Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  CAUSE: In 1988 Sammy began to suffer from a bad throat. Years of smoking had done him harm. He would smoke as he sang and exhale with a note, despite being warned not to do so by Nat ‘King’ Cole. In September 1989 he contracted throat cancer. In February 1990 he was admitted to Cedars-Sinai Hospital Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, California. Doctors told him he needed an operation but he realised that if he went through with it, he would never sing again. He refused the treatment. On March 13, 1990, he was discharged from the hospital with a large tumour sticking out of his neck. He died of a heart attack, pneumonia and laryngeal carcinoma aged 64 at 5.59am at his home, 1151 Summit Drive, Beverly Hills. On May 18 he was buried, between his father and Wil Mastin, in Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, 1712 South Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California 91209. Among the 1,200 or so mourners were Bill Cosby, Billy Crystal, Tony Danza, Angie Dickinson, Robert Guillaume, Gregory Hines, Michael Jackson, Shirley Maclaine, Dean Martin, Liza Minnelli, Ricardo Montalban, Carroll O’Connor, Burt Reynolds, Jill St. John, Frank Sinatra, Ben Vereen, Robert Wagner and Stevie Wonder. Altovise Davis was later served with a $7.5-million tax bill.

  FURTHER READING: Hollywood In A Suitcase– Sammy Davis, Jr. (London: Star Books, 1981).

  Lisa De Leeuw

  Born July 3, 1958

  Died November 11, 1993

  Porn starlet. Born in Moline, Illinois, De Leeuw came to Hollywood looking for fame and fortune and ended up in hardcore porn movies. One critic described her, somewhat uncharitably, as an “incredibly ugly, big-titted female with the personality of Andrea Dworkin”! Among her 180 or so films were 800 Fantasy Lane (1979), 1001 Erotic Nights (1982), The Blonde Next Door (1982), Aunt Peg Goes To Hollywood (1982), Behind The Scenes Of An Adult Movie (1983), Foxholes (1983), Chocolate Cream (1984), With Love, Lisa (1985) and Beverly Hills Cox (1986).

  CAUSE: She died aged 35 of AIDS contracted through heavy drug use.

  James Dean

  Born February 8, 1931

  Died September 30, 1955

  Teen icon. The 5́ 8˝ James Byron Dean made just three films (East Of Eden [1955], Rebel Without A Cause [1955] and Giant [1956]) but is still one of the most recognisable of all showbiz icons more than 40 years after his death. Born at 2am in Byron, Indiana, an only child, his beloved mother, Mildred (b. Grant County, Indiana, September 15, 1911), died in Santa Monica of a uterine carcinoma when he was nine on July 14, 1940, at 2.40pm. On April 9, 1949, he won first prize in the Indiana State Speech Tournament and two months later moved to Los Angeles in preparation for attending Santa Monica City College and then the University of California at Los Angeles, where he appeared in Macbeth. In December 1950 he was taken on by his first agent, Isabelle Draesemer, and appeared in a Pepsi advert on the 13th of that month. In October 1951 he moved to New York City and appeared in a number of plays. Dean’s Hollywood career was short. He was cast in East Of Eden on March 5, 1954, and 18 months later he was dead; his legend was about to begin. His Giant co-star Rock Hudson wasn’t impressed: “I don’t mean to speak ill of the dead, but he was a prick … he was selfish and petulant, and believed his own press releases.” One of the biggest mysteries of Dean’s life was his sexuality. Was he straight? Gay? Bisexual? A masochist? Most authors think that Dean was sexual. He would have sex with whomsoever he fancied – male or female. “I’m certainly not going through life with one hand tied behind my back,” was his own stance. The following have asserted (or had asserted on their behalf) a sexual relationship with Dean: beautiful Swiss blonde Ursula Andress, Pier Angeli, Rogers Brackett (b. 1916, his mentor), Betsy Palmer (best known for TV soap Knots Landing and being the original killer in Friday The 13th [1980]) and actress Beverly Wills.

