Franco Zeffirelli

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: George Burns

date_of_death: March 9, 1996

age: 100

cause_of_death: Cardio respiratory arrest and heart failure

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: George Burns was a beloved American comedian, actor, singer, and writer and one of a few who made the successful transition from vaudeville to radio to television and films. Immensely successful with his wife and partner Gracie Allan, he was devastated by her death. Consequently Burns plunged more furiously than ever into work; he produced television series for NBC and ABC-TV, lectured at universities, made television guest appearances, developed new night-club acts and wrote books before becoming, at the age of 79, a genuine movie star. "Al Lewis", his Oscar-winning role in The Sunshine Boys, originally had been slated for Jack Benny, his closest friend, who died shortly before the film began production. He reached the ripe old age of 100 when he passed quietly at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

popular name: Al Jolson

date_of_death: October 23, 1950

age: 64

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Jolson rose through the ranks of vaudeville as a comedian and a blackface “Mammy” singer. By 1920, he had become the biggest star on Broadway, but he is probably best remembered for his film career. He starred in "The Jazz Singer" (1927), the first talking movie ever made, and his legend was assured in 1946 with the release of the successful biography of his life "The Al Jolson Story". At the height of his career he was the highest paid entertainer in the world!