Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  CAUSE: She died in North Hollywood aged 81 of natural causes.

  FURTHER READING: My Side Of The Road– Dorothy Lamour as told to Dick McInnes (London: Robson Books, 1981).

  Burt Lancaster

  Born November 2, 1913

  Died October 20, 1994

  Prima donna. Burton Stephen Lancaster was one of five children born (at 209 East 106th Street) to a New York City post office worker. A tough street kid, he won a basketball scholarship to New York University but dropped out when he was 18 and joined a circus as an acrobat. There, in the early part of 1935, he married June Ernst (b. Australia, 1916), a lady trapeze artist. They were married for three years. He worked under the big top until he was injured. During World War II he joined the army and discovered acting. He got a job on Broadway after being spotted in a lift by a theatrical agent. The 6́ 2˝ Lancaster became a star with his first film The Killers (1946) playing Ole ‘Swede’ Anderson. In fact, it was his second film. His first was Desert Fury (1947) as Tom Hanson but that was held back from release. He only got the role in The Killers because the first choice, Wayne Morris, was too expensive. When he couldn’t get acting work, Lancaster supported himself by selling ladies’ undies in a shop or as a singing waiter. Two years later, he took control of his career by setting up his own production company, Hecht-Hill-Lancaster. Burt, who was arrogant, argumentative and had a ferocious temper, spent $10,000 to have his teeth straightened. On December 28, 1946, in Yuma, Arizona, he married former secretary Norma Mari Anderson (b. Webster, Wisconsin, June 30, 1917, d. July 21, 1988, from cirrhosis of the liver, pneumonia and a stroke). His early films included Sorry, Wrong Number (1948) as Henry Stevenson, Kiss the Blood Off My Hands (1948) as Bill Saunders, All My Sons (1948) as Chris Keller, I Walk Alone (1948) as Frankie Madison, Mister 880 (1950) as Steve Buchanan, Jim Thorpe – All American (1951) as Jim Thorpe, Ten Tall Men as Sergeant Mike Kincaid, Come Back, Little Sheba (1952) as Doc Delaney and The Crimson Pirate as Captain Vallo. It was his performance as Sergeant Milton Warden in From Here To Eternity that won him his first Oscar nomination. Lancaster once admitted: “Most people seem to think I’m the kind of guy who shaves with a blowtorch. Actually I’m exactly the opposite. I’m bookish and worrisome.” Lancaster was also extremely insecure and looked for love and sex wherever he could find it, with both men and women. On June 27, 1969, he and Norma were divorced. On September 10, 1990, he wed Susan Scherer (b. California, May 3, 1942, as Susan June Martin) in Los Angeles. He followed From Here To Eternity by playing another soldier, Sergeant James O’Hearn, in South Sea Woman (1953). Then came Apache (1954) as Massai, Vera Cruz (1954) as Joe Erin, The Kentuckian (1955) as Big Eli, The Rainmaker (1956) as Bill Starbuck, Trapeze (1956) as Mike Ribble, Sweet Smell Of Success (1957) as columnist J.J. Hunsecker, Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957) as Wyatt Earp, Separate Tables (1958) as John Malcolm, Run Silent Run Deep (1958) as Lieutenant Jim Bledsoe and the Oscar-winning title role in Elmer Gantry (1960) playing a gin-sodden evangelist. It was a just reward considering he had turned down the lead role in Ben-Hur, the part that won Charlton Heston an Oscar. Two years later, he was again nominated for a Best Actor Oscar playing Robert Franklin Stroud in Birdman Of Alcatraz (1962). As Lancaster’s career developed, his characterisations became less rambunctious and more mellow. He worked on The List Of Adrian Messenger (1963), Seven Days In May (1964) as General James Mattoon Scott, The Train (1964) as Labiche, The Swimmer (1968) as Neddy Merrill, The Scalphunters (1968) as Joe Bass, Airport (1970) as Mel Bakersfeld which he described as “The biggest piece of junk ever,” Lawman (1971) as Jered Maddox, Valdez Is Coming (1971) as Bob Valdez, Ulzana’s Raid (1972) as McIntosh, Executive Action (1973) as Farrington, The Midnight Man (1974) as Jim Slade, Buffalo Bill And The Indians, Or Sitting Bull’s History Lesson (1976) as Ned Buntline, 1900 (1976) as Berlinghieri, The Cassandra Crossing (1976) as Mackenzie, The Island Of Dr Moreau, (1977) as Dr Paul Moreau, Zulu Dawn (1979) as Colonel Durnford, Atlantic City (1980) as the small-time crook Lou, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Local Hero (1983) as Felix Happer, Tough Guys (1986) as Harry Doyle and Field Of Dreams (1989) as Doctor Graham. Lancaster, who invented the idea of ‘percentage points’ for actors and directors, once said: “I’ve made up my mind that Hollywood isn’t going to get me; I’m going to be one guy who won’t let it rot his soul.”

