On March 12, 1969, the London drug squad appears at house of George Harrison and Pattie Boyd with a warrant and drug-sniffing canines. Boyd immediately used the direct hotline to Beatles headquarters and George returned to find his home turned upside down. He is reported to have told the officers “You needn’t have turned the whole bloody place upside down. All you had to do was ask me and I would have shown you where I keep everything.”

Without his assistance, the constables, including Sergeant Pilcher who had directed the drug-related arrest of John Lennon the previous year, had already found a considerable amount of hashish. Harrison and Boyd were arrested and as they were being escorted to the police station, a photographer began shooting pictures of the famous couple. Harrison chased after the photographer, with the cops trailing right behind him down the London street. Finally, the man dropped his camera and George stomped on it before the officers subdued him.

Harrison and his model wife, who missed Paul and Linda McCartney’s wedding that same day because of the arrest, were released on bail. A few weeks later, Harrison and Boyd were allowed to plead guilty. Despite the rather prodigious amount of hash recovered from their home, the authorities were satisfied that it was all for their personal use. They were fined 250 pounds each, and even had a confiscated pipe returned to them. Ten years later, Boyd married guitarist Eric Clapton and Harrison sang and played at their wedding. Sergeant Pilcher, the man behind the raid, was convicted of planting drugs in other cases and went to jail in 1972. George Harrison died in November 2001 after a struggle with cancer.

Rapper Notorious BIG shot and killed in 1997

Christopher George Latore Wallace, better known as the rapper Notorious B.I.G. or Biggie Smalls was born on May 21, 1972 in New York, New York. When Wallace released his debut album Ready to Die in 1994, he became a central figure in the East Coast hip-hop scene and increased New York’s visibility at a time when West Coast artists were more common in the mainstream. The following year, Wallace led his childhood friends to chart success through his protégé group, Junior M.A.F.I.A. While recording his second album, Wallace was heavily involved in the East Coast/ West Coast feud, dominating the scene at the time. On March 9, 1997, Wallace was killed by an unknown assailant in a drive-by shooting in Los Angeles. His double-disc set Life After Death, released 15 days later, hit #1 on the U.S. album charts and was certified Diamond in 2000 (one of the few hip hop albums to receive this certification). Since his death, a further two albums have been released. His ashes were given to family and final disposition is unknown.

The Onion Field Murder (1963)

On the night of March 9, 1963, LAPD officers Ian Campbell and Karl Hettinger pulled over a car containing two suspicious-looking men on a Hollywood street. The two men, Gregory Ulas Powell and Jimmy Lee Smith (aka “Jimmy Youngblood”), had recently committed a string of robberies. Powell, the driver, pulled a gun on Campbell and ordered Hettinger to surrender his gun to Smith. The two officers were then forced into Powell’s car and driven north from Los Angeles to an onion field near Bakersfield where Campbell was fatally shot. Hettinger was able to escape, running nearly four miles to reach a farmhouse. The killing occurred primarily because Powell assumed that the kidnapping of the officers alone already constituted a capital crime under the state’s Little Lindbergh Law. However, Powell’s interpretation was incorrect, as under the Little Lindbergh Law kidnapping became a capital crime only if the victim was harmed.

Powell was arrested on the night of the murder. The following day, Smith was apprehended as well. The lead LAPD investigator on the case was Sergeant Pierce Brooks. Both suspects, convicted of murder and sentenced to death, ultimately received life-imprisonment sentences following a second trial for each, several appeals and a California court decision that found California’s death penalty to be cruel and unusual punishment.

Though Hettinger was able to escape, he felt scorned by his fellow officers and officials at the Los Angeles Police Department and suffered severe emotional trauma for both the initial incident and the following treatment. Eventually a police training video was made using his experience as example of what not to do when stopping and approaching a vehicle. Hettinger was forced to resign from the LAPD in 1966 after being accused of shoplifting. Years later, Hettinger was appointed to serve as a Kern County Supervisor for Bakersfield, California, where he served multiple consecutive terms. In 1994, he died from liver disease at the age of 59.

