CAUSE: Keel died at 12.42am of colon cancer at his home in Palm Desert. He was 87.
Keiko
Born 1976
Died December 12, 2003
The biggest movie star of all time. Born and captured near Iceland in 1979, Keiko, an Orca whale, was sold to a marine adventure park where the 34́ 9˝ mammal lived a private life. In 1993 this was changed when he was cast as the eponymous hero in Free Willy (1993), the tale of a boy (James Richter) who befriends a captive whale and encourages him to jump over a sea park wall for freedom. The movie was such a success taking $77.7 million at the American box office that two sequels were made Free Willy 2: The Adventure Home (1995) and Free Willy 3: The Rescue (1997). The law of diminishing returns kicked in and the sequels took $30.1 million and $3.52 million. No more Free Willy films. A naturally shy and retiring performer, Keiko did not receive top billing in the films that made him a star. His modesty led to problems because after the third film he, like many stars before him, was all but forgotten. The biggest movie star of all time was discovered to be down on his uppers and a fund was started to send him back to Iceland. In July 2002 he was released into the wilds but, and it has to be said, Keiko was a rather ungrateful mammal. Despite the large sums of money involved (said to be £14 million), he decided he did not want to be free and anyway he missed his human friends. He swam 870 miles to Helsa, Norway, in September 2002 where locals delighted in playing with him. As usual, the authorities thought that they knew best and they banned anyone from approaching the friendly mammal.
CAUSE: Keiko died aged 27 of pneumonia in the Taknes fjord in Norway.
DeForest Kelley
Born January 20, 1920
Died June 11, 1999
Forever Dr McCoy. Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Jackson DeForest Kelley’s first public performances came singing in the church choir. His talent was recognised and he landed a job on WSB-Atlanta radio. Travelling to California to visit a relative, he fell in love with the West Coast and moved there. He joined the Long Beach Theater Group and met another budding thespian Carolyn Dowling. They were married in September 1945. Spotted in a US Navy training film, Kelley was screen-tested by Paramount and offered a contract. He was to spend two and a half years at the studio. He made his motion picture début in Fear In The Night (1947) and appeared in several other films including Gunfight At The O.K. Corral (1957) as Morgan Earp, Raintree County (1957), Warlock (1959) and Gunfight At Comanche Creek (1963) usually playing the baddie. However, cinematic fame eluded him. That all changed in 1966 when he was chosen to star in a new TV series called Star Trek. He made the character of the irascible Dr Leonard ‘Bones’ McCoy his own, with his catch-phrase “He’s dead, Jim” and his rows with the highly logical (and, to Bones, highly infuriating) Mr Spock, the ship’s second-in-command. Star Trek was cancelled in 1969 and no doubt Kelley would have been another movie footnote had not the series been revived on the big screen in 1979. He continued to play Dr McCoy in Star Trek II: The Wrath Of Khan (1982), Star Trek III: The Search For Spock (1984), Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home (1986), Star Trek V: The Final Frontier (1989) and Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country (1991).
CAUSE: In August 1997 he was diagnosed with stomach cancer. Eighteen months later, he left the home he shared with Carolyn, his wife of 54 years, at 15463 Greenleaf Street, Sherman Oaks, California 91403 and moved into the Motion Picture & TV Hospital Country Home, 23388 Mulholland Drive, Woodland Hills, California. Coincidentally, Carolyn Kelley had also been admitted there, having broken her leg. He died at 12:15pm aged 79 from respiratory failure and a carcinoid tumour with metastasis. He was cremated on June 15, and his ashes were scattered at sea off the coast of Los Angeles County.
