Gregg Toland

popular name: Preston Sturges

date_of_death: August 6, 1959

age: 60

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Preston Sturges was one of the more celebrated American playwright, screenwriter, and film director of the 1940s and early 1950s with films like “The Great McGinty,” “The Lady Eve,” “Sullivan's Travels,” “The Palm Beach Story,” “The Miracle of Morgan's Creek” and “Hail the Conquering Hero.” Sturges took the screwball comedy format of the 1930s to another level, writing dialogue that, heard today, is often surprisingly naturalistic, mature, and ahead of its time, despite the farcical situations. The writer/director won the first Oscar for Best Original Screenplay for “The Great McGinty” in 1941. He is also credited as the first successful screenwriter to move into directing his own screenplays.

popular name: Karen Black

date_of_death: August 8, 2013

age: 74

cause_of_death: Ampullary cancer

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Karen Black was an American actress, screenwriter, singer, and songwriter. She rose to prominence for her work in various studio and independent films in the 1970s, frequently portraying eccentric and offbeat characters, and established herself as a figure of New Hollywood. Her career spanned over 50 years and includes nearly 200 credits in both independent and mainstream films. Black made her screen debut in Francis Ford Coppola's own first film, You're a Big Boy Now (1966), and collaborated more than once with Jack Nicholson, who cast Black in his 1971 directorial debut, Drive, He Said, after co-starring with her in Easy Rider (1969) and Five Easy Pieces (1970). She was also a favorite of Robert Altman, who directed her in Nashville (1975), for which she and many of the cast wrote and performed their own songs, and Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). Playing herself in Altman's The Player (1992), she was one of many such celebrity guest stars in that overpopulated satire to be left on the cutting-room floor. Black received numerous accolades throughout her career, including two Golden Globe Awards, as well as an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress. Upon her death, she was laid to rest at Eternal Hills Memorial Park in Oceanside California.

popular name: Katharine Hepburn

date_of_death: June 29, 2003

age: 96

cause_of_death: Cardiac arrest

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Katharine Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that matched this public image, and regularly playing strong-willed, sophisticated women. Her work was in a range of genres, from screwball comedy to literary drama, and earned her various accolades, including four Academy Awards for Best Actress—a record for any performer. After a brief lull in her early career, Hepburn continued to be articulate and outspoken, transitioning to more mature roles in films as varied as "Summertime," "Suddenly Last Summer," and, notably, 1962's "Long Day's Journey into Night," considered by many her dramatic high water mark. Hepburn challenged herself in the latter half of her life as she tackled Shakespearean stage productions and a range of literary roles. She found a niche playing mature, independent, and sometimes unmarried women such as in The African Queen (1951), a persona the public embraced. Hepburn received three more Academy Awards for her performances in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967), The Lion in Winter (1968), and On Golden Pond (1981). In the 1970s, she began appearing in television films, which later became her focus. She made her final screen appearance at the age of 87. After a period of inactivity and ill health, Hepburn died in 2003 at the age of 96.