CAUSE: She died, aged 88, in La Carita Hospital, Locarno, Switzerland of kidney failure.
Blossom Rock
(EDITH MARIE MACDONALD)
Born August 21, 1895
Died January 14, 1978
Multi-named sibling. Born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Blossom Rock was the elder sister of Jeanette MacDonald. In 1926 she married Clarence Rock (d. 1960) and they toured vaudeville in an act called “Rock and Blossom”. She signed a contract with MGM, making her film début in the Joan Crawford vehicle Mannequin (1937). Like many actors, she was superstitious and visited a numerologist who told her she would have more success if her Christian name and surname contained the same number of letters. Consequently, she changed her name to Marie Blake and it is under this monicker that she was usually known. From 1938 until the end of the series she played Sally the telephonist in the Dr Kildare films. From September 18, 1964, she was probably best known, although least recognised, as Grandmama on the hit TV show The Addams Family. To cope with her numerous names – Blossom MacDonald, Blossom Rock, Mrs Clarence W. Rock and Marie Blake – she legally became Blossom Rock in the Sixties. When the series ended, she retired.
CAUSE: In the Seventies she suffered a massive stroke that left her incoherent and prevented her from working on the 1977 Addams Family reunion film. She died aged 82 of acute myocardial infarction and cerebral arteriosclerosis at the Motion Picture And Television Hospital and Country Home, 23450 Calabasas Road, Woodland Hills, California.
Rodgers & Hammerstein
(RICHARD CHARLES RODGERS)
Born June 28, 1902
Died December 30, 1979
(OSCAR GREELEY CLENDENNING HAMMERSTEIN II)
Born July 12, 1895
Died August 23, 1960
They wrote several happy tunes. Oscar Hammerstein II (the first was his grandfather, an impresario) was born on 135th Street, New York and intended to become a lawyer. His first experience with the stage occurred in 1912 at Columbia College. He got a job as a process server but when he was refused what he thought was a much-deserved raise, he left the law, becoming an assistant stage manager for a musical and marrying Myra Finn, a distant relative of Richard Rodgers, in the summer of 1917. They divorced after two children and on May 14, 1929, he married Melbourne-born Dorothy Blanchard. Working on the musical Sometime in 1918 he had his first lines used in Broadway and wrote a play that closed before it reached New York. In 1920 he wrote the book and lyrics for Always You. In 1921 he wrote Tickle Me with Otto Harbach and Frank Mandel. It ran for 200 performances on Broadway. His next four efforts all flopped. Then he created Wildflower (1923), Rose Marie (1924) Sunny (1925) and The Desert Song (1926). It was after this that Hammerstein realised he was only confined by musicals because he allowed himself to be confined. With Show Boat (1927), he and Jerome Kern broke the mould of musicals, abandoning the big number, chorus girls and forced humour. In 1940 he wrote ‘The Last Time I Saw Paris’ which won an Oscar in Lady Be Good (1941). He began working with Richard Rodgers in 1943 and their first collaboration produced Oklahoma! It was a massive success, as was their Carousel (1945), South Pacific (1949), The King And I (1951), Me And Juliet (1953), Pipe Dream (1955), Flower Drum Song (1958) and The Sound Of Music. Richard Rodgers was born at Hammells Station, Arverne, Long Island, and became interested in music aged two, when his parents sang and played the piano. By the age of six he had taught himself to play. His parents scrimped and scraped to send him to Columbia and Juilliard. In spring 1919 he met Lorenz Milton Hart (b. New York, May 2, 1895, d. Doctors’ Hospital, New York, November 22, 1943, at 9.30pm) who was to become his first major collaborator. Together they wrote their first published song, ‘Any Old Place Of Mine’, which was premièred on August 26, 1919. Their other works included A Danish Yankee In King Tut’s Court (1923), The Prisoner Of Zenda (1924), The Girl Friend (1926), A Connecticut Yankee (1927), The Melody Man (1930), America’s Sweetheart (1931), Love Me Tonight (1932), Mississippi (1935), Billy Rose’s Jumbo (1935), On Your Toes (1936), Babes In Arms (1937), Pal Joey (1940) and I Married An Angel (1942). The partnership ended due to Hart’s alcoholism. Several of the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein were turned into films and they won an Oscar for Best Song for ‘It Might As Well Be Spring’ from State Fair (1945). Oklahoma! (1955) won two Oscars, The King And I (1956) won five Oscars, South Pacific (1958) picked up a solitary Oscar and The Sound Of Music (1965) also picked up five trophies.
