Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  CAUSE: She died in London of a heart attack, aged 81.

  William Holden

  (WILLIAM FRANKLIN BEEDLE, JR)

  Born April 17, 1918 Found dead November 16, 1981

  Golden boy. Born in O’Fallon, Illinois, the son of a wealthy family, Holden was noticed in an amateur college production and signed to Paramount. His first movie was Prison Farm (1938) but it was Golden Boy (1939) that first attracted critical acclaim, though the war abruptly interrupted the momentum of his career. After serving as an Army lieutenant, he appeared in Dear Ruth (1947) as Lieutenant William Seacroft. Director Billy Wilder saw something more than a pretty boy in Holden and cast him as the writer-chancer Joe Gillis in Sunset Blvd. (1950) after Montgomery Clift turned down the part. The film earned Holden a Best Actor Oscar nomination. (When Ronald Reagan married Nancy Davis on March 4, 1952, Holden was best man.) Wilder also placed Holden in Stalag 17 (1953) as Sefton, a cynical prisoner of war, a role that won the actor an Oscar. Within three years he was the highest paid performer in Hollywood and the number one box-office draw. He appeared in The Country Girl (1954) as Bernie Dodd, The Bridges At Toko-Ri (1954) as Lieutenant Harry Brubaker (USNR), Executive Suite (1954) as McDonald Walling, Sabrina (1954) as David Larrabee, Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing (1955) as Mark Elliott, The Bridge On The River Kwai (1957) as Shears (for which he was paid $300,000 plus 10% of the gross profits) and The World Of Suzie Wong (1960) as Robert Lomax. The Sixties saw Holden’s popularity decrease and his drinking increase. The last 20 years of his life failed to produce anything like the performances of the Fifties. He occasionally showed flashes of brilliance, but for the most part concentrated on drinking and his on-off actress girlfriend Stefanie Powers. His final films included The Wild Bunch (1969) as Pike Bishop, The Towering Inferno (1974) as James Duncan, Network (1976) as Max Schumacher, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Damien: Omen II (1978) as Richard Thorn, Ashanti (1979) as Jim Sandell, When Time Ran Out… (1980) as Shelby Gilmore, The Earthling (1980) as Patrick Foley and S.O.B. (1981) as Tim Culley. Holden was at times ridiculously tight with money and at other times foolishly generous. He had a passion for secrecy that bordered on paranoia and would nearly always settle lawsuits so that he wouldn’t have to testify in court. On July 26, 1966, Holden was involved in a car accident in Prato, Italy, that resulted in the death of 42-year-old Valerio Giorgio Novelli. Holden had been driving at over 100mph at the time and on July 26, 1966, he was charged with manslaughter. On October 26, 1967, he was found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced in absentia to eight months in jail suspended. He also paid Novelli’s widow $80,000. Holden married just once. His wife was actress Brenda Marshall (b. Negros, The Philippines, 1917, as Ardis Ankerson) and they tied the knot on July 13, 1941. They had two sons and divorced in 1973.

  CAUSE: “If somebody had said to me ‘Holden’s dead’ I would have assumed that he had been gored by a water buffalo in Kenya, that he’d died in a plane crash approaching Hong Kong, that a crazed, jealous woman had shot him and he’d drowned in a swimming pool. But to be killed by a bottle of vodka and a night table – what a lousy fade-out for a great guy.” Thus spake Bill Wilder when he heard of Holden’s demise. William Holden lived on the fourth floor, number 43, of the 13-storey Shorecliff Towers, located at 535 Ocean Avenue, Santa Monica, California. He valued his privacy, barely acknowledging his neighbours, and that is perhaps why he died. Holden had not been seen by anyone for some time and so the building manager, Bill Martin, decided to investigate on Monday November 16, 1981. He discovered Holden in his bedroom. He was wearing only his pyjama jacket and had a 2½-inch gash on his forehead. He was also very dead and had been for some time, possibly at least four days. Two days later, Holden was autopsied by Dr Thomas T. Noguchi (the role model for TV’s Quincy, M.E.) and assigned the case number 81-14582. Noguchi determined that Holden’s blood alcohol level was.22. In California to be .10 was enough to be arrested for drink-driving (assuming you were in a car, of course …). Around Holden’s body were several blood-soaked tissues and empty booze bottles. Noguchi deduced that in a drunken state Holden had slipped, hit his head on the bedside table and attempted to mop up the blood. However, the alcohol prevented him from thinking straight and he passed out within ten minutes, dying within the half-hour. He had made no attempt to telephone for help. In accordance with his wishes, no funeral service was held and Holden’s body was cremated and his ashes scattered on the ocean. He left Stefanie Powers $250,000 in his will.

