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: Laurence Olivier

date_of_death: July 11, 1989

age: 82

cause_of_death: Kidney failure

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Laurence Olivier was one of the most influential actors, directors and producer of the 20th century, renowned for his commanding Shakespearean performances on stage and screen. Born in 1907, he rose to prominence in British theatre in the 1930s before gaining international fame with film roles such as Heathcliff in Wuthering Heights (1939) and Maxim de Winter in Rebecca (1940). Olivier cemented his legacy with his film adaptations of Shakespeare, directing and starring in Henry V (1944), Hamlet (1948)—for which he won the Academy Award for Best Actor—and Richard III (1955). A towering figure at the Old Vic and later the founding director of Britain’s National Theatre in 1963, he helped shape modern British theatre. His later films included Spartacus (1960), The Shoes of the Fisherman (1968), Sleuth (1972), Marathon Man (1976) and The Boys from Brazil (1978). Over his long career, he earned multiple Academy Awards, honorary titles, and a life peerage as Baron Olivier. His marriage to Vivien Leigh was one of the era’s most famous artistic partnerships. Olivier remained active in film and television into the 1970s, leaving a lasting legacy as a master interpreter of Shakespeare and a central architect of contemporary British drama.

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 an 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. He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Hollywood Park, California.