Gene Kelly
Born August 23, 1912
Died February 2, 1996
Hoofer. The temperamental and difficult bisexual Eugene Curran Kelly was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and studied economics at university before deciding to concentrate full-time on showbiz. He became a star on Broadway in Pal Joey and then made his Hollywood début for MGM in For Me And My Gal (1942) as Harry Palmer. Judy Garland supposedly had a hand in landing him the part. He quickly established himself as a popular song-and-dance man, although he was not quite as successful in non-musicals. His canon included: Du Barry Was A Lady as Alec Howe/Black Arrow, The Cross Of Lorraine (1943) as Victor La Biche, Thousands Cheer (1943) as Eddie Marsh, Christmas Holiday as Robert Monette, Anchors Aweigh (1945) as Joseph Brady, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, Ziegfeld Follies (1946), The Pirate (1948) as Serafin, The Three Musketeers (1948) as D’Artagnan, Black Hand (1949) as Johnny Columbo, Take Me Out To The Ball Game (1949) as Eddie O’Brien, which he also choreographed, On The Town (1949) as Gabey, which he also directed, Summer Stock (1950) as Joe D. Ross, An American In Paris (1951) as Jerry Mulligan, It’s A Big Country (1951) as Icarus Xenophon, The Devil Makes Three (1952) as Captain Jeff Eliot, Singin’ In The Rain (1952) as Don Lockwood, which he also directed, Brigadoon (1954) as Tommy Albright, which he also choreographed, The Happy Road (1957) as Mike Andrews, which he also directed, Les Girls (1957) as Barry Nichols, Marjorie Morningstar (1958) as Noel Airman, Let’s Make Love (1960) as himself, Inherit The Wind (1960) as E. K. Hornbeck, Viva Knievel! (1977) as Will Atkins and Xanadu (1980) as Danny McGuire. He also directed Hello, Dolly! (1969). Kelly was awarded a special Oscar in 1951 “in appreciation of his versatility as actor, singer, director and dancer, and especially for his brilliant achievements in the art of choreography”. In 1984 his home, 725 North Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, California 90210, was razed to the ground by a fire. He lost everything, including his prized Oscar, but rebuilt the house down to the last detail, on the same spot. He married actress Betsy Blair on September 22, 1941. Their daughter, Kerry, was born on October 16, 1942. The couple was divorced in Las Vegas on April 3, 1957. On August 6, 1960, he married dancer Jeanne Coyne. They had a son, Timothy (b. March 3, 1962) and a daughter, Bridget (b. June 10, 1964). The second Mrs Kelly died of leukaemia in Los Angeles on May 10, 1973. On July 24, 1990, the 77-year-old Kelly married 36-year-old Patricia Ward in Santa Barbara.
CAUSE: In 1994 he was admitted to a San Francisco hospital suffering from a severe headache. In July of the same year he suffered a massive stroke followed by another one in February 1995. He spent the remainder of his life in bed, watching his old films on video. He died at home of sepsis, acute renal failure, cerebrovascular accident, diabetes mellitus, coronary disease and prostate cancer. He was cremated at Westwood Memorial Park.
Grace Kelly
Born November 12, 1929
Died September 14, 1982
Ice maiden. For many years the image of Grace Kelly, who became HSH Princess Grace of Monaco, was one of a virginal, almost glacial, blonde beauty. Gradually, after her death the edifice began to crumble and the real woman was revealed. Grace Patricia Kelly was born at 3901 Henry Avenue, Germantown, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the daughter of 6́ 2˝ John Brendan Kelly (b. October 4, 1889, d. Philadelphia, June 20, 1960, of stomach cancer), a devout Catholic, double Olympic Gold Medal-winning sculler and prominent citizen of Philadelphia. Grace became a model in New York and began to think in terms of a film career. She also began to think in terms of men. She lost her virginity to a much older, married man, the husband of a close girlfriend, one afternoon in 1948 at his house when his wife was away. As Grace later told a friend, “It all happened so quickly. I remember it was raining very hard and her husband told me she would be gone for the rest of the afternoon. I stayed, talking to him, and before I knew it we were in bed together, without understanding quite why.” Although Grace remained friendly with the couple, she and the husband never repeated the experience. Grace’s husband-borrowing shenanigans didn’t stop with that first encounter. As her career progressed she acquired an unsavoury reputation: as that of an actress who slept with most of her leading men, particularly enjoying the ones that were married. They included Ray Milland, William Holden, Oleg Cassini, Gary Cooper and Bing Crosby
