Hollywood's Unhappiest Endings: Legends Never Die Updated

by Les MacDonald

  The next couple of years would include a successful run on Broadway and a failed romance with actress Elaine Stritch. In 1956 Gig would meet a young Elizabeth Montgomery who was the daughter of actor Robert Montgomery. Gig was nineteen years older than Liz who herself was eight years away from stardom as television's lovable witch Samantha in Bewitched. However, in 1956, she was twenty-four years old and very much in love with Gig Young. Gig himself was doing quite well as a comedic turn in Teacher's Pet, which also starred Clark Gable and Doris Day, earned him another Oscar nomination. This time Gig would lose out to Burl Ives for his performance in Big Country.

  Work continued to come Gig's way and the first few years of his marriage to Elizabeth seemed idyllic. However, Gig had begun drinking heavily during his time with Elaine Stritch and he continued during his marriage to Liz. Young and in love, Liz matched Gig drink for drink and the battles soon began. A series of flirtations, splits and reunions occurred before Liz finally ended it by obtaining a divorce in Mexico in January 1963. Shortly after the divorce Gig would meet another Elaine. This one was Elaine Whitman who, like Sophie had been when she met Gig, was married. Much to Gig's surprise and pleasure Elaine became pregnant...so much for that 1938 vasectomy. I hope the one I had in 1988 works better than Gig's did...but I digress. Elaine swiftly divorced her husband and, in September 1963, Elaine became the fourth Mrs. Young. As usual the marriage started out well with Gig's only child Jennifer being born on April 22, 1964. Happily married and seemingly on the wagon since the early days of the marriage, Gig was offered a starring role in a new television series which was also to star David Niven and Charles Boyer. The Rogues appeared to be a sure thing. Never one to put money away for a rainy day, Gig was counting on the series giving him a regular paycheque. By now Gig was in his early fifties and the years of heavy drinking was starting to take a toll on the former heart-throbs looks. Leading roles became fewer and farther between which also put a strain on his marriage. Gig and Elaine split, attempted a reunion and then divorced for good in 1967.

  Short term rescue would come in 1969 in the form of a movie role that Gig was made to play. Taken from a French movie set in the Depression era Gig would play the loud, boorish and drunken host of a month long dance marathon. They Shoot Horses, Don't They? which also starred Jane Fonda, Michael Sarrazin and Susannah York would go on to receive nine Oscar nominations but would only capture one. That Oscar went to Gig Young for Best Supporting Actor. As is so often the case in Hollywood, winning the Oscar is not a guarantee of future success. Gig was unable to cash in. Over the next few years he would appear in several low budget films. In 1973 a solid comedy role was offered to him by Mel Brooks. Brooks was making a wacky, western comedy and gave the role of the Waco Kid to Gig. However, Gig showed up drunk on the film's first day of shooting and flubbed his lines. Brooks flew in Gene Wilder and gave him the part. For the first time Gig was fired from a movie. Gig fired back by launching a lawsuit against Warner Brothers arguing that he had been ready for work when he was canned. Gig did manage to collect $50,000 of his $100,000 salary but, looking back after future events, many saw this as the beginning of the end. When Gig visited a doctor and was asked where it hurt he replied "it hurts everywhere."

  Also in 1973 Gig had started shooting The Game of Death which was a vehicle for martial arts star Bruce Lee. Lee died of a heart attack during the filming and the project was scrapped. It would rise from the ashes in 1977 with Lee's scenes being kept intact and a brand new storyline was crafted around the scenes originally shot back in 1973. Gig would shoot his scenes in September and October. It was during the filming of The Game of Death that Gig met Kim Schmidt, a woman who was thirty-five years younger than himself.

  By now Gig was just a shadow of his former self. He was sixty-four years old with a career that was rapidly losing steam. His finances were in peril and he was now supporting Kim who he had married on September 27, 1978. Wedded bliss was extremely short this time around, if indeed there was any at all. Twenty-two days after exchanging vows both Gig and Kim would be found dead in their New York apartment. Kim had been shot once in the head and Gig once in the mouth. As we have said in previous chapters, no one can ever know what goes on behind closed doors. Many of Gig's friends think that the actor must have suffered some kind of a nervous breakdown in the last few months of his life. His erratic behavior would certainly seem to make this likely. The NYPD concluded that Academy Award winner Gig Young had shot his young wife and then turned the gun on himself.

