CAUSE: At around 8.30 in the morning of July 27, 1988, a neighbour heard a shot come from the Barsi house and then saw smoke billowing out. She called the emergency services. Judith had been sleeping in her nightgown in her canopied bed, just a few feet from the pink television set that her father bought her as an apology for pulling her around by the hair. She was mercifully asleep when he shot her in the head. Maria heard the shot and came running, still in her own nightgown. He blew her brains out in the hallway. Jozsef then walked into the garage and turned the gun on himself. Despite the original press reports, repeated in the first edition of this book, Judith’s corpse was not dowsed in petrol and set afire. A picture exists, seen by the present author, that shows a remarkably clean bullet wound in the right side of her lower skull, untouched by fire.
Lionel Bart
(LIONEL BEGLEITER)
Born August 1, 1930
Died April 3, 1999
Sixties songsmith. Born in Mother Levy’s Maternity Home, 24 Underwood Road, London E 1, the youngest of eleven children (seven lived to maturity), the son of Morris Begleiter and Yetta Darumstundler, who hailed from Galicia. Morris was a master tailor and all his children followed him into the business except the youngest. For a time he worked as a silkscreen printer and was by his own admission expelled from St Martin’s School of Art for mischievousness. However, it was in the theatre that Bart made his name and, for a time, his money, despite the fact that he could neither read nor write music. After National Service in the RAF he joined the Communist Party and in 1952 produced a cabaret for the International Youth Centre, another leftist organisation. On June 30, 1960, his musical Oliver! opened at the New Theatre. Rex Harrison, Sid James and Peter Sellers all turned down the part of Fagin before Ron Moody was cast, a role he was to play in the film version eight years later. Michael Caine auditioned for the part of Bill Sikes but was unsuccessful and reportedly cried for days afterwards. Barry Humphries played the undertaker Mr Sowerberry and almost 40 years later when the show was revived at the London Palladium he played Fagin. The show was a huge success (although at the time not with critics) but it did not bring Bart long-term happiness. He took to wearing a Stetson to hide his baldness and had a rhinoplasty (“He cut off his nose to spite his race”). Another musical, Twang!!, was a disaster but Bart used his own money to prop it up. On February 16, 1971, he was arrested at his London Reece Mews home on charges of drug possession and later fined £50 with £10 costs. Just over a year later, on February 29, 1972, he went bankrupt. He also became an alcoholic. Bart had 45 godchildren and 35 nephews and nieces. Oddly, he sent them presents on his birthday. A homosexual, Bart never married but counted Rudolph Nureyev among his lovers. He was linked in the press ‘romantically’ with both Judy Garland and Alma Cogan, one an icon with a huge gay following, the other one of the most popular female singers of the early Sixties who died a virgin and proposed marriage to him on This Is Your Life. Among the songs he wrote or co-wrote were ‘The Ballad Of The Liver Birds’, ‘From Russia With Love’, ‘ A Handful Of Songs’, ‘Happiness’, ‘Happy Endings’, ‘Little White Bull’, ‘Livin’ Doll’, ‘Maggie May’ (the tale of a Liverpudlian lady of easy virtue, as opposed to the Rod Stewart classic), ‘Rock With The Caveman’, ‘Tommy The Toreador’ and ‘Who’s This Geezer Hitler? ’. His stage play Lock Up Your Daughters was also filmed in 1969.
CAUSE: In the 1970s he permanently damaged his liver downing three bottles of vodka a day. He joined Alcoholics Anonymous but later fell victim to diabetes. He was 68 when he died in Hammersmith Hospital, west London. He left £1,299,856.
FURTHER READING: Bart! The Unauthorised Life & Times, Ins And Outs, Ups And Downs Of Lionel Bart– David Roper (London: Pavilion, 1994).