  CAUSE: Lancaster died aged 80 at his home in Century City, California, from a heart attack.

  FURTHER READING: Burt Lancaster – Minty Clinch (London: Arthur Barker, 1984); Burt Lancaster – Robert Windeler (London: W.H. Allen, 1984); Against Type: The Biography Of Burt Lancaster – Gary Fishgall (New York: Scribner, 1995).

  Elsa Lanchester

  (ELIZABETH LANCHESTER SULLIVAN)

  Born October 28, 1902

  Died December 26, 1986

  Charlie was her darling. Born illegitimately in Lewisham, London, (later Universal wanted to change her birthday to Hallowe’en to cash in on her horror connection) she began her career as a child dancer with Isadora Duncan before becoming a nude model and ‘the other woman’ in divorce cases, in which she was paid to pretend to be having an affair with a husband. Aged 16 she moved into appearing in dramatic roles in the theatre. She made her first film in 1927 and went on to appear in over 50 movies. She went to Hollywood in 1934 with her husband Charles Laughton, whom she had married on February 9, 1929. After a honeymoon (which was also attended by the groom’s mother and brother!) they lived in Karl Marx’s old house at 28 Dean Street, London, W 1. She claims she did not know her husband was a practising homosexual until, one night, when he confessed to paying young men for sex on their settee. Lanchester claimed she went deaf for a week through shock and when her hearing returned, she decided to stand by her man, provided they sold the settee. Marlene Dietrich commented: “Poor Elsa. She left England because it already had a queen – Victoria. And she wanted to be queen of the Charles Laughton household, once he became a star, but he already had the role.” Her films included: One Of The Best (1927), The Constant Nymph (1928), Mr Smith Wakes Up (1929), The Stronger Sex (1931) as Thompson, The Officer’s Mess (1931) as Cora Melville, The Love Habit (1931) as Mathilde, The Private Life Of Henry VIII (1933) as Anne Of Cleves, The Private Life Of Don Juan (1934), David Copperfield (1935) as Clickett, Naughty Marietta (1935) as Madame d’Annard, James Whale’s Bride Of Frankenstein (1935) as Mary Shelley/the monster’s bride, The Ghost Goes West (1935) as Miss Shepperton, Rembrandt (1936) as Hendrickje Stoffels, Sullivan’s Travels (1942), Son Of Fury (1942) as Bristol Isabel, Passport To Destiny (1944) as Ella Muggins, The Spiral Staircase (1946) as Mrs Oates, The Big Clock (1948) as Louise Patterson, The Inspector General (1949) as Maria, Come To The Stable (1949) as Amelia Potts, for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Oscar, Buccaneer’s Girl (1950) as Madame Brizar, Dreamboat (1952) as Dr Coffey, The Girls Of Pleasure Island (1953) as Thelma, Androcles And The Lion (1953) as Megaera, Three Ring Circus (1954) as the bearded lady, Witness For The Prosecution (1957) as Miss Plimsoll, for which she was nominated for her second Best Supporting Actress Oscar, Bell, Book And Candle (1958) as Queenie, Mary Poppins (1964) as Katie Nanna, Pajama Party (1964) as Aunt Wendy, That Darn Cat! (1965) as Mrs MacDougall, Blackbeard’s Ghost (1968) as Emily Stowcroft, Willard (1971) as Henrietta Stiles, Terror In The Wax Museum (1973) as Julia Hawthorn, Neil Simon’s Murder By Death (1976) as Jessica Marbles and Die Laughing (1980) as Sophie.

