Mabel Normand

popular name: Yul Brynner

date_of_death: October 10, 1985

age: 65

cause_of_death: Lung cancer

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Exotic leading man of American films, famed as much for his completely bald head as for his performances, Yul Brynner masked much of his early life in mystery. He traveled to the U.S. in 1941 to study with acting teacher Michael Chekhov and toured the country with Chekhov's theatrical troupe. That same year, he debuted in New York as Fabian in "Twelfth Night" (billed as Youl Bryner). After working in a very early TV series, Mr. Jones and His Neighbors (1944), he played on Broadway in "Lute Song" with Mary Martin, winning awards and mild acclaim. He and his wife, actress Virginia Gilmore, starred in the first TV talk show, Mr. and Mrs. (1948). Brynner then joined CBS as a television director. He made his film debut in Port of New York (1949). Two years later Mary Martin recommended him for the part he would forever be known for: the King in Richard Rodgers' and Oscar Hammerstein II's musical "The King and I". Brynner became an immediate sensation in the role, repeating it for film (The King and I (1956)) and winning the Oscar for Best Actor. For the next two decades, he maintained a starring film career despite the exotic nature of his persona, performing in a wide range of roles from Egyptian pharaohs to Western gunfighters, almost all with the same shaved head and indefinable accent. In the 1970s he returned to the role that had made him a star, and spent most of the rest of his life touring the world in "The King and I".

popular name: Groucho Marx

date_of_death: August 19, 1977

age: 86

cause_of_death: Pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Julius Henry "Groucho" Marx was best known as a master of quick wit and widely considered one of the best comedians of the modern era. His rapid-fire, often impromptu delivery of innuendo-laden patter earned him many admirers and imitators. Marx made 26 movies, including 13 with his brothers Chico and Harpo. The team made their last two Broadway shows—The Cocoanuts and Animal Crackers into movies. Other successful films were Monkey Business, Horse Feathers, Duck Soup and A Night at the Opera. He also had a successful solo career, most notably as the host of the radio and television game show You Bet Your Life. His distinctive appearance, carried over from his days in vaudeville, included quirks such as an exaggerated stooped posture, glasses, cigar, and a thick greasepaint mustache and eyebrows. On April 2, 1974, at the 46th annual Academy Awards, Jack Lemmon presented Marx with an honorary Oscar to a standing ovation. The award honored Harpo, Chico, and Zeppo as well. Marx's final appearance was a brief sketch with George Burns in the Bob Hope television special Joys (a parody of the 1975 movie Jaws) in March 1976. His health continued to decline the following year; when his younger brother Gummo died at age 83 on April 21, 1977, Marx was never told for fear of eliciting still further deterioration of his health. Marx was hospitalized at Cedars Sinai Medical Center with pneumonia on June 22, 1977 and died at the age of 86 on August 19, just 4 months after Gummo.

popular name: Laurence Olivier

date_of_death: July 11, 1989

age: 82

cause_of_death: Kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Laurence Olivier was one of the most influential actors, directors and producer of the 20th century, renowned for his commanding Shakespearean performances on stage and screen. Born in 1907, he rose to prominence in British theatre in the 1930s before gaining international fame with film roles such as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939) and Maxim de Winter in Rebecca (1940). Olivier cemented his legacy with his film adaptations of Shakespeare, directing and starring in Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948)—for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor—and Richard III (1955). A towering figure at the Old Vic and later the founding director of Britain’s National Theatre in 1963, he helped shape modern British theatre. His later films included Spartacus (1960), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978). Over his long career, he earned multiple Academy Awards, honorary titles, and a life peerage as Baron Olivier. His marriage to Vivien Leigh was one of the era’s most famous artistic partnerships. Olivier remained active in film and television into the 1970s, leaving a lasting legacy as a master interpreter of Shakespeare and a central architect of contemporary British drama.