Smith was initially released in 1982, but returned to prison several times on drug-related parole violations. In December 2006, he failed to report to his parole officer and a warrant was issued for his arrest. In February 2007, a man matching Smith’s description was detained by police in Los Angeles’s Skid Row area and eventually identified as Smith. He was arrested and charged with violating his parole, and sent to the Pitchess Detention Center in Castaic, California. On April 7, 2007, while in that facility, he died of an apparent heart attack. Powell remains incarcerated and on October 18, 2011, the California State Parole Board denied a compassionate release for Powell, who has been diagnosed with terminal prostate cancer. The board stated that Powell did not wish to be released from prison and was likely to be uncooperative if paroled.

Officer Ian Campbell is buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Cyd Charisse was born on March 8, 1922 in Amarillo, Texas. Her Hollywood film career began in the 1940s. Her roles usually focused on her abilities as a dancer, and she was paired with Fred Astaire and Gene Kelly; her films include Singin’ in the Rain (1952), The Band Wagon (1953) and Silk Stockings (1957). She stopped dancing in films in the late 1950s, but continued acting in film and television, and in 1992 made her Broadway debut. Charisse died on June 17, 2008from a heart attack and is buried at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

Between 1947 and 1949 they are believed to have killed as many as twenty women. The 1970 movie The Honeymoon Killers, the 1996 movie Deep Crimson, the 2006 movie Lonely Hearts, and an episode of the TV series Cold Case were all based on this case.

Raymond Fernandez was born on December 17, 1914 in Hawaii. Shortly thereafter, they moved to Connecticut. As an adult, he moved to Spain, married, and had four children, all of whom he abandoned later on in life. After serving in Spain’s Merchant Marine and then the British Intelligence service during World War II, Fernandez decided to seek work. Shortly after boarding a ship bound for America, a steel hatch fell on top of him, fracturing his skull, and injuring his frontal lobe. The damage left by this injury may well have affected his social and sexual behavior. Upon his release from a hospital, Fernandez stole some clothing, and was imprisoned for a year, during which time his cellmate taught him voodoo and black magic. He later claimed black magic gave him irresistible power and charm over women. After having served his sentence, Fernandez moved to New York and began answering personal ads by lonely women. He would wine and dine them, then steal their money and possessions. Most were too embarrassed to report the crimes. In one case, he traveled with a woman to Spain, where he visited his wife and introduced the two women. His female traveling companion then died under suspicious circumstances, and he took possession of her property with a forged will. In 1947, he answered a personal ad placed by Martha Beck.

Martha Beck was born Martha Jule Seabrook on May 6, 1920 in Milton, Florida. At her trial, she claimed to have been sexually assaulted by her brother. When she told her mother about what happened, her mother beat her, claiming she was responsible. After she finished school, she studied nursing, but had trouble finding a job due to her weight. She initially became an undertaker’s assistant and prepared female bodies for burial. She quit her job and moved to California where she worked in an Army hospital as a nurse. She engaged in sexually promiscuous behavior, and eventually became pregnant. She tried to convince the father to marry her but he refused. Single and pregnant, she returned to Florida. Unemployed and a single mother, Beck escaped into a fantasy world, buying romance magazines and novels. In 1946, she found employment at the Pensacola Hospital for Children. She placed a lonely-hearts ad in 1947, which Raymond Fernandez then answered.

Fernandez visited Beck and stayed for a short time, and she told everyone that they were to be married. He returned to New York while she made preparations in Florida, where she lived. Abruptly, she was fired from her job, likely because of rumors about her and Fernandez. She then packed up and arrived on his doorstep in New York. Fernandez enjoyed the way she catered to his every whim, and he confessed his criminal enterprises. Beck quickly became a willing participant, and sent her children to the Salvation Army. She posed as Fernandez’ sister, giving him an air of respectability. Their victims often stayed with them, or with her. She was extremely jealous and would go to great lengths to make sure he and his “intended” never consummated their relationship. When he did have sex with a woman, both were subjected to Beck’s violent temper.

