Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  CAUSE: Leslie Banks died at his home, 27 South Terrace, Kensington, London of a stroke after a long illness. He was 61. He left £19,094 14s. 4d.

  Monty Banks

  (MARIO BIANCHI)

  Born July 18, 1897

  Died January 7, 1950

  Multifaceted performer. Despite the fact that he was an Italian, Monty Banks was actually born in Nice, France. The 5́ 5˝ Banks began as an actor before branching out into directing, writing and producing. His early films as an actor included The Purple Mask (1916), Aired In Court (1917), a crook in His Hidden Talent (1917), Too Much Johnson (1919) as Leon Dathis, Hero’n’Everything (1920), Don’t Park Here (1920), Bride And Gloom (1921), A Bedroom Scandal (1921), The South Bound Limited (1923), Paging Love (1923), Boy In Blue (1924), the groom in Wedding Bells (1924), Pay Or Move (1924) as Monty, Racing Luck (1924) as Mario, The Golf Bug (1924) as Monty, Keep Smiling (1925) as the boy, which he also wrote and produced, Atta Boy as Monty Milde, Play Safe as the boy, which he also wrote and was executive producer, Horse Shoes (1927) as Monty Milde which he also wrote and was executive producer, Flying Luck (1927) as the boy, which he also wrote and produced, Chasing Choo Choos (1927) as the boy which he also wrote and was executive producer, A Perfect Gentleman (1928) as Monty Brooks, Adam’s Apple (1928) as Monty Adams, Week-End Wives (1929) as Max Ammon, Atlantic (1929) as Dandy, The Compulsory Husband (1930) as Monty, which he also directed, The Wife’s Family (1931) which he also directed, a convict in Tonight’s The Night: Pass It On (1932) which he also directed, Old Soldiers Never Die (1932) which he also directed and produced, Not So Quiet On The Western Front (1932) which he also directed, Money For Nothing (1932) which he also directed, a taxi driver in You Made Me Love You (1933), The Church Mouse (1934) as Harry Blump, The Girl In Possession as Caruso, So You Won’t Talk as Tony, which he also directed, No Limit (1935) which he also directed and Man Of The Moment (1935) as a doctor and which he also directed. In 1935 he was hired to beef up the films of (Dame) Gracie Fields. The quality improved. He directed. The films included Queen Of Hearts (1936), Keep Smiling (1937), We’re Going To Be Rich (1938) and Shipyard Sally (1939) in which he also appeared. Banks and Fields also began an affair that was complicated by the fact that she was married to someone else. In 1940 that became the least of their problems. As an Italian, Banks could be interned and to escape this fate he and Gracie Fields fled to America taking £34,000 with them. They married in March 1940 and were together until his death ten years later. His first wife was Gladys Frazin. There were no children from either marriage.

  CAUSE: He died in Arona, Italy from a heart attack. He was 52.

  Vilma Bánky

  (VILMA LONCHIT)

  Born January 9, 1898

  Died March 18, 1991

  The Hungarian Rhapsody. Born in Nagyrodog, near Budapest, blonde 5́ 6˝ Bánky was educated at Zugloi High School and then Zugloi College. She was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn when he was on a trip to Europe in 1924. She had already appeared in 13 films, including Im Letzen Augenblick (1920), Veszélyben A Pokol (1921), Tavaszi Szerelem (1921), Galathea (1921), Schattenkinder Des Glücks (1922), Kauft Mariett-Aktien (1922), Der Zirkuskönig (1924) and Das Bildnis (1925) and was well known in her native land. Her first American film was playing Kitty Vane in The Dark Angel (1925), starring opposite Ronald Colman. It was a smash. According to one author she spoke Hungarian during the love scene and Colman chatted about cricket. Her next two films paired her with Rudolph Valentino in The Eagle (1925) as Mascha Troekouroff and Son Of The Sheik (1926) as Yasmin. Again, both were smashes. Bánky was again cast with Colman in the title role of The Winning Of Barbara Worth (1926), The Night Of Love (1927) as Princess Marie, The Magic Flame (1927) as Bianca and Two Lovers (1928) as Donna Leonora de Vargas. When Bánky married actor Rod LaRocque on June 26, 1927, at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills, it was a star-studded affair. She was given away by Samuel Goldwyn, Cecil B. DeMille was best man and Louella O. Parsons was matron of honour. The ushers were Donald Crisp, Harold Lloyd and Jack Holt and the bridesmaids included Mrs Samuel Goldwyn and Constance Talmadge. They remained married until LaRocque’s death in 1969. The couple only made one professional appearance together, in the touring play The Cherries Are Ripe (1930–1931). Her grasp of English was limited and her verbal gaffes became known as ‘Bánkyisms’. Her accent would have made the transition to sound pictures difficult and she was sacked by Goldwyn on April 1, 1930. After her career as an actress was over, she and her husband sold real estate, making millions in the process. Rumours have long circulated that Bánky’s and LaRocque’s marriage was a lavender one. Perhaps tellingly, screenwriter Frances Marion said the two happiest couples in Hollywood she knew were the LaRocques and former actor William Haines and his boyfriend Jimmy Shields.

