Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

By Paul Donnelley

Fade To Black chronicles the lives and deaths of more than 1,200 movie personalities. Included are not just the big stars but a wealth of important characters from the history of film. Some achieved world fame or great power. Some were consigned to obscurity after one scandal too many. Others hid dark secrets that would only emerge after their deaths.

Amongst the names featured in this updated, enlarged edition are Marlon Brando, Bob Hope, President Ronald Reagan, Gregory Peck, Janet Leigh, Christopher Reeve plus a host of stars from the golden age of Hollywood, whose work is being rediscovered on satellite television and DVDs.

For better or worse they are all here, the villains and the heroes side by side, all made equal at last by the final fade to black.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Omnibus Press
• Release date: Dec 15, 2009
• ISBN: 9780857120670

Book preview

Kirkby.

A

Aaliyah

Born January 16, 1979

Died August 25, 2001

Promise unfulfilled. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Aaliyah Dana Haughton was a promising R &B singer and actress whose life was cut tragically short. At the age of 14 she released her first album Nothing But A Number from which she released the hit singles ‘Back And Forth’ and ‘Try Again’ which earned her a Grammy nomination. She graduated from the Detroit High School for the Fine and Performing Arts. She made her movie début in the hip-hop kung fu film Romeo Must Die (2000) playing Trish O’Day (for which she also wrote and sang some of the songs) and The Queen Of The Damned (2002) as Queen Akasha. There were unsubstantiated rumours that she was married to the singer R. Kelly. In 2000 she said, I don’t know what’s going to happen in the next five or ten years. At some point I’d like to have a family and settle down, but I don’t see that happening for a long time because I love [performing]. This is my life, my world.

CAUSE: Aaliyah died in an aeroplane crash. She had been filming in the Bahamas and was flying back to America when the overloaded plane crashed into Marsh Harbour, Abaco Island. She was only 22.

Angela Aames

Born February 27, 1956

Died November 27, 1988

Tragic beauty. Born in Pierre, South Dakota, Angela Aames, like many before her, began acting in school plays. After graduating from the University of South Dakota she moved to Hollywood in 1978 in search of fame and fortune. She made her film début playing a nude Little Bo Peep in the film Fairy Tales (1978). Next was the teen flick H.O.T.S. (1979) in which she portrayed Linda ‘Boom-Boom’ Bang, baring her breasts in several scenes. In the early Eighties she landed a job on Los Angeles’ Channel 11 as their ‘Bedtime Movie Girl’ presenting the films wearing skimpy outfits. Many of her film parts relied on her bosomy appearance and she doffed her duds in several movies. Her other films included a topless appearance in All The Marbles (1981) as Louise, Scarface (1983), Bachelor Party (1984) as Mrs Klupner, a nude scene in The Lost Empire (1985) as Heather McClure, a topless appearance in Basic Training as Cheryl and Chopping Mall as Miss Vanders. She also appeared on a number of TV shows, including Cheers, The Fall Guy, Alice and Night Court. Her last role was as Penny, a fitness instructor on The Dom DeLuise Show in 1987, a year before her untimely death. She was married to but separated from Mark Haughland and was living with a female room-mate, Rasa Banja. CAUSE: Heart disease. Aames was found dead on the bedroom floor of a house in West Hills, San Fernando Valley. At her inquest the coroner said her death was the result of a deterioration of the heart muscle, possibly caused by a virus. However, a friend believed she died of heart failure brought on in part by diet pills she popped to stay Hollywood thin. Angela had trouble staying slim, the friend revealed, and she needed to stay that way if she was going to get another acting job. She was always up and down in weight, and like a lot of actors, she depended heavily on diet pills to kill her appetite. Her mother, Lillian Tlustos, raged, Angela was obsessed with being a movie star and it killed her. She lived for Hollywood and Hollywood killed her. I know she would have been alive if she hadn’t gone there. Her room-mate Banja revealed, She had been sick but everyone thought it was just the flu. It’s tragic because Angela seemed like such a strong person – the kind you expect to take Hollywood by storm. She was just 32 years old.

John Aasen

Born 1887

Died August 1, 1938

Giant among men. Norwegian-born Aasen stood 7́ 2˝ and so not surprisingly worked for a time as a circus giant. He even played a circus giant in Growing Pains (1928). His best-known film appearances were playing as Colosso opposite Harold Lloyd in Why Worry? (1923) and with Laurel & Hardy in Should Married Men Go Home? (1928) in which he played a giant golfer.

CAUSE: Like many of extreme growth, Aasen suffered from poor health. He died in Mendocino, California aged 51.

Abbott & Costello

(WILLIAM ALEXANDER ABBOTT)

Born October 2, 1895

Died April 24, 1974

(LOUIS FRANCIS CRISTILLO)