  CAUSE: Dean was a speed freak who loved racing his cars and motorbikes at reckless and dangerous speeds. In May 1954 Dean bought a red 1953 MG. Ten months later, he splashed out on a white, 1500cc Porsche 356 Super Speedster. On September 21, 1955, Dean purchased for $3,700 a silver Porsche 550 Spyder that he nicknamed ‘The Little Bastard’. It was travelling in this last car at 5.45pm on Friday September 30, 1955, that Dean met his death, approximately 28 miles northeast of Paso Robles, California. Dean was driving with his 28-year-old mechanic Rolf Wütherich (himself to die in a car crash on July 28, 1981) when they saw another car in the distance. “That guy’s gotta see us. He’s gotta stop,” said Dean and did not attempt to slow down. The driver of the other car, a 1950 Ford Sedan, 23-year-old college student Donald Gene Turnupseed, did see Dean’s car but only at the last second, when collision at the junction of US 466 and Highway 41 was inevitable. Dean’s neck was broken and he suffered numerous internal injuries. Wütherich also suffered serious wounds but Turnupseed was only dazed and superficially cut. Dean was pronounced dead on arrival at Paso Robles War Memorial Hospital. Turnupseed has never spoken publicly about the accident. Ironically, shortly before his death, Dean took part in an advertisement campaign for road safety. He told teenagers to slow down “because the life you save could be mine.”

  FURTHER READING: James Dean: A Short Life – Venable Herndon (London: Futura, 1974); James Dean: The Mutant King – David Dalton (London: Plexus, 1983); The Death Of James Dean – Warren Newton Beath (New York: Grove Press, 1986); The Unabridged James Dean: His Life And Legacy From A–Z – Randall Riese (Chicago: Contemporary Books, 1991); James Dean Little Boy Lost: An Intimate Biography – Joe Hyams with Jay Hyams (London: Hutchinson, 1992), The James Dean Story: A Myth-Shattering Biography Of An Icon – Ronald Martinetti (New York: Birch Lane Press, 1995); Rebel: The Life And Legend Of James Dean – Donald Spoto (New York: HarperCollins, 1996).

  Sandra Dee

  (ALEXANDRA ZUCK)

  Born April 23, 1944? Died February 20, 2005

  Girl next door. “Look at me, I’m Sandra Dee, lousy with virginity” so sang Rizzo in the hit musical Grease but the song got it wrong, terribly wrong. Sandra Dee was born in Bayonne, New Jersey to an enthusiastic and overly ambitious stage mother and an alcoholic bus driver father. Her mother added two years to her daughter’s age so that she could begin work earlier. John Zuck was deserted by his wife for Eugene Douvan, a wealthy businessman 40 years her senior. Douvan was also a predatory paedophile who insisted that six-year-old Alexandra sleep between him and her mother on their wedding night. Two years later, he began to have sex with the eight-year-old, an abuse that continued until she was 12 and he died of a heart attack. “Daddy started having sexual intercourse with me. It was scary. He molested me whenever he wanted to and there was opportunity. He’d say, ‘Let’s snuggle,’ and I never fought back.” Alexandra began refusing to eat so her mother began to force-feed her but by the age of nine she was anorexic. Her mother pushed her daughter into modelling and when she was 10, Alexandra was earning $70,000 a year. She made her film début as Evelyn Leslie, the youngest of four sisters in the film Until They Sail (1957). The lead role in Gidget (1959) made her a star but aged 15 she was 5́ 5˝ and weighed just 6st 6lbs. To control her weight, she ate 2oz of Epsom salts as an emetic after every meal. But her body developed a tolerance and she increased the dosage until one day she swallowed 8oz and collapsed with a heart attack. She was rushed to hospital but survived to continue making films such as Imitation Of Life (1959) as Susie and A Summer Place (1959) as Molly Jorgenson. She travelled to Portofino, Italy to film Come September (1961) in which she played Sandy Stevens and was swept off her feet by her leading man Bobby Darin, the singer. However, she did not like him at their first meeting. By the end of filming he had proposed and eight weeks later, on December 1, 1960, they were married in a hurried ceremony in Elizabeth, New Jersey. Their wedding night was not a success – understandably terrified of sex, Sandra slept on the settee. Eventually, the marriage was consummated but because of the anorexia she suffered six miscarriages. Jealous of her husband’s fans, she took to drink and later amphetamines. Gambling became another addiction and one night she lost $25,000 at blackjack. The marriage was in trouble and on March 7, 1967 they divorced. Th
ey had one son, Dodd Mitchell. But she still carried a torch for Darin and was devastated by his premature death in December 1973 from a congenital heart defect. Her later films included If A Man Answers (1962) and That Funny Feeling (1965) but the effects of the drugs, booze, gambling and after-effects of the anorexia played havoc with her looks and ability to work. Her last film was Ad Est Di Marsa Matruh (1971). She made occasional television appearances but never lived up to her early promise.

