Cremated Women

1. Kathryn Joosten

Kathryn is best known for her portrayals of "Karen McCluskey" on Desperate Housewives (2004) on ABC and of "Mrs. Landingham", secretary to the President (Martin Sheen), on the critically-acclaimed NBC drama, The West Wing (1999). She has also recurred on Dharma & Greg (1997), and guest-starred ...

Her ashes were scattered.

2. Bea Arthur

Actress | The Golden Girls

Actress-comedienne Bea Arthur was born Bernice Frankel on May 13, 1922 in New York City to a Jewish family. She grew up in Maryland, where her parents ran a dress shop. At 12 years old, she was the tallest girl in her school at 5'9".

She earned the title of "Wittiest Girl" in her school, and her ...

Ashes are with family.

3. Rue McClanahan

Actress | The Golden Girls

A New York stage actress in the 1950s, McClanahan was plucked from the stage by Norman Lear for roles on All in the Family (1971) and later Maude (1972). For two years (1982 - 1984), she played "Aunt Fran" on Mama's Family (1983) until her character was killed off and she joined the cast of The ...

Ashes are with family.

4. Hermione Baddeley

Actress | The Secret of NIMH

A brash character actress who specialized in cinema, television, and theater, Hermione Youlanda Ruby Clinton-Baddeley was born on November 13, 1906 in Broseley, Shropshire. She was the youngest of four sisters - including Angela Baddeley, also an actress - and her half-brother, Very Rev William ...

Ashes are interred in England.

5. Tammy Faye Bakker

Soundtrack | The Eyes of Tammy Faye

Tammy Faye Bakker was born on March 7, 1942 in International Falls, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for The Eyes of Tammy Faye (2000), Roseanne (1988) and The Drew Carey Show (1995). She was married to Roe Messner and Jim Bakker. She died on July 20, 2007 in Loch Lloyd, Missouri, USA.

Ashes are interred in a niche.

6. Gloria Stuart

Actress | Titanic

Gloria Stuart was born on a dining room table on 4th Street in Santa Monica, California on July 4, 1910. Her early roles as a performing artist were in plays she produced in her home as a young girl. She was the star of her senior class play at Santa Monica High School in 1927. Attending the ...

She was cremated and her ashes were scattered in the Santa Monica Bay.

7. Janet Flanner

Writer | Resurrection

Janet Flanner was born on March 13, 1892 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. She was a writer, known for Resurrection (1943), Camera Three (1955) and Gertrude Stein: When This You See, Remember Me (1970). She was married to William Lane Rehm. She died on November 7, 1978 in New York City, New York, USA.

Natalia Danesi Murray and her ashes were scattered on the beach of Cherry Grove, Fire Island, New York.

8. Natalia Murray Danesi

Actress | Il caso Haller

Natalia Murray Danesi is known for Il caso Haller (1933).

Janet Flanner and her ashes were scattered on the beach of Cherry Grove, Fire Island, New York.

9. Helen Rollason

Self | Olympic Games

Helen Rollason was born on March 11, 1956 in London, England, UK. She was married to John Rollason. She died on August 9, 1999 in Shenfield, Essex, England, UK.

She was cremated upon her death.

10. Elaine Kaufman

Actress | Morning Glory

Elaine Kaufman was born on February 10, 1929 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Morning Glory (2010), Assaulted Nuts (1984) and Nick & Hillary (1988). She was married to Henry Ball. She died on December 3, 2010 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

She was cremated and ashes were supposed to be scattered on Second Avenue in New York City.

11. Alice Ghostley

Actress | To Kill a Mockingbird

Whether portraying a glum, withering wallflower, a drab and dowdy housewife, a klutzy maid or a cynical gossip, eccentric character comedienne Alice Ghostley had the ability to draw laughs from the skimpiest of material with a simple fret or whine. Making a name for herself on the Tony-winning ...

She was cremated and ashes are with family.

12. Julia Child

Writer | The French Chef

Julia Child was born on August 15, 1912 in Pasadena, California, USA. She was a writer and director, known for The French Chef (1962), Julie & Julia (2009) and We're Back! A Dinosaur's Story (1993). She was married to Paul Child. She died on August 13, 2004 in Montecito, California, USA.

She was cremated upon her death.

13. Charita Bauer

Actress | The Guiding Light

Charita Bauer was born on December 20, 1922 in Newark, New Jersey, USA. She was an actress, known for Guiding Light (1952), The Aldrich Family (1949) and The Cradle Will Fall (1983). She was married to Robert Stanley Crawford. She died on February 28, 1985 in New York City, New York, USA.

She was cremated upon her death.

14. Lani O'Grady

Actress | Eight Is Enough

Although Lani O'Grady retired from acting in the '80s to become a talent agent like her mother, she had long secured her place in the TV Land pantheon as Mary, the brainiac wannabe doctor in Eight Is Enough (1977)'s expansive Bradford brood. The dramedy, starring Dick Van Patten as a newspaper ...

She was cremated and her ashes were scattered in Hawaii.

15. Thora Hird

Actress | Lost for Words

In a career than spanned eight decades, Thora Hird was widely-regarded as one of Britain's finest character actresses. She made over 100 films as well as starring in a host of TV comedies and, as a straight actress, excelled in the works of playwright Alan Bennett. Even in her 90s, she was working ...