Born March 6, 1906

Died March 3, 1959

The poor man’s Laurel & Hardy. Unlike Stan and Ollie, tall, thin Bud Abbott and short (5́ 5˝), fat Lou Costello were never great friends and Costello, for a time, wanted his name to come first in their billing. (Universal Studios refused to countenance the change to Costello & Abbott.) He also insisted on, and got, 60% of the money earned by the pair. Both had hair loss problems, as producer Sheldon Leonard revealed: Bud wore a toupée and Lou used to blacken his scalp because his hair was very thin – unlike the rest of him. Bud Abbott was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey, the son of the Lutheran Harry Abbott, Sr, a publicity man for Barnum & Bailey’s Circus, and Jewish Rae Fisher, a bareback rider for the same outfit. Not long after their son’s birth the Abbotts left the circus and moved to Coney Island where Harry Abbott set about organising the first burlesque touring circuit. In 1911 young Bud became an assistant treasurer of the Casino Burlesque theatre in Brooklyn where he was to meet dancer Betty Smith (née Jenny Mae Pratt). They married in Alexandria, Virginia, on September 17, 1918, and had a very happy marriage. They adopted two children – Frank James in 1944, and Rae Victoria five years later. Abbott would often watch acts from the wings critiquing them until his wife could stand it no more and insisted he give it a go himself. She became the comedian to his straight man – as Bud & Betty Abbott – but quickly found herself pushed to one side after a number of other successful comics expressed an interest in standing at Bud’s side. In 1936 he was partnering Harry Evanson at the Eltinge Theater on New York’s West 42nd Street. Also on the bill was another double act – Joe Lyons and Lou Costello. It wasn’t the first time the two men had met (that date is lost in the mists of time) but it was the first time they were able to become properly acquainted. Lou Costello was born at 14 Madison Street, Paterson, New Jersey, the younger son of three children. The family originally hailed from Caserta, Italy, and Costello’s grandfather was the local chief of police; one of his aunts joined a closed order. His father, Sebastian Cristillo, considered the priesthood at one point, but instead chose to emigrate to New Jersey in 1898. From the age of four Lou wanted to go into show business and bunked off school to go to the pictures, much to his father’s annoyance. Lou’s admiration for Charlie Chaplin encouraged him to become a comedian rather than a straight actor. In fact, one Halloween he won a prize for his impersonation of Chaplin. Like many entertainers before and since, Lou didn’t excel academically at school, although he was skilled at baseball, basketball and boxing. He would often find himself in detention, having to write I’m a bad boy over and over on the blackboard. It was a phrase that would return later in his life as a performer. In 1927 he set out for Hollywood, hitchhiking along the way. Arriving in Tinseltown, Lou landed a job as a general handyman at MGM, sleeping in cars until he had enough money to rent a flat. When he did find somewhere he lived on bread and jam for a month so he could afford to have the gas and electricity switched on. His first appearance before the cameras was as a stunt double for Dolores Del Rio in Trails Of ’98 (1928) after the real stuntman failed to show. He appeared in several other films before being advised to go to New York and learn his trade, advice he followed. However, his money ran out in St Joseph, Missouri, and he landed a job as a comic at a burlesque theatre paying $16 a week. After a year he headed for New York, by now calling himself Lou Costello. He began working burlesque theatres in New York and met a Glasgow-born dancer called Anne Battler whom he married in Boston on January 30, 1934. Like the Abbotts, the Costellos were to have a very happy marriage. They were to have four children: Patricia Ann ‘Paddy’ (b. Providence, Rhode Island, September 28, 1936); Carole Lou (b. Providence, Rhode Island, December 23, 1939); Louis Francis Jr, known as ‘Butch’ (b. Los Angeles, California, November 6, 1942, d. November 4, 1943 in a drowning accident) and Christine (b. Los Angeles, California, August 15, 1947). Abbott and Costello began working the burlesque circuit until the theatres were all closed on May 3, 1937, by order of New York Mayor LaGuardia who felt the houses gave the Big Apple a bad name. Moving to the Apollo Theater on 42nd Street, the pair perfected some of their most famous routines, including ‘Crazy House’, ‘The Lemon Bit’ and, best known of all, ‘Who’s On First’. In 1938 the duo began appearing on radio turning a ten-minute guest spot on the Kate Smith Show into a regular appearance for the next 18 months. When they left the show, Abbott & Costello were raking in $1,250 per week. In 1941 they landed their own show. Hollywood took note and MGM offered no less than $20,000 for a couple of guest slots in the big musicals. Costello refused, not wanting to play second fiddle to established names. While MGM decided whether or not to increase their offer, Universal jumped in and paid the pair $35,000 for what was to become their first feature, One Night In The Tropics (1940). The score for the film was written by Jerome Kern, who objected violently to the casting, but the final say was not his. The film starred Allan Jones and Nancy Kelly but it was Abbott & Costello who stole the movie. (Years later, Jones was furious when he saw a marquee advertising "Abbott & Costello in One Night In The Tropics ".) It was the duo’s second film, Buck Privates (1941), that established them as stars – it also grossed over $10 million at the box office, the biggest return Universal had then seen. Universal signed them to a seven-year contract making four films a year on $50,000 per movie plus 10 per cent of the profits. In their first year, Abbott & Costello banked a cool $1 million. Buck Privates had the twosome enlist in the army and is generally regarded to be their best film. It was filmed in 20 days and cost $180,000 to make. (A sequel, Buck Privates Come Home, was made in 1947.) In 1942 Costello fell ill with rheumatic fever, necessitating a nine-month lay-off. On set, Costello laughed and joked with the crew while Abbott retired, alone, to his dressing room. He drank heavily and suffered from epilepsy. If an attack started when the pair were on stage, Costello would thump Abbott hard in the stomach in an attempt to stop the epilepsy. (Unknowing audiences laughed at what they presumed to be a slapstick routine.) Following the accidental death of his baby son (for which he held his wife responsible) those closest to Costello detected a change in him. The war years saw most of the pair’s best work, such as In The Navy (1941), Hold That Ghost (1941) and Pardon My Sarong (1942) although their rivalry continued to simmer just below the surface. (Interestingly, around this time they took out an insurance policy in case any member of the audience died laughing.) In 1945 they split up for the first time, over the fact that Abbott hired a maid formerly employed by the Costello family. Eventually, their manager, Eddie Sherman, reunited the pair after explaining that they would be sued for millions. Costello begrudgingly agreed to reform the partnership but for a very long time afterwards he only spoke to Abbott in front of the cameras. When Abbott bought a house, Costello bought a larger one and when Abbott had a swimming pool installed, Costello’s was exactly one foot longer and one foot wider. Both men were to run into problems over tax in later years, having been given poor financial advice when younger. The two became friendly again when Costello founded the Lou Costello, Jr Youth Foundation. In the late Forties and Fifties Abbott & Costello began making films for different studios and starring opposite established actors, many best known for their horror roles, viz: Boris Karloff (Abbott & Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff [1949], Abbott & Costello Meet Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde [1953]), Charles Laughton (Abbott & Costello Meet Captain Kidd [1952]), Lon Chaney, Jr and Bela Lugosi (Abbott & Costello Meet Frankenstein [1948]), the Keystone Kops (Abbott & Costello Meet The Keystone Kops [1955]) and Marie Windsor (Abbott & Costello Meet The Mummy [1955]). On February 9, 1950, the McCarthy witch hunt for communists – real or imagined – began. Costello, a fervent Republican all his life, publicly supported the Wisconsin senator, believing there was a communist plot to take over the motion picture industry. He took petitions around the studios asking everyone he met to sign to confirm they were not communists or fellow travellers. John Grant, Abbott & Costello’s scriptwriter, refused to sign and never worked with them again. On December 5, 1952, the first episode of The Abbott & Costello Show aired, going on to become one of the most successful syndicated television shows in American history, despite being panned by the critics. Over two years, the boys made 52 episodes. On July 14, 1957, they finally split, Costello by now fed up by what he saw as the lack of recognition for comedians. He wanted to try more dramatic parts. It was said he was also disturbed by Abbott’s increasingly heavy drinking. Costello went on to make one more film The Thirty Foot Bride Of Candy Rock (1958) which bombed but, fortunately, wasn’t released until after his death. He made two appearances on television in dramatic roles. Following Costello’s death Abbott was pursued by the Internal Revenue Service to the tune of $750,000. He sold his home and his wife sold her furs and jewellery to help with his financial problems; moreover, Abbott also gave up his right to the profits of Abbott & Costello films. He even begged fans to donate 50¢ each to help him out, a plea that fell on mostly deaf ears. Another partnership, with pallid Costello imitator Candy Candido, failed to win him work and he suffered a stroke in 1964 that paralysed the left side of his body, though he recovered sufficiently to provide the vocals for Abbott & Costello cartoons. In 1972 he broke his hip and spent the rest of his life in a wheelchair. He once said of his former partner: I never understood Lou. I never knew why he broke us up so suddenly. To the public Abbott was polite and always ready with an autograph. Loyally, if not strictly accurately, he insisted: We never had any arguments. Lou was the greatest. In 1991 the duo were honoured in America with a commemorative stamp. Nine years later, in April 2000, FBI files were released that revealed that both men had been the subject of a ten-year Bureau investigation over allegations they were involved in suspicious dealings with mobsters and prostitutes and that both were regular customers of hardcore pornography, regularly buying specially filmed loops from a ring of obscene motion picture operators in Hollywood. CAUSE: Bud Abbott died of cancer, plagued by strokes and hip and leg fractures, at his home in Woodland Hills, California, aged 78. His ashes were scattered at sea. Lou Costello died of a heart attack in Doctors Hospital, Beverly Hills, three days before his 53rd birthday. He was buried, alongside his son, in Crypt B 1 Block 354 of the Main Mausoleum of Calvary Cemetery, 4201 Whittier Boulevard, Los Angeles 90023. Bud Abbott was one of the pallbearers. FURTHER READING: Lou’s On First – Chris Costello with Raymond Strait (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1981).

