Ralph Bellamy, Evalyn Knapp, Jeff Chandler

Who was born on this date:

Actor Ralph Bellamy was born on June 17, 1904 in Chicago, Illinois. He began acting on stage in the late 1920’s. In 1931, he made his film debut and worked constantly throughout the decade first as a lead then as a capable supporting actor. Bellamy was cast in the lead role in the 1936 film, Straight from the Shoulder and also in the 1937 film It Can't Last Forever. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his role in The Awful Truth (1937) with Irene Dunne and Cary Grant, and played a similar part in His Girl Friday (1940). Highly regarded within the industry, he was a founder of the Screen Actors Guild and served as President of Actors' Equity from 1952-1964. Throughout the 1930’s and 40’s, Bellamy was regularly seen socially with a select circle of friends known affectionately as the Irish Mafia. This group consisted of a group of Hollywood mover and shakers who were mainly of Irish descent (despite Bellamy having no Irish family connections himself). Others included James Cagney, Pat O'Brien, Spencer Tracy, and Frank Morgan.

In 1949, Bellamy starred in the drama Man Against Crime on the DuMont Television Network; the program lasted until 1956, when the lead role was taken by Frank Lovejoy, who thereafter starred in NBC's Meet McGraw detective series. Bellamy was a regular panelist on the CBS television game show To Tell the Truth. In the summer of 1961, Bellamy hosted nine original episodes of a CBS Western anthology series called Frontier Justice. On film, he also starred in the Western The Professionals (1966) as an oil tycoon, and Roman Polanski's Rosemary's Baby (1968) as an evil physician, before turning to television during the 1970’s. He received an Emmy Award nomination for the mini-series, The Winds of War (1983), in which Bellamy reprised his Sunrise at Campobello role of Franklin Roosevelt. This was quickly followed by his role as Randolph Duke, a conniving billionaire commodities trader in Trading Places (1983), alongside Don Ameche and starring Eddie Murphy. In the 1988, Coming to America, Bellamy and co-star Don Ameche reprised a one-scene cameo of their roles as the Duke brothers.

In 1984, he was presented with a Life Achievement Award from the Screen Actors Guild, and in 1987 received an Honorary Academy Award. Among his later roles was a memorable appearance as a once-brilliant but increasingly forgetful lawyer sadly skewered by the Jimmy Smits character on an episode of L.A. Law. He continued working regularly and gave his final performance in Pretty Woman (1990). Bellamy died on November 29, 1991, at Saint John's Health Center in Santa Monica, California, from a lung ailment and is buried at Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills Cemetery in Los Angeles.

Actress Evalyn Knapp was born on June 17, 1906 in Kansas, Missouri. She was a leading B-movie serial actress in the 1930's. Knapp started acting in silent films, her first role being in the 1929 film At The Dentist's. In 1932, Knapp was one of fourteen girls, including Ginger Rogers and Gloria Stuart, selected as "WAMPAS Baby Stars.” Knapp achieved success in cliffhanger serials, which were popular at the time. She played the title character in the 1933 serial The Perils of Pauline. One of her better known film roles was opposite Ken Maynard in the 1934's, In Old Santa Fe. Her career flourished through 1941, but slowed afterward. She married a physician, Dr. George A. Snyder in 1934 and then retired from Hollywood. Knapp died from undisclosed causes on June 12, 1981 in Los Angeles, California.

Who died on this date:

On June 17, 1961, actor Jeff Chandler died. He was born Ira Grossel on December 15, 1918 in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1950’s, Chandler became a star in western and action movies. His first important role was in Sword in the Desert (1948). He was nominated for an Academy Award for his role as Cochise in Broken Arrow (1950), making the first of three screen appearances as the legendary Apache chief. He reprised the role in The Battle at Apache Pass (1952) and in a cameo in Taza, Son of Cochise (1954). He was the first actor nominated for an Academy Award for portraying an American Indian.

Chandler as Cochise in Broken Arrow

During the latter part of the decade and into the early 1960’s, Chandler became a top leading man. His sex appeal, prematurely gray hair, and ruggedly handsome tanned features put him into drama and costume movies. Among the movies of this period are Female on the Beach (1955), Foxfire (1955), Away All Boats (1956), Toy Tiger (1956), Drango (1957), The Tattered Dress (1957), Man in the Shadow (1957), A Stranger in My Arms (1959), The Jayhawkers! (1959), Thunder in the Sun (1959), and Return to Peyton Place (1961).

Shortly after completing his role in Merrill's Marauders in 1961, he injured his back while playing baseball with U.S. Army Special Forces soldiers who served as extras in the movie. Chandler entered a Culver City hospital and had surgery for the spinal disc injury on May 13, 1961. There were severe complications and numerous surgeries; ultimately an artery was damaged and Chandler hemorrhaged to death on June 17, 1961. His death was deemed malpractice and resulted in a large lawsuit and settlement. He is buried at Hillside Memorial Park Cemetery, in Culver City, California.

http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/, author of "Fade to Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950"

Stan Laurel, Ona Munson, George Reeves

Who was born on this date:

Actor Stan Laurel was born on June 16, 1890in Lancashire, England. He is best known as the first half of the comedy team Laurel and Hardy. His film acting career stretched between 1917 and 1951 and included a starring role in the Academy Award winning film The Music Box (1932). His father managed Glasgow's Metropole Theatre where he began work. At the age of 16, with a natural affinity for the theatre, Jefferson gave his first professional performance on stage at the The Panopticon in Glasgow.

In 1910, with the stage name of "Stan Jefferson", he joined Fred Karno's troupe of actors, which also included a young Charlie Chaplin. For some time, he acted as Chaplin's understudy. The Karno troupe toured America, and brought both Chaplin and Jefferson to the United States for the first time. From 1916 to 1918, he teamed up with Alice Cooke and Baldwin Cooke, who became lifelong friends. Amongst other performers, Jefferson worked briefly alongside Oliver Hardy in a silent film short The Lucky Dog. Aound the same time he adopted the stage surname of Laurel.

Laurel went on to join the Hal Roach studio, and began directing films, including a 1926 production called Yes, Yes, Nanette. He intended to work primarily as a writer and director, but fate stepped in. In 1927, Oliver Hardy, another member of the Hal Roach Studios Comedy All Star players, was injured in a kitchen mishap and Laurel was asked to return to acting. Laurel and Hardy began sharing the screen in Slipping Wives, Duck Soup and With Love and Hisses. The two became friends and their comic chemistry soon became obvious. Roach Studios' supervising director Leo McCarey noticed the audience reaction to them and began teaming them, leading to the creation of the Laurel and Hardy series later that year.