  Gig is buried at the Green Hill Cemetery in Waynesville, North Carolina.

  Tupac Shakur (1971-1996)

  Murder in Las Vegas

  Author's Note: I know that many people are not fans of rap and hip hop music. For what it's worth, I consider myself one of those who just don't "get it." Having said that though, the following chapter, Murder in Las Vegas, transcends all of that. After all you don't sell 75,000,000 records without having some kind of talent. I have to thank my son Tristan MacDonald who drew me to the incredible story of Tupac...a story that once I started researching it, I could not stop. Tristan, this one's for you. Dear friends and readers I hope you enjoy.

  Les 2009

  To even begin to understand the enigma that was Tupac Shakur and the legacy that he left behind, one must understand the times that he was born into and also the family that gave him his name.

  America in the late 1960's and early 1970's was knee deep in the most unpopular war that the country had ever fought. The Vietnam War was the first "tv" war and the television viewing public was greeted daily with images of death and destruction from the other side of the world. Major universities in the US held peaceful protests urging their government to get out of Vietnam. Other protests were more violent with President Nixon being burned in effigy. At one such protest at Kent State University in Ohio in 1970 the National Guard fired on the students killing four of them. Racism and poverty were also major issues. The country that was pouring billions of dollars into the war effort and billions more into the space race while putting a man on the moon in 1969 could not even ensure that all of it's own children were being fed.

  As in most cultures when the economy is not going well, it's the minorities that are the hardest hit. Ghettos sprang up in the larger cities with most of the inhabitants being black. They did not have to travel far to see how the other half lived. Race riots occurred in cities such as Detroit and Los Angeles. When Martin Luther King was gunned down in Memphis by a white man in 1968 it appeared that all hell would break loose. It was in this political climate that the Black Panther party was formed. Long overdue changes in civil rights were instituted by the Kennedy's in the early 1960's with Martin Luther King pressing the government for more. By June 1968 both John and Robert Kennedy, along with Martin Luther King, were gone. Three assassins bullets had set civil rights back years. Newly elected President Richard Nixon focused much of his attention and energy on the war in Vietnam. The Black Panthers attempted to fill that void by speaking out for civil rights. They argued that every American was entitled to land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.

  Alice Faye Williams dropped out of high school in North Carolina and made her way to New York City where she soon joined up with the Panthers. She changed her name to Afeni and married fellow Black Panther Lumumba Shakur. In 1968 Lumumba was involved in a shootout with police in Manhattan and was charged with conspiracy to commit murder. While Lumumba was in prison Afeni enjoyed the company of several men, most notably another Panther named William Garland. By 1968 the Panthers were growing in numbers. However, there were internal struggles within the party. Many members advocated violence as a means to an end. Many now demanded that blacks be exempt from military service and only blacks were allowed to join the movement. Some saw this a a case of reverse discrimination. Shootouts between the Black Panthers and the police were not uncommon. Between 1967 and 1969 nine police officers were killed and fifty-six more were wounded in gun battles with the P
anthers. At least ten Panthers were killed with many more being wounded and arrested. FBI director J. Edgar Hoover began to take notice. In 1969 New York City police, with the help of the FBI, rounded up twenty-one of the city's most influential Panthers and filed a variety of charges against them. In all there were one hundred and fifty-six charges files against the group who came to be known as the NY21.

  Lumumba and Afeni Shakur were both part of the NY21. Afeni defended herself as did most of the Panthers. The charges ranged from plotting to blow up government buildings to inciting a race war through violent means. In June of 1971 all twenty-one, including a pregnant Afeni, were acquitted on all counts. The New York District Attorney had failed to provide any hard evidence linking the NY21 to any of the crimes that they had been charged with. The Panthers emerged from the trial of the NY21 jubilant but, as more and more blood was being spilled in more violent confrontations with the police, the group began to lose their credibility and their membership numbers began to decline. By the mid 1970's there were not too many left.

