Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Read online

  CAUSE: In May 1988 she suffered a heart attack and was in poor health thereafter. Her last public appearance was at the 61st Academy Awards on March 29, 1989. At home (1000 North Roxbury Drive, Beverly Hills 90210) on April 18, 1989, she began experiencing chest pains. Husband Morton called for an ambulance but she refused to go to hospital until she had made up her face. At Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, 8700 Beverly Boulevard, she underwent eight hours of heart surgery. She received an aorta from a 27-year-old male victim of a motorcycle crash. Fourteen hours after her operation she awoke and her first words to Morton were: “How’s the dog doing?” She seemed to be on the road to recovery when the aorta burst. She died at 5.47am from acute rupture of the abdominal aorta. Her funeral was a private affair. Lucy was cremated, and her ashes buried in the Columbarium of Radiant Dawn, at Forest Lawn-Hollywood Hills, 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles 90068.

  FURTHER READING: Lucy: The Real Life Of Lucille Ball – Charles Higham (New York: St Martin’s Press, 1987); The ‘I Love Lucy ’ Book – Bart Andrews (New York: Doubleday, 1989).

  Suzan Ball

  Born February 3, 1933

  Died August 5, 1955

  ‘The New Cinderella Girl of 1952’. Born in Jamestown, New York, Susan Ball was a second cousin of Lucille of that ilk. Her mother enrolled her in a modelling school to teach her to walk properly. She was already 5́ 7˝ at school and had begun to slouch. At school she harboured ambitions to be a singer and when she was 15, landed an audition on Richard Arlen’s television show. That led to three years as the singer with Mel Baker’s Orchestra. However, Ball dreamed of a movie career. When her parents moved to Santa Maria for her mother’s health, Susan stayed in Hollywood and landed a bit part in Aladdin And His Lamp (1952). She also decided to alter the spelling of her Christian name to the more exotic Suzan. She landed a screen test at Universal-International and so impressed Sophie Rosenstein (second wife of Gig Young) that she was offered a four-month contract, which she signed on October 24, 1951. She appeared in The World In His Arms and played Lottie, a mistress in Untamed Frontier (1952). She had a brief fling with Scott Brady and double dated with Shelley Winters. Her next film was Yankee Buccaneer (1952) in which she played Countess Donna Margarita, a Spanish noblewoman, opposite Jeff Chandler and Brady. Variety commented, “Suzan Ball, with little to do but look beautiful, does that most successfully.” She signed for the powerful William Morris Agency and appeared in City Beneath The Sea as Venita, during which time she fell deeply for co-star Anthony Quinn. They were lovers for a year despite Quinn’s marriage (to Cecil B. DeMille’s daughter) and the potential harm to brunette Ball’s career. Modern Screen magazine named her as one of the 15 most promising newcomers. During filming of East Of Sumatra (1953) – she played Minyora – she injured her right leg. Again she starred opposite Quinn and Chandler. When she was promoting the film she was involved in a minor car accident and banged her knee but thought nothing of it at the time. Back in Hollywood she dumped Quinn and began seeing actor Richard Long (b. Chicago, Illinois December 17, 1927, d. December 22, 1974, of a heart attack) and he moved into her home at 1025 Moorpark Avenue, Los Angeles. War Arrow (1953) placed her opposite Maureen O’Hara and the seemingly ubiquitous Jeff Chandler. More seriously, by this time she had developed tumours on her leg and was unable to walk without crutches. She was told by two doctors that amputation was the only solution. At home shortly thereafter, she slipped and broke her leg. In hospital doctors removed the cancerous part of her leg and took a bone graft from her hip. At first it seemed as if the operation had been a success. But then it was discovered that the disease was still present and amputation became the only course of action. In December 1953 Ball and Long became engaged. On January 12, 1954, she underwent the operation at Orchard Grove Sanatorium, having told Long the night before that she did not expect to marry him. “I love her, not her legs,” retorted Long. Three months later, on an artificial leg, she married Long at the El Montecito Presbyterian Church, Santa Barbara. It was April 11, 1954. Among the guests were Jeff Chandler, Tony Curtis, Rock Hudson, David Janssen, Janet Leigh, Hugh O’Brian and 100 others. Despite opposition from on high, director George Sherman cast her as Black Shawl opposite Victor Mature in Chief Crazy Horse (1955). During filming she lost over a stone in weight. On finishing, she and Richard Long began a successful nightclub tour. Not long after, while rehearsing a television show, she collapsed and in hospital it was discovered that the cancer, thought to be gone, had spread to her lungs. She only had weeks to live, but was not told the awful truth. The cat was let out of the bag by her mother who asked for various possessions so she could distribute them to the family. Long threw her out. Suzan Ball once said: “I felt no pity for myself, nor have I any feeling of regret. Sometimes I pondered, ‘Why has this thing happened to me?’ But it was never in terms of a complaint, I sought a real answer. It is not an easy one to find, and perhaps I never will know.”

