Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  CAUSE: On June 9, 1983, Bette underwent a mastectomy at the New York Hospital and then on the 18th she suffered a stroke. (She later claimed that B.D.’s book did her more harm than the stroke.) Later that year her third misfortune occurred when she broke her hip. On September 22, 1989, she received the Donostia Award for Lifetime Achievement in Spain at the San Sebastian Film Festival. Bette commented drily: “If they’d waited any longer to give me this award, I wouldn’t be here to receive it.” She stayed in Spain for more events but on October 3 fell ill with what was assumed to be influenza. She was taken to The American Hospital, 63 boulevard Victor Hugo, Paris, where she was informed her cancer had returned. She died from breast cancer at 11.20pm, three days after admittance. She had told her friend Roy Moseley that when she died she would be ignored, forgotten by the world’s press. He told her she was wrong and, indeed, her death did make world headlines. She was buried at 11am on October 12, in Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068. B.D. did not attend. Interviewed in June 1987 about her own mortality, Bette said: “I would hate to pass on after a long lingering illness. It should be something sudden. And I don’t want anyone sending money to any little charity instead of flowers. I want millions of flowers. I want it to be ludicrous with flowers … I want everyone to weep. Copiously.”

  FURTHER READING: Mother Goddam: The Story Of The Career Of Bette Davis – Whitney Stine With A Running Commentary By Bette Davis (London: W.H. Allen, 1975); Bette: A Biography Of Bette Davis – Charles Higham (London: NEL, 1981); This ’N That – Bette Davis with Michael Herskowitz (New York: Berkeley, 1988); Bette Davis: An Intimate Memoir – Roy Moseley (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1989); No Guts, No Glory: Conversations With Bette Davis – Whitney Stine (London: Virgin, 1990); Bette & Joan: The Divine Feud – Shaun Considine (London: Sphere, 1990); The Passionate Life Of Bette Davis – Lawrence J. Quirk (London: Robson Books, 1990); All About Bette: Her Life From A–Z – Randall Riese (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1993); More Than A Woman: An Intimate Biography Of Bette Davis – James Spada (London: Little, Brown, 1993).

  Brad Davis

  (ROBERT DAVIS)

  Born November 6, 1949

  Died September 8, 1991

  Thesp with a tragic secret. Born in Tallahassee, Florida, Davis was an intense but unknown actor to most when he was cast as drug smuggler Billy Hayes in Alan Parker’s harrowing Midnight Express (1978). The story of an American student caught attempting to smuggle heroin out of the country made international headlines. For a brief period Davis’ star shone, but was quickly extinguished. As stardom faded, other things came along to take its place. Those other things were drink and drugs. In 1981 Davis joined Alcoholics Anonymous and in 1983 confessed he had taken “every known drug under the sun, singly and in combinations.” His films included: Eat My Dust! (1976), A Small Circle Of Friends (1980) as Leonardo DaVinci Rizzo, Chariots Of Fire (1981) as Jackson Scholz, Querelle (1982) as Querelle, Il Cugino Americano (1986) as Julian Salina, Heart (1987) as Eddie, Cold Steel (1987) as Johnny Modine and Hangfire (1991) as Sheriff Ike Slayton. He married his agent Susan Bluestein in 1976 and they had a daughter, Alexandra, born in 1983. Prior to Hollywood, he was known to be homosexual. The late author and gay rights activist Vito Russo revealed: “Brad was nonchalant about his gayness before he headed out west. He was always horny, and the first to say so … I had no idea he had a bisexual side. He either hid it well or going to Hollywood just coaxed it out of him – if out is the right word and in this context it ain’t.”

  CAUSE: In 1985 Davis was diagnosed HIV positive, but kept his condition secret, fearing that if it became known he was infected he would be virtually unemployable. He was probably right. He didn’t go for early treatment in case gossip leaked out. He finally succumbed to AIDS aged 41 in Studio City, Los Angeles, California. Gay author Armistead Maupin stated, “I’m tired of people being congratulated posthumously on their brave battle. It wasn’t that brave if we didn’t know about it while it was going on.”

