Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Read online

  CAUSE: Appearing in Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music in the West End she caught a cold that turned to bronchitis and then pneumonia. She went to convalesce in a nursing home and seemed to be making progress but died suddenly at Grayshott Hall, Grayshott, Hampshire, near Haslemere. She was 75. Survived by her husband, she left £56,781.

  Hermione Baddeley

  (HERMIONE YOULANDA RUBY CLINTON -BADDELEY)

  Born November 13, 1906

  Died August 19, 1986

  Blowsy sophisticate. Born in Broseley, Shropshire, the youngest of four daughters and educated privately, she appeared on the stage from the age of eight. She later became celebrated for her performances in revues. For a time following her first marriage she retired from performing but returned to the stage with her sister in The Greeks Have A Word For It at the Duke of York’s Theatre in November 1934. She made her movie début in A Daughter In Revolt (1926) and appeared in numerous films including Kipps (1941), Brighton Rock (1947) as Ida Arnold, Passport To Pimlico (1949), Tom Brown’s Schooldays (1951), The Pickwick Papers (1952), Room At The Top (1958) for which she was nominated for an Oscar, Mary Poppins (1964), The Unsinkable Molly Brown (1964), Harlow (1965), and The Happiest Millionaire (1967). In April 1928 she married the Hon. David Tennant at the Henrietta Street Registry Office just off the Strand. She was an hour late for the wedding, believing she was getting hitched at midday instead of the 11am the office was booked for. Even then things didn’t go to plan. The registrar disappeared and the couple eventually married at 12.30pm. They had one son, David (b. 1930), and one daughter, Pauline, born before their marriage. They divorced in 1939. Her second husband was Captain J. H. ‘Dozey’ Willis, MC, whom she married in 1941 at Caxton Hall, Westminster, London. It was not an auspicious match. Most of the wedding presents were stolen at the reception and Baddeley admitted that she never loved her husband. They divorced in 1946. She never remarried but had several affairs, including one with the much younger Laurence Harvey. An animal lover, she dedicated her autobiography to her dog.

  CAUSE: She died of a stroke in the Cedars-Sinai Hospital Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, Los Angeles, aged 79.

  FURTHER READING: The Unsinkable Hermione Baddeley: An Autobiography – Hermione Baddeley (London: William Collins, 1984).

  Alan Badel

  Born September 11, 1923

  Died March 19, 1982

  Second string. Born in Rusholme, Manchester, the son of Auguste Firman Joseph Badel and Elizabeth Olive Durose, Alan Badel was educated at Burnage High School in Manchester before attending RADA (1939–1941) where he was a Bancroft Gold medallist. He made his stage début in August 1940 as George in The Black Eye and first appeared in London a year later on August 18, 1941 at the Mercury Theatre playing Pierrot in L’Enfant Prodigue. From 1942 until his demob in April 1947 he served with the Parachute Regiment, 6th Airborne Division. During his service he performed with the army play unit in various roles. In 1942 he married Yvonne Owen and their daughter Sarah (b. London, March 30, 1943) became an actor and appeared nude in television series The History Man (1981). He made his film début in The Stranger Left No Card (1952) as John Smith and also appeared in Salome (1953) as John the Baptist, Will Any Gentleman …? (1953) as The Great Mendoza, Magic Fire (1956) as Richard Wagner, This Sporting Life (1963) as Weaver, Children Of The Damned (1963) as Dr David Neville, Bitter Harvest (1963) as Karl Denny, Arabesque (1966) as Beshraavi, Otley (1968) as Sir Alex Hadrian, Where’s Jack? (1969) as the Lord Chancellor, The Adventurers (1970) as President Rojo, The Day Of The Jackal (1973) as the minister, Luther (1973) as Thomas De Vio, Telefon (1977) as Colonel Malchenko, Force 10 From Navarone as Major Petrovich, a barrister in The Medusa Touch (1978), Agatha as Lord Brackenbury, The Riddle Of The Sands (1979) as Dollmann and Nijinsky (1980) as Baron de Gunzburg. Badel once appeared in a play with John Gielgud and at one stage Gielgud was to be found in the opposite wing from which he was to enter with Badel. When another cast member queried Gielgud’s behaviour, he was shushed with the words, “I am just hiding from that awful Alan Badel.”

  CAUSE: He died in Chichester, Sussex, aged 59 from a heart attack.

