CAUSE: She died at home, Merrimoles House, Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, of a stroke suffered while playing bridge. She was 73 and left £150,557.
FURTHER READING: Celia Johnson A Biography – Kate Fleming (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1991).
Sunny Johnson
(SUNNY SUZANNE JOHNSON)
Born September 21, 1953
Died June 19, 1984
Unfulfilled potential. Born in San Bernardino County, California, she made her first film appearance playing a student in Animal House (1978). That was followed by Almost Summer (1978), Why Would I Lie? (1980), Dr Heckyl And Mr Hype (1980) as Coral Careen, Where The Buffalo Roam (1980), The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia (1981) as Melody Bartlett and her most famous film Flashdance (1983) as Jeanie Szabo.
CAUSE: She died of a ruptured aneurysm aged 30 in Los Angeles. She was discovered unconscious in her bathroom and passed away a few days later.
Al Jolson
(ASA YOELSON)
Born circa 1885
Died October 23, 1950
‘You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!’ Like many Jewish immigrants to the United States from eastern Europe, the exact date of Al Jolson’s birth is unknown and he chose the day he wished to celebrate as his birthday (May 26, 1886). He was born in Srednicke, Riga, Latvia, the son of a cantor, and first sang in public in his father’s synagogue. He emigrated to America and joined vaudeville where he was celebrated for singing in blackface. He was sued by his brother for $25,000; Harry Jolson claimed Al agreed to pay him $150 per week not to go into showbiz. It was in 1923 that he made his movie début in Mammy’s Boy (1923) as Al. He made cinematic history in the first talkie The Jazz Singer (1927) as Jakie Rabinowitz (Jack Robin) when he uttered the immortal line “You ain’t heard nothin’ yet!” In fact, the film was not supposed to be a talkie. It was a musical and Jolson ad-libbed his famous line. For his part in the film Warner Bros offered Jolson shares in their company in lieu of a salary. He turned down their offer preferring to take the cash ($75,000) and in doing so passed on a fortune. He appeared in The Singing Fool (1928) as Al Stone, Sonny Boy (1929) as Al, Mammy (1930) as Al Fuller, Hallelujah, I’m A Bum (1933) as Bumper, Swanee River (1939) as E.P. Christy and Rose Of Washington Square (1939) as Ted Cotter. His popularity began to wane as fashions changed but it picked up when he entertained troops in the Forties. Two biopics were made. He screen-tested to play himself in The Jolson Story (1946) and failed. However, he can be seen in some long shots and it is his voice you hear singing. Jolson never made any secret of his enormous ego. In fact, he played up to it on his radio shows, once joking he had carved his initials on a tree “AJWGE ” – Al Jolson World’s Greatest Entertainer. George Burns quipped, “It was easy enough to make Jolson happy. You just had to cheer him for breakfast, applaud wildly for lunch and give him a standing ovation for dinner.”
CAUSE: He died in San Francisco, California, aged about 65, of a heart attack. He was buried in the Al Jolson Memorial in Hillside Memorial Park, 6001 West Centinela Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90045.
FURTHER READING: Al Jolson: You Ain’t Heard Nothin’ Yet!– Robert Oberfirst (San Diego: A.S. Barnes, 1980); Jolson: The Story Of Al Jolson– Michael Freedland (London: Virgin, 1995).
Carolyn Jones
Born April 28, 1929
Died August 3, 1983
Forever Morticia. Born in Amarillo, Texas, of Comanche Indian ancestry, 5́ 5˝ Carolyn Sue Jones appeared in almost 40 films, but despite an Oscar nomination (for The Bachelor Party [1957]) it was for her continuing role as Morticia Addams on The Addams Family that she is best known. She began acting with the Pasadena Playhouse, progressing to films in the early Fifties. She appeared in Road To Bali (1952) as Eunice, The Turning Point (1952), House Of Wax (1953) as Cathy Gray, The Big Heat (1953) as Doris, Geraldine (1954) as Kitty, The Tender Trap (1955) as Helen, East Of Eden (1955), The Seven Year Itch (1955) as Miss Finch, The Opposite Sex (1956) as Pat, Invasion Of The Body Snatchers as Theodora ‘Teddy’ Belicec, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1956) as Cindy Fontaine, Baby Face Nelson as Sue, Marjorie Morningstar as Marsha Zelenko, King Creole as Ronnie, A Hole In The Head as Shirl, How The West Was Won (1962) as Julie Rawlings, A Ticklish Affair (1963) as Tandy Martin, Color Me Dead (1969) as Paula Gibson and Good Luck, Miss Wyckoff (1979) as Beth. She was also Marsha, Queen of Diamonds in Batman and appeared as Myrna Clegg in the soap Capitol but had to leave through ill-health. On April 10, 1953, she married actor-turned-writer and producer Aaron Spelling. They were divorced during the first series of The Addams Family. In 1968 she married conductor Herbert Greene but that, too, ended in divorce.