Together, the two men began producing a huge body of short films, including The Battle of the Century, Should Married Men Go Home?, Two Tars, Be Big!, Big Business, and many others. Laurel and Hardy successfully made the transition to talking films with the short Unaccustomed As We Are in 1929. They also appeared in their first feature in one of the revue sequences of The Hollywood Revue of 1929 and the following year they appeared as the comic relief in a lavish all-color (in Technicolor) musical feature, The Rogue Song. In 1931, their own first starring feature, Pardon Us was released, although they continued to make both features and shorts until 1935, including their 1932 three-reeler The Music Box which won an Academy Award for Best Short Subject.

During the 1930’s, Laurel was involved in a dispute with Hal Roach, which resulted in the termination of his contract. Since Roach maintained separate contracts for Laurel and Hardy that expired at different times, Hardy remained at the studio and was "teamed" with Harry Langdon for the 1939 film Zenobia. There was also talk about a series of films co-starring Hardy with Patsy Kelly called "The Hardy Family." But Laurel sued Roach over the contract dispute. Eventually, the case was dropped and Laurel returned to Roach. After returning to Roach studios, the first film Laurel and Hardy made was A Chump at Oxford. Subsequently, they made Saps at Sea, which was their last film for Roach.

In 1939, Laurel and Hardy signed a contract at 20th Century Fox to make one motion picture and nine more over the following five months. During the war years, their work became more standardized and less successful, though The Bullfighters, Great Guns and A-Haunting We Will Go did receive some praise. Laurel discovered he had diabetes, so he encouraged Oliver Hardy to make two films without him.

In May 1954, Oliver Hardy had a heart attack and canceled the tour. In 1955, they were planning to do a television series, Laurel and Hardy's Fabulous Fables, based on children's stories, but the plans were delayed after Laurel suffered a stroke, from which he recovered. But as he was planning to get back to work, Oliver Hardy had a massive stroke on September 15, 1956. Paralyzed and bedridden for several months, Hardy was unable to speak or move. On August 7, 1957, Oliver Hardy died. Laurel did not attend his funeral, stating "Babe would understand.” People who knew Laurel said he was absolutely devastated by Hardy's death and never fully recovered for the rest of his life.

In 1961, Stan Laurel was given a Lifetime Achievement Academy Award for his pioneering work in comedy. He had achieved his lifelong dream as a comedian and had been involved in nearly 190 films. He lived his final years in a small apartment in the Oceana Hotel in Santa Monica, California. Laurel was a heavy smoker until suddenly giving up when he was about seventy years of age. He died on February 23, 1965, aged 74, several days after suffering a heart attack. At his funeral, silent screen comedian Buster Keaton was overheard at Laurel's funeral giving his assessment of the comedian's considerable talents: "Chaplin wasn't the funniest, I wasn't the funniest, this man was the funniest." Dick Van Dyke, a friend, protégé and occasional impressionist of Laurel's during his later years, gave the eulogy, reading A Prayer for Clowns. Laurel had written his own epitaph: "If anyone at my funeral has a long face, I'll never speak to him again." A similar statement was later found: "If anyone cries at my funeral, I will never speak to him again." He is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery.

Actress Ona Munson was born on June 16, 1903 in Portland, Oregon. She best known for her portrayal of prostitute Belle Watling in Gone with the Wind (1939). She first came to fame on Broadway as the singing and dancing ingénue in the original production of No, No, Nanette. From this, Munson had a very successful stage and radio career in 1930s in New York. She introduced the song "You're the Cream in My Coffee" in the 1927 Broadway musical Hold Everything.

Her first starring role was in a Warner Brothers talkie called Going Wild (1930). Originally this film was intended as musical but all the numbers were removed prior to release due to the public's distaste for musicals which had virtually saturated the cinema in 1929-1930. Munson appeared the next year in a musical comedy called Hot Heiress in which she sings several songs along with her co-star Ben Lyon. She also starred in Broadminded (1931) and Five Star Final (1931). She briefly retired from the screen, only to return in 1938. Another roll was as "Mother Gin Sling" in the (1941) "The Shanghai Gesture." Munson’s career was stalemated by the acclaim of Gone with the Wind; for the remainder of her career, she was typecast in similar roles. Two years later, she played a huge role as another madam, albeit a Chinese one, in Josef von Sternberg's film noir The Shanghai Gesture.

Ona Munson in Gone with the Wind (1939)

On February 11, 1955, plagued by ill health, she committed suicide with an overdose of barbiturates in her apartment in New York. A note found next to her deathbed read, "This is the only way I know to be free again...Please don't follow me." She is interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Who died on this date:

On June 16, 1959, actor George Reeves died. He was born George Keefer Brewer in Woolstock, Iowa, on January 5, 1914. He is best known for his role as Superman in the 1950’s television program Adventures of Superman. Reeves's film career began in 1939 when he was cast as Stuart Tarleton, one of Scarlett O'Hara's suitors in Gone with the Wind. It was a minor role but he and Fred Crane, both in brightly dyed red hair as "the Tarleton Twins," were in the film's opening scenes. He was contracted to Warner Brothers at the time; the actor's professional name became "George Reeves" and his Gone with the Wind screen credit reflects the change.

He starred in a number of two-reel short subjects and appeared in several B-pictures, including two with Ronald Reagan and three with James Cagney (Torrid Zone, The Fighting 69th, and The Strawberry Blonde). Warner Bros. Studios loaned him to producer Alexander Korda to co-star with Merle Oberon in Lydia, a box-office failure. Released from his Warners contract, he signed a contract at Twentieth Century-Fox but was released after only a handful of films, one of which was the Charlie Chan movie Dead Men Tell. He freelanced, appearing in five Hopalong Cassidy westerns before director Mark Sandrich cast Reeves as Lieutenant John Summers opposite Claudette Colbert in So Proudly We Hail! (1942), a war drama for Paramount Pictures. He won critical acclaim for the role and garnered considerable publicity. In 1953, Reeves played a minor character, Sergeant Maylon Stark, in the motion picture From Here To Eternity. The film won the Academy Award for Best Picture and gave Reeves a second motion picture appearance in a film that ultimately won the Oscar.

In June 1951, Reeves was offered the role of Superman in a new television series entitled Adventures of Superman. He was initially reluctant to take the role because, like many actors of his time, he considered television unimportant and believed few would see his work. He received low pay and only for the weeks of production. The half-hour films were shot on tight schedules; at least two shows were made every six days. According to commentaries on the Adventures of Superman DVD sets, multiple scripts would be filmed simultaneously to take advantage of the standing sets, so that all the "Perry White's office" scenes for three or four episodes would be shot the same day; the various "apartment" scenes would be done consecutively.