  CAUSE: She died of cardiorespiratory arrest, aged 93.

  Ian Bannen

  Born June 29, 1928

  Died November 3, 1999

  Scots wa’hey. Ian Edmund Bannen was born in Airdrie, Lanarkshire, and was educated at Ratcliffe College, Leicestershire. On leaving school he joined the army and became a corporal. A devout Roman Catholic, at one time he thought about becoming a monk but instead chose to worship alcohol, along with his close friends Peter O’Toole and Richard Burton. He gave up booze when stricken with hepatitis. His first appearance on stage came in the summer of 1947 at the Gate Theatre, Dublin. In March 1955 he first appeared on the small screen, five years after his big screen début. Among his films were Private’s Progress (1956), Carlton Browne Of The F.O. (1958), The Flight Of The Phoenix (1965) for which he was nominated for an Oscar, The Sweeney (1976), Gandhi (1982), Gorky Park (1983), Defence Of The Realm (1985), Hope And Glory (1987) as Grandfather George, Braveheart (1995) and the critically acclaimed Waking Ned Devine (1998), the story of an Irishman’s determination to claim a major lottery jackpot for his village after the real winner passed away. Bannen was given the opportunity to star in a new police series being made in America in the late Sixties. He turned it down because he didn’t want to spend much time in California. Little did he know that the series would actually be filmed in the beautiful state of Hawaii. Jack Lord went on to play Steve McGarrett in Hawaii Five-O for 12 years and became a multi-millionaire as a result. Bannen did not marry until he was 48 when he wed Marilyn Salisbury, 17 years after they first met.

  CAUSE: He was killed in a car crash near Loch Ness aged 71.

  Jim Bannon

  Born April 9, 1911

  Died July 28, 1984

  Athletic actor. Born in Kansas City, Missouri, James Shorttel Bannon excelled as an athlete at Rockhurst College and then, on graduation, became an athletics commentator on KCKN in Kansas and later KMOX, St Louis. In 1938 he landed in California and began work on the radio announcing such programmes as The Joe Penner Show (1939–1940), Stars Over Hollywood (early Forties), The Great Gildersleeve (1941–1942), The Adventures Of Nero Wolfe (1943–1944), and The Eddie Bracken Show (1945–1946), getting bit parts in films and in the early Forties he worked as a movie stuntman. In 1945, Columbia Pictures made a film of the radio series I Love A Mystery and Bannon was cast as Detective Jack Packard, a role he reprised in The Devil’s Mask (1946) and The Unknown (1946). Two years later, he starred as Sergeant Christopher Royal in the Republic serial Dangers Of The Canadian Mounted which ran for 12 episodes. In 1949 he became the fourth actor (after Don Barry, Wild Bill Elliott and Allan ‘Rocky’ Lane) to star in the Red Ryder cowboy series made by Eagle Lion Productions. The films were Ride, Ryder, Ride (1949), Roll, Thunder, Roll (1949), The Fighting Redhead (1950) and The Cowboy And The Prizefighter (1950). The series ended with the encroachment of television. From September 30, 1955 until February 3, 1956, he played Uncle Sandy North on the television series Champion The Wonder Horse which was produced by Gene Autry. In Sea Cliff, San Francisco, in August 1938, Bannon married the actress Bea Benaderet (b. New York, New York, April 4, 1906, d. October 13, 1968) who provided the voice of Betty Rubbl
e in The Flintstones. Their son Jack (b. Los Angeles, California, June 14, 1940) became an actor appearing in the television series Lou Grant. A daughter, Margaret Benaderet Bannon, was born in March 1947. Bea Benaderet filed for divorce in September 1950. Bannon’s other films included: Soul Of A Monster (1944) as Dr Roger Vance, Sergeant Mike (1944) as Patrick Henry, The Missing Juror (1944) as Joe Keats, Tonight And Every Night (1945) as Life photographer, The Gay Senorita (1945) as Phil, Out Of The Depths (1945) as Captain Faversham, Renegades (1946) as Cash Dembrow, Johnny O’Clock as Chuck Blayden, The Thirteenth Hour (1947) as Jerry Mason, Framed (1947) as Jack Woodworth, The Corpse Came C.O.D. (1947) as Detective Mark Wilson, T-Men (1947) as Lindsay, The Man From Colorado as Nagel, Trail To Laredo (1948) as Dan Parks, Frontier Revenge (1948) as Brant, Miraculous Journey (1948) as Nick, Daughter Of The Jungle (1949) as Kenneth Richards, Jiggs And Maggie Out West (1950) as Snake Bite, Kill The Umpire (1951) as Dusty, Sierra Passage (1951) as Jud Yorke, Ridin’ The Outlaw Trail (1951) as Ace Donley, Wanted: Dead Or Alive (1951) as Marshal Jim Bannon, Canyon Raiders (1951) as Jim Bannon, Nevada Badmen (1951) as Jim Bannon, an outlaw in The Texas Rangers (1951), Stagecoach Driver (1951) as Jim Bannon, Unknown World (1951) as Andy Ostergaard, Lawless Cowboys (1951) as Jim Bannon, Rodeo (1952) as Bat Gorman, Phantom From Space (1953) as Desk Sergeant Jim, The Great Jesse James Raid (1953) as Bob Ford, Jack Slade (1953) as Farnsworth, War Arrow (1953) as Captain Roger G. Corwin, a soldier in The Command (1954), a pilot in Chicago Confidential (1957), They Came To Cordura (1959) as Captain Paltz, Inside The Mafia (1959) as Louie, 40 Pounds Of Trouble (1962) as The Westerner, A Gathering Of Eagles (1963) as Colonel Morse, a forest ranger in Man’s Favorite Sport? (1964) and a policeman in Good Neighbor Sam (1964).

