Actor Pete Duel's Beachwood Canyon Suicide 1971

Pete Duel (February 24, 1940 – December 31, 1971) was an American actor, best known for his role in the television series Alias Smith and Jones.

Early life

Peter Ellstrom Deuel was born in Rochester, New York, and grew up in nearby Penfield. He attended St. Lawrence University in Canton, New York, where he majored in English. Still, he preferred performing in the drama department’s productions to studying for his classes during his two years there. When his father came to see him in The Rose Tattoo, he realized that his son was only wasting time and money at the university, and told him to follow a career in acting.[1] Moving to New York, Duel landed a role in a touring production of the comedy Take Her, She's Mine. In order to find work in the movies, Duel and his mother drove across the country to Hollywood in 1963 with only a tent to house them each night.[2]

Career

In Hollywood, he found work in television, making small guest appearances in comedies like Gomer Pyle, USMC and dramas, such as ABC's Channing with Jason Evers and Combat! with Rick Jason and Vic Morrow. In 1965 he was cast in the comedy series Gidget. Duel played Gidget's brother-in-law, John Cooper, on the series and appeared in twenty-two of the thirty-two episodes. Gidget was canceled after only one season in 1966, but Duel was immediately offered the starring role of Dave Willis, a newlywed apprentice architect, in an upcoming romantic comedy called Love on a Rooftop. Although the show earned good ratings, ABC decided to not bring it back after its first season. Duel wished to move from sitcoms to more serious roles.[3] He appeared in The Psychiatrist, The Bold Ones, Ironside, and Marcus Welby, M.D.. He also made feature films during this time, beginning with the important role of Rod Taylor’s best friend and co-pilot, Mike Brewer, in The Hell with Heroes in 1968 and the next year in Generation. Following that movie, he went to Spain to film Cannon for Cordoba (1970), a western in which he played the mischievous soldier, Andy Rice. Due in part to their uncanny resemblance his younger brother, Geoffrey Deuel (who starred in the movie Chisum with John Wayne as the character Billy the Kid), is sometimes mistaken for him.

In 1970 Duel was cast as the outlaw Hannibal Heyes, alias Joshua Smith, opposite Ben Murphy, in Alias Smith and Jones, a light-hearted western about the exploits of two outlaws trying to earn an amnesty. During the hiatus between the first and second seasons, he starred in the television production of Percy MacKaye’s 1908 play, The Scarecrow.

Personal life

Duel became involved in politics during the primaries for the 1968 presidential election, campaigning for Eugene McCarthy, in opposition to the Vietnam war.[4] He attended the Democratic National Convention in Chicago, and witnessed the violence that erupted.[5]

Death

In the early hours of December 31, 1971, Duel apparently shot himself, after drinking heavily that evening.[6] At the time, his girlfriend, Dianne Ray, was in the house but not in the same room, and did not witness what happened. In October 1970 he had been the driver in a car wreck in which another person was injured, and was facing legal problems; an astrologer had then told him that 1972 was going to be a difficult year for him. After his death, his role in Alias Smith and Jones was taken over by Roger Davis (previously, the series' narrator), but the sudden loss proved too great and fans were slow to accept the dissimilar-looking Davis. The series was cancelled in 1973.

Pete Duel's Green Glen Deathhouse

Duel is buried in the Oakwood Cemetery in Penfield, New York.[7]

References

1.^ Sandra K. Sagala & JoAnne M. Bagwell Alias Smith and Jones: The Story of Two Pretty Good Bad Men (Boalsburg: Bear Manor Media, 2005). 16
2.^ Sandra K. Sagala & JoAnne M. Bagwell Alias Smith and Jones: The Story of Two Pretty Good Bad Men (Boalsburg: Bear Manor Media, 2005). 17
3.^ Percy Shain (February 14, 1971). "He Prefers Duel to Deuel." Boston Globe TV Week, found at Alias Smith & Jones Collection.
4.^ "Actor Campaigning Here" (June 17, 1968). Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, found at Alias Smith & Jones Collection.
5.^ Sandra K. Sagala & JoAnne M. Bagwell Alias Smith and Jones: The Story of Two Pretty Good Bad Men (Boalsburg: Bear Manor Media, 2005). 18
6.^ Green, Paul (2007). "A Sudden Compulsion". Pete Duel: A Biography. Johnson, Pamela Deuel. McFarland. p. 156. ISBN 9780786430628. http://books.google.com/books?id=diMHvGKGKfAC&pg=PA156&lpg=PA156&source=bl&ots=Ym9HzEQqme&sig=QpLAVlK49rffLXKc59BPvPPThTY&hl=en&ei=uAJVSrfaBeCwtgfLguCpCA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=8. Retrieved Jul7 8, 2009.
7.^ Penfield Post, June 14, 2007, page 6A, "You'd Never Guess Who is Buried Here" by Amy Cavalier

Superman's Girlfriend Leonore Lemmon Dies Drunk 1989

Leonore Lemmon (May 11, 1923 - December 30, 1989) was an American socialite who was the fiancée of actor George Reeves at the time of his death.

