Gregg Toland

popular name: Anna Nicole Smith

date_of_death: February 8, 2007

age: 39

cause_of_death: Combined drug intoxication

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Anna Nicole Smith was a stunning, full-figured American model, a terrible actress and television personality. Smith started her career as a Playboy magazine centerfold in May 1992 and won the title of 1993 Playmate of the Year. She later modeled for fashion companies including Guess, H&M and Heatherette. In 1993, when she modeled for the Swedish clothing company H&M, this led to her picture being displayed on large billboards in Sweden and Norway. Smith was also featured on the cover of Marie Claire and in GQ magazine. Smith dropped out of high school in 1984, married in 1985 and divorced in 1993. In 1994, her highly publicized second marriage to 89-year-old billionaire J. Howard Marshall resulted in speculation that she married him for his money, which she denied. Following Marshall's death in 1995, Smith began a lengthy legal battle over a share of his estate. Her cases reached the Supreme Court of the United States: Marshall v. Marshall on a question of federal jurisdiction and Stern v. Marshall on a question of bankruptcy court authority. Eventually losing her bid to gain control of a portion of billionaire Marshall's $1.6 billion estate, she was saddled with attorney fees that made her bankrupt. In the end, Vickie Lynn Hogan swapped her small-town woes for a ticket to stardom as a Playboy Playmate, Guess Jeans pinup girl and glamorous movie star: a walking, talking billboard for fashion, sex and, later, severe misfortune. Upon her passing, Anna was laid to rest at Lakeview Memorial Gardens in Nassau Bahamas.

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: Gordon Scott

date_of_death: April 30, 2007

age: 80

cause_of_death: Post surgical complications

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: In 1954 Gordon Werschkul was the lifeguard at the Sahara Hotel on the Las Vegas strip when movie producer Sol Lesser struck up a conversation with the handsome, muscle-bound lifeguard. Next thing you know Gordon was on a plane to Hollywood with a new last name, a loin cloth and a 7-year movie contract. Scott, arguably the most handsome of the Hollywood Tarzans, probably had a better build than the 17 others, weighing 218lbs with 19in biceps and standing 6ft 3in, all of which helped him continue his career in Italian "sword and sandals" epics. Over the next 5 years, starting with Tarzan’s Hidden Jungle (1955), Scott made 6 Tarzan movies as the 11th Tarzan to star in the movies. In the early 1960s, in an effort to avoid being typecast, he moved to Italy and made a series of "Sword and Sandals' movies followed by a few "Spaghetti Westerns". Oddly enough after a run of Scott made 24 movies including "Tarzan and the Lost Safari" (1957), "Tarzan's Fight for Life" (1958), "Tarzan and the Trappers" (1958), "Tarzan's Greatest Adventure" (1959, with Sean Connery and Anthony Quayle) and "Tarzan the Magnificent" (1960) he dropped out of show business all together. He essentially couch-surfed and lived with friends, living off of residuals and was a popular guest at film conventions and autograph shows and never made another appearance in film or television. Upon his death, he was laid to rest at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.