Reeves's career as Superman had begun with Superman and the Mole Men, a film intended both as a B-picture and as the pilot for the TV series. Immediately after completing it, Reeves and the crew began production of the first season's episodes; all shot over 13 weeks in the summer of 1951. The series went on the air the following year, and Reeves was amazed at becoming a national celebrity. In 1957, the struggling ABC Network purchased the show for national broadcast, which gave him greater visibility.

The Superman cast members had restrictive contracts which prevented them from taking other work that might interfere with the series. Except for the second season, the Superman schedule was brief but all had a "30-day clause", which meant that the producers could demand their exclusive services for a new season on four weeks notice. This prevented long-term work on major films with long schedules, stage plays which might lead to a lengthy run, or any other series work.

However, Reeves had earnings from personal appearances beyond his meager salary, and his affection for his young fans was genuine. Reeves took his role model status seriously, avoiding cigarettes where children could see him and eventually quitting smoking. He kept his private life discreet. Nevertheless, he had a romantic relationship with a married ex-showgirl eight years his senior, Toni Mannix, wife of Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer general manager Eddie Mannix. With Toni Mannix, Reeves worked tirelessly to raise money to fight myasthenia gravis. He served as national chairman for the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation in 1955. During the second season, Reeves appeared in a short film for the Treasury Department, Stamp Day for Superman, in which he caught the villains and told children why they should invest in government savings stamps.

After two seasons of Superman, Reeves was dissatisfied with the one-dimensional role and low salary. Now 40 years old, he wished to quit and move on with his career. The producers looked elsewhere for a new star, allegedly contacting Kirk Alyn, the actor who had first portrayed Superman in the original movie serials and who had initially refused to play the role on television. Alyn turned them down again.

Reeves established his own production company and conceived a TV adventure series, Port of Entry, which would be shot on location in Hawaii and Mexico, writing the pilot script himself. However, Superman producers offered him a salary increase and he returned to the series. He was reportedly making $5,000 per week, but only while the show was in production (about eight weeks each year). As for Port of Entry, Reeves was never able to gain financing for the project, and the show was never made.

In between the first and second seasons of Superman, Reeves got sporadic acting assignments in one-shot TV anthology programs and in two feature films, Forever Female (1953) and Fritz Lang's The Blue Gardenia (1953). But by the time the series was airing nationwide, Reeves found himself so associated with Superman and Clark Kent that it was difficult for him to find other roles. A false but often-repeated story suggests that he was upset when his scenes as Sergeant Maylon Stark in the classic film From Here to Eternity were cut after a preview audience kept yelling "There's Superman!" whenever he appeared on screen.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department report, between approximately 1:30 and 2:00 a.m. on June 16, 1959, George Reeves died of a gunshot wound to his head in the upstairs bedroom of his Benedict Canyon home. Police arrived within the hour. Present in the house at the time of death were Leonore Lemmon, William Bliss, writer Robert Condon, and Carol Van Ronkel, who lived a few blocks away with her husband, screenwriter Rip Van Ronkel.

According to these witnesses, Lemmon and Reeves had been dining and drinking earlier in the evening in the company of writer Condon, who was ghostwriting an autobiography of prizefighter Archie Moore. Reeves and Lemmon argued at the restaurant, and the trio returned home. However, Lemmon stated in interviews with Reeves's biographer Jim Beaver that she and Reeves had not accompanied friends dining and drinking, but rather to wrestling matches. Contemporary news items indicate that Reeves's friend Gene LeBell was wrestling that night—yet LeBell's own recollections are that he did not see Reeves after a workout session earlier in the day. In any event Reeves went to bed, but some time near midnight an impromptu party began when Bliss and Carol Van Ronkel arrived. Reeves angrily came downstairs and complained about the noise. After blowing off steam, he stayed with the guests for a while, had a drink, and then retired upstairs again in a bad mood.

The house guests later heard a single gunshot. Bliss ran into Reeves's bedroom and found George Reeves dead, lying across his bed, naked and face up, his feet on the floor. This position has been attributed to his sitting on the edge of the bed when he shot himself, after which his body fell back on the bed and the 9mm Luger pistol fell between his feet. Statements made to police and the press essentially agree. Neither Lemmon nor the other witnesses made any apology for their delay in calling the police after hearing the gunshot; the shock of the death, the lateness of the hour, and their state of intoxication were given as reasons for the delay. Police said that all of the witnesses present were extremely inebriated, and that coherent stories were very difficult to obtain.

While the official story given by Lemmon to police placed her in the living room with party guests at the time of the shooting, statements from Fred Crane, Reeves's friend and colleague from "Gone with The Wind," put Lenore Lemmon either inside or in direct proximity to the Reeves bedroom, minimally as a witness to the shooting. According to Crane, Bill Bliss had told Millicent Trent that, after the shot rang out, and while Bliss was having a drink, Leonore Lemmon came downstairs and said, “Tell them I was down here, tell them I was down here!” In an interview with Carl Glass, Crane expanded on this: "It needed to be told and that is the way I heard it from Millie as told to her by Bill Bliss. Janet Bliss and Millie were very close friends. I met Millie at Bill and Janet’s house up in Benedict Canyon on Easton Drive. We lived on the same street.” Witness statements and examination of the crime scene led to official inquiry conclusion that the death was suicide. Reeves's will, dated 1956, and bequeathed his entire estate to Toni Mannix, much to Lemmon's surprise and devastation. Her statement to the press read, "Toni got a house for charity, and I got a broken heart", referring to the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation. Reeves is interred at Mountain View Cemetery and Mausoleum in Altadena, California.

http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/, author of "Fade to Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950"

Belinda Lee, Steve Cochran

Who was born on this date:

Actress Belinda Lee was born on June 15, 1935 in Budleigh Salterton, England. She was signed to a film contract in 1954 by the Rank Studios after being seen performing as a student of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art. Often cast in demure roles in her early career, she was able to demonstrate her dramatic abilities; however she found more constant employment when she began to play "sexpot" roles. Typecast as one of several "sexy blondes" she was often compared, unfavorably, to the popular Diana Dors. Typical of these roles was a supporting part in the Benny Hill film Who Done It? (1956).

She was married to the photographer Cornel Lucas from1954 until 1959, it was after their divorce that Lee moved to Italy, where she continued playing voluptuous temptresses in Italian films, yet also found the occasion of credible dramatic performances in Francesco Rosi's immigration drama I Magliari (1959) and Florestano Vancini's intense war story La lunga notte del '43 (1960). She died in a car accident while on holiday near San Bernardino, California on March 12, 1961. Her ashes are interred at Campo Cestio Cemetery in Rome, Italy.