  CAUSE: She died of bronchial pneumonia, aged 84, at the Motion Picture & TV Hospital Country Home, 23388 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, California. She was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

  Carole Landis

  (FRANCES LILLIAN MARY RIDSTE)

  Born January 1, 1917

  Died July 5, 1948

  ‘The Ping Girl’. Born in Fairchild, Wisconsin, the Roman Catholic Carole Landis had a very poor reputation at Fox, where she was saddled with the nickname ‘The studio hooker’. She regularly visited boss Darryl F. Zanuck at 4pm, the time at which h
e daily had sex with a studio employee. Outspoken, she was the daughter of Alfred Ridste, a Norwegian railroad mechanic, and the Polish Clara Stentek and ran away from home aged 14. She married for the first time (out of five) when she was 17, to 19-year-old Irving Wheeler, on January 14, 1934. The marriage was annulled the following month but the couple remarried on August 25, 1934, and stayed married, if not together, until 1940. They moved to California where Carole worked as a nightclub dancer and singer before landing a contract with Warner Bros that paid her $50 a week. She was given various bit parts in films such as Varsity Show (1937), A Star Is Born (1937), A Day At The Races (1937), The Emperor’s Candlesticks (1937), Broadway Melody Of 1938 (1937), Alcatraz Island (1937), The Adventurous Blonde (1937), Men Are Such Fools (1938) as June Cooper, He Couldn’t Say No (1938), Girls On Probation (1938), Love, Honor And Behave (1938), Blondes At Work (1938) as Carol, Gold Diggers In Paris (1938) and Boy Meets Girl (1938). Certain of the titles may have been propitious because in 1938 Irving Wheeler launched a $250,000 alienation of affection suit against Busby Berkeley, though it was thrown out by the court. By the time of her divorce from Wheeler she had graduated to speaking parts and was cast as Loana in a Hal Roach production called One Million B.C. (1940). For the film she dyed her hair blonde, had a nose job and lost a lot of weight. That year, on July 4, 1940, she married yacht broker Willis Hunt, Jr, but they were divorced just over four months later on November 13, 1940. In 1941 she moved to Fox, where she was known as much for her sexual promiscuity as her B movies. She appeared in I Wake Up Screaming (1941) as Vicky Lynn, Dance Hall (1941) as Lily Brown, Cadet Girl (1941) as Gene Baxter, Topper Returns (1941) as Ann Carrington, Moon Over Miami (1941) as Barbara Latimer, Orchestra Wives (1942) as Natalie, A Gentleman At Heart (1942) as Helen Mason, My Gal Sal (1942) as Mae Collins, It Happened In Flatbush (1942) as Kathryn Baker and Wintertime (1943) as Flossie Fouchere. In the late autumn of 1942 she went on a USO tour to North Africa and met Captain Thomas C. Wallace, whom she married on January 5, 1943, in London. She wrote a story based on the tour and the whirlwind romance, which was made into a film called Four Jills In A Jeep (1944). Due to USO tours and illness she only made one film before 1946 and that was Having Wonderful Crime (1945), in which she played Helene Justus. She and Wallace were divorced on July 19, 1945, in Reno, Nevada. Rarely without a man, and not often without a husband, she married balding, bespectacled Manhattan millionaire W. Horace Schmidlapp on December 8, 1945, in New York. That year also saw Carole’s lesbian affair with future best-selling novelist Jacqueline Susann, who based the character of Jennifer North in Valley Of The Dolls on Landis. Her contract with Fox was not renewed in 1946, probably due to her off-screen antics. Her last three films were Out Of The Blue (1947) as Mae Earthleigh, Noose (1948) as Linda Medbury and Brass Monkey (1948) as Kay Sheldon. Despite her marriage to Schmidlapp she seemed incapable of fidelity and had began an affair with the married Rex Harrison in the months leading up to her death. Her official nickname, ‘The Ping Girl’, which she hated, was a diminution of ‘The Purring Girl’.

