A Tribute to Talented Actors Who Died Too Soon
Actresses and actors from the golden era of cinema tragically gone too soon. We, film lovers, will not forget them!
This list is for lesser known actors, or those who are less often remembered, not so much for big stars.
This list is for lesser known actors, or those who are less often remembered, not so much for big stars.
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- Andrée Clément (b. 1918) lived like a shooting star. Her dark, mysterious cold beauty was unique; her face epitomized either sweet innocence and/or malign evil. An exceptionally talented actress, her career was cut short when she died of tuberculosis at the early age of 36. A student of Charles Dullin, she made her debut on stage in 1941 : she was to play in Molière's « Don Juan » and in Anouilh's « Adèle Ou la Marguerite » (1948). After minor roles, notably in Bresson's « Les Anges du Péché » and in Daquin's « Premier de Cordée », she got her breakout part in Decoin's « La Fille du Diable » (1945) in which she outshone such seasoned actors as Pierre Fresnay and Fernand Ledoux. Serge Reggiani was extremely impressed by his co-star's performance in « Coïncidences » (1946). In both movies, she was ideally cast as the outcast, the ill-fated girl who had a chip on her shoulder. Prestigious Michèle Morgan once said that « la Symphonie Pastorale » was Clément 's film, not hers. Other movies include « Dieu a besoin des Hommes », « Suivez cet Homme » and « Macadam ». Her death was certainly a major loss for the French cinema, particularly the film Noir.So sweet and funny in La Vierge du Rhin (1953).
- Georges Grey, sometimes credited as George Grey, was born as Jean-Joseph-Georges Gacon in Lyon, France in 1911. He made his film debut in a bit part as a young Hungarian in Sacha Guitry's Les perles de la couronne/The Pearls of the Crown (1937). The following year, Grey played a much larger role as a charming Hollywood matinee idol in Paris in Guitry's Quadrille/ 2 x 2 = 4 (1938, Sacha Guitry), in which he gained additional attention in a non full-frontal nude scene. Guitry cast him again as a prince in Remontons les Champs-Élysées/Let us go back to the Champs Elysees (1938, Sacha Guitry) and in another supporting part in Ils étaient neuf célibataires/Nine Bachelors (1939, Sacha Guitry).
Although Grey was obviousl;y a favorite of Guitry's, he also worked as well as with several other directors. He appeared in Narcisse (1940, Ayres d'Aguiar) featuring Rellys, Monsieur Hector/Mr. Hector (1940, Maurice Cammage) starring Fernandel, and La fille du puisatier/The Well-Digger's Daughter (1940, Marcel Pagnol) with Raimu. About the latter, James Travers writes at Films de France: "La Fille du puisatier may not be Marcel Pagnol's greatest film - indeed a less generous reviewer would write it off as a bland rehash of the director's previous Angèle (1934) - but it does assume some historical significance by dint of the fact that it documents France's capitulation to Nazi Germany more or less as it was happening. Work on the film began in May 1940 but was suspended in June at the height of the debacle. Filming resumed in August after France's surrender and the establishment of the Vichy government."
Grey then played a gypsy in Cartacalha, reine des gitans/Cartacalha, Queen of the Gypsies (1942, Léon Mathot) starring Viviane Romance. He reunited with Guitry for Le destin fabuleux de Désirée Clary/Mlle. Desiree (1942, Sacha Guitry) featuring Gaby Morlay as a girlfriend of Napoleon. The following year, he played the second lead in the comedy Adémaï bandit d'honneur/Adémaï Bandit of Honor (1943) starring Noël-Noël. The film was produced by Les Prisonniers Associés, a company created by recently released prisoners of war; he was not seen on screen again until 1946 in another supporting part in Monsieur Grégoire s'évade/Mr. Gregoire Runs Away (1946, Jacques Daniel-Norman) with Bernard Blier. He finally had his first leading role in the comedy Tierce à coeur/Third at heart (1947, Jacques de Casembroot), but it was not a success. He reunited with Guitry again for a supporting part in Le comédien/The Private Life of an Actor (1948, Sacha Guitry). This was a lovingly told biography of Guitry's father, stage comedian and silent film actor Lucien Guitry. It was followed by another part for Guitry in the historical extravaganza Le diable boiteux/The Lame Devil (1948, Sacha Guitry). Grey's final film was the drama La ferme des sept péchés/The Farm of Seven Sins (1949, Jean-Devaivre) with Jacques Dumesnil. Five years later, he died in a sanatorium in Passy, France in 1954. Georges Grey was only 43.Very funny in Monsieur Grégoire s'évade (1946).