Who died on this date:

On June 15, 1965, actor Steve Cochran died. He was born Robert Alexander Cochran on May 25, 1917. From 1949 to 1952, he worked for Warner Brothers Studios and appeared in many films including The Chase (1946), The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), Copacabana (1947), A Song Is Born (1948), Highway 301 (1950), The Damned Don't Cry! (1950), and Inside the Walls of Folsom Prison (1951). One of his most memorable roles was as psychotic mobster James Cagney’s deceitful, power-hungry henchman, Big Ed Somers, in the gangster classic White Heat (1949).

In 1953, Cochran formed his own production company, Robert Alexander Productions, where he won critical acclaim for two of his performances in his company's films. Cochran was a disgraced, alcoholic itinerant farmer struggling to regain the love of his family in Come Next Spring (1956), and was a troubled drifter in Michelangelo Antonioni’s Il grido (1957), produced in Italy. Cochran's company attempted to produce some television series and other films such as The Tom Mix Story, but they were never produced with the exception of a television pilot where he played John C. Fremont in Fremont the Trailblazer. Cochran starred in a string of B-movies throughout the 1950’s, including Carnival Story (1954). He also frequently appeared in episodes of the most popular television series of the era, including guest spots on Bonanza, The Untouchables, Route 66, and The Twilight Zone.

Cochran was a notorious womanizer and attracted tabloid attention for his tumultuous private life, which included well-documented affairs with actresses such as Mae West, Jayne Mansfield, Barbara Payton, Joan Crawford, Merle Oberon, Kay Kendall, Virginia Lord, and Ida Lupino. Perhaps his most famous affair was with Mamie Van Doren, who later wrote about their sex life in graphic detail in her tell-all autobiography “Playing the Field: My Story” (1987).

On June 15, 1965, Cochran died from a lung infection, on his yacht off the coast of Guatemala. His body, along with three female assistants, remained on board the yacht for ten days because the three women didn't know how to operate the boat. The boat drifted to shore in Port Champerico, Guatemala and was found by authorities. There were various rumors of foul play and poisoning, and Merle Oberon tried to use her influence to push for further police investigations. No new evidence was ever found. Cochran was buried at the Monterey City Cemetery in Monterey, California.

http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/, author of "Fade to Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950"

Burl Ives, Gene Barry, Dorothy McGuire, Richard Jaeckel

Born on this date:

Actor Burl Ives was born Burle Icle Ivanhoe Ives on June 14, 1909 in Hunt City, Illinois. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Today, he probably best remembered for voicing the part of Sam the Snowman character from the 1960’s animated Christmas classic, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. In the 1930’s, Ives traveled around the U.S. as an itinerant singer, earning his way by doing odd jobs and playing his banjo. By 1940, Ives began his own radio show, titled The Wayfaring Stranger after one of his ballads. Over the next decade, he popularized several traditional folk songs, such as Foggy, Foggy Dew, Blue Tail Fly, and Big Rock Candy Mountain. In 1945 Ives was cast as a singing cowboy in the film Smoky (1945). His version of the 17th century English song Lavender Blue became his first hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its use in the 1949 film, So Dear to My Heart.

In 1950, Ives was identified in the pamphlet Red Channels and blacklisted as an entertainer with supposed Communist ties. In 1952 he cooperated with the House Unamerican Activities Committee and agreed to testify. He stated that he was not a member of the Communist Party but that he had attended various union meetings with fellow folk singer Pete Seeger simply to stay in touch with working folk. He stated: "You know who my friends are; you will have to ask them if they are Communists.” Ives's statement to the HUAC ended his blacklisting, allowing him to continue acting in movies. But it also led to a bitter rift between Ives and many folk singers, including Seeger, who accused Ives of betraying them and the cause of cultural and political freedom in order to save his own career. Ives expanded his appearances in films during the 1950’s and his movie credits include East of Eden, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, Desire Under the Elms, Wind Across the Everglades, The Big Country (for which he won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor in 1959); Ensign Pulver, the sequel to Mister Roberts; and Our Man in Havana.

Burl Ives with Paul Newman in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof

Ives had several film and television roles during the 1960’s and 1970’s. In 1962 he starred with Rock Hudson in The Spiral Road, which was based on a novel of the same name by Jan de Hartog. In 1964, he played the genie in the movie The Brass Bottle with Tony Randall and Barbara Eden. Also in 1964, Ives played the narrator, Sam the Snowman, in Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer. The yearly rebroadcast of the popular seasonal television special has forever linked Ives to the Christmas season.

Burl Ives as the voice of Sam the Snowman in Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer

Ives was a renowned pipe smoker and also smoked cigars. In the summer of 1994 he was diagnosed with oral cancer after being hospitalized for back surgery. After several operations he decided against having further surgery. In April 1995 he fell into a coma. Ives died of complications of mouth cancer on April 14, 1995 in Anacortes, Washington and is buried at the Mound Cemetery in Hunt City Township, Jasper County, Illinois.

Actor Gene Barry was born Eugene Klass on June 14, 1919 in New York City. Barry chose his professional name in honor of John Barrymore and made his Broadway debut as Captain Paul Duval in the 1942 revival of Sigmund Romberg's The New Moon. In 1950, Barry began appearing on TV with the "NBC Television Opera Theatre.” In 1955, he appeared on the CBS anthology series Appointment with Adventure.

Barry appeared in his first movie, The Atomic City (1952), and then was cast as "Dr. Clayton Forrester" in the sci-fi classic, The War of the Worlds (1953). In 1955, Barry returned to television and had a recurring role in the situation comedy Our Miss Brooks. From 1958-1961, he starred in Bat Masterson, a fictionalized recounting of the life of the real-life U.S. Marshal / gambler. In his next TV series, Burke's Law, Barry played a millionaire who always used a chauffeured limousine and who solved crimes, first as the Chief of Detectives and then as a secret agent. This series was telecast from 1963 to 1965. For his performance in it, Barry won the Golden Globe Award for Best Actor in 1965.

Barry returned to Broadway on two occasions, 1962 in The Perfect Setup, and in 1983 in the Broadway premiere of the musical La Cage aux Folles. For his portrayal of Georges, Barry was nominated for a Tony Award. Barry died on December 9, 2009 at Sunrise Senior Living in Woodland Hills, California and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

Actress Dorothy McGuire was born on June 14, 1916 in Omaha, Nebraska. She began her acting career on the stage at the Omaha Community Playhouse. Eventually, she succeeded on Broadway, first appearing as an understudy to Martha Scott in Our Town, and subsequently starring in the domestic comedy, Claudia.Brought to Hollywood by producer David O. Selznick on the strength of her stage performance, McGuire starred in her first film, a movie adaptation of her Broadway success, Claudia (1943).