  FURTHER READING: Golden Boy: The Untold Story Of William Holden – Bob Thomas (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1983).

  Judy Holliday

  (JUDITH TUVIM)

  Born June 21, 1921

  Died June 7, 1965

  Blonde comedienne. Born in Lying In Hospital, 23rd Street & Second Avenue, New York, New York, shortly before midnight Holliday won a Best Actress Oscar for Born Yesterday (1950) and a Tony for The Bells Are Ringing, but never was a luvvie. “Acting is a very limited form of expression and those who take it seriously are very limited people,” she once commented. Her films included Winged Victory (1944) as Ruth Miller, Adam’s Rib (1949) as Doris Attinger, The Marrying Kind (1952) as Florence Keefer, It Should Happen To You (1954) as Gladys Glover, The Solid Gold Cadillac (1956) as Laura Partridge and Bells Are Ringing (1960) as Ella Peterson. When Judy was 20 years old she lost her virginity to Yetta Cohn, a female employee of the New York Police Department. A year or so later, Holliday had her first sexual experience with a man when schizophrenic English actor John Buckmaster (brother-in-law of Robert Morley and son of Gladys Cooper) raped her, or so Holliday claimed. Just how emotionally wrenching was Judy’s rape? Well, she said she wanted to have sex with Buckmaster again, but that he ignored her thereafter. She married Columbia Records executive David Oppenheim on January 4, 1948, and had one son, Jonathan Lewis (b. Doctors Hospital, New York, November 11, 1952). She was divorced by her husband in March 1957.

  CAUSE: Judy underwent a mastectomy on October 12, 1960. In 1963 she was diagnosed with throat cancer, although her doctor didn’t tell her the truth about her condition. Instead, she was told she had a curable disease similar to cancer for which the treatment was also similar to that for cancer. The disease became progressively worse and Judy was given heroin to ease her pain. On May 26, she was admitted to Mount Sinai Hospital, New York, where she died 12 days later at 5am, aged 43.

  FURTHER READING: Judy Holliday: An Intimate Life Story – Gary Carey (London: Robson Books, 1983).

  The Hollywood Kids

  (LANCE BROWNE)

  Born 1955

  Died May 8, 1994

  (JOHN NICHOLS)

  Born 1955

  Died c. 1996

  (JIMMY ROSE)

  Born 1955

  Died c. 1988

  Premier modern day gossipists. Three young wannabes who lusted after Hollywood stardom but found they didn’t have the requisite ability or luck to make it. What they did have was access to the hottest gossip in Tinseltown and began giving their own gossip sheet away on the streets around Melrose Avenue. Each issue contained a celebrity interview, a guide to who was hot and a number of ‘blind items’ in which the identity of the star was hidden by a pseudonym such as ‘Missy Hot TV Star’ or ‘Mr Old Movie Hunk’. Their fame spread and they hosted their own radio show and wrote their own column in Movieline magazine for which they were paid $1,000 per month. Gilligan’s Island star Jim Backus commented: “Hedda and Louella would have been jokes except for their power. Thank God no one in Hollywood has that power. Now you have the Hollywood Kids as gossips. They’re rather ridiculous, like those old bags were, but at least they have no power. Claws but no power!” The Hollywood Kids made no secret of their homosexuality. Jimmy was the first to succumb to the disease that was ravaging much of Hollywood. John and Lance were lovers and both were stricken with the deadly virus.