Her ashes were scattered at their daughter's garden in Chichester, England with her husband.

16. Maria Callas

Soundtrack | Ghost in the Shell

This volatile opera diva was born Sophie Cecilia Kalos in New York City to Greek émigrés on December 2, 1923. Her father set up a pharmacy and changed the family name from Kalogeropoulos to Callas. As a child Maria studied the piano. When her parents separated (she was 14 at the time), her mother ...

Her ashes were stolen from the niche at Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France and were scattered in Greece.

17. Leyla Gencer

Actress | Don Giovanni

Gencer was born in Turkey. Her mother was from Poland and her father from Turkey. She began studying at the Istanbul Conservatory and later she took private lessons in Ankara with the famous Italian soprano Giannina Arangi-Lombardi. She later sang in the chorus of the Turkish State Opera until she ...

Her ashes were scattered in Turkey.

18. Brett Somers

Actress | Battlestar Galactica

In 1973, Brett became a popular panelist on the television game show, "The Match Game." The Match Game (in its original version) ran on NBC's daytime lineup from 1962 to 1969. The show returned in 1973 with a significantly changed format on CBS (also in daytime). "The Match Game" became a major ...

Her ashes were interred at a church garden in Connecticut.

19. Eva Le Gallienne

Actress | Resurrection

Legendary stage actress Eva Le Gallienne's life began just as grandly as the daughter of poet Richard Le Gallienne. Sarah Bernhardt was her idol growing up and, at age 18, was brought to New York by her mother. Making her London debut with "Monna Vanna" in 1914, she proved a star in every sense of ...

Her ashes were scattered at her home in Weston, Connecticut.

20. Caylee Anthony

Self | The Dr. Oz Show

Caylee Anthony was born on August 9, 2005 in Orlando, Florida, USA. She died on June 16, 2008 in Orlando, Florida, USA.

Ashes are with maternal grandparents, Cindy and George Anthony of Orlando, Florida.

21. Jessica Tandy

Actress | Driving Miss Daisy

A beloved, twinkly blue-eyed doyenne of stage and screen, actress Jessica Tandy's career spanned nearly six and a half decades. In that span of time, she enjoyed an amazing film renaissance at age 80, something unheard of in a town that worships youth and nubile beauty. She was born Jessie Alice ...

She was cremated and her ashes are with family.

22. Iris Murdoch

Writer | The Italian Girl

Iris Murdoch was born on July 15, 1919 in Dublin, Ireland. She was a writer and actress, known for The Italian Girl, A Severed Head (1971) and Television Theater (1953). She was married to John Bayley. She died on February 8, 1999 in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England, UK.

She was cremated at Oxford Crematorium in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England and her ashes were scattered in their Rose Garden.

23. Diana King

Actress | Pride and Prejudice

Diana King was born on August 2, 1918 in Buckinghamshire, England, UK. She was an actress, known for Pride and Prejudice (1967), The Scarf (1959) and Pink Floyd: The Wall (1982). She was married to John Harvey. She died on July 31, 1986 in Nettlebed, Oxfordshire, England, UK.

She was cremated at Oxford Crematorium in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.

24. Phyllis Maycock

Self | This Is Your Life

Phyllis Maycock was born in 1923 in Charlton-on-Otmoor, Oxfordshire, England, UK. She died in January 2005 in Charlton-on-Otmoor, Oxfordshire, England, UK.

She was cremated at Oxford Crematorium in Oxford, Oxfordshire, England.

25. Diana Sinden

Actress | The Harpist

Diana Sinden was born on July 18, 1927 in London, England, UK. She was an actress, known for The Harpist (1999), Two's Company (1975) and The Lost Boys (1978). She was married to Donald Sinden. She died on September 15, 2004 in Ashford, Kent, England, UK.

Ashes are under an oak tree at the top of St. Mary the Virgin Churchyard, Chapel Bank, Ebony, Isle of Oxney, Kent, England next to her son, Jeremy Sinden. Both trees have inscribed plaques under them.

26. Barbara Stanwyck

Actress | Double Indemnity

Today Barbara Stanwyck is remembered primarily as the matriarch of the family known as the Barkleys on the TV western The Big Valley (1965), wherein she played Victoria, and from the hit drama The Colbys (1985). But she was known to millions of other fans for her movie career, which spanned the ...

Her ashes were scattered in Lone Pine, California.

27. Dana Hill

Actress | National Lampoon's European Vacation

Dana Hill was born Dana Lynne Goetz on May 6, 1964, in a suburb of Los Angeles, to parents Sandy Hill and Ted Goetz, a commercial director. Despite diabetes ending a promising future in athletics when she was just ten years old, Dana gamely threw herself into acting when still in her early teen ...

Ashes are with family.

28. Mary Millar

Actress | Keeping Up Appearances

Mary Millar had a very successful stage career in the West End. She began singing arias at the age of fourteen. Her London stage debut was in the 1962 production "Lock Up Your Daughters". She was in the original cast of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, "The Phantom of the Opera", and can be heard ...

