Deaths: September 23

1. Mary Frann

Actress | Newhart

Mary Frann was born Mary Frances Luecke on February 27, 1943 in St. Louis, Missouri. She became a child model and acted in television commercials. At the age of eighteen she won the title of America's Junior Miss. She attended Northwestern University where she studied drama. She dropped out of ...

2. Al Alvarez

Writer | Personal Reflections

Poet, critic, and nonfiction writer Alfred Alvarez was born in London and educated at Oxford University. At age 28, Alvarez was the youngest person ever chosen by Princeton University to deliver the Christian Gauss lectures. He served as poetry critic and editor for The Observer from 1956 until ...

3. Billy Gilbert

Actor | His Girl Friday

The son of singers in the Metropolitan Opera, Billy Gilbert began performing in vaudeville at age 12. He developed a drawn-out, explosive sneezing routine that became his trademark (he was the model for, and voice of, Sneezy in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (1937)). Gilbert's exquisite comic ...

4. Bob Fosse

Director | Cabaret

Bob Fosse was born on June 23, 1927 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Cabaret (1972), All That Jazz (1979) and Lenny (1974). He was married to Gwen Verdon, Joan McCracken and Mary Ann Niles. He died on September 23, 1987 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

5. Bourvil

Actor | The Longest Day

At the age of three, André Zacharie Raimbourg and his family moved to a town in the region of Normandy called Bourville. He finished school at the age of 15 and began to work as a baker. He was already playing harmonica, mandoline and cornet when he engaged himself in a village band. In the ...

6. Caesar Giovannini

Music_department | Thriller

Composer and pianist, educated at the Chicago Conservatory (Bachelor/Master of Music degrees) and a pianist in the United States Navy Band in Washington DC. He joined NBC in Chicago as a staff pianist (1949-1956), and ABC in Chicago in 1958. Joining ASCAP in 1957, his chief musical collaborator was...

7. Charles Bradley

Soundtrack | Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets

Charles Bradley was born on November 5, 1948 in Gainesville, Florida, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for Valerian and the City of a Thousand Planets (2017), Stand Up Guys (2012) and Creed II (2018). He died on September 23, 2017 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA.

8. Chief Dan George

Actor | Little Big Man

Actor, author, and musician Chief Dan George was born in present-day North Vancouver as Geswanouth Slahoot (later anglicized as 'Dan Slaholt'), the son of a tribal chief on Burrard Indian Reserve Nº. 3. He is the only Aboriginal actor in Canadian history to date with the right to use the title "...

9. Cliff Arquette

Actor | Hobby Lobby

Comedian, actor, pianist, composer and songwriter. He was a night club pianist, later joining the Henry Halstead orchestra in 1923. He created the character of 'Charlie Weaver' for The Jack Paar Show, and portrayed 'Mrs. Butterworth' in television commercials. He joined ASCAP in 1959, and his chief...

10. DeWolf Hopper Sr.

Actor | Don Quixote

Best-known for performing the most popular baseball poem, "Casey at the Bat." Filmed as one of the first talkies, 5 years before The Jazz Singer (1927), Casey at the Bat (1922), was included in Ken Burns' Baseball (1994). Hopper, a fervent New York Giant fan, first performed the then-unknown poem ...

11. Don Anderson

Actor | Playhouse 90

Don Anderson grew up near the MGM studios, and was a Jitterbug Dancer for the studios during WW2. He became a bit player, and worked as an actor/stand-in starting with Van Johnson. He did some stunts, and was one of the bikers, Shark, in The Wild One with Marlon Brando. Don enjoyed the business and...

12. Elaine Feinstein

Writer | The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady

Elaine Feinstein was born on October 24, 1930 in Bootle, Merseyside, England, UK. She was a writer, known for The Country Diary of an Edwardian Lady (1984), BBC2 Playhouse (1973) and Play for Today (1970). She was married to Arnold Feinstein. She died on September 23, 2019 in the UK.

13. Erland van Lidth

Actor | The Running Man

Born in the Netherlands, he came to the United States as a child in the late 1950s. Erland grew up in Orange, New Jersey; Ridgefield, Connecticut; and Mont Vernon, New Hampshire. He attended the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he distinguished himself as a member of the wrestling team ...

14. Fred M. Wilcox

Director | Forbidden Planet

Fred McLeod Wilcox was born in Tazewell, VA, on December 22, 1906, one of six children born to James Wilcox, a Kentucky optometrist and drugstore owner, who was married six times (twice to one woman). His six children were from his first wife.

Wilcox's six siblings (his father adopted his niece ...

15. Gary Kurtz

Producer | Star Wars

Gary Kurtz was born on July 27, 1940 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a producer and assistant director, known for Star Wars: Episode IV - A New Hope (1977), American Graffiti (1973) and The Dark Crystal (1982). He was married to Stephanie Clare Gabriel, Roberta Jimenez and Meredith Marie ...

