CAUSE: Hopelessly addicted to heroin, she died of pneumonia in Hollywood aged 33.
Gail Russell
Born September 21, 1921
Died circa August 26, 1961
‘The Hedy Lamarr of Santa Monica’. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Gail was raised mostly in Michigan on her uncle’s farm. Her mother, Gladys, wanted to be famous but didn’t have the necessary talent, so she channelled her energies into her daughter. Gail was a skilful artist and a very shy child who adored Ginger Rogers. When Gale was 12 the family moved to California and she went to school with Jane Russell who, although not related, became a close friend. On July 17, 1942, Gail signed a standard contract with Paramount Pictures. It paid $50 a week, rising in increments over a seven-year period. Her first film was Henry Aldrich Gets Glamour (1943) as high school femme fatale Virginia Lowry. Unbelievably, the film marked the first time Gail had ever worn high heels or danced with a member of the opposite sex. The studio also arranged dates for Gail. She was cast opposite her idol Ginger Rogers in Lady In The Dark (1944) as Barbara but Gail was so nervous it took nearly two days to shoot her two lines of dialogue. Nevertheless, she and Ginger Rogers became friends and the elder actress took a keen interest in the younger. The Uninvited (1944), in which she played Stella Meredith, established Gail as a film star, although again she suffered from stage fright and that led to a nervous breakdown. She spent three weeks recuperating in Mexico. Our Hearts Were Young And Gay (1944), in which she played Cornelia Otis Skinner, was another success for Gail. However, her nervousness increased, although she found it easier to cope with a little drink. She appeared in The Unseen (1945) as Elizabeth Howard, Salty O’Rourke (1945) as Barbara Brooks, Duffy’s Tavern (1945) and Our Hearts Were Growing Up (1946) again as Cornelia Otis Skinner. In 1945 Gail met actor Guy Madison and they fell in love. She was loaned to United Artists for The Bachelor’s Daughters (1946) as Eileen. Her next move saw her at Republic, where she played John Wayne’s girlfriend, Penelope Worth, in Angel And The Badman (1947). In Calcutta (1947) she played killer and jewel thief Virginia Moore. She almost certainly had an affair with the film’s director John Farrow, who was known for his sadism towards actors. (Russell had a penchant for spending time with gay men.) Farrow also directed her as Jean Courtland in her next film, Night Has A Thousand Eyes (1948). In Wake Of The Red Witch (1949) she was Angelique Desaix opposite Duke Wayne again. In February 1949 Gail and Guy Madison went on a month-long holiday to get to know each other better and visit her relatives. On August 31, they married at the Biltmore Hotel in Santa Barbara. Gail’s mother, father and brother were notable by their absence from the ceremony. Joseph Losey’s The Lawless (1950), in which she starred as Mexican-American journalist Sunny Garcia, was her last film at Paramount. Losey later recalled Gail being absolutely terrified on set and unable to deliver a single line without a drink; once a drink arrived, she was word-perfect. Gail refused to make Flaming Feather and Paramount quietly dropped her contract. She made Air Cadet (1951) as Janet Page for Universal but it wasn’t a happy experience. She was lonely (Madison was unable to visit her because of his own busy workload), depressed, tired and drinking. Back in her hotel room after shooting, she would drink herself into oblivion. Gail and Madison separated and then in October 1953 Gail was named as co-respondent by John Wayne’s estranged wife, Esperanza ‘Chata’ Diaz Ceballos. Gail and Madison reconciled but it was never a love match. Gail entered a sanatorium in Seattle, Washington, to try and recover, but in November 1953 she was arrested for drink-driving. Madison bailed her out but on October 6, 1954, they were divorced. Gail continued to appear in films, but she put on weight and lost much of her beauty due to drink. In 1957 she began a two-year lesbian relationship with singer Dorothy Shay. In the summer of that year she was again arrested for drink-driving when she crashed her car through a shop window, pinning a man under the front wheels. She was sentenced to 30 days in prison suspended, fined $420 and put on probation for three years. The following year she made No Place To Land (1958) as Lynn Dillon but then was absent from the screen for three years until The Silent Call (1961) as Flore Brancato. It was to be her last film. She landed a job on Perry Mason but didn’t turn up on the first day and was promptly sacked. She decided to take a drink to make up for the disappointment.