In 1949, the pair committed the three murders for which they would later be convicted. Janet Fay, 66, became engaged to Fernandez and went to stay at his Long Island apartment. When Beck saw her and Fernandez in bed together, she smashed Fay’s head in with a hammer in a murderous rage, and then Fernandez strangled her. Fay’s family became suspicious, and the couple moved on to a new victim.
They traveled to Wyoming Township, Michigan, a suburb of Grand Rapids, to meet Delphine Downing, a young widow with a two-year-old daughter. While they stayed with Downing, she became agitated, and Fernandez gave her sleeping pills. Enraged by Downing’s crying daughter, Beck strangled her, though not killing her. Fernandez thought Downing would become suspicious if she saw her bruised daughter, so he shot the unconscious woman. The couple then stayed for several days in Downing’s house. Again enraged by the daughter’s crying, Beck drowned her in a basin of water. They buried the bodies in the basement, but suspicious neighbors reported the Downing’s disappearances, and police arrived at the door on February 28, 1949.

Fernandez quickly confessed, with the understanding that they would not be extradited to New York; Michigan had no death penalty, but New York did. They were, however, extradited. They vehemently denied seventeen murders that were attributed to them, and Fernandez tried to retract his confession, saying he only did it to protect Beck. Their trial was sensationalized, with lurid tales of sexual perversity. Beck was so upset about the media’s comments about her appearance that she wrote protesting letters to the editors. Fernandez and Beck were convicted of the three murders and sentenced to death. On March 8, 1951, both were executed by electric chair at Sing Sing Prison. Despite their tumultuous arguments and relationship problems, they often professed their love to each other, as demonstrated by their official last words:

“I wanna shout it out; I love Martha! What do the public know about love?” – Raymond Fernandez.

“My story is a love story. But only those tortured by love can know what I mean […] Imprisonment in the Death House has only strengthened my feeling for Raymond….” – Martha Beck.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Anna Magnani was born on March 7, 1908 in Rome. She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for The Rose Tatoo (1955). She was referred to as “La Lupa,” the “perennial toast of Rome” and a “living she-wolf symbol” of the cinema. Her film career had spread over almost 20 years before she gained international renown as Pina in Roberto Rossellini’s Roma (1945). She fell in love with Rossellini and as artists they complemented each other well while working on neorealist films. Eventually he promised to direct her in a film he was preparing which he told her would be “the crowning vehicle of her career”. However, when the screenplay was completed, he instead gave the role for Stromboli to Ingrid Bergman, which resulted in Magnani’s permanent breakup with Rossellini. Magnani died on September 23, 1973 from pancreatic cancer and is buried at Cimitero Comunale in Lazio, Italy.

Who was born on this date:

Comedic actor, Lou Costello was born on March 6, 1906 in Patterson, New Jersey. He is best known as half of the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. In 1927, Costello went to Hollywood to become an actor and his athletic skill brought him occasional work as a stunt man. While working in vaudeville in the 1930s, Costello became acquainted with Bud Abbott. After working together sporadically, Abbott and Costello formally teamed up in 1936. They performed together in burlesque shows. In 1938 they received national exposure for the first time by becoming featured performers on The Kate Smith Hour, radio program. They were hugely successful, which ultimately led to their appearance in a Broadway play and signing with Universal Studios in 1940. The team’s breakout picture was Buck Privates in 941. They immediately became the top-ranking comedy stars in Hollywood and fans looked forward to each of their pictures as a major event. Costello’s child-like demeanor was strictly acting, and he aggressively battled with the more easy-going Abbott as well as the studio. The duo made 36 films between 1940 and 1956. They were among the most popular and highest-paid entertainers in the world during World War II. Abbott and Costello split up in July 1957, after troubles with the IRS forced both men to sell off their large homes and the rights to some of their films. Costello died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills on March 3, 1959, three days before his 53rd birthday. He is interred at the Calvary Cemetery in East Los Angeles, California.