  CAUSE: In 2000 she was diagnosed with throat cancer and kidney failure. She died in Los Angeles from kidney disease and pneumonia. She was 60.

  Nicole DeHuff

  Born January 6, 1974

  Died February 16, 2005

  Tragic entrant. Dark-haired Nicole Renee DeHuff was born in the unusually named Oklahoma town of Antlers and studied at the Carnegie Mellon Acting Conservatory. She made her film début in the comedy Meet The Parents (2000) playing Deborah Byrnes opposite Robert DeNiro and Ben Stiller. She went on to appear in Suspect Zero (2004) as Katie Potter. She featured in the TV shows CSI: Miami, Monk and The Practice. Nicole was married on November 11, 2000 to the producer Ari Palitz, but had no children.

  CAUSE: Feeling ill, she attended hospital in Los Angeles but was twice sent home and told not to worry, that there was nothing serious amiss. Tragically, the doctors misdiagnosed her and she died of pneumonia, aged only 31.

  Albert Dekker

  Born December 20, 1905

  Died May 3, 1968

  Suave with a secret. Born in Brooklyn, New York, Dekker attended Bowdoin College, Maine, with an ambition to become either a psychiatrist or a psychologist. However, he proved so impressive in college plays that a former pupil badgered Dekker into giving acting a shot and even wrote a letter of introduction for him to Alfred Lunt. Dekker finally agreed and Lunt was to say later of him, “Al has a fine mind and a soul in which unkindness is wholly absent.” It was in 1927 that Dekker made his stage début playing a beggar in Kismet. His first Broadway appearance came with a variety of plays the same year. Dekker was a natural on both stage and in films, which he entered in 1937. He was handsome, tall (6˝3˝), sandy haired and blue eyed. In 1929 he married actress Esther Guernini and fathered two sons and a daughter. His first film was The Great Garrick (1937) as LeBrun and he went on to appear in over 70 more, including She Married An Artist (1938) as Whitney Holton, Extortion (1938) as Jeffrey Thompson, Marie Antoinette (1938) as Comte de Provence, Never Say Die (1939), Hotel Imperial (1939), The Man In The Iron Mask (1939) as Louis XIII, Beau Geste (1939) as Schwartz, Rangers Of Fortune (1940) as George Bird, Strange Cargo (1940) as Moll, Dr Cyclops (1940) as mad scientist Dr Thorkel, You’re The One (1941) as Luke Laramie, Reaching For The Sun (1941) as Herman, Honky Tonk (1941) as Brazos Hearn, Blonde Inspiration (1941) as Phil Hendricks, Night In New Orleans (1942) as Police Lieutenant William Richards, In Old California (1942) as Britt Dawson, Wake Island (1942) as Shad McClosky, The Forest Rangers (1942) as Twig Dawson, Buckskin Frontier (1943) as Gideon Skene, Incendiary Blonde (1945) as Cadden, California (1946) as Mr Pike, Two Years Before The Mast (1946) as Brown, Wyoming (1947) as Lassiter, Slave Girl (1947) as Pasha, Tarzan’s Magic Fountain (1949) as Mr Trask, Destination Murder (1950) as Armitage, As Young As You Feel (1951) as Louis McKinley, Illegal (1955) as Frank Garland, She Devil (1957) as Dr Richard Bach, Machete (1958) as Don Luis Montoya, Suddenly, Last Summer (1959) as Dr Hockstader and Sam Peckinpah’s The Wild Bunch (1969) as Pat Harrigan. In 1944 he was elected as a Democrat to the 57th District in the California State Assembly, where he served a two-year term. Back on stage he wowed audiences as Willy Loman in Arthur Miller’s Death Of A Salesman and won a Tony for his part as the Duke of Norfolk in Robert Bolt’s A Man For All Seasons. Then in the mid-Fifties Dekker’s seemingly charmed existence came to an end. He was furious at the McCarthy witch hunts and was one of the few brave enough to speak out, calling the junior senator from Wisconsin “insane”. Despite his political record Dekker was damned, received death threats and found himself blacklisted. It was almost 20 years before Dekker was able to work regularly again. His 16-year-old son, Jan, shot and accidentally killed himself in 1967. That tragic demise would be as nothing compared to his father’s the following year.

