CAUSE: On July 23, 1948, he suffered a cerebral haemorrhage in his rooms at the Knickerbocker Hotel, 1714 North Ivar Avenue, Hollywood, California, and died, without regaining consciousness, at 8.24am the next day at the Temple Hospital, aged 73. He was buried in Mount Tabor Methodist Church’s graveyard.
FURTHER READING: D.W. Griffith: An American Life – Richard Schickel (New York: Simon & Schuster, 1984).
Sir Alec Guinness, CH
(ALEC GUINNESS DE CUFFE)
Born April 2, 1914
Died August 5, 2000
The invisible man. Like his contemporary, Olivier, Guinness was one of the most famous actors in the world and yet could walk down a crowded Oxford Street totally unrecognised. Born in Marylebone, London, the illegitimate son of a prostitute, Guinness’ father was 64-year-old banker Andrew Geddes. When he was five, his name was changed to Alec Stiven when his mother married a Scottish army captain. Stepfather and stepson did not see eye to eye although the boy liked the sound of his new name. By the age of 14 he had been known by three different surnames and had lived in thirty different residences. His interest in the theatre was cultivated in school until his headmaster told him he would never succeed as an actor and so Guinness began to work at an advertising agency. While at the agency he spent every spare moment at the theatre and eventually applied to RADA for an audition. Guinness rang up John Gielgud in the naïve hope that Gielgud would take him under his wing and teach him how to be an actor. It very nearly worked and Gielgud recommended Martita Hunt as a drama teacher. The two men were later to become firm friends. Guinness made his film début in Great Expectations (1946) but it was his performance as eight members of the D’Ascoyne family in Kind Hearts And Coronets (1949) that brought him to public notice. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951) and The Man In The White Suit (1956) helped to cement his reputation as a fine actor. His portrayal of the Catholic detective Father Brown in the 1954 film of that name was not only eminently watchable but also led him inexorably to Rome as well. In order to rehearse for each part, Guinness imbued each of his characters with a particular walk. One of the most memorable came as Colonel Nicholson in his Oscar-winning film The Bridge Over The River Kwai (1957). The walk when the stubborn soldier is released from a sweat box came from Guinness’ son when the boy was recovering from polio. Guinness also excelled in Lawrence Of Arabia (1962) but was curiously underused in Dr Zhivago (1965). In 1977 he played Obi-Wan Kenobi in the mega hit Star Wars (1977), never his favourite film although a clever contractual agreement assured him of 2% of the profits. Guinness made £6 million from merchandising of his image. On television he was a sensation as the spymaster George Smiley in a number of adaptations of John Le Carré’s books. In 1955 he was appointed CBE with his knighthood arriving four years later. He became a Companion of Honour in 1994. A very private man, in June 1938 he married Merula Salaman. They had one son, Matthew, who acted for a time.
CAUSE: Guinness died aged 86 of cancer at King Edward VII Hospital, Midhurst, Hampshire.
FURTHER READING: My Name Escapes Me The Diary Of A Retiring Actor – Alec Guinness (London: Hamish Hamilton, 1996).
Deryck Guyler
Born April 29, 1914
Died October 8, 1999
Old faithful. Born in Wallasey, Merseyside, Deryck Guyler spent much of his career on the small screen making the occasional foray on to the big one. He became well known on the radio show ITMA, and his appearance on the show marked the first time a Scouse accent had been broadcast to the nation. When gay actor Richard Wattis left the cast of Sykes, Guyler joined as friendly bobby ‘Corky’ Turnbull. He was also well known as the pompous ex-Desert Rat school janitor Norman Hesquith Potter on the LWT sitcom Please Sir!An expert player of the washboard, Deryck Guyler appeared in Mad About Men (1954), Nurse On Wheels (1963), A Hard Day’s Night (1964), Ferry Cross The Mersey (1965) as Trasler, Carry On Doctor (1968) as Mr Hardcastle, Please Sir! (1971) as Norman Potter, Barry Mackenzie Holds His Own (1974) and One Of Our Dinosaurs Is Missing (1976) as Harris.
CAUSE: He died in Brisbane, Australia, of natural causes, aged 85.
