CAUSE: Beery died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, a fortnight after his 64th birthday.
David Begelman
Born August 26, 1921
Died August 8, 1995
Big con. In 1973 New York-born Begelman was headhunted to be President of Columbia Studios. He was credited with saving the studio from bankruptcy with box-office hits such as Shampoo (1975) and The Deep (1977). His annual salary was said to be $250,000, with another $150,000 in perks. However, by 1976 he was deep in financial trouble. His prolific gambling ensured that his expenditure always exceeded his income. On February 25, 1977, the actor Cliff Robertson was informed by the accounts department that on September 2, 1976, he had received a cheque for $10,000 for services rendered. Robertson was puzzled because he had not worked for the studio recently and so was not owed any money. Investigating further, he discovered the cheque had been signed and banked by Begelman. Robertson knew all about omerta – Hollywood’s code of silence that could result in his blacklisting if he broke it. Still, he informed the police and FBI of the discrepancy, though nothing was done. Robertson waited a while before going public and eventually Begelman confessed he had forged the signature. Robertson was blacklisted from the industry for four years for blowing the whistle. On October 3, 1977, Begelman confessed to the board of Columbia Pictures that he had embezzled over $84,000 from the company by forging $61,000 in cheques and fiddling his expenses to the tune of $23,000. He was ordered to pay back the money and to take a six-week leave of absence. Begelman was also evaluated by a psychiatrist, who reported that his behaviour was due to a “temporary period of self-destructive behaviour” and that now he was “completely cured”. All of this occurred before Robertson went public about the cheque. Meanwhile, Begelman had been responsible for another hit, Close Encounters Of The Third Kind (1977). His expertise had made the studio around $100 million and they did not want that kind of talent to go to waste. It was only when Robertson publicly revealed what had happened that Begelman resigned as President on February 9, 1978. The company then offered him a lucrative three-year $1.5 million deal as an independent producer. Begelman was charged with fraud and theft and pleaded nolo contendere (no contest). He was fined $5,000 and placed on probation for three years. In December 1978 he once again became President of Columbia Pictures. In the second week of February 1979, after a public outcry, he resigned and accepted a job as an independent producer, but with the same salary. On June 27, 1979, his felonious crime was reduced to a misdemeanour when he appeared before the Burbank Municipal Court. The charges against him were dropped, as were the remaining two years of his probation. In December of the same year he was appointed President of MGM. It was not the first time that Begelman, who at one time was married to Lana Wood, had been involved in financial irregularities. In the Sixties he had been Judy Garland’s agent. Between May and October 1962 Begelman had cashed 13 cheques ranging from $500 to $6,000 totalling $35,714. Part of a quantity of money paid to blackmailers had also mysteriously ended up in Begelman’s bank account and a car due to Garland for an appearance on The Jack Paar Show also turned up registered to Begelman. On January 30, 1964, Sid Luft, Garland’s then-husband, sued Begelman and his partner, claiming that they had defrauded Garland of $450,000, also asking for $1 million punitive and exemplary damages. On March 15, 1967, Garland filed suit against Begelman and his partner claiming financial mismanagement.
CAUSE: Suicide. He was 73 years old.