  CAUSE: She died aged 22 of cancer at City Of Hope Hospital. Universal-International met all her expenses. Her last word was “Tony,” a reference to her former lover Anthony Quinn. Her funeral was held in the Eventide section of Forest Lawn Memorial-Parks, 1712 South Glendale Avenue, Glendale, California 91209.

  Smith Ballew

  Born January 21, 1902

  Died May 2, 1984

  Singing cowboy. Born in Palestine, Texas, the son of William Y. and May Ballew, 6́ 5˝ Sykes ‘Smith’ Ballew was educated at Sherman High School, Austin College and then the University of Texas from 1920 until 1922. He formed a band called Jimmie’s Joys, first playing the banjo and then as vocalist. In March 1925, he formed the Texajazzers and, four years later, the Smith Ballew Orchestra. He landed a job as a singer on the wireless before moving into vaudeville with his band Smith Ballew and the Sons of the Sage. In 1929 he began his recording career with Okeh Records of Chicago and worked with the Dorsey brothers and Duke Ellington among many others. The following year he had a residency at White’s restaurant in New York. In the early Thirties, Glenn Miller played trombone in Ballew’s orchestra. From 1933 until 1934 he was the voice of John Wayne in Monogram’s Singing Sandy movies. In 1936 he made his début proper in Palm Springs as Slim. Ballew went on to appear in Racing Lady (1937) as Steven Wendall, Western Gold (1937) as Bill Gibson, Roll Along, Cowboy (1937) as Randy Porter, Hawaiian Buckaroo (1938) as Jeff Howard, Panamint’s Bad Man (1938) as Larry Kimball alias John Smith, Gaucho Serenade (1940) as Buck Benson, The Man Who Walked Alone as Alvin Bailey, Drifting Along as band singer Smith, Under Arizona Skies (1946) in which he appeared with his band, Tex Granger, Midnight Rider Of The Plains (1948) as ‘Marshal’ Blaze Talbot, The Mutineers as Beasly, Gun Cargo (1949) as a singing sailor, I Killed Geronimo as Lieutenant Furness and the captain in The Red Badge Of Courage (1951). In Rawhide (1938), in which he played Larry Kimball, Ballew starred opposite Lou Gehrig, the baseball star, who became more famous for his battle against motor neurone disease, known in America as Lou Gehrig’s disease. That same year Ballew appeared on the list of Top 10 movie cowboys but then his star suddenly waned. Although he carried on making films he concentrated on his singing. During the Second World War Ballew worked in the aircraft industry and in 1952 he moved to Fort Worth, Texas. In 1924 he married Justine Vera (d. 1960) by whom he had a daughter. In 1960 he was remarried to Mary Ruth Clark (d. 1972).

  CAUSE: He died in Longview, Texas, aged 82, and was buried in Section 26, Lot 38 of Laurel Land Memorial Park, Tarrant County, Fort Worth.

  Martin Balsam

  Born November 4, 1914

  Died February 13, 1996

  Methodologist. Born in New York City, 5́ 7˝ Martin Henry Balsam was a practitioner of Method acting and made his film début in On The Waterfront (1954) going on to appear in several major films, including the part of the jury foreman in 12 Angry Men (1957), Al Capone (1959), Detective Milton Arbogast in Psycho (1960), Breakfast At Tiffany’s (1961) as O.J. Berman, Mark Dutton in Cape Fear (1962), The Carpetbaggers (1965) as Bernard B. Norman, Ha
rlow (1965), Arnold Burns in A Thousand Clowns (1965), a performance that won him a Best Supporting Actor Oscar, Catch-22 (1970), Admiral Kimmel in Tora! Tora! Tora! (1970), The Anderson Tapes (1971), The Man (1972), The Taking Of Pelham One Two Three (1974), Murder On The Orient Express (1974) as Bianchi, All The President’s Men (1976) as Howard Simons, St Elmo’s Fire (1985), Death Wish 3 (1985) and as a judge in Martin Scorsese’s re-make of Cape Fear (1991). Balsam said his biggest disappointment was being passed over as HAL in Kubrick’s 2001 (1968). He had recorded his lines when the eccentric director had second thoughts and decided he wanted a more sinister tone. Balsam was married three times. Firstly to Pearl L Somer (1952–1954), then to Joyce Van Patten (1959–1962) by whom he had a daughter, Talia (b. New York, January 1, 1960) and finally to Irene Miller from 1963 by whom he had two children.