  CAUSE: All three succumbed to AIDS.

  John Holmes

  (JOHN CURTIS ESTES)

  B
orn August 8, 1944

  Died March 12, 1988

  Huge porn star. Born in Ashville, Ohio, at the age of two his name was changed to John Curtis Holmes. Like many actors Holmes liked to spin a web of deceit to glamorise his background. In fact, he was something of a nerd at school, regularly studying the Bible and not, as he was to claim, sleeping with all the girls in his class bar three. It seems unlikely that Holmes lost his virginity before leaving home. Aged 16 he joined the army and spent two years serving Uncle Sam. Back in Los Angeles he fell into making porn films and soon became famous for the size of his penis – reportedly 14,” more likely 12” or 10”. On his first shoot Holmes was paid $100 by cheque but it bounced and so in future he always demanded payment in cash. It is estimated he appeared in over 400 porn films becoming internationally famous for the Johnny Wadd detective series he made in the mid-Seventies. His films included Sex Psycho (1970), Sex And The Single Vampire (1970), Doctor I’m Coming (1970), My Tongue Is Quick (1971), Blonde In Black Lace (1971), Double Exposure (1972), Ride A Cocked Horse (1973), Johnny Wadd (1973) as Johnny Wadd, Suburban Satanist as Barney, Confessions Of A Teenage Peanut Butter Freak (1974), Tell Them Johnny Wadd Is Here (1975) as Johnny Wadd, Personal Services as B.C. Buzzard, In Memory Of Connie (1975), Fantasm (1975) as Neptune, Around The World With Johnny Wadd (1975), Tapestry Of Passion (1976), Little Orphan Dusty (1976), Cheri (1976), Young, Hot’N’Lusty Teenage Cruisers (1977), Hard Soap, Hard Soap (1977), Flesh Of The Lotus (1977), Female Athletes (1977), Fantastic Orgy (1977), I Am Always Ready (1978), Blonde Fire (1978) as Johnny Wadd, Superstar John Holmes (1979), Dracula Sucks (1979), Anal Ultra Vixens (1979), Inside Desiree Cousteau (1979), Lust Vegas Joyride (1980), Let Me Count The Lays (1980), Swedish Erotica 6 (1981), Homecoming (1981), Sweet Alice (1983), The Private Pleasures Of John C. Holmes (1983), his only gay feature film, Nasty Nurses (1983), Passion Pit (1985), The Good, The Bad And The Horny (1985), Erotic Gold (1985), Saturday Night Beaver (1986), Return Of Johnny Wadd (1987) and Ginger Lynn The Movie (1988). Away from the camera Holmes became a cocaine addict (taking so much it made his nose bleed) and this caused his world to come tumbling down on July 1, 1981. At 8763 Wonderland Drive, Laurel Canyon, four people were discovered brutally murdered and a fifth maimed beyond recognition. On November 30, 1981, Holmes was arrested and charged with murder when his palm print was discovered at the house above one of the victims. The prosecution contended the killings had been revenge for an armed robbery at the house of Holmes’ club-owning drug dealer Adel Nasrallah, a.k.a. Eddie Nash, and his large black bodyguard Gregory Diles. Holmes had double- crossed his dealer, agreeing to split any profits with the robbers. Holmes refused to identify the killers and spent 110 days in prison on contempt charges. In prison he made pots of money from either drug dealing or homosexual acts. Some believe he contracted the HIV virus in jail. However, he was also addicted to drugs, coprophilia and other forms of deviant sex with transsexuals, low-rent prostitutes and very young girls, so who really knows. He also had anal sex with porn star Joseph Yale who died of AIDS, and away from the camera preferred men sexually. Holmes was certainly HIV + by April 1986 and probably earlier, during which time he carried on working in porn films. One unidentified Italian actress (Moana Pozzi?) reputedly died of AIDS after working with Holmes. In October 1986 Holmes underwent an operation for piles. He was twice married. In 1968 he married nurse Sharon Gebenini. They were divorced in 1984. In Las Vegas on January 23, 1987, he wed brunette ex-porn star Laurie Rose (b. 1963) who worked under the name Misty Dawn and had a penchant for anal sex. Her first words on seeing Holmes were “I can’t wait to get that man up my ass.” The central character in the film Boogie Nights (1997) was supposedly based on Holmes.