Rex Bell
(GEORGE FRANCIS BELDHAM)
Born October 16, 1903
Died July 4, 1962
Mr ‘It’. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Bell was one of two sons of a horse trader who moved his family to Hollywood when he came down with a bronchial complaint caused by the stench of newly slaughtered livestock. Bell was educated at Hollywood High School and at weekends he caddied for the actor Wallace Reid. Still at school he organised a charity rodeo with fellow pupil Joel McCrea. In 1924 his father died and Bell became a truck driver to support his mother and brother, Hodson. He was discovered while delivering to Fox and offered a contract. The honest Bell confessed that he could not act but Fox countered that if he could ride he could work as a stuntman, so for four years that is how Bell earned a living. He made a few nondescript films including The Cowboy Kid (1928), Wild West Romance (1928) as Phil O’Malley, Taking A Chance (1928) as Joe Courtney before John Ford hired him to appear in Salute (released September 1, 1929) alongside Marion Morrison who was to become his life-long friend, known to the world as John Wayne. In 1929 he met the fast-living Brooklynite Clara Bow while both were filming True To The Navy (released May 25, 1930). Bell was smitten by Clara and the two married on December 3, 1931 in Las Vegas. They had two sons: 6́ 5˝ Rex Larbow ‘Tony’ (b. Santa Monica Hospital, December 16, 1934) and 5́ 9˝ George Francis Robert (b. June 14, 1938) and one miscarriage in between. In 1931 Bell appeared in one episode of the serial Battling With Buffalo Bill and was signed to Monogram where he made eight films between 1932 and 1933. They were Broadway To Cheyenne (released September 10, 1932), The Man From Arizona (October 21, 1932), Lucky Larrigan (December 1, 1932), Crashin’ Broadway (December 30, 1932), Diamond Trail (April 25, 1933), The Fugitive (July 15, 1933), Rainbow Ranch (July 25, 1933) and The Fighting Texan (July 26, 1933). He made half a dozen films for the Alexander brothers – Max and Art – who ran Poverty Row studios such as Beacon, Normandy and Colony. The films were Too Much Beef (released June 6, 1936), West Of Nevada (July 21, 1936), The Idaho Kid (August 6, 1936), Men Of The Plains (September 29, 1936), Law And Lead (November 11, 1936) and Stormy Trails (December 23, 1936). For Paramount, he played Virgil Earp in Tombstone – The Town Too Tough To Die (June 13, 1942). In 1942 he announced his retirement. In the Forties Rex and Clara drifted apart and they separated in 1950. Bell became interested in Republican politics and in 1944 he stood for congress but was defeated. From 1954 until 1962 he was Lieutenant-Governor of Nevada.
CAUSE: On June 18, 1962, as he announced his candidacy for state governor, Rex Bell died of a heart attack, aged 58. He was pronounced dead at the Sunrise Hospital and was buried in Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Los Angeles, California.
Ralph Bellamy
Born June 17, 1904
Died November 29, 1991
‘The man who never got the girl’. Born in Chicago, Illinois, 6́1½˝ Bellamy ran away from home aged 16 to join a troupe of actors who travelled the length and breadth of America performing Shakespeare. Over the next decade he worked with 15 different outfits before making his film début in the mob movie The Secret Six (1931), two years after his initial Broadway appearance, and went on to appear in over 100 films, although he never fully attained stardom. He did receive one Oscar nod playing one of Irene Dunne’s suitors in The Awful Truth (1937). He also received acclaim for his portrayal of polio-stricken Franklin Delano Roosevelt in Sunrise At Campobello (1960). In the Thirties and Forties he regularly played detectives, firstly as Inspector Trent beginning with Before Midnight (1933) and then as New York consulting detective Ellery Queen, starting with Ellery Queen, Master Detective (1940). After World War II he concentrated more on television, but he is probably best known to the cinematic under-40s audience for his portrayal of the manipulative Randolph Duke opposite Don Ameche, Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd in John Landis’ Trading Places (1983), his 100th motion picture. In 1986 he was awarded an honorary Oscar “for his unique artistry and his distinguished service to the profession of acting.” He was fêted for his stage work, picking up a Tony award, and was also one of the founders of the Screen Actors’ Guild. On December 28, 1927, Bellamy married Alice Delbridge; he fathered one daughter before their Detroit divorce in June of 1931. A month later on July 6, 1931, in Reno, Nevada, he married actress Catherine Willard. They adopted a son, also called Willard, in the latter part of the decade. On August 6, 1945 (the day the atom bomb was dropped on Hiroshima), Mr & Mrs Bellamy were divorced in Reno on grounds of his mental cruelty. Later that month he married for the third time. T
he new Mrs Bellamy was Ethel M. Smith. Two years later, on November 24, 1947, they were divorced because of her desertion. Bellamy’s fourth and final marriage was to Alice Murphy on November 27, 1949.
CAUSE: He died in Los Angeles aged 87 of natural causes.