CAUSE: In March 1981 she was diagnosed with colon cancer. When an exploratory operation was performed it was discovered the cancer had also spread to her liver. Surgeons removed two-thirds of her colon but Carolyn kept her illness secret, telling friends she was suffering from ulcers. She continued to work and for a time it looked as if the disease was in remission, but then in 1982 it returned with a vengeance. In July 1983 she married her actor lover Peter Bailey-Britton (b. 1950). She died the next month, weighing just over 3st, at her home, 8967 Norma Place, West Hollywood, California 90069. She was 54. Cause of death was given as “metastic carcinoma”. She was cremated on August 4, 1983.
Peter Jones
Born June 12, 1920
Died April 10, 2000
Comedy all-rounder. Born in Wem, Shropshire, Peter Jones excelled in all forms of showbiz – he was a talented theatre actor and director, a whiz on the radio show Just A Minute, a success on TV sitcoms such as The Rag Trade and a much-in-demand film performer. His father was a cabinet maker and he wanted his son to have a solid career and sent him to boarding school to prepare him for this. However, at the age of 14, Peter contracted tuberculosis and was sent to a sanatorium to recuperate. There he began writing and performing sketches for the other patients. He made his professional début in 1936 in Wolverhampton playing a reporter from The Times in The Composite Man. The management decided he was not up to scratch and sacked him. Undeterred, he carried on acting and made his West End début at the Haymarket Theatre on April 6, 1942, in The Doctor’s Dilemma where he again played a gentleman of the fourth estate. It was to be the start of 60 years’ almost continuous employment. In 1951 he became a star on the wireless, appearing alongside his friend Peter Ustinov in the comedy show In All Directions. Much of the dialogue was improvised, a skill he showed to a greater extent in Just A Minute. His next big hit was starring in We’re In Business, which he co-wrote with Barry Took and Marty Feldman. In the Seventies he was the narrator of the radio programme The Hitch Hiker’s Guide To The Galaxy and reprised that role when the series hit the small screen in 1981. He featured in many television programmes. From March 13, 1967, until March 26, 1968, he played Gerald Garvey in the BBC sitcom Beggar My Neighbour. He appeared as Sidney Rochester in the LWT comedy Kindly Leave The Kerb in May 1971. He created, wrote and starred in the BBC show Mr Big (1977) about a small-time crook and his nefarious family. He co-wrote and starred in the Central show I Thought You’d Gone in 1984. However, it was for his portrayal of the harassed factory owner Harold Fenner in BBC’s The Rag Trade that he was best loved. The show began on October 6, 1961, and also starred Miriam Karlin as shop steward Paddy, Reg Varney, Esma Cannon, Sheila Hancock, Barbara Windsor and Irene Handl. It ran until March 30, 1963. The show was revamped by LWT on September 11, 1977, and once again starred Jones and Karlin but Christopher Benny stood in for Varney, Diane Langton replaced Barbara Windsor, future EastEnder Gillian Taylforth played Lyn and Anna Karen played Olive, not a million miles from the character of the same name she played in On The Buses, which was written by the same team of Ronald Wolfe and Ronald Chesney. Peter Jones made his film début in Fanny By Gaslight (1944) and went on to appear in The Browning Version (1950), The Yellow Balloon (1953), Albert R.N. (1953), Blue Murder At St Trinian’s (1957), Danger Within (1958), The Bulldog Breed (1961), Romanoff & Juliet (1961), A Stitch In Time (1963), Press F
or Time (1966), Carry On Doctor (1968), The Return Of The Pink Panther (1975), Carry On England (1975) and Chariots Of Fire (1981) among many others. Jones, a kindly man who helped the present author with a previous book, was married to the American actress-writer Jeri Sauvinet who passed away in 1999. They had three children: actress Selena Carey-Jones, producer Bill Dare who created the hit radio show Dead Ringers and Charles Jones, who was not involved with entertainment.