  In June 1971 when they were released Lumumba, who knew that he could not be the father of Afeni's baby, obtained a divorce. Almost immediately Lumumba's brother Mutulu moved in with Afeni and on July 16, 1971 Tupac Amaru Shakur was born. The violence that would become a large part of the Shakur family legacy continued on after Tupac was born. Late one night in 1973 Tupac's Uncle Zayd and his wife Assata were pulled over on the New Jersey Turnpike. Predictably a shootout ensued with the result being that a New Jersey State Trooper was killed along with Zayd Shakur. Assata was charged in the trooper's death. In 1977, an all white jury found Assata guilty even though forensic tests had shown that she could not have possibly fired a gun that night. Assata was sentenced to sixty years. In 1979 Assata pulled off a spectacular prison escape. She remained free and in 1986 she fled to Cuba where she received political asylum from Fidel Castro's Communist regime. Assata still remains in Cuba today and risks being arrested if she returned to the United States.

  Back in New York City life wasn't all peaches and cream for the Shakurs. Afeni, Mutulu and young Tupac would spend many a night in homeless shelters. Despite the fact that Mutulu was not Tupac's biological father the two were bonding like father and son. Tupac would later say that Mutulu was the only real father that he had ever known. However, in 1981 Mutulu would make a tragic mistake taking part in the robbery of a Brinks armored truck. A Brinks security guard was shot and killed. The gang fled with $1.6M in cash. They were seen several blocks away transferring the money to another vehicle and, in the gun battle that followed, two New York City policemen were killed. Mutulu went into hiding eventually becoming the 380th person to earn the dubious honor of finding himself on the FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted list. The most influential man in young Tupac's life was now a hunted man on the run.

  In 1983, at the age of twelve, Tupac joined a Harlem Theater group and played the part of Travis in A Raisin in the Sun. It was Tupac's first public performance of any kind. By now Afeni had taken up with a drug dealer names Legs. Legs would become yet another father figure to young Tupac while introducing Afeni to his drug of choice which was crack cocaine. With Mutulu still on the run Tupac began bonding with Legs. That all came to a screeching halt when Legs was arrested in 1985 for credit card fraud. He would soon be dead from a crack induced heart attack. It was near this time that the manhunt for Mutulu came to an end with his arrest in California. Two days before Mutulu's arrest Lumumba was gunned down in New Orleans. Mutulu has always maintained that the two incidents were related and the timing certainly suggests the possibility. For what it's worth Mutulu has also claimed that he was innocent of all the charges that he was the mastermind behind the Brink's robbery and the killings. He received a sixty year sentence when found guilty during his 1988 trial. He is eligible for parole in 2017.

  With the deaths of Legs and Lumumba and the arrest of Mutulu, the three major male influences in Tupac's life were gone. Afeni made the decision to relocate from New York to Baltimore. It was in Baltimore that Tupac's creativity flourished. After two uneventful years in high school Afeni was able to get Tupac transferred into the Baltimore School for the Arts. He took part in many of the school's productions. He wrote his first rap under the name MC New York. He wrote poetry and entered all of the school's rap competitions winning almost all of them. The school is also where Tupac met Jada Pinkett who he maintained a friendship with until his death. The two spoke very highly of each other. Tupac said that "Jada will be my friend for life." For her part after his death Jada would say that "the kind of relationship that Tupac and I had you only get once in a lifetime." Jada would go on to a successful acting career and would marry popular actor Will Smith.

  With things going so well in Baltimore it was indeed unfortunate that Afeni decided once again to uproot the family. This time the destination was Marin City, California. By now Afeni was hopelessly addicted to crack and her relationship with her son was deteriorating so rapidly that he decided to move in with a neighbor. That neighbor was Leila Steinberg, who was a promoter of sorts and who had some connections in the music industry. Leila used these connections to arrange a meeting between Tupac and Shock G who was the leader of an up and coming group of rappers known as the Digital Underground. Tupac began as a roadie and a backup dancer/singer for the group. The group appeared in a Dan Aykroyd movie called Nothing But Trouble in 1991 singing Same Song with Tupac sharing the vocals. The movie would give Tupac his first real professional public exposure. The Digital Underground was nominated for a Grammy that year.