Fred Gwynne
Born July 10, 1926
Died July 2, 1993
Lugubrious star. Born in New York, New York, 6́ 5˝ Frederick Hubbard Gwynne grew up in South Carolina, Florida and Colorado. He was primarily known for his performances in the sitcoms Car 54, Where Are You? (from September 17, 1961, until September 8, 1963) as Officer Francis Muldoon and The Munsters (from September 24, 1964, until September 1, 1966) as Herman Munster and other television work. He also appeared in several films, including On The Waterfront (1954) as Slim, Munster, Go Home (1966) reprising his role as Herman Munster, Simon (1980) as Korey, The Cotton Club (1984) as Frenchy Demange, Ironweed (1987) as Oscar Reo, Fatal Attraction (1987) as Arthur, Disorganized Crime (1989) as Max Green, Pet Sematary (1989) as Jud Crandall and My Cousin Vinny (1992) as Judge Chamberlain Haller. He also wrote around a dozen popular children’s books, including The Battle Of The Frogs And Mice, A Chocolate Moose For Dinner, The King Who Rained, A Little Pigeon Toad and Pondlarker. He was married with two sons and two daughters.
CAUSE: In January 1993 Gwynne fell ill with what was diagnosed (on February 3) as pancreatic cancer. An operation at John Hopkins Medical Center in Baltimore, Maryland, revealed that the disease had spread incurably. He died aged 66 at 8am at his farm home on Stone Road, Taneytown, Maryland. On July 3, his funeral service took place at Sandymount Methodist Church. He was interred in an unmarked grave.
H
Joan Hackett
Born May 1, 1933
Died October 8, 1983
Plain talent. Born in New York, Hackett, like many modern actors, appeared as often on television as she did on the big screen. After leaving New York University she became a fashion model before changing direction and studying under Lee Strasberg. She first began to make her mark in the cinema with The Group (1966) and followed that with Support Your Local Sheriff (1969), Rivals (1972), The Terminal Man (1974), Treasure Of Matacumbe (1976), One Trick Pony (1980), Only When I Laugh (1981) as Toby Landau for which she was nominated for an Oscar and The Escape Artist (1982).
CAUSE: Hackett, a lesbian who liked to smoke cigars, died of cancer aged 50 in Encino, California. She was buried in Crypt 2314 in the Abbey of the Psalms in Hollywood Memorial Park, 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard, Hollywood, California 90038.
William Haines
Born New Year’s Day, 1900
Died Boxing Day, 1973
The first gay martyr. In Hollywood, and in London for that matter, a large number of actors are homosexual or bisexual. Many of the biggest stars now working in films are gay but not one of them has the courage to come out and reveal their sexuality. They will not come out because they fear that their careers will be wrecked – that the so-called sophisticated public will not accept a known homosexual as a leading man – and they are absolutely right. Most actors stay silent for the sake of their careers and many like Charles Laughton and Rock Hudson get married, often to lesbians. These so-called lavender marriages are very popular in show business – two careers are potentially saved and as long as both parties are careful no one – i.e. the paying public – is any the wiser. William Haines was different. He was a top box office draw but he was also homosexual. Haines was born in Staunton, Virginia and educated at a military school. Aged 14, he ran away from home. He worked at various menial jobs until he was spotted by a Samuel Goldwyn talent scout and put in a new faces competition. Haines was the male new face and Eleanor Boardman the female. Both were given contracts and he made his début in Brothers Under The Skin (1922). He became one of the leading actors in the Twenties. Haines befriended Joan Crawford who proposed to him but he turned her down. He already had a “wife”. In 1930 Haines and his boyfriend Jimmy Shields bought an antique shop and he gave decorating advice gratis to friends. In 1933 he was discovered in bed with another man at the YMCA and arrested. His last film was The Marines Are Coming (1934). MGM’s Louis B. M
ayer gave Haines the choice – career and marriage or boyfriend. Haines picked Shields and it was a decision that he never regretted. He and Shields were together for 50 years. Joan Crawford said that “the happiest marriage I’ve seen in Hollywood is Billy Haines and Jimmy Shields”. The two men became professional interior designers and prospered thanks to the good offices of friends like Crawford, Marian Davies and Carole Lombard who hired them and then recommended their services to friends. On June 3, 1936 while at their beach house in El Porto, California, they gave Jimmy Walker, a small boy, six cents. The boy’s father asked him where he had got the money and when he learned it was from two “interior designers” he and some friends beat up Haines and Shields. The two men never returned to the area but refused to press charges against the thugs.
