Gregg Toland

popular name: Tony Randall

date_of_death: May 17, 2004

age: 84

cause_of_death: Pneumonia following coronary bypass surgery

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Tony Randall (1920–2004) was an American actor best known for his work in television, film, and theater. He began his career on Broadway in the 1940s and gradually established himself as a versatile character actor, appearing in films such as Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?, Pillow Talk, and The Mating Game. His most famous role came in television, where he played the fussy, intellectual Felix Unger on The Odd Couple (1970–1975), earning widespread acclaim and several Emmy nominations. Randall continued acting on stage and screen for decades, including a notable role as the voice of the narrator in The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle.

popular name: James Cagney

date_of_death: March 30, 1986

age: 86

cause_of_death: Heart attack

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: James Cagney was one of greatest actors, dancer, entertainer and performer during the Golden Age of Hollywood. On stage and in film, he was known for his consistently energetic performances, distinctive vocal style, and deadpan comic timing. Cagney is remembered for playing multifaceted tough guys in films such as The Public Enemy (1931), Taxi! (1932), Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), The Roaring Twenties (1939), City for Conquest (1940) and White Heat (1949). To avoid being typecast as a gangster in every film, he was able to negotiate dancing opportunities in his films and ended up winning the Academy Award for his role in the musical Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942). Ending three decades on the screen, he retired to his farm in Stanfordville, New York after starring in Billy Wilder's One, Two, Three (1961). He emerged from retirement to star in the 1981 screen adaptation of E.L. Doctorow's novel "Ragtime" (Ragtime (1981)), in which he was reunited with his frequent co-star of the 1930s, Pat O'Brien, and which was his last theatrical film (and O'Brien's as well). Cagney's final performance came in the title role of the made-for-TV movie Terrible Joe Moran (1984), in which he played opposite Art Carney. In 1999 the American Film Institute ranked him eighth on its list of greatest male stars of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Orson Welles described him as "maybe the greatest actor who ever appeared in front of a camera". Today fans of the great actor can visit the grave of James Cagney at Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York.

popular name: Virginia Mayo

date_of_death: January 17, 2005

age: 84

cause_of_death: Pneumonia and complications of congestive heart failure

claim_to_fame: Show Business

best_know_for: Virginia Mayo was a 1940s screen siren who co-starred opposite Danny Kaye, Ronald Reagan, Gregory Peck and James Cagney (to name just a few) in more the 40 films during the 1940s and '50s. A former vaudeville performer, she made her Hollywood debut in the 1943 movie Jack London, starring her future husband, Michael O'Shea. Mayo is best remembered for her films such as The Best Years of Our Lives, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, White Heat and Horatio Hornblower. In the 1960s Mayo's film career tapered off considerably. She appeared in Young Fury (1965) with Rory Calhoun, Castle of Evil (1966), and Fort Utah (1967) with John Ireland. She also guest starred on shows such as Burke's Law and Daktari and appeared onstage in such plays as That Certain Girl (1967) and Barefoot in the Park (1968) with Lyle Talbot. Mayo acted on stage for the rest of her career, mostly in dinner theatre and touring shows. Productions included No, No Nanette (1972), 40 Carats (1975), Good News (1977), Move Over Mrs Markham (1980) and Butterflies Are Free (1981). Mayo continued to occasionally appear on television in shows such as Police Story, Night Gallery, The Love Boat, Remington Steele, and Murder, She Wrote, and a dozen episodes of the soap opera Santa Barbara.