Dorothy Abbott

Born December 16, 1920

Died December 15, 1968

Tragic wannabe. Born in Missouri, Abbott was spotted in a nightclub and offered a contract by Paramount. She appeared, often uncredited, in 20 films, including A Virgin In Hollywood (1948) as Dorothy Sloan, Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948), Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949), My Favorite Spy (1951), Rebel Without A Cause (1955) as a nurse, Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957) and That Touch Of Mink (1962). She also appeared in Dragnet playing Sergeant Joe Friday’s girlfriend.

CAUSE: Suicide. In a fit of depression over the break-up of her marriage to a former policeman, she killed herself in Los Angeles, California. She was just short of her 48th birthday.

Gypsy Abbott

Born January 31, 1895

Died July 25, 1952

Silent comedienne. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Gypsy Abbott began her career on stage aged eight and appeared with legends of the American theatre Minnie Maddern Fiske and Nat Goodwin. Work in vaudeville and repertory preceded her first films for Balboa Amusement Productions, an early film company that was operational between 1913 and April 1918 and run by H.M. Horkheimer and his brother Elwood. Abbott later moved to Mutual where she appeared opposite Crane Wilbur. In 1916 she became the face of Mutual’s Vogue comedies. Her films included: The Key To Yesterday (1914) as Mrs Marston, The Man Who Could Not Lose (1914) as Melissa, Beulah (1915), Who Pays? (1915), Vengeance Is Mine! (1916) as Marion Grey Loring, For Ten Thousand Bucks (1916), Some Liars (1916), Bungling Bill’s Dress Suit (1916), Her Luckless Scheme (1916), Going To The Dogs (1916), Rolling To Ruin (1916), Paste And Politics (1916), A Touch Of High Life (1916), Her Painted Pedigree (1916), Bungling Bill’s Bow-Wow (1916), Lost, Strayed Or Stolen (1916), With Or Without (1916), The Wicked City (1916), Shot In the Fracas (1916), Jealous Jolts (1916), A Lislebank (1917), A Circus Cyclone (1917), The Musical Marvel (1917), The Butcher’s Nightmare (1917), A Studio Stampede (1917), His Bogus Boast (1917), He Looked Crooked (1917) and Lorelei Of The Sea (1917) as Sea Lorelei. She was married to the 6́, Oscar-nominated director Henry King (b. Christiansburg, Virginia, January 24, 1886, d. Toluca Lake, California, June 29, 1982 of a heart attack).

CAUSE: She died in Hollywood aged 57.

John Abbott

Born July 5, 1905

Died May 24, 1996

Reliable actor. Born in London, Abbott wanted to be an actor from early on, practising ‘faces’ in the mirror, but initially studied art, becoming a commercial artist. When an actor fell ill, Abbott found himself stepping in to perform in an amateur production, where he was spotted by Dame Sybil Thorndike who declared: "Now there’s a man who knows how to make an entrance." Six years later, in 1936, he joined the Old Vic at the invitation of Tyrone Guthrie. The following year he made his film début in Mademoiselle Docteur (1937) opposite Claire Luce and Erich von Stroheim. He followed that up with The Return Of The Scarlet Pimpernel (1938), This Man Is News (1939) and The Saint In London (1939) as Count Stephen Duni. He made his first appearance on television in June 1937 in the BBC play The Harmfulness Of Tobacco. He spent the first year of World War II working in the British Embassy in Stockholm. Travelling via the Soviet Union to Canada he went to New York on holiday. On his last day in the States he landed a role in The Shanghai Gesture (1941) and stayed in America thereafter. He appeared in over 60 films, including Joan Of Paris (1942) playing an English spy, Mrs Miniver (1942) as Fred, Anna And The King Of Siam (1946) as Phya Phrom, Humoresque (1946) as Rozner, Madame Bovary (1949) as Mayor Tuvache, Omar Khayyam (1957) as Yusuf, Gigi (1958) as Manuel, Who’s Minding The Store? (1963) as Roberts and The Greatest Story Ever Told (1964) as Aben but believed his best work was as Frederic Fairlie in The Woman In White (1948). In 1950 playwright Tennessee Williams wrote the one-act play Auto-Da-Fé for Abbott.

CAUSE: Natural causes. He died in Los Angeles, California, aged 90.

Alfred Abel

Born March 12, 1879

Died December 12, 1937

‘The Lewis Stone of German pictures’, Alfred Abel was born in Leipzig, Germany. He worked in a number of jobs, including forest warden, designer and bank clerk, before he was discovered by Asta Nilsen and cast in Eine Venezianische Nacht (1913) playing Anselmus Aselmeyer. He was highly regarded in Germany in the years between the wars and also turned his hand to directing. He appeared in over 100 films, including Sodoms Ende (1913), Die Geschichte Der Stillen Mühle (1914), Peter Lump (1916), Lola Montez (1918), Die Dame, Der Teufel Und Die Probiermamsell (1918), Eine Junge Dame Aus Guter Familie (1919), Sappho (1921), Die Große Und Die Kleine Welt (1921), Dr Mabuse, Der Spieler (1922) as Graf Told, Der Bankraub Unter Den Linden (1925), Metropolis (1927) as John Fredersen, Rasputins Liebesabenteuer (1928) and Und Du Mein Schatz Fährst Mit (1937) as William Liners.

CAUSE: He died of natural causes in Berlin, Germany, aged 58.

Walter Abel

Born June 6, 1898

Died March 26, 1987

Suave, moustachioed leading man. Born in St Paul, Minnesota, Abel’s family disapproved of but did not discourage his early acting ambitions. Arriving in New York City in 1916 he appeared in a number of silent pictures and in vaudeville while studying at the American Academy of Dramatic Art. He made his first professional appearance at the Manhattan Opera House on December 20, 1919, as Second Lieutenant Vincent Moretti in Forbidden. Playwright Eugene O’Neill sponsored Abel in two of his plays and ten years later, on June 3, 1929, he made his début on the London stage as Michael Jeffrey in Coquette at the Apollo Theatre. In 1926 he married harpist Marietta Bitter and was widowed in 1978. He appeared in over 50 films including The North Wind’s Malice (1920) as Tom, The Three Musketeers (1935) as D’Artagnan, The Witness Chair (1936) as James Trent, The Lady Consents (1936) as Stanley Ashton, Fury (1936) as the District Attorney, Men With Wings (1938) as Nick Ranson, Who Killed Aunt Maggie? (1940)as Dr George Benedict, Michael Shayne, Private Detective (1940) as Elliott Thomas, Hold Back The Dawn as Inspector Hammock, Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) as B.G. DeSoto, Holiday Inn as Danny Reed (1942), Mr Skeffington (1942) as George Trellis, The Kid From Brooklyn (1946) as Gabby Sloan, That Lady In Ermine (1948) as Major Horvath, The Indian Fighter (1955) as Captain Trask, Raintree County (1957) as T.D. Shawnessy, Silent Night, Bloody Night (1974) as the mayor and Grace Quigley (1984) as Homer Morrison. In June 1949 he appeared as Claudius in Hamlet at Elsinore. He was known for his beautifully modulated voice and was a regular on television from 1944. He rarely socialised with his co-stars saying, Either they’re dead, or they believe I am.

CAUSE: He died in Essex, Connecticut, of a heart attack, aged 88.