Gregory Peck, Dorothy McGuire, Celeste Holm & John Garfield in Gentleman's Agreement (1948)

Other film credits include A Tree Grows In Brooklyn (1945) and Gentleman's Agreement (1948), for she was nominated for a best actress Academy Award. Additional movie credits include The Enchanted Cottage, A Summer Place, Three Coins in the Fountain, Friendly Persuasion, Old Yeller, Swiss Family Robinson, The Greatest Story Ever Told, and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs. McGuire had a long Hollywood career. Her versatility served her well in taut melodramas, such as The Spiral Staircase and Make Haste to Live, as well as in light, frothy comedies, such as Mother Didn't Tell Me and Mister 880. McGuire died of cardiac arrest following a brief illness on September 13, 2001 and her ashes were scattered into the Pacific Ocean.

Who died on this date:

On June 14, 1997, actor Richard Jaeckel died. He was born in Long Beach, New York. During his fifty years in movies & television, he was known as one of Hollywood's best known character actors. Jaeckel got his start in the business at the age of seventeen while working as a mail clerk at 20th Century Fox studios in Hollywood. A casting director auditioned him for a key role in the 1943 film Guadalcanal Diary, Jaeckel got the role and settled into a lengthy career in supporting parts.

He starred in two of the most remembered war films of 1949, Battleground and Sands of Iwo Jima with John Wayne. One of Jaeckel's shortest film roles was in The Gunfighter, in which his character is killed by Gregory Peck's character in the opening scene. He also played the role of Turk, the roomer's boyfriend, in the Oscar-winning 1952 film Come Back, Little Sheba, co-starring with Shirley Booth, Burt Lancaster, and Terry Moore. In 1960, he appeared as Angus Pierce in the Western Flaming Star which starred Elvis Presley. He played Lee Marvin's able second-in-command in The Dirty Dozen for director Robert Aldrich. Jaeckel appeared in several other Aldrich films, including Attack, Ulzana's Raid and Twilight's Last Gleaming.

In 1972, Jaeckel received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor for his role in Sometimes a Great Notion. In his later years, Jaeckel was known to TV audiences as Lt. Ben Edwards on the NBC series Baywatch. He also co-starred on Robert Urich's ABC series Spenser: For Hire in the role of Lieutenant Martin Quirk. On June 14, 1997, Jaeckel died after a three-year battle with melanoma, at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills, California and his ashes were scattered at sea.

http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/, author of "Fade to Black: Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950"

Basil Rathbone, Mary Wickes, Geraldine Page, Martita Hunt

Who was born on this date:

Actor Basil Rathbone was born on June 13, 1892 in Johannesburg, South Africa. He rose to prominence in England as a Shakespearean stage actor and went on to appear in over seventy films, primarily costume dramas, swashbucklers, and, occasional horror films. He frequently portrayed suave villains or morally ambiguous characters, such as Murdstone in David Copperfield (1935) and Sir Guy of Gisbourne in The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938). His most famous role, however, was that of Sherlock Holmes in fourteen Hollywood films made between 1939 and 1946. His later career included Broadway and television work; he received a Tony Award in 1948 as Best Actor in a Play.

During the 1920’s, Rathbone appeared regularly in Shakespearean and other roles on the English stage. His film career began in 1925 with the The Masked Bride and he appeared in a few silent movies, playing the detective Philo Vance in the 1930 movie The Bishop Murder Case. Rathbone made a name for himself in the 1930’s by playing suave villains in costume dramas and swashbucklers, including David Copperfield (1935) as the abusive stepfather Mr. Murdstone; Anna Karenina (1935); The Last Days of Pompeii (1935) portraying Pontius Pilate; Captain Blood (1935); A Tale of Two Cities (1935), as the Marquis St. Evremonde; The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938); The Adventures of Marco Polo (1938); and The Mark of Zorro (1940) as Captain Esteban Pasquale. He also appeared in several early horror films: Tower of London (1939), and Son of Frankenstein (1939), portraying the dedicated surgeon Baron Wolf von Frankenstein, son of the monster's creato.

Basil Rathbone with Errol Flynn in The Adventures of Robinhood (1938)

He was admired for his athletic cinema swordsmanship. He fought and lost to Errol Flynn in a duel on the beach in Captain Blood and in an elaborate fight sequence in The Adventures of Robin Hood. He was involved in noteworthy sword fights in Tower of London, The Mark of Zorro, and The Court Jester (1956). Despite his real-life skill, Rathbone only won once onscreen, in Romeo and Juliet (1936). Rathbone earned Academy Award nominations for Best supporting actor for his performances as Tybalt in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and as King Louis XI in If I Were King (1938). Despite his film success, Rathbone always insisted that he wished to be remembered for his stage career. He said that his favorite role was that of Romeo.

In the 1950’s, Rathbone excelled in two spoofs of his earlier swashbuckling villains: Casanova's Big Night (1954) opposite Bob Hope and The Court Jester (1956) with Danny Kaye. He appeared frequently on TV game shows and continued to appear in major motion pictures, including the Humphrey Bogart comedy We're No Angels (1955) and John Ford's political drama The Last Hurrah (1958). Rathbone also appeared on Broadway and in 1948, won a Tony Award for Best Actor as Dr. Austin Sloper in the “The Heiress.” He died of a heart attack in New York City on July 21, 1967 and is interred in a crypt in the Shrine of Memories Mausoleum at Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York.

Actress Mary Wickes was born on June 13, 1910 in St. Louis, Missouri. She graduated at the age of eighteen with a degree in political science from Washington University in St. Louis. Her first Broadway appearance was in Marc Connelly's The Farmer Takes a Wife in 1934 with Henry Fonda. She began acting in films in the late 1930’s, and was also a member of the Orson Welles troupe on his radio drama Mercury Theatre of the Air. One of her earliest significant film appearances was in The Man Who Came to Dinner (1942), reprising her stage role of "Nurse Preen.”

A tall woman with a distinctive voice, Wickes would ultimately prove herself adept as a comedienne. She first attracted attention in the film, Now, Voyager (1942), as the wisecracking nurse who helped Bette Davis' character during her mother's illness and appeared with Davis again in June Bride (1946). In 1942 she appeared with Abbott and Costello in Who Done It?. She continued playing supporting roles in films during the next decade, usually playing wisecracking characters, such as Stella in By the Light of the Silvery Moon and On Moonlight Bay. She played similar roles in two later movies with Rosalind Russell: The Trouble with Angels and Where Angels Go, Trouble Follows. She also appeared as Emma the housekeeper in the holiday classic White Christmas (1954), starring Bing Crosby, Danny Kaye, and Rosemary Clooney.