  CAUSE: He died of a heart attack in Rome, Italy. He was 81.

  Tallulah Bankhead

  Born January 31, 1902

  Died December 12, 1968

  Husky-voiced good-time girl. Born in Courthouse Square, Huntsville, Alabama, 5́ 3˝ Tallulah Brockman Bankhead’s father was Speaker of the House of Representatives from 1936 until 1940. Her mother died aged 21 of blood poisoning, just over three weeks after Tallulah was born. There is some evidence to suggest that Tallulah was actually born on February 12, 1902 but that her birthday was changed to January 31 because that was her parent’s second (and last) wedding anniversary. She was educated at Mary Baldwin’s School, Staunton, Virginia, the Convent of The Holy Cross, Washington DC and Fairmount School for Girls, also in the capital. When she was 15 she won a beauty contest and that launched her career. She made her stage début aged 16 at the Bijou Theater, New York, on March 15, 1918, playing Gladys Sinclair in Squab Farm. A year later, in May 1919, she appeared in Foot Loose at the Greenwich Village Theater playing Rose de Brissac. She made her West End stage début on February 15, 1923, at the Wyndham Theatre playing Maxine in The Dancers. Over the course of the next seven years Tallulah was a regular in high society and appeared in two films His House In Order (1928) and A Woman’s Law (1928). Back in her homeland Paramount signed her to a long-term contract in 1931 but it was really her stage work in which she shone although critics did laud her performance in Hitchcock’s Lifeboat (1944). She also pleased the male members of the cast and crew because she eschewed underwear and had to climb a ladder to get into the boat, which was floating in a tank. On December 22, 1936, she screen-tested for the role of Scarlett O’Hara in Gone With The Wind (1939). Her other films included Who Loved Him Best? (1918), The Devil And The Deep (1932) (she later commented, “Dahling, the main reason I accepted [the part] was to fuck that divine Gary Cooper!”), A Royal Scandal (1945) and Fanatic (1965). Tallulah was well known for her caustic comments and quips about her co-stars. Of Bette Davis she once remarked, “Don’t think I don’t know who’s been spreading gossip about me and my temperament out there in Hollywood, where that film was made – All About Me [All About Eve]. And after all those nice things I’ve said about that hag. When I get hold of her I’ll tear out every hair of her moustache.” Actress Patsy Kelly remarked: “Tallulah never beat about the bush – she’d gossip about you in front of your back!” Donald Sutherland added: “I did a movie with Miss Bankhead in England. One day, she wandered into my dressing room completely nude. I couldn’t help staring, and she said, ‘What’s the matter, dahling? Haven’t you ever seen a blonde before?’” Ethel Merman remembered: “Tallulah went into a public ladies’ room and discovered there was no toilet tissue. She looked underneath the booth and said to the lady in the next stall, ‘I beg your pardon, do you happen to have any toilet tissue in there?’ The lady said no. So Tallulah said, ‘Well, dahling, do you have two fives for a ten?’” A bisexual, she also dabbled in drugs: “Daddy always warned me about men and alcohol, but he never said a thing about women and cocaine!;” “Dahling, of course cocaine isn’t habit-forming, and I should know: I’ve been using it for 20 years.” Patsy Kelly again: “Tallulah told me that one time she was relaxing with a lady friend, listening to a waltz or some old-fashioned music like that. And her friend sighed, ‘Oh Tallulah, do you remember the minuet?’ And Tallulah said, ‘Dahling, I can’t even remember the men I slept with.’” She married actor John Emery (b. 1905, d. November 16, 1964) in Jasper, Alabama, on August 31, 1937. On June 13, 1941, she received a divorce on the grounds of his “mental cruelty”. Among her (long) list of lovers were John Barrymore, Robert Benchley, Marlon Brando, Yul Brynner, Douglas Fairbanks, Jr, Billie Holiday, Libby Holman, Patsy Kelly, Bea Lillie, Frederic March, Hattie McDaniel, Burgess Meredith, Robert Montgomery, Edward R. Murrow, Robert Ryan, Dame Sybil Thorndike and Johnny Weissmuller. There were scores more. However, Tallulah wasn’t to everyone’s taste. Mrs Patrick Campbell said, “Tallulah is always skating on thin ice. Everyone wants to be there when it breaks.”