John Abineri

Born May 18, 1928

Died June 29, 2000

Steady second lead. Born in London, 5́ 10˝ Abineri trained at the Old Vic theatre school. He was a regular on television appearing as Chingachgook in the BBC drama series The Last Of The Mohicans (January 17, 1971–7 March, 1971), a role he reprised two years later in Hawkeye, The Pathfinder (November 18, 1973–December 16, 1973). Among his films were Dead Man’s Chest (1965) as Arthur, Funeral In Berlin (1966) as Rukel, The McKenzie Break (1970) as Hauptman Kranz, Diamonds Are Forever (1971) as an airline rep, Pope Joan (1972) as a Church official, The Godfather: Part III (1991) as Hamilton Banker, Giorgino (1994) as Dr Jodel and The Window Bed (1999) as Jack. He also guested on Bergerac, Blake’s 7, Red Dwarf, Callan and Dr Who.

CAUSE: Abineri died aged 72 of motor neurone disease.

Jean Acker

Born October 23, 1893

Died August 16, 1978

Mrs Rudolph Valentino the First. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, the petite, hazel-eyed brunette began acting aged 18. She met Valentino at a party on Sunset Boulevard on November 2, 1919. At the time she had very short hair, wore a man’s suit, a shirt and tie and sensible shoes. She was very friendly with Alla Nazimova (as was Mrs Rudolph Valentino the Second), one of Hollywood’s most notorious lesbians. At the time, Acker had already appeared in a couple of films – The $5,000,000 Counterfeiting Plot (1914) as Helen Long and Are You A Mason? (1915) – but had not reached any kind of stardom. She was paid $200 a week by Metro. At the party, Acker offered Valentino a cocktail, which he at first refused. Insistent, she refused to take no for an answer – in anything. Three days later, they were married at the home of Joseph Engle, Metro Films’ treasurer on Hollywood Boulevard and Mariposa Hollywood. For their honeymoon they headed back to Acker’s room at the Hollywood Hotel, 6811 Hollywood Boulevard. However, they spent the wedding night apart after she locked him out of her room and told him that she did not love him. Unsurprisingly, the marriage was never consummated. On December 6, newspapers carried the story of their separation. Acker remained close to Valentino and it was with her that he spent his final days, although he repaid her for the honeymoon débâcle by leaving her just $1 in his will. He even wore a silver slave bracelet she had given him (despite reports to the contrary, it was not a gift from second wife Natacha Rambova or his ‘fiancée’ Pola Negri). On November 23, 1921, they faced each other in the divorce court and their divorce was finalised in Valentino’s favour on January 10, 1922. However, the separation cost him $12,000, a sum lent by Jesse Lasky. The dissolution came not long after the release of The Sheik (1922) and despite Acker’s testimony that Valentino had punched her and knocked her down, their separation did him no harm whatsoever. Acker appeared in around 30 films in all and was often billed as Mrs Rudolph Valentino or Jean Acker Valentino (even as late as 1952). Her movies included An Arabian Knight (1920) as Zorah, Brewster’s Millions (1921) as Barbara Drew, Her Own Money (1922) as Ruth Alden, Good Girls Go To Paris (1939), My Favorite Wife (1940), Spellbound (1945) and Something To Live For (1952). Two of her films had rather revealing titles, making one wonder whether she was deliberately cast as an in-joke by the studios who would have been more than aware of her sexual preferences. In 1920 she played Ethel in Help Wanted – Male; 15 years later she appeared in No More Ladies.

CAUSE: Natural causes. She died in Los Angeles, California, aged 84.

Art Acord

Born April 17, 1890

Died January 4, 1931

Early cowboy hero. Arthemus Ward Acord, half-Ute, was born in Stillwater in the Indian Territory, now modern-day Oklahoma. The short and stocky Acord was a real-life cowboy before he became a cinematic one. He worked in Dick Stanley’s Wild West Show and then in 1909 landed a job as a stuntman with the Bison Film Company. He began appearing in his own right (occasionally billed as Buck Parvin [a character based on himself that he played in Cecil B. DeMille’s The Squaw Man] or Art Accord) in films such as The Two Brothers (1910), The White Medicine Man (1911), George Warrington’s Escape (1911), Buck Parvin In The Movies (1914), When Fiddler Came To Big Horn (1915), Buck’s Lady Friend (1915), A Cattle Queen’s Romance (1915), and A Cowboy’s Sweetheart (1915) before World War I interrupted his career. After heroic service in France, where he won the Croix de Guerre, he returned to the States and became a cowboy hero once again, this time for Universal Studios. His films included The Cowpuncher’s Comeback (1921), Unmasked (1922), In The Days Of Buffalo Bill (1922), Fighting For Justice (1924) as Bullets Bernard, The Wild Girl (1925) as Billy Woodruff, Two Gun O’Brien (1928) and Fighters Of The Saddle (1929) as Dick Weatherby. His career ended with the advent of sound and he fell from grace in a spectacular way. He became an alcoholic, fighting with anyone who upset him. He broke Victor Fleming’s nose after the future director of Gone With The Wind (1939) suggested Acord was not a real Native American. He was jailed for bootlegging, and worked as a miner in Mexico where he went broke gambling. Rather than undergo vocal training to get work, he decided publicity was the key and staged a fake kidnapping with the help of some Mexican friends. It was not successful. He was married twice. Both his wives – Edythe Sterling and Louise Lorraine (1901–1981), his co-star in The Oregon Trail (1923) – were actresses.

CAUSE: He died by his own hand in the Palacio Hotel in Chihuahua, Mexico, from cyanide poisoning, aged 40. His body lay unclaimed for a week. He is buried in Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks in Glendale, California.

Rodolfo Acosta

Born July 29, 1920

Died November 7, 1974

Moustachioed Mexican baddie. Born in Chihuahua, Mexico, Rudy Acosta was a star in films in his native land. His movies included Rosenda (1948) and Salón México (1949) as Paco before he was signed to Universal. His subsequent films (usually with him playing a villain) included: Pancho Villa Returns (1950) as Martin Corona, Yankee Buccaneer as Poulini, Wings Of The Hawk as Arturo Torres, Drum Beat as Scarface Charlie, The Tijuana Story (1957), the real life story of one man’s fight against drugs, in which he played Manuel Acosta Mesa, The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965), The Sons Of Katie Elder (1965) as Bondie Adams, Return Of The Seven (1966) as Lopez and The Magnificent Seven Ride! (1972) as Juan De Toro. On the small screen he regularly played in cowboy series, including Cade’s County, Bonanza, Laredo, The Big Valley, Death Valley Days, The Virginian, Rawhide, Cheyenne and a two-year stint on The High Chaparral as Vaquero. He fathered five children.

CAUSE: He died of cancer in Woodland Hills, California, aged 54.

