Death Anniversary Thread

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On this day in 2017,  Hugh Hefner the  american founder,   publisher and editor in chief of  Playboy  Magazine,  died aged 91.

   His  residence , known as the Playboy  mansion ,were many a young aspiring model lived as part of a sort of harem of his favourite  models-known as Playboy bunnies, became synonymous  with Hollywood excess and debauchery. 

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Pope Urban VII died on this day 432 years ago, aged 69.

Born as Giovanni Castagna,  he was appointed as the archbishop of Rossano in 1553. He was also a politician- the governor of Fano, Perugia, and Umbria, the latter two at the same time. Castagna was one of the participants of the ecumenical Council of Trent. In 1583, Pope Gregory XIII appointed Castagna as a cardinal.

 

Pope Sixtus V died in late August of 1590, and Castagna was elected pope on September 15, taking the name Urban VII. He instituted the first known public smoking ban by threatening to excommunicate those who brought tobacco into church.

 

Just 13 days into his papacy, Urban died of malaria. He remains the shortest-reigning pope in history (pope-elect Stephen died two days after being elected in March of 752, but was never consecrated as a bishop, and thus is merely a pope-elect).

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American TV, film and stage actor Keith Prentice died on this day 30 years ago, aged 52.

 

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American actress who rose to stardom during the silent film era of the 1920s Clara Bow died on this day 57 years ago, aged 60.

 

 

American musician who was the bassist for heavy metal band Metallica from 1982 until his death in 1986 Cliff Burton died on this day 36 years ago, aged 24.

 

 

Czech-British actor who moved to the United Kingdom in 1939 Herbert Lom died on this day 10 years ago, aged 95.

 

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On this day in 2003 , America tennis player and professional golfer Althea Gibson  died aged 76 from a respiratory and bladder infection. 

 

She was one of the first black athletes to cross the color line or barrier in international tennis. 

In 1956 she was the first african American  to win a grand slams titl(The French Championships) and then went onto win the Wimbledon  Women's doubles  with Angela Buxton later that year and again in 1957 as well as the Wimbledon Women's singles in 1957 and the Australian championship Women's doubles with playing partner Shirley Fry.

She did feel that despite her early hopes that racism still held her back in tennis, with offers of tennis related work and invitations to events and tournaments  being incrrasingly sparse and work offered to players she had thrashed on the tennis court but not to her. 

She moved over to golf aged 37 and proved talented with some commenting that it was a shame Althea  hadn't started in the sport much earlier as she had the potential to be a breakout talent. 

In her personal life Althea married and divorced  twice  but no children . 

In the late 1980s she suffered two brain haemorrhages  and a stroke in 1992. Huge and ongoing medical expenses depleted her finances leaving her in peril.  She reached out to numerous tennis organisations and associations asking for help but received no response. 

Her former doubles partner Angela Buxton,  who herself at times had been on the receiving end of professional prejudice in the tennis world as a result of being jewish, spread the news to her personal contacts in the  global tennis community about Altheas plight  and organised 1 million dollars in donations. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2003 Gibson suffered a heart attack  but died from other medical complications later in the year leading to bladder and respiratory infections. 

 

 

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Wenceslaus I, Duke of Bohemia, died on this day 1087 years ago, aged 28.

Wenceslaus' father Vratislaus I of Bohemia died when he was 13 years old, and his grandmother Ludmilla became regent. His mother, Drahomira, however, was jealous of her influence on her son, and ordered her assassinated (Ludmilla was strangled in September of that year). Drahomira then became regent, but was exiled after a Christian rebellion against her- she had persecuted the group. Wencelsaus was an adult by this point and could reign on his own. In 935, Wenceslaus' brother Boleslaus assassinated him to seize the throne, having his assassins pin him to the ground and then stab him with a lance.

 

Wenceslaus was immediately considered a martyr, and legends regarding his charitable nature grew. He was later made a saint by the Roman Catholic church. Wenceslaus is the subject of the Christmas song "Good King Wenceslas", with the lyrics describing him and his page delivering alms to a peasant the day after Christmas, with the page nearly giving up on their journey due to the cold.

 

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English musician and vocalist Rory Storm died on this day 50 years ago, aged 34.

 

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Mexican singer and actor José José died on this day 3 years ago, aged 71.