. Grace’s April 18, 1956, marriage into the Monégasque royal house of Grimaldi, and the title of Princess that went with it, plus the raising of a family, rehabilitated her tarty reputation somewhat. Even then, awkward moments still arose from her husband-borrowing past. Rainier III, Grace’s princely husband, once asked actor David Niven who, of all the actresses in Hollywood, he had best enjoyed in bed. Without thinking to whom he was speaking, the dashing actor, whose bed had been Graced years earlier, replied, “Grace.” Realising what he had said, Niven quickly mumbled, “Gracie, er Gracie Fields.” Grace had received little parental support or encouragement for her ambitions. When she won an Oscar for The Country Girl (1954), her father retorted, “I can’t believe it! I simply cannot believe Grace won. Of the four children, she’s the last one I expected to support me in my old age.” Grace made her movie début in Fourteen Hours (1951) as Mrs Fuller and went on to appear in High Noon (1952) as Amy Kane (signed for the film because she was unknown and, therefore, cheap), Mogambo (1953) as Linda Nordley, for which she was nominated for an Oscar, Rear Window (1954) as Lisa Carol Fremont, the first of three films for Alfred Hitchcock, Green Fire as Catherine Knowland, Dial M For Murder (1954) as Margot Wendice, The Bridges At Toko-Ri (1954) as Nancy Brubaker, To Catch A Thief as Frances Stevens, The Swan as Princess Alexandra and the appropriately named High Society (1956) as Tracy Samantha Lord. Following that film she retired to marry Prince Rainier and raise a family: Caroline Louise Marguerite (b. Royal Palace Library, Monaco, January 23, at 9.27am, weighing 8lb 3oz), Albert Alexandre Louis Pierre (b. Royal Palace, Monaco, March 14, weighing 8lb 11oz) and Stéphanie Marie Elisabeth (b. Royal Palace, Monaco, February 1, 1965, weighing 6lb 10oz). Despite the occasional yearning, she never returned to acting. Towards the end of her life, she suffered the onslaught of the menopause and put on weight, an increase put down to excessive drinking by some. In 1976 she also began an affair with Robert Dornheim, a film producer 16 years her junior. She also had a number of flings with other young men, whom she called her ‘Toy Boys’.
CAUSE: On September 13, 1982, Grace drove her 1972 Rover 3500 (registration plate 6359MC) from the weekend retreat at Roc Agel towards the royal palace through the village of La Turbie on CD 37. As she approached a hairpin bend at 9.54am the car shot over the edge of the road and after turning over a few times landed upside down on its roof 120ft from the road. The passenger, Princess Stéphanie, crawled out through the driver’s door and begged the passers-by to “Sauvez, Maman!” At around 11am Grace was taken to the Princesse Grace Hospital in Monte Carlo where she was placed on a life support system. When it became obvious that she would not recover, the machine was switched off and she died sometime after 10pm. Her funeral was held on September 18, 1982, at the Byzantine Cathedral where she had married 26 years earlier. Attending the ceremony were Cary Grant, Diana, Princess of Wales – herself to die in a car crash almost 15 years later – the King and Queen of Belgium, the Queen of Sweden, Mme Mitterand and Nancy Reagan, who brought with her an enormous retinue of armed bodyguards. Grace was finally laid to rest three days later in the Grimaldi family vault. What had caused the crash remains something of a mystery. According to some, Grace had been distracted by an argument with the rebellious Stéphanie. Others claim sabotage but the most likely theory is that Grace suffered a minor stroke. If it had occurred at home, she would have survived but driving a car left her unable to control the vehicle or prevent the crash.
FURTHER READING: Grace: The Secret Lives Of A Princess – An Intimate Biography Of Grace Kelly – James Spada (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1987); Rainier & Grace – Jeffrey Robinson (London: Simon & Schuster, 1989); The Life And Loves Of Grace Kelly – Jane Ellen Wayne (London: Robson Books, 1991); The Grimaldis Of Monaco: Centuries Of Scandal, Years Of Grace – Anne Edwards (London: HarperCollins, 1993); Grace – Robert Lacey (London: Sidgwick & Jackson, 1994); The Ruling House Of Monaco: The Story Of A Tragic Dynasty – John Glatt (London: Piatkus, 1998).
