Gibson, Althea
Sports
Age 76
August 25, 1927 - September 28, 2003
Rosedale Cemetery / Montclair / New Jersey / USA / North America
Althea Gibson was an American tennis player and professional golfer, and one of the first Black athletes to cross the color line of international tennis. In 1956, she became the first African American to win a Grand Slam title (th...
Dugan, Joe
Sports
Age 85
May 12, 1897 - July 7, 1982
Mount Calvary Cemetery / Roslindale / Massachusetts / USA / North America
After a slow start with Connie Mack's Philadelphia Athletics baseball team, Jumping Joe Dugan eventually made his way to the fabled New York Yankees where he developed into one of the greatest defensive third baseman and played in...
Joplin, Janis
Music
Age 27
January 19, 1943 - October 4, 1970
Cremated / USA / North America
A permanent member of the "27 Club" (rock stars who died at age 27) Janis Joplin was premier white female blues vocalist of the 1960s, who performed with a fierce and uninhibited musical style before dying of a drug overdose in a ...
Goodman, Benny
Music
Age 77
May 30, 1909 - June 13, 1986
Long Ridge Union Cemetery / Stamford / Connecticut / USA / North America
American jazz clarinetist and bandleader known as the "King of Swing". Benny Goodman led one of the first integrated jazz groups and help start the careers of many jazz musicians including Lionel Hampton, trumpeters Ziggy Elman an...
Hefner, Hugh
Business and Finance
Age 91
April 9, 1926 - September 27, 2017
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Hugh Hefner transformed the adult entertainment industry with his groundbreaking publication Playboy. From the first issue featuring Marilyn Monroe in December 1953, Playboy expanded into a multimillion-dollar enterprise mirroring...
Took, Steve Peregrin
Music
Age 31
July 28, 1949 - October 27, 1980
Kensal Green Cemetery / London / United Kingdom / Europe
One-half of the founding members of T. Rex with Marc Bolan, Steve Peregrin Took was by all accounts a remarkable musician and songwriter - when he was sober. After two years and three albums, Took's push to perform more of his own...
Toland, Gregg
Show Business
Age 44
May 29, 1904 - September 28, 1948
Hollywood Forever Cemetery / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Gregg Wesley Toland was an American cinematographer known for his innovative use of techniques such as deep focus, examples of which can be found in his work on Orson Welles' Citizen Kane (1941), William Wyler's The Best Years of ...
Nilsson, Harry
Music
Age 52
June 15, 1941 - January 15, 1994
Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park / Westlake Village / California / USA / North America
A leading pop songwriter first, and a performer a distant second Harry Nilsson was never able to fully develop his talent and instead was more widely regarded for his erratic rock 'n' roll lifestyle. Nilsson began writing songs in...
Halstead, Bianca
Music
Age 36
May 5, 1965 - December 15, 2001
Hollywood Forever Cemetery / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Halstead performed as a singer and bassist in Los Angeles punk band Butt Trumpet before departing with two other members — guitarists Blare N. Bitch and Sharon Needles — to form Betty Blowtorch. She died during a tour with Nas...
Carvel, Tom
Business and Finance
Age 84
July 14, 1906 - October 21, 1990
Ferncliff Cemetery / Hartsdale / New York / USA / North America
Tom Carvel was the creator of soft serve ice cream and one of the founding fathers of the franchise system in America. Carvel, a Greek immigrant, had been an auto mechanic in New York, then worked on refrigeration units for the U....
Byers, Eben
The Odd and the Interesting
Age 51
April 12, 1880 - March 31, 1932
Allegheny Cemetery / Pittsburgh / Pennsylvania / USA / North America
Eben Byers, popular Pittsburgh sportsman, socialite and industrialist, fell out of an upper berth in 1927 returning from a Yale-Harvard football game and injured his arm. His Pittsburgh physiotherapist, Dr. Charles Clinton Moyar, ...
Hamlisch, Marvin
Music
Age 68
June 2, 1944 - August 6, 2012
Mount Zion Cemetery / Maspeth (Queens) / New York / United States / North America
Legendary musician, composer and conductor Marvin Hamlisch was one of only sixteen people to win an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards ("EGOT") and is one of only two people (along with composer Richard Rodgers) to have won those...
Blackwell, Scrapper
Music
Age 59
February 21, 1903 - October 7, 1962
New Crown Cemetery / New Crown Cemetery / Indiana / USA / North America
Scrapper Blackwell, together with Leroy Carr are arguably the two most underrated blues musicians of the 1920s and 1930s. What is undeniable is the two together created some of the most recorded blues classics including How Long, ...
Mason, James
Show Business
Age 75
May 15, 1909 - July 27, 1984
Cimetière de Corsier-sur-Vevey / Corsier-sur-Vevey, Vaud / Switzerland / Europe
James Mason was one of the greatest actors of his generation. The British-born actor noted for portraying suave and cerebral aristocrats and scoundrels in more than 100 films over nearly half a century. He achieved considerable s...
Gödel, Kurt
Science
Age 71
April 28, 1906 - January 14, 1978
Princeton Cemetery / Princeton / New Jersey / USA / North America
Kurt Gödel was a prominent Austrian/American logician, mathematician and philosopher who is mentioned as most likely autistic (Asperger's Syndrome) in Genius Genes by Michael Fitzgerald and Brendan O’Brien, in Asperger Syndrome...