John Belushi
Born January 24, 1949
Died March 5, 1982
Brash comic. John Adam Belushi came, saw and died of a drug overdose before his cinematic stardom could be assured. Born in Wheaton, Illinois, the eldest boy in a family of four and the son of an Albanian émigré, his younger brother, Jim (b. June 15, 1954), has also achieved a measure of fame in acting. After university Belushi began appearing in local theatre productions and landed a job in the off-Broadway show National Lampoon’s Lemmings, which opened on January 25, 1973. This led to a gig on Saturday Night Live (beginning on October 11, 1975), the seminal comedy show. Belushi stayed with the show for four years, becoming one of its most popular performers. One of his routines with co-star Dan Aykroyd featured two siblings, the Blues Brothers. On December 31, 1976, he married long-time girlfriend Judy Jacklin in Colorado. In 1978 Belushi signed to appear as Bluto in John Landis’ National Lampoon’s Animal House, which was a box-office success. The following year he left Saturday Night Live to concentrate on films. It was at this time that his drug habit began to spiral out of control. Much of his Saturday Night Live salary had gone to feed his need for cocaine. He appeared in films such as 1941 (1979) and Neighbors (1981) which were flops. The Blues Brothers (1980), slated by the critics and ignored at the time by the public, although it was later to become a cult classic, did little to help him regain his self-confidence. Belushi, 5́ 8˝ and nearly 16st, decided the way forward was to write and produce his own movies. His last project was a script called Noble Rot. Paramount Pictures passed on the option.
CAUSE: Following the rejection of his idea, Belushi flew alone to Hollywood and on March 1, 1982, booked into bungalow B #3 of the Chateau Marmont Hotel, 8221 Sunset Boulevard. He visited a friend and borrowed $5 for breakfast and asked if he could get him some heroin. That afternoon he was introduced to heroin addict Cathy Evelyn Smith (b. Ontario, Canada, April 25, 1947). Smith had earned a living as a backing singer for Gordon Lightfoot (and also been his lover) and was on probation. Over the next three days Belushi and Smith consumed vast quantities of drugs. On the night of March 4, Belushi went out partying with friends. He drank alcohol heavily and returned to his bungalow with Smith in tow. Back in his rooms, Belushi continued to drink and snorted cocaine. The next morning Belushi had visitors: his friends Robin Williams and Saturday Night Live writer Nelson Lyon stopped by briefly. Belushi had been up all night flying and began shivering as dawn approached. To try and warm himself he went for a shower. He increased the heating and slumped in bed around 8am. Around 60 minutes later, Smith heard Belushi gasping and went into his bedroom. After Belushi reassured her that he was fine, Smith returned to the living room and Belushi went back to sleep. At 10.15am Smith checked on Belushi, who looked peaceful. She went out in his car to get some food for breakfast, taking some drug paraphernalia with her. At midday Belushi’s personal trainer William Wallace called by to see him and found the actor quiet. Too quiet. Wallace checked the naked actor’s pulse. There was none. Wallace asked the receptionist to get a doctor and John Belushi was officially pronounced dead at 12.45pm. His death certificate states he died of acute cocaine and heroin intoxication. However, not all was as it seemed. In March 1983 a grand jury was convened to look into the behaviour of Cathy Evelyn Smith at the time Belushi died. It was alleged she had injected Belushi with the fatal overdose of drugs. She admitted as much to the National Enquirer for $15,000, something that got her committed for trial in June 1986. Before that could take place she pleaded guilty on June 10, 1986, to involuntary manslaughter to avoid a second degree murder charge. She was sentenced to three years in prison in September 1986. Originally, the Los Angeles Police Department had announced Belushi had died of natural causes. ‘Coroner to the Stars’ Dr Thomas T. Noguchi (the basis for TV’s Quincy, M.E.) performed the autopsy: Medical Examiner’s Case #82–3036. Noguchi announced death had occurred some time between 10.15am and 12.45pm yet Smith said she last injected Belushi at 3.30am. Drug overdose deaths usually occur within two hours of ingestion. So did Belushi or someone else inject him later that day, or was his death due to a heart attack? He was very overweight, but Noguchi ruled this out as a contributing factor: “If he had been in the best of health, the combination of heroin and cocaine would have killed anyone.” The coroner noted two dozen needle marks on Belushi’s arms, some less than a day old. His good friend Dan Aykroyd and his widow both claim that Belushi hated needles. John Belushi was buried in Abel’s Hill Cemetery, Chilmark, Massachusetts, on March 10, 1982. The following day a memorial service was held at the Cathedral of St John Divine in Manhattan. Belushi’s 22-page will, written on March 23, 1979, left everything to his wife. In May 1983 Belushi’s corpse was disinterred because his grave was regularly being despoiled. He was reburied in an unmarked grave eleven feet to the north of his previous resting place. His wooden coffin gave way during the operation and a copper casket replaced it. Also, a boulder bearing the legend BELUSHI was moved to the cemetery entrance. In an interview not long before his death Belushi had said, “I’m going to die young. I just can’t stop destroying myself.”