CAUSE: On August 27, 1961, she was discovered dead, surrounded by empty vodka bottles in her home, 1436 South Bentley Avenue, Brentwood, California. She was a month shy of her 40th birthday. Gail had died some time between August 24 and 26. Cause of death: alcoholism and cirrhosis of the liver.
Rosalind Russell
Born June 4, circa 1907
Died November 28, 1976
Stylish star. Rosalind Russell was born in Chestnut Avenue, Waterbury, Connecticut. Of that there is no doubt. What is uncertain is exactly when. Estimates vary from 1892 to 1912, a remarkable span of 20 years. Her father was a lawyer but Rosalind had no desire to repeat his successes and went into showbiz, making her film début in Evelyn Prentice (1934) as Nancy Harrison. The film starred Myrna Loy and William Powell. In the Thirties and Forties she made several comedies before reverting back to dramatic roles in the Fifties. She was nominated for an Oscar four times: My Sister Eileen (1942) as Ruth Sherwood, Sister Kenny (1946) as Sister Elizabeth Kenny, Mourning Becomes Electra (1947) as Lavinia Mannon and Auntie Mame (1958) as Mame Dennis.
CAUSE: In 1943 she suffered a breakdown. In 1960 she underwent a mastectomy. Five years later, she underwent a second mastectomy and four years after that she was stricken with rheumatoid arthritis. In April 1975 she fell victim to pneumonia and in the autumn of that year, her cancer returned. In July 1976 she underwent a hip replacement operation. Four months later at 10.20am she died in Beverly Hills, California, from cancer.
FURTHER READING: Life Is A Banquet – Rosalind Russell and Chris Chase (London: W.H. Allen, 1978).
Dame Margaret Rutherford, OBE
Born May 11, 1892
Died May 22, 1972
Endearing eccentric. On March 5, 1883, her father, William Rutherford Benn (b. 1855), murdered his father, the Rev. Julius Benn, by smashing him over the head with a chamber pot and then attempted to commit suicide by cutting his throat. On April 11, he was sent to Broadmoor. He was released after seven years, changed his name by deed poll to Rutherford and moved to Balham. There, at 15 Dornton Road, Margaret Taylor Rutherford was born, an only child. (One of her cousins was left-wing firebrand Rt. Hon. Anthony Wedgwood Benn.) In 1897 the family moved to India where Margaret’s mother, Florence Rutherford, fell pregnant. Before she could give birth, she committed suicide by hanging herself from a tree. That sent William round the bend and in October 1902 he was admitted to the Northumberland House Asylum. In January 1904 he was readmitted to Broadmoor. He died there of pneumonia on August 4, 1921. Margaret was told her father had died years earlier. She became a music teacher but really wanted to act, an ambition that went unfulfilled until she was 33 and inherited some money from an aunt. She made her stage début at the Old Vic in December 1925. However, unable to get any more work, she returned to teaching for two years. A lucky break led to regular stage work and in January 1939 she appeared as Miss Prism in John Gielgud’s production of The Importance Of Being Earnest. In April 1940 she created the role of the spooky Mrs Danvers in Rebecca. She made her film début in 1936 in Talk Of The Devil, but her first real notable success was as the spiritualist Madame Arcati in Blithe Spirit. Worried about offending believers, she suffered the first of what would be many nervous breakdowns. Her other films included Passport To Pimlico (1948), The Importance Of Being Earnest (1952) as Miss Prism, Trouble In Store (1953), I’m All Right Jack (1959) as Aunt Dolly, The VIPs (1963) for which she won an Oscar and A Countess From Hong Kong (1967). For the present author (and also, although she was initially unsure, for Dame Agatha Christie) she was most memorable as Miss Marple in a short series of films: Murder She Said (1962), Murder At The Gallop (1963), Murder Most Foul (1963) and Murder Ahoy (1964) and a cameo appearance in T
he Alphabet Murders (1965). On March 26, 1945, she married her co-star, James Buckley Stringer Davis. In 1961 they adopted Dawn Langley Simmons (b. Sussex, October 16, 1937, as Gordon Langley Hall) who would become Dame Margaret’s biographer. They adopted three other adults: Damaris Hayman, John Hibberd and another John.
