CAUSE: In March 1987, Garbo, then 81, tripped over her vacuum cleaner and sprained her right ankle. She was taken to hospital but fearful of having her privacy invaded, she checked herself out. She holidayed alone in Klosters in July 1988. The following month she suffered a minor heart attack. On January 5, 1989, she was rushed by ambulance to New York Hospital but she was allowed home two days later. Her kidneys had begun to fail and after much argument Garbo began dialysis in June 1989 three times a week. On April 11, 1990, Garbo again went to New York Hospital where she died of pneumonia four days later at 11.30am on Easter Sunday, aged 84. She was cremated at the Garden State Crematory in New Jersey on Easter Monday. Her estate was worth almost $55 million. Her ashes were buried in Skogskyrkogården, Stockholm.
FURTHER READING: Garbo: The Authentic Life Story– John Bainbridge (London: Frederick Muller, 1955); Garbo: Her Story– Antoni Gronowicz (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1990); Loving Garbo– Hugo Vickers (London: Jonathan Cape, 1994); Greta Garbo: A Life Apart– Karen Swenson (New York: Scribner, 1997).
Ava Gardner
Born December 24, 1922
Died January 25, 1990
Glamorous brunette. Known for her foul mouth and fiery relationship with Frank Sinatra, Ava Lavinia Gardner was born, one of six children, in Brogden, North Carolina. Her film career began when her picture was spotted in a shop window by an MGM talent scout. After a screen test in 1940 she was put under a $50-a-week contract and appeared in bit parts in several films including H.M. Pulham, Esq. (1941), Fancy Answers (1941), We Were Dancing (1942), This Time For Keeps (1942), Sunday Punch (1942), Reunion In France (1942), Kid Glove Killer (1942), We Do It Because… (1942) and Calling Dr Gillespie (1942) before making her first major appearance in Three Men In White (1944) in which she played Jean Brown. On January 10, 1942, in a small Presbyterian church in the foothills of the Santa Ynez Mountains, 21-year-old Mickey Rooney, the 5́ 3˝ cinematic Andy Hardy, was an ecstatically happy young man. He had just married the lush, 5˝ 7˝ 19-year-old, 36-23-37 actress. That night Ava lost her virginity to him. Despite the fact that he was something of a playboy, Rooney was nervous as he undressed for bed – indeed, he put his legs into the arms of his pyjamas! His bride was terrified – her mother had warned her that sex was terrible and had to be endured and not enjoyed. However, once Ava got over her initial shyness she found she actually enjoyed the event and looked forward to a repeat performance. It was not to be – Rooney was a golf fanatic and made for the green after breakfast. Not surprisingly, Ava, who was a bit of a hick at the time of her marriage, wised up to Mickey the Mite within a short time and ditched him. They were divorced on May 21, 1943. While her private life may have been troubled, her professional one certainly wasn’t. She featured in Maisie Goes To Reno (1944) as millionaire’s wife Gloria Fullerton, She Went To The Races (1945) as Hilda Spotts, Whistle Stop (1946) as love-torn small-town girl Mary, The Killers (1946) as gangster’s moll Kitty Collins, The Hucksters (1947) as good-time girl Jean Ogilvie, Singapore (1947) as amnesiac war victim Linda Gordon Van Leyden, One Touch Of Venus (1948) as statue Venus, East Side, West Side (1949) as the other woman Isabel Lorrison and The Bribe (1949) as Elizabeth Hintten. On October 17, 1945, she married bandleader Artie Shaw at 1112 South Peck Drive, Beverly Hills. She wore the same blue outfit she had worn when she married Mickey Rooney. They divorced after two years. In Philadelphia on November 7, 1951, she married Frank Sinatra. It had been a stormy courtship and continued into a volatile marriage. She had an abortion, something which upset him deeply. Director John Ford tried to embarrass Gardner at a dinner for the British Governor of Uganda during the filming of Mogambo (1953) (for which Gardner would be Oscar-nominated for her portrayal of Eloise Y. ‘Honey Bear’ Kelly). Ford asked Gardner what she saw “in that 120-pound runt you’re married to” – i.e. Sinatra. “Well,” replied Ava, “there’s 10lbs of Frank and 110lbs of cock.” The Governor was amused but the response caused Ford to choke. She and Ol’ Blue Eyes separated in 1954 and were divorced three years later on July 5, 1957. After a subsequent so-so career, which included films such as Show Boat (1951) as Julie LaVerne, The Snows Of Kilimanjaro (1952) as Cynthia Street, The Barefoot Contessa (1954) as Maria Vargas, Around The World In 80 Days (1956), Bhowani Junction (1956) as Victoria Jones, 55 Days At Peking (1963) as Baroness Natalie Ivanoff, Mayerling (1968) as Empress Elizabeth, The Life And Times Of Judge Roy Bean (1972) as Lily Langtry and Earthquake (1974), Ava moved to Spain, where she became more famous for her affairs with a series of Spanish bullfighters, among others, than for her films. She lived her final years in reclusive luxury in London, making occasional forays to appear in such television series as Knots Landing and AD.
