Hattie Carroll (March 3, 1911 – February 9, 1963)

“The Lonesome Death of Hattie Carroll” was a song written by Bob Dylan and released on his 1964 album, TheTimes They are a-changin’ and gives a generally factual account of the killing of 51-year-old barmaid Hattie Carroll on February 9, 1963 by Billy Zantzinger (whom the song calls “William Zanzinger”), and his subsequent sentence to six months in a county jail. The lyrics are a commentary on the racism of the 1960s. In 1963 when Hattie Carroll was killed, Charles County was still strictly segregated by race in public facilities such as restaurants, churches, theaters, doctor’s offices, buses, and the county fair. The schools of Charles County were not integrated until 1967.

The main incident of the song took place in the early hours at the Spinsters’ Ball at the Emerson Hotel in Baltimore, Maryland. Already drunk before he got to the Emerson Hotel that night, Zantzinger, assaulted numerous employees. At the Spinsters’ Ball, he called a 30-year-old waitress a racial slur and hit her with the cane; she fled the room in tears. Moments later, after ordering a drink that Carroll didn’t bring immediately, Zantzinger cursed at her, called her a another derogatory name and struck her on the shoulder and across the head with his cane. After a delay of perhaps a minute, he complained about her being slow and struck her again. Within five minutes of the first blow to the head, Carroll leaned heavily against the barmaid next to her and complained of feeling ill. Carroll told co-workers, “I feel deathly ill, that man has upset me so.” The barmaid and another helped her to the kitchen. Her arm became numb, her speech thick. She collapsed and was hospitalized. Hattie Carroll died eight hours later.

Zantzinger was initially charged with murder but that was reduced to manslaughter, for which he was convicted on August 28, 1963 and sentenced to six months in prison. He was not tried by a jury of peers but by a panel of three judges. The sentence was handed down on the same day that Martin Luther King delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Bob Dylan, 22 at that time, was one of the celebrities at the march and on the journey home, read about the conviction of Zantzinger and decided to write a topical protest song about the case. He recorded it on October 23, 1963, when the trial was still relatively fresh news, and incorporated it into his live repertoire immediately, before releasing the studio version on January 13, 1964. The song continued to haunt Zantzinger until his death in 2009. Hattie Carroll is buried at the Baltimore National Cemetery in Baltimore, Maryland.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Jennifer Jones was born Phylis Lee Isley on March 2, 1919 in Tulsa, Oklahoma. She became interested in acting at an early age, eventually studying acting at both Northwestern University and the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. After several failed attempts to break into film, she settled in New York. Her big break came in 1943, when she met her future husband, producer David O. Selznick, who cast her in The Song of Bernadette (1943). Selznick began to groom his new protégé for stardom, carefully choosing her roles and eventually marrying the actress in 1949. Their union would last fifteen years until his death in 1965.

One of Hollywood’s most underrated award winning actresses, Jones’ film career would span twenty plus years (1943-1974), she appeared in twenty seven films that include; Madame Bovary (1949), The Wild Heart (1952), Ruby Gentry (1952), A Farewell to Arms (1957), Tender is the Night (1962), and The Towering Inferno (1974). She was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning for best actress in 1944 (in her debut film), The Song of Bernadette (1943), She was nominated again in 1945 in a supporting role for Since You Went Away (1944), and for a third consecutive year (1946) was nominated for a best lead actress Oscar for Love Letters (1945). In 1947 and 1956, she was again nominated for a best actress Oscar’s for Duel in the Sun (1946) and Love is a Many-Splendored Thing (1955).

Despite her successes in Hollywood, Jones remained a very private person. This caused her to be less noticed and her film career began to wane. In 1974, after filming The Towering Inferno, Jones decided to permanently retire from film making and instead concentrate on philanthropic work. She had married industrialist and art collector, Norton Simon in 1971 and the pair started the Norton Simon Foundation and Art Museum in Pasadena, California. No stranger to mental health issues, Jones attempted suicide in 1967 by taking an overdose of drugs and in 1976, her daughter, Mary J. Selznick, committed suicide. After which, Jones became an advocate for mental health issues. Jennifer Jones died on December 17, 2009 from natural causes at her home in Malibu, California. Jennifer Jones’ cremated remains were given to family and final disposition is unknown. It has been speculated that she may be interred with her second husband, David O. Selznick, and their daughter in the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn, Glendale. Her third husband, Norton Simon’s ashes were scattered at sea.

