Died July 13

by Legacy Staff

Cory Monteith wasn’t trained as a singer, but you’d never know it once you heard him belt out the hits as one of the stars of TV’s “Glee.” Playing the high school football team’s quarterback who discovers a surprising love for singing when he joins the glee club, Monteith delighted fans with his renditions of tunes including “Don’t Stop Believin'” and “Jesse’s Girl.” He also had roles in movies including “Sisters & Brothers” and “Monte Carlo.” We remember Monteith’s life today as well as the lives of other notable people who died this day in history.

Click to discover notable people who were born this day in history including soul singer Gerald Levert.

2015: Joan Sebastian, Mexican ballad singer who won five Grammy awards, dies at 64.

2014: Nadine Gordimer, South African author of novels including “The Pickup,” who won the 1991 Nobel Prize in literature, dies at 90.

Nadine Gordimer (AP Photo/Guillermo Arias, File)She said her first “adult story,” published in a literary magazine when she was 15, grew out of her reaction as a young child to watching the casual humiliation of blacks. She recalled blacks being barred from touching clothes before buying in shops in her hometown, and police searching the maid’s quarters at the Gordimer home for alcohol, which blacks were not allowed to possess. That “began to make me think about the way we lived, and why we lived like that, and who were we,” she said in a 2006 interview for the Nobel organization. Read more

2013: Cory Monteith, Canadian actor and musician known best for his role as Finn Hudson on the television series “Glee,” dies of a heroin and alcohol overdose at 31.

“The Glee” casting call asked actors to prove they could sing and dance as well as act. Monteith, a musical person and drummer but not a trained singer, did a funny routine using pencils to play Tupperware and wineglasses. It was cute, but it wasn’t what the show’s producers were looking for. Monteith, however, was exactly what they wanted. Read more

2012: Ginny Tyler, U.S. voice actress whose voice was featured on “Davey and Goliath” along with many Disney animations, dies of natural causes at 86.

Ginny Tyler (Photo by Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)When episodes of television’s “The Mickey Mouse Club” were repackaged for syndication in 1963, Tyler became the head Mouseketeer who hosted new segments of the TV show that were woven around the old, according to her obituary by The Associated Press. Tyler was the voice on the records “Bambi” and “Babes in Toyland.” Read more

2012: Richard D. Zanuck, U.S. movie producer whose films included “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Jaws,” and “Cocoon,” dies of a heart attack at 77.

Richard Zanuck (Associated Press)“In 1974, Dick Zanuck and I sat in a boat off Martha’s Vineyard and watched the mechanical shark sink to the bottom of the sea,” Steven Spielberg recalled in a statement, according to Zanuck’s obituary by The Associated Press. “Dick turned to me and smiled, ‘Gee, I sure hope that’s not a sign.’ That moment forged a bond between us that lasted nearly 40 years. He taught me everything I know about producing. He was one of the most honorable and loyal men of our profession and he fought tooth and nail for his directors.” Read more

2010: George Steinbrenner, U.S. businessman known as the outspoken owner of the New York Yankees, dies of a heart attack at 80.

George Steinbrenner (AP Photo)For a certain generation, or perhaps just for those who prefer sitcoms to baseball, what we know of Steinbrenner comes largely from “Seinfeld.” Steinbrenner became a fixture on the show beginning in season five, when hapless George Costanza found himself working for the venerable Yankee organization. Segments featuring “Big Stein” typically began when Constanza was summoned to his plush office and ended with Costanza backing out the door, leaving Steinbrenner ranting about whatever random tangential thoughts preoccupied him… Read more

2006: Red Buttons, U.S. comedian and actor who won an Academy Award for his supporting role in “Sayonara” and was well-known for his participation in celebrity roasts, dies of vascular disease at 87.

Buttons’ Academy Award led to other films, both dramas and comedies, according to his obituary by The Associated Press. They included “Imitation General,” “The Big Circus,” “Hatari!”, “The Longest Day,” “Up From the Beach,” “They Shoot Horses, Don’t They?”, “The Poseidon Adventure,” “Gable and Lombard” and “Pete’s Dragon.” A performer since his teens, Buttons was noticed by burlesque theater owners, and he became the youngest comic on the circuit. Read more

2004: Arthur Kane, U.S. musician who was a founding member and bassist for the pioneering glam rock band the New York Dolls, dies of leukemia at 55.

1994: Eddie Boyd, U.S. blues piano player and songwriter who toured and recorded with Fleetwood Mac and had his songs covered by Eric Clapton and the Yardbirds, dies at 79.

1993: Davey Allison, U.S. NASCAR driver who won 19 NASCAR Sprint Cup races, including one Daytona 500, dies in a helicopter crash at 32.

Race car drivers and their families live with the danger of high-speed driving, the ever-present possibility of a high-speed crash. An in-air accident was not how anyone had imagined Allison’s fate. It was an unreal and surreal ending to a racing career that included crashes, broken bones, and concussions – as well as recoveries and ongoing victories – on the track. Just the year before, in fact, his car flipped 11 times at Pocono, but he was back behind the wheel the following week. This was after 1992’s Winston all-star race that saw a victorious Allison be pulled unconscious from his car after a finish-line crash. Read more

1982: John Alexander, U.S. actor who appeared in the movie “Arsenic and Old Lace” opposite Cary Grant and on the TV series “The Phil Silvers Show,” dies at 84.

1960: Joy Davidman, U.S. award-winning poet and author whose second husband was the author C.S. Lewis and whose story was portrayed in the movie “Shadowlands,” dies of bone cancer at 45.

1954: Frida Kahlo, Mexican painter known for her self-portraits, who was married to the artist Diego Rivera, dies of a pulmonary embolism at 47.

1946: Alfred Stieglitz, U.S. photographer and art promoter who was one of the most important figures in popularizing photography as an art form, who was married to the painter Georgia O’Keeffe, dies at 82.

1945: Alla Nazimova, Russian-born U.S. film actress and screenwriter who was highly influential during the silent era and continued to act in character roles later in her career, dies at 66.

Click to discover notable people who were born this day in history including soul singer Gerald Levert.

More Stories