Who died on this date:

On March 6, 2005, actress Teresa Wright died. The award winning actress who often played the sweet, pretty girl next door role was born Muriel Teresa Wright on October 27, 1918 in the borough of Harlem, New York. Her parents divorced when she was very young, and she moved often, living with various relatives. Wright began acting at an early age and she had great success on the Broadway stage. She was discovered by MGM talent scouts and offered a contract by Samuel Goldwyn. Her first film in 1941, The Little Foxes, garnered a best supporting actress Oscar nomination in her sophomore effort, Mrs. Miniver (1942), she won the best supporting actress Academy Award, and in her third effort, The Pride of the Yankees (1942) was nominated for a best lead actress Oscar. She is the only actress in Academy Award history to be nominated three times for her first three films.

Her fourth movie, Alfred Hitchcock’s, Shadow of a Doubt (1943), did not earn an award nomination but was a classic. This was followed up by Casanova Brown (1944) and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Wright’s career had an unprecedented meteoric rise but she did not want any part of the typical Hollywood publicity and often refused to participate in photo shoots or magazine interviews. She would only accept roles as the wholesome daughter, wife or sweetheart but never the seductress.

At first, MGM was understanding and tolerant of Ms. Wright’s attitude but this wore thin and eventually totally eroded. The situation culminated in 1948, when MGM head Samuel Goldwyn’s patience ran out and he fired the talented but difficult actress for “uncooperative” behavior. Her career would survive, but motion pictures were not as forthcoming and she turned to television and the stage. Wright’s successful television and motion picture career spanned five decades, from 1941 to 1997, which included over eighty roles. Her last film appearance was in John Grisham’s Rainmaker (1997), after which she permanently retired. The Academy Award winning actress died on March 6, 2005 at the Yale-New Haven Hospital in New Haven, Connecticut from a heart attack. Wright’s body was donated to the Yale University Medical School for research and final disposition of her remains are unknown. Ironically, the true life Eleanor Gehrig died on the same date in 1984.

On the late winter night of March 6, 1873, Louis Wagner travelled to Smuttynose, an island about ten miles off of the coast of Portsmouth, New Hampshire. He was searching for $600 he thought was being saved by residents to buy a schooner. Wagner stole a rowboat and made his way to Smuttynose, arriving around 11 p.m.

He broke into the home of Karen Anne Christensen and Anethe Christensen in hopes of robbing them of their money but found nothing. In a fit of rage he hacked the sisters to death with an axe. Arrested the next night by Boston police on a description provided by Portsmouth authorities, Wagner was publicly derided and even stoned when he returned to Portsmouth the next morning. During his trial in Alfred, Maine, the most damning piece of evidence was a white button belonging to Karen that was in Wagner’s possession when he was arrested. The jury took only 55 minutes and returned a verdict of guilty for first degree murder. A series of reprieves followed, but Wagner joined another convicted murderer on the gallows at Thomaston State Prison June 25, 1875. He professed his innocence up to the moment he died, and many had come to believe him. No positive evidence has been uncovered to support Wagner’s contention. The murders have been the subject of many books and poems. They include, The Weight Of Water by Anita Shreve, Ballad Of Louis Wagner by John Parrault, and A Memorable Murder by Celia Thaxter. There is also a movie in the works by director Oliver Stone.

Who was born on this date:

Actor Rex Harrison was born Reginald Carey on March 5, 1908 in Huyton, Lancashire, England. He first appeared on stage in 1924 in Liverpool but his acting career was interrupted because of World War II. During which he served in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Flight Lieutenant. He acted in the West End of London when he was young, appearing in the Terence Rattigan play French Without Tears, which proved to be his breakthrough role.

Harrison’s film debut was in The Great Game (1930), and other notable early films include The Citadel (1938), Night Train to Munich (1940), Major Barbara (1941), Blithe Spirit (1945), Anna and the King of Siam (1946), The Ghost and Mrs. Muir (1947), and The Foxes of Harrow (1947). He was best known for his portrayal of Professor Henry Higgins with Audrey Hepburn in the 1964 film version of My Fair Lady, based on the Broadway production of the same name, for which Harrison won a Best Actor Oscar. He also starred in 1967’s Doctor Doolittle. Harrison was not by general terms a singer; thus, the music was generally written to allow for long periods of recitative, generally identified as “speaking to the music.”