Who died on this date:

Actress Mercedes McCambridge was born Carlotta Mercedes Agnes McCambridge on March 16, 1916 in Joliet, Illinois. In 1936, while studying English and theater at Mundelein College in north suburban Chicago, Mercedes caught the eye of an NBC radio program director. During the late 1930’s and early 1940’s, McCambridge had roles in numerous popular radio programs such as Dick Tracy, Inner Sanctum, The Thin Man, and Bulldog Drummond. Throughout the middle 1940’s, she appeared in numerous Broadway productions of varying success.

In 1949, she got her big break in motion pictures and in her debut performance won an Oscar for best supporting actress in the role of the hardnosed and manipulative political aide, Sadie Burke in All the Kings Men. In a career that spanned nearly four decades from 1949 to 1988, she appeared in over twenty feature films and numerous television programs, her feature film credits include: Johnny Guitar (1954), A Farewell to Arms (1957), Touch of Evil (1958), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), Cimarron (1960), The Other Side of the Wind (1972), and Airport 79’ (1979). In 1956, she was nominated for a second best supporting actress Academy Award for her portrayal of Liz Benedict the strong willed older sister of Rock Hudson’s character in Giant (1956). She worked continuously in film, television, and Broadway her entire adult life and even earned a Tony Award nomination in 1972 for The Love Suicide at Schofield Barracks. While her film career did not live up to the high levels of expectations that were initially promised with her debut Oscar win, she remained quite satisfied with how her career evolved.

In 1987, tragedy struck, when her only son John Lawrence Markle killed his wife and two daughters in a murder suicide. She would battle alcoholism her entire adult life, and even testified before the U.S. Senate subcommittee on alcoholism and narcotics in 1969. She was married and divorced twice. In the mid-1980’s she retired from show business. McCambridge then moved to the seaside town of La Jolla, California. She died on March 2, 2004 of natural causes while living at a local assisted living facility. McCambridge had no known survivors. Mercedes McCambride’s remains were cremated and scattered at sea near San Diego.

On March 2, 1992, actress Sandy Dennis died. She was born on April 27, 1937 in Hastings, Nebraska. She made her TV debut in 1956 in The Guiding Light and her film debut in Splendor in the Grass (1961). However, she was more committed to following a career in the theater. She won consecutive Tony Awards in 1963 and 1964. She won the Oscar for best Supporting Actress for her role as Honey, the fragile, neurotic young wife of George Segal in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966). She followed this with well-received performances in Up the Down Staircase (1967), The Fox (1967), Sweet November (1968) and The Out of Towners (1970). An advocate of method acting, Dennis was often described as neurotic and mannered in her performances; her signature style included running words together and oddly stopping and starting sentences. Her last significant film role was in Come Back to the Five and Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean (1982). Dennis died from ovarian cancer on March 2, 1992 and is buried at Lincoln Memorial Park in Lincoln, Nebraska.

On March 2, 1987, actor Randolph Scott died. He was born on January 23, 1898 in Orange County, Virginia. Scott appeared in a variety of film genres; however, his most enduring image is that of a Western hero. Out of his more than 100 film appearances more than 60 were in Westerns. Around 1927, Scott developed an interest in acting and decided to make his way to Los Angeles and seek a career in the motion picture industry. Fortunately, Scott’s father had become acquainted with Howard Hughes and provided a letter of introduction for his son to present to the eccentric millionaire filmmaker. Hughes responded by getting Scott a small part in Sharp Shooters (1928). In the next few years, Scott continued working as an extra and bit player in several films, including The Virginian (1929) with Gary Cooper. In 1931 Scott played his first leading role in Women Men Marry and followed that up with a supporting part in, A Successful Calamity. Following that, however, Paramount cast him as the lead in Heritage of the Desert (1932), his first significant starring role and also the one that established him as a Western hero. By 1935 Scott was firmly established as a popular movie star and, thus, following the release of Rocky Mountain Mystery (1935), Paramount moved him up to a star of “A” features. Scott married twice. In 1936 he became the second husband of heiress Marion Du Pont, the daughter of William Du Pont. Reputedly the couple spent little time together and the marriage ended in divorce three years later. Prior to and between his first and second marriages Scott was romantically linked with several prominent film actresses, including Lupe Velez, Sally Blane, Claire Trevor and Dorothy Lamour. In 1944 Scott married Patricia Stillman, with whom he adopted two children. The marriage lasted until Scott’s 1987 death. His most notable feature films include Roberta (1935), Follow the Fleet (1936), The Last of the Mohicans (1936), Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm (1938), Jesse James (1939), Virginia City (1940), and My Favorite Wife (1940). Following Ride the High Country (1962), Scott retired from film at the age of 64. Scott died of heart and lung ailments on March 2, 1987 in Beverly Hills, California and he is buried at Elmwood Cemetery in Charlotte, North Carolina.