CAUSE: On September 16, 1959, Hammerstein had his regular annual check-up with his doctor, but as he was leaving he mentioned he was waking in the middle of the night regularly feeling hungry, although a glass of milk settled his hunger. To be on the safe side, his doctor sent the lyricist for a check-up. It was discovered that Hammerstein had cancer of the stomach. On September 19, an operation was performed but was tragically too late. Doctors removed three-quarters of his stomach but they knew Hammerstein would be dead within a year. Chemotherapy was discussed and then rejected. On October 4, Hammerstein was released from hospital and went to watch rehearsals for his latest show with Rodgers, a tale of a nun and Nazis called The Sound Of Music. On July 7, 1960, X-rays revealed that the disease was back with a vengeance and Hammerstein decided he wanted to die with dignity at home, Highland Farm, Doylestown, Pennsylvania, not surrounded by well-meaning strangers in a hospital. He died aged 65 just over six weeks later and was cremated before his ashes were interred in Ferncliff Cemetery & Mausoleum, Secor Road, Hartsdale, New York 10530. Richard Rodgers, too, suffered from cancer and in July 1969 he was felled by a cardiac arrest. In August 1974 he underwent a laryngectomy and had to learn to speak again. He died just over four years later. Despite their long and successful collaboration, Hammerstein said he didn’t really know Rodgers and in 1975 Rodgers said that, although he cared about Hammerstein, he was never sure whether Hammerstein actually liked him.
FURTHER READING: The Rodgers And Hammerstein Story – Stanley Green (London: W.H. Allen, 1963); The Sound Of Their Music: The Story Of Rodgers And Hammerstein – Frederick Nolan (London: Unwin Paperbacks, 1979).
Estelita Rodriguez
Born July 2, 1913
Died March 12, 1966xy
‘Cuban Fireball’. Born in Guanajay, Cuba, Rodriguez owed her career to Herbert J. Yates, who ran Republic Pictures. She appeared in Mexicana (1945) as Lupita, Along The Navajo Trail (1945), On The Old Spanish Trail (1947) as Lolita, The Gay Ranchero (1948) as Consuelo Belmonte, Twilight In The Sierras (1949) as Lola Chavez, The Golden Stallion (1949) as Pepe Valdez, Sunset In The West (1950) as Carmelita, Belle Of Old Mexico (1950) as Rosito, In Old Amarillo (1951) as Pepita, Havana Rose (1951) as Estelita DeMarco, Cuban Fireball (1951), Tropical Heat Wave (1952), South Pacific Trail (1952) as Lita Alvarez, The Fabulous Senorita (1952) as Estelita Rodriguez, Rio Bravo (1959) as Consuela and Jesse James Meets Frankenstein’s Daughter (1966) as Juanita Lopez.
CAUSE: She died aged 52 on the kitchen floor of her home in Van Nuys, California, supposedly from influenza. At the time she had been negotiating to star in a biopic of Lupe Velez. Her mentor Yates had died in February 1966 and her ex-husband, Grant Withers, died by his own hand on March 27, 1959.
Charles ‘Buddy’ Rogers
Born August 13, 1904
Died April 21, 1999
‘The Love Rouser’. Born in Olathe, Kansas, the son of a judge who also ran the local newspaper, (6)߰Rogers is best known for two achievements: he starred in Wings (1927), the first film to win an Oscar, and he was married to Mary Pickford for nearly 42 years from June 26, 1937, until her death. Nicknamed ‘Buddy’ by his sister, he was educated at Olathe High School and the University of Kansas and learned his trade via the Paramount School Of Acting, which he joined in 1926. His first major film was Fascinating Youth (1926). He was Lupe Velez’s stooge in several Mexican Spitfire films. He retired from films in 1948 to concentrate on television. Two years after Pickford’s death, he married estate agent Beverly Ricono.
CAUSE: He died at home in Rancho Mir
age, aged 94, of natural causes.
