, aged 64.

- Conried got his start in acting in the late 1930s, and during World War II, he would often be typecast as villains due to his German surname- and he would enlist in the war in 1944, seeing service in the Pacific Theater.

- While having an extensive live-action career, Conried is more famous as a voice actor. In 1953 he would provide the voice of Captain Hook in Disney's Peter Pan:

He would continue to get typecast in villainous roles, such as Snidely Whiplash in Dudley Do-Right, and the Grinch in the 1977 TV special Halloween Is Grinch Night. However, he would also voice act protagonists, such as Waldo in Hoppity Hooper, Horton in the 1970 version of Horton Hears A Who!, and Thorin Oakenshield in the Rankin-Bass Hobbit.

- Conried had a heart attack in 1979, and died from a second one three years later.

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American stage and film actor Arthur Kennedy died on this day 35 years ago, aged 75.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,894]

Theodore Roosevelt died on this day 106 years ago, aged 60.

- Roosevelt was sickly as a child, suffering from asthma- which he would combat by exercising.

- On February 14, 1884, Roosevelt's wife Alice and his mother Martha both died. He wrote about it in a diary entry:

- Roosevelt's presidency was best known for his approach to disbanding monopolies, and the initiation of the construction of the Panama Canal in 1904. He would remain active in politics after he left office in 1909, notable running as a third party candidate in the 1912 election (the "Bull Moose" Party), splitting the Republican vote (ensuring Woodrow Wilson's victory) and surviving an assassination attempt in which he was shot but continued his speech for 90 minutes.

- Roosevelt was known for his sense of adventure and interest in animals, travelling the then 'River of Doubt' in Brazil (now called Rio Roosevelt) and going on African safaris where he hunted big game. He also had many exotic pets, including a bear (Jonathan Edwards, later sent to a zoo), a hyena (Bill, a gift from the emperor of Ethiopia), and a lion.

- Roosevelt died in his sleep from a pulmonary embolism, leading then-Vice president Thomas Marshall to deliver the following famous eulogy: "Death had to take Roosevelt sleeping, for if he had been awake, there would have been a fight."

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American cartoonist Don Martin died on this day 25 years ago, aged 68.

 

[Drewsky1211 4,894]

Emperor Hirohito died on this day 36 years ago, aged 87.

- Hirohito was the son of Emperor Taisho (AKA Yoshihito). In 1921 he would embark on a tour of Europe, well-received by many but to the chagrin of the isolationist Japanese government. In 1923, Hirohito was the target of an assassination attempt by a communist who wanted to avenge the anarchist Kōtoku Shūsui.

- Hirohito became the emperor of Japan in December 1926, and his early reign was best known for the Japanese invasion of China (including the Rape of Nanking) and World War II. Hirohito would not surrender following the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki- rather he would do so after the Soviet Union declared war on Japan. While some viewed him as a war criminal due to his commanding of the Japanese war effort, it would be agreed that Hirohito could remain in power only as a constitutional monarch and give up his claims to divinity. He would also distance himself from allegations of war crimes by boycotting visiting the Yasukuni Shrine starting in 1978, and his successors have also never visited.

- Thirty years after the war's end, Hirohito would make a highly-publicized visit to the United States, meeting with then-president Gerald Ford and visiting Disneyland:

(Disney made the anti-Japanese war film Commando Duck in 1944.)

- Hirohito was also a marine biologist (his son also shares this interest), and would discover several species of hydrozoans.

- Hirohito was diagnosed with intestinal cancer in 1987, and died after a little over a year with the disease from recurring internal bleeding. He reigned for 62 years, and his death was the first (and currently only) death of a Japanese emperor to be reported on TV:

He was succeeded by his son Akihito, and was posthumously named 'Emperor Showa'.

[The Ashes Urn 1,368]

Canadian-American professional football player Bronko Nagurski died on this day 35 years ago, aged 81.