Gregg Toland

popular name: Allan Sherman

date_of_death: November 20, 1973

age: 48

cause_of_death: Respiratory failure

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Allan Sherman was an American musician, satirist, actor and television producer who became known as a song parodist in the early 1960s. In the fall of 1962, if an album sold 10,000 copies, Warner Bros. Records considered it a success. Then Allan Sherman released My Son The Folk Singer, an album of Jewish themed parody songs that sold close to 400,000 copies in three weeks on the way to over one million sales. Among the single recordings that helped to push his annual income beyond $500,000 at the height of his popularity were “Crazy Downtown,” and “Hello Mudduh, Hello Fadduh,” which described the horrors of a summer camp and won for Mr. Sherman a Grammy Award in 1963 for the best comic performance. But just as quickly as his star rose, Mr. Sherman's saw his popularity vanish post JFK and with the rise of Beatlemania. Audiences lost their desire for his particular form of comedy and the British Invasion dominated the airwaves. In his final years, Sherman's alcoholism and weight gain caused severe deterioration of his health; he later developed diabetes and struggled with lung disease. In 1966, his wife Dee filed for divorce and received full custody of their son and daughter. Sherman lived on unemployment benefits for a time and moved into the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital for a short time to lose weight. He died while entertaining his friends during the night of November 20, 1973, at his West Hollywood home.

popular name: James Mason

date_of_death: July 27, 1984

age: 75

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: James Mason was one of the greatest actors of his generation. The British-born actor noted for portraying suave and cerebral aristocrats and scoundrels in more than 100 films over nearly half a century. He achieved considerable success in British cinema before becoming a star in Hollywood. He was the top box-office attraction in the UK in 1944 and 1945; his British films included The Seventh Veil (1945) and The Wicked Lady (1945). He starred in Odd Man Out (1947), the first recipient of the BAFTA Award for Best British Film. In the U.S. Mason starred in such films as George Cukor's A Star Is Born (1954), Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest (1959), Stanley Kubrick's Lolita (1962), Warren Beatty's Heaven Can Wait (1978), and Sidney Lumet's The Verdict (1982). He also starred in a number of successful British and American films from the 1950s to the early 1980s, including: The Desert Fox (1951), Julius Caesar (1953), Bigger Than Life (1956), 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), Journey to the Center of the Earth (1959), Georgy Girl (1966), and The Boys from Brazil (1978). Mason was nominated for three Academy Awards, three Golden Globes (winning the Golden Globe in 1955 for A Star is Born) and two BAFTA Awards throughout his career.

popular name: Ernie Kovacs

date_of_death: January 13, 1962

age: 42

cause_of_death: Automobile accident

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Ernest Kovacs was a American comedian, actor and writer whose visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years after his death. Kovacs has been credited as an influence by many individuals and shows including Johnny Carson, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Saturday Night Live, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Jim Henson, Conan O'Brien, Pee-wee's Playhouse and dozens more. During his short career Kovacs created the television comedy variety show The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952–53, 1956) and became noted for his zany slapstick sketches. He later hosted the quiz show Take a Good Look (1959–61) and acted in such films as Operation Mad Ball (1957) and Our Man in Havana (1960). Sadly he was killed instantly in a single-car accident just after leaving a party given earlier by Wilder for the adopted baby of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Berle.