  CAUSE: In early December 1968 she contracted Asian flu during an epidemic that swept through New York. She was hospitalised at St Luke’s and sank into a coma when pneumonia set in. She was 66. Tallulah was buried in Rock Hall, Maryland, leaving over $2 million in her will.

  FURTHER READING: Miss Tallulah Bankhead – Lee Israel (London: W.H. Allen, 1972); Tallulah – Darling Of The Gods: An Intimate Portrait – Kieran Tunney (London: Secker & Warburg, 1972); Tallulah Bankhead: A Scandalous Life – David Bret (London: Robson Books, 1996).

  Leslie Banks, CBE

  Born June 9, 1890

  Died April 21, 1952

  Taciturn thespian. Leslie James Banks was born in West Derby, Liverpool, Lancashire, the son of George Banks, a general merchant, and Emily Dalby. He won a classical scholarship to Trinity College, Glenalmond, and then went on to Keble College, Oxford, again as a classical scholar. He made his stage professional début in 1911 at Brechin town hall as Old Gobbo in The Merchant Of Venice with the company of Frank Benson. Banks made his West End début at the Vaudeville in May 1914, in H.V. Esmond’s The Dangerous Age. Serving with the Essex regiment he was facially disfigured by injuries suffered in the First World War. However, this was turned to his advantage when he became a star in middle age. He made his first film Experience in 1921. His other films included: The Most Dangerous Game as Count Zaroff, I Am Suzanne as Adolpe ‘Baron’ Herring, Strange Evidence (1933) as Francis Relf, The Fire Raisers (1934) as Jim Bronson, Red Ensign (1934) as David Barr, The Man Who Knew Too Much (1934) as Bob Lawrence, Sanders Of The River (1935) as Commissioner R.G. ‘Lord Sandy’ Sanders, The Night Of The Party (1935) as Sir John Holland, The Tunnel (1935) as Frederick ‘Robbie’ Robbins, Three Maxims (1936) as Mac, Debt Of Honour (1936) as Major Jimmie Stanton, Fire Over England (1937) as Robin, the Earl of Leicester, Wings Of The Morning (1937) as Lord Clontarf, Farewell Again (1937) as Colonel Harry Blair, Jamaica Inn (1939) as Joss Merlyn, Sons Of The Sea (1939) as Captain Hyde, 21 Days (1940) as Keith Durrant, The Arsenal Stadium Mystery (1940) as Inspector Anthony Slade, The Big Blockade (1940) as Taylor, Dead Man’s Shoes (1940) as Roger de Vetheuil, Busman’s Honeymoon (1940) as Inspector Andrew Kirk, The Door With Seven Locks (1940) as Dr Manetta, Neutral Port (1940) as George Carter, Cottage To Let (1941) as John Barrington, Give Us More Ships (1941), Ships With Wings (1942) as Vice Admiral David Wetherby, Went The Day Well? (1942) as Oliver Wilsford, The Chronicle History Or King Henry The Fifth With His Battell Fought At Agincourt In France (1944) as Chorus, Mrs Fitzherbert (1947) as Charles Fox, The Small Back Room (1949) as Colonel A.K. Holland and Your Witness (1950) as Colonel Roger Summerfield. His penultimate film was Madeleine (1949) in which he played the respected architect James Smith. Madeleine was based on a Glaswegian cause célèbre. In 1855 Madeleine Smith (b. March 29, 1835, d. April 12, 1928) began an affair with a 34-year-old packing clerk from Jersey called Pierre Emile L’Angelier. The pair consummated their love in June 1856 but the social mores of the time prevented their relationship becoming overt. James Smith discovered the assignations and forbade his daughter from seeing her lover. Another suitor arrived and L�
�Angelier became jealous and threatened to send her love letters to her father. In February 1857 he fell ill and died on March 23. An autopsy revealed 82 grains of arsenic in his body. On March 31 when her billets-doux were discovered Madeleine was arrested and charged with his murder. In court L’Angelier was painted as a seducer and blackmailer. On July 9 the jury returned the peculiarly Scottish verdict of “Not proven,” i.e. we think you did it, but the Crown has not proved the case. She emigrated to America where she died. Leslie Banks also appeared in an early television production of Cyrano De Bergerac (1938) in the lead role. In 1915 Banks married Gwendoline Haldane, daughter of Edwin Thomas Unwin. They had three daughters, one of whom is the actor Evangeline Banks who married the actor Tenniel Evans (b. Nairobi, Kenya, May 17, 1926). They have a son, Matthew, and a daughter, Serena, who are both in the profession.