Houdini, Bess
Show Business
Age 67
January 23, 1876 - February 11, 1943
Gate of Heaven Cemetery / Hawthorne / New York / USA / North America
Wilhelmina Beatrice “Bess” Rahner was born to German immigrants in Brooklyn, New York, in 1876. Her life changed while performing at Coney Island with “The Floral Sisters” act, catching the eye of Theo Houdini. However, B...
Biggs, E. Power
Music
Age 70
March 29, 1906 - March 10, 1977
Mount Auburn Cemetery / Cambridge / Massachusetts / USA / North America
From the late 1930's on, Mr. Biggs was a dominant figure in the U.S. in arousing interest in serious organ music and in changing the style of its performance. Through his concert tours, weekly recitals over Columbia Broadcasting S...
Crudup, Arthur
Music
Age 68
August 24, 1905 - March 28, 1974
Bethel Memorial Gardens / Franktown / Virginia / USA / North America
Arthur William "Big Boy" Crudup was an American Delta blues singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best known for his songs "That's All Right" (1946), "My Baby Left Me" and "So Glad You're Mine", later recorded by Elvis Presley i...
Armstrong, Lil Hardin
Music
Age 73
February 3, 1898 - August 27, 1971
Lincoln Cemetery / Blue Island / Illinois / USA / North America
Lil Hardin Armstrong was an American jazz pianist, composer, arranger, singer, and bandleader. She was the second wife of Louis Armstrong, with whom she collaborated on many recordings in the 1920s with the Louis Armstrong Hot Fiv...
Rao, Vincenzo
Crime and their Victims
Age 90
June 21, 1898 - September 25, 1988
Ferncliff Cemetery / Hartsdale / New York / USA / North America
Vincenzo Rao was a Consigliere for the Lucchese crime family in New York City. In 1957, Rao was arrested with 60 other mobsters at the notorious Apalachin Meeting. During the 1963 Valachi hearings, Rao was listed as the Lucchese f...
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...
Ocasek, Ric
Music
Age 75
March 23, 1944 - September 15, 2019
Nine Partners Cemetery / Milbrook / New York / USA / North America
Musician, primary vocalist, rhythm guitarist, songwriter, record producer, and frontman for the American new wave band The Cars, Ric Ocasek led the Cars to huge international success from 1978 until 1988. The Cars reached their hi...
Land, Edwin H.
Science
Age 81
May 7, 1909 - March 1, 1991
Mount Auburn Cemetery / Cambridge / Massachusetts / USA / North America
Edwin H. Land was an American scientist and inventor, best known as the co-founder of the Polaroid Corporation and the inventor of instant photography. “Dr. Land,’’ as most people referred to him, left Harvard College before...
Rickenbacker, Adolph
Music
Age 88
April 1, 1887 - March 21, 1976
Loma Linda Memorial Park / Fullerton / California / USA / North America
Adolph Rickenbacker was a Swiss-American remembered as one of the co-founders of the Rickenbacker guitar, and one of the key people who was responsible for the creation and adoption of electric guitars that managed to change the s...
Kaye, Danny
Show Business
Age 76
January 18, 1911 - March 3, 1987
Kensico Cemetery / Valhalla / New York / USA / North America
Danny Kaye, the rubbery-faced, gibberish-spouting comedian, was one of the world’s most successful entertainers of the 1940s, ‘50s and ‘60s. Kaye’s silly patter, funny walks and air of innocence and likability propelled hi...
Mayo, Virginia
Show Business
Age 84
November 30, 1920 - January 17, 2005
Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Memorial Park / Westlake Village / California / USA / North America
Virginia Mayo was a 1940s screen siren who co-starred opposite Danny Kaye, Ronald Reagan, Gregory Peck and James Cagney (to name just a few) in more the 40 films during the 1940s and '50s. A former vaudeville performer, she made h...
Nelson, Ozzie
Show Business
Age 69
March 20, 1906 - June 3, 1975
Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills / Los Angeles / California / USA / North America
Oswald Nelson big band leader, actor, director, and producer. But he is most well known as the patient, loving father Ozzie Nelson with his lovely wife Harriet in once of America's most beloved TV shows. For 14 years, from 1952 to...
Brown, Dennis
Music
Age 42
February 1, 1957 - July 1, 1999
National Heroes Park / Kingston / Jamaica / North America
If Bob Marley was the King of Reggae, then Dennis Brown certainly earned his title of Crown Prince of Reggae. Brown's musical career began at age nine and he is credited with over 70 albums and touring relentlessly throughout the ...
Melville, Herman
Writers and Poets
Age 72
August 1, 1819 - September 28, 1891
Woodlawn Cemetery / Bronx / New York / USA / North America
Herman Melville was an American novelist, short story writer, and poet of the American Renaissance period. Among his best-known works are Moby-Dick (1851); Typee (1846), a romanticized account of his experiences in Polynesia; and ...
Copas, Cowboy
Music
Age 49
July 15, 1913 - March 5, 1963
Forest Lawn Memorial Garden / Goodlettsville / Tennessee / USA / North America
Cowboy Copas was an American country music singer who was popular from the 1940s until his death in the 1963 plane crash that also killed country stars Patsy Cline and Hawkshaw Hawkins. In 1943 Copas achieved national fame when he...