Ashes are with family.

29. Brynn Hartman

Actress | North

Brynn Hartman was born on April 11, 1958 in Thief River Falls, Minnesota, USA. She was an actress, known for North (1994), 3rd Rock from the Sun (1996) and E! True Hollywood Story (1996). She was married to Phil Hartman and Douglas Iver Torfin. She died on May 28, 1998 in Encino, California, USA.

Phil and Brynn's bodies were cremated and spread upon Catalina Island, just off the coast of California, on June 4, 1998. Phil had specifically stated in his will that he wanted the ashes spread on Catalina Island because it was his favorite holiday getaway (he was an avid boater).

30. Cecily Adams

Actress | Star Trek: Deep Space Nine

American actress, casting director, teacher, and theatrical director. The daughter of nightclub singer Adelaide Adams and Get Smart (1965) star Don Adams, she was born in Queens, New York, several months after her parents' divorce. Raised in peripatetic fashion by her mother, she survived a ...

She was cremated and her ashes scattered in Fern Canyon, Prairie Creek Redwoods State Park, California.

31. Israel Kamakawiwo'ole

Soundtrack | Godzilla

All Hawaii mourned, and more than 10,000 people turned out for a state funeral in honor of Israel Ka'anoi "Brudda Iz" Kamakawiwo'ole. The son of Henry Kalei'aloha Naniwa and Evangeline Leinani Kamakawiwo'ole, Israel was surrounded by music growing up; his uncle was Moe Keale, a very well-known and ...

Israel's body was cremated, and the ashes scattered at Makua Beach on the Waianae coast where he was raised. He is survived by his wife Marlene Ku'upua Ah Lo Kamakawiwo'ole, and their 14-year old daughter, Ceslianne Wehekealake'alekupuna Ah Lo Kamakawiwo'ole.

32. Barbara Colby

Actress | Mary Tyler Moore

At age 36, actress Barbara Colby was on the brink of TV-character stardom when the native New Yorker was senselessly shot and killed one evening on the streets of Los Angeles. The tall, toothy, husky-voiced, frizzy-haired actress equipped with a keen, Brooklyn-tough sensibility and dead-on comedy ...

arbara was later cremated and a memorial service held at Will Geer's Theatricum Botanicum in Topanga Canyon. She was survived by her mother and younger sister Renee.

33. Miroslava

Actress | La muerte enamorada

Born in interwar Prague as Miroslava Stanclová, her father died and she was adopted by a Jewish doctor, the psychoanalyst Dr. Oskar Leo Stern (1900-1972) who married her mother, Miroslava (née Becka; 1898-1945). Dr. and Mrs. Stern had a son, Ivo (1931-2011), the actress's half-brother. The family ...

a wax statue of her is incineraded, coincided with her own cremation in a Mexican graveyard. Her tragic life inspired a short story in 1990, and a film, Miroslava (1993).

34. Isadora Duncan

Writer | Isadora

Isadora Duncan was an American dancer and innovative educator known for interdisciplinary and cross-cultural projects, and a hectic marriage to the famous Russian poet Sergei Esenin.

She was born Isador 'Dora' Angela Duncan on May 26, 1877, in San Francisco, California. Her father, Joseph Duncan, ...

Duncan was cremated and her ashes were laid in the Père Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France.

35. Lena Horne

Soundtrack | Cabin in the Sky

Lena Calhoun Horne was born June 30, 1917, in Brooklyn, New York. In her biography she stated that, on the day she was born, her father was in the midst of a card game trying to get money to pay the hospital costs. Her parents divorced while she was still a toddler. Her mother left later in order ...

Ashes with family.

36. Rita Oehmen

Actress | Happily Buried

Rita K. Oehmen was born on June 24, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois. From the time she was young, she was paired with her brother Edward to do a Vaudville show billed as the Oehmen twins. This lasted until about the age of 20, when she branched out on her own doing a stand-up act while going to college. ...

She was then cremated and her ashes spread out into the Pacific Ocean.

37. Donna Mae Roberts

Donna Mae Roberts was born in Los Angeles, the daughter of Walter Roberts and Cora H. Myers. She went to the University in California, where she majored in psychology and belonged to two honorary scholastic fraternities. She left her classes at the end at the end of her junior year to join the ...

Donna Mae Roberts died at the Cottonwood Care Center in Gardnerville in 1996. Her body was cremated at Fitzhenry's Crematory.

38. Ella Wheeler Wilcox

Writer | Inherited Passions

Famous American poet and author. She wrote numerous poems starting when she was 7 years old. She would go on to write poems such as The Price He Paid, Inherited Passions, The Beautiful Lie and The Belle of the Season amoung other. In her later years she went to the battle fields in France during ...

she died of Cancer at her Short Beach estate. She was cremated and sealed in a vault with her husbands ashes on the property.

39. Helen Shipman

Actress | Men Without Names

Helen Shipman was born in Pennsylvania, USA in 1899 (the exact month and day is in question). Her obituary in 1984 (which was written by her husband, Edward J. Pawley) stated that she was 85, which would have made her birth in the year 1899. Other newspaper articles also reveal that she was born in...