 

 

Filipino politician, lawyer, dictator, and kleptocrat who was the 10th president of the Philippines from 1965 to 1986 Ferdinand Marcos died on this day 33 years ago, aged 72.

 

 

Canadian lawyer and politician who served as the 15th prime minister of Canada from 1968 to 1979 and from 1980 to 1984 Pierre Trudeau died on this day 22 years ago, aged 80.

 

 

head of the Catholic Church and sovereign of the Vatican City from 26 August 1978 to his death 33 days later Pope John Paul I died on this day 44 years ago, aged 65.

 

 

Israeli politician who served as the eighth prime minister of Israel from 1984 to 1986 and from 1995 to 1995 and as the ninth president of Israel from 2007 to 2014 Shimon Peres died on this day 6 years ago, aged 93.

 

 

American film and theatre director, producer, screenwriter and actor Elia Kazan died on this day 19 years ago, aged 94.

 

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On this day 12 years ago in 2010 American actor Tony Curtis ,whose career spanned six decades including part of  the latter stages   of the golden age of Hollywood,  died aged 85.

His first credited film role was in 'City across the river' in 1949- a film noir headlined by Thelma Ritter and Stephen McNally. 

But it wasn't really until 1957 when he starred in Sweet smell of success with Burt Lancaster and Susan Harrison,  that he started to receive much more widespread recognition. 

Other  films  he starred include No Room for the groom (1952),  Son of Ali Baba (1952) with Piper Laurie,  World War two drama  Kings go forth (1958) with Natalie Wood and Frank Sinatra,  Spartacus (1960) with Kirk Douglas-which included a bathing scene between them that was deemed too homoerotic by the film censors implementing the Hollywood code and was hence  heavily edited,  40 pounds of trouble 1962) with Suzanne  Pleshette ,Larry Storch and Phil Silvers , the legendary Billy Wilder  romantic comedy with Jack Lemmon, Nehemiah Persoff and of course Marilyn Monroe  .

Tony's career took a large dip in terms of the prominence of the roles he was offered  but many film critics agreed his casting as The Boston Strangler in 1968  gave his career and his resume a much deserved boost.

On later years career wise from the 1980s onwards bit parts in shows like The Fall guy ,Roseanne and  made for television movies became his  most regular work along with being interviewed by The Biography  Channel for anecdotes about  old Hollywood and magazine and broadcast interviews  eating up his very colourful ranconteuring skills on anything connected to his era in Hollywood. 

 

 

 

 

For a while he was part of a Hollywood power couple-marrying  Janet Leigh and fathering two daughters with her including actress  Jamie Lee  Curtis .

He married six times in total, one marriage  in 1993 only lasting one year. His final wife Jill Vandenberg was 45 years younger than him .

Sadly one of his sons, Nicholas,  died of a drugs overdose aged 23 in 1994.

Tony himself previously struggled with alcoholism and cocaine addiction and was treated at the Betty Ford clinic.

 

In his last photoshoot , in very poor health (COPD) and perhaps sensing the end was near, he asked photographer  Andy Gotts for a photoshoot at home and said "I'm not in a good way at the moment but can I ask you one thing? Can you make me look like an icon just one more time?

 

Less than six months before his death he rewrote his will and specifically named all of his children for the apparent specific purpose of intentionally  disinheritaning all of them with no explanation and leaving his entire estate to his  widow. 

 

Random  fact he  clashed heavily with Joan Collins when  filming  the tv series The Persuaders  and called her a see you next Tuesday to her face after she allegedly  held up filming repeatedly.  He shocked the audience at the Hay Festival in 2009 when he recounted this tale full colourful language included !

It is a tale Joan Collins repeats herself with some variation in her Audience with Joan Collins theatre shows as I witnessed myself once!!

 

 

 

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Charles Addams died on this day 34 years ago, aged 76.

Addams enjoyed visiting his local cemetery as a child, which is where his macabre humor came from. In 1932, Addams joined the New Yorker magazine as a cartoonist.

 

In 1938, the first of his most famous work of all was printed in the paper- the first single-panel Addams Family comic strip. He would draw a total of 58 of them for the paper in the next 50 years, with the majority of them appearing in the '40s and '50s.

