Gregg Toland

popular name: Brittany Murphy

date_of_death: December 20, 2009

age: 32

cause_of_death: Pneumonia with secondary factors of iron-deficiency anemia and multiple drug intoxication resulting in cardiac arrest

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Brittany Murphy was an actress and singer who is best remembered as the rich, airhead teen in the movie Clueless (1995). She went on to star or co-star in such movies as Riding in Cars with Boys (2001), Spun (2002), Just Married (2003), Uptown Girls (2003), Sin City (2005), and Happy Feet (2006) before her baffling sudden death at the young age of 32.

popular name: Teresa Wright

date_of_death: March 6, 2005

age: 86

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Perhaps one of the greatest actresses you never heard of, Teresa Wright should be remembered for as the only performer to have received Academy Award nominations for her first three films. She was nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress: in 1941 for her debut work in The Little Foxes, and in 1942 for Mrs. Miniver, winning for the latter. That same year, she received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her performance in The Pride of the Yankees, opposite Gary Cooper. She is also known for her performances in Alfred Hitchcock's Shadow of a Doubt (1943) and William Wyler's The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). In fact, the first six films she starred in are all considered Hollywood film classics. In addition to film work, Wright received three Emmy Award nominations for her performances in the Playhouse 90 original television version of The Miracle Worker (1957), in the Breck Sunday Showcase feature The Margaret Bourke-White Story, and in the CBS drama series Dolphin Cove (1989). She earned the acclaim of top film directors, including William Wyler, Alfred Hitchcock, Elia Kazan and Francis Ford Coppola. If one is known for the company you keep, then Teresa Wright was in very good company acting opposite to Marlon Brando, Lew Ayres, Bette Davis, Gary Cooper, Fredric March, Myrna Loy and Greer Garson. Her final film role before her passing was as Miss Birdie in John Grisham's The Rainmaker (1997).

popular name: Kevin Coughlin

date_of_death: January 19, 1976 ·

age: 30

cause_of_death: Struck by automobile

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Kevin Coughlin was an American actor who made his debut on television on “The Children's Hour” in 1950. His television debut in a series was on his seventh birthday, on December 12, 1952, on the memorable show "Mama", where he would stay as a regular for four years. In 1956 Kevin starred in his first film, the highly controversial drama "Storm Center". Kevin went on to appear in a number of TV dramas, of which only "A Trip to Czardis" and "The Ballad of Huckleberry Finn" can be seen at the Museum of Television and Radio. After starring in two more films, the hilarious "Happy Anniversary" and the bold classic "The Defiant Ones", his career seemed to fizzle. There are few roles in the early sixties. His motion picture credits include “Wild in the Streets,” “Gay Deceivers,” “The Defiant Ones” and “Young Runaways.” and he appeared on Broadway in Carson McCullers's “The Square Root of Wonderful,” Oscar Hammerstein's “The King and I,” and Nathaniel Benchley's comedy “The Frogs of Spring.” Sadly, in the early morning hours of January 10, 1976, as Kevin was cleaning his windshield on Ventura Boulevard 1500 feet North of Whitsett, he was hit by a speeding car. Suffering from broken legs and a broken hip, Kevin lingered for 10 days at the hospital before passing away due to bronchial pneumonia, never regaining consciousness. He was laid to rest at Gate of Heaven Cemetery Hawthorne, New York.