CAUSE: He died after a long illness, aged 79.
Alex Jordan
(KAREN ELIZABETH HUGHES)
Born September 20, 1963
Died July 2, 1995
Brit tragedy. Born in Liverpool blonde Karen Hughes emigrated to Australia before ending up in America where she made a name for herself in hardcore pornographic films. During her career she appeared in 207 skin flicks including Wicked Thoughts (1992), Talk Dirty To Me 9 (1992), Tailiens 2 (1992), Tailiens 3 (1992), Single White Woman (1992), Seymore Butts: In The Love Shack (1992), Sex Stories (1992), Maneater (1992), Bonnie & Clyde – Outlaws Of Love (1992), Beverly Hills 90269 (1992), Vampire’s Kiss (1993), Spermacus (1993), One Of Our Porn Stars Is Missing (1993), Lethal Lolita (1993), The Joi Fuck Club (1993), Cheerleader Nurses (1993), Cheerleader Nurses 2 (1993), Bonnie And Clyde: Desperado (1993), Titty Slickers 2 (1994), Interview With A Vamp (1994) and Buttman’s Butt Freak 2 (1996).
CAUSE: Alex hanged herself aged 31 in her bedroom closet in Marina Del Rey, California. Supposedly, she was depressed over the death of her pet parrot. Her friend and neighbour Summer Knight discovered the body.
Yootha Joyce
(YOOTHA JOYCE NEEDHAM)
Born August 20, 1927
Died August 24, 1980
Toothsome comedy battleaxe. Yootha Joyce was born at 19 Bolingbroke Grove, Battersea, south London, the only child of the singer Percival Henry John (Hurst) Needham, and Jessie Maud née Revitt. Her father had been a promising singer but his voice was ruined when he contracted emphysema during the First World War. Her mother gave up her singing career when she gave birth although, to be fair, her mother was only rarely employed professionally. Joyce was educated in Battersea, Petersfield, and Croydon before enrolling at RADA. In 1944 she became an assistant stage manager at the Grand Theatre, Croydon, and then toured with ENSA. She left RADA a year early and began working in rep, dropping her surname and adopting her middle name as her last name. Her husband, the actor (John) Glynn Edwards (they married on December 8, 1956 and divorced in 1968), recommended her to Joan Littlewood who offered her a permanent place in her company. On February 17, 1959 she appeared in the original version of Frank Norman’s and Lionel Bart’s East End gangster play Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East. The supporting cast included Miriam Karlin, Brian Murphy, George Sewell, and a young Barbara Windsor. On February 11, 1960 the play opened at the Garrick Theatre in the West End where it was watched by the scriptwriters Frank Muir and Denis Norden who cast her in their sitcom Brothers In Law (April 17–July 10, 1962). She landed roles in other comedies and dramas such as Z Cars, Dixon Of Dock Green and The Saint. She made her film début in Sparrows Can’t Sing (1963) playing a barmaid. She also appeared in The Pumpkin Eater (1964), Fanatic (1965) as Anna, Catch Us If You Can (1965) as Nan, Kaleidoscope (1966) as the museum receptionist, A Man For All Seasons (1966) as Averil Machin, Charlie Bubbles (1967), Stranger In The House (1967), Our Mother’s House (1967) as Mrs Quayle, All The Right Noises as Mrs Byrd, Fragment Of Fear as Miss Ward-Cadbury, The Night Digger (1971) as Mrs Palafox, Burke And Hare (1971) as Mrs Hare, Nearest And Dearest (1972) as Mrs Rowbottom and Steptoe And Son Ride Again (1973) as Lennie’s wife. Joyce’s voice could be harsh and she used it to full effect in the television series that made her a star. In Man About The House (August 15, 1973–April 7, 1976) she played the sexually frustrated Mildred Roper to Brian Murphy’s timorous and lazy George. The show was so successful and the characters so popular that the creators, Johnnie Mortimer and Brian Cooke (who were former Fleet Street cartoonists), gave them their own spin-off series, George And Mildred (September 6, 1976–December 25, 1979). A film version was made in 1980.
CAUSE: Yootha Joyce died in a London clinic four days after her 53rd birthday from cirrhosis of the liver. From 1970 until her death, unknown to the public, she had been a prodigious drinker due to depression. She left £101,536.