Eddie Acuff

Born June 3, 1903

Died December 17, 1956

Stalwart. Although Acuff never achieved stardom he was rarely out of work, appearing in over 180 films. His best-known role was probably that of the postman in the ‘Blondie’ series but he also appeared in several other serials and B pictures. He can be seen in, among many others, Here Comes The Navy (1934), I Found Stella Parish (1935) as Dimmy, The Case Of The Velvet Claws (1936) as Spudsy Drake, The Law In Her Hands (1936) as Eddie O’Malley, Love Is On The Air (1937) as Dunk Glover, Law Of The Underworld (1938) as Bill, Society Smugglers (1939), Rough Riders’ Round-up (1939) as Tommy Ward, The Mysterious Miss X (1939), Days Of Jesse James (1939), Blondie Meets The Boss (1939), The Green Hornet Strikes Again (1940) as Lowery, Dr Kildare’s Crisis (1940) as Clifford Genet, Dr Kildare Goes Home (1940) as Clifford Genet, Charlie Chan In Panama (1940), The Texas Rangers Ride Again (1940), The People vs. Dr Kildare (1941) as Clifford Genet, Dr Kildare’s Wedding Day (1941) as Clifford Genet, Dr Kildare’s Victory (1941) as Clifford Genet, Blondie Goes Latin (1941), High Sierra (1941), Dr Gillespie’s New Assistant (1942) as Clifford Genet, Blondie For Victory (1942), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Leave It To Blondie (1945), Life With Blondie (1946), Buck Privates Come Home (1947), Blondie’s Holiday (1947), Blondie’s Big Moment (1947), Blondie’s Anniversary (1947), Blondie In The Dough (1947), The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (1947), Blondie’s Secret (1948), Blondie’s Reward (1948), Blondie’s Big Deal (1949) and The Milkman (1950).

CAUSE: He died in Hollywood, California, aged 53, from a heart attack.

Janice Adair

(BEATRICE DUFFY)

Born 1904

Died July 13, 1948

Promise unfulfilled. Born in Morpeth, Northumberland, 5́ 3˝ Janice Adair was unusual among early screen stars in that she had no stage training or bit-part work as an extra before becoming a film actress. Her first film was Streets Of London (1929) and she went on to appear in The Informer (1929) as Bessie, To What Red Hell (1929) as Madge Barton, The Rocket Bus (1929) as Joan, Red Aces (1929), Such Is The Law (1930) as Marjorie Majoribanks, Deadlock (1931) as Joan Whitelaw, Contraband Love (1931) as Janice Machin, Lloyd Of The C.I.D. (1932) as Dion Brooks, The Silver Greyhound (1932) as Ira Laennic, Lucky Ladies (1932) as Pearl, The Acting Business (1933), Nine Forty-Five (1934) as Molly Clayton and Flood Tide (1935) as Betty Buckett. She married producer Alfred Wallace Roome (b. London, December 22, 1908, d. Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire, November 19, 1997) in 1929 and by him had a son and a daughter.

CAUSE: She died at the young age of 44.

Jean Adair

Born June 13, 1873

Died May 11, 1953

Gentility personified. Born in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada, Jean Adair spent most of her professional life on the stage. She only made six films but created a stir as Martha Brewster, one of the murderous aunts, in Arsenic And Old Lace (1944). Her other films were In The Name Of The Law (1922), Advice To The Lovelorn (1933) as Mrs Prentiss, Living In A Big Way (1947) as Abigail Morgan, Something In The Wind (1947) as Aunt Mary Collins and The Naked City (1948).

CAUSE: She died of natural causes in New York aged 79.

Robert Adair

Born January 3, 1900

Died August 10, 1954

Posh American. Born in San Francisco, California, 6˝1˝ Adair was educated at Harrow before making his film début in Raffles (1925). He also appeared often on the American stage. His other films included Journey’s End (1930) as Captain Hardy, King Of The Jungle (1933) as John C. Knolls, a court officer in The Kiss Before The Mirror (1933), The Invisible Man (1933), a policeman in The Mystery Of Mr X (1934), a barman in Riptide (1934), Where Sinners Meet (1934) as Jacob, Treasure Island (1934) as Tom the sailor, Great Expectations (1934) as Sergeant, a policeman in Limehouse Blues (1934), Father Brown, Detective (1935), Bride Of Frankenstein (1935), The Farmer Takes A Wife (1935), a hotel clerk in Top Hat (1935), The Girl Who Came Back (1935) as Charles Matthews, a sergeant in The Last Outpost (1935), a prisoner in Peter Ibbetson (1935), Sylvia Scarlett (1935), Brilliant Marriage (1936) as Thorne, a sentry in Sons O’Guns (1936), Empty Saddles (1936) as Biggers, The Ticket Of Leave Man (1937) as Hawkshaw, Bulldog Drummond Escapes (1937) as Woolsey, the first guard in The Prince And The Pauper (1937), What A Man! (1938) as Lord Bromwich, The Face At The Window (1939) as Inspector Gouffert, Jamaica Inn (1939) as Captain Murray, Noose (1948) as Sergeant Brooks, The Gambler And The Lady (1952) as Engles, Eight O’Clock Walk (1952) as Albert Pettigrew, Scotland Yard Inspector (1952) as John, There Was A Young Lady (1953) as Basher, Park Plaza 605 (1953) as Baron von Henschel, Meet Mr Callaghan (1954) and Gilbert Harding Speaking Of Murder (1954).

CAUSE: He died in London aged 54 of natural causes.

Ronald Adam, OBE

Born December 31, 1896

Died March 27, 1979

Officer material. Born in Worcestershire, Adam came from a theatrical family (his father was the actor Blake Adams and his mother the actress Mona Robin) but after University College School he trained to be a chartered accountant. He gave up that steady profession to work in one that was far riskier, albeit probably less boring. In 1914 he joined the Middlesex Regiment at the outbreak of war, becoming a pilot with the Royal Flying Corps. He ended up in a prisoner of war camp. In 1924 he worked as a theatre manager and later producer, working on over 150 productions. He made his film début in Strange Boarders (1938) playing Barstow and followed that up with The Drum (1938) as Major Gregoff, Too Dangerous To Live (1939), The Foreman Went To France (1942) as Sir Charles Fawcett and Meet Maxwell Archer (1942) as Nicolides. In 1939 he had re-enlisted in the RAF and served as a Wing Commander. Returning to acting he appeared in numerous films, usually in an official or commanding role. He made his Broadway début on December 19, 1951, at the Ziegfeld Theater in Antony And Cleopatra. His other films included: Christopher Columbus (1949) as Talavera, The Bad Lord Byron (1949) playing a judge, Shadow Of The Past (1950) playing a solicitor, Seven Days To Noon (1950) as Prime Minister Arthur Lytton, The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) as Turner, Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951) as Admiral Macartney, Circumstantial Evidence (1954) as Sir William Harrison, Reach For The Sky (1956) as Air Vice-Marshal Leigh-Mallory, Lust For Life (1956) as Commissioner De Smet and Carlton-Browne Of The F.O. (1959) as Sir John Farthing. He was married twice. His first wife was Tanzi Cutava Barozzi and his second Allyne Dorothy Franks. He had two children: David (b. 1926) and Jane (b. 1922).

CAUSE: He died of natural causes in London, aged 82.

Abigail ‘Tommye’ Adams

Born January 11, 1922 Found dead February 13, 1955

Good-time girl. Born in South Carolina, Abigail ‘Tommye’ Adams was a beautiful girl who saw making movies as a way to live a pleasant life. Her only problem was that she preferred the pleasant life to making movies. She appeared in a number of low-budget Westerns and other B pictures, including Moonlight Masquerade (1942) as Miss Mink, Old Acquaintance (1943), Colorado Serenade (1946) as Lola, the title role in Mary Lou (1947), Copacabana (1947) and the receptionist in Trapped By Boston Blackie (1948). She married and divorced (in 1949) actor Lyle Talbot (1902–1996) and had a ten-year relationship with Fox producer George Jessel as well as numerous other lovers. In 1950 she attempted suicide by slashing her wrists but was saved by a hospital intern. She turned to drink and drugs when her longed-for stardom didn’t arrive.

