Gregg Toland

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: Rudolf Valentino

date_of_death: August 23, 1926

age: 31

cause_of_death: Ruptured gastric ulcer, general peritonitis and septic pneumonia

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Nicknamed The Latin Lover, Rudolf Valentino was an Italian actor based in the United States who starred in several well-known silent films including The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, The Sheik, Blood and Sand, The Eagle, and The Son of the Sheik. Valentino was a sex symbol of the 1920s, known in Hollywood as the "Latin Lover" (a title invented for him by Hollywood moguls), the "Great Lover", or simply Valentino. His early death at the age of 31 caused mass hysteria among his fans, further cementing his place in early cinematic history as a cultural film icon.

popular name: Anne Heche

date_of_death: August 11, 2022

age: 53

cause_of_death: Smoke inhalation and thermal injuries from a vehicular crash, following a sternal fracture due to blunt trauma

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Anne Heche was an actress known for her roles in a variety of genres in film, television, and theater. She received numerous accolades, including a National Board of Review Award and multiple Emmy Awards. Heche's professional acting career began on the soap opera Another World (1987–1991) portraying the twins Vicky Hudson and Marley Love, for which she received a Daytime Emmy Award in 1991. She made her film debut in a supporting role in O Pioneers!, a 1992 American made-for-television drama film based on the 1913 novel by Willa Cather. Heche's acting profile rose during the 1990s, gaining particular attention for her co-starring role in the independent film Walking and Talking (1996) and for her standout supporting role in the crime drama Donnie Brasco (1997). Further high-profile roles followed in 1997, including Volcano, I Know What You Did Last Summer and Wag the Dog. In 1998, Heche further rose to prominence with her leading role in the romantic comedy Six Days, Seven Nights opposite Harrison Ford. Also in 1998, she starred in Gus Van Sant's shot-for-shot remake of Psycho. Heche's personal life often upstaged her acting career. From 1997 to 2000, she was in a high-profile relationship with comedian Ellen DeGeneres. Immediately following her split with DeGeneres in 2000, she had a highly publicized psychotic breakdown.