Davies, Marion
Show Business
Age 64
January 3, 1897 - September 22, 1961
Hollywood Forever Cemetery / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
In the Roaring Twenties, Marion Davies was a superstar. By 1923, Davies was the #1 female box office star in Hollywood due to the popularity of "When Knighthood Was in Flower" and "Little Old New York", which were among the bigges...
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...
Cooke, Sam
Music
Age 33
January 22, 1931 - December 11, 1964
Forest Lawn Memorial Park / Glendale / California / USA / North America
Sam Cooke's intonation was exquisitely exact. His command of pitch and texture were flawless. His skills as a vocalist were - and remain over sixty years since his untimely death - unsurpassed by the vocal royalty of his day. Neit...
Lightnin' Hopkins
Music
Age 69
March 15, 1912 - January 30, 1982
Forest Park Cemetery (Lawndale) / Houston / Texas / USA / North America
Sam Lightnin' Hopkins began his blues trail as Blind Lemon Jefferson's guide before spending 30 years on the weekend juke joint circuit. As a soloist who loved to drink, smoke, gamble, fight and chase women, Hopkins had the scars ...
Profaci, Joe
Crime and their Victims
Age 64
October 2, 1897 - June 6, 1962
St. John Cemetery / Middle Village / New York / USA / North America
Giuseppe "Joe" Profaci was an Italian-born New York City La Cosa Nostra boss who was the founder of the Profaci crime family. Established in 1928, this was the last of the Five Families to be organized. He was the family's boss fo...
Rickenbacker, Eddie
Historical Figure
Age 82
October 8, 1890 - July 23, 1973
Green Lawn Cemetery / Columbus / Ohio / USA / North America
Captain Edward V. Rickenbacker was called America’s Ace of Aces during World War I, the highest scorer of American aerial victories over the Germans. He could just as easily have been labeled the ‘luckiest man alive,’ howeve...
Hart, Mary E.
The Odd and the Interesting
Age 47
December 16, 1824 - October 15, 1872
Evergreen Cemetery / New Haven / Connecticut / USA / North America
As the story goes, at 48 years old Mary E. Hart, as she was known in life, “just drops to the floor” one day at midnight. Believing her dead, her family had her buried at Evergreen Cemetery the very next day. However, one nigh...
Richard, Martin
Crime and their Victims
Age 8
June 9, 2004 - April 15, 2013
Cedar Grove Cemetery / Dorchester Center / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Martin Richard was the youngest of three victims killed by two domestic terrorists who detonated two homemade improvised explosive devices near the finish line of the Boston Marathon in 2013. He was described by a family friend, "...
Sheppard, Sam
Crime and their Victims
Age 46
December 29, 1923 - April 6, 1970
Knollwood Cemetery / Mayfield Heights / Ohio / USA / North America
Dr. Sam Sheppard was an attractive and well-liked doctor who tended to hundreds of patients throughout his career at Bay View Hospital in Ohio. In the early morning hours of July 4, 1954 the nightmare began for the Sheppard family...
Cleveland, Frances
Historical Figure
Age 83
July 21, 1864 - October 29, 1947
Princeton Cemetery / Princeton / New Jersey / USA / North America
Frances Cleveland was First Lady of the United States from 1886 to 1889 and again from 1893 to 1897 as the wife of President Grover Cleveland. Becoming First Lady at age 21, she remains the youngest wife of a sitting president.
Putnam, Thomas
Crime and their Victims
Age 47
March 22, 1652 - June 3, 1699
Putnam Family Burial Ground / Danvers / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Thomas Putnam was the father of afflicted girl Ann Putnam, Jr, and many historians consider him to be a major influence in the Salem Witch Trials. Putnam himself accused and testified against 43 people while his daughter testified...
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...
Burlison, Paul
Music
Age 74
February 4, 1929 - September 27, 2003
Hinds Chapel Cemetery / Nesbit / Mississippi / USA / North America
The Burnette brothers with lead guitarist Paul Burlison, are best remembered for their seminal rockabilly recordings for Coral in the mid-1950s. Paul, Dorsey and Johnny Burnette founded the pioneering, but largely overlooked rocka...
Testa, Salvatore
Crime and their Victims
Age 28
March 31, 1956 - September 14, 1984
Holy Cross Cemetery / Yeadon / Pennsylvania / USA / North America
Salvatore "Salvie" Testa, nicknamed "The Crowned Prince of the Philadelphia Mob", was an Italian-American mobster who served as a caporegime and later acting underboss for the Philadelphia crime family. Testa made his reputation a...
Tucker, Karla Faye
Crime and their Victims
Age 38
November 18, 1959 - February 3, 1998
Forest Park Lawndale Cemetery / Houston / Texas / USA / North America
Convicted for killing two people with a pickaxe during a burglary, she was the first woman to be executed in Texas since Chipita Rodriguez in 1863. Her execution received worldwide attention at the time.