Georges Grey and Andrée Clément both died of tuberculosis a month apart! He was 43, she was 35. - Actor
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Born Robert Alexander Cochran, son of a California lumberman, he worked mostly in the theatre before landing a contract with Samuel Goldwyn in 1945. His debut was Wonder Man (1945) with Virginia Mayo and Danny Kaye. From 1949 to 1952, he was signed to Warner Brothers, then started up his own production company. In 1965, he sailed off in his yacht to Guatemala to look for suitable filming locations but died of a lung infection before reaching land.Always brilliant!- The great, great nephew of the renowned French scientist Louis Pasteur developed into a strangely handsome dark haired, pale complexioned English actor. Ralph Bates was born in 1940 in Bristol, England and attended the University of Dublin and studied at the Yale Drama School. His dramatic talents first came to audiences attention playing the evil Emperor Caligula in the well received BBC TV series The Caesars (1968). However, the Hammer studios resurrection of the horror genre was then in full stride, and Bates was soon engulfed in the swirling cloak of Hammer's success as he appeared in several horror films in quick succession. Firstly in a support role as demonic Lord Courtley in Taste the Blood of Dracula (1970), followed as the lead character Baron Frankenstein in The Horror of Frankenstein (1970), then as Giles Barton in the sexy Lust for a Vampire (1971) and as the well meaning Dr. Jekyll in an unusual spin on the Robert Louis Stevenson story in Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde (1971), Bates brought a new zest to Hammer and with his stylish dialogue delivery and film acting methods, he quickly won himself quite a few fans in both critics and regular film goers!
Unfortunately, by the early 1970s there had been a downturn in Hammer studios fortunes, and Bates then found himself turning to more traditional character work in other production houses and he appeared in several films before snaring other superb villainous role as George Warleggan in the 18th century period piece Poldark (1975).
After Poldark, Bates himself kept busy in a few forgettable UK made TV shows and television film roles which did not really do justice to his remarkable talents. In the late 1980s his health rapidly deteriorated, and he passed away from cancer aged only 51 on 27th March 1991.A delight in Horror of Frankenstein (1970), the film is all his. - Victor Henry was born on 30 July 1943 in Leeds, England, UK. He was an actor, known for All Neat in Black Stockings (1969), Privilege (1967) and The Sorcerers (1967). He died on 20 November 1985 in London, England, UK.Memorable in The Sorcerers (1946) as Ogilvy's mate.
- Henri Vidal was born on 26 November 1919 in Clermont-Ferrand, Puy-de-Dôme, France. He was an actor, known for Pensione Edelweiss (1959), Action immédiate (1957) and Scampolo 53 (1953). He was married to Michèle Morgan and Michèle Cordoue. He died on 10 December 1959 in Paris, France.
- As a child, Williams acted in summer stock productions. After graduation from high school he joined the Air Force for a four-year stint. Then, returning to New York, he took acting classes with Lee Strasberg. A few minor Broadway roles followed as did parts on some live TV dramas. One of these parts caught the eye of a talent agent and Williams signed with Universal in 1956. Universal put him into several supporting roles -- most notably as the gas-station stud in Written on the Wind (1956) -- but the high point of his career came when he played the title role in The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957). Director Jack Arnold said that Williams gave an Oscar-worthy performance because, in many special-effects scenes, he could only imagine his surroundings and his fellow actors. In 1959, Williams moved over to Warner Brothers which cast him in the Hawaiian Eye (1959) TV series. After this, Williams' career faded. His last appearance may have been on a Family Feud (1976) episode in 1983 which featured other Hawaiian Eye (1959) alumni. A lifelong bachelor, Williams died in 1985.Unforgettable as The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957).
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Graham Chapman was born on January 8, 1941 in Leicester, England while a German air raid was in progress. Graham's father was a chief police inspector and probably inspired the constables Graham often portrayed later in comedy sketches. Graham studied medicine in college and earned an M.D., but he practiced medicine for only a few years.
At Cambridge, he took part in a series of comedy revues and shortly after completing his medical studies at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, Graham realized what he wanted to do with his life. He wanted to perform comedy. In 1969, Graham along with University friends John Cleese, Eric Idle, Michael Palin, Terry Jones and American Terry Gilliam formed their own comedy group called Monty Python. Their BBC TV series Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969), which aired a short while later was a an instant hit. Their often self-referential style of humor was delightfully original but completely accessible to most audiences in the UK.
