Franco Zeffirelli

popular name: Mel Blanc

date_of_death: July 10, 1989

age: 81

cause_of_death: Emphysema and heart disease

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Known as "The Man of Thousand Voices" Mel Blanc developed and performed nearly 400 distinct character voices including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Elmer Fudd with precision and a uniquely expressive vocal range.

popular name: Martha Raye

date_of_death: October 19, 1994 (aged 78)

age: 78

cause_of_death: Aspiration and Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Martha Raye, nicknamed The Big Mouth, was an American comedic actress and singer who performed in the stage, in the movies and later on television. While she might be best remembered for those annoying television commercials for Polident denture cleanser in the 1970s and 1980s, she actually had quite the remarkable career over her 5 decades in show business. In 1936, she was signed for comic roles by Paramount Pictures and her first feature film was Rhythm on the Range with Bing Crosby. Over the next 25 years she starred opposite such A-list comedians including Joe E. Brown, Bob Hope, W.C. Fields, Abbott and Costello, Charlie Chaplin and Jimmy Durante. She was a television star very early in its history. She starred in the short-lived (28 episodes) The Martha Raye Show (1954–1956), opposite retired middleweight boxer Rocky Graziano, who played her boyfriend. She went on and appeared in numerous T.V. series including Alice, Murder She Wrote, The Andy Williams Show and McMillan and Wife. During her last 5 years she suffered from difficult health issues including circulator issues (which resulted in the amputation both legs below the knee) and several strokes. Raye died at age 78 of aspiration and pneumonia.

popular name: Milton Berle

date_of_death: March 27, 2002

age: 93

cause_of_death: Colon cancer

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Comedian Milton Berle, one of the pioneering legends of television known to a generation of devoted fans as "Uncle Miltie," Berle's career began when he was 5 years old and spanned more than 80 years in stage, film, radio, and television. But it was on television in the 1940s and '50s that Berle made his most lasting mark. "The Texaco Star Theater," featuring Berle and guest stars in what would become legendary comic skits, debuted in 1948 and caught on with the public almost immediately. It became a Tuesday night fixture in homes across America and was credited with helping sell millions of first-time TV sets to a nation just getting acquainted with the new medium. After his twenty years as "Mr. Television" Berle slowly turned into a narcissistic, overbearing attention hog who didn't have neither the knowledge or desire to leave the spotlight with grace. Yet Berle is remembered today less for his jokes, or his comedy, than he is for both being a big d**k and having a big d**k. Berle was notorious for being a joke thief, an attention hog, a scene stealer, and a petty tyrant who took it upon himself to do things like try to “teach” the cast of Saturday Night Live about live television, resulting in one of the most notorious and disastrous episodes in the show’s history. So it comes as no surprise that his legacy has aged badly since his passing.