  CAUSE: Holmes died aged 43 of pneumonia and encephalitis caused by AIDS in room 101a of the Veterans’ Administration Hospital, Plummer Street, Sepulveda, California. He was cremated at Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, 1712 South Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California 91209.

  Oscar Homolka

  Born August 12, 1898

  Died January 27, 1978

  Character villain. Born in Vienna, the stocky, bushy-eyebrowed Homolka began his career, as so many film actors did, on stage. He trod the boards in Germany and Austria before making his move into movies. He fled Europe when Hitler rose to power and settled in America, where he carved a niche for himself playing villains. His films include Dreyfus (1930) as Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, Sabotage as Carl Verloct, Ebb Tide as Captain Therbecke, The Dreyfus Case (1940) again as Major Ferdinand Walsin-Esterhazy, Seven Sinners (1940) as Mr Antro, The Invisible Woman (1940) as Blackie Cole, I Remember Mama (1948) as Uncle Chris, for which he was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Anna Lucasta (1949) as Joe Lucasta, Top Secret (1952) as Zekov, The Seven Year Itch (1955) as Dr Brubaker, War And Peace (1956) as General Kutuzov, A Farewell To Arms (1957) as Dr Emerich, The Key (1958) as Van Dam, Mr Sardonicus (1961) as Krull, The Long Ships (1963) as Krok, Funeral In Berlin (1966) as Colonel Stok, The Happening (1967) as Sam, The Madwoman Of Chaillot (1969) as the Commissar, Song Of Norway (1970) as Engstrand, The Executioner (1970) as Racovsky and his final film The Tamarind Seed (1974) as General Golitsyn. A regular on television, he was married four times: to Grete Mosheim, Florence Meyer by whom he had two sons, Baroness Vally Hatvany and actress Joan Tetzel (b. June 21, 1923) from 1949 until her death on October 31, 1977.

  CAUSE: He died in Sussex aged 79 from pneumonia.

  Morag Hood

  Born December 12, 1942

  Died October 5, 2002

  TV heroine. Born in Glasgow, the daughter of a carpenter who worked in local theatres and cinemas, Morag Hood was educated at Bellahouston Academy, Glasgow. At Glasgow University she read English, French and Economics, and set up Roundup, a current affairs programme for teenagers shown on Scottish Television. It was her portrayal of Natasha Rostova in the television adaptation of Tolstoy’s epic novel War And Peace in 1972 that imprinted her face on the public consciousness. War And Peace, which co-starred Alan Dobie and Anthony Hopkins, took three years to produce, with location filming in Yugoslavia and extensive special effects work. In total the series lasted 15 hours, eight hours longer than the longest film version ever made – too long in the opinion of most viewers. Morag Hood was in her late twenties and largely unknown when she was cast from 1,000 actresses who applied. Her success was reflected in a boom in the number of babies christened Natasha. As well as Natasha, Morag Hood took minor roles in a number of television serials, including Dr Finlay’s Casebook, Z-Cars and Coronation Street. In 1979, she played the forthright Maggie Drum in The Camerons, a television serial about 20 years in the life of a Scottish family in late Victorian times. She also appeared on television in Square Mile Of Murder, Breeze Anstey, Keep Smiling, The Personal Touch and Persuasion. Her films were few and far between. She appeared in Wuthering Heights (1970) as Frances, Diversions (1980) and Ill Fares The Land (1981) as Barclay. She was unmarried.

  CAUSE: She died aged 59 from cancer in a London hospice.