  Clarence Badger

  Born June 8, 1880

  Died June 17, 1964

  Respected director. A former stage actor and journalist, San Francisco-born Badger became a screenwriter and then a director at Triangle-Keystone in 1915. Among his films was The Danger Girl (1915) which starred Gloria Swanson. In 1920 he moved to the Goldwyn studios but maintained his freelance status, also working for First National, Metro and Paramount. His films included: Potash And Perlmutter (1923), Painted People (1924) starring Colleen Moore, Miss Brewster’s Millions (1926), It (1927) starring Clara Bow, Man Power (1927), She’s A Sheik (1927), Kiss In A Taxi (1927), The Fifty-Fifty Girl (1928), No, No, Nanette (1928), The Hot Heiress (1931), When Strangers Marry (1933) and Rangle River (1939). Badger’s rosy red cheeks led to Clara Bow nicknaming him ‘Santa’ during the filming of It. He told the actor Louise Brooks, “When I start to direct [Clara], I get mad because she’s doing all these things. And then I run them and they’re wonderful.” Badger found the best way to work was to “set up the camera, explain the scene to [Clara] and just let her go.” It seemed to work because Bow rated Badger and Victor Fleming as her favourite directors. In 1940 he retired and emigrated to Australia. On July 16, 1903, he married Lillian Schoene and they had one son, Clarence, Jr (b. California, March 8, 1904, d. Los Angeles, California, April 21, 1992).

  CAUSE: Badger died in New South Wales, Australia, nine days after his 84th birthday.

  Max Baer

  Born February 11, 1909

  Died November 21, 1959

  ‘The Livermore Larruper’. Born in Omaha, Nebraska, 6́ 2˝ Maximilian Adelbert Baer was the son of a California cattle slaughterer. His younger brother was the boxer Buddy Baer (b. Denver, Colorado, June 11, 1915, d. Martinez, California, July 18, 1986). Max began professional boxing on May 16, 1929 and went on to become world heavyweight champion in Long Island on June 14, 1934 when he beat reigning champion Primo Carnera, putting him down 11 times in 11 rounds. During the fight Baer laughed and joked constantly but when he tried the same tactics the following year on June 13, 1935 against James Braddock, he was beaten on points. Baer held the title for 364 days. Determined to regain his title, Baer trained hard but was beaten by Joe Louis in four rounds. He never recovered from the embarrassing defeat. Baer turned to show business and made his début in The Prizefighter And The Lady (1933) as Steve Morgan. He went on to appear in Kids On The Cuff (1935), Over She Goes (1938) as Silas Morner, The Navy Comes Through as Coxswain G. Berringer, The McGuerins From Brooklyn (1942) as Professor Samson, Ladies’ Day (1943) as Hippo Jones, Buckskin Frontier as Tiny, Africa Screams (1949) as Grappler McCoy, Bride For Sale (1949) as Litka, Two Knights From Brooklyn (1949) as Mr Samson, Riding High (1950) as Bertie, Two Roaming Champs (1950), Wine, Women And Bong (1951), Skipalong Rosenbloom (1951) as Butcher Baer, The Champ Steps Out (1951), Rootin’ Tootin’ Tenderfeet (1952) as Max, The Harder They Fall (1956) as Buddy Brannen, Utah Blaine (1957) as Gus Ortmann and Once Upon A Horse… (1958) as Ben. Baer was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 1995. He was married twice, firstly to the actor Dorothy Dunbar (b. Colorado Springs, May 28, 1902, d. Seattle, Washington, October 23, 1992) – she was married seven times – and then to Mary Ellen Sullivan. His son Max Baer, Jr, (b. Oakland, California, December 4, 1937) is best known as Jethro Bodine in the original Beverly Hillbillies television series.

  CAUSE: Max Baer died aged 50 from a heart attack.