CAUSE: Billy Haines died of cancer, aged 73. Miserable without his boyfriend, Jimmy Shields died by his own hand, six months later. His suicide note read, “It’s no good without Billy.”
Alan Hale, Jr
Born March 8, 1918
Died January 2, 1990
Bluff character. Born in Los Angeles, California, the son of character actor Alan Hale (b. Washington, DC, February 10, 1892, d. Hollywood, California, January 22, 1950) whom he closely resembled, Alan began playing much the same type of role as his father. He began appearing in films in the Thirties and went on to feature in, among others, Wild Boys Of The Road (1933), I Wanted Wings (1941), Top Sergeant (1942) as Cruston, To The Shores Of Tripoli (1942) as Tom Hall, Rubber Racketeers (1942) as Red, Eagle Squadron (1942) as Olsen, Wake Island (1942), Sweetheart Of Sigma Chi (1946) as Mike Mitchell, Sarge Goes To College (1947) as Sarge, It Happened On 5th Avenue (1947) as Whitey, Riders In The Sky (1949) as Marshal Riggs, Sierra Passage (1950), The West Point Story as Bull Gilbert, Honeychile as Joe Boyd, Hometown Story (1951) as Slim Haskins, Lady In The Iron Mask (1952) as Porthos, At Sword’s Point (1952) reprising his portrayal of Porthos, Young At Heart (1954) as Robert Neary, Captain Kidd And The Slave Girl (1954), Many Rivers To Cross (1955) as Luke Radford, The True Story Of Jesse James (1957) as Cole Younger, Up Periscope (1959) as Malone, Bullet For A Badman (1964) as Leach, The Fifth Musketeer (1979) once again as Porthos, Hambone And Hillie (1984) as McVickers and Back To The Beach (1987). He also appeared as the lead in a number of television series such as Biff Baker, U.S.A. (November 13, 1952–March 26, 1953), Casey Jones (1957) and his most enduring role as the skipper Jonas Grumby on Gilligan’s Island (September 26, 1964–September 4, 1967), The New Adventures Of Gilligan (September 7, 1974–September 4, 1977), a cartoon series, Rescue From Gilligan’s Island (October 14–21, 1978), The Castaways On Gilligan’s Island (May 3, 1979), The Harlem Globetrotters On Gilligan’s Island (May 15, 1981) and Gilligan’s Planet (September 18, 1982–September 10, 1983), another cartoon series. He was not happy with Casey Jones: “We were betwixt and between whether we should make Casey for adults or for kids. Apparently, it showed.” Hale even confessed never having seen an episode of the show. Away from the world of show business Hale owned a seafood restaurant on La Cienega Boulevard in Los Angeles called the Skipper’s Lobster Barrel.
CAUSE: In 1989 Hale was diagnosed with cancer of the thymus. However, even though he underwent an operation to remove the malignancy, the cancer had spread to his lungs and stomach. He died of acute respiratory failure in St Vincent’s Medical Center, 2131 West 3rd Street, Los Angeles at 5.45pm. On January 6, 1990, Hale was cremated and his ashes were scattered at sea off Port Fermin, Los Angeles.
FURTHER READING: The Unofficial Gilligan’s Island Handbook – Joey Green (New York: Warner Books, 1988).
Jack Haley
Born August 10, 1899
Died June 6, 1979
The tin man. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, John Joseph Haley’s most famous role came about by accident. The part of the Tin Man in The Wizard Of Oz (1939) was originally due to be played by Buddy Ebsen. Unfortunately, he suffered a bad skin reaction to the silver make-up and had to be hospitalised. The part eventually went to Haley, who began his career in vaudeville working as a singer and dancer before making the transition to Broadway and then to films. His movies included Broadway Madness (1927), Salt Water Daffy (1933) as Elmer, Here Comes The Groom (1934) as Mike Scanlon, Redheads On Parade (1935) as Peter Mathews, Coronado (1935) as Chuck Hornbostel, Poor Little Rich Girl (1936) as Jimmy Dolan, Mister Cinderella as Joe Jenkins, She Had To Eat as Danny Decker, Danger – Love At Work (1937) as Henry MacMorrow, Rebecca Of Sunnybrook Farm (1938) as Orville Smithers, Alexander’s Ragtime Band (1938) as Davey Lane, Moon Over Miami (1941) as Jack O’Hara, Beyond The Blue Horizon (1942) as Squidge, Higher And Higher (1944) as Mike O’Brien, People Are Funny (1946) as Pinky Wilson and Make Mine Laughs (1949). A devout Catholic, Haley was made a Knight of Malta by the Pope. On February 25, 1921, he married Ziegfeld Follies dancer Florence McFadden. They had two children: son Jack Jr (b. Los Angeles, California, October 25, 1933) who married Liza Minnelli and daughter Gloria (b. 1928).