CAUSE: She committed suicide by a drugs overdose. Her body was discovered full of Seconal and ethynyl in a sleazy room on Sunset Strip in Hollywood. She was only one month past her 33rd birthday.

Claire Adams

Born September 24, 1898

Died September 25, 1978

Silent star. Claire Adams was born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, and entered the film world in 1918. Her brother, Gerald Drayson Adams, was a screenwriter. Among her 50-plus movies were A Misfit Earl (1919) as Phyllis Burton, The Great Lover (1920) as Ethel, Riders Of The Dawn (1920) as Lenore Anderson, Man Of The Forest (1921) as Helen Raynor, When Romance Rides (1922) as Lucy Bostil, Golden Dreams (1922) as Mercedes McDonald, Brass Commandments (1923) as Ellen Bosworth, Legally Dead (1923) as Minnie O’Reilly, Daddies (1924) as Bobette Audrey, Honor Among Men (1924) as Patricia Carson, The Kiss Barrier (1925) as Marion Weston, The Lunatic (1927) and Married Alive (1927) as Viola Helmesley Duxbury. Following the death of her first husband she married Australian sportsman Donald MacKimmon in 1938 and retired to Australia.

CAUSE: She died in Melbourne, Australia, aged 80 years and one day, from natural causes.

Ernie Adams

Born June 18, 1885

Died November 26, 1947

Perennial cowboy. Born in San Francisco, California, the short, stocky Adams was also credited in films as Ernest S. Adams, Ernest Adams and Ernie S. Adams. Irrespective of the credit on screen, his output was phenomenal. Between 1919 and his death he appeared in more than 260 films. They included The Beloved Brute (1924) as Swink Tuckson, The Pony Express (1925), Hair Trigger Baxter as Shorty Hillis, Nevada (1927) as Cash Burridge, The Gay Defender as Bart Hamby, Stool Pigeon as Dropper, The Virginian (1929), Dance, Fools, Dance (1931), Merrily We Go To Hell (1932), She Done Him Wrong (1933), It Happened One Night (1934), Hopalong Cassidy Returns (1936) as Benson, Hopalong Rides Again (1937) as Keno, Flash Gordon Conquers The Universe (1940), Alias Boston Blackie (1942) as Pop, The Man Who Came To Dinner (1942) as Haggerty, Brenda Starr, Reporter (1945) as Charlie, Son Of Zorro (1947) as Judge Hyde, Dick Tracy Meets Gruesome (1947) and The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (1947).

CAUSE: He died of natural causes in Hollywood, California, aged 62.

Jimmie Adams

Born October 4, 1888

Died December 19, 1933

Cheekie chappie. Born in Paterson, New Jersey, James B. Adams began his career in Educational & Christie Film Company’s Mermaid comedies before he moved on to appear in the Hall Room Boys series replacing Harry McCoy. By 1924 he was back at Educational where he spent much of his remaining career apart from stints at Pathé and PDC. His films included: A Jungle Gentleman (1919), A Village Venus (1919), Chasing Her Future (1919), African Lions And American Beauties (1919), The Good Ship Rock’n’Rye (1919), Weak Hearts And Wild Lions (1919), A Baby Doll Bandit (1920), Over The Transom (1920), Movie Hero (1920), Kismet (1920) as Chamberlain, A Fresh Start (1921), Bang! (1921), Better Late Than Never (1922), Beware Of Blondes (1922), Breaking Into Jail (1922), Crash (1922), Bumps (1923), Broke (1923), Aggravating Poppa (1924), a painter in Triumph (1924), Hold Your Breath (1924) as a beauty salon owner, Hotel Hysteria (1924), Stop Flirting (1925) as Count Spinagio, Be Careful (1925), Whoa, Emma! (1926), Chase Yourself (1926), Her Man O’ War (1926) as Shorty Flynn, Beauty A La Mud (1926), For Sadie’s Sake (1926), Break Away (1927), Swiss Movements (1927), Meet The Folks (1927) as James Pettingill, The Farmer’s Daughter as Cicero Hopkins, Goofy Ghosts (1928), The Office Scandal as Delaney, The Grand Parade as Jones, High Cs (1930), Rough Seas (1931), The Tabasco Kid (1932), Arabian Tights (1933), Sherman Said It (1933), Midsummer Mush (1933) and Luncheon At Twelve (1933).

CAUSE: Adams died aged 45 in Glendale, California, of a heart attack.

Nick Adams

(NICHOLAS ALOYSIUS ADAMSCHOCK) Born July 10, 1931

Died February 5, 1968

The poor man’s James Dean. Born in Nanticoke, Pennsylvania, the son of a Lithuanian miner, he was raised in New Jersey. The chillingly ambitious Nick Adams hitchhiked to Hollywood when he was 18, determined to make his mark on the movie capital. Some men bet on horses and dogs. I gambled on myself, he would tell interviewers. At first his gamble didn’t pay off and in 1952 he joined the Coast Guard. However, on leave he would return to Tinseltown and badger producers and directors for work. His persistence landed him a role in a Betty Hutton musical Somebody Loves Me (1952), but his first major part was playing Reber in Mister Roberts (1955). On leaving the Coast Guard, Adams was cast in Rebel Without A Cause (1955) as Moose. Following the death of James Dean, Adams was brought back to the studio by director George Stevens and dubbed some of Dean’s dialogue. In 1956 Adams befriended Elvis Presley, who was visiting Hollywood to film his first feature, Love Me Tender. Presley, a Dean fan, took to Adams, who in turn introduced Elvis to Natalie Wood (with whom Adams had an affair). Both Adams and Wood visited Elvis in Memphis but the friendship was discouraged by Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, who thought that Adams might be a bad influence or that he might, at the very least, put unwelcome ideas into Elvis’ head. From October 4, 1959, until September 12, 1962, he played Johnny Yuma in the ABC television series The Rebel, so named to cash in on Adams’ association with Dean. When The Rebel was cancelled Adams played a journalist in Saints And Sinners. The following year he played Ben Brown, a man wrongly accused of murder, in Twilight Of Honor (1963). He lobbied hard for an Oscar (spending $8,000 on advertisements in trade papers) and gave interviews to anyone who wanted one, talking himself up. He was nominated as Best Supporting Actor but lost out to Melvyn Douglas for Hud (1963) at the ceremony held at the Santa Monica Civic Auditorium on April 13, 1964. Anticipating that he would receive the award, Adams and his wife had turned up one and a half hours before the show began. Reporter Sidney Skolsky wrote: I was fascinated by the face of Nick Adams. Nick looked like Instant Murder. I never believed I’d want to give Nick a prize, but really, he should be given an Oscar for his Portrait of a Loser. I’ll say this for him, his face and emotions were honest. After that disappointment, Adams found work hard to come by. He was further distraught by the break-up of his marriage to actress Carol Nugent and her new boyfriend’s habit of punishing his two children, Allyson and Jeb Stuart, for supposed misbehaviour. A court awarded him custody, allowing the mother limited access but only alone. He appeared in low-budget fare such as Frankenstein Conquers The World (1964), Die, Monster, Die! (1965) as Stephen Reinhart, Monster Zero (1966), Fever Heat (1967) as Ace Jones, and Mission Mars (1968) as Nick Grant, one of the first American astronauts on the moon.