Moving onto television in the 1950’s, Wickes played the maid Katie in the Mickey Mouse Club serial Walt Disney Presents: Annette and regular roles in the sitcoms Make Room for Daddy and Dennis The Menace and played Mrs. Squires in the film adaptation of Meredith Willson's The Music Man (1962). During the 1954-1955, she played Alice, the housekeeper to a college president, in the CBS sitcom The Halls of Ivy. In 1956, Wickes appeared with Thelma Ritter in "The Babysitter" episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In the 1961-1962 TV season, she appeared as Maxfield in CBS's Mrs. G. Goes to College. For her work in the sitcom, Wickes was nominated for an Emmy Award for "Outstanding Performance in a Supporting Role by an Actress.”
A longtime friend of Lucille Ball, Wickes played frequent guest roles in Ball's three CBS series, I Love Lucy, The Lucy Show and Here's Lucy. In 1970-1971, she guest starred on CBS's The Doris Day Show. She was also a regular on the Sid and Marty Krofft children's television show Sigmund and the Sea Monsters. She made numerous appearances as a celebrity panelist on the game show Match Game. By the 1980’s, her appearances in television series such as Our Man Higgins, M*A*S*H, The Love Boat, Kolchak: The Night Stalker and Murder, She Wrote had made her a widely recognizable character actress. She also appeared in a variety of Broadway shows, including a 1979 revival of Oklahoma!, where she portrayed Aunt Eller.

She was cast as the mother of Shirley MacLaine's character in the 1990 film, Postcards from the Edge and from 1989 to 1991, portrayed Marie Murkin in the television series, Father Dowling Mysteries with Tom Bosley. She played Sister Mary Lazarus in Sister Act (1992) and in the sequel Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit (1993). She appeared in the 1994 film version of Little Women before she became ill. Wickes was hospitalized the following year suffering from numerous ailments, including renal failure, massive gastrointestinal bleeding, severe hypotension, ischemic cardiomyopathy, anemia and breast cancer, which cumulatively resulted in her passing away while undergoing surgery on October 22, 1995. Her final film role, voicing the gargoyle Laverne in Disney's animated feature, The Hunchback of Notre Dame was released posthumously in 1996. She was interred beside her parents at the Shiloh Valley Cemetery in Shiloh, Illinois.

Who died on this date:

On June 13, 1987, actress Geraldine Page died. She was born on November 22, 1924 in Kirksville, Missouri. She starred in at least two dozen feature films, but is primarily known for her career in the American theater. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance as Carrie Watts in The Trip to Bountiful (1986). Page was a trained method actor and worked closely with Lee Strasberg. She earned critical accolades for her performance in Tennessee Williams' Sweet Bird of Youth opposite Paul Newman. She originated the role of a larger-than-life, addicted, sexually voracious Hollywood legend trying to extinguish her fears about her career with a young hustler named Chance Wayne, played by Newman. Page received her first Tony Award nomination for the play. She and Newman later starred in the film adaptation and Page earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Actress for the film.

Paul Newman and Geraldine Page in Sweetbird of Youth (1962)

Page gave celebrated performances in films as well as her work on Broadway. Her film debut was in Out of the Night (1947). Her role in Hondo, opposite John Wayne, garnered her a Best supporting actress Oscar nomination. In all, despite her relatively small filmography, Page received eight Academy Award nominations. She finally won the Oscar in 1986 for a performance in The Trip to Bountiful. When she won (F. Murray Abraham, upon opening the envelope, exclaimed "I consider this woman the greatest actress in the English language.

Her other notable screen roles included Academy Award-nominated performances in Tennessee Williams' Summer and Smoke (1961), Sweet Bird of Youth (1962), You're a Big Boy Now (1966), Pete 'n' Tillie (1972), Woody Allen's Interiors (1978), and The Pope of Greenwich Village (1984). She also appeared in such roles as a psychotic, mass killer in What Ever Happened to Aunt Alice? (1969); a repressed schoolmistress in the Clint Eastwood film, The Beguiled (1971); a charismatic evangelist in The Day of the Locust (1975); a nun, Sister Walburga, in Nasty Habits (1977); and as 'Aunt' Beverly in Harry's War (1981).

She did various television shows in the 1950’s through the 1980’s, including movies and series, such as Hawaii Five-O, Kojak, and several episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery, including "The Sins of the Fathers" and "Something in the Woodwork.” Page also appeared in television productions and won two Emmy Awards as Outstanding Single Performance By an Actress in a Leading Role in a Drama for her roles in the classic Truman Capote stories, A Christmas Memory (1967) and The Thanksgiving Visitor (1969). Her final film was the 1987 Mary Stuart Masterson film My Little Girl, which was the film debut of Jennifer Lopez. Page who had suffered for many years from kidney disease, died of a heart attack on June 13, 1987. She was at the time appearing on Broadway in Sir Noel Coward's Blithe Spirit at the Neil Simon Theatre. Her remains were cremated and given to family.

On June 13, 1969, actress Martita Hunt died. She was born on January 30, 1900 in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Hunt began her acting career in repertory theatre at Liverpool before moving to London. She appeared in many supporting and cameo roles in several popular British films such as Good Morning Boys (1937), Trouble Brewing (1939), and The Man in Grey (1943). The Wicked Lady (1945) was an international success, but her next film role in David Lean's Great Expectations (1946) became her most famous and most lauded. As Miss Havisham, she reprised her role from the 1939 stage adaptation by Alec Guinness which provided the inspiration and template for Lean's film.

From this time on she divided her time between British films, Hollywood and the stage. She won a Tony Award in 1949 for her Broadway début as Countess Aurelia in the English-speaking première of Giraudoux's The Madwoman of Chaillot. Some of her other films include Anna Karenina (1948), My Sister and I (1948), The Fan (1949), Folly to be Wise (1952), The March Hare (1956), Anastasia (1956), Three Men in a Boat (1956), The Admirable Crichton (1957), The Prince and the Showgirl (1957),[3] The Brides of Dracula (1960), The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm (1962), Becket (1964), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964) and Bunny Lake Is Missing (1965). She died on June 13, 1969 of bronchial asthma at her home in Hampstead, London and her ashes are interred at the Golders Green Crematorium, Golders Green, England.

http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/, author of "Fade to Black Graveside Memories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950"

Gregory Peck, Norma Shearer

Who died on this date:

On June 12, 2003, actor Gregory Peck died. He was born Eldred Gregory Peck on April 5, 1916 in La Jolla, California. One of 20th Century Fox's most popular film stars from the 1940’s to the 1960’s. His notable performances include that of Atticus Finch in the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird, for which he won an Academy Award. In 1999, the American Film Institute named Peck the 12th Greatest Male Movie Star of All Time.