  Sammy Davis, Jr

  Born December 8, 1925

  Died May 16, 1990

  Hollywood’s only one-eyed Jewish negro. Born in Harlem, New York, Davis was a child entertainer, who was treading the boards before his third birthday. The early work made Sammy miss school, with the result that he had difficulty writing, although he was a voracious reader. He never personalised autographs because he couldn’t spell names correctly. He made his movie début in Rufus Jones For President (1933) playing Rufus Jones, but apart from one more film (Sweet And Low [1947]), didn’t make any more films until the late Fifties. He was part of the Wil Mastin (his ‘uncle’) group entertaining nationwide. In 1945, following two years in the army – where he was subjected to horrific racism, including having his nose broken several times and offered a beer laced with urine – things began taking off for Sammy and the group was renamed the Wil Mastin Trio Starring Sammy Davis, Jr. He began appearing regularly on television and in nightclubs in the Fifties earning $25,000 a week at the Sands in Las Vegas. In November 1954 he was involved in a car crash that resulted in him losing his left eye. He became associated with the hard-living, hard-drinking Rat Pack (other members included Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop). His films included: Anna Lucasta (1958) as Danny Johnson, Porgy And Bess (1959) as Sportin’ Life, Ocean’s 11 (1960) as singing dustman Josh Howard for which he was paid $100,000, Sergeants 3 (1962) as Jonah Williams, Robin And The 7 Hoods (1964) as Will, Salt And Pepper (1968) as Charles Salt, Sweet Charity (1969) as Big Daddy, Elvis – That’s The Way It Is (1970) playing himself, James Dean, The First American Teenager (1975) again playing himself, The Cannonball Run (1981) as Fenderbaum, Cracking Up (1983) as Mr Billings and Cannonball Run II (1984) reprising his role as Fenderbaum. In 1985 he had a hip replaced that enabled him to dance again and four years later, having beaten drink and cocaine problems, he went on a world tour with Frank Sinatra and Liza Minnelli. He caused a sensation in the autumn of 1957 when he began dating blonde star Kim Novak who had just finished filming Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo. Novak was being groomed for stardom by Harry Cohn and the Columbia chief didn’t want the beautiful blonde dating a black man. Cohn arranged for his friend the gangster Mickey Cohen to have Davis taken out into the desert and poke a sharp stick into his other eye and, for good measure, break both his legs. Davis had one chance – marry a black girl and quickly. On January 10, 1958, after a sum of money had changed hands, Davis married twice-divorced 23-year-old black singer Loray White, who already had a six-year-old daughter. The ceremony took place in the Emerald Room of the Sands Hotel and Harry Belafonte was best man. On April 23, 1959, they were divorced, amid rumours the marriage had never been consummated. Davis paid Loray $25,000 for the divorce. On November 13, 1960, he married Swedish-born actress May Britt, with Frank Sinatra as best man. A daughter, Tracey, was born on July 5, 1961, and two adopted sons, Mark and Jeff, came along later. The marriage wrecked Britt’s career and when Sammy arrived in Washington, DC in 1960 he was greeted by signs reading “Go Back To The Congo You Kosher Coon”. Even when he appeared at the 1960 Democratic Convention in support of John F. Kennedy he was jeered by the Mississippi delegation. On January 17, 1961, Sammy was ‘disinvited’ to the inauguration of the 35th President because Kennedy feared Sammy would upset Southern Congressmen. On November 1, 1967, Sammy and May went their separate ways and were divorced on December 19, 1968. On May 11, 1970, he married black dancer Altovise Gore (who appeared in Can’t Stop The Music [1980]) and in 1990 they adopted a son, Manny (b. 1976). Sammy also had one of the world’s largest collections of hardcore pornography and presented the première of the notorious Deep Throat, starring Linda Lovelace, in several countries.