We remember teen idol David Cassidy’s life today as well as the lives of other notable people who died this day in history.
We remember teen idol David Cassidy’s life today as well as the lives of other notable people who died this day in history.
2017: David Cassidy, the singer and actor who rocketed to teen-idol status in the 1970s as the co-star of the musical TV sitcom “The Partridge Family, is born in New York City, New York.
2013: Vern Mikkelsen, U.S. basketball player who was a six-time NBA All-Star and was elected to the Basketball Hall of Fame, dies of complications of prostate cancer at 85.
Though he was known for his hard-nosed defense, Mikkelsen averaged 14.4 points and 9.4 rebounds in his career and emerged as one of the first true power forwards in the league, according to his obituary by The Associated Press. He was inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame in 1995. Read more
2012: Deborah Raffin, U.S. actress who appeared on TV’s “Nightmare in Badham County” and “7th Heaven,” dies of leukemia at 59.
She and her then-husband, music producer Michael Viner, launched Dove Books-on-Tape in the mid-1980s, which blossomed into a multimillion-dollar business, according to her obituary by The Associated Press. The company’s first best-seller was Stephen Hawking’s opus on the cosmos titled “A Brief History of Time.” Raffin’s job was getting celebrities to provide voices for some of the books. Among them were the nonfiction best-sellers “Anatomy of an Illness” and “The Healing Heart,” both by Norman Cousins and read by Jason Robards Jr. and William Conrad, respectively. Read more
2012: Art Ginsburg, U.S. television chef and author better known as Mr. Food, dies at 81.
Ginsburg had an unlikely formula for success in this era of reality cooking shows, flashy chefs, and artisanal foods. With a pleasantly goofy, grandfatherly manner and a willingness to embrace processed foods, Ginsburg endeared himself to millions of home cooks via 90-second segments syndicated to 125 local television stations nationwide. Read more
2010: Norris Church Mailer, U.S. model and the widow of literary giant Norman Mailer, dies of gastrointestinal cancer at 61.
As Mailer wrote in her 2010 memoir, “A Ticket to the Circus,” she was a single mother in her mid-20s when she met the then-52-year-old Norman Mailer at a 1975 cocktail party in his honor in Russellville, Arkansas. Their attraction was immediate, even if he was breaking up with his fourth wife and seeing the woman who would become his fifth. Norris Church became No. 6 in 1980. A son, John Buffalo, had been born two years earlier. Read more
2010: Margaret Taylor-Burroughs, U.S. artist and writer who co-founded Chicago’s DuSable Museum of African-American History, dies at 95.
President Barack Obama said in a statement that Burroughs was “widely admired for her contributions to American culture as an esteemed artist, historian, educator, and mentor.” Burroughs founded the museum with her husband and others on Chicago’s South Side in 1961. Read more
2006: Robert Lockwood Jr., U.S. delta blues guitarist, dies at 91.
Lockwood was born in Turkey Scratch, Arkansas. At 11, he started guitar lessons with legendary bluesman Robert Johnson, who briefly moved in with Lockwood’s mother. “He never showed me nothing two times,” Lockwood said in a 2005 interview with The Cleveland Plain Dealer newspaper. “After I got the foundation of the way he played, everything was easy.” Read more
2002: Hadda Brooks, U.S. jazz singer, pianist, and composer known as the Queen of the Boogie, dies at 86.
1995: Peter Grant, strapping English ex-wrestler and manager of rock bands including Led Zeppelin and Bad Company, dies of a heart attack at 60.
1993: Bill Bixby, U.S. actor and director whose credits include the television shows “My Favorite Martian,” “The Incredible Hulk,” and “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” dies of prostate cancer at 59.
Bixby helped define television for four decades, becoming one of the medium’s most recognizable faces. He was a leading man on three popular series: “My Favorite Martian,” “The Courtship of Eddie’s Father,” and “The Incredible Hulk.” He also was active behind the scenes as a director and producer, directing more than 30 episodes of the sitcom “Blossom” in the 1990s, among others. Something passing fans may not know is that Bixby bore numerous personal hardships with grace and dignity. Read more
1990: Dean Hart, Canadian professional wrestler, dies of kidney disease at 36.
1988: Carl Hubbell, U.S. Major League Baseball Hall of Fame southpaw screwball pitcher dubbed the Meal Ticket, dies at 85 of injuries sustained in an auto accident.
1987: James E. Folsom Sr., U.S. politician who served as Alabama’s 42nd governor and was among the first southern governors to embrace integration and civil rights for blacks, dies at 79.
1986: Jerry Colonna, U.S. comedian and Bob Hope‘s sidekick in radio shows and films, dies of kidney failure at 82.
1986: Dar Robinson, U.S. stunt performer and actor who broke 19 world records, dies while filming a movie stunt at 39.
1967: Florence Reed, U.S. actress who played Miss Havisham in the 1934 film “Great Expectations,” dies at 84.
1963: Robert Stroud, aka the Birdman of Alcatraz, U.S. federal prisoner and convicted murderer who became an expert ornithologist while behind bars, dies at 73.
1959: Max Baer Sr., U.S. heavyweight boxing champion and the father of “The Beverly Hillbillies” actor Max “Jethro Bodine” Baer Jr., dies of a heart attack at 50.
1958: Mel Ott, U.S. Major League Baseball Hall of Fame right fielder who played his entire career with the New York Giants, dies after an auto accident at 49.
1945: Robert Benchley, U.S. humorist and actor whose film “How To Sleep” earned him an Academy Award for best short subject, dies at 56.