CAUSE: Suicide or accident? The death of 36-year-old Nick Adams is still something of a mystery. His lawyer and friend, Erwin Roeder, had a dinner date with Adams on February 6, but the actor never arrived. Going to Adams’ house at 2126 El Robles Lane in Beverly Hills the next night he found his car garaged. Roeder broke into the house and found Adams dead in his bedroom, leaning against a wall, his eyes wide open. Adams had died of a drug overdose but police found no drug paraphernalia and nothing to suggest his death was the result of anything other than natural causes. The coroner Dr Thomas Noguchi’s report stated that Adams died instantly from paraldehyde, a drug prescribed for alcoholics, and promazine intoxication. The cause of death on the death certificate is listed as Accident; Suicide; Undetermined. Adams is buried in Saints Cyril & Methodius Cemetery, 706 North Warren Street, Berwick, Pennsylvania 18603.

Stanley Adams

Born April 7, 1915

Died April 27, 1977

Sturdy actor. Adams appeared in over 50 films and was a regular face on television. Among his movies were The Atomic Kid (1954) as Wildcat Hooper, Calling Homicide (1956) as Peter von Elda, Hell Ship Mutiny (1957), Hell Bound (1957) as Herbert Fay, Jr, North By Northwest (1959) as Lieutenant Harding, Studs Lonigan (1960), Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) as Rusty Trawler, Ship Of Fools (1965) as Hutten and Everything You Always Wanted To Know About Sex (1972). On television he played Cyrano Jones in a memorable episode of Star Trek (‘The Trouble With Tribbles’) and also appeared in Kolchak: The Night Stalker, Gilligan’s Island, Lost In Space, Gunsmoke, Laredo, Wagon Trail, Perry Mason, The Twilight Zone and Rawhide.

CAUSE: He shot himself in Santa Monica, California, aged 62.

Stella Adams

Born April 24, 1883

Died September 17, 1961

Early star. Born in Sherman, Texas, she began her career with the company Nestor in the early days of the motion picture industry. The majority of her work was in silent films – she made no movies between 1917 and 1927 and she retired in 1936 at the age of 53. Her films included: In The Sultan’s Power (1909), The Passing Parade (1912) as G.A.R. bazaar worker, The Lucky Loser (1912) as Lily Worthing, The Lady Barber Of Roaring Gulch as Mrs Allen, To The Brave Belong The Fair (1913) as Alice’s mother, Four Queens And A Jack as the girl’s mother, When His Courage Failed (1913) as the club president, The Tale Of A Hat (1913) as Mother Gray, The Power Of Heredity (1913) as Mrs Del Mar, The Girls And Dad (1913) as Jennie, When Cupid Won (1913) as Jenny Simpkins, The Girl Ranchers (1913), Under Western Skies (1913), Hawkeye’s Great Capture (1913), A Man Of The People (1913), His Wife’s Burglar (1913), The Prairie Trail (1913), The Golden Princess Mine (1913) as the young prospector’s mother, War Of The Cattle Range (1913), Her Friend, The Butler (1913), A Woman’s Way (1913), Teaching Dad A Lesson (1913), The God Of Girzah (1913), The Unhappy Pair (1913), A Tale Of The West (1913), When Ursus Threw The Bull (1914), Cupid’s Close Shave (1914), Twixt Love And Flour (1914), His Royal Pants (1914), Scooped By A Hencoop (1914), She Was Only A Working Girl (1914), What A Baby Did (1914), Those Persistent Old Maids (1914), The Wrong Miss Wright (1914), When The Girls Joined The Force (1914), Her Husbands (1914), Could You Blame Her? (1914), When Eddie Went To The Front (1914), Way Of Life (1914), When Bess Got In Wrong (1914), For The Good Of The Cause (1915), A Maid By Proxy (1915), All Aboard (1915), The Heart Of Sampson (1915), When He Proposed (1915), A Coat’s A Coat (1915), His Wife’s Husband (1915), It Happened On Friday (1915), All In The Same Boat (1915), Her Friend, The Milkman (1915), Almost A King (1915), Following Father’s Footsteps (1915), With Father’s Help (1915), Behind The Screen (1915), A One Cylinder Courtship (1915), Those Kids And Cupid (1915), Father’s Lucky Escape (1915), A Looney Love Affair (1915), Wanted: A Leading Lady (1915), Keeping It Dark (1915), Where The Heather Blooms (1915) as Mary’s mother, Love And A Savage (1915), Her Steady Carfare (1916), When Aunt Matilda Fell (1916), Mingling Spirits (1916), Mixed Kids (1916), Her Friend, The Doctor (1916), Cupid Trims His Lordship (1916), He Almost Eloped (1916), A Leap Year Tangle (1916), Eddie’s Night Out (1916), The Newlyweds’ Mix-Up (1916), Her Hero Maid (1916), Never Lie To Your Wife (1916), The Janitor’s Busy Day (1916), Good Night, Nurse (1916), Twixt Love And The Iceman (1916), What Could The Poor Girl Do? (1916), The Browns See The Fair (1916), Double Crossing The Dean (1916), By The Sad Sea Waves (1916), Dad’s Masterpiece (1916), Cupid’s Uppercut (1916), Almost A Scandal (1917), A Bold, Bad Knight (1917), Keeping In Trim (1927), Society Breaks (1927), Passing The Joneses (1927), Showing Off (1927), Horse Play (1928), Meet The Count (1928), Start Something (1928), Indoor Golf (1928), Her Only Husband (1928), A Big Bluff (1928), A Full House (1928), Reel Life (1928), McGinnis Vs Jones (1928), Me, Gangster (1928) as Lizzie Williams, Polished Ivory (1930), Prize Puppies (1930) as a landlady, College Cuties (1930), Bachelor Mother (1932) as Mrs Smith, Sister To Judas (1932) as Mrs Frayne, The Vampire Bat (1933) as Georgiana, Whirlwind (1933), Sing, Sinner, Sing (1933), Whom The Gods Destroy (1934) as the Newfoundland Woman, The Tonto Kid (1934) as a landlady and Theodora Goes Wild (1936) as a townswoman.

CAUSE: She died at the Motion Picture & TV Hospital Country Home, 23388 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, California.

Al Adamson

Born July 25, 1929

Died August 2, 1995

Gore machine. Albert Victor Adamson, Jr was born in Hollywood, California, the son of silent Western star-turned-director Denver Dixon (1901–1972) a.k.a. Art Mix. After an unsuccessful acting career in other people’s forgettable films, Adamson turned to writing, producing and directing and also appearing in his own forgettable films. He wrote, directed, produced and appeared (using the pseudonym Lyle Felisse) as Vito in Psycho A Go-Go ([1965], later [1969] re-released with added scenes and re-released again shortly thereafter with the new title of Blood Of Ghastly Horror [1971]) and Horror Of The Blood Monsters (1970). He produced and directed Blood Of Dracula’s Castle (1967) starring John Carradine as George the butler, Hell’s Bloody Devils (1967) starring Carradine, Broderick Crawford and Scott Brady, Five Bloody Graves (1969) starring Carradine, Brady and Dallas’ Jim Davis, Satan’s Sadists (1969) starring Russ Tamblyn and Regina Carrol (a nightclub singer and Adamson’s real-life wife), Dracula vs. Frankenstein (1969, 1971) starring J. Carrol Naish, Lon Chaney, Jr, Tamblyn and Carrol, Brain Of Blood (1971) with Carrol, Angels’ Wild Women (1972) with Carrol as Margo and a Diana Ross-lookalike with a 48˝ bust, Jessi’s Girls (1975), Black Heat (1976) and Cinderella 2000 (1977), and directed such fare as The Female Bunch (1969) starring Lon Chaney, Jr, Tamblyn and Carrol and filmed on mass murderer Charles Manson’s ranch, I Spit On Your Corpse (1974) starring porn star Georgina Spelvin, Blazing Stewardesses (1974) again starring Carrol, Death Dimension (1978) Naughty Stewardesses (1978), Sunset Cove (1978) with John Carradine and Doctor Dracula (1981). Many of his films, which were gorefests or overtly sexual, featured respected actors (such as John Carradine, Lon Chaney, Jr, Broderick Crawford and Scott Brady) who didn’t quite know when to quit.