Before the show appeared on public television in the US, many people assumed that Americans would find Monty Python much too British to consider it funny. But PBS never had a larger audience than when stations began to air it during the early 1970s. The classic routines have since become standard college humor.
So enduring was the Python humor that fans know entire sketches such as "The Pet Shop," "Nudge-Nudge, Wink-Wink," "Argument Clinic," and "Penguin on the Telly." Graham was a standout of the group with his tall, blond profile and his zany characters (one of the more memorable was Colonel Muriel Volestrangler, a vaguely military-type character who would stop a sketch because it was "much too silly").
Graham was openly gay long before it was socially acceptable, and was open about his long-term relationship with writer David Sherlock, who lived with him for 24 years. He even adopted and raised a teenage runaway named John Tomiczek. Graham played the title role in the movie Life of Brian (1979) as well as King Arthur in Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975). By the late 1970s, most of the Python members were pursuing independent movie projects and the group was slowly fading into obscurity after their last successful effort The Meaning of Life (1983). Also in 1983, Graham co-wrote and starred in the movie Yellowbeard (1983), which received negative reviews.
In 1988, Graham began working on another series when his health began to decline. A longtime alcoholic, who suffered liver damage before he stopped drinking for good in 1977, Graham began to have trouble concentrating at work. In November 1988, a routine visit to a dentist revealed a malignant tumor on one of his tonsils which was surgically removed. A visit to the doctor a few months later revealed another tumor on his spine which had to be removed which confined him to a wheelchair. During most of 1989, he underwent a series of surgical operations and radiation therapy but for every tumor that was found and removed, another would form either along his spine or in his throat. By July 1989, his cancer was declared terminal and that he would not survive the year, yet he continued to pursue treatments which included chemotherapy. In his wheelchair, he attended the September 1989 taping for the Monty Python's 20th anniversary special. But on October 1, he was hospitalized after a massive stroke which turned into a hemorrhage. He died at the Maidstone hospital at age 48 on October 4, 1989 from complications of the stroke as well as throat and spinal cancer.- Bella Darvi became a 50s symbol for one of the many movie "Cinderellas" whose bright and beautiful Hollywood fairy tale would come crashing down, ending in bitterness and tragedy. A self-destructive brunette beauty, her life was full of misfortune. Of Polish/French descent, she miraculously survived the tortures of a WWII concentration camp as a youth, only to get caught up in the phony glitter and high-living style of Monaco's casinos as a young adult in Europe. An inveterate gambler and drinker, she was, by chance, "discovered" by movie mogul Darryl F. Zanuck and his wife, Virginia Fox, who thought she had a foreign cinematic allure à la Ingrid Bergman. Despite her lack of acting experience, the Zanucks paid off her gambling debts and whisked her away to Hollywood to be groomed for stardom. Her marquee name "Darvi" was derived from the combined first names of her mentors. It should have been a dream-come-true opportunity. Fate, however, would not be so kind. After three high profile roles in The Egyptian (1954), Hell and High Water (1954) and The Racers (1955) opposite three top male films stars (Victor Mature, Richard Widmark and Kirk Douglas, respectively), Darvi's limited abilities were painfully transparent. Not only was she hampered by an ever-so-slight crossed-eyed appearance, she had a trace of a lisp which, combined with a foreign accent, made her speech appear slurred and difficult to understand. It didn't take long for the actress to go off the deep end. Within a short time, a major sex scandal involving Mr. Zanuck had wife Virginia packing Darvi's bags and any "career" she once had here in America was over. She retreated back to Europe, made a few inconsequential films, and quickly returned to her adverse habits -- liquor and the gambling tables. But this time there was no one to save her. Mounting debts and despair eventually turned her thoughts to suicide. After several attempts, Darvi finally succeeded in 1971 by turning on the gas stove in her apartment. She was only 42.
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Lee Remick was born in Quincy, Massachusetts, to Gertrude Margaret (Waldo), an actress, and Francis Edwin Remick, a department store owner. She had Irish and English ancestry. Remick was educated at Barnard College, studied dance and worked on stage and TV, before making her film debut as a sexy Southern majorette in Elia Kazan's A Face in the Crowd (1957). Her next role was also southern: Eula Varner in The Long, Hot Summer (1958). She emerged as a real star in the role of an apparent rape victim in Anatomy of a Murder (1959). And she won an Academy Award nomination for her role as the alcoholic wife of Jack Lemmon in Days of Wine and Roses (1962). After more work in TV and movies, she moved to England in 1970, making more movies there. In 1988 she formed a production company with partners James Garner and Peter K. Duchow.