Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries

by Paul Donnelley

  Lotte Lenya

  (KAROLINE WILHELMINE CHARLOTTE BLAMAUER)

  Born October 18, 1898

  Died November 27, 1981

  Powerful chanteuse. Born in Penzing, Austria-Hungary, Lenya was named after a sister, who died before she was born, and two aunts. Her father was physically abusive, alcoholic and very poor. Before she turned 13 she worked as a prostitute before turning to singing and dancing. She was mainly known for her stage work, usually performing the works of her husband Kurt Weill and Bertolt Brecht. Following Weill’s death, she married three homosexual men. Her films included: The Roman Spring Of Mrs Stone (1961) as Contessa Magda Terribili-Gonzales, for which she was nominated for a Best Supporting Actress Academy Award, From Russia With Love (1963) as Rosa Klebb, The Appointment (1969) as Emma Valadier and Semi-Tough (1978) as Clara Pelf.

  CAUSE: On December 2, 1977, she underwent a hysterectomy at Doctors Hospital in New York. She later contracted cancer of the bladder, for which she was operated on June 6, 1978, at the New York Hospital. In her final years she also began to suffer from osteoporosis. She died of cancer aged 83 in New York at 5.30pm.

  FURTHER READING: Lenya: A Life – Donald Spoto (London: Viking, 1989).

  Sergio Leone

  Born January 3, 1929

  Died April 30, 1989

  Spaghetti Western maker. Born in Rome, Leone began his film career working with the best. He was second unit director on Quo Vadis? (1951) for Mervyn LeRoy and Ben-Hur (1959) before progressing to direct his own films such as Gli Ultimi Giorni Di Pompei/The Last Days Of Pompeii (1960) and The Last Days Of Sodom And Gomorrah (1962). However, it is for his spaghetti Westerns that he is best remembered. He directed Per Un Pugno Di Dollari /A Fistful Of Dollars (1964), Per Qualche Dollaro In Più /For A Few Dollars More (1965) and Il Buono, Il Brutto, Il Cattivo /The Good, The Bad And The Ugly (1966) which rejuvenated the career of Clint Eastwood as The Man With No Name. His next film, the big budget C’era Una Volta Il West /Once Upon A Time In The West (1968), flopped and he gave up directing until casting Robert De Niro and James Woods in Once Upon A Time In America (1984).

  CAUSE: He died of a heart attack in Rome aged 60. Prior to his death he had been working on a film about the siege of Leningrad.

  Mervyn LeRoy

  Born October 15, 1900

  Died September 13, 1987

  Diverse director. Born in San Francisco, California, LeRoy originally wanted to be an actor and that, along with joke writing, was how he made his living. He had directed a few films – No Place To Go (1927), Flying Romeos (1928), Hot Stuff (1929) and Broadway Babies (1929) – when he joined First National Pictures (a subsidiary of Warner Bros). It was there his name was made with the gangster flick Little Caesar (1930) starring Edward G. Robinson who persuaded LeRoy to let him play the lead rather than a supporting part. LeRoy’s reputation was confirmed with I Am A Fugitive From A Chain Gang (1932). The film was based on the true story of Robert Eliot Burns (who appeared in the film) who was jailed and sentenced to ten years’ hard labour for stealing $5.29 worth of food in 1920 in Georgia. He escaped and wrote a book called I Am A Fugitive From A Georgia Chain Gang. Although the film was careful not to identify the state, Georgia was furious and tried to sue for libel, issued a warrant for Burns’ recapture and threatened LeRoy and anyone else in the film if they ever visited Georgia. Moving away from gangsters, LeRoy also directed the piece of fluff that was Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933). On November 11, 1937, he agreed to join MGM as a producer-director, taking with him Lana Turner, whom he had put on a personal contract. There he produced The Wizard Of Oz (1939) and directed Waterloo Bridge (1940), Johnny Eager (1941), Random Harvest (1942), Madame Curie (1943), Thirty Seconds Over Tokyo (1944), Quo Vadis? (1951), Million Dollar Mermaid (1952), Latin Lovers (1953), Rose Marie (1954), which he also produced, and many others. In the Fifties he set up his own production company. He replaced John Ford on Mister Roberts (1955). His later films included: The Bad Seed (1956), Home Before Dark (1958), No Time For Sergeants (1958), The FBI Story (1959), Gypsy (1962) and Moment To Moment (1965).

  CAUSE: He died aged 86 in Beverly Hills, California, from Alzheimer’s disease.