  Leila Steinberg proved to be a good influence on Tupac. In addition to setting him up with the Digital Underground she became a literary mentor of sorts to the young rapper. Tupac loved to read and Leila brought home all of the classics that she could get her hands on. Tupac read them all. It's been said that he was as well read as many graduates of the major universities. The success of the Digital Underground had left Tupac wanting more. He recruited Shock G and other members of the group to help him produce his first solo album which would be called 2Pacalypse Now - a play on words from the 1980 hit movie Apocalypse Now. The album would reach #34 on the Billboard Album chart and #13 on the hip hop chart. The album featured two singles, Trapped and Brenda's Got a Baby. While the record was nearing completion Tupac ran into trouble in Oakland, California. Well, maybe we should say that Tupac walked into trouble. Two of Oakland's finest arrested him for jaywalking. Yup, jaywalking. When Tupac replied with a "fuck y'all" he was allegedly beaten and choked by the officers. The rapper responded by launching a $10M lawsuit against the Oakland police. The ridiculous jaywalking charge was dropped and the suit was settled with Tupac receiving $42,000. Soon after this episode 2Pacalypse Now was released. Critics were divided in their reviews. Some called the album cutting edge while others just found the lyrical content too offensive. Tupac railed against the system in his lyrics speaking out on issues about police brutality, teen pregnancy and what it was like to grow up black and on the streets. Initial sales were sluggish but Tupac's later fame and notoriety would push the album sales and it would be certified gold in 1995.

  On an April night in 1992 Texas State Trooper Bill Davidson pulled over a vehicle for a broken tail light. As he approached the vehicle he was shot in the neck and killed. Later that night a young black man named Ronald Ray Howard was picked up and charged. He had cocaine in his system and the car that he was driving was stolen. During his trial Howard's lawyers claimed that the lyrics in 2Pacalypse Now, which was playing in the car's tape deck, drove him to kill the trooper. The lyrics cited by the defence are "cops on my tail - they finally pull me over and I laugh. Remember Rodney King and I blast his punk ass." Howard was found guilty and sentenced to death. Trooper Bill Davidson was forty-three years old when he died. Ronald Ray Howard was nineteen years old when he pulled the trigger and thirty-three years old when he was finally executed by the state of Texas for the crime. Tupac Shakur was twenty years old when he wrote the lyrics. US Vice Pres
ident Dan Quayle commented that 2Pacalypse Now has "no place in our society."

  While all of this was going on Tupac was breaking new ground. He was starring in a movie called Juice in which he received second billing behind Omar Epps. Tupac appeared as Bishop, one of four young black men who sought the juice or respect of their peers and were not above using violence to achieve their goal. Critics liked Tupac's performance and the rapper had now found another outlet for his creativity and talent. The summer of 1992 would see Tupac back in the recording studio working on his second album Strictly 4 My Niggaz. However, before the new record's release, trouble would find Tupac once again. During a visit to Marin City, Tupac and his entourage would run into some old, unfriendly acquaintances with the result being another shootout. This time an innocent bystander, a six year old boy, was shot in the head. Tupac's half brother Maurice was arrested and charged but the charges were later dropped for lack of evidence.

  In February 1993 Strictly 4 My Niggaz was released and debuted at #24 on the Billboard Top 200 album chart. This second solo effort was a bit more polished than 2Pacalypse Now. This record featured the talents of Ice Cube, Ice T as well as his old friends from the Digital Underground. Seasoned veterans such as Bill Withers and Curtis Mayfield worked as engineers on the record. Two singles were released with Keep ya Head Up reaching #12 on the singles chart. The single I Get Around is considered by many to be one of the best rap songs of all time. If the listening public thought that Tupac was getting soft with the playful I Get Around then all they had to do was listen to the rest of the album to realize that they were wrong. There are plenty of tracks where Tupac lets loose with his political and social commentary.