16. Homero Expósito

Writer | Historias Breves 2

Homero Expósito is known for Historias Breves 2 (1997), The Little Polish (2003) and Cantinflas (2014).

17. Ian Hunter

Actor | The Adventures of Robin Hood

Ian Hunter was born in the Kenilworth area of Cape Town, South Africa where he spent his childhood. In his teen years he and his parents returned to the family origins in England to live. Sometime between that arrival and the early years of World War I, Hunter began exploring acting, then in 1917 -...

18. Jane Fortune

Writer | Invisible Women. Forgotten Artists Of Florence

Jane Fortune was born on August 7, 1942 in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA. She was a writer, known for Invisible Women. Forgotten Artists Of Florence (2012) and When the World Answered. Florence, Women Artists and the 1966 Flood (2015). She was married to John Medveckis. She died on September 23, 2018 ...

19. John Eldredge

Actor | High Sierra

John Eldredge was born on August 30, 1904 in San Francisco, California, USA. He was an actor, known for High Sierra (1940), Backlash (1947) and The Master Key (1945). He was married to Frances Virginia Kathleen Hubbell and Eleanor Catherine Walker. He died on September 23, 1961 in Laguna Beach, ...

20. Mark Livolsi

Editor | Wedding Crashers

Mark Livolsi was born on April 10, 1962 in Mount Lebanon, Pennsylvania. He was an editor, known for Wedding Crashers (2005), The Devil Wears Prada (2006) and The Blind Side (2009). He was married to Maria Livolsi. He died on September 23, 2018.

21. Mickey Simpson

Actor | Giant

A burly American supporting actor, Mickey Simpson was born Charles Henry Simpson to Fred and Bertha Rogers Simpson in Rochester, New York. His paternal heritage was Irish. He was the eldest of four sons, one of whom, Richard, died in childhood. When his father was unable to find work following the ...

22. Pablo Neruda

Writer | American Roulette

Pablo Neruda was the pseudonym of Chilean poet Ricardo Neftali Reyes Basualto. He was born in Parral, a little town in central Chile, but his family moved to Temuco City when he was just a few months old. It was there he showed interest in poetry and made his early works, and where he picked "Pablo...

23. Robert A. Goldston

Producer | Runaway Train

Robert A. Goldston was born on November 2, 1928 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a producer, known for Runaway Train (1985), Georgy Girl (1966) and Murder by Decree (1979). He was married to Judith Goldston. He died on September 23, 2017 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.

24. Robert Bloch

Writer | Psycho

Robert Bloch was born on April 5, 1917 in Chicago, Illinois, USA. He was a writer, known for Psycho (1960), Psycho II (1983) and Psycho (1998). He was married to Eleanor Zalisko Alexander and Marion Holcombe. He died on September 23, 1994 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

25. Robert Hunter

Soundtrack | The Box

Robert Hunter was born on June 23, 1941 in San Luis Obispo, California, USA. He was a composer and actor, known for The Box (2009), Great Expectations (1998) and Wild (2014). He was married to Maureen Hunter. He died on September 23, 2019 in San Rafael, California, USA.

26. C. Robert Zelnick

David Frost Interviews Richard Nixon

C. Robert Zelnick was born on August 9, 1940 in New York City, New York, USA. He is known for David Frost Interviews Richard Nixon (1977). He was married to Pamela Sharp. He died on September 23, 2019 in Boston, Massachusetts, USA.

27. Shirley Clarke

Director | The Cool World

Shirley Clarke is an important figure in the history of mid-20th century independent cinema. Born Shirley Marion Brimberg to Samuel Nathan and Florence (Rosenberg) Brimberg, she was the eldest of their three daughters. She grew up in a wealthy family. Her father, who was born in present-day Belarus...

28. Sigmund Freud

Writer | The Ego and the Id

Austrian neurologist and 'father of psychoanalysis'. Freud was born to Jacob Freud, a Jewish wool merchant, and Amalia (neé Nathansohn). The family settled in Vienna when Freud was young. In 1873 he started medicine at the University of Vienna, at which time he adopted the shortened form of his ...

29. Tauto Sansbury

Self | Protecting Country

30. Thelma del Río

Actress | Estrellas de Buenos Aires

Thelma del Río was an actress, known for Estrellas de Buenos Aires (1956), Las píldoras (1972) and Claudia Morán (1986). She was married to Santiago Bal. She died in September 1998 in Buenos Aires, Argentina.

31. William Cort

Actor | Heathers

William Cort was born on July 8, 1936 in El Paso, Texas, USA. He was an actor, known for Heathers (1988), Ghost (1990) and Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988). He died on September 23, 1993 in Los Angeles, California, USA.