  Liberace

  (WLADZIU VALENTINO LIBERACE)

  Born May 14, 1919

  Died February 4, 1987

  Camp pianist. Born at 635 51st Street, West Allis, Wisconsin, Liberace became loved by millions of women d’un age certain the world over for tinkling the ivories. Not everyone was taken with him. “This deadly, winking, sniggering, snuggling, chromium-plated, scent-impregnated, luminous, quivering, giggling, fruit-flavoured, mincing, ice-covered heap of mother love” was how newspaper columnist Cassandra of the Daily Mirror described The Candelabra Kid to his millions of readers on October 22, 1956. Liberace immediately sued for libel, claiming the piece implied he was homosexual and, besides, that it upset his mother. Committing perjury, he denied being gay or indulging in gay practices “because it offends convention and it offends society”. A jury found in his favour and awarded him damages of £8,000 and costs of £14,000. Liberace continued his sell-out concerts to ladies who wanted to mother him. He never dared admit he was gay for fear it would offend his blue-rinse matrons although he joked about many other aspects of his life. “I’m enjoying myself so much, I don’t want to take your money,” (wink) “but I will.” He even designed a toilet that disappeared into a hole in the wall. “Why should you have to walk into a bathroom and see a toilet? It’s ugly.” An attempt to launch himself as a film star never really took off. He usually played himself, whether the part required it or not. He appeared in South Sea Sinner (1949) as Maestro, Footlight Varieties (1951) as himself, Sincerely Yours (1955) as Anthony Warrin, When The Boys Meet The Girls (1965) as himself and The Loved One (1965) as Mr Starker.

  CAUSE: When he contracted AIDS he lost weight, which his publicists put down to an overindulgence in a watermelon diet, thus probably wrecking the sales of that particular fruit. Liberace succumbed to the disease at his home, Casa de las Cloisters, Palm Springs, California. When he died, the Mirror ran a light-hearted editorial asking for its money back.

  FURTHER READING: An Autobiography – Liberace (London: Star Books, 1974); Liberace – Bob Thomas (London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 1987).

  Larry Linville

  Born September 29, 1939

  Died April 10, 2000

  Absolutely Frank. Larry Lavon Linville was born in Ojai, California, and raised in Sacramento. He studied aeronautical engineering at the University of Colorado before studying at RADA, one of only three Americans to be accepted from 300 applicants. Linville made his film début in The Stepmother (1971) as Dick Hill. He followed that with Kotch (1971) as Peter. The following year he landed the role of Major Frank Burns in the hit television series M*A*S*H, a part he was to play until 1977. The show about the mobile army surgical hospital kept him off the big screen for much of his career. His later films included School Spirit (1985) as President Grimshaw, Blue Movies (1988) as Dr Gladding, C.H.U.D. II – Bud The Chud (1989) as Dr Jewell, Earth Girls Are Easy (1989) as Dr Bob, Rock’n’Roll High School Forever (1990) as Principal McGree, Body Waves (1992) as Himmel, West From North Goes South (1993) as Reverend Mr Lowell, No Dessert Dad, Til You Mow The Lawn (1994) as J.J., Fatal Pursuit (1994) as Shelby, A Million To Juan (1994) as Richard Dickerson, Angel’s Tide (1995) and Pressure Point (1997). Away from acting, Linville’s life was fraught. He was married four times. He had only one child, Kelly, born in 1970. On December 28, 1989, Linville’s fourth wife filed divorce papers in Los Angeles Superior Court accusing him of beating her up. Susan Linville, 13 years the actor’s junior, claimed that he became violent and abusive when drunk; physically attacked her more than 20 times during their four year marriage; hit her so severely during one assault in January 1986 that she was bedridden for a week; and on December 18, 1989 threw her to the floor, ripped her clothes off and then walked off with her dog saying she would never see it again. She also claimed support of $12
,500 a month. Through his lawyer, Linville denied all the allegations. In the spring of 1993 Linville was accused of groping a very minor Canadian TV personality. At a Winnipeg Press Club party 6́ 1˝ Linville posed with a smiling Natalie Pollock, his hand “lightly placed on her breast”. She claimed going somewhat over the top, “He clenched my breast. That is the story and that is a crime. I should have decked him. I was traumatised. It was like the shock I felt when my mum got hit by a car and died.”

  CAUSE: On February 12, 1998, part of his lung was removed during an operation after doctors found a malignant tumour under his sternum. He died aged 60 at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center, New York, of pneumonia due to complications from a cancer operation.