Raul Julia
(RAUL RAFAEL CARLOS JULIA Y ARCELAY)
Born March 9, 1940
Died October 24, 1994
Hispanic hero. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he made his New York début in 1964, moving to films five years later. His work included Stiletto (1969), The Organization (1971) as Juan Mendoza, The Panic In Needle Park (1971) as Marco, Eyes Of Laura Mars (1978) as Michael Reisler, Tempest (1982) as Kalibanos, The Escape Artist (1982) as Stu Quinones, Compromising Positions (1985) as David Suarez, Kiss Of The Spider Woman (1985) as Valentin Arregui, The Morning After (1986) as Joaquin Manero, Tequila Sunrise (1988) as Carlos/Escalante, Romero (1989) as Archbishop Oscar Romero, Presumed Innocent (1990) as Sandy Stern, The Rookie (1990) as Strom, The Addams Family (1991) as Gomez Addams, Addams Family Values (1993) as Gomez Addams and Street Fighter (1994) as General M. Bison.
CAUSE: Julia died in Manhasset, New York, of complications following a stroke. He was 54.
Katy Jurado
(MARIA CRISTINA JURADO GARCIA)
Born January 16, 1924
Died July 5, 2002
Fiery-eyed Mexican. Katy Jurado was born in Guadalajara, near Mexico City, the daughter of a former landowner who was relieved of his property during the revolution. Films attracted her from an early age and she made her first film at 16, after marrying the author Victor Velazquez, which allowed her to act in films without parental consent. The couple had two sons, but divorced in 1950. In the Forties, she made more than a dozen films, most notably Nosotros Los Pobres (1947), directed by Ismael Rodriguez and starring Pedro Infante. When Jurado wasn’t acting she supplemented her income by working as a journalist and covering bullfights. In 1951 she was spotted by Budd Boetticher who had gone to Mexico to shoot The Bullfighter And The Lady. He spotted Jurado in the audience at a bullfight. She was wearing a white dress and, Boetticher said, “She looked like a Goddess.” He cast her as the wife of a bullfighter even though she couldn’t read a word of the English script. The following year Fred Zinnemann cast her as Helen Ramirez, the passionate ex-girlfriend of Will Kane (Gary Cooper), the honourable sheriff. The casting was in complete contrast to the virginal (on screen at least) Amy Kane (Grace Kelly), the marshal’s new bride. Kane was originally called Doane but Jurado was unable to pronounce that name. Her performance won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress. It was said that Jurado was furious at the number of close-ups allocated Kelly. “Grace and I got along just fine, despite rumours of battles on set,” she later said. High Noon was the first of a series of Westerns for her, many of them unworthy of her abilities. “I was always asked to play roles where I was the contrasting or multicultural character,” she said. “Sometimes that worked for me – often it didn’t.” In 1954 she was nominated for an Oscar after her performance in Broken Lance (1954) as Senora Devereaux, the wife of a cattle baron played by Spencer Tracy. In Mexico, she won the Ariel, the country’s highest acting accolade, three times. In 1956 she was cast as a bare-back rider and snake-charmer in Trapeze with Burt Lancaster, Tony Curtis and Gina Lollobrigida. Jurado and Lollobrigida did not see eye to eye, prompting Reed to observe that “the actors were more trouble than the animals”. In The Badlanders (1958) she took the part of Anita, a prostitute who fell for a cowboy played by Ernest Borgnine. She and Borgnine became close off screen too and on December 31, 1959 they married. It was a tempestuous marriage. They divorced on June 3, 1963 with Borgnine declaring, “Katy was beautiful. But a tiger.” Her other films included The Man From Del Rio (1956), One Eyed Jacks (1961), I Briganti Italiani (1961) and Barabbas (1962). She also appeared on the television shows The Western
er, The Virginian and Alias Smith & Jones. Following her divorce from Borgnine she retired from films and returned to Mexico. In 1966 she was back working as a character actress. She appeared alongside Elvis Presley as Annie Lightcloud in Stay Away Joe (1968) and for the part, she gained 22 pounds in 22 days, and days before filming she broke her foot – which explains her limp throughout the film. In 1973, she starred as Ma Baker in Pat Garrett And Billy The Kid, directed by Sam Peckinpah. She also appeared in Under The Volcano (1984) and Divine (1998), which brought her an Ariel nomination. She had previously won Ariels for El Bruto (1952) and Caridad (1972).
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 100