Both Edward and Helen (Shipman) Pawley were cremated and their ashes were buried near their home in Rock Mills, Rappahannock County, Virginia.

40. Lily Bouwmeester

Actress | Vadertje Langbeen

Lily Bouwmeester was the daughter of violinist Ludovicus Adolphus Bouwmeester and pianist Julie Marie Arpeau. She was a member of the famous Bouwmeester family, mostly consisting of actors. She wished to become a dancer, but her father insisted that she train as a violinist like him and that she ...

She died in 1993 at the local hospital, aged 92. She was cremated in the Hague.

41. Bela Sekely

The Man Who Laughs

Hungarian journalist who became a war correspondent for American newspapers before turning to Hollywood, where he worked for several film studios as a writer and story supervisor. Following service in the First World War as a correspondent for the New York Sun, he signed with M-G-M as a writer. ...

His cremated remains were returned to Hungary.

42. Susan Tyrrell

Actress | Cry-Baby

A bizarre, gloriously one-of-a-kind Hollywood gypsy and self-affirmed outcast, San Francisco-born actress Susan Tyrrell (born Susan Jillian Creamer) was a teenager when she made her stage debut in "Time Out for Ginger" in 1962. A product of the entertainment industry, her father was a top agent at ...

Her ashes were scattered.

43. Mai Zetterling

Actress | The Witches

Mai Zetterling was born in Sweden in 1925, and lived briefly in Australia while still a child. She's known as a director and actor and trained on the Stockholm repertory stage, she began appearing in war-era films starting in her teens. Following her debut in Lasse Maja (1941), she made quite an ...

Her ashes were scattered over her home in Mont Blanc, France.

44. Nora Ephron

Writer | Julie & Julia

Nora Ephron was educated at Wellesley College, Massachusetts. She was an acclaimed essayist (Crazy Salad 1975), novelist (Heartburn 1983), and had written screenplays for several popular films, all featuring strong female characters, such as anti-nuclear activist Karen Silkwood (Silkwood (1983), ...

Cremated, ashes scattered.

45. Evelyn Lear

Actress | Great Performances

Evelyn Lear was born on January 8, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Great Performances (1971), Die Hochzeit des Figaro (1963) and Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson (1976). She was married to Thomas Stewart and Walter Lear. ...

Cremated. ashes with family.

46. Ethel Merman

Actress | It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

Born in the Astoria section of Queens, New York City, Ethel Merman surely is the pre-eminent star of 'Broadway' musical comedy. Though untrained in singing, she could belt out a song like quite no one else, and was sought after by major songwriters such as Irving Berlin and Cole Porter. Having ...

Ashes were scattered on Broadway in New York City.

47. Jill Clayburgh

Actress | Bridesmaids

It came as no surprise to film aficionados when, in 1999, Entertainment Weekly named Jill Clayburgh on its list of Hollywood's 25 Greatest Actresses. For decades, she delivered stellar performances in a wide variety of roles.

Jill Clayburgh was born in 1944 in New York City, into a wealthy family, ...

She has no grave, upon her death she was cremated and her ashes are in the possession of family.

48. Elizabeth Montgomery

Actress | Bewitched

Elizabeth Montgomery was born into show business. Her parents were screen actor Robert Montgomery and Broadway actress Elizabeth Allen. Elizabeth graduated from the Spence School in New York City and attended the Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. After three years' intensive training, she made ...

She died 8 weeks after being diagnosed with colon cancer and was cremated.

49. Barbara Bel Geddes

Actress | Vertigo

Arguably best remembered for her role as Miss Ellie, the Ewing family matriarch on the long-running TV series Dallas (1978), Barbara Bel Geddes had earlier scored success on stage and screen long before gaining more lasting fame on television. She was born in New York City on Halloween Day 1922, ...

Upon her death, her ashes were cremated and were scattered at her upstate New York farm.

50. Anne Francis

Actress | Forbidden Planet

Anne Francis got into show business quite early in life. She was born on September 16, 1930 in Ossining, New York (which is near Sing Sing prison), the only child of Phillip Ward Francis, a businessman/salesman, and the former Edith Albertson. A natural little beauty, she became a John Robert Powers...

She has no grave, she was cremated and her ashes are in the possession of family.

51. Margaret Hamilton

Actress | The Wizard of Oz

Margaret Hamilton was born December 9, 1902 in Cleveland, Ohio, to Jennie (Adams) and Walter Hamilton. She later attended Hathaway Brown School in Shaker Heights, Ohio, and practiced acting doing children's theater while a Junior League of Cleveland member. Margaret had already built her resume ...

She was cremated and her ashes spread on her Dutchess County, New York estate.

52. Yvette Wilson

Actress | Friday

After attending San Jose State University in California, she began her entertainment career as a stand up comic, touring the comedy club circuit. One of her first on-screen appearances was as a recurring member of the cast of the short lived sitcom Thea. Yvette went on to land more on screen roles ...

She was cremated and her ashes scattered.

53. Virginia Weidler

Actress | The Philadelphia Story

Delightful child/juvenile actress Virginia Anna Adelaide Weidler (her friends called her "Ginny") had that knowing gleam in her eye that usually spelled trouble in one form or another for anyone nearby. She was born in Eagle Rock, California, in 1927, one of six children. Her mother was former ...

