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: Ernie Kovacs

date_of_death: January 13, 1962

age: 42

cause_of_death: Automobile accident

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Ernest Kovacs was a American comedian, actor and writer whose visually experimental and often spontaneous comedic style influenced numerous television comedy programs for years after his death. Kovacs has been credited as an influence by many individuals and shows including Johnny Carson, Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In, Saturday Night Live, Monty Python's Flying Circus, Jim Henson, Conan O'Brien, Pee-wee's Playhouse and dozens more. During his short career Kovacs created the television comedy variety show The Ernie Kovacs Show (1952–53, 1956) and became noted for his zany slapstick sketches. He later hosted the quiz show Take a Good Look (1959–61) and acted in such films as Operation Mad Ball (1957) and Our Man in Havana (1960). Sadly he was killed instantly in a single-car accident just after leaving a party given earlier by Wilder for the adopted baby of Mr. and Mrs. Milton Berle.

popular name: Judy Tyler

date_of_death: July 3, 1957

age: 24

cause_of_death: Car accident

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Judy Tyler was an American actress and began acting as a teenager on Howdy Doody. She later landed a starring role in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Pipe Dream. Life did a story on rising Broadway talent with Tyler on the magazine's cover as one of the up-and-coming stars. Once in Hollywood, Tyler appeared in the film Bop Girl Goes Calypso (1957), then starred opposite Elvis Presley as his love interest in Jailhouse Rock (1957). After completing filming of the Presley movie, she and her second husband, Gregory Lafayette, left Hollywood to return to their home in New York. While driving through Wyoming, they were involved in an automobile accident on U.S. Route 287 near Rock River. She was killed instantly, age 24, and her husband, died the following day, also age 24.