On February 29, 1908, legendary lawman Pat Garrett was shot and killed. He was born on June 5, 1850 in Cusseta, Alabama. He was Sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico and best known for killing Billy the Kid.

On November 7, 1880, the sheriff of Lincoln County, New Mexico, George Kimbell, resigned with two months left in his term. As Kimbell’s successor, the county appointed Garrett, who had reputation as a gunman and promised to restore law and order. Garrett was charged with tracking down and arresting an alleged friend from his saloon keeping days, Henry McCarty, a jail escapee and Lincoln County War participant who often went by the aliases Henry Antrim and William Harrison Bonney, but is better known as Billy the Kid. McCarty was an alleged murderer who had participated in the Lincoln County War. He was said to have killed 21 men, one for every year of his life, but the actual total was probably closer to nine. New Mexico Governor Lew Wallace had personally put a US$500 reward on McCarty’s capture.

On December 19, 1880, Garrett killed Tom O’Folliard, a member of McCarty’s gang, in a shootout on the outskirts of Fort Sumner. On December 23, the sheriff’s posse killed Charlie Bowdre, and captured the Kid and his companions at Stinking Springs. Garrett transported the captives to Mesilla, New Mexico, for trial. Though he was convicted, the Kid managed to escape from the Lincoln County jail on April 28, 1881, after killing his guards. On July 14, 1881, Garrett visited Fort Sumner to question a friend of the Kid’s about the Whereabouts of the outlaw. He learned the Kid was staying with a mutual friend, Pete Maxwell. Around midnight, Garrett went to Maxwell’s house. The Kid was asleep in another part of the house, but woke up hungry in the middle of the night and entered Maxwell’s bedroom, where Garrett was standing in the shadows. The Kid did not recognize the man standing in dark. Garrett shot him twice, the first shot hitting him above the heart, although the second one missed and struck the mantle behind him. (Some historians have questioned Garrett’s account of the shooting, alleging the incident happened differently. They claim Garrett went into Paulita Maxwell’s room and tied her up. The Kid walked into her room, and Garrett ambushed him with a single blast from his rifle.

There has been much dispute over the details of the Kid’s death that night. The way Garrett allegedly killed McCarty without warning eventually sullied the lawman’s reputation. Garrett claimed Billy the Kid had entered the room armed with a pistol, but no gun was found on his body. Other accounts claim he entered carrying a kitchen knife, but no hard evidence supported this. Garrett’s reputation was also hurt by popular stories that he and Billy had once been friends, and that the shooting was a kind of betrayal, but historians have found no evidence of such a friendship. Still, at the time, the shooting solidified Garrett’s fame as a lawman and gunman, and led to numerous appointments to law enforcement positions, as well as requests that he pursue outlaws in other parts of New Mexico.
His law enforcement career never achieved any great success following the Lincoln County War, and he mostly used that era in his life as his stepping-stone to higher positions. After finishing out his term as sheriff, Garrett became a rancher and released a book in 1882 titled, The Authentic Life of Billy the Kid, which was a first-hand account about his experiences with McCarty, which helped raise the Kid to the level of historical figure, was in large part ghost written by his friend Ash Upson. Garrett lost the next election for Lincoln County sheriff and was never paid the $500 reward for McCarty’s capture, since he had killed him. In 1882, he ran for the position of Sheriff of Grant County, but was defeated. In 1884, he lost an election for the New Mexico State Senate. Later that year, he left New Mexico and helped found and captain a company of Texas Rangers.

On December 20, 1901, Theodore Roosevelt, who became a personal friend of Garrett, appointed him customs collector in El Paso, Texas. Garrett served for five years. He then retired to his ranch in New Mexico but was suffering financial difficulties. He owed a large amount in taxes and was found liable for an unpaid loan he had cosigned for a friend. Garrett borrowed heavily to make these payments and started drinking and gambling. By this time, questions surrounding the manner in which Garrett had killed Billy the Kid and his general demeanor had led to his becoming quite unpopular. He no longer had any local political support, his support from President Roosevelt had been withdrawn, and he had few friends with power.