Life

Lemmon was the daughter of Arthur Lemmon, a successful Broadway ticket broker. In her early years, she was known as a party girl member of Cafe Society. She was well known and liked in the nightclub world and was infamous as the only woman ever tossed out of the Stork Club for fist-fighting.

In 1941 she married Jacob L. "Jakie" Webb, who was a great-great-grandson of Cornelius Vanderbilt. She left him after eight days but remained married long enough for the colorful Webb to marry someone else several years later and face bigamy charges. She later married and divorced musician Hamish Menzies.

In the late 1950s, Lemmon was the girlfriend and fiancée of Adventures of Superman star George Reeves. The couple were to be married in Mexico on June 19, 1959, honeymoon in Spain and then go to Australia for public appearances as Superman. However, Reeves died of a gunshot wound to the head three days before the scheduled wedding. Lemmon attempted, without success, to claim a share of Reeves's estate.

George Reeves' Benedict Canyon Deathhouse

She returned to New York where she lived out the remainder of her life, her last years spent, according to her family, in alcohol dementia.

In popular culture

She was portrayed by Robin Tunney in the 2006 movie Hollywoodland.

Notes

1.^ Her body was found in her New York Apartment January 4, 1990, and time of death was calculated as most likely five days earlier. Her death certificate reads December 30, 1989

2.^ New York Borough of Manhattan Death Records, 1989

Celebrity Grave: Talent Agent Irving "Swifty" Lazar 1993

Irving Paul "Swifty" Lazar (March 28, 1907 – December 30, 1993) was a talent agent and deal-maker, representing both movie stars and authors.

Born as Samuel Lazar in Brooklyn, New York, he graduated from Brooklyn Law School in 1931. While practicing bankruptcy law during the early-1930s, he negotiated a business deal for a vaudeville performer and realized the income potential for acting as an agent.

He moved to Hollywood in 1936 but maintained a presence in New York until after World War II when he moved to Los Angeles permanently. After putting together three major deals for Humphrey Bogart in a single day, he was dubbed "Swifty" by Bogart. The moniker stuck but was a name he actually disliked.

In addition to Bogart, Lazar became the agent representing the top tier of celebrities, including Lauren Bacall, Truman Capote, Cher, Joan Collins, Noel Coward, Ira Gershwin, Cary Grant, Moss Hart, Ernest Hemingway, Gene Kelly, Madonna, Walter Matthau, Larry McMurtry, Vladimir Nabokov, Clifford Odets, Cole Porter, William Saroyan, Irwin Shaw, President Richard Nixon and Tennessee Williams. Lazar's power became such that he could negotiate a deal for someone who was not even his client and then collect a fee from that person's agent.

During World War II, Lazar, with Benjamin Landis, suggested to the U.S. Army Air Forces that it produce a play to encourage enlistment and to raise funds for the Army Emergency Relief Fund. The Air Forces commanding general, Henry H. Arnold, agreed and the play Winged Victory was written by Moss Hart and produced by Hart and Lazar. It was a huge success, playing on Broadway and on tour around the U.S. for over a million people. A film version was produced during the same period.

Lazar was an executive producer (with Bernie Brillstein) of John G. Avildsen's Neighbors (1981), starring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd, and he was an associate producer on two television miniseries, The Thorn Birds (1983) and Robert Kennedy and His Times (1985). He was renowned for his annual post-Academy Award parties that started at the famous Romanoff's, then moved to the Bistro Garden and finally to Wolfgang Puck's restaurant, Spago. His was widely regarded as the most important Oscar celebration, and those who received invitations were regarded as the inner circle.

Lazar died in 1993, aged 86, from complications stemming from diabetes which eventually cut off circulation to his feet, which doctors wanted to amputate. Lazar, who was being treated at home via peritoneal dialysis, refused amputation. This refusal hastened Lazar's death.[1] The Death Certificate states "Imminent Cause: Chronic Renal Failure due to Glomerulo Sclerosis due to Hypertension. Other significant conditions contributing to death but not related to cause given in 21: lower extremities diabetes."[2]

He was interred in the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles next to his wife, Mary, who had died in January that same year from liver cancer.

Michael Korda wrote a 1993 New Yorker profile of Lazar, later incorporated into Korda's book, Another Life: A Memoir of Other People (Random House, 1999). At the time of his death, Lazar was working on his autobiography, Swifty: My Life and Good Times, which was completed by Annette Tapert and published by Simon and Schuster in 1995.

