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 ...
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...
Vincent, Gene
Music
Age 36
February 11, 1935 - October 12, 1971
Eternal Valley Memorial Park / Newhall / California / United States / North America
More threatening than Elvis, wilder than Jerry Lee Lewis and sexier than Buddy Holley, Gene Vincent was the real thing. A swaggering, unrepentant rock 'n' roll singer and guitarist, he represented a dangerous embodiment of the def...
Gowdy, Curt
Sports
Age 86
July 31, 1919 - February 20, 2006
Mount Auburn Cemetery / Cambridge / Massachusetts / USA / North America
In the history of sports broadcasting, few figures have had the power to legitimize an event simply by attending it. For 40 years, Curt Gowdy was that figure. Over the course of a career that spanned five decades and all three bro...
Dolezal, Frank
Crime and their Victims
Age 51
May 4, 1887 - August 24, 1939
West Park Cemetery / Cleveland / Ohio / USA / North America
A Cleveland, Ohio resident who was suspected and awaiting trial as the Cleveland Torso Serial Killer when he was murdered in prison. His name was cleared almost 70 years after his death.
Gardner, Ava
Show Business
Age 67
December 24, 1922 - January 25, 1990
Sunset Memorial Park / Smithfield / North Carolina / USA / North America
Ava Gardner was a celebrated American actress during the Golden Age of Hollywood. She first signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in 1941 and appeared mainly in small roles until she drew critics' attention in 1946 with her p...
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...
Southwick, Alfred
The Odd and the Interesting
Age 72
May 18, 1826 - June 11, 1898
Forest Lawn Cemetery / Buffalo / New York / USA / North America
In 1881 Alfred Southwick heard a story about an intoxicated man who touched a live electric generator. Given that the man died so quickly, Southwick concluded that electricity could be used as an alternative to hanging for executi...
Malcolm X
Historical Figure
Age 39
May 19, 1925 - February 21, 1965
Ferncliff Cemetery / Hartsdale / New York / USA / North America
Malcolm X was a Muslim minister and controversial human rights activist who was a popular figure during the civil rights movement. He is best known for his time spent as a vocal spokesman for the Nation of Islam. Malcolm X was als...
Ross, Bob
Artists
Age 52
October 29, 1942 - July 4, 1995
Woodlawn Memorial Park and Funeral Home / Gotha / Florida / USA / North America
Bob Ross, with his distinctive hair style and quiet demeanor, was a popular American painter, art instructor, and television host. The painter who gave us “happy little trees” was the creator and host of The Joy of Painting, a...
Sherman, Allan
Show Business
Age 48
November 30, 1924 - November 20, 1973
Hillside Memorial Park / Culver City / California / USA / North America
Allan Sherman was an American musician, satirist, actor and television producer who became known as a song parodist in the early 1960s. In the fall of 1962, if an album sold 10,000 copies, Warner Bros. Records considered it a succ...
Kennedy, Michael
Historical Figure
Age 39
February 27, 1958 - December 31, 1997
Holyhood Cemetery / Chestnut Hill / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Michael LeMoyne Kennedy was born into a very public family as Robert F. and Ethel Kennedy's middle of 11 children. He graduated from Harvard in 1980 and then went to law school at the University of Virginia, where he earned a law ...
Dee, Ruby
Historical Figure
Age 91
October 27, 1922 - June 11, 2014
Ferncliff Cemetery / Hartsdale / New York / USA / North America
Ruby Dee was an American actress, poet, playwright, screenwriter, journalist, and civil rights activist. She originated the role of "Ruth Younger" in the stage and film versions of A Raisin in the Sun (1961). Her other notable fil...
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...
Doyle, Arthur Conan
Writers and Poets
Age 71
May 22, 1859 - July 7, 1930
All Saints Church - Minstead Village / Minstead, Lyndhurst / United Kingdom / Europe
Over 125 years after his creation, Sherlock Holmes remains the most popular fictional detective in history. Arthur Conan Doyle is best known for the 60 stories he wrote about Sherlock Holmes. His body of work includes nearly 200 n...