  CAUSE: Bannon retired to Plano, Texas, but returned to California where he died aged 73 in Ojai. He was cremated.

  Theda Bara

  (THEODOSIA BURR GOODMAN)

  Born July 20, 1885

  Died April 7, 1955

  The original vamp. Born in Cincinnati, Ohio, the daughter of a Polish-Jewish tailor, she was named for Aaron Burr’s tragic daughter. In July 1917 all of the immediate family legally changed the name to Bara. She attended the University of Cincinnati from 1903 until 1905, making her one of the few (if not the only) early actresses to be college educated. Her early theatrical career has proved almost impossible to trace. In 1914 she was cast as a vampire in A Fool There Was (1915) and the public immediately took to her. When producers Fox realised that she was the one people wanted to see not the supposed star, Edward Jose, they signed her to a long-term contract. Over the next four years she made almost 40 films for Fox, including The Devil’s Daughter (1915) as La Gioconda, The Two Orphans (1915) as Henriette, Sin (1915) as Rosa, Carmen (1915) as Carmen, The Galley Slave (1915) as Francesca Brabaut, Destruction (1915) as Fernade, The Serpent (1916) as Vania Lazar, The Eternal Sappho (1916) as Laura Bruffins, Her Double Life (1916) as Mary Doone, Romeo And Juliet (1916) as Juliet, The Vixen (1916) as Elsie Drummond, The Rose Of Blood (1917) as Lisza Tapenka, The Darling Of Paris (1917) as Esmaralda, The Tiger Woman (1917) as Princess Petrovitch, Her Greatest Love (1917) as Hazel, Camille (1917) as Marguerite Gauthier, Cleopatra (1917) as Cleopatra (the first film to be shot in California as opposed to Jersey City or Fort Lee, New Jersey. It was also subject to calls for a ban, owing to Bara’s skimpy clothing. The film took over $1 million at the box office), Madame Du Barry (1917) as Jeanne Vaubernier, When A Woman Sins (1918) as Lilian Marchard/ Poppea, The She Devil (1918) as Lorette, Salome (1918) as Salome and When Men Desire (1919) as Marie Lohr. At her peak Bara was paid $4,000 a week, but after Cleopatra it all seemed to go downhill. Of her portrayal as a vamp she confessed: “The popular idea of a wicked woman is a dark and midnight beauty … a rolling eye and an undraped figure was all the public required of a vampire.” Sex and mystery sells, so two enterprising spin doctors allowed the public to ‘learn’ that Bara had been born in an oasis under the shadow of the sphinx; that ‘Bara’ was ‘Arab’ backwards and ‘Theda’ was an anagram of ‘death’. Newspapers began running her picture captioned “Is This The Wickedest Face In The World?” Other stories circulated that she was the reincarnation of historical villainesses such as Delilah and Lucrezia Borgia. It was all harmless nonsense. Thanks to Bara, make-up became fashionable and the word ‘vamp’ was added to the dictionary, although she preferred the fuller ‘vampire’. Not everyone liked her. Said one Bette Davis: “She was divinely, hysterically, insanely malevolent.” Gradually, the truth about her background seeped out. Theda Bara was no more an Arab than most of her audience. She had never been to Egypt; the only camels she knew were the brand of cigarettes that went by that name. She was by no stretch of the imagination a man-eating vamp, living as she did at home with her parents in New York’s West End Avenue. Her preferred fare was cabbage, corned beef and sausages. Following the end of her contract, she left Fox but found work difficult to come by. In June 1921 she married Charles J. Brabin (b. Liverpool, April 17, 1883, d. November 3, 1957) who had been responsible for directing her last Fox movie. She made the unsuccessful The Unchastened Woman (1925) as Caroline Knollys before her last cinematic role in the Hal Roach comedy Madame Mystery (1926) playing Madame Mystery, a character not too dissimilar to her vamp creation. She had a happy retirement.