Her mother died shortly after she did in 1968. She was cremated and her ashes put out to sea.

54. Margaret Field

Actress | The Man from Planet X

Born Margaret Morlan, for three decades she was featured in films and television under the name Margaret Field and was the mother of two-time Oscar winner actress Sally Field. During World War II, she moved to Pasadena, California, was discovered by a talent scout, took a screen test and was signed...

Upon her death she was cremated and her ashes are in the possession of her daughter, Sally Field.

55. Debralee Scott

Actress | Police Academy 3: Back in Training

Debralee Scott was born in 1953 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, as the youngest of four daughters born to William Henry Scott, Jr. (March 1, 1914, Scranton, Pennsylvania - September 17, 1993, Scranton, Pennsylvania) and Marion Jones (February 11, 1916, Scranton, Pennsylvania - October 1993, Pittston, ...

ronically, she died in Florida shortly after moving there from New York City to help an ailing sister. One day she collapsed and was in a coma for several days but awoke in the hospital and seemed to be fine for a spell. She was released two days later on her birthday. No explanation was given for the coma, but she seemed fine and in good spirits. Three days later she went to take a nap and never woke up. Cause of death uncertain despite an autopsy. She was cremated

56. Jean Gabin

Actor | La grande illusion

Jean-Alexis Moncorgé started his career with 15 years at the theatre and debuted at the "Moulin Rouge" in Paris in 1929. Despite of his rude aspect he knew to be the gentleman of the French cinema in the time between the two World Wars. One of his most popular personalities was inspector Maigret. ...

After his death the body was cremated and ashes were thrown overboard from the military ship "Détroyat".

57. June Havoc

Actress | Gentleman's Agreement

Musical theater devotees will undoubtedly know that the song "Let Me Entertain You" was from the classic musical "Gypsy", the born-in-a-trunk story of resilient kid troopers Gypsy Rose Lee and June Havoc who were mercilessly pushed into vaudeville careers by an unbearably headstrong mother. While ...

he has no grave, upon her death she was cremated and by request her ashes were scattered in the garden of her beloved Connecticut home.

58. Dorothy Green

Actress | The Big Heat

Dorothy Green was born on January 12, 1920 in Los Angeles, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Big Heat (1953), Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre (1963) and Tammy (1965). She was married to Dr. Arthur Leo Heller, Sidney Miller, Dr. Sidney Green and William Wade Woodson. She died...

She was cremated and her ashes were given to her family.

59. Janis Joplin

Soundtrack | Watchmen

Janis Lyn Joplin was born at St. Mary's Hospital in the oil-refining town of Port Arthur, Texas, near the border with Louisiana. Her father was a cannery worker and her mother was a registrar for a business college. As an overweight teenager, she was a folk-music devotee (especially Odetta, ...

She was cremated and her ashes were scattered on the Pacific Ocean.

60. Hazel Court

Actress | The Curse of Frankenstein

Born in Birmingham, England, Hazel Court carried on a love affair with the world of movies and make-believe that made her a leading student at her hometown's School of Drama and later helped her land a contract with the J. Arthur Rank Organisation. Graduating from bits to supporting roles to leads,...

Upon her death she was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.

61. Martha Raye

Actress | Billy Rose's Jumbo

Known as "The Big Mouth" and considered the female equivalent to Bob Hope, Martha Raye was an American icon in her own right.

She was born Margy Reed in Butte, Montana, to Maybelle Hazel (Hooper) and Peter Reed, Jr., vaudeville performers. She had Irish, German, and English ancestry. Raye made her ...

Had a temporary falling out with daughter Melodye when Melodye had her father cremated against Martha's wishes.

62. Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy

Self | The Kennedys: The Curse of Power

Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy was born on January 7, 1966 in White Plains, New York, USA. She was married to John Kennedy Jr.. She died on July 16, 1999 in Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Martha's Vineyard.

John, his wife Carolyn Bessette-Kennedy, and her sister Lauren Bessette were all cremated and their ashes scattered off the coast of Martha's Vineyard from the USS John F. Kennedy Naval ship, where the ship was on training duty.

63. Mabel King

Actress | The Jerk

Mabel King is best-known for the role of Mama on the 1970's sitcom What's Happening!, but she also appeared in the films The Jerk with Steve Martin and The Wiz with Michael Jackson. Before What's Happening!, she portrayed the Wicked Witch of the West in the Broadway version of The Wiz.

n 1986, she lost a toe to diabetes. In 1989, she had a stroke, leaving her left side paralyzed and virtually speechless for over a year. She also lost both her legs. In the 1990s, she almost died in surgery during a hip replacement. She was once dropped by an ambulance crew and another time fell out of her wheelchair and fell face first to the floor. She lost some of her top teeth. She died on November 9, 1999, at 3:55 AM EST at the Kaiser Foundation Hospital. She was cremated.

64. Aileen Wuornos

Self | Aileen: Life and Death of a Serial Killer

Aileen Wuornos was born on February 29, 1956 in Rochester, Michigan, USA. She was married to Lewis Gratz Fell. She died on October 9, 2002 in Raiford, Florida, USA.