Swifty Lazar appears as a character in Peter Morgan's stage play, Frost/Nixon, first staged at the Donmar Warehouse, London on August 10, 2006 and played by actor Kerry Shale. In the play Lazar negotiates a deal with David Frost on behalf of President Richard Nixon for Frost to interview Nixon. The play is closely based on real-life events. He has also been portrayed by Toby Jones in the 2008 film version of Frost/Nixon.

References

1.^ Sources: Quotes from Alan Nevins, Lazar Business Associate[where?]; Cindy Cassel, Executive Assistant to Lazar up until his death.[where?]
2.^ Death Certificate, Los Angeles Department of Health Services

Celebrity Grave: "Johnny Belinda" Actor Lew Ayres 1996

Lew Ayres, born Lewis Frederick Ayres III (December 28, 1908 – December 30, 1996) was an American actor, probably best known for his role as Dr. Kildare in several movies, which was apt since originally he had studied medicine at the University of Arizona.

In 1948 he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for Johnny Belinda, but his career was sparse after the war. Costar Jane Wyman fell in love with Ayres and left her husband Ronald Reagan for him, albeit unsuccessfully.

Ayres was married three times. He was married to actress Lola Lane from 1931 until 1933 and to actress Ginger Rogers from 1934 until 1940. His third marriage, to Diana Hall, lasted from 1964 until his death from complications while in a coma at the age of 88. They had one son, Justin, born in 1968.

Lew Ayres is buried at Westwood Village Memorial Park (next to Frank Zappa's unmarked grave).

Celebrity Grave: "Biograph SUICIDE Girl" Florence Lawrence 1938

Florence Lawrence (January 2, 1886 – December 28, 1938) was a Canadian inventor and silent film actress. She is often referred to as "The First Movie Star." When she was popular, she was known as "The Biograph Girl," "The Imp Girl," and "The Girl of a Thousand Faces." Lawrence appeared in more than 270 films for various motion picture companies.

Alone, discouraged, and suffering with chronic pain from myelofibrosis, a rare bone marrow disease, she was found unconscious in bed in her West Hollywood apartment on December 27, 1938 after she had attempted suicide by eating ant paste. She was rushed to a hospital but died a few hours later.

Just nine years after she had paid for an expensive memorial for her mother, Lawrence was interred in an unmarked grave not far from her mother in the Hollywood Cemetery, which is now Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

Kenalan dengan Nyamuk

Nyamuk, hewan yang sering mengganggu kita dikala tidur, belajar, online atau kegiatan lain. Kebetulan saya dapat ide posting tentang nyamuk gara-gara si nyamuk ini mengganggu ketika Ladida baru menatap layar terpaku untuk online online , online online. Heheee.

Sebenarnya nyamuk menghisap darah itu bukan untuk memenuhi nafsu makannya. Nyamuk lebih suka menghisap madu dan nektar dari bunga-bunga. Dan hanya nyamuk betina saja yang menghisap darah. Itupun diperlukan karena untuk bertelur mereka butuh banyak protein amino yang ada dalam darah.

Nyamuk lebih suka darah kerbau atau tikus daripada darah manusia karena kadar asam amino dalam darah manusia sangat sedikit. Tapi, karena manusia jumlahnya sangat banyak dan gampang dimangsa, why not?

Mereka melihat dengan gerakan, panas, dan bau tubuh mangsanya. Jadi, meski kita sembunyi di kegelapan, di balik selimut, dengan nafas kita yang hangat, mereka dapat menemukan sasarannya dengan tepat. Canggih ya.

Ketika si nyamuk mendarat di tubuh kita, dia menempelkan mulutnya yang bentuknya kira-kira seperti 'sedotan', disebut probosis (ingat, hanya pada nyamuk betina), terdapat pisau yang merobek kulit kita dengan cara maju mundur sampai menemukan urat darah dan setelah itu darah kita dicolong.

Dalam proses pencurian darah itu, si nyamuk mengeluarkan liur yang berfungsi mencegah pembekuan darah yang dia hisap. Kalian tahu kan, darah kita akan membeku jika terkena udara. Bayangkan jika si nyamuk tidak memakai liurnya, pasti darahnya nyumbat di sedotannya.

Setelah terpenuhi kebutuhannya, dia akan kabur. Liur yang ditinggalkannya akan merangsang tubuh mendeteksi ada benda asing yang mengganggu dan terjadilah alergi atau bentol-bentol pada kulit kita.

Nah, sudah tahu kan betapa perjuangan si nyamuk demi telur-telurnya. Dia bertaruh nyawa, jika kena tabok langsung mati. Hargailah perjuangannya. Tapi ingat, liur si nyamuk ini membawa banyak virus dan penyakit. Jadi, berhati-hatilah.