Death Anniversary Thread

[Drewsky1211 4,731]

Larry King died on this day 2 years ago, aged 87.

King was born as Lawrence Zeiger- he changed his name when his first broadcast manager claimed his last name was "too difficult to remember". His first celebrity interview was with Bobby Darin.

 

King began to host The Larry King Show beginning in 1978, which was broadcast over the radio until 1994. His television series- what he was best known for- ran from 1985 to 2010, and it was CNN's most-viewed show. Among the highlights of its over 6000 episodes include a debate between Al Gore and Ross Perot over NAFTA, interviewing Vladimir Putin in 2000, and Tammy Faye Messner appearing on his show the day before she died.

 

In the 2000s, King would often become a guest voice in films and shows, usually as himself:

Besides the clip provided, other instances include Ghostbusters, episodes of Arthur, Gravity Falls, and The Simpsons, and in a case where he didn't cameo as himself, Doris the Ugly Stepsister in Shrek 2.

 

King had a history of bad health. He had a major heart attack in 1987 that required a quintuple bypass surgery, likely due to decades of excessive smoking. In 2017, he was diagnosed with lung cancer, with the tumor being successfully removed. King was put on the 2019 DeathList, and during that year, he suffered a stroke that left him comatose. King died from sepsis related to a COVID infection.

[The Ashes Urn 1,355]

American-born Greek businessman Alexander Onassis died on this day 50 years ago, aged 24.

 

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On this day 40 years ago  in 1983, former England and Northamptonshire cricketer  Fred Bakewell  died aged 74.

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Rebecca Latimer Felton died on this day 93 years ago, aged 94.

Latimer was the first female US Senator. In September of 1922, incumbent Georgia senator Thomas Watson died, and governor Thomas Hardwick appointed her as a lame duck- this was done to sway the new female voting demographic in his favor, as Latimer had been a notable suffragette. Felton was only in office for one day before her successor (Walter George) was sworn in.

 

Despite this achievement, and her involvement in the feminist movement, Latimer was horrifyingly racist- and the last politician in Congress to have owned slaves. In 1898, she gave a speech supporting the lynching of Black men- in 1899, a man named Sam Hose was lynched, and Latimer felt no sympathy. She was also against giving African-Americans voting rights, calling Black people seeking equal treatment "half-civilized gorillas."

 

Felton was interviewed on film less than a year before she died.

 

[The Ashes Urn 1,355]

American film director and film producer George Cukor died on this day 40 years ago, aged 83.

 

[Hell 1,334]

British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 and during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955 Winston Churchill died on this day 58 years ago, aged 90.

 

[Summer in Transylvania 2,173]

30 minutes ago, Hell said:

British statesman, soldier, and writer who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom twice, from 1940 to 1945 and during the Second World War, and again from 1951 to 1955 Winston Churchill died on this day 58 years ago, aged 90.

 

Lord Randolph Churchill, Tory statesman and father of the above, died on this day 128 years ago, aged 45.

 

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On this day 31 years ago in 1992 , american model and jewellery designer Tina Chow, who was considered a fashion icon of the 1970s and 1980s,  died aged 41 from AIDS. 

[Drewsky1211 4,731]

John Hurt died on this day 6 years ago, aged 77.

Hurt started off on television, with his career culminating in the late 1970s with TV films such as The Naked Civil Servant and I, Claudius earning him acclaim. In 1978, he starred in Midnight Express, for which he was nominated for an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor.

 

In 1979, Hurt was cast as the astronaut Gilbert Kane, the first of the Xenomorph's victims. He would parodically reprise this role in Mel Brooks' Spaceballs in 1987.

 

In 1980, Hurt would star as Joseph Merrick in the biographical film The Elephant Man, earning him another Oscar nomination. He starred as Winston Smith in the 1984 adaptation of 1984.

 

Hurt also did voice work, such as Snitter in The Plague Dogs, The Horned King in The Black Cauldron (below), and Mr. Mole in Don Bluth's Thumbelina.

 

In the 2000s, he was known for his role as Mr. Ollivander in the Harry Potter movies, and High Chancellor Adam Sutler in V for Vendetta (Winston's actor ended up playing Big Brother).

 

Hurt was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in 2015, and died three days after his 77th birthday.

[Summer in Transylvania 2,173]

Comedian and I'm Sorry, I haven't a Clue regular Barry Cryer died on this day 1 year ago, aged 86.

[Hell 1,334]

American gangster and businessman who attained notoriety during the Prohibition era as the co-founder and boss of the Chicago Outfit Al Capone died on this day 76 years ago, aged 48.

 

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On this day 5 years ago in 2018 ,american composer for film, television and Broadway 

John Morris , died aged 91.

He worked with Mel Brooks and Gene Wilder.

[John "요한" Sulu 419]

On this day 33 years ago, American actress Ava Gardner, who starred in the movies "Mogambo" and "The Barefoot Contessa", passed away at the age of 67.

[John "요한" Sulu 419]

On this day 63 years ago, American actress and autobiographer Diana Barrymore, who starred in the movie "Too Much, Too Soon", passed away at the age of 38.

[Drewsky1211 4,731]

Abe Vigoda died on this day 7 years ago, aged 94.

Vigoda starred as Sal Tessio (the capo who betrays the Corleones) in The Godfather, and then as Phil Fish on Barney Miller. Fish's popularity on the show caused a spinoff- Fish- to be created, running from 1977 to 1978.

 

Vigoda was also known for erroneous reports of his death. The first of these came from a 1982 issue of People magazine, and in response he took a photograph of himself in a coffin holding the publication.

Another occurred in 1987 on a New Jersey news station, with the reporter retracting their claim the next day. In 2001, a website was launched whose only purpose was to tell people his status- when he did die in 2016, they put X's over their picture of Abe (the same one at the top).