After her execution she was cremated, her ashes taken to her native Michigan and spread around a tree.

65. Maria Falconetti

Actress | La passion de Jeanne d'Arc

Renée Jeanne or Maria Falconetti, born in Pantin (not in Sermano, Corsica, as many film dictionaries wrongly attest) on July 21, 1892 and died in Buenos Aires on December 12, 1946, is a French actress of theater and cinema. Joining the troupe of the Odeon theater in 1916, she made her debut in "...

She was known historically for her one and only film role in The Passion of Joan of Arc. When she died in 1946 she was, coincidentally, cremated.

66. Peg Entwistle

Actress | Thirteen Women

Peg Entwistle was born on February 5, 1908 in Port Talbot, Wales at the home of her maternal grandparents, John and Caroline Stevenson because Caroline was to act as midwife. Peg's mother was Emily Stevenson Entwistle and her father was actor/ stage manager Robert Symes Entwistle (1872-1922). They ...

Peg was cremated and her ashes interred in her father's grave. Oak Hill Cemetery, Glendale, Ohio - Section 12, Lot 27, Grave 10.

67. Helen Twelvetrees

Actress | Millie

Helen Twelvetrees was born Helen Marie Jurgens in Brooklyn, New York on December 25, 1908. Her interest in the theatricals was apparent at an early age. After graduating from high school. Helen embarked on a stage career. She participated in a number of plays in New York City, but gravitated toward...

Her cremated remains are buried in an unmarked grave in the Middletown Cemetery near Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where she died. Her husband, Conrad Payne was stationed at the former Olmsted AFB at the time of her death. The plot on which she is buried is titled in his name and is located in section "D" of the "new" section of the cemetery.

68. Anaïs Nin

Writer | Henry & June

Anaïs Nin was born February 21, 1903 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, a suburb of Paris, France. She moved to the United States in 1914 with her mother, singer Rosa Culmell and two brothers, Thorvald and Joaquin. Her father was Joaquin Nin, a Spanish pianist and composer, who abandoned the family after ...

Was cremated; her ashes were scattered over Santa Monica Bay, California.

69. Julie Allred

Actress | What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?

Born in Philadelphia to a Jewish family, she landed her one and only film role in the 1962 thriller What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? (1962) after winning a contest. After appearing as the young Jane Hudson she never returned to the screen or any other form of acting thereafter due to the religious ...

Upon her death she was cremated. Her ashes are maintained by the immediate family.

70. Molly Weir

Actress | Life with the Lyons

Molly Weir was born on March 17, 1910 in Glasgow, Scotland, UK. She was an actress and writer, known for Family Affair (1954), Suspense (1962) and The Lyons Abroad (1955). She was married to Sandy Hamilton. She died on November 28, 2004 in Pinner, Middlesex, England, UK.

Cremated, and ashes buried at Loch Lomond, her favourite vacation spot

71. Ruth Gordon

Actress | Rosemary's Baby

When Ruth Gordon convinced her father, a sea captain, to let her pursue acting she came to New York and studied at the American Academy of Dramatic Arts. She acted in a few silents made at Fort Lee, New Jersey, in 1915. She made her Broadway debut in "Peter Pan" as Nibs the same year. The next 20 ...

72. Carmel Myers

Actress | Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ

Though she is little remembered today, silent screen star Carmel Myers had a high-flying career in her heyday and was ranked among the screen's most glamorous and enticing vamps. She was born at the turn of the century in San Francisco, the daughter of immigrant parents. Her father, a rabbi, ...

After she was cremated, her ashes were strewn in the Rose Garden at Pickfair.

73. Valda Hansen

Actress | Night of the Ghouls

Valda, the sensitive girl with the lovely smile. In the late 1950s, Valda was doing a play called "Accidentally Yours," when Ed Wood came backstage, and he considered her an ingenue. Ed originally wanted to cast Valda for the short film "The Night the Banshee Cried" (1957), but wound up casting her...

She was cremated

74. Phoebe Snow

Soundtrack | Running with Scissors

Phoebe Snow was born on July 17, 1950 in New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Running with Scissors (2006), Kicking and Screaming (1995) and Noah's Arc: Jumping the Broom (2008). She was married to Philip Kearns. She died on April 26, 2011 in Edison, New Jersey, USA.

She was cremated upon her death and her ashes were scattered.

75. Mal Evans

Music_department | Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs

Mal Evans was born on May 27, 1935 in England, UK. He was an actor, known for Little Malcolm and His Struggle Against the Eunuchs (1974), Born to Boogie (1972) and The Beatles: Strawberry Fields Forever (1967). He was married to Lily Evans. He died on January 4, 1976 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

He was cremated after his death, and his ashes shipped back to England... becoming lost in the mail enroute. John Lennon's wry comment when he heard the news was that Mal likely "wound up in the Dead Letter Department." His ashes were eventually located, and given to his family.

76. Shirley Booth

Actress | Come Back, Little Sheba

Character actress Shirley Booth could play everything in all facets of show business, whether it was Miss Duffy the Tavern Owner's Man Crazy Daughter on "Duffy's Tavern", the sassy maid on TV's Hazel (1961) or the pathetic woman in Come Back, Little Sheba (1952). For those who only know her through...