CAUSE: Towards the end of her life Dame Margaret became rather vague but insisted on finishing any jobs she had been hired for. One day a cruel director humiliated her in front of the cast but she took the gross insult with characteristic good humour and extreme dignity. She died in Chalfont and Gerrard’s Cross Hospital. She left £13,850. Just over a year later, on August 7, 1973, Stringer Davis followed her and they were buried together in St James Church, Gerrard’s Cross.
FURTHER READING: Margaret Rutherford: A Blithe Spirit – Dawn Langley Simmons (London: Arthur Barker, 1983).
Robert Ryan
Born November 11, 1909
Died July 11, 1973
Screen heavy. Born in Chicago, Illinois, Ryan was a college boxer, which probably explains why he was so believable in The Set-Up (1949), his favourite own film. Appearing in films from 1940 he was Oscar nominated for playing Montgomery in Crossfire (1947). He appeared in over 90 films including: Marine Raiders (1944), Caught (1949), Beware My Lovely (1952), The Naked Spur (1953), Bad Day At Black Rock (1955) as Reno Smith, King Of Kings (1961) as John the Baptist and The Dirty Dozen (1967) as Colonel Everett Dasher-Breed. He was politically left wing, but was never targeted by nutty Senator Joe McCarthy, possibly because “my Irish name, my being a Catholic and an ex-Marine sort of softened the blow.”
CAUSE: He died aged 63 of cancer in New York.
S
Sabu
(SABU DASTAGIR)
Born January 27, 1924
Died December 2, 1963
Brown boy in the ring. Sabu was an unlikely film star. Born in Mysore, India, he was working as a stable boy in a maharajah’s palace when he was noticed by Robert Flaherty who cast him as Toomai in Elephant Boy (1937). He played exotic roles in a number of British and Hollywood films before the fashion for eastern films ended and he went to Europe to salvage his career. He was not successful. During World War II he fought bravely and was rewarded with several medals. His films included: The Drum (1938) as Prince Azim, The Thief Of Bagdad (1940) as Abu, Jungle Book (1942) as Mowgli, Arabian Nights (1942) as Ali Ben Ali, White Savage (1943) as Orano, Cobra Woman (1944) as Kado, Tangier (1946) as Pepe, Man-Eater Of Kumaon (1948) as Narain, Savage Drums (1951) as Tipo Tairu, Jungle Hell (1956) as Jungle Boy, Sabu And The Magic Ring (1957) as Sabu, Herrin Der Welt – Teil I (1960) as Dr. Lin-Chor, Rampage (1963) as Talib and A Tiger Walks (1964) as Ram Singh.
CAUSE: Twice-married, 5́ 6˝ Sabu died aged 39 of a heart attack in Chatsworth, California.
