Forgotten Hollywood

Manny P. here…

“`With the passing of Helen Reddy and Mac Davis on September 29th, it occurred to me that occasionally,  stars of the stage and screen might cross over the rainbow bridge on the same day. Here are notable examples:

~ JUNE 25, 2009

“`Michael Jackson and Farrah Fawcett passed away on this day. The King of Pop overshadowed the 1970s media icon when he suddenly died.

MICHAEL JACKSON          FARRAH FAWCETT

“`Jackson died from cardiac arrest. News of his death spread quickly online, causing websites to slow down and crash from user overload, and putting unprecedented strain on services and social media sites including Google, AOL Instant Messenger, Twitter and Wikipedia. Nowadays, Fawcett is remembered for her famous poster. Her death is largely forgotten.

~ January 2, 1963 

“`Dick Powell and Jack Carson were golden age actors who surprisingly died on this day. Both were taken by cancer.

DICK POWELL            JACK CARSON

“`Powell developed cancer as a result of his participation in the movie The Conqueror, which was filmed at St. George, Utah, near a site used by the military for nuclear testing. As well as Powell, who directed the film, a third of the actors in the film developed the disease, including John Wayne, Agnes Moorehead, Pedro Armendáriz, and Susan Hayward. On August 26, 1962, while rehearsing the play Critic’s Choice, Carson collapsed and was subsequently diagnosed with stomach cancer. Less than a year later, he was dead.

~ FEBRUARY 3, 1959

“`Musicians Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and  J. P. The Big Bopper Richardson were killed in a plane crash near Clear Lake, Iowa. The event later became known as The Day the Music Died, after singer-songwriter Don McLean referred to it as such in his 1971 song American Pie.

“`Urban legend suggests that Valens accepted a seat assigned to Waylon Jennings,  who gave up his chance to fly because Valens was ill with a cold. At the time, Jennings was a member of the tour band. Despite the tragedy, fifteen-year-old Bobby Vee replaced Holly at the next stop on the tour in Moorhead, Minnesota. As a result, Vee’s career took off.

Until next time>                               “never forget”

This entry was posted on Monday, October 19th, 2020 at 8:35 pm and is filed under Blog by Manny Pacheco. You can follow any comments to this post through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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