Contrary to popular myth, Mama Cass Elliot did not die from choking on a ham sandwich, her daughter is keen for people to know.
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the death of the songstress with the Mamas and the Papas, Elliot’s daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell has told the BBC, “There was a ham sandwich, but she didn’t eat it and she didn’t choke on it. So enough with the jokes.”
Mama Cass died aged 32 in the London flat of fellow singer Harry Nilsson in 1974, after she had finished a two-week run of performances at the London Palladium. The autopsy confirmed her case of death as a heart attack.
At the time, and in many cultural references since, it was reported that she had choked to death on a ham sandwich, which was found by her bedside.
Her daughter, who has written a book My Mama,...
On the eve of the 50th anniversary of the death of the songstress with the Mamas and the Papas, Elliot’s daughter Owen Elliot-Kugell has told the BBC, “There was a ham sandwich, but she didn’t eat it and she didn’t choke on it. So enough with the jokes.”
Mama Cass died aged 32 in the London flat of fellow singer Harry Nilsson in 1974, after she had finished a two-week run of performances at the London Palladium. The autopsy confirmed her case of death as a heart attack.
At the time, and in many cultural references since, it was reported that she had choked to death on a ham sandwich, which was found by her bedside.
Her daughter, who has written a book My Mama,...
- 5/6/2024
- by Caroline Frost
- Deadline Film + TV
Owen Elliot-Kugell, the daughter of late The Mamas & the Papas member Cass Elliot, is setting the record straight on her mother’s death in her new memoir, My Mama, Cass.
In July 1974, Cass passed away in London from a heart attack when Elliot-Kugell was 7-years-old, dying in her sleep at age 32. However, an urban legend spread claiming that the singer had died from choking on a ham sandwich.
“In my younger years, when people would talk to me about my mom, it was always about the stupid sandwich,” Elliot-Kugell told People magazine. “I would go over to kids’ houses after school and eventually one of their parents would ask me, ‘Did your mom really die choking on a ham sandwich?’ First of all, the chutzpah to say that to a child is just crazy but it happened a lot. So I felt it was my duty to figure out what that story was all about.
In July 1974, Cass passed away in London from a heart attack when Elliot-Kugell was 7-years-old, dying in her sleep at age 32. However, an urban legend spread claiming that the singer had died from choking on a ham sandwich.
“In my younger years, when people would talk to me about my mom, it was always about the stupid sandwich,” Elliot-Kugell told People magazine. “I would go over to kids’ houses after school and eventually one of their parents would ask me, ‘Did your mom really die choking on a ham sandwich?’ First of all, the chutzpah to say that to a child is just crazy but it happened a lot. So I felt it was my duty to figure out what that story was all about.
- 5/1/2024
- by Tatiana Tenreyro
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
Owen Elliot-Kugell remembers the last time she saw her mom. It was the summer of 1974, and the seven-year-old was on an airplane departing London. Just like that scene in Almost Famous, Elliot-Kugell said goodbye through the window. “She puts my seat belt on and kisses me and says, ‘Look in the window,’” Elliot-Kugell tells Rolling Stone. “I’m going to go to the airport terminal, and I’m going to wave. Go wave! Go wave!’ That’s the last time I saw her.”
Elliot-Kugell’s mother, the one and only Cass Elliot,...
Elliot-Kugell’s mother, the one and only Cass Elliot,...
- 11/14/2023
- by Angie Martoccio
- Rollingstone.com
What do Nicolas Cage, Pedro Pascal, and a top-down convertible ride on a cliff in Majorca have to do with folk-rock legend Cass Elliot?
The answer — like most things nowadays — involves a new meme sweeping TikTok. Taken from a scene in the 2022 film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the short clip features a scowling Cage looking at a cheesing, completely unbothered, nothing-behind-the-eyes, Pascal — all set to the tune of Elliot’s 1969 song “Make Your Own Kind of Music.” Since February 2023, it’s become part of a meme on TikTok,...
The answer — like most things nowadays — involves a new meme sweeping TikTok. Taken from a scene in the 2022 film The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, the short clip features a scowling Cage looking at a cheesing, completely unbothered, nothing-behind-the-eyes, Pascal — all set to the tune of Elliot’s 1969 song “Make Your Own Kind of Music.” Since February 2023, it’s become part of a meme on TikTok,...
- 3/9/2023
- by CT Jones
- Rollingstone.com
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