CAUSE: Haley died of a heart attack in Los Angeles, California, aged 79. He was buried in Grave 2 of the Grotto in the Holy Cross Cemetery, 5835 West Slauson Avenue, Culver City, California 90230.
Kevin Peter Hall
Born May 9, 1955
Died April 10, 1991
Tall guy. Born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Hall was educated at Penn Hills High School in Pittsburgh before attending George Washington University in the American capital and got a degree in acting while playing scholarship basketball. He represented the University of Southern California at the Edinburgh Festival. His best-known film roles were as the lead in Harry And The Hendersons (1987) and Predator (1990). He stood 7́ 2˝ and was married to Alaina Reed (b. Springfield, Ohio, November 10, 1946) and had two children.
CAUSE: Hall died of AIDS in Hollywood, California. He was 35.
Leslie Halliwell
Born February 23, 1929
Died January 21, 1989
Cinematic encyclopædist. Born in Bolton, Lancashire, the youngest (by 13 years) of three children, bearded Robert James Leslie Halliwell was educated at St Catherine’s College, Cambridge, and began his career as a journalist on Picturegoer. He became a cinema manager and then a publicist for Rank before moving to the now defunct Southern TV as a film buyer in 1958. The following year he moved to Granada TV and eventually became their film buyer taking over that responsibility for the whole ITV network in 1968. He added Channel 4 to his remit when that station began broadcasting on November 2, 1982. But it is for two remarkable reference works that Halliwell earned his place in the movie pantheon. Halliwell’s Filmgoer’s Companion was first published in 1965 (with a foreword by Alfred Hitchcock) and 12 years later saw the advent of Halliwell’s Film Guide. Both books deserve their place on the bookshelf of the serious movie lover. It should be pointed out, however, that Halliwell disliked almost every film made after 1950, regarding the Thirties and Forties as the golden era of Hollywood.
CAUSE: Halliwell died of abdominal cancer aged 59 at the Princess Alice Hospital, Esher, Surrey.
Margaret Hamilton
Born December 9, 1902
Died May 16, 1985
‘ A woman with a heart of gold and a corset of steel.’ Born in Cleveland, Ohio, Hamilton began acting after a career as a nursery school teacher. Her early stage work was unsatisfactory (to her) and it was only after her arrival in Hollywood in 1933 that she began to flourish. She appeared in over 70 films but it was her performance as Miss Almira Gulch/The Wicked Witch Of The West in The Wizard Of Oz (1939) that she is most fondly remembered. Her other films included Another Language (1933) as Helen Hallam, Hat, Coat, And Glove (1934) as Madame DuBarry, There’s Always Tomorrow (1934) as Ella, Way Down East (1935) as Martha Perkins, These Three (1936) as Agatha, Chatterbox (1936) as Emily Tipton, The Trail Of The Lonesome Pine (1936), Mountain Justice (1937) as Phoebe Lamb, Laughing At Trouble (1937) as Lizzie Beadle, I’ll Take Romance (1937) as Margot, You Only Live Once (1937) as Hester, Mother Carey’s Chickens (1938) as Mr
s Fuller, Main Street Lawyer (1939) as Lucy, Babes In Arms (1939) as Martha Steele, I’m Nobody’s Sweetheart Now (1940) as Mrs Thriffie, My Little Chickadee (1940) as Mrs Gideon, Play Girl (1941) as Josie, Meet The Stewarts (1942) as Willametta, Johnny Come Lately (1943) as Myrtle Ferguson, The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) as Mrs Larch, George White’s Scandals as Clarabell, Janie Gets Married as Mrs Angles, Driftwood (1947) as Essie Keenan, Texas, Brooklyn And Heaven (1948) as Ruby Cheever, Wabash Avenue (1950) as Tillie Hutch, People Will Talk (1951) as Miss Sarah Pickett, Angel In My Pocket (1969) as Rhoda, Brewster McCloud (1970) as Daphne Heap and The Anderson Tapes (1971) as Miss Kaler.
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