Ginger Rogers
(VIRGINIA KATHERINE MCMATH)
Born July 16, 1907 or 1911
Died April 25, 1995
Terpsichorean talent. To many people the Thirties were a time of hardship and financial worries. Not for Ginger Rogers: “It was a whole new life for me … It was happy and beautiful and gay and interesting. I was surrounded by marvellous people.” On December 23, 1933, Flying Down To Rio (1933) opened with Ginger playing Honey Hale. It was her first big success and led to several other starring roles. Despite being forever linked with Fred Astaire in the public consciousness, they only made ten films together. Astaire wasn’t initially keen on having a partner, saying: “I did not go into pictures with the thought of becoming a team.” Like many showbiz stars, Ginger had a very pushy mother. Lela Rogers was born on Christmas Day 1891 as Lela Owens. She married at 18 and after an infant death, Ginger was born in Independence, Missouri. Her official date of birth and the one listed on her death certificate is 1911 but some friends insist the year was 1908. She was nicknamed Ginger by a cousin. Her parents split up before Ginger was a year old and Lela took Ginger to Ennis, Texas. Her father, desperate to see his daughter, twice kidnapped Ginger and was eventually subjected to a court order. In 1916 Lela went to Hollywood to become a screenwriter, leaving Ginger with her parents. In 1919 she married John Rogers, who adopted Ginger. Seven years later, Ginger won a Charleston competition and she was on her way. Lela removed her from school and for the next two years Ginger toured the country in amateur dance challenges. In 1928, much to the annoyance of Rogers’ overpowering mother, Ginger eloped to New Orleans with Jack Culpepper, a singer. They married and formed an act – Ginger and Pepper – but they were not a success and they split after ten months. They were divorced in 1931. That year Ginger and Lela travelled to Hollywood, where Ginger was spotted by Mervyn LeRoy who encouraged her to appear in 42nd Street (1933). He also had a brief affair with her. She popularised the song ‘We’re In The Money’ in Gold Diggers Of 1933 (1933). In January 1934 she signed a long-term contract with RKO, who put her on the road to stardom with Flying Down To Rio. Ginger’s first romantic feature with Astaire was The Gay Divorcee (1934). They then appeared in Roberta (1935), Top Hat (1935), Follow The Fleet (1936), Swing Time (1936), Shall We Dance? (1937), Carefree (1938), The Story Of Vernon And Irene Castle (1939) and The Barkleys Of Broadway (1949) (continuity blip: in one scene in this film, Fred and Ginger are in the back of a taxi when suddenly a lighted cigarette appears in his hand). On November 14, 1934, at the Little Church of the Flower in Glendale, California, Ginger married Lew Ayres. One Christmas she gave him a toy train set. However, it was not to be a happy match. RKO announced their separation on May 9, 1936, and the couple was divorced in 1941. That year Ginger won an Oscar for Kitty Foyle (1940). Then she engaged in an affair with director George Stevens, again much to the consternation of Lela, who played Ginger’s on-screen mother in The Major And The Minor (1942). On January 16, 1943, Ginger married for the third time. Her new husband was Jack Calvin Briggs, a US marine. That year she was the highest paid actress in Hollywood. That didn’t help her improve her private life and she was divorced in 1949. In the mid-Fifties Ginger’s film appearances became fewer: Monkey Business (1952) as Edwina Fulton, Dreamboat (1952) as Gloria Marlowe, We’re Not Married! (1952) as Ramona Gladwyn, Forever Female (1953) as Beatrice Page and Black Widow (1954) as Lottie. On February 7, 1953, she married the 18-years-younger lawyer-turned-actor Jacques Bergerac (b. Biarritz, France, May 26, 1927). They divorced in 1957 after MGM did not renew his contract. On March 16, 1961, Ginger married actor William Marshall (b. Chicago, Illinois, October 2, 1917) and that turned out to be her longest marriage, lasting ten years. Her last film was playing the mother of another Hollywood star in Harlow (1965).
CAUSE: Ginger suffered two strokes and was confined to a wheelchair. She died at her home in Rancho Mirage, California, 40 230 Club View Drive, of acute myocardial infarction and arteriosclerosis cardiovascular disease after being in a diabetic coma. Reportedly the last words of the devoutly Christian Scientist Ginger were: “I’ve had a wonderful life. God’s will will now be done. Praise to God.” She was buried with her mother in Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen, Chatsworth, California 91311. Coincidentally, that’s also where Fred Astaire is interred.
Roy Rogers
(LEONARD SKYE)
Born November 5, 1911
Died July 6, 1998
‘The King of the Cowboys’. Roy Rogers was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and migrated to California in 1929 where he formed a singing duo with his cousin. Later changing his name to Dick Weston, he formed the group The Sons Of The Pioneers, which indirectly led him into films. In the Forties and Fifties he appeared regularly in films alongside his horse Trigger and, later, wife Dale Evans. When his film career came to an end, he moved onto the small screen. Away from showbiz, he was an astute businessman who came to be worth around $100 million.
CAUSE: He died of congestive heart failure in Apple Valley, California. He was 86.
Will Rogers
Born November 4, 1879
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 152