Rachel Kempson
Born May 28, 1910
Died May 24, 2003
Lady Redgrave. The wife of Sir Michael and mother of Vanessa, Corin and Lynn, and grandmother to Jemma, Joely and Natasha was happier on stage than in films. Rachel Kempson was born at Dartmouth, where her father was headmaster of the Royal Naval College, and later studied at RADA. She began her career in the Thirties as one of the most beautiful and promising Shakespearean actresses on the British stage. On July 18, 1935, she married Michael Redgrave after she refused his entreaties merely to live in sin and they often appeared on stage together. However, most commentators felt that she subsumed her acting ambition into raising her family. It may also have been an escape from her husband’s homosexual affairs and other infidelities. She had an affair with the bisexual actor-director Glencairn Alexander Byam Shaw, CBE (b. December 13, 1904, d. Goring-on-Thames, April 29, 1986) who numbered Siegfried Sassoon among his lovers. She excelled as Lady Manners in the television drama The Jewel In The Crown (1984) and also appeared in Elizabeth R (1971) and Jennie: Lady Randolph Churchill (1974). Her films included: The Captive Heart (1946) as Celia Mitchell, Georgy Girl (1966) as Ellen Leamington with her daughter Lynn in the lead, The Charge Of The Light Brigade (1968) as Mrs Codrington, The Virgin Soldiers (1969) as Mrs Raskin (again with Lynn in the starring role) and Out Of Africa (1985) as Lady Belfield.
CAUSE: Rachel Kempson died four days before her 93rd birthday of a stroke at granddaughter Natasha’s home in Millbrook, New York.
Kay Kendall
(KAY JUSTINE KENDALL MCCARTHY)
Born May 21, 1926
Died September 6, 1959
Comedienne cut down in her prime. Born in Withernsea, near Hull, Yorkshire, the granddaughter of a music hall artiste, it seemed only logical that Kay should go on the stage. She was a sickly child who easily tired. She appeared in bit parts in a number of films including Fiddlers Three (1944), Dreaming (1944), Champagne Charlie (1944) and Waltz Time (1945) before being chosen by Sid Field to appear in his forthcoming début London Town (1946). The film was a disaster and Kay was slated by the critics. Her next films – Caesar And Cleopatra (1946), Dance Hall (1950) as Doreen, Happy Go Lovely (1951) playing a secretary, Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) as Sylvia, Wings Of Danger (1952) as Alexia LaRoche, It Started In Paradise (1952) as Lady Caroline, Street Of Shadows (1953) as Barbara Gale, The Square Ring (1953) as Eve Lewis and others were equally unsatisfactory. Kay began to get depressed over what she saw as her failure to achieve a real measure of success and regularly told her family she would throw herself out of a window to her death. Her sister, Kim, recalls: “She was always depressed [but] by the thirteenth time we used to open [the window] and say ‘Help yourself’.” Her big break finally came as Rosalind Peters in the light comedy Genevieve (1953). She appeared opposite Dirk Bogarde in Doctor In The House (1954) as Isobel but there was obviously no romance in any house. On the romantic front she had been wooed and won by Sydney Chaplin, Lord Hanson’s brother Bill who was to die of cancer aged 32, Prince Carl Johan of Sweden and grocery tycoon James Sainsbury. It was during the filming of The Constant Husband (1955), in which Kay played Monica Hathaway, that she began an affair with an inconstant husband, Rex Harrison. As filming ended they went their separate ways but neither could get the other out of their mind. Throwing caution to the wind, they began a full-blown affair. However, it wasn’t without its unfortunate moments. During a lunch with Diana Dors and Dennis Hamilton, Kay kept clinging to Rex and begging him to tell her he loved her and would marry her. Harrison’s response was to tell her to shut up, then he “clouted her in the ear.” After the hotel lunch they went for a boat trip and Kay again needled Rex into talking about marriage. To gain his attention she threw herself overboard, knowing he would have to rescue her because she couldn’t swim. She eventually won him round and they moved in together. Kay had suffered from anaemia for most of her life but her joie de vivre made many of her friends forget how weak she really was. Kay’s first Hollywood film was Les Girls (195
7) in which she played Lady Sybil Wren and starred opposite Gene Kelly and Mitzi Gaynor. During filming in New York, Rex went to see her doctor and told him he loved Kay and wanted to marry her. He was then horrified to be told she was suffering from myeloid leukaemia and would be dead within three years. He determined to keep the true prognosis from her, but told his wife Lilli Palmer. They decided to divorce so Rex could marry and look after Kay, and planned to remarry after her death. As soon as Lilli filed for divorce, Rex and Kay became engaged. Ten days after the engagement, they were at a party and Kay disappeared outside with Frank Sinatra who was looking for a breath of fresh air. Harrison believed that Sinatra was making a play for Kay (he wasn’t) and he smacked him twice. The normally fiery-tempered Sinatra turned the other cheek and went back inside. Rex and Kay were married at the Universalist Church of the Divine Paternity, Central Park West & 76th Street, New York on June 23, 1957.
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