  Cleavon Little

  Born June 1, 1939

  Died October 22, 1992

  Promising black actor. Born in Chickasha, Oklahoma, one of five children (three sons, two daughters) of Malchi Little, left-handed Cleavon Jake Little was raised in California and educated at San Diego College. He won a scholarship to Juilliard and moved to New York. He was best known for his role in Blazing Saddles (1974) although he had several film appearances under his belt and he won a Tony award for his performance in Purlie. Little starred in a sitcom called Temperatures Rising. It ran for 46 episodes between September 12, 1972 and August 29, 1974. It co-starred Paul Lynde and Joan Van Ark. In 1979 he made a pilot for a show called Mr Dugan, about a fictitious politician, but the show was cancelled before it was shown, thanks to pressure from black politicians. Divorced, he had one daughter Adia Millett-Little.

  CAUSE: He died from colon cancer at his house in Sherman Oaks, California. He was cremated on October 28 and his ashes scattered in New York Harbour.

  Desmond Llewelyn

  Born September 12, 1914

  Died December 19, 1999

  Gadgeteer. Desmond Wilkinson Llewelyn was born in Newport, South Wales, the son of a coal mining engineer. He studied for a career as a chartered accountant but decided to become an actor and duly attended RADA. In 1938 he married Pamela and had two sons. During World War II he served as a second lieutenant with the Royal Welch Fusiliers and spent time in a POW camp. He was recaptured trying to escape. He appeared in a number of films, including The Lavender Hill Mob (1951), Further Up The Creek (1958) as Chief Yeoman, The Pirates Of Blood River (1962) as Tom Blackthorne, Cleopatra (1963) and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968) as Coggins, but it is for his role as James Bond’s exasperated quartermaster Q (a.k.a. Major Boothroyd) that he will be remembered. The director originally wanted Q to be Welsh. “My interpretation of the character was that of a toffee-nosed Englishman,” Llewelyn once said. “At the risk of losing the part and with silent apologies to my native land, I launched into Q’s lines using the worst Welsh accent, followed by the same in English.” He appeared in 17 Bond films (on a daily rate), beginning with 1963’s From Russia With Love and ending with The World Is Not Enough (1999). Despite his screen role he revealed, “In real life I’m allergic to gadgets. They just don’t work for me, not even those plastic cards for hotel room doors.”

  CAUSE: He died in a car crash aged 85 near the town of Firle in East Sussex. He was driving home from a book signing when his car was involved in a head-on collision. He was airlifted to a hospital but succumbed to massive internal injuries. His funeral was held at the twelfth-century St Mary The Virgin Church in Sussex. None of the actors who played James Bond attended. Only actress Samantha Bond, the latest Miss Moneypenny, and Colin Salmon, who plays M’s chief of staff, were present. Llewelyn’s wife, Pamela, who suffers from Alzheimer’s disease, did not attend the funeral.