CAUSE: In her final years Gardner suffered from consistently bad health. She endured two strokes and pneumonia. She died aged 67 in her London home, 34 Ennismore Gardens, Westminster, London SW 7, of bronchopneumonia, fibrosing alvealitis and systemic lupus erythematosis.
FURTHER READING: Ava’s Men: The Private Life Of Ava Gardner – Jane Ellen Wayne (London: Robson Books, 1990).
John Garfield
(JACOB JULIUS GARFINKLE)
Born March 4, 1913
Died May 21, 1952
Jewish gangster. Born in the Bronx, New York, the son of Russian-Jewish immigrants, Garfield fell into trouble early on in his life following the death (when he was seven) of his mother, who nicknamed him ‘Juli’. He joined several gangs and played truant from school. Although he was steered into the theatre, Garfield never lost the chip on his shoulder. He began making films in the late Thirties (an appearance in Footlight Parade [1933] is disputed) and soon became one of Hollywood’s best-known tough guys. He appeared in They Made Me A Criminal (1939), Juarez (1939) as Porfirio Diaz, Daughters Courageous (1939) as Gabriel Lopez, Castle On The Hudson (1940) as Tommy Gordon, The Sea Wolf (1941) as George Leach, Out Of The Fog (1941) as Harold Goff, Dangerously They Live (1942) as Dr Michael Lewis, Tortilla Flat (1942) as Danny, Air Force (1943) as Sergeant Joe Winocki, Destination Tokyo (1943) as Wolf, Between Two Worlds (1944) as Tom Prior, Pride Of The Marines (1945) as Al Schmid, The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) as Frank Chambers (Garfield was released from the army to appear), Nobody Lives Forever (1946) as Nick Blake, Humoresque (1946) as Paul Boray, Body And Soul (1947) as Charlie Davis, Force Of Evil (1948) as Joe Morse, We Were Strangers (1949) as Tony Fenner, The Breaking Point (1950) as Harry Morgan and He Ran All The Way (1951) as Nick Robey. Garfield was called to testify before the House Un-American Activities Committee to explain his alleged involvement with left-wing groups. He was terrified of losing his fame and fortune and, denying he was or had ever been a Communist, he thanked the Committee for its protection of America “from the Red menace”. One Committee member stated Garfield was “an intensely loyal American,” but another was “not entirely convinced of the entire accuracy and cooperation” of the actor’s testimony. Dissatisfied, he still found himself blacklisted by producers and found work at $100 a time on Broadway. In the weeks leading up to Garfield’s unexpected death, rumours flew in Washington that a big Hollywood star was to be indicted for lying to the House Committee. No one doubted the star was Garfield. There was even a rumour that Garfield was ready to talk and “make a clean breast of his Un-American activities” when called to testify before the House committee. It was said he had been promised immunity if he named names of Hollywood Reds. He was summoned to testify a second time but was noncommittal. He collaborated with a journalist to write an article for Look magazine entitled “I Was A Sucker For A Left Hook”. He died before the article was published. Like many actors Garfield was superstitious and carried an old pair of shoes with him that featured in every film he made. He married Roberta Seidman in 1932. He had three children: Katherine (b. 1939, d. 1945 of a throat infection), actor David Patton (b. 1942) and actress Julie Patton (b. January 10, 1946).