CAUSE: Adamson was murdered aged 65 at his home on Avenue 49 in Indio, California, about 150 miles south-east of Los Angeles. Adamson’s body was stuffed into a hole where his whirlpool bath had been, covered in four tons of cement and then tiled over. A warrant was issued for the arrest of his handyman, 46-year-old Fred Fulford, who had been living at the house since October 1994 while remodelling it. The builder had fled to Florida a week before Adamson’s body was found on August 2, 1995 and avoided extradition to California until 1996. A preliminary hearing took place in July of that year and Fulford indicated that he wanted to conduct his own defence but later relented and took counsel, Robert Hurley. At his trial, which opened in October 1999, Fulford was accused of hitting Adamson over the head with a heavy object, a charge he denied. Adamson’s brother, Kenneth, testified that the film director had told him that Fulford was stealing from him and had run up $4,000 in telephone calls. On November 9, taking the stand Fulford admitted perjury, theft and forgery but denied killing Adamson. He claimed that he had an arrangement with the director that the house would be sold and they would split the profits. However, the jury disagreed and after less than two hours’ deliberation on November 17 they found Fulford guilty of first degree murder. On March 3, 2000 he was sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Peter Adamson

Born February 16, 1930

Died January 17, 2002

Paedophile soap star. For almost twenty-three years (February 1961–August 1983) Peter Adamson played the role of rough diamond Len Fairclough in Coronation Street. In his £500-a-week time in Britain’s most famous thoroughfare Len was elected to the local council, romanced Elsie Tanner and Bet Lynch, bought the Kabin, was suspected of murder, married Rita Littlewood, was beaten up by Fred Gee and was finally killed in a car crash on the way home after visiting his secret mistress. Peter Adamson led an equally eventful life. An alcoholic, he was arrested for drink driving and attempted suicide three times before giving up booze in February 1973. Ten years later to the month, he was suspended by Granada TV for six weeks for selling a series of backstage articles to a tabloid. On April 23, during his suspension, he was arrested at Haslingden, Lancashire, and accused of molesting two 8-year-old girls in a swimming pool where he worked as a part-time instructor teaching young kids to swim. Adamson hired top lawyer George Carman, Q.C. to defend him. Carman had previously engineered the acquittal of Jeremy Thorpe, M.P. on conspiracy to murder charges and would also later ensure Ken Dodd’s acquittal on tax avoidance charges. Adamson’s trial began at Burnley Crown Court in July 1983. One of his alleged victims reputedly considered suicide asking her mother if she would die if she jumped off a roof. However, after just eight days Adamson was acquitted of all charges on July 26 after the four-woman, eight-man jury deliberated for just 36 minutes. His legal costs were estimated at £120,000 and to recoup some of the outlay he sold more stories to The Sun. Unsurprisingly, he was not allowed back to the Street and claimed, It gives me the chance to prove that I’m capable of doing things other than soap opera. He toured in a play in Canada. Work, however, began to dry up. On September 26, 1984, Jean Adamson, his arthritis-suffering wife, died aged 55. In June 1988 he was signed to appear in a play featuring children but just before it opened Adamson pulled out admitting he had been guilty of the assault five years previously. In a startlingly frank and often bizarre interview he admitted, "I am bloody fascinated by paedophiliacs [sic] … If you think I am a paedophile – Okay, print it. But also print that I would willingly fuck my lovely little granddaughter who is only six months old … If you think I am a paedophile – Okay, I love old women too. Adamson said he sometimes thought he was partly gay. I think I am possibly one of the few people in the world to admit to being 35 per cent homosexual. I will kiss a man but I have never engaged in the act of buggery. That is abhorrent to me." In 1985 55-year-old Adamson began drinking again. Six years later, in August 1991, he went bankrupt with debts of £33,000. As with many soap stars he spent much of the time playing just the one role but Adamson did find time to appear outside of Weatherfield. He was in the film Take Her By Surprise (1967) playing Korba. Before Len Fairclough he was in the television series Knight Errant Limited (1959) and Skyport (1959).

CAUSE: Adamson died aged 71 of stomach cancer at Lincoln County Hospital, Lincoln. He left £5,000 in his will to his elder son, Michael (b. 1954). His ashes were left to his other child, Greg (b. 1962).

Dawn Addams

Born September 21, 1930

Died May 7, 1985

Unspectacular glamourpuss. Born in Felixstowe, Suffolk, the daughter of test pilot Captain James Ramage Addams and Ethel Mary Hickie. Her stepmother was actress Arlene Judge (1912–1974), who was married and divorced seven times. Her sixth marriage was to her former brother-in-law Bob Topping, who was to marry Lana Turner. The 5˝6˝ Dawn Addams auditioned for the film National Velvet (1944) but lost out to another pretty dark-haired, dark-eyed girl by the name of Elizabeth Taylor. Educated at 14 schools in England, India and America and at RADA, she made her West End début as Amy Spettigue in a production of Charley’s Aunt on December 22, 1949, at the Piccadilly Theatre. She went to Hollywood seeking stardom in 1950. The following year she appeared in Night Into Morning as Dottie Phelps and followed that up with a bit part in Singin’ In The Rain (1952), The Robe (1953) as Junia, Return To Treasure Island (1954) as Jamesina Hawkins, Khyber Patrol (1954) as Diana Rivington, Riders To The Stars (1954) as Susan Manners, A King In New York (1957) as Ann Kay, I Battellieri Del Volga (1958), Geheimaktion Schwarze Kapelle (1959), The Two Faces Of Dr Jekyll (1960) as Kitty Jekyll, Follow That Man (1961) as Janet Clark, Come Fly With Me (1965), The Vampire Lovers (1970) and The Vault Of Horror (1973) as Inez. In 1954 she married Prince Vittorio Massimo and, on January 10, 1955, gave birth to their son Prince Stefano. Although they were not divorced until 1971 they separated in 1958. A seven-year custody battle for the boy ensued, which was eventually won by his father. Following her marriage to former journalist James White, Addams retired from acting.

CAUSE: She died in London aged 54 from cancer.

Jay Adler

Born September 26, 1896

Died September 23, 1978

Character brother. Born in New York, Jay was one of six children of

Reviews for Fade to Black

[big_bang_gorilla · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

This book is exactly what it says it is, which means that in most cases it doesn't have any particular emphasis on each subject's cause of death, though it does list it. As a reference book, it's useful enough, but it's overinclusive in its coverage--anybody who's heard of even 2/3 of the entries is a film buff extraordinary. Between that and the exhaustive biographies and credits, it's not a book to read through.