White, Wilford
Sports
Age 84
September 26, 1928 - August 1, 2013
Mesa Cemetery / Mesa / Arizona / USA / North America
Wilford "Whizzer" White was an American football running back in the National Football League for the Chicago Bears. His football career started at Mesa High School in Mesa, Arizona where he received first-team All-State honors as...
Butera, Sam
Music
Age 81
August 17, 1927 - June 3, 2009
Greenwood Cemetery / New Orleans / Louisiana / USA / North America
Sam Butera was a tenor saxophonist best noted for his collaborations with Louis Prima and Keely Smith. Butera is frequently regarded as a crossover artist who performed with equal ease in both R&B and the post-big band pop style o...
Hepburn, Katharine
Show Business
Age 96
May 12, 1907 - June 29, 2003
Cedar Hill Cemetery / Hartford / Connecticut / USA / North America
Katharine Hepburn was an American actress whose career as a Hollywood leading lady spanned over six decades. She was known for her headstrong independence, spirited personality, and outspokenness, cultivating a screen persona that...
Rosenberg, William
Business and Finance
Age 86
June 10, 1916 - September 22, 2002
Sharon Memorial Park / Sharon / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Bill Rosenberg was an American entrepreneur who founded the Dunkin' Donuts franchise in 1950 in Quincy, Massachusetts. As one of the pioneers in name-brand franchising, Dunkin' Donuts originally was named the "Open Kettle" doughn...
Genna, Tony
Crime and their Victims
Age 34
July 12, 1890 - July 8, 1925
Mount Carmel Catholic Cemetery / Hillside / Illinois / USA / North America
Before becoming a gangster, Tony Genna was an excellent building contractor and architect. But the lure of working with his family, The Terrible Genna Brothers, in the lucrative bootlegging business during Prohibition was too much...
Guitar Slim
Music
Age 32
December 10, 1926 - February 7, 1959
Moses Allen Chapel Calvary Cemeteries / Thibodaux / Louisiana / USA / North America
In the 1950s, no blues guitarist even came close to equaling the flamboyant Guitar Slim on stage. A masterful guitarist who pioneered the use of the distorted guitar solo, Slim would appear on stage resplendent in a blue suit, blu...
Arlen, Harold
Music
Age 81
February 15, 1905 - April 23, 1986
Ferncliff Cemetery / Hartsdale / New York / USA / North America
Harold Arlen was an American composer writing over 500 songs, several known worldwide. Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. Some of his best known work includes "Over the Rainbow", "Stormy Weather...
Hill, Betty
The Odd and the Interesting
Age 85
June 28, 1919 - October 23, 2004
Greenwood Cemetery / Kingston / New Hampshire / USA / North America
Betty and Barney Hill lived in Portsmouth, New Hampshire where Betty was a social worker and Barney was a postal worker. The couple were catapulted into the international spotlight when in September 1961 they claimed to have been ...
Wilde, Oscar
Writers and Poets
Age 46
October 16, 1854 - November 30, 1900
Cimetière du Père Lachaise / Paris / France / Europe
Oscar Wilde was an Irish poet and playwright known for his biting wit, flamboyant dress and glittering conversational skill. Wilde became one of the best-known personalities of his day. Undeniably brilliant, the author, playwright...
Hawkins, Hawkshaw
Music
Age 41
December 22, 1921 - March 5, 1963
Forest Lawn Memorial Garden / Goodlettsville / Tennessee / USA / North America
Hawkshaw Hawkins was an American country music singer popular from the 1950s into the early 1960s. He was known for his rich, smooth vocals and music drawn from blues, boogie and honky tonk. At 6 foot 5 inches tall, Hawkins had an...
Freed, Alan
Music
Age 43
December 15, 1921 - January 20, 1965
Lake View Cemetery / Cleveland / Ohio / USA / North America
Alan Freed was an American disc jockey and Rock and Roll’s first great evangelist and martyr. Freed became associated with the genre on July 11, 1951, when he started hosting a radio show with the purpose of exposing white teena...
Pierce, Webb
Music
Age 69
August 8, 1921 - February 24, 1991
Woodlawn Memorial Park / Nashville / Tennessee / USA / North America
Webb Pierce was one of the most popular honky-tonk vocalist, songwriter and guitarist of the 1950s, charting more number one hits than any other country artist during the decade. Webb's biggest hit was "In the Jailhouse Now", whic...
Cochran, Eddie
Music
Age 21
October 3, 1938 - April 17, 1960
Forest Lawn Memorial Park / Cypress / California / USA / North America
Eddie Cochran was an American rock and roll musician and songwriter with such hits as "Twenty Flight Rock", "Summertime Blues", "C'mon Everybody" and "Somethin' Else", captured teenage frustration and desire in the mid-1950s and e...
Prima, Louis
Music
Age 67
December 7, 1910 - August 24, 1978
Metairie Cemetery / New Orleans / Louisiana / USA / North America
Proud son of Italian immigrants and a talented band leader, trumpter, composer and singer Louis Prima developed his talent earning the title "King of the Vegas Lounges" and "The Wildest Act in Las Vegas." With poker-faced Keely Sm...
Ray, Johnnie
Music
Age 63
January 10, 1927 - February 24, 1990
Hopewell Cemetery / Dayton / Oregon / USA / North America
In the early 1950s, Johnnie Ray was arguably the biggest musical star in the world. His emotional singing and sexually suggestive performances earned him the titles "The Prince of Wails," "The Cry Guy," and "The Million Dollar Tea...