Richard Barthelmess
Born May 9, 1895
Died August 17, 1963
Social animal. Richard Semler Barthelmess was born in New York City, the son of actress Caroline Harris and worked in the theatre during school holidays. The 5́ 9˝ actor began his movie career in 1916, appearing in films such as War Brides (1916) as Arno, Just A Song At Twilight (1916) as George Turner, Gloria’s Romance (1916), The Moral Code (1917), The Eternal Sin (1917) as Gennaro and The Valentine Girl (1917) as Robert Wentworth. He began appearing alongside Marguerite Clark (b. February 22, 1883, d. September 25, 1940, from pneumonia), the major rival of Mary Pickford. He then began playing opposite the Gish sisters and was taken under the wing of D.W. Griffith appearing alongside Lillian in Broken Blossoms (1919) as Cheng Huan. The tale of a young Chinaman who befriended a down and out, it was the film that launched Barthelmess to stardom. Dorothy Gish said that Barthelmess’ face was the “most beautiful of any man who ever went before a camera.” At the première of Broken Blossoms he met Ziegfeld girl Mary Hay and they were married on June 18, 1920, at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in New York. That year they appeared together in Way Down East. In Tol’able David (1921) he played David Kinemon, a Virginia mountain boy whose mission in life was to get the post through. The film was such a success that he was able to form Inspiration Pictures on the back of it. He reprised his film Just A Song At Twilight (1922), playing George Turner again. In 1923 his daughter Mary was born. He subsequently starred in The Seventh Day (1922) as John Alden, Jr, Fury (1923) as Boy Leyton, The Bright Shawl (1923) as Charles Abbott, The Fighting Blade (1923) as Karl Van Kerstenbroock, Twenty-One (1923) as Julian McCullough and The Enchanted Cottage (1924) in which he portrayed Oliver Bashforth, a World War I veteran who eschews pretty women to find happiness in the arms of a plain woman. In 1925 he and Mary Hay separated, divorcing in Paris on December 29, 1926. That same year he also closed down Inspiration Pictures and signed a three-year deal with First National Pictures. His salary at the time was a whopping $375,000 per annum. His first film for his new employers was the story of a prize-fighting boxer, The Patent Leather Kid (1927). Then came The Drop Kick as Jack Hamill and The Noose as Nickie Elkins, a man imprisoned for a homicide he did not commit. In 1927 Barthelmess served on a committee that formulated plans for a series of awards to be given to the film industry. The committee evolved into the dramatic sounding Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts & Sciences. In 1928 he married Jessica Stewart Sargent, a match that was to last until his death. At the first Oscars Barthelmess was nominated for both The Patent Leather Kid and The Noose. He failed to win either nomination. His first talkie was Weary River (1929) in which he portrayed Jerry Larrabee, a bootlegger who had been framed for a crime he didn’t commit. Then he appeared in Drag (1929) as David Carroll, Young Nowheres (1929) as Albert ‘Binky’ Whalen, Son Of The Gods (1930) as Sam Lee, The Dawn Patrol (1930) as Dick Courtney, The Finger Points (1931) as Breckenridge Lee, The Last Flight (1931) as Cary Lockwood, Alias The Doctor (1932) as Karl Muller, The Cabin In The Cotton (1932) as Marvin Blake, Heroes For Sale (1933) as Thomas Holmes, Central Airport (1933) as Jim Blaine, Midnight Alibi (1934) as Lance McGowan, Massacre (1934) as Joe Thunderhorse and Four Hours To Kill! (1935) as Tony Mako, after which he began to work as a freelance. He quickly lost interest in film-making, appearing sporadically until his retirement in 1942. One of his best-known last roles was playing the cowardly Bat MacPherson in Only Angels Have Wings (1939). His 81st and final film was The Spoilers (1942) playing Bronco Kid Farrell. In 1942 he joined the US Navy as a lieutenant commander. Following demob, he became a New York socialite and landowner.
CAUSE: He died of throat cancer in Southampton, New York, aged 68. He left over $1 million.
