Parish - The Hollywood book of death: the bizarre, often sordid, passings of more than 125 American movie and TV idols

Copyright 2002 by James Robert Parish. All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the United States Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced or distributed in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

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In memory of Kelly and UnderdogThe Wonder Animals

Contents

Acknowledgments

Academy of Dance on Film (Larry Billman), Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences: Margaret Herrick Library, Archive Photos (Kathy Lavelle), Ernest Cunningham, Michael Danahy (writer/producer of Mysteries Scandals: Sal Mineo), Allan Ellenberger, Richard K. Hayes, Hollywood Film Archive (Richard Baer), Jani Klain, JC Archives (John Cocchi), Alvin H. Marill, Lee Mattson, Doug McClelland, Jim Meyer, Alfred L. Ortega, Photofest (Howard Mandelbaum, Rick Goeren, Harry Schultz), Michael R. Pitts, Brenda Scott Royce, Arleen Schwartz, Andr Soares, Dot Stenning, Allan Taylor (editorial consultant), Vincent Terrace.

Special thanks to my agent, Stuart Bernstein, and to my editor, Matthew Carnicelli.

Introduction

When entertainers are at their professional peak and everyone is clamoring to see them perform, we are eager to learn everything there is to know (and then some) about these hot celebrities. The media willingly obliges by digging up detailsminute or momentousof where the future stars were born, how they grew up, what their likes and dislikes are, whom they have been or are married to, and what their children, if any, are like. No detail is too small for our consumption. Our way of paying homage is to learn as much as possible about the existence of these idols, both before and after they became larger than life.

Even after show-business fame eventually passes, former notables frequently crop up in the news. This often occurs when some milestone has been reached, such as their attainment of old age, or when one of their old hit movies or TV series is being remade for a new generation, or they suddenly reappear for an unexpected career comeback. Usually, that is the last we hear of these former VIPs, who once meant so much to so many people. Then, abruptly, a news item (large or small) announces that the show-business veteran is dying or has passed away.

If these former luminaries were famous enough in their heyday, or the manner of their death was unique, then it is likely that the media will cover the event. For a few days, they become prominent once again, as details of their professional and private lives are paraded forth as human interest stories. But if the celebrities in question have been out of the limelight for a long time, or if their previous fame was limited to a small group of enthusiasts, their deaths are generally only remarked upon in an industry trade paper, such as the Daily Variety or the Hollywood Reporter, and sometimes not even there.

But wanting to learn more about the death of a movie or TV personalityincluding how the person died and where he or she is buriedis not just morbid fascination. This process provides closure to our once-devoted interest in their lives. As we would about family or friends, we have an interest in how these celebrities final days were spent, what their funerals were like, and where they are buried (or their ashes scattered). Acquiring such information may be idle curiosity, even of a morbid sort, by some peoples standards; but for others it is just something we want to know about someone who was important to us. Having enjoyed their creativity on the big or small screen, we want to ascertain when, where, and how they died so we can pay our own form of final respect to them. Perhaps knowing where they are buried gives us a way to say goodbye to persons who filled an important place in our lives. It might even provide inspiration for future trips to visit their gravesites in order to offer our personal respects.

In The Hollywood Book of Death, my goal has been to provide you with birth, death, and burial site information for a great many American performers and directors who have passed away over the last century. For some of these notables, whose deaths were especially strange, sad, or evenunfortunatelybrutal, I have provided individual mini-biographies. Each biography presents details about their time in the limelight, their private lives, and the way they coped with fame, so that you can remember how the stars of Hollywood lived, as well as how they died.