CAUSE: Garfield died aged 39 from a coronary thrombosis in the second-floor apartment of his mistress, Iris Whitney, a 36-year-old Broa
dway actress, at 3 Gramercy Park, New York. Just seven days prior to this, showbiz columnist Earl Wilson had reported the actor and his wife had separated and that Garfield had left their apartment at 88 Central Park West, and was staying at the Hotel Warwick on 54th Street. The first report of Garfield’s sudden death came from Dr Charles Nammack, Iris Whitney’s GP, who made a ‘routine report’ to the Medical Examiner’s office about the death, which the doctor ascribed to a cardiac condition. Assistant Medical Examiner Dr Eugene Clark, examining the body, confirmed Dr Nammack’s diagnosis and left saying that no autopsy was necessary. The police arrived to prepare a report on the death, but were refused admittance to the flat by Whitney. For an hour there was a stand-off until the police broke the door down. Whitney claimed she believed the police were the press. Two days earlier, she told the police, Garfield had spent the night playing poker, then had a normal day. That evening the couple dined at Luchow’s Restaurant on 14th Street and then walked the few blocks to her apartment. Drinking coffee around 9pm, Garfield complained of tiredness. In the back of her mind, Whitney said, was the actor’s history of heart trouble. He had had a mild heart ailment for several years. In 1949, he collapsed after a tennis match and was ordered to take a complete rest. Then he suffered a heart attack in 1951. His interrogation by the House Un-American Activities Committee hadn’t helped matters. She offered to call a doctor but he refused to let her. Garfield then went to the bedroom while she slept on the living room settee. The next morning at 9am she took him some orange juice. “He couldn’t seem to open his eyes,” she told police. “He wouldn’t reach for the juice. He just didn’t respond. I shook him and there wasn’t any response. I called my physician, Dr Nammack. He said he’d be right over. When he got here, he told me Mr Garfield was dead …” Whitney had been sleeping with the actor for around two months, but apparently that was long enough for her to opine: “He was a very sweet dear boy. He has a nice family. But he was troubled and he came to me for help. He needed help. He wanted someone who was sympathetic to him. I don’t think I could say more. I don’t want to talk about it …” Within hours of his death, fans had gathered in a silent vigil outside the Gramercy Park apartment. In a bid to hush the scandal of a star being found dead in another woman’s bed the spin doctors went to work. Famed lawyer Louis Nizer, saying he represented both Garfield and his wife, expostulated: “Neither of them had taken any action for a separation or divorce, or even contemplated doing so. They have had quarrels like any husband or wife. But they were together at my house only two nights ago …” He didn’t add they weren’t two nights later. Barry Hyams, a press agent for the American National Theater and Academy, which produced the Clifford Odets play Golden Boy that Garfield had starred in until only a few weeks before his death, offered yet another explanation of why John was found dead in Iris Whitney’s bed. Hyams said Garfield was seeing Miss Whitney to discuss his plans to produce a play called The Fragile Fox in the autumn. Laughably he added, “That is the only reason I can think of for his visiting Miss Whitney. She is interested in the financing of plays.” Garfield was buried in Westchester Hills Cemetery, 400 Saw Mill River Road, Hastings-on-Hudson, New York 10706.
Judy Garland
(FRANCES ETHEL GUMM)
Born June 10, 1922
Died June 22, 1969
Tragic talent. Where to start with the life of Judy Garland? Singer. Actress. Oft-married. Bisexual. Drug addict. Mother of Liza Minnelli. She was all this and much, much more. Born at 5.30am in the local hospital of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, the daughter of homosexual Frank Avent Gumm (b. 1885, d. November 17, 1934, of spinal meningitis), and a stage mother, Ethel Marion Milne (b. Superior, Wisconsin, November 17, 1893, d. January 5, 1953, of a heart seizure). The Gumms badly wanted a boy and a newspaper advertisement announced the birth of Franci s Gumm, Jr, suggesting a male baby. Judy’s career began when she was just three years old. She took part in an act with her two elder sisters. Her name was later changed at the suggestion of entertainer George Jessel (she had written to him after being listed as “Glumm” at a theatre) and she signed a contract with MGM after auditioning for Louis B. Mayer. Another story has it that Judy Garland became a star by complete accident. She appeared with 15-year-old Deanna Durbin in a short film called Every Sunday (1936) described by Garland as “sort of jazz versus opera” and on the credits as “A Tabloid Musical”. Judy played an American with “an apple in my hand and a dirty face” while Durbin played a European princess. Louis B. Mayer was impressed and told an aide to sign up “the flat one” meaning Durbin, who didn’t always hit the right note. The flack misheard, thinking the movie mogul had said “the fat one,” and offered a contract to chubby Judy Garland. Mayer was to take more than a passing interest in Garland and would often summon her to his office, where he would fondle her breasts. He ignored her complaints and, indeed, invited other MGM execs to follow his lead. It was her scene-stealing performance in Broadway Melody Of 1938 (1937) as Betty Clayton, during which she sang ‘You Made Me Love You’ to a picture of Clark Gable, that captured hearts the world over. However, it was The Wizard Of Oz (1939) and her portrayal of Dorothy Gale that made Garland an international star. (Incidentally, she became such a huge favourite of gays that they nicknamed themselves ‘Friends of Dorothy’.) The film for which Judy Garland is most fondly remembered, The Wizard Of Oz is rife with continuity blips and inconsistencies. At the start of