Freddie Bartholomew
(FREDERICK LLEWELLYN)
Born March 28, 1924
Died January 23, 1992
Irritatingly cissified child star. Born in London, the son of a civil servant who lost a leg in World War I, Bartholomew epitomised the perfect English kid. Consequently, he was loathed by children and adored by their mothers and other female relatives. He was raised by his grandparents in Warminster but it was his spinster aunt Millicent Bartholomew (who gave him her name) who recognised his acting ability a
nd gave him elocution lessons to flatten out his London vowels. He made his film début in Fascination (1931) and at the age of 10 was given a contract by MGM at $175 a week to appear in David Copperfield (1935) as the young David Copperfield. When money comes in the door, common sense and family loyalty go out of the window and so it was with Freddie B. His parents, who virtually gave him away when he was small, went to America to ask the courts for custody of their son plus, of course, a percentage of his earnings. Aunt Millie countersued and won custody but at a price. His salary was divided, with 10% going to his parents, 10% to Aunt Millie, 5% to his sisters (!) and the rest being put in trust for him. The court battles raged throughout most of the Thirties, almost overshadowing his career. He appeared in films such as Professional Soldier (1936) as King Peter, Lloyds Of London (1936) as young Jonathan Blake, Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936) as Cedric Erroll, The Devil Is A Sissy (1936) as Claude Pierce, Captains Courageous (1937) as Harvey Cheyne, Kidnapped (1938) as David Balfour, Lord Jeff (1938) as Geoffrey Braemer, Two Bright Boys (1939) as David Harrington, Tom Brown’s School Days (1940) as East, Swiss Family Robinson (1940) as Jack Robinson, Naval Academy (1941) as Steve Kendall, A Yank At Eton (1942) as Peter Carlton and Cadets On Parade (1942) as Freddie Hewlett by which time he had attained his majority and become an American citizen. He also joined the air force. In 1946 he married Maely Danielle who was eight years older than him. They had a daughter but the marriage didn’t last and in 1953 he married Aileen Paul. His last film was St Benny The Dip (1951) in which he played Reverend Wilbur. Following his retirement from films he began a second career in advertising.
CAUSE: He died in Sarasota, Florida, from emphysema and heart failure, aged 67.
Amelia Batchelor
Born 1904
Died April 15, 2002
Miss Columbia. You will almost certainly have never heard of Frances Amelia Batchelor but I guarantee that you will have seen her more times than almost any actress. Amelia Batchelor was the second model for Lady Liberty, the actress who holds the torch in the Columbia Films logo. She posed for the picture in 1936 and earned just $25. She also had uncredited roles in five films including Kid Millions (1934) and The Wizard Of Oz (premièred August 19, 1939).
CAUSE: She died of natural causes, aged 98, in Santa Monica, California.
Sir Alan Bates, CBE
Born February 17, 1934
Died December 27, 2003
Leading ‘red brick actor’. Alan Arthur Bates was born in 1934 at Allestree, Derbyshire, the eldest of three sons (his two brothers are artists) of Harold Arthur Bates, a cellist who worked as an insurance salesman, and Florence Mart Wheatcroft, a pianist who had studied in Paris. Bates was educated at the Herbert Strutt Grammar School, Belper, where he acted in school plays. Aged 11, he was taken to the Derby Little Theatre Club by his mother. John Osborne and John Dexter were the leading actors at the time. After national service in the RAF, he trained for the stage at RADA, where he gained the Forbes-Robertson Award. His fellow students included Peter Bowles, Richard Briers, Albert Finney and Peter O’Toole. He made his stage début in 1955 in Coventry with You And Your Wife. In April 1956, 5˝11˝ Bates made his London début in The Mulberry Bush for the English Stage Company in its first repertory season at the Royal Court Theatre. His third play for the company (on May 8, 1956) was John Osborne’s Look Back In Anger in which Bates played Cliff, the quiet, sympathetic friend of Jimmy Porter. The part took him to Moscow, to Broadway and on a tour of America. He made the part his own, just as Kenneth Haigh was the only true Jimmy Porter, however many players succeeded them in the roles. When Bates returned to London he played Edmund, the younger, tubercular brother, in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (at the Edinburgh Festival from September 8, 1958 and at the Globe in London from September 24, 1958) for which he was awarded the Clarence Derwent Award as the year’s most promising actor in the West End. Two years later on April 17, 1960, he created another stir as the menacing, fast-talking Mick in Harold Pinter’s The Caretaker, another role he had the right to call his own. Of the stage role he opined, “It was an unforgettable piece of good fortune, the only play I have ever done in which I have not for one second thought, ‘Oh God, I’ve got to do this again next week.’ It was a sheer joy to play all the time.” Bates made his first film in 1956 playing an uncredited King Lear in It’s Never Too Late. Four years later, in 1960, he played Frank Rice, Archie’s son, opposite Laurence Olivier in The Entertainer. He followed this as the murderous tramp in Bryan Forbes’ Whistle Down The Wind (1961), the working-class hero Victor Arthur Brown in John Schlesinger’s A Kind Of Loving (1962), recreating his stage role as Mick in The Caretaker (1963), as the quiet adulterer Stephen in Carol Reed’s The Running Man (1963), as the attractively contemptible upstart Jimmy Brewster in Clive Donner’s Nothing But The Best (1964), as Basil, an inhibited Englishman embarrassed by his virility in Michael Cacoyannis’ Zorba The Greek (1964), Once Upon A Tractor (1965), as Jos Jones the lover who realises he has chosen the wrong girl in Silvio Narizzano’s Georgy Girl (1966), as Private Charles Plumpick in Le Roi De Coeur (1966), and as Gabriel Oak in Far From The Madding Crowd (1967). He won an Oscar nomination for his portrayal of Yakov Bok the suffering victim of prejudice in The Fixer (1968). One reviewer wrote, “Alan Bates” bare posterior, known to us from Georgy Girl and King Of Hearts, makes another timely appearance here, thus becoming one of the most exposed arses in cinematic annals.” The buttocks and much more were bared in his next film – Ken Russell’s adaptation of D.H. Lawrence’s Women In Love (1969) in which Bates, as Rupert Birkin, wrestled naked in front of a fire with Oliver Reed. Both men were reticent to perform in the nude scene worrying about how they would measure up to each other. One night they went to a pub and got drunk and then went to the toilets together where cautiously they eyed each other up. Upon seeing that they were of nearly identical dimensions, they agreed to the scene. His next cinematic works included: Three Sisters (1970) as Colonel Vershinin, The Go-Between (1970) as Ted Burgess, A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg (1972) as Bri, Story Of A Love Story (1973) as Harry, Royal Flash (1975) as Rudi Von Sternberg, In Celebration (1975) as Andrew Shaw, Butley (1976) as Ben Butley, An Unmarried Woman (1978) as Saul, The Shout (1978) as Crossley, The Rose (1979) as Rudge Campbell, Nijinsky (1980) as Sergei Diaghilev, Quartet (1981) as H.J. Heidler, Very Like A Whale (1981) as Sir Jock Mellor, Rece Do Góry (1981) as Wikto, Britannia Hospital (1982) as Macready, The Return Of The Soldier (1982) as Chris Baldry, Michael Winner’s The Wicked Lady (1983) as Jerry Jackson, Duet For One (1986) as David Cornwallis, A Prayer For The Dying (1987) as Jack Meehan, We Think The World Of You (1988) as Frank Meadows, Force Majeure (1989) as Malcolm Forrest, Mister Frost (1990) as Felix Detweiler, Docteur M. (1990) as Dr Marsfeldt/Guru, Hamlet (1990) as Claudius, Unnatural Pursuits 1991) as Hamish Partt, Shuttlecock (1991) as James Prentis, Secret Friends (1991) as John, Silent Tongue (1994) as Eamon McCree, The Grotesque (1995) as Sir Hugo Coal, Gosford Park (2001) as Mr Jennings the butler, The Mothman Prophecies (2002) as Alexander Leek, The Sum Of All Fears (2002) as Dressler, Evelyn (2002) as Tom Connolly, Hollywood North (2003) as Michael Baytes and The Statement (2003) as Armand Bertier. Bates was equally prolific in later years on the small screen, appearing in several TV movies and series. He was the playwright John Mortimer in A Voyage Round My Father (1982), Mortimer’s dramatisation of his father’s blindness, and John Malcolm/Major Pollock in Separate Tables (1983). In 1984, he won a BAFTA Best Television Actor Award for playing the homosexual spy Guy Burgess in Alan Bennett’s television film An Englishman Abroad (1983). Bates also played King Henry VIII in The Prince And The Pauper (2000) and was King George VI in Bertie And Elizabeth (2002). In 1970, Bates married the actress Victoria Ward (b. 1940) whom he had met in New York in 1962. In 1971, they had twin sons Benedick and Tristan (d. Ajiro Park, Tokyo, Japan, January 13, 1990, aged 19 of viral pneumonia according to the Japanese autopsy). As the years went on his wife adopted a simple spartan lifestyle abjuring make-up an
d fancy clothes. Bates was widowed on June 22, 1992, when his wife died in Sardinia of a suspected heart attack, following the wasting disease cachexia. He began a relationship with the actress Angharad Rees who had also lost a child early. It was her doubts that stopped the wedding going ahead and Bates returned to work with a vengeance. He was made a Commander of the British Empire in 1995 and awarded a knighthood in the New Year’s Honours List in 2003.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 25