S.Z. Sakall
(EUGENE GERO SZAKALL)
Born February 2, 1884
Died February 12, 1955
‘Cuddles’. Born in Budapest, Hungary, he began his career in Hungarian films in 1916 and often used the name Szoke Szakall, from where he got the S.Z. He moved to Germany where he appeared in talkies such as Rutschbahn (1928) but the rise of the Nazis forced him to flee and he moved to Hungary and Austria where he appeared in films. The war necessitated another move and he landed in Hollywood, where began a very successful film career. He became known for his thick Hungarian accent and appeared in films such as Ball Of Fire (1941) as Professor Magenbruch, The Devil And Miss Jones (1941) as George, Casablanca (1942) as Carl the head waiter, Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) as Schwab, Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943) as Dr Schlenna, Shine On Harvest Moon (1944) as Poppa Carl, San Antonio (1945) as Sacha Bozic, The Dolly Sisters (1945) as Uncle Latzie, Christmas In Connecticut (1945) as Felix Bassenak, Wonder Man as Schmidt, Cinderella Jones as Gabriel Popik, Embraceable You (1948) as Sammy, In The Good Old Summertime (1949) as Otto Oberkugen, Montana (1950) as Poppa Schultz, It’s A Big Country (1951) as Stefan Szabo and The Student Prince (1954) as Joseph Ruder, his final film role.
CAUSE: He died in Los Angeles, California of a heart attack. He was 10 days past his 71st birthday.
George Sanders
Born July 3, 1906
Died April 25, 1972
Cinematic cynical cad. Born in St Petersburg, Russia, the son of a rope manufacturer and a horticulturist, Sanders’ family (his brother was the actor Tom Conway, b. St Petersburg, September 15, 1904, as Thomas Charles Sanders, d. Culver City, California April 22, 1967, from cirrhosis of the liver) was uprooted at the time of the Russian Revolution and settled in Brighton. After jobs in textiles and tobacco, the 6́ 3˝ Sanders decided to become an actor. He made his first films in 1934 in Love, Life And Laughter before going to Hollywood in 1936 and appearing in four films that year: Find The Lady as Curly Randall, Strange Cargo as Roddy Burch, Lloyds Of London as Lord Everett Stacy and Dishonour Bright as Lisle. As with many talented people, Hollywood didn’t quite know what to do with Sanders and he was placed in several unimaginative films or B movies. He appeared in two serials playing Simon Templar in The Saint Strikes Back (1939), The Saint In London (1939), The Saint Takes Over (1940), The Saint’s Double Trouble (1940) and The Saint In Palm Springs (1941); and Gay Lawrence in The Gay Falcon (1941), A Date With The Falcon (1941), The Falcon’s Brother (1942) and The Falcon Takes Over (1942). Sanders passed on the Falcon’s mantle to his brother. “It bothered me that my brother physically resembled me,” he once revealed. “Before he came out [to Hollywood], I asked that he not use my surname. He arrived in 1939, and anyone fleeing the war in Europe was not well viewed in England. Of the actors who left England for the States, they said they had ‘gone with the wind up’. Tom took over the Falcon series when I’d tired of it, and I was amazed when he made a go of it — he had more luck with it than I did. But that was the acme of his career … His resemblance to me helped him at first; later, it was a handicap. Tom was a nice fellow; it’s too bad for him that he was my brother.” Sanders also played Nazis rather well but his first real major role was as Charles Strickland in The Moon And Sixpence (1942). He won an Oscar as Addison De Witt in All About Eve (1950) but after that seemed consigned to the sidelines of second banana. His last major part was as the voice of Shere Khan in The Jungle Book (1967). His 100-plus films included: International Settlement (1938) as Del Forbes, Mr Moto’s Last Warning (1939) as Eric Norvel, Confessions Of A Nazi Spy (1939) as Schlager, Nurse Edith Cavell (1939) as Captain