Although excelling in comedy he attracted favorable reviews in dramatic roles such as his portrayal of Julius Caesar in Cleopatra (1963) and as Pope Julius II in The Agony and the Ecstasy (1965), starring opposite Charlton Heston as Michelangelo. He alternated appearances between the stage and film throughout his career. He appeared in numerous plays in both London and New York. Highlights include Bell, Book and Candle (1950), Venus Observed, The Cocktail Party, The Kingfisher, and The Love of Four Colonels, which he also directed. He won his first Tony Award for his appearance as Henry VIII in Anne of the Thousand Days and international superstardom (and a second Tony Award) for his Henry Higgins in the musical My Fair Lady, in which he appeared opposite a young Julie Andrews. Later appearances included Pirandello’s Henry IV, a 1984 appearance at the Haymarket Theatre with Claudette Colbert in Frederick Lonsdale’s Aren’t We All?, and one on Broadway at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre presented by Douglas Urbanski, at the Haymarket in J. M. Barrie’s The Admirable Crichton with Edward Fox. He returned as Henry Higgins in a highly paid revival of My Fair Lady directed by Patrick Garland in 1981, cementing his association with the plays of George Bernard Shaw which included a Tony nominated performance as Shotover in Heartbreak House, Julius Caesar in Caesar and Cleopatra, and General Burgoyne in a Los Angeles production of The Devil’s Disciple. He also appeared as an aging homosexual man opposite Richard Burton as his lover in Staircase (1969).

In his personal life Harrison was a mess enduring numerous scandals and six marriages. In 1942, he divorced his first wife, Colette Thomas, and then married actress Lilli Palmer. They appeared together in numerous plays and films, including The Four Poster (1952). In 1947, while still married to Palmer, Harrison began an affair with actress Carole Landis. In 1948, Landis committed suicide after spending the night with Harrison. His involvement in her death and the subsequent scandal briefly damaged his career. He and Palmer divorced in 1957 and that same year, Harrison married for a 3rd time to actress Kay Kendall. Two years later tragedy struck again when Kendall died of leukemia. In 1962, he married for a 4th time to Welsh-born Rachel Roberts. This marriage lasted nine years and also ended in divorce. In 1980, Roberts committed suicide. Harrison married for a 5th time in 1971 to Elizabeth Rees-Williams and sadly this union also ended in divorce after four years. His 6th and final marriage was to Mercia Tinker.

Having retired from films in the late 1970’s, Harrison continued to act on Broadway until the end of his life, despite suffering from glaucoma, painful teeth, and a failing memory. In 1989 he appeared on Broadway in The Circle by W. Somerset Maugham, opposite Glynis Johns and Stewart Granger. On July 25, 1989 Harrison was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II at Buckingham Palace. An orchestra played the music of songs from My Fair Lady. He died of pancreatic cancer at his home in Manhattan on June 2, 1990 at the age of 82. His ashes were scattered in Portofino, Italy and at the grave of his second wife Lilli Palmer at Forest Lawn, Glendale.

Who died on this date:

On March 5, 1984, actor William Powell died. He was born on July 29, 1892 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He began his Hollywood career in 1922 playing a small role in a production of Sherlock Holmes that starred John Barrymore. His most memorable role in silent movies was as a bitter film director opposite Emil Jannings’ Academy Award-winning performance as a fallen general in The Last Command (1928), which led to Powell’s first starring role as amateur detective Philo Vance in The Canary Murder Case (1929).

Powell’s most famous role was that of Nick Charles in six Thin Man films, beginning with The Thin Man in 1934. The role provided a perfect opportunity for Powell to showcase his sophisticated charm and his witty sense of humor, and he received his first Academy Award nomination for The Thin Man. Actress Myrna Loy played his wife, Nora, in each of the Thin Man films. Their partnership was one of Hollywood’s most prolific on-screen pairings, with the couple appearing in 14 films together. He and Loy also starred in The Great Ziegfeld the Oscar winning film of 1936 and that same year, he also received his second Academy Award nomination, for the comedy My Man Godfrey.

