Fran Ryan

Who died on this date:

On January 15, 2000, actress Fran Ryan died. She was born on November 29, 1916 in Los Angeles, California. She performed comedy, singing and acting on stage in California and Chicago but was not to launch her television career for two decades. Her small screen debut came in an episode on Television's, Batman in 1966, followed by a bit part in The Beverley Hillbillies. Ryan's first supporting cast television role was as Aggie Thompson in first several episodes of The Doris Day Show. The same season she was offered the 'replacement' role on the hit series Green Acres as Doris Ziffel from 1969-1971. Ryan also starred on the long running TV Western series Gunsmoke during its twentieth and final season as Miss Hannah (Cobb). Fran Ryan also played the role of Rosie Carlson in the soap opera, Days of Our Lives (1976-1979) and Sister Agatha on General Hospital in (1979). She also did voices for numerous cartoons. She starred in many feature films, including Flush (1977), Big Wednesday (1978), Take this Job and Shove IT (1981), Pale Rider (1985),  and in her scene-stealing cameo in 1981's Stripes, as a tortured cab fare to Bill Murray as the cabbie, in the opening scenes of the comedy film. Ryan died on January 15, 2000 and is buried at Holy Sepulchre Catholic Cemetery in Hayward, California. My Great Grandfather Timothy Barry is buried in the plot directly behind, Miss Ryan and his headstone can be seen to the left.

Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen, Alan Napier & Trevor Howard

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Actress Thelma "Butterfly" McQueen was born on January 7, 1911 in Tampa, Florida. She is best known for her debut role as Prissy, Scarlett O’Hara’s maid in the 1939 film, Gone with the Wind (1939). She also appeared in The Women (1939), Mildred Pierce (1945), and Duel in the Sun (1946). She then grew tired of the ethnic stereotypes and ended her film career. She died on December 22, 1995 at Augusta Regional Medical Center in Augusta, Georgia from burns sustained when a kerosene heater she attempted to light malfunctioned and burst into flames. A lifelong atheist, her body was donated to medical science.

Actor Alan Napier was born on January 7, 1903 in King’s Norton, England. He is best known for portraying Alfred on the 1960s TV series Batman. Though his film career had begun in England in the 1930s, he had very little success before the cameras until he arrived and joined the British community in Hollywood in 1941. Film credits include Cat People (1942), The Uninvited (1943), The Song of Bernadette (1943), House of Horrors (1946), Macbeth (1948) and Joan of Arc (1948). In 1966, he was the first to be cast in the Batman TV series, as Bruce Wayne's faithful butler Alfred, a role he played until the series' cancellation in 1968. Napier's career extended into the 1980s, with TV roles and he finally retired in 1981. He suffered a stroke in 1987, hospitalized since June 1988, and had been gravely ill for several days, before his death of pneumonia on August 8, 1988, in the Berkeley East Convalescent Hospital in Santa Monica, California. His cremated remains are interred at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory in Los Angeles. 

Who died on this date:

On January 7, 1988, actor Trevor Howard died. He was born on September 29, 1913 in Cliftonville, England. His film credits include The Way to the Stars (1945), Brief Encounter (1945), I see a Dark Stranger (1945), Green for Danger (1946), They Made Me a Fugitive (1947), The Passionate Friends (1949), The Third Man (1949), and Sons and Lovers (1960), for which he was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor. Over time Howard easily shifted to being one of England's finest character actors. Howard's later works included such films as Mutiny on the Bounty (1962), Von Ryan’s Express (1965), The Charge of the Light Brigade (1968), and Superman (1978). He died on January 7, 1988, from a combination of bronchitis and influenza and was buried at the St. Peter Churchyard in Arkley, England.

Matthew Beard, Dana Andrews, Carole Landis & Cesar Romero

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Child actor Matthew Beard was born on January 1, 1925 in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for portraying the character of Stymie in the Our Gang serial of the 1930s. After Beard left the series in 1935 at the age of ten, he went on to score some minor roles in feature films, such as Captain Blood (1935), and Jezebel (1938). By the time he was in high school, he had retired from acting. Falling into drug use and street life, Beard became addicted to heroin, and spent most of his early adult life in and out of jail because of it. Beard died from pneumonia on January 8, 1981 and is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Actor Dana Andrews was born on January 1, 1909 in Collins, Mississippi. He was one of Hollywood's best known stars of the 1940s, and continued acting though the 1980s. Andrews film debut was in The Westerner (1940), starring Gary Cooper. Other film credits include Ball of Fire (1941), The Ox-Bow Incident (1943), Laura (1944), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Where the Side Walk Ends (1950), and While the City Sleeps (1956). In the last years of his life, Andrews suffered from Alzheimer’s disease and he died from congestive heart failure and pneumonia on December 17, 1992. His remains were cremated and given to family, final disposition is unknown.

Actress Carole Landis was born on January 1, 1919 in Fairchild, Wisconsin. Landis dropped out of high school at age 15 and set off for Hollywood. Her 1937 film debut was as an extra in A Star is Born. She continued appearing in bit parts until 1940 when Hal Roach cast her as a cave girl in One Million BC (1940). The movie was a sensation and turned Carole into a star. A press agent nicknamed her "The Ping Girl" (because "she makes you purr"). Landis appeared in a string of successful films in the early forties, usually as the second female lead. In a time when the singing of many actresses was dubbed in, Landis's own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles. She had roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl Betty Grable in Moon Over Miami (1941) and I Wake Up Screaming (1941). 

By 1948, her career was in decline and she began an affair with actor Rex Harrison. Landis was reportedly crushed when Harrison refused to divorce his wife for her; unable to cope any longer, she committed suicide in her Pacific Palisades home on July 5, 1948 from an over dose of drugs. According to some sources, Landis left two suicide notes, one for her mother and the second for Harrison who instructed his lawyers to destroy it. During a coroner's inquest, Harrison denied knowing any motive for her suicide and told the coroner he did not know of the existence of a second suicide note.  Landis is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale. 

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On January 1, 1994, actor Cesar Romero died. He was born on February 15, 1907 in New York City. His wide range of screen roles included Latin lovers, historical figures in costume dramas, characters in light domestic comedies, and as “The Joker” in television's Batman series. Romero played "Latin lovers" in films from the 1930s until the 1950s, usually in supporting roles. He starred as The Cisco Kid in six westerns made between 1939 and 1941. Other film credits include The Thin Man (1934), and Captain from Castile (1947). He made numerous TV appearances from the 1950s to the 1980s, most notably in Batman. Romero died on January 1, 1994 from bronchitis and pneumonia and his ashes are interred at Inglewood Park Cemetery in Los Angeles.