Franco Zeffirelli

popular name: Lupe Vélez

date_of_death: December 14, 1944

age: 36

cause_of_death: Suicide - overdose of the barbiturate drug Seconal

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Lupe Vélez was a Mexican actress, singer, and dancer during the Golden Age of Hollywood cinema. The Mexican actress made 45 films in her short 36 years, acting with nearly all the top performers of the silent era by the time she was 21. Vélez began her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. After moving to the United States, she made her first film appearance in a short in 1927. By the end of the decade, she was acting in full-length silent films and had progressed to leading roles in The Gaucho (1927), Lady of the Pavements (1928) and Wolf Song (1929), among others. Vélez made the transition to sound films without difficulty and she was one of the first successful Mexican actresses in Hollywood. During the 1930s, her explosive screen persona was exploited in successful comedic films like Hot Pepper (1933), Strictly Dynamite (1934) and Hollywood Party (1934). In the 1940s, Vélez's popularity peaked while appearing as Carmelita Fuentes in eight Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on her fiery personality. Vélez struggled with typecasting and the limitations placed on Latina actresses in Hollywood, which affected her career as the industry evolved. In 1944, while pregnant and facing emotional distress, she died by suicide at the age of 36.

popular name: Bill Goodwin

date_of_death: May 9, 1958

age: 47

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Bill Goodwin was for many years the announcer and a recurring character of the Burns and Allen radio program, and subsequently The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show on television from 1950–1951. In 1945, Goodwin was the "featured comedian" as a regular on The Frank Sinatra Show and The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show. In 1947, he had his own program, The Bill Goodwin Show, a situation comedy, also known as Leave It to Bill. He was also the announcer for the Blondie radio program. Upon his death, he was laid to rest at Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, CA.

popular name: Kevin Coughlin

date_of_death: January 19, 1976 ·

age: 30

cause_of_death: Struck by automobile

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Kevin Coughlin was an American actor who made his debut on television on “The Children's Hour” in 1950. His television debut in a series was on his seventh birthday, on December 12, 1952, on the memorable show "Mama", where he would stay as a regular for four years. In 1956 Kevin starred in his first film, the highly controversial drama "Storm Center". Kevin went on to appear in a number of TV dramas, of which only "A Trip to Czardis" and "The Ballad of Huckleberry Finn" can be seen at the Museum of Television and Radio. After starring in two more films, the hilarious "Happy Anniversary" and the bold classic "The Defiant Ones", his career seemed to fizzle. There are few roles in the early sixties. His motion picture credits include “Wild in the Streets,” “Gay Deceivers,” “The Defiant Ones” and “Young Runaways.” and he appeared on Broadway in Carson McCullers's “The Square Root of Wonderful,” Oscar Hammerstein's “The King and I,” and Nathaniel Benchley's comedy “The Frogs of Spring.” Sadly, in the early morning hours of January 10, 1976, as Kevin was cleaning his windshield on Ventura Boulevard 1500 feet North of Whitsett, he was hit by a speeding car. Suffering from broken legs and a broken hip, Kevin lingered for 10 days at the hospital before passing away due to bronchial pneumonia, never regaining consciousness. He was laid to rest at Gate of Heaven Cemetery Hawthorne, New York.