 

Vigoda starred in a 2010 Super Bowl ad with Betty White for Snickers.

 

Vigoda appeared on the DeathList three times- 2007, 2014, and 2016. Also his obit picture is missing- here's a copy of it from the Internet Archive.

 

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On this day six years ago in 2017,  american actress  Barbara Hale died aged 94.

 

Barbara was best known for playing Perry Masons legal secretary  Della Street throughout the series/tv movies long run over decades. 

Although before her time playing alongside Raymond Burr in Perry Mason, Barbara also starred in a number of movies,  starting during the  1940s  and so was part of the golden age of Hollywood. 

Movies included,  Lady Luck (1946), The Boy with green hair, The Oklahoman (1957) and The Lone hand (1953) opposite Joel McCrea.

 

 

[Hell 1,334]

American businessman and politician who served as the 41st vice president of the United States from 1974 to 1977 Nelson Rockefeller died on this day 44 years ago, aged 70.

 

[John "요한" Sulu 419]

On this day 33 years ago, American historian, sociologist, philosopher of technology, and literary critic Lewis Mumford, who was known for his study of cities and urban architecture, passed away at the age of 94.

 

Credit to Primitivojumento for the image used on this post.

[Drewsky1211 4,731]

Sir Francis Drake died on this day 427 years ago, aged 56.

Drake had quite a notorious start- he was a slave trader in the 1560s, and would go as far as raiding Portuguese slave ships and selling the Africans onboard. In 1575, he was one of the leaders of the Rathlin Island massacre, which saw the murder of 400 civilians.

 

After a successful raid against Spanish silver organizations in Panama in 1573, Queen Elizabeth I commissioned him to start an expedition against the Spanish on the Pacific coast. Drake and his fleet left England in 1577 and straddled the South American coast before sailing as far north as modern-day Oregon. After the expedition ended in 1579, Drake became stranded in the Spice Islands after getting caught on a reef, before getting assistance from the Sultan of Ternate and from there, sailed around Africa. Drake and his surviving crewmates returned to England in September 1580. For this, he was knighted.

 

Drake entered politics, and was elected to Parliament in 1581, 1584, and 1593. He would visit the (soon-to-disappear) Roanoke colony in North Carolina in 1587.

 

In 1588, Drake's most well-remembered mission against the Spanish Armada occurred. In 1589, a counterattack by England was initiated with Drake again at the helm- this was a catastrophe that resulted in the deaths of 12,000 English sailors, and Drake was demoted.

 

Drake led another assault on Panama in late 1595, where he suffered another defeat to the Spanish. Drake died of dysentery before he could return home.

 

To the Spanish, Drake was considered to be a pirate known as "El Draque"- "The Dragon" (fitting considering his last name). He plundered the equivalent of over $144M (in 2021 money) from them.

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Its 11 years since the death of composer Ted Dicks, aged 83.

 

(Picture by Adrian Bailey, via The Guardian)

 

His best known works came as a result of a collaboration with lyricist Myles Rudge, including the hit songs Right, Said Fred & Hole In The Ground, performed by Bernard Cribbins, and the Ivor Novello-award winning A Windmill in Old Amsterdam, performed by Ronnie Hilton. He also wrote scripts for TV, including episodes for Crossroads and Compact, and film and TV scores, including the theme to children's TV favourite Catweazle, brought to you with the magic of electrickery.

 

 

 

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American author best known for his 1951 novel The Catcher in the Rye J. D. Salinger died on this day 13 years ago, aged 91.

 

 

Swedish billionaire business magnate best known for founding IKEA, a multinational retail company specialising in furniture Ingvar Kamprad died on this day 5 years ago, aged 91.
 

 

Indonesian army officer and politician, who served as the second and the longest serving president of Indonesia Suharto died on this day 15 years ago, aged 86.

 

[Sir Creep 7,070]

On this date 150 years ago, John Hart died, age 63.

He was the 10th Premier of South Australia.

 

On this date 70 years ago, James Scullin died, age 76.

He was the 9th Prime Minister of Australia.

 

On this date 40 years ago, Frank Forde died, age 92.

He was the 15th Prime Minister of Australia.

[Drewsky1211 4,731]

Charlemagne died of this day 1209 years ago, aged 66.

Charlemagne was the son of Pepin "the Short", ruler of Francia. When he died in 768, Charles (as he was called at the time) and his older brother Carloman I ruled jointly, before Carloman died three years later. Charlemagne would vastly expand his empire, starting by attacking the Lombards, Saxons, and the European land of the Abbasid Caliphate. He would often subjugate the people he conquered by forcing their conversion to Christianity- they would be killed if they resisted. By the time of his death in 814, it had spread as far north as the German-Danish border, as far south as Rome, and as far east as Hungary. In 799, Pope Leo III sought refuge with Charlemagne after being attacked. On Christmas Day 800, Leo crowned him as "Emperor of the Romans" (despite the Byzantine Empire still going strong).

 

Charlemagne would crown his son Louis "the Pious" as co-emperor in 813, and died from pleurisy early the next year.

 

Charlemagne is known as the "Father of Europe" for uniting most of western Europe since the fall of the Western Roman Empire in 476. He is also called this because he is virtually an ancestor to any living person of European descent.

[Hell 1,334]

Swedish writer of fiction and screenplays Astrid Lindgren 21 years ago, aged 94.

 

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Liverpool born singer, musician and songwriter Billy Fury died aged just 42 from a heart attack on this day 40 years ago in 1983.Rheumatic fever as a child is thought to have been a significant contributing factor in weakening his heart.

His many hit songs  include Halfway to paradise,  Wondrous place and its only make believe.