Gregg Toland

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: Bette Davis

date_of_death: October 6, 1989

age: 81

cause_of_death: Metastasized breast cancer

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Bette Davis was an American actress of film, television, and theater. Regarded as one of the greatest actresses in Hollywood history, she was noted for her willingness to play unsympathetic, sardonic characters and was known for her performances in a range of film genres, from contemporary crime melodramas to historical and period films and occasional comedies, although her greatest successes were her roles in romantic dramas. In 101 feature films and TV movies, she created Hollywood’s first and finest portrait of the thoroughly modern woman: her independence born in neurosis, her strength forged in professional and domestic combat, her man of the moment an irrelevance or a desperate burden. ”I either have to hold him off/ Or have to hold him up,” she sang in Thank Your Lucky Stars. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress twice, was the first person to accrue ten Academy Award nominations (and one write-in) for acting, and was the first woman to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Film Institute. In 1999, Davis was placed second on the American Film Institute's list of the greatest female stars of classic Hollywood cinema. In 1983, after filming the pilot episode for the television series Hotel, Davis was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy. Within two weeks of her surgery, she had four strokes which caused paralysis in the left side of her face and in her left arm, and left her with slurred speech. Davis collapsed during the American Cinema Awards in 1989, and later discovered that her cancer had returned. Too weak to make the long journey back to the U.S., she traveled to France, where she died of metastasized breast cancer on October 6, 1989, at the American Hospital in Neuilly-sur-Seine. Davis was 81 years old. Bette was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood, California.

popular name: Yves Montand

date_of_death: November 9, 1991

age: 70

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Yves Montand was an Italian-French actor and singer who began his career in show business as a music-hall singer and, in 1944, he was discovered by Édith Piaf in Paris and she made him part of her act. He is perhaps best known for the films in his later years such as Le Cercle Rouge (2003), Manon of the Spring (1987), Jean de Florette (1987) and Clair de Femme (1980). Actor, singer and music-hall dancer famous throughout the world, Yves Montand is one of France’s most emblematic artists. He had a successful career as an actor, and had roles alongside Edith Piaf, Simone Signoret and Marilyn Monroe, as well as working with directors Costa-Gavras and Alain Resnais. Additionally, Montand is often known for being the first singer to perform "Autumn Leaves," a song by Prévert and Kosma, which continues to be a standard throughout the world. Yves Montand died of a heart attack on the set of his final movie, IP5: L'île aux pachydermes, on the very last day of filming and just after his very last shot. He was laid to rest at Cimetière du Père Lachaise in Paris, France.