  Bob Hope

  Born May 29, 1903

  Died July 27, 2003

  Cinematic comedian. Leslie Townes (birth register spells name Towns) Hope was born the fifth of seven sons to the alcoholic William Henry Hope (b. London, 1870, d. 1937) and Avis Townes (b. Cardiff, Wales, 1875, d. Cleveland, Ohio, January 22, 1934 of cancer) in the south London suburb of Eltham but went on to become an American icon and one of its richest men with a fortune guestimated to be $400,000,000. His siblings were: Ivor (b. Monmouthshire, Wales, 1892, d. Gates Mill, Ohio, 1969, of a heart attack), James Francis (b. Monmouthshire, Wales, 1893), Emily (b. Monmouthshire, Wales, July 1895, d. 1899 of diphtheria), Frederick Charles (b. Barry, 1897), William John ‘Jack’ (b. 1899, d. Boston, Massachusetts, August 6, 1962 of cancer), Sidney (b. 1905, d. Ridgefield Corners, Ohio, 1946 of cancer) and George Percy (b. Cleveland, Ohio, 1909, d. 1969 of cancer). Bob Hope was almost as famous for his uniquely shaped nose which became the butt of many a joke in his fil
ms. He once said, “It was my mother who discovered my nose. ‘Call back the doctor,’ she cried. ‘He’s taken the baby and left the stork.’” In March 1908 Hope left England aged four bound for Cleveland, Ohio. At school kids called him ‘Hopelessly’ and then ‘Hopeless’ after he announced his name as “Hope, Leslie”. On December 20, 1920, he became an American citizen. While singing at a family gathering his voice cracked causing everyone to laugh. From that moment, Hope resolved to be a funny man. After high school he had a short stint as an amateur boxer using the nom de punch Packie East. He also briefly ran a dance school. 5́ 10˝ Hope and partner George Byrne joined Fatty Arbuckle’s touring company. They worked in black face for a time. He made his Broadway début in 1927 in Sidewalks Of New York. Splitting from Byrne in 1928, he became a stand-up comedian changing his name to Lester T. Hope but success eluded him and soon he was $4,000 in debt. Eventually, he became emcee at a small nightclub. That led to a six-month contract at Stratford Theater. He adopted the name Bob after the agent Bob O’Donnell. He made his feature film début in 1938, the same year he got his own radio series which lasted for 1,145 programmes. He had appeared in some shorts from Going Spanish in 1934. His best-known films are the Road To… series. Co-starring with Dorothy Lamour and his friend Bing Crosby, the first was Road To Singapore (1940) which began filming in November 1939 and premièred on April 13, 1940 at the Paramount Theater in New York. The trio made seven films in the series: Zanzibar (1941), Morocco (1942), Utopia (1945), Rio (1948), Bali (1952) and Hong Kong (1962). Hope and Crosby had met in 1932 and became firm friends – unusually, on stage as well as off. Of Gary Crosby’s book claiming that his father tortured him, Hope commented, “Bing used to sing to me too, but I didn’t feel I had to write a book about it!” Hope tried to enlist in the army during the war but was told that he would be more useful entertaining the troops. Hope’s troupe became a staple diet of army life. He made six overseas tours during the Second World War and in December 1990 travelled to Saudi Arabia to entertain troops fighting in Operation Desert Storm. His conservative stand on Vietnam did not win him many friends. In the Seventies Chevy Chase commented, “Bob Hope is still about as funny as he ever was. I just never thought Bob Hope was that funny in the first place.” Hope employed an army of writers – the first one, Al Boasberg, in October 1929. Groucho Marx once commented that Hope wasn’t at all funny. He was just a translator of funny lines written for him. Hope was friendly with every American president – Democrat and Republican – from Eisenhower to Reagan. He was also equally famous for his love of golf, hosting the annual Bob Hope Desert Classic in Palm Springs. The tournament raised more than $10,000,000 for charities. Combining his two loves, he once said of playing golf with President Jerry Ford: “He draws a big crowd – you know how people gather at the scene of an accident.” Hope’s