 

In 1964, his comics were adapted into a successful television series starring John Astin, Carolyn Jones, and Jackie Coogan as Gomez Addams, Morticia Addams, and Uncle Fester- the characters were unnamed in his comics, until Addams gave them some when the TV producer asked him to flesh them out. It ran until 1966, and its theme song is one of the most well-recognized of all time.

The series would also have several film adaptations made after Charles' death, most recently a series of animated films by MGM.

 

Addams died of a heart attack, and held a wake without a funeral, and was cremated His ashes were interred in the pet cemetery at his home.

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American businessman in the automotive industry Henry Ford II died on this day 35 years ago, aged 70.

 

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Its 30 years since the death of actor, singer & songwriter Paul Jabara. A New Yorker, he began his career as an original cast member off-Broadway in Hair before moving to Broadway proper, played Herod in the original West End production of Jesus Christ Superstar. He took over the role of Frank N. Furter from Tim Curry for the LA production of The Rocky Horror Show. On screen he appeared in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy and The Day of The Locust (See below), amongst others, as well as numerous TV roles.

 

His biggest successes were as a songwriter, winning a Grammy, a Golden Globe & an Oscar for the Donna Summer hit "Last Dance", for the film Thank God its Friday! Other songwriting successes included the Donna Summer/Barbra Steisand duet No More Tears (Enough is Enough) and The Weathergirls It's Raining Men, and songs for Bette Midler and Diana Ross.

 

Jabara died in LA aged 44, from complications of AIDS.

 

 

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American pop artist Roy Lichtenstein died on this day 25 years ago, aged 73.

 

 

American football player and coach Ed Sherman died on this day 13 years ago, aged 97.

 

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On this day 41 years ago in 1981, former Scottish footballer player Bill Shankly, who played for Scotlands  national team as well as Preston North end,  but is best known  for his time  as the manager of Liverpool Football club,  died aged 68.

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On this day  in 1955 the legendary American actor James Dean died in a car crash aged just 24.

Despite only starring in eight movies  he has in his early sad death become a cultural icon and symbol of teenage rebellion and disenchantment with the world.  His extremely handsome model looks no doubt played a part. 

He was the first actor to receive a  posthumous  Oscar nomination for best actor. This was for his role in East of Eden.The following year he received another posthumous acting nomination  for his role in Giant (1956) released after his death. This gives him the unusual and almost certainly forever unique  status of bring the only person ever to receive two Oscar nominations for acting posthumously. 

His eight films are -although five of them are roles uncredited at the time ,  Fixed Bayonets (1951), Sailor Beware (1952) , Deadline-USA (1952) , Has anybody seen my gal? (1952) , Trouble along the way (1953) (A John Wayne's/Donna Reed film)

 

East of Eden (1955) Giant (1956) and of course most  famously  Rebel without a cause.

 

 

 

According to some subsequent  biographies  of Dean or other Hollywood star were he is referenced, he dated actress and future Bond Girl Ursula Andress  . She was seen around Hollywood  on the back of his motorcycle and was with him the day  he purchased  the car he would later die in.

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Monty Hall died on this day 5 years ago, aged 96.

Born in Canada, Hall was a radio broadcaster, and would move the the US in 1955. Hall would soon host game shows on both radio and television.

 

In 1963, Hall began to host Let's Make a Deal, and would remain as its host until 1986. He would then sporadically host until its original cancellation in 1991. One of the episodes had three prizes hidden behind doors- namely two goats and a car, and opened another door with one of the goats after the initial selection. One viewer asked a mathematician how to know which door to choose. This problem is now known as the "Monty Hall problem", and I've provided a diagram of the problem below:

 

After Let's Make a Deal, Hall would appear on many charity telethons, which combined raised a total of nearly $1 billion.

 

Hall died a little under four months after his wife did- they had been married for just under 70 years.

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American-English politician and newspaper proprietor Waldorf Astor, 2nd Viscount Astor died on this day 70 years ago, aged 73.

 

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Its 48 years since the assassination of Carlos Parts & his wife Sofia Cuthbert.

 

Prats had been Commander-in-Chief of the Chilean Army, and also a minister in Salvador' Allende's government, until resigning amidst unrest. His second-in-command , Augusto Pinochet, who was thought to be loyal to Allende, and also recommended by Prats, was made C-in-C. This appointment removed any obstruction to a military coup and Allende was subsequently ousted. Immediately following the coup. Prats and Cuthbert exiled themselves to Argentina. Barely a year later, both were killed by a car bomb after leaving their apartment in Buenos Aires.

