Georgia Engel

popular name: Simone Signoret

date_of_death: September 30, 1985

age: 64

cause_of_death: Pancreatic cancer

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Legendary French actress Simone Signoret had a five-decade career of more than sixty films; her unassailable talent in creating not only memorable but iconic female characters. From 1950 to 1955 Signoret created the roles with which she is most identified in the early stage of her career, a moody, sensual, scintillating presence that made her first a national and then an international symbol: La Ronde (Max Ophuls, 1950), Thérèse Raquin (Marcel Carné, 1953), Diabolique (Henri-Georges Clouzot, 1955), and Casque d’Ôr (Jacques Becker, 1952). The latter film not only established Signoret as an actress of range and complexity, but also galvanized her career as a first-rate star; it remained her favorite rôle, along with Room at the Top (Jack Clayton, 1958, for which she received an Oscar). Room at the Top marked the next phase of Signoret’s career and truly launched her on the international scene; she was honored as Best Actress by both British and American film academies and by the Cannes Film Festival. During her illustrious career she received various accolades, including an Academy Award, three BAFTA Awards, a César Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and the Cannes Film Festival Award for Best Actress, in addition to nominations for two Golden Globe Awards. Upon her death, she was laid to rest at Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris, France.

popular name: Ticky Holgado

date_of_death: January 22, 2004

age: 59

cause_of_death: Lung cancer

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Ticky Holgado was a French character actor known for his short stature, distinctive face and heavy Southern accent. Holgado's original vocation was to be a musician. After playing in a band as a teenager, he found work in the French music industry and was eventually employed as a personal secretary by singer Claude François and later by Johnny Hallyday. He became an actor in his mid-thirties and began appearing in small roles, mostly in comedy films. He gradually became a familiar face in French films. In 1991, Holgado appeared in two films that allowed him to gain greater fame, Delicatessen by Jean-Pierre Jeunet and Marc Caro, then Une époque formidable..., by Gérard Jugnot, where he played a part written especially for him. During the years that followed, Holgado was very active as a character actor. He was nominated twice to the César Award for Best Supporting Actor, first for Une époque formidable..., then for French Twist (1994). Unfortunately the talented actor had to step back from films while he fought a five-year losing battle with lung cancer. In the end he was featured in over 65 films including international hits "Amelie," "Manon of the Spring," and "Les Miserables."

popular name: Audie Murphy

date_of_death: May 28, 1971

age: 45

cause_of_death: Plane crash

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: He wanted to join the Marines, but he was too short. The paratroopers wouldn't have him, either. Reluctantly, he settled on the infantry, and ultimately became one of the most decorated heroes of World War II. He was Audie Murphy, the baby-faced Texas farm boy who became an American legend. Dropping out of school in the fifth grade to earn money picking cotton, he was 16 years old when his mother died and watched as his siblings as they were doled out to an orphanage or to relatives. Seeking an escape from this difficult life, Murphy enlisted in the Army in 1942 — falsifying his birth certificate so that he appeared to be 18, one year older than he actually was. By the end of World War II, Murphy had become one of the nation's most-decorated soldiers, earning an unparalleled 28 medals (including three from France and one from Belgium). Murphy had been wounded three times during the war. In May 1945, when victory was declared in Europe, he had still not reached his 21st birthday. In 1949 Audie Murphy published his acclaimed autobiography, To Hell and Back, then spent the next 21 years in Hollywood, most famously portraying himself in the movie of the same name. Mostly he played Westerns. Despite a steady stream of income, Murphy's horseracing addiction led to financial difficulties, though he refused to appear in commercials for alcohol and cigarettes, thinking it a bad influence on children. Upon his death, he was laid to death with honors at Arlington National Cemetery in Washington DC.