wisecracking extended to his private life. “I hate to see my name in print and I do everything I can to avoid interviews. If there’s any publicity about me, I want it to come naturally. At least that’s what I tell my eight press agents.” In 1990 Hope surprised many, particularly his liberal antagonists, by coming out in favour of gun control. “I am not going to stop until Congress does something about this … Mandatory gun registration is a step in the right direction.” Hope received more than 1,000 awards and citations for his humanitarian and professional efforts. His signature tune was ‘Thanks For The Memory’ which was the way he signed autographs. In retirement he spent most of his time at a 25,000 square foot home in Palm Springs. “George Burns and I, for excitement on a Saturday night, sit around and see whose leg falls asleep first.” In 1998 Hope was awarded an honorary knighthood. His films included: The Big Broadcast Of 1938 (1938), College Swing (1938), Give Me A Sailor (1938), Thanks For The Memory (1938), Never Say Die (1939), Some Like It Hot (1939), The Cat And The Canary (1939), The Ghost Breakers (1940), Caught In The Draft (1941), Nothing But The Truth (1941), Louisiana Purchase (1941), My Favorite Blonde (1942), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), They Got Me Covered (1942), Let’s Face It (1943), The Princess And The Pirate (1944), Monsieur Beaucaire (1946), My Favorite Brunette (1947), Where There’s Life (1947), Variety Girl (1947), The Paleface (1948), Sorrowful Jones (1948), The Great Lover (1949), Fancy Pants (1950), The Lemon Drop Kid (1951), My Favorite Spy (1951), Son Of Paleface (1952), Off Limits (1953), Here Come The Girls (1953), Casanova’s Big Night (1954), The Seven Little Foys (1954), That Certain Feeling (1956), The Iron Petticoat (1956), Beau James (1957), Paris Holiday (1958), Alias Jesse James (1959), The Facts Of Life (1960), Bachelor In Paradise (1961), Critic’s Choice (1963), Call Me Bwana (1963), A Global Affair (1964), I’ll Take Sweden (1965), Boy, Did I Get A Wrong Number! (1966), The Oscar (1966), Eight On The Lam (1967), The Private Navy Of Sergeant O’Farrell (1968), How To Commit Marriage (1969), Cancel My Reservation (1972), The Muppet Movie (1979), Masterpiece Of Murder (1985), The Best Show In Town (1989) and Entertaining The Troops (1989). A mystery surrounds Bob Hope’s marital status. According to all the authorised biographies, on February 19, 1934, Bob Hope married Dolores Reade (b. New York, May 27, 1909) in the Catholic church in Erie, Pennsylvania, after a whirlwind two-month romance. However, there is no record of Bob Hope marrying Dolores Reade in Erie on that date or any other for that matter. There is a record of Leslie T. Hope, a salesman of 3323 Yorkshire Road, Cleveland, Ohio, marrying Grace Louise Troxell, a secretary of 642 West 64th Street, Chicago, Illinois, in Erie on January 25, 1933. Grace Louise Troxell was Hope’s Vaudeville partner and was still appearing with him in his act in July 1934 according to the New York Herald Tribune, five months after he supposedly married Dolores Reade. Following her divorce from Hope (although when this happened, no one knows) Troxell married David Halper, a Chicago bookmaker. Here the story takes another twist. After she married Halper, Troxell gave birth to a daughter. For years that daughter received a monthly cheque from Bob Hope. In the Eighties Hope’s former publicist wrote a biography of him that omitted the first marriage and child support though he admitted that he was aware of both. On August 4, 1934 the New York Herald Tribune ran a story announcing Bob Hope’s engagement to Dolores Reade. Milton Berle, the comedian, attended the nuptials which he said occurred in a Catholic church in Manhattan sometime in autumn 1934 or spring 1935. Berle quipped that he would not go to a wedding in Erie, Pennsylvania even if the Pope was getting married. Whenever they wed the Hopes had a happy marriage. They adopted four children Linda Theresa (b. July 1939), Tony Reade (b. 1940), and brother and sister Honora Avis Mary and (William) Kelly Francis.