 

It was later learnt that the bomb was the work of the Dirección de Inteligencia Nacional, the Chilean Secret Police, as part of Operation Condor, the US-backed campaign to remove opposition to right-wing governments in South America.

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On this day three years ago in 2019 Liverpool born british journalist,  broadcaster and News Presenter Peter Sissons  died aged 77.

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Tom Clancy died on this day 9 years ago, aged 66.

In 1984, Clancy published his debut novel, The Hunt for Red October, about a Soviet submarine captain going rogue and trying to defect to the United States. This novel also introduced his most famous character, Jack Ryan. It was adapted into a successful film in 1990, starring Sean Connery and Alec Baldwin. Clancy would write other best-selling novels in the '80s, such as Patriot Games and Clear and Present Danger.

 

Beginning in 1998, Clancy would lend his name to several video game franchises such as Rainbow Six, Ghost Recon, and Splinter Cell.

 

Clancy died of heart failure about five years after suffering a heart attack.

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Franco-Armenian singer, lyricist, actor and diplomat Charles Aznavour died on this day 4 years ago, aged 94.

 

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American engineer, inventor and patent holder Jerome H. Lemelson died on this day 25 years ago, aged 74.

 

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On this day in 2007 american athlete  Al Oerter , four time Olympic gold medallist in the  discus throw,  died aged 71.

 

He was the first person to win an Olympic Gold consecutively four times for the same event. His Olympic success was at the Olympics in 1956,1960,1964 and 1968.

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On this day 37 years ago in 1985, legendary Hollywood hearthrob and  star of Hollywoods  golden age, Rock Hudson died as a result of AIDS complications aged 59. He was one of the earliest big name stars known  to have been diagnosed with HIV and die from it.

 

Now famously known to have closeted in arss tolerant era, boarding in fake romances with ladies set up by Hollywood studios and agents to both avoid suspicion about his personal life and promote his wholesome nice guy/ boy next door image. A threat by then influential gossip and scandal magazine Confidential to publish details of Rocks homosexual love life was stalled by his agent Willson  who rather ruthlessly cut a deal with the magazine to not publish the information in exchange for detailed information on two of his other clients- Tab Hunter and Rory   Calhoun. At the time in 1955 Rock was on his way to being one of the eras most bankable and popular leading men so it was decided he must be protected. 

He even married Phyliss Gates, his agent Henry Willsons secretary but she has always maintained they married for love and she never remarried after their divorce.

 

Many of his close female friends in Hollywood like Audrey Hepburn,  Susan Saint James, Elizabeth Taylor, Julie Andrew's and Carol Burnett  said they knew of his homosexuality for years and as good friends kept his secret and respected his privacy. 

 

 

Among his films were  All that heaven allows (1955) Directed by Douglas Sirk and starring  Jane Wyman,  Lovers come back(1961), Send me no flowers 1964) and  Pillow talk(1959) were hugely succesful onscreen pairings with Doris Day,  Something of value (1957) with Dana Wynter and Sidney Poitier,  Captain Lightfoot (1955) with Barbara Rush,  A fine pair (1968) opposite Claudia Cardinale and The Undefeated (1969) with John Wayne's. 

Looking through his filmography I am a bit pleasantly surprised how many of his costar like Barbara Rush are still with us.

 

He was friends with US  President Reagan and his wife Nancy and was present at a White House state dinner with them less than three weeks before his HIV diagnosis (pictured above) . The friendship however did not translate into much softening of the administrations policies on the AIDS epidemic in the early days of the crisis.

 

Rock Hudsons last role was in primetime soap Dynasty  were he played Daniel Reece,   the biological father of Heather Locklears character  Sammy Jo for 9 episodes..

There was some controversy regarding his role on Dynasty after his diagnosis was made public  because Rock had  some long kissing scenes with Linda  Evans and the Screen actors guild introduced a rule  that any actors involved in open mouthed kissing scenes with a HIV positive  actor be informed in advance and have the right to refuse to do those scenes .

 

Shortly before his death Rock made a quarter of a million dollar donation to an AIDS research foundation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Random fact -US singer and actor Pat Boone  visited  Rock Hudson a week before he died with a pentecostal prayer  group despite Rock previously rejecting belief in God.