Heinrichs, The Son Of Monte Cristo (1940) as Gurko Lanen, So This Is London (1940) as Dr de Reseke, The House Of The Seven Gables (1940) as Jaffrey Pyncheon, Rebecca (1940) as Jack Favell, Foreign Correspondent (1940) as Scott Ffolliott, Bitter Sweet (1940) as Baron Von Tranisch, Man Hunt (1941) as Major Quive-Smith, Sundown (1941) as Major Coombes, Quiet Please: Murder (1942) as Fleg, Her Cardboard Lover (1942) as Tony Barling, Tales Of Manhattan (1942) as Williams, Son Of Fury (1942) as Sir Arthur Blake, They Came To Blow Up America (1943) as Carl Steelma, Appointment In Berlin (1943) as Keith Wilson, This Land Is Mine (1943) as George Lambert, Summer Storm (1944) as Fedor Mikhailovich Petroff, The Lodger (1944) as John Warwick, Hangover Square (1945) as Dr Allan Middleton, The Picture Of Dorian Gray as Lord Henry Wotton, The Strange Affair Of Uncle Harry (1945) as Harry Quincey, A Scandal In Paris as François Eugène Vidocq, Lured (1947) as Robert Fleming, Forever Amber (1947) as King Charles II, The Ghost And Mrs Muir (1947) as Miles Fairley, The Private Affairs Of Bel Ami (1947) as Georges Duroy aka Bel Ami, The Fan (1949) as Lord Darlington, Samson And Delilah (1949) as The Saran of Gaza, Black Jack (1950) as Mike Alexander, Assignment: Paris (1952) as Nick Strang, Ivanhoe (1952) as Sir Brian De Bois-Guilbert, Call Me Madam (1953) as Cosmo Constantine, Witness To Murder (1954) as Albert Richter, King Richard And The Crusaders (1954) as King Richard I, Moonfleet (1955) as Lord Ashwood, The King’s Thief (1955) again as King Charles II, That Certain Feeling (1956) as Larry Larkin, Never Say Goodbye (1956) as Victor, Solomon And Sheba (1959) as Adonijah, Bluebeard’s Ten Honeymoons (1960) as Henri-Désiré Landru, The Rebel (1961) as Sir
Charles Broward, Operation Snatch (1962) as Major Hobson, Cairo (1963) as Major Pickering, A Shot In The Dark (1964) as Benjamin Ballon, The Amorous Adventures Of Moll Flanders (1965) as the banker, The Quiller Memorandum (1966) as Gibbs, The Candy Man (1969) as Sidney Carter, Psychomania (1971) as Shadwell, Endless Night (1971) as Lippincott and Doomwatch (1972) as the Admiral. Sanders played Mr Freeze in the camp classic TV series Batman and hosted his own anthology series in 1957. Sanders’ portrayal of unpleasant people may not have been too far from the truth of his real personality. His co-star on All About Eve, Celeste Holm, said of him: “George Sanders never spoke to anyone. He was a brilliant actor but he wasn’t much fun.” The bisexual Sanders married four times. On October 27, 1940, he wed the actress Susan Larson. They divorced in 1948. He once told some friends that he didn’t bring his wife to parties because “She bores people.” On April Fool’s Day 1949 he married Zsa Zsa Gabor, who said of the match: “We were both in love with him … I fell out of love with him, but he didn’t.” The journalist Donald Zec recounts the time he saw Sanders and Gabor at a dinner and the actor managed only six words in the three hours: “Yes, darling” three times. They divorced exactly five years later. In February 1959 he married Benita Hume Colman, widow of Ronald Colman. She died on November 1, 1967, of cancer. Lastly, Sanders married his former sister-in-law Magda Gabor on December 4, 1970. “He just wanted to get back into the family. He missed me. I always liked George, but when a son-in-law comes back, I really like it,” said the Gabor matriarch, Jolie. Sanders obviously didn’t miss the Gabors that much because he and Magda were divorced after just six weeks. He later recalled: “Before I ever married two of the three Gabor sisters, I already knew that the words ‘acting’ and ‘Gabor’ are mutually exclusive terms.” Even his close friend and biographer Brian Aherne opined: “He gossips, he attacks people viciously, he has no respect for man nor beast – but what an interesting man.”
Fade to Black: A Book of Movie Obituaries Page 154