  Robin Bailey

  Born October 5, 1919

  Died January 14, 1999

  Robin Bailey was born in Hucknall, Nottingham, the son of George Henry Bailey and Thirza Ann Mettam. After school at Mellish, he joined the Post Office but found the lure of the stage too great and in 1938 he joined Nottingham Theatre Royal. He served in the Army from 1940 unt
il 1944. He made his London stage début on March 26, 1947 at the Piccadilly Theatre as Ludovico in Othello. The previous year he began making films appearing in School For Secrets (1946). His other films included: Private Angelo (1949) as Simon Telfer, Portrait Of Clare (1950) as Dudley Wilburn, His Excellency (1952) as Charles, Gift Horse (1952) as Lieutenant Michael Grant, Single-Handed (1953) as Commander John Stafford, Another Time, Another Place (1958) as Captain Barnes, The Diplomatic Corpse (1958) as Mike Billings, The Mouse On The Moon (1963), Catch Us If You Can (1965) as Guy, Commuter Husbands (1973) as Dennis, Sins With Our Permission (1980) as Dr Perry, If You Go Down In The Woods Today (1981) as the Chief Constable, Screamtime (1983) as Jack, Jane And The Lost City (1987) as the colonel and Number 27 (1988) as Dr Maurice Barwick. On the small screen he was best known for his roles in comedies. He played Uncle Mort in Alan Tinniswood’s I Didn’t Know You Cared (August 27, 1975–June 26, 1979). He appeared in the sketch show Took And Co (August 7–September 18, 1977). He was the star of Sorry, I’m A Stranger Here Myself (June 15, 1981–May 18, 1982) playing the librarian Henry Nunn. Following the death of Arthur Lowe on April 15, 1982 he took over the lead in Potter for the third series which ran on BBC 1 from July 17 until August 28, 1983. On the drama front he appeared in Rumpole Of The Bailey (1978) as Judge Graves, Charters & Caldicott (1985) as Charters, Dalziel And Pascoe: An Autumn Shroud (1996) as Hereward Fielding and A Dance To The Music Of Time (1997) as Uncle Alfred Tolland. He married Patricia Weekes and fathered three sons, Nicholas, Simon and Justin.

  CAUSE: Robin Bailey died aged 79 in London from respiratory failure.

  Fay Bainter

  Born December 7, 1891

  Died April 16, 1968

  Always mom. Born in Los Angeles, Fay Bainter didn’t enter films until an age when many actresses regard their best work as being behind them. She made her first stage appearance aged six and her Broadway début aged 20 on January 22, 1912, at Daly’s Theater as Celine Marinter in The Rose Of Panama but was 42 before she made her way in front of a movie camera in This Side Of Heaven (1934). Four years later, she became the first actor ever to be nominated for Best Actress (White Banners [1938]) and Best Supporting Actress (Jezebel [1938] as Aunt Belle) Oscars in the same year. She won for Jezebel but lost the other nomination. It was this that forced the Academy to change its rules regarding nominees. In her other films she played strong maternal parts. Her work included Young Tom Edison (1940), Our Town (1940), The Secret Life Of Walter Mitty (1947) and The Children’s Hour (1962) which earned her another Oscar nod.

  CAUSE: She died aged 76 of natural causes in Los Angeles.

  Bob Baker

  (LELAND T. WEED)

  Born November 8, 1901

  Died August 30, 1975

  B-movie singing cowboy. Born in Forest City, Iowa, Baker was a real cowboy before becoming a reel one, joining a cattle ranch in Colorado while he was still a teenager. His next career move involved working as a singer on the radio before joining the National Barn Dance wireless show. In 1936 he successfully auditioned for Universal who were looking to cash in on the singing cowboy craze. He made his first film Courage Of The West as Jack Saunders for Universal in 1937 and went on to make a dozen films at the studio – The Singing Outlaw as Scrap Gordon (1937), The Black Bandit as Bob Ramsay/Don Ramsay, Border Wolves as Rusty Reynolds, Ghost Town Riders as Bob Martin, Guilty Trails as Bob Higgins, The Last Stand as Tip Douglas posing as the Laredo Kid, The Outlaw Express as Captain Bob Bradley, Prairie Justice as US Marshal Bob Randall, a.k.a. Bob Smith, Western Trails as Bob Mason (all 1938), Honor Of The West as Sheriff Bob Barrett and The Phantom Stage as Bob Carson (both 1939) – before he was dropped from leading man status. He next appeared in six films in the Frontier Marshall series alongside Johnny Mack Brown and Fuzzy Knight: Desperate Trails (1939) as Clem Waters, Oklahoma Frontier (1939) as Tom Rankin, Chip Of The Flying U (1939) as Dusty, West Of Carson City (1940) as Nevada, Riders Of Pasco Basin (1940) as Bruce Moore and Bad Man From Red Butte (1940) as Gabriel Hornsby. He also appeared in Edward Killy’s Along The Rio Grande (1941) as the jailer Deputy Bob, Arizona Bound (1941) as Marshal Bat Madison, Abbott & Costello’s Ride ’Em Cowboy (1942) as the ranch cowhand driving a bus and Overland Mail (1942) as Bill Cody. In 1943 he joined Monogram Pictures where he appeared in Wild Horse Stampede (1943) as Marshal Bob Tyler, part of the Trail Blazer series with Hoot Gibson and Ken Maynard. In 1943 Baker retired from film-making. His last two films, released after his retirement, were uncredited bit-parts in Oklahoma Raiders (1944) and Mystery Man (1944). He served in the Korean War and later became a policeman in Arizona.