Ashes interred with sister.

77. Debbie Tay

Actress | Squirt TV

Debbie Tay was born in 1967. She was an actress, known for Squirt TV (1994) and New Year's Rotten Eve (1994). She died in April 1995.

Was cremated after her death. Her friend, Chaunce Hayden brought her cremated remains onto Howard Stern's radio show and Howard rattled her bones and played with her ashes over the air. Debbie's family later sued Stern for the stunt. Stern settled out of court for an undisclosed amount.

78. Teguh Karya

Director | Di Balik Kelambu

Teguh Karya was born on September 22, 1937 in Pandeglang, Bantam, Dutch East Indies [now Pandeglang, Banten, Indonesia]. He was a director and writer, known for Di Balik Kelambu (1983), Secangkir Kopi Pahit (1985) and Doea Tanda Mata (1985). He died on December 11, 2001 in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Cremated and buried in his own yard.

79. Dorothy Earle

Actress | Pioneers of the West

Dorothy Earle was born on September 4, 1892 in New Jersey, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for Pioneers of the West (1927), Out All Night (1927) and Slow Dynamite (1925). She was married to Harry Burton Comber de Mattos and Marcel Perez. She died on July 5, 1958 in Los Angeles, California...

After her death her remains were cremated and scattered at sea off the California coast. She was married to actor/director Marcel Perez. On April 10, 1920 their son Marcel (Marty) Perez was born. Her husband died sometime between 1929 and early 30s. Dorothy remarried in 1936 to Harry Burton Comber de Mattos. Harry Roy Comber was born to the couple on July 20, 1939. Her credits also include the two-reel comedy series "Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum" in which she performed alongside her husband Marcel.

80. Nancy Wake

Actress | Nancy Wake

Nancy Wake was born in New Zealand but her family moved to Australia when she was 2. She spent her childhood in Sydney and after her studies she traveled to Europe where she worked as a journalist. In 1939 Nancy married French industrialist Henri Fiocca who was killed during the War. Nancy Wake ...

She is expected to be cremated and her ashes spread in Montlucon in central France, the scene of much of her heroism. Upon her death, she was cremated and her ashes were scattered over Montlucon, France.

81. Margarete Steffin

Writer | Leben des Galilei

The progressive proletarian writer, singer and actress Margarete Steffin was born into a working class family on March 21, 1908 in Rummelsburg, Pomerania in Imperial Germany. Rummelsburg, a part of the Berlin metropolitan area, was the home of the chemical and photographic film maker Agfa AG. (The ...

She died of tuberculosis in a private room at High Hills, the best sanitarium in Moscow, at five minutes to nine in the morning, June 4, 1941. She had received a telegram from her collaborator and erstwhile lover Bertolt Brecht that day, as he and his family made their way across the USSR to seek asylum in the U.S. (The Soviet Union was invaded by its ally, Nazi Germany, in less than three weeks.) Her last words were "Doctor, doctor, doctor." Her friend Maria Osten, who checked in on her each day, arrived two minutes too late to say goodbye to her friend. According to Osten's correspondence with Brecht, an autopsy the following day revealed that her lungs were almost completely eroded by the disease. A plaster cast of her face and hands were made for Brecht, and she was cremated on June 6th. Osten and her child "disappeared" into the Gulag within weeks, and she was shot as a spy on August 8, 1942, according to the NKVD.

82. Anne Haney

Actress | Mrs. Doubtfire

Anne Haney held prominent roles acting on stage, on the screen, and on TV. All these achievements came in her mid-40s, after she had raised a daughter and buried a husband. It wasn't until after she had packed her daughter off to college and "the maid quit", as she said, that she decided to try her...

Cremated. Ashes with family/friend.

83. Imogene Coca

Actress | National Lampoon's Vacation

Imogene Coca is best remembered for playing opposite Sid Caesar in the live 90-minute Your Show of Shows (1950), which ran every Saturday night in regular season on NBC from February 1950 to June 1954. Their repertoire of comedy acts included the very memorable, hilarious, timeless and ...

84. Yvonne De Carlo

Actress | The Ten Commandments

Yvonne De Carlo was born Margaret Yvonne Middleton on September 1, 1922 in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. She was three when her father abandoned the family. Her mother turned to waitressing in a restaurant to make ends meet--a rough beginning for an actress who would, one day, be one of ...

Cremated. Ashes with family.

85. Ginny Tyler

Actress | The Sword in the Stone

Ginny Tyler was born on August 8, 1925 in Berkeley, California, USA. She was an actress, known for The Sword in the Stone (1963), Doctor Dolittle (1967) and Space Ghost (1966). She was married to Albert Jacobson and Lowell Fenton. She died on July 13, 2012 in Issaquah, Washington, USA.

86. Isuzu Yamada

Actress | Kumonosu-jô

Isuzu Yamada was born on February 5, 1917 in Osaka, Japan. She was an actress, known for Throne of Blood (1957), Yojimbo (1961) and A Cat and Two Women (1956). She was married to Tsutomu Shimomoto, Yoshi Katô, Kazuo Takimura, Ichirô Tsukida and Teinosuke Kinugasa. She died on July 9, 2012 in Inagi,...