In 1935, he starred with Jean Harlow in Reckless. Soon it developed into a serious romance, though she died in 1937 before they could marry. His distress over her death, as well as his own battle with colon cancer around the same time, caused him to accept fewer acting roles. His career slowed considerably in the 1940s, although in 1947 he received his third Academy Award nomination for his work in Life with Father. His last film was Mister Roberts in 1955 and despite numerous offers to return to the screen; Powell refused all and stayed retired.

In his personal life Powell was married three times, first to Eileen Wilson, which ended in a divorce in 1930. The following year he married actress Carole Lombard and they divorced in 1933. As previously discussed, Powell had a close relationship with actress Jean Harlow beginning in 1935, but they never married and the relationship was cut short by her untimely death in 1937. Powell paid for her final resting place, a $25,000 private room in the Sanctuary of Benediction of the Great Mausoleum, Forest Lawn Glendale. On March 5, 1984, Powell died of heart failure in Palm Springs, California and is buried at the Desert Memorial Park, in Cathedral City, California.

John Schrank and the failed assassination of Theodore Roosevelt

During a stop in Milwaukee on his 1912 “Bull Moose” campaign for the presidency, former President Theodore Roosevelt was shot at close range by John Schrank (was born on March 5, 1876 in Germany), a psychotic New York saloonkeeper. Schrank had his .38 caliber pistol aimed at Roosevelt’s head, but a bystander saw the gun and deflected Schrank’s arm just as the trigger was pulled. Roosevelt did not realize he was hit until someone noticed a hole in his overcoat. When Roosevelt reached inside his coat, he found blood on his fingers. Roosevelt was extremely lucky. He had the manuscript of a speech in his coat pocket, folded in two, and the bullet was slowed as it passed through it. He also had a steel spectacle case in his pocket, and the bullet deflected off of it, before entering Roosevelt’s chest.

Roosevelt was examined in a Milwaukee hospital, and then observed for 8 days in a Chicago hospital. He was discharged on October 23, 1912, only a few days before the election. The bullet had effectively stopped Roosevelt’s campaign. He finished second to Woodrow Wilson, but ahead of the incumbent President, William Howard Taft. The bullet was never removed, and caused no difficulty after the wound healed.

Schrank, who had stalked Roosevelt all over the country, was never tried for the assault. He said he was motivated to shoot Roosevelt after a dream: I saw President McKinley sit up in his coffin pointing at a man in monk’s attire in whom I recognized Theodore Roosevelt. The dead president said, “This is my murderer, avenge my death.” Schrank was committed to the Central State Mental Hospital in Waupun, Wisconsin, where he remained until his death on September 15, 1943. In more than 30 years of confinement, he never received a visitor or a letter and his body was donated to Marquette University for medical study.

John Adams, last surviving mutineer of the HMS Bounty

John Adams was born on December 4, 1767 and was the last survivor of the HMS Bounty mutineers. The mutineers of Bounty settled on the Tahitian island of Pitcairn and set fire to the Bounty. Although the settlers were able to survive by farming and fishing, the initial period of settlement was marked by serious tensions among the settlers. Alcoholism, murder, disease and other ills had taken the lives of most of the mutineers and Tahitian men. He died on March 3, 1829.

Actress Jean Harlow was born on March 3, 1911. She is best known as the sex symbol of the 1930s. Famous for her platinum blonde hair, she is ranked as one of the greatest movie stars of all time by the American Film Institute. Harlow starred in several films, mainly designed to showcase her magnetic sex appeal and strong screen presence, before making the transition to more developed roles and achieving massive fame under contract to Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM). Harlow’s enormous popularity and “laughing vamp” image were in distinct contrast to her personal life, which was marred by disappointment, tragedy, and ultimately her sudden death from renal failure on June 7, 1937 at age 26. She was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California in the Great Mausoleum.