  CAUSE: In 1969 he suffered several coronaries and his health was never the same. He died aged 73 of an embolism in Veterans Hospital, Prescott, Arizona.

  Eddie Baker

  Born November 17, 1897

  Died February 4, 1968

  Real life private dick. Born in Davis, West Virginia and educated in Washington, DC, Edwin King Baker’s career began in his father’s repertory company and in 1913 he became a prop boy at Biograph. Baker appeared in comedies, working three times with Laurel & Hardy, where he often played a detective or a sheriff. His size (he was 6́ 1˝) meant he was often cast as a thug but equally he played policemen. He was the first secretary/treasurer of the Screen Actors’ Guild but when he left show business he became a real life detective.

  CAUSE: He died in Hollywood, California, of emphysema. He was 70.

  Hylda Baker

  Born February 4, 1905

  Died May 1, 1986

  Malapropist extraordinaire. Born, with a cawl, at 23 Ashworth Street, Farnworth, Lancashire, the eldest of seven children, she made her stage début aged ten at the Opera House, Tunbridge Wells. She toured music halls regularly but it wasn’t until she hit 50 that she became known to a wider audience via TV’s The Good Old Days. With her stooge Cynthia (actually a man in drag) towering over her, the 4́ 10½˝ actress had audiences doubled up. She was a star in the Granada TV sitcom Nearest & Dearest. The series began on August 15, 1968, and was created by Vince Powell and Harry Driver who would also create Bless This House, Love Thy Neighbour, Mike & Bernie, For The Love Of Ada and Never Mind The Quality, Feel The Width. Nearest & Dearest was the story of Eli and Nellie Pledge, an unmarried brother and sister who had been bequeathed their father’s pickle factory in his will. The humour came mostly from the insults traded by the two – “You knock-kneed knackered old nosebag” and “You big girl’s blouse” – and Nellie’s malapropisms: “How dare you? Calling your own sister a trombone!” and “You remind me of that song from The Sound Of Music.” “Which one? ‘My Favourite Things’?” “No. Idleswine!” Other characters included the inept handy man Stan and Nellie’s friend Lilly and her husband Walter who was perennially troubled by his internal waterworks – “Has ’e been?” Nearest & Dearest ran for four years, during which 47 episodes were made. The bickering on screen between the two characters was as nothing compared to the off-screen fireworks. Jimmy Jewel and Hylda Baker loathed each other with a passion. Both refused to appear when the other was featured on This Is Your Life. It was a relief to both when the series ended, but long-term happiness was to elude Hylda Baker. Her next series was called Not on Your Nelly and saw her installed as Nellie Pickersgill, a pub landlady. When that series finished she gradually disappeared from the public view. She made just five films. She played Aunt Ada, a backstreet abortionist, in Saturday Night And Sunday Morning (1960) and appeared in She Knows You Know (1961), Winny in Up The Junction (1967), Mrs Sowerberry in Oliver! (1968) and the film version of Nearest & Dearest (1972) in which she reprised her role as Nellie Pledge. She married divorcé Ben Pearson on January 12, 1929. She miscarried their first child and the second, third and fourth were ectopic pregnancies. The couple divorced in 1933. Hylda Baker remained an extremely superstitious person throughout her life.

  CAUSE: In the Eighties she began to suffer from mental problems. On June 6, 1981 she went into Brinsworth House, the Entertainment Artists�
� Benevolent Home in Twickenham. In December 1982, she was institutionalised in Horton Hospital, a psychiatric centre, in Epsom. She died there aged 81 from bronchial pneumonia and was cremated in Twickenham. She left less than £40,000 in her will.

  FURTHER READING: She Knows You Know! The Remarkable Story Of Hylda Baker – Jean Fergusson (Derby: Breedon Books, 1997).