the film Auntie Em (Clara Blandick) is counting chickens. She announces: “Sixty-seven, sixty-eight, sixty-nine,” then puts a further three in her apron and takes one from Dorothy, saying “Seventy.” It should have been “Seventy-three.” On the table by the window is an oil lamp, but it disappears before the window is blown open in the storm. And have a close look at the set when the bed is moving around the room during the tornado. Although the pictures on the wall move, the bottles on the table stay where they are. Dorothy’s hair changes length at least three times during the movie. When she is taken to the Wicked Witch’s castle, her hair is mid-length. When Toto runs away her barnet hangs down to her waist, but when the Witch is turned into an hourglass, the hair is shoulder length. When the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) receives a brain, he states: “The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an isosceles triangle is equal to the square root of the remaining side.” Actually, it’s not. In Pythagorean theory the square of the length of the hypotenuse of a right-angled triangle is equal to the sum of the squares of the lengths of the other two sides. Nonetheless, Judy Garland’s performance endeared her to the cinema-going public, and even earned her a special Oscar as the “best juvenile performer of the year”. Judy also appeared regularly opposite the young Mickey Rooney in films such as Thoroughbreds Don’t Cry (1937) as Cricket West, Babes In Arms (1939) as Patsy Barton, Strike Up The Band (1940) as Mary Holden, Babes On Broadway (1941) as Penny Morris and Girl Crazy (1943) as Ginger Gray as well as Love Finds Andy Hardy (1938), and Andy Hardy Meets Debutante (1940) all as Betsy Booth. On July 28, 1941, she eloped to Las Vegas with composer David Rose (b. London, June 15, 1910). The marriage was fated not to last and they divorced in February 1943, following an abortion. Judy also became estranged from her mother and began popping pills in a bid to keep her weight down and to sleep. It led to a lifelong addiction. On June 15, 1945, she married homosexual film director Vincente Minnelli. Their daughter, Liza May, was born on March 12, 1946, in Los Angeles. One day Judy caught Minnelli in bed with the male hired help. (Continuing the family tradition of unconventional sexual partnerships, Liza married gay entertainer Peter Woolnough Allen [b. Tenterfield, Australia, February 10, 1944] on March 3, 1967, in New York City. He died of AIDS on June 18, 1992.) Judy Garland’s marital life was traumatic – she suffered breakdowns and even considered suicide at one point. However, on screen she was still a dream in films such as For Me And My Gal (1942) as Jo Hayden and Meet Me In St. Louis (1944) as Esther Smith. The latter provided more cinematic bloopers. During the ‘Trolley’ song one of the extras shouts, “Hi, Judy.” When Esther dances w
ith her little sister Tootie (Margaret O’Brien), the younger girl is wearing pink slippers, but later they are blue. She also starred in The Clock (1945) as Alice Mayberry, Ziegfeld Follies (1946), Easter Parade (1948) as Hannah Brown and Summer Stock (1950) as Jane Falbury. It was around the late Fifties that Judy’s private battles began to overtake her professional life. Joan Crawford commented, “I didn’t know her well, but after watching her in action I didn’t want to know her well.” She divorced Minnelli on March 23, 1951. On June 8, 1952, at 6pm at the Hollister, California, ranch of Robert Law, a friend of the couple, she married former test pilot Sid Luft. The ceremony lasted just five minutes. Judy spent her wedding night at the theatre performing in her show at the Curran Theater in San Francisco. The two had met at a cocktail party hosted by Jackie Gleason. Garland was already a double divorcée, while Luft had been married to the lesbian actress Lynn Bari, known as the ‘Queen of the GIs’. He ignored Garland at first. They began dating when Judy found she could talk easily to Luft, who arranged for her 1951 season at the London Palladium. She later claimed it was love at first sight. Their daughter, Lorna, was born on November 21, 1952, but the couple spent much time apart – she working, him arranging her gigs. When they were together, arguments escalated into violence and Judy would find herself on the wrong end of Luft’s fists. In 1953 the couple decided to combine their efforts in a production company, Transcona Enterprises, and make a film for Judy to star in. The film was A Star Is Born (1954) and it garnered Judy an Academy Award nomination for her role as Esther Blodgett/Vicki Lester. The marital problems continued and in 1958 Judy even filed for divorce, though she later withdrew the petition. After the couple was reconciled, Judy gave birth on March 29, 1959, to her third child, a son called Joseph Wiley. They again separated in January 1961 after a sabbatical in London. On April 29, 1962, Garland filed for divorce; Luft retaliated by threatening to have her declared an unfit mother. A bitter custody battle ensued, resulting in joint custody of the children. Meanwhile, Judy had met Mark Herron, who was to become her fourth husband. Bizarrely, at the time – and during the marriage – he was having an affair with Peter Allen, Judy’s son-in-law. The Lufts were finally divorced in Santa Monica on May 19, 1965. Absent from major films for the seven years following A Star Is Born, Judy was again Oscar-nominated for Judgment At Nuremberg (1961) as Irene Hoffman. On November 14, 1965, she married Mark Herron at the Little Chapel of the West in Las Vegas. They were together less than six months after the ceremony and divorced on April 11, 1967. Judy claimed that Herron drank and hit and kicked her. Her final years were a series of setbacks and disappointments. On March 15, 1969, at Chelsea Registry Office she married for the fifth time to gay club manager Mickey Deans (né Devinko). Three months later, she was dead.
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 75