  CAUSE: On July 4, 1948, Carole had dinner with Rex Harrison as she had done every night for the previous fortnight according to her maid, Fannie Mae Bolden. When Harrison arrived in the States earlier in the year, reporters asked him about his relationship with Landis. He replied: “I’m a married man and love my wife. Of course I am fond of Miss Landis. We are great friends and that is all. She is also a good friend of my wife.” Since Harrison’s wife, Lilli Palmer, had left him to go to Switzerland, no one believed that one for a second. At the time, Lilli was still protective of her husband. She denied she left Rex because of his attention to Carole. “We were all good friends and I went to Switzerland because I wanted to ski,” she explained. At 3.30pm on July 5, Landis’ corpse was discovered by Harrison on the bathroom floor of her 1465 Capri Drive, Pacific Palisades, California, home. She had been dead around 12 hours, according to Coroner Ben H. Brown. An autopsy revealed death was due to a massive overdose of Seconal. A handwritten note addressed to her mother made it clear the overdose was deliberate. It read:

  Dearest Mommie,

  I’m sorry, really sorry, to put you through this. But there is no way to avoid it. I love you darling. You have been the most wonderful mom ever. And that applies to all our family. I love each and every one of them dearly. Everything goes to you. Look in the files and there is a will which decrees everything.

  Goodbye my angel.

  Pray for me.

  Your baby.

  After her demise, Harrison made another announcement: “My wife and I are not estranged and never have been,” he stated. “I had planned to join her in New York next Thursday. I do not fear appearing at an inquest into Miss Landis’ death, if one is called. She and I were just friends. We dined together Sunday night at her home. She told me that she had general financial problems. My wife and I both plan to attend the funeral. I will talk to members of her family.” Harrison told police he had been meeting Carole because of their “common interest in a movie” they were to make together in the autumn. They had spent her last evening “talking about the film,” he said. Harrison’s claim that Landis had “general financial problems” was dismissed by famed Hollywood lawyer Jerry Giesler. He had brokered a separation from her fourth husband that left Carole comfortable. “I take little stock in that financial distress contributed to Miss Landis’ suicide. Money from the sale of her house would have paid all her bills and left a considerable sum besides,” said the legal eagle. “She was very honourable about paying her bills. She had written personally to her creditors, assuring them that they would be paid as soon as the sale of the house cleared escrow.” At the inquest Harrison declared he knew of no reason why Landis should take her own life. “She appeared to be in good spirits … although I don’t believe she was entirely happy with her career.” Harrison told the court that he had left Landis’ home at 9.30pm and visited the home of his friend Roland Culver before returning to find her dead the following afternoon. According to the maid, Harrison came down and told her of Landis’ death before they both went back upstairs to the bathroom, where they found the suicide note and Harrison is said to have cried out, “Oh, darling, why did you do it, why did you do it?” On July 8, Coroner Brown closed the case, labelling Carole Landis’ death a suicide. She was buried in Lot 814, Section 8 in the Everlasting Love area at Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, 1712 South Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California 91209. For many years rumours have surfaced that there was a second suicide note, one addressed to Harrison, and that he pocketed it. It is alleged that Landis was pregnant with Harrison’s child and he had told her that she would have to raise the baby alone. Illegitimacy would have been one stigma too many for Carole Landis. Furthermore, outside Roland Culver’s house two small suitcases were found with a note asking that they be passed to Rex Harrison. They contained all Harrison’s love letters to Landis and mementos of their affair. He burned them.

  Michael Landon

  (EUGENE MAURICE HOROWITZ)

  Born October 31, 1936

  Died July 1, 1991

  TV hero. Born in Forest Hills, New York, Landon was probably best known for his portrayal of television good guys. He was Little Joe on Bonanza for 14 years before moving on to Little House On The Prairie as Charles Phillip Ingalls, where he lived for eight years. Finally, he played the earth-bound angel Jonathan Smith in Highway to Heaven. He usually had a hand in writing, directing and producing the series in which he starred. He had a brief film career beginning with These Wilder Years and I Was A Teenage Werewolf as Tony Rivers the teenage werewolf. Other films included: Maracaibo (1958), High School Confidential! (1958) as Steve Bentley, God’s Little Acre (1958) as Dave Dawson and The Legend Of Tom Dooley (1959) as Tom Dooley. Despite his televisual reputation as a God-fearing all-round nice guy, his co-workers didn’t rate him especially highly. David Janssen said, “Michael Landon can be a spoiled brat when he wants to be, and he often wants to be,” while Nancy Walker opined: “I di
d a charity function with Landon once. He was smiley and affable when the camera was on him, but, boy, the second it turned off he didn’t have time for anyone except the other VIPs in the room.”