Gregg Toland

popular name: Gene Tierney

date_of_death: November 6, 1991

age: 70

cause_of_death: Emphysema

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Gene Tierney was a talented American actress during the golden years of Hollywood in the 1940s, 1950s, and 1960s, and was renown for her striking beauty. She is best known for her role as the mysterious murder victim in Laura (1944), and her Oscar-nominated performance in Leave Her to Heaven (1945).

popular name: Audie Murphy

date_of_death: May 28, 1971

age: 45

cause_of_death: Plane crash

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: He wanted to join the Marines, but he was too short. The paratroopers wouldn't have him, either. Reluctantly, he settled on the infantry, and ultimately became one of the most decorated heroes of World War II. He was Audie Murphy, the baby-faced Texas farm boy who became an American legend. Dropping out of school in the fifth grade to earn money picking cotton, he was 16 years old when his mother died and watched as his siblings as they were doled out to an orphanage or to relatives. Seeking an escape from this difficult life, Murphy enlisted in the Army in 1942 — falsifying his birth certificate so that he appeared to be 18, one year older than he actually was. By the end of World War II, Murphy had become one of the nation's most-decorated soldiers, earning an unparalleled 28 medals (including three from France and one from Belgium). Murphy had been wounded three times during the war. In May 1945, when victory was declared in Europe, he had still not reached his 21st birthday. In 1949 Audie Murphy published his acclaimed autobiography, To Hell and Bank, then spent the next 21 years in Hollywood, most famously portraying himself in the movie of the same name. Mostly he played Westerns. Despite a steady stream of income, Murphy's horseracing addiction led to financial difficulties, though he refused to appear in commercials for alcohol and cigarettes, thinking it a bad influence on children.

popular name: Françoise Dorléac

date_of_death: June 26, 1967

age: 25

cause_of_death: Single car crash

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Françoise Dorléac was a beloved French actress whose father was Maurice Dorleac, a stage and screen actor and her mother, Renee Deneuve, re-voiced Hollywood movies (including Judy Garland in The Wizard of Oz). However most American's would know her as the older sister of Catherine Deneuve. Francoise Dorleac made her first stage appearance at age 10 and debuted on film in a short, Mesonges, in 1957. Supporting herself as a model for Dior, she studied acting at the Conservatoire d’Art Dramatique. From 1960 – 1967 she appeared in 16 films including Philippe de Broca’s That Man from Rio (1964) co-starring Jean-Paul BelmondoIn Europe, Francois Truffaut’s The Soft Skin (1964) and Roger Vadim’s remake of La Ronde (1964) with Jane Fonda and Anna Karina. At the time Francoise was so popular she would be likened to Garbo and Dietrich. In the U.S. Look magazine would feature a June 1965 spread on "The Sister Stars of France," spotlighting 'sweet' Catherine and 'soignee' Francoise. In the final years of her very short life, Françoise Dorléac co-starred in the films "Billion Dollar Brain", "Genghis Khan" with Omar Sharif and James Mason, and "Where the Spies Are", a spy spoof with David Niven. Decades after her passing, a reporter would ask Catherine Deneuve what the low point of her life so far had been. She would pause and softly speak of the death of Françoise. She remembered her sister as a fine actress, a beautiful woman and "my closest friend."