FURTHER READING: Wired: The Short Life And Fast Times Of John Belushi – Bob Woodward (London: Faber & Faber, 1989).
William Bendix
Born January 14, 1906
Died December 14, 1964
Gravel-voiced all-rounder. Born in New York City, Bendix was the son of the conductor of the New York Metropolitan Opera Orchestra who wanted his son to be a violinist. Bendix was more concerned with a career in baseball, earning a one-month trial with the New York Giants. Love knocked his sporting career on the head when he married childhood sweetheart Therese in 1928. To provide for his wife he worked in a greengrocer’s in Orange, New Jersey. The Depression the following year forced the shop’s closure, so Bendix invented a theatrical background for himself and landed a job at the New Jersey Federal Theater. He spent two years with the company gaining experience and decided to try Broadway. His first six plays all flopped but the seventh was good enough to win him a part in Woman Of The Year (1942), which starred Katharine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy. Success came very quickly for Bendix, who was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar for his performance as soldier Aloysius ‘Smacksie’ Randall in Wake Island (1942). He never actually served in the military because he had chronic asthma. He spent the next ten years of his life working at Paramount, where he turned his hand to playing nice guys and not too few hated ones.
CAUSE: He died of complications from lobar pneumonia aged 58 in Los Angeles.
Alma Bennett
Born April 9, 1904
Died September 16, 1958
Leading lady. Born in Seattle, Washington, 5́ 4˝ Alma Bennett was a star of the silent screen who appeared in many different genres. She appeared with Ben Turpin and Harry Langdon in comedies, plus Westerns and Cecil B. DeMille’s dramas. She was married to Harry Spingler.
CAUSE: She died aged 54 in Los Angeles, California.
Barbara Bennett
Born August 13, 1906
Died August 8, 1958
Damaged goods. Born in Palisades, New Jersey, she was beset with mental problems, as was her only daughter. She married for the first time in St Patrick’s Cathedral, New York on January 28, 1929. Her husband was the singer Morton Downey (1902–1985) and they had four children: loudmouth TV personality Morton Downey, Jr (b. New York, December 8, 1932, as Sean Downey); Lorelle Downey (b. New York, November 18, 1934, as Lesley Ann Downey. She was a potential Olympic athlete but was given to violent outbursts. One of the first mental patients to undergo a prefrontal lobotomy, she died on March 18, 1977); Anthony Downey (b. New York, 1935); and Kevin Downey (b. New York, August 13, 1938). Divorced from Downey in 1941, Benne
tt married actor Addison Randall in Los Angeles on St Valentine’s Day, 1942. He died on July 16, 1954, after falling from his horse during filming in Canoga Park, California. Her final marriage was to Canadian writer Laurent Suprenant. Barbara appeared in a few films, including Black Jack (1927) as Nancy Blake, Syncopation (1929) as Fleurette, Mother’s Boy (1929) as Beatrix Townleigh and Love Among The Millionaires (1930) as Virginia Hamilton.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 28