While attending college at the University of California, Berkeley, Peck developed an interest in acting. After graduating from Berkeley with a BA degree in English, he dropped the name "Eldred" and headed to New York City to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse with the legendary acting teacher Sanford Meisner. Peck made his Broadway debut as the lead in Emlyn Williams' The Morning Star in 1942. His second Broadway performance that year was in The Willow and I with Edward Pawley. Peck's acting abilities were in high demand during World War II, since he was exempt from military service owing to a back injury suffered while receiving dance and movement lessons from Martha Graham as part of his acting training. Twentieth Century Fox claimed he had injured his back while rowing at university, but in Peck's words, "In Hollywood, they didn't think a dance class was macho enough, I guess. I've been trying to straighten out that story for years."

Peck's first film was Days of Glory (1944). He was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor five times, four of which came in his first five years of film acting: for The Keys of the Kingdom (1944), The Yearling (1946), Gentleman's Agreement (1947), and Twelve O'Clock High (1949). Gentleman's Agreement established his power in the "social conscience" genre in a film that took on the deep-seated but subtle anti-semitism of mid-century corporate America. While Twelve O'Clock High was the first of many successful war films in which Peck embodied the brave, effective, yet human fighting man. Among his other films were Spellbound (1945), The Paradine Case (1947), The Gunfighter (1950), Moby Dick (1956), On the Beach (1959), which brought to life the terrors of global nuclear war, The Guns of Navarone (1961), and Roman Holiday (1953), with Audrey Hepburn in her Oscar winning role. Peck once again teamed up with director William Wyler in the epic Western, The Big Country (1958).

Peck won the Academy Award for best actor, playing Atticus Finch, a Depression-era lawyer and widowed father, in a film adaptation of the Harper Lee novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Peck served as the president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in 1967, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the American Film Institute from 1967 to 1969, Chairman of the Motion Picture and Television Relief Fund in 1971, and National Chairman of the American Cancer Society in 1966. He was a member of the National Council on the Arts from 1964 to 1966.

In the 1980’s Peck moved to television, where he starred in the mini-series The Blue and the Gray, playing Abraham Lincoln. He also starred with Christopher Plummer, Sir John Gielgud, and Barbara Bouchet in the television film The Scarlet and The Black. Peck retired from active film-making at that point. Like Cary Grant before him, Peck spent the last few years of his life touring the world doing speaking engagements in which he would show clips from his movies, reminisce, and take questions from the audience. He did come out of retirement for a 1998 miniseries version of one of his most famous films, Moby Dick, portraying Father Mapple. On June 12, 2003, Peck died from bronchopneumonia and he is buried at the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels mausoleum in Los Angeles, California.

On June 12, 1983, actress Norma Shearer died. She was known as the “First Lady of MGM,” Norma Shearer was born Edith Norma Shearer on August 10, 1902 in Montreal, Canada. She was one of only a handful of actress to successfully transition from silent films to talkies. During a successful film career that lasted from 1919 to 1942, she appeared in sixty films. Known mainly for playing heroic and tragic roles, the versatile actress’ major film credits include; The Stealers (1920), The Actress (1928), The Trial of Mary Dungan (1929), Let Us Be Gay (1930), A Free Soul (1931), Strange Interlude (1932), Riptide (1934), The Barrett’s of Wimpole Street (1934), Romeo and Juliet (1937), and Marie Antoinette (1938).

During her long and storied film career, Shearer was nominated for six lead actress Academy Awards but won only once in 1930 for her portrayal of Jerry Martin in the Divorcee. That same year she was nominated for a second lead actress award for the film, Their Own Desire (1929). Actress Joan Crawford’s alleged reaction to Shearer’s Oscar win was quite catty, “What do you expect? She sleeps with the boss!” Shearer was the wife of MGM executive Irving Thalberg.

Following the death of her first husband, Irving Thalberg, in 1937, Shearer’s film career began to steadily decline. She retired from film in 1942 after marrying Martin Arrouge, a young ski instructor (20 years her junior). Shunning the limelight in her later years, she became anxious, depressed, and suicidal. The former actress spent the last years of her life locked away at the Motion Picture and Television Country Home in Woodland Hills, California. Wheel chair bound and incoherent, she died on June 12, 1983 at the country home from complications of Alzheimer’s disease and pneumonia. She is interred with her first husband Irving Thalberg at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale in the Great Mausoleum, Sanctuary of Benediction in the Thalberg alcove. Her crypt simply reads; Norma Arrouge.

Wesley Ruggles, John Wayne

Because I will be out of town tomorrow June 11th...I have posted tomorrow's blog today

Who was born on this date:

On June 11, 1889, film director Wesley Ruggles was born in Los Angeles, California. He was the younger brother of actor Charles Ruggles. He began his film career in 1915 as an actor, appearing in a dozen or so silent films, on occasion with Charles Chaplin. In 1917, he turned his attention to directing, making more than 50 mostly forgettable films — including a silent film version of Edith Wharton's novel The Age of Innocence (1924), before he won acclaim with Cimarron in 1931. The adaptation of Edna Ferber's novel Cimarron, about homesteaders settling in the prairies of Oklahoma, was the first Western to win an Academy Award as Best Picture.

Although Ruggles followed this success with the light comedy No Man of Her Own (1932) with Clark Gable and Carole Lombard, the comedy I'm No Angel (1933) with Mae West and Cary Grant , College Humor (1933) with Bing Crosby, and Bolero (1934) with George Raft and Carole Lombard, few of his later films were in any way memorable (an exception is Arizona). His career was on the downslide when he teamed with the Rank Organization in 1946 to produce and direct London Town with Sid Field and Petula Clark, based on a story he wrote. The film was British cinema's first attempt at a Technicolor musical extravaganza and is notable as being one of the biggest critical and commercial failures in that country's film history. Ironically, Ruggles had been hired to helm it because as an American, it was thought, he was better equipped to handle a musical but despite the fact that nothing in his past had prepared him to work in the genre. It was his last film. An abridged version was released in the U.S. under the title My Heart Goes Crazy by United Artists in 1953. Ruggles died on January 8, 1972 in Santa Monica and he is buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Who died on this date:

On June 11, 1979, actor John Wayne died. He was born Marion Robert Morrison on May 26, 1907 in Winterset, Iowa to Mary and Clyde Morrison. Mary soon had a change of heart, and re-named him Marion Michael in honor of a wealthy relative. The young Morrison grew to despise the name, and his early childhood was not happy. He felt unloved by his mother, who favored his younger brother Robert. Because of his name, Marion was teased, and bullied at school. He found himself in many fights, his father Clyde advised him not to go looking for a fight, but if he found it unavoidable, make sure he won at all costs. The tough image that would be a hallmark of later film characters was being developed at an early age.