  CAUSE: Albert Dekker’s death at 62 is one of the most puzzling in Hollywood history. He was discovered dead in his Hollywood home, 1731 North Normandie, kneeling in the bath. In each arm was a dirty hypodermic needle, a noose was around his neck, a scarf covered his eyes, a horse’s bit was in his mouth with the reins tied tightly behind his head, a leather belt was around his neck, another around his chest and leather ropes connected the two. A third leather belt around his waist was tied with a rope to his ankles, which were tightly bound. The rope then went back up his body around his wrists and was held in his hands, which were manacled with handcuffs. The word “Whip” was written in red lipstick on his right buttock above two needle marks. Around his nipples were sun rays, also in lipstick. On his thorax was the words “Make me suck” with “Slave” and “Cocksucker” on his chest. A vagina was drawn on his lower belly. To add to the disturbing sight, lividity had sent the lower half of his body purple. The coroner stated it was an “accidental death, not suicide” but many of his friends believed he had been murdered. They pointed to the fact that $70,000 in cash was missing along with a tape recorder and expensive photographic equipment. Coroner Dr Thomas T. Noguchi (on whom TV pathologist Quincy, M.E. was based) believes Dekker died of auto-asphyxiation during a sex game that went horribly wrong. The case is closed.

  Dolores Del Rio

  (LOLITA DOLORES MARTíNEZ ASúNSOLO Y LóPEZ NEGRETE)

  Born August 3, 1905

  Died April 11, 1983

  Beautiful brunette bombshell. Born in Durango, Mexico, Dolores Del Rio was the St Joseph’s Convent-educated daughter of the president of a bank and the cousin of Ramon Novarro. The family fled their massive ranch in 1909 to escape Pancho Villa. The 5́3½˝ Dolores Del Rio was never really taken seriously in Hollywood, probably because of her accent, even though she could speak English, French, German and Spanish. Producers tended to regard her more as window dressing. Back home in Mexico, she was respected and won four Arieles, the Mexican Oscar, and one Quixote, the Spanish Oscar. Aged 16 she married Jaime Martinez Del Rio, a wealthy aristocrat lawyer 18 years her senior and homosexual, and met film director Edwin Carewe in Mexico City. He took her back to Tinseltown and told her he would marry her, even though he was also a newlywed. She appeared in Joanna (1925) as Carlotta de Silva, The Whole Town’s Talking (1926) as Rita Renault, High Steppers (1926) as Evelyn Iffield, Pals First (1926) as Jeanne Lamont, What Price Glory (1926) as Charmaine de la Cognac, Resurrection (1927) as Katyusha Maslova, Revenge (1928) as Rascha, Ramona (1928) as Ramona, No Other Woman (1928) as Carmelita de Granados, The Trail Of ’98 (1929) as Berna, Evangeline (1929) as Evangeline, Girl Of The Rio (1932) as Dolores, Bird Of Paradis e (1932) as Luana, Flying Down To Rio (1933) as Belinha de Rezende, Madame DuBarry (1934) as Madame DuBarry, I Live For Love (1935) as Donna Alvarez, Accused as Gaby Seymour, Lancer Spy as Dolores Daria Sunnell, Ali Baba Goes To Town (1937), International Settlement (1938) as Leonore Dixon and her final major American film Journey Into Fear (1942) as Josette Martel. By 1928 she had separated from her husband. Jaime Del Rio died in a German hospital of blood poisoning, but no marriage to Edwin Carewe materialised. Instead, on August 6, 1930, in Santa Barbara, California, Dolores wed MGM art director Cedric Gibbons (b. Dublin, March 23, 1893, d. 1960). They were together until January 17, 1941. Before the divorce she romanced Orson Welles. The latter met Dolores in a nightclub and told her he had been in love with her from the age of 11. When she left the club that night Welles ran down the street after her. Even though she was ten years older, she was intrigued by his genius and he by her … well, by her. Dolores went on to marry Lewis Riley, a millionaire, on November 24, 1959. She had moved back to Mexico City by this time and appeared in several more films, including Flor Silvestre (1943) as Esperanza
, María Candelaria (1944) as María Candelaria, Bugambilia (1945) as Amalita de los Robles, La Casa Chica (1949) as Amalia Estrada, Deseada (1951) as Deseada, Reportaje (1953) as María Enriqueta, Señora Ama (1954) as Dominica, El Pecado De Una Madre (1960) as La Madre, Rio Blanco (1967) and C’Era Una Volta (1967). Dolores maintained that the secret of beauty was to “Take care of your inner, spiritual beauty – that will reflect in your face.” She also didn’t drink, didn’t smoke and slept a remarkable 16 hours a day.