Cohan, George M.
Show Business
Age 64
July 3, 1878 - November 5, 1942
Woodlawn Cemetery / The Bronx / New York / USA / North America
George M. Cohan began his career as a child, performing with family as "The Four Cohans". Over the span of six decades that simple beginning developed into Cohan becoming perhaps the greatest entertainer, playwright, composer, lyr...
Big Mama Thornton
Music
Age 57
December 11, 1926 - July 25, 1985
Inglewood Memorial Park / Inglewood / California / USA / North America
Janis Joplin called her one of her inspirations and Living Blues magazine described her as "two hundred pounds of boogaloo." Of course, fans and musicians alike just called her Big Mama Thornton. An aggressive blues shouter, who a...
Piaf, Édith
Music
Age 47
December 19, 1915 - October 10, 1963
Cimetière du Père Lachaise / Paris / France / Europe
The most popular singer in France in the 1950s, Edith Piaf gained international recognition through her emotional songs of doom and tragic love. Unlike her contemporaries Charles Aznavour and Maurice Chevalier, Piaf achieved stard...
Bloomfield, Michael
Music
Age 37
July 28, 1943 - February 15, 1981
Hillside Memorial Park / Culver City / California / USA / North America
Michael Bloomfield was an American guitarist and composer who became one of the first popular music superstars of the 1960s to earn his reputation almost entirely on his instrumental prowess, as he rarely sang before 1969. Respect...
Nolan, Jerry
Music
Age 45
May 7, 1946 - January 14, 1992
Mount St. Mary's Cemetery / Flushing / New York / USA / North America
One cannot talk about the origins of punk rock without mentioning the New York Dolls lead guitarist Johnny Thunders and Jerry Nolan on drums. This underrated American glam band played an important role in influencing bands as dive...
Hearst, William Randolph
Business and Finance
Age 88
April 29, 1863 - August 14, 1951
Cypress Lawn Memorial Park / Colma / California / USA / North America
William Randolph Hearst was the heir to a mining fortune, publisher and politician known for developing the nation's largest newspaper chain and media company, Hearst Communications. His flamboyant methods of yellow journalism inf...
Benny, Jack
Show Business
Age 80
February 14, 1894 - December 26, 1974
Hillside Memorial Park / Culver City / California / USA / North America
Comedian Jack Benny was one of the top stars of radio, television, and stage in a career which spanned over 50 years. A master of comic timing, Benny changed the nature of the weekly comedy show on radio and his likeable skinflint...
Bradham, Caleb
Business and Finance
Age
May 27, 1867 - February 19, 1934
Cedar Grove Cemetery / New Bern / North Carolina / USA / North America
Caleb Bradham was an American pharmacist who is best known as the inventor of soft drink Pepsi. Around 1890, he dropped out of the University of Maryland School of Medicine, owing to his father's business going bankrupt. After ret...
Fender, Leo
Music
Age 81
August 10, 1909 - March 21, 1991
Fairhaven Memorial Park / Santa Ana / California / USA / North America
Keith Richard's once said "thank God for Leo Fender". For it was Leo Fender, with $600 in his pocket, started the Fender Radio Service company during World War II which eventually led to a lifetime obsession with creating and buil...
Willie, Boxcar
Music
Age 67
September 1, 1931 - April 12, 1999
Ozark Memorial Park Cemetery / Branson / Missouri / USA / North America
Perhaps the most successful invented character in the history of country music, Boxcar Willie was an American country music singer and songwriter who sang in the "old-time hobo" music style, complete with dirty face, overalls, and...
da Vinci, Leonardo
Historical Figure
Age 67
April 15, 1452 - May 2, 1452
Chapel of Saint-Hubert at Château Royal d'Amboise / Amboise / France / Europe
Leonardo da Vinci (Italian for “Leonardo from Vinci”) was an Italian painter, draftsman, sculptor, architect, and engineer whose skill and intelligence, perhaps more than that of any other figure, epitomized the Renaissance hu...
Ayres, Lew
Show Business
Age 88
December 28, 1908 - December 30, 1996
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Lew Ayres was an American actor best known for as role as German soldier Paul Bäumer in the film All Quiet on the Western Front (1930) and for playing Dr. Kildare in nine movies. He was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Act...
Ardolino, Emile
Show Business
Age 50
May 9, 1943 - November 20, 1993
St. John Cemetery / Middle Village / New York / USA / North America
Emile Ardolino was an American film director, choreographer, and producer, best known for his films Dirty Dancing (1987) and Sister Act (1992).
Powell, William
Show Business
Age 91
July 29, 1892 - March 5, 1984
Desert Memorial Park / Cathedral City / California / USA / North America
William Powell was a premier American actor who personified the suave and sophisticated leading man during Hollywood's Golden Age. A major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, he was paired with Myrna Loy in 14 films, including the Thin M...
Bentsen, Lloyd
World Leaders
Age 85
February 11, 1921 - May 23, 2006
Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery / Houston / Texas / USA / North America
Lloyd Bentson was a four-term United States Senator (1971–1993) from Texas, the Democratic Party nominee for vice president in 1988 on the Michael Dukakis ticket and served as the 69th United States Secretary of the Treasury und...