In 1915, the Morrison’s moved to the Los Angeles area, Clyde had been diagnosed with tuberculosis, and a hot dry climate was suggested. At the age of eleven a big event in Marion’s life took place; he was befriended by a local fireman, a man that Marion looked up too, this man gave young Morrison his nickname “big Duke.” The nickname stuck, and with the new name came a fresh bravado, the young “Duke” Morrison began to prosper emotionally, and academically. He began to excel in school, and by his senior year was a member of the National Honor Society, and at graduation, was named the class salutatorian. Morrison grew to be a tall and very handsome young man. Because of his size he excelled in athletics. He was named captain of the high school football team, and this team was very successful. These triumphs gave Morrison his first glimpse of fame. As for college, his greatest desire was to attend the U.S. Naval Academy, at Annapolis but instead was offered a full scholarship to play football at the University of Southern California. Morrison’s college years were filled with great joy, and he prospered. He gained tremendous fame on and off the football field. These accolades led to a part-time summer job on the back lot of the Fox Studios. Morrison’s first taste of the movies came as an assistant to cowboy actor Tom Mix. This small job was the catalyst that propelled Morrison into his legendary film career. During that summer at the Fox Studios, Morrison would meet a person that would forever alter his life.

In 1930, John Ford, was one of Hollywood’s most successful directors, he was directing a film called Mother MacCree, when fate sent the young Morrison to the set of the film. The director took an immediate liking to Duke, and a lifelong friendship ensued. John Ford saw something special in Morrison. He was young, raw, and he saw a potential for stardom. Over the next few years, Ford cast Morrison in several of his films, and he was a natural in front of the camera. Fate again entered Morrison’s life when he was introduced to another director, Raoul Walsh. Walsh also saw potential in Morrison, but thought his name was not marketable. A more “American” sounding name was needed, and Walsh came up with John Wayne. The name stuck, and John “Duke” Wayne the movie star was born. It was with Raoul Walsh that John Wayne got his first big break as a leading man in The Big Trail (1930).

For the next few years, Wayne starred in numerous serials and B-westerns, his six foot three inch frame, and silent good looks made him very marketable. Wayne felt he was being type cast and yearned to break free to super stardom. The year 1939 was to be very significant for John Wayne. Director John Ford had not forgotten his friend and protégé; he was casting for a new film, Stagecoach. Ford thought that Wayne would be perfect for the lead role in the film. This was the break that Wayne needed. Stagecoach was critically acclaimed, a box office success, and it propelled Wayne to new level of recognition. It was the beginning of many successes for Wayne, and provided the impetus for the development of the hero image that would prove to be Wayne’s lasting legacy in film. The dynamic duo of Ford and Wayne would become box office gold, and over the years their film partnership would produce some of Hollywood’s greatest and most successful motion pictures.

John Wayne’s award winning acting, producing, and directing career spanned five decades, beginning in the late 1920’s through the late 1970’s. A prolific film career that saw him star in over two hundred and fifty motion pictures. During this time he starred alongside many of Hollywood’s greatest actors and actresses. The characters he portrayed in many of his films, personified the image of the true patriotic American. Some of Wayne’s many legendary films credits include, Dark Command (1940), Reap the Wild Wind (1942), Flying Tigers (1942), The Fighting Seabees (1944), Fort Apache (1948), Red River (1948), Wake of the Red Witch (1948), The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949), Rio Grande (1950), The Quiet Man (1952), Hondo (1953), The High and the Mighty (1954), The Searchers (1956), The Alamo (1960), The Longest Day (1962), In Harms Way (1965), and The Green Berets (1968). He was nominated for a best acting Academy Award for his portrayal of Marine Sergeant John Stryker in The Sands of Iwo Jima (1949). In 1969, he won the best actor Academy Award and Golden Globe for his portrayal of Marshall Rooster Cogburn in True Grit. Wayne’s last film was The Shootist (1976), in the film he played an over the hill gunfighter who is dying of cancer. Ironically, in real life Wayne was also battling cancer. He was a lifelong smoker, and had been waging a fight with lung cancer for several years. Illness was nothing new to Wayne, he had a cancerous lung removed in 1963, had open heart surgery in 1978, and had his stomach removed in 1979. He died on the evening of June 11, 1979, at the U.C.L.A. Medical Center in Los Angeles, California from lung and stomach cancer. According to his widow Pilar, John Wayne final wish was to be cremated, and his ashes scattered at sea, near Catalina Island. He also wanted all of his friends to gather at his home for a party, not wanting a sorrowful occasion; but instead wanted a joyful celebration of his life, an Irish type wake. These arrangements were never carried out; Michael Wayne the executor of his father’s estate chose to have a “more dignified “arrangement. Wayne was to be buried at Pacific View Memorial Park, which over looked his beloved Newport Harbor. At 6:00 a.m. on June 15, 1979, Wayne’s bronze flower draped casket was brought into Our Lady Queen of Angels Catholic Church in Corona del Mar for funeral mass. In attendance were only immediate family, his seven children, twenty seven grand children, Pilar Wayne, and a few close friends. After the conclusion of the mass, the funeral procession of only twenty cars made its way to Pacific View Memorial Park. After the procession had entered the cemetery, the gates were closed, and no one else was allowed admittance. As the sun arose in the east, on that June morning, a brief graveside ceremony was conducted by the archbishop Marcos G. McGrath, and John Wayne was laid to rest. This was not the end the legendary actor had envisioned. It is interesting to note that the plot in which Wayne is buried was given to the Wayne family by his close friend, Chick Iverson.

John Wayne's final resting place at Pacific View Memorial Park

John Wayne’s final resting place lay unmarked for over twenty years, his son Michael was very protective of his father’s image, and was adamant about keeping fans away. He feared fans would desecrate the grave, and wanted the location of his father’s burial kept as secret as possible. It was only after Michael’s death in 2003, that the surviving Wayne siblings decided it was time pay tribute to their father’s legacy, and at long last had a flat bronze marker (which plays homage to his image of the ultimate cowboy) erected at his grave site. Today, John Wayne’s legacy is found in his films, and the characters he portrayed will be remembered forever. He was a true American icon, an original, a legend bigger than life. John Wayne’s grave is located in Bay View Terrace lawn, lot 573, it is a few yards from his daughter Toni, and first wife Josephine’s graves.

http://www.michaelthomasbarry.com/, author of "Fade to Black Graveside Memeories of Hollywood Greats, 1927-1950"