  CAUSE: She died in California Lutheran Hospital, Los Angeles, of abdominal cancer, aged 69. She was cremated and her ashes placed in the left wall of the Columbarian of Memory of the Great Mausoleum of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, 1712 South Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California 91209.

  Lynn Bari

  (MARJORIE SCHUYLER FISHER)

  Born December 18, 1913

  Died November 20, 1989

  The other woman, described by one critic as “Claudette Colbert with biceps” and another as “the Paulette Goddard of the B feature”. Born in Roanoke, Virginia, the stepdaughter of a minister, Reverend Robert Bitzer, Lynn Bari moved to Hollywood with her family when she was ten. In 1933 she saw a newspaper advertisement requesting tall chorus girls (she was 5˝7˝), applied and landed a job in the Joan Crawford flick Dancing Lady. She landed a contract at 20th Century Fox where she worked for 12 years and appeared in B films such as Spring Tonic (1935), Redheads On Parade (1935), Show Them No Mercy! (1935), The Man Who Broke The Bank At Monte Carlo (1935), Ladies Love Danger (1935), King Of Burlesque (1935), Doubting Thomas (1935), Curly Top (1935), Charlie Chan In Paris (1935), The Great Hotel Murder (1935), Charlie Chan In Shanghai (1935), The Great Ziegfeld (1936), Lancer Spy (1937) as Miss Fenwick, Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), Mr Moto’s Gamble (1938) as Penny Kendall, News Is Made At Night (1939) as Maxine Thomas, Charlie Chan In City Of Darkness (1939) as Marie Dubon and Charter Pilot (1940) as Marge Duncan before being cast as Encarnación in Blood And Sand (1941). After one more A film, The Magnificent Dope (1942) as Claire Harris, she went back to low-budget movies such as Shock (1946) as Elaine Jordan, Nocturne (1946) as Frances Ransom, Home, Sweet Homicide (1946) as Marian Carstairs, The Spiritualist (1948) as Christine Faber, On The Loose (1951) as Alice Bradley, Francis Joins The WACS (1954) as Major Louise Simpson and Abbott & Costello Meet The Keystone Kops (1955) as Leota Van Cleef. Altogether she appeared in over 130 films. During World War II Bari was the GI’s second favourite pin-up, after Betty Grable. Usually she would be cast as a gun-toting moll or a husband stealer. She loathed guns, was actively bisexual and married three times. Her first husband, Walter Kane, was a ‘sort of talent scout’ for Howard Hughes. They married in 1938 between the main course and dessert at Hollywood’s Lamaze restaurant. She ran out of the eatery to find a judge who would perform the ceremony and found one more used to dealing with traffic violations. After a very ‘tempestuous marriage’ they divorced on November 26, 1943. Two days later, she married former test pilot Sid Luft (who would go on to marry Judy Garland) and divorced him acrimoniously seven years later on December 26, 1950. Their son, John Michael, was born in 1948. Following the divorce, custody of the boy was a
warded to Luft and Garland, a decision later reversed by another court. Just hours after Luft married the pregnant Garland on June 8, 1952, he was sued by Bari for additional child support. Superior Court Judge Burke doubled the child support from $200. From 1955 until July 26, 1972, Bari was married to Beverly Hills shrink Dr Nathan Rickles.

  CAUSE: Heart attack. She died in Santa Barbara, California, aged 75.