87. Ruifang Zhang

Actress | Li Shuangshuang

Ruifang Zhang was born on June 15, 1918 in Baoding, Hebei, China. She was an actress, known for Li Shuangshuang (1962), Feng Huang Zhi Ge (1957) and Along the Sungari River (1947). She died on June 28, 2012 in Shanghai, China.

88. Nan Merriman

Soundtrack | Closer

Nan Merriman was born on April 28, 1920 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. She was an actress, known for Closer (2004), Family Theatre (1949) and The Mouth Agape (1974). She died on July 22, 2012 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

89. Keiko Tsushima

Actress | Shichinin no samurai

Keiko Tsushima was born on February 7, 1926 in Nagasaki, Japan. She was an actress, known for Seven Samurai (1954), Shiosai (1975) and Kyatsu o nigasuna (1956). She died on August 1, 2012 in Tokyo, Japan.

90. Elsa Lanchester

Actress | Witness for the Prosecution

Elsa Sullivan Lanchester was born into an unconventional a family at the turn of the 20th century. Her parents, James "Shamus" Sullivan and Edith "Biddy" Lanchester, were socialists - very active members of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in a rather broad sense - and did not believe in the ...

Cremated: Her ashes were scattered at sea.

91. Jill Ireland

Actress | Hard Times

Jill Ireland was a British-American actress best known for her appearance as "Leila Kalomi," the only woman Mr. Spock ever loved (in the Star Trek (1966) episode, Star Trek: This Side of Paradise (1967)) and for her many supporting roles in the movies of Charles Bronson. She is also known for her ...

Cremated. Ashes with family.

92. Phyllis Thaxter

Actress | Superman

This warm and winning, very non-theatrical brunette was born Phyllis St. Felix Thaxter in Portland, Maine, on November 20, 1919. The daughter of Maine Supreme Court Justice Sidney Thaxter, her acting talent came from her mother's side, who was a one-time Shakespearean actress. Phyllis was educated ...

Cremated, ashes scattered at sea.

93. Florence Kopleff

Self | L'enfance du Christ

Florence Kopleff was born in 1924 in New York City, New York, USA. She died on July 24, 2012 in Atlanta, Georgia, USA.

94. Phyllis Diller

Actress | A Bug's Life

Diller put out an autobiography in 2005 in her late 80s, and entitled it "Like a Lampshade in a Whorehouse", which pretty much says it all when recalling the misfit life and career of the fabulous, one-of-a-kind Phyllis Diller. It may inspire all those bored, discouraged and/or directionless ...

Cremated: Ashes with family. According to the tabloids, her ashes are to be scattered in the Pacific Ocean privately. In 1996, her boyfriend lawyer Robert Hastings who was described as the love of her life died after a 10 year relationship. He was cremated and his ashes were also scattered in the Pacific Ocean.

95. Anita Linda

Actress | Sisa

Anita Linda was born Alice Buenaflor Lake in Pasay City, Manila, Philippines. Her parents were James Lake, an American mining engineer, and Gorgonia Buenaflor of Iloilo. She attended Polo Elementary School and graduated from Good Shepherd Convent High School. She married actor Fred Cortes, with ...

Cremated: Ashes with family/friend.

96. Rosita Serrano

Soundtrack | Suite Française

Rosita Serrano (birth name Maria Martha Esther Aldunate Del Campo) was a Chilean singer and actress, who had large success in Germany in the 1930s and 1940s. Because of her bell-bright voice she received the surname "Chilean nightingale". She was the daughter of the diplomat Héctor Aldunate and the...

Cremated: Ashes scattered.

97. Patricia Dane

Actress | Johnny Eager

Resembling Hedy Lamarr with her brunet sultry looks, beautiful second-string actress Patricia Dane possessed a rough and rowdy exterior, which worked much better for her in front of the camera than off of it. Born Thelma Patricia Ann Pippen in Jacksonville, Florida, her father died shortly after ...

Cremated, Ashes scattered, at Jacksonville Beach, Florida.

98. Judith Anderson

Actress | Rebecca

Dame Judith Anderson was born Frances Margaret Anderson on February 10, 1897 in Adelaide, South Australia. She began her acting career in Australia before moving to New York in 1918. There she established herself as one of the greatest theatrical actresses and was a major star on Broadway ...

Cremated, Ashes with family or friend.

99. Ninette de Valois

Actress | The Female Swindler

It has been rightly suggested that Dame Ninette de Valois is one of the most important women of the century. It was due to her drive and ambition that the modern English ballet was created. In that respect she changed history single handed. Born in Ireland, young Ninette (her stage name was her ...

Cremated, Ashes scattered.

100. Miep Gies

Anne Frank: The Whole Story

Miep Gies was born on February 15, 1909 in Vienna, Austria. She was a writer, known for Anne Frank: The Whole Story (2001), The Attic: The Hiding of Anne Frank (1988) and Anne Frank Remembered (1995). She was married to Jan Gies. She died on January 11, 2010 in Abbekerk, Noord-Holland, Netherlands.

Cremated, Ashes with family or friend.