  Harold Lloyd

  Born April 20, 1893

  Died March 8, 1971

  ‘The Man On The Clock’. With Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin, Harold Clayton Lloyd made up the triumvirate of silent comedy giants. Born in Burchard, Nebraska, he made his first film in 1912 and five years later adopted an image that would make him world famous. He purchased a pair of horn-rimmed glasses, removed the lenses to avoid reflection from lights and bought a straw boater. He eventually had 20 identical pairs of glasses made. He also, on occasion, took physical risks to raise a laugh. He did, at times, employ a stunt double, but there was usually enough safety equipment around (although not in shot) to prevent Lloyd falling and killing himself. On August 24, 1919, while posing for publicity pictures the fake bomb he was holding turned out not to be fake at all and exploded. Lloyd lost the thumb and forefinger on his right hand and was also temporarily blinded. Eventually, his eyesight returned but for the rest of his career Lloyd wore a special prosthetic under a flesh-coloured glove. Amazingly, he continued to perform the hair-raising stunts for which he had become famous. In 1926 The New Yorker described him as “the most affluent and popular of all the stars in the Hollywood heavens”. By 1941 he had made $30 million. In 1952 he was awarded a special Oscar. He made over 200 films during the course of his career including: Algy On The Force (1913), Just Nuts (1915) as Willie Work, Miss Fatty’s Seaside Lovers (1915), Soaking The Clothes (1915), Once Every Ten Minutes (1915), Giving Them Fits (1915) as Luke de Fluke, Bughouse Bellhops (1915) as Luke, Tinkering With Trouble (1915), A Foozle At The Tee Party (1915) as Luke, Ruses, Rhymes And Roughnecks (1915) as Lonesome Luke, Peculiar Patients’ Pranks (1915) as Lonesome Luke, Skylight Sleep (1916), Ice (1916), Braver Than The Bravest (1916), Lonesome Luke Leans To The Literary (1916) as Lonesome Luke, Luke Lugs Luggage (1916), Lonesome Luke Lolls In Luxury (1916), as Luke, The Candy Cut-Up (1916), Luke Foils The Villain (1916), Luke And The Rural Roughnecks (1916), Luke Pipes The Pippins (1916), Lonesome Luke, Circus King (1916), Luke’s Double (1916), Them Was The Happy Days! (1916) as Lonesome Luke, Luke And The Bomb Throwers (1916), Luke’s Late Lunchers (1916), Luke Laughs Last (1916), Luke’s Fatal Flivver (1916), Luke’s Society Mixup (1916), Luke’s Washful Waiting (1916), Luke Rides Roughshod (1916), Luke, Crystal Gazer (1916), Luke’s Lost Lamb (1916), Luke Does The Midway (1916), Luke Joins The Navy (1916), Luke And The Mermaids (1916), Luke’s Speedy Club Life (1916), Luke And The Bang-Tails (1916) and dozens more Lonesome Luke films which were “a tramp imitation of Chaplin,” Somewhere In Turkey (1918), Bride And Gloom (1918) as the groom, Wanted – $5,000 (1919), Ask Father (1919), A Sammy In Siberia (1919), Pistols For Breakfast (1919), Count Your Change (1919), C aptain Kidd’s Kids (1919), Among Those Present (1921) as O’Reilly, Doctor Jack (1922) as Dr Jackson, Safety Last (1923) in which he hangs from a clock high in the air, Speedy (1928) as Harold ‘Speedy’ Swift, Stout Hearts And Willing Hands (1932), The Milky Way (1936) as Buleigh ‘Tiger’ Sullivan and The Sin Of Harold Diddlebock (1947) as Harold Diddlebock. With the advent of talking pictures, Lloyd quietly retired. Lloyd married his leading lady Mildred Davis on February 10, 1923, at St John’s Episcopal Church, Los Angeles. They had one son and two daughters (one adopted) and were together until Davis’ death of a heart attack on August 18, 1969.

  CAUSE: He died aged 78 of cancer in Beverly Hills, California.

  FURTHER READING: Harold Lloyd’s World Of Comedy – William Cahn (London: George Allen & Unwin, 1966).

  Margaret Lockwood, CBE

  Born September 15, 1916

  Died July 15, 1990 ‘The Wicked Lady’. Born in Karachi, India, brought to England aged three and trained at Italia Conti and, from 1933, at RADA, Margaret Mary Lockwood began acting as a teenager on stage. Her film début came in Lorna Doone (1934) and she was signed by British Lion, the first British actress to be specifically groomed to be a movie star. Over the course of her 45-film career she murdered her best friend, poisoned more than one husband and was a very wicked lady. She spent most of her career working in England with only a brief trip to Hollywood. She starred opposite Maurice Chevalier in The Beloved Vagabond (1936) and two years later was cast in Alfred Hitchcock’s The Lady Vanishes as Iris Henderson. It was her portrayal as Barbara, Lady Skelton in Leslie Arliss’ The Wicked Lady (1945) that sealed her reputation. It also made her the highest paid actress in Britain, but also o
ne not taken terribly seriously, a fact that sent her career on a downward path. Her contract with Rank, signed in 1943, was terminated in 1951. Following Cast A Dark Shadow (1955) she retired from films, concentrating instead on theatre and the new medium of television. She made a brief comeback as Cinderella’s stepmother in The Slipper And The Rose (1976). On October 17, 1937, she married Rupert de Leon at Epsom Registry Office. When her marriage ended in 1946 she fought for custody of her daughter, actress (Margaret) Julia Lockwood (b. August 23, 1941), only for her domineering mother to side with her ex-husband. Following the divorce, she never saw her mother again.

  CAUSE: In the late-Seventies she began to suffer from vestibulitis, a viral infection of the middle ear. Although it was cured, it left her deaf. She spent her final years living alone in Kingston-upon-Thames, rarely venturing out except to buy cigarettes. Her home contained no memories of her film career. She refused all job offers but was punctilious about replying to all letters, including a request from the present author for help on another project. She died in the Cromwell Hospital, Kensington, London, aged 73 of cirrhosis of the liver. She left £433,705.