On February 29, 1908, Garrett and Carl Adamson, who was in the process of talks with Garrett to purchase land, rode together, heading from Las Cruces. Jesse Brazel showed up on horseback along the way. Garrett and Brazel began to argue about the goats grazing on Garrett’s land. Garrett is alleged to have leaned forward to pick up a shotgun on the floorboard. Brazel shot him once in the stomach, and then once more in the head as Garrett fell from the wagon. Brazel and Adamson left the body by the side of the road and returned to Las Cruces, alerting Sheriff Felipe Lucero of the killing.

There has occasionally been disagreement about the identity of Pat Garrett’s killer. Today, most historians believe Jesse Brazel, who confessed to the shooting and was tried for first degree murder, did in fact commit the crime. Brazel claimed self defense, claiming Garrett was armed with a shotgun and was threatening him. Adamson backed up Brazel’s story. The jury took less than a half-hour to return a not guilty verdict. Cox hosted a barbecue in celebration of the verdict. To date, the common belief is the death happened as Brazel said it did. Garrett was known to have carried a double-barreled shotgun when he traveled, and he had a fiery temper. Garrett could have reacted violently during his argument with Brazel. Garrett’s body was too tall for any finished coffins available, so a special one had to be shipped in from El Paso. His funeral service was held March 5, 1908, and he was laid to rest at the Masonic Cemetery in Las Cruces, next to his daughter, Ida.

Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel was born on February 28, 1906 in Brooklyn, New York. He was an American gangster who was involved with the Genovese crime family. He was a major driving force behind large-scale development of Las Vegas. On the night of June 20, 1947, as Siegel sat with his associate Allen Smiley in Virginia Hill’s Beverly Hills home reading the LA Times, an unknown assailant fired at him through the window hitting him many times, including twice in the head. No one was charged with the murder, and the crime remains officially unsolved. Siegel is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.

Dorothy Stratten was born on February 28, 1960 in Vancouver, Canada. She was 1980 Playboy Playmate of the year. She was murdered at age twenty by her estranged husband/manager Paul Snider, who committed suicide the same day. Her death inspired two motion pictures. Shortly after noon on August 14, 1980, Snider and Stratten met at Snider’s house, where the two had once lived as a couple, and in which Snider was by then sharing with its owner, their mutual friend, Dr. Stephen Cushner. She had come to talk about an amicable divorce and brought along $1,000 to give to Snider. At about 11:00PM Snider’s private investigator called Cushner on his private line, saying he had been trying to telephone Snider for several hours, but Snider would not answer his phone. Cushner broke into Snider’s room and found them both dead from shotgun blasts. Stratten is buried at Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles.

Who died on this date:

On February 28, 2011, actress Jane Russell died. She was born on June 21, 1921 in Bemidji, Minnesota. She was one of Hollywood’s leading sex symbols in the 1940’s and 1950’s. In 1940, Russell was signed to a seven-year contract by film mogul Howard Hughes and made her motion picture debut in The Outlaw (1943), a story about Billy the Kid that went to great lengths to showcase her voluptuous figure. Although the movie was completed in 1941, it was released for a limited showing two years later. There were problems with the censorship of the production code over the way her ample cleavage was displayed. When the movie was finally passed, it had a general release in 1946. During that time, she was kept busy doing publicity and became known nationally. Contrary to countless incorrect reports in the media since the release of The Outlaw, Russell did not wear the specially designed underwire bra that Howard Hughes constructed for the film.

She performed in an assortment of movie roles, playing Calamity Jane opposite Bob Hope in The Paleface (1948) on loan out to Paramount, and Mike “the Torch” Delroy opposite Hope in another western comedy, Son of Paleface (1952), again at Paramount. Russell played Dorothy Shaw in the hit film Gentlemen Prefer Blondes (1953) opposite Marilyn Monroe for 20th Century Fox. She appeared in two movies opposite Robert Mitchum, His Kind of Woman (1951) and Macao (1952). Other co-stars include Frank Sinatra and Groucho Marx in the comedy Double Dynamite (1951); Victor Mature, Vincent Price and Hoagy Carmichael in The Las Vegas Story (1952); Jeff Chandler in Foxfire (1955); and Clark Gable and Robert Ryan in The Tall Men (1955).

In Howard Hughes’s RKO production The French Line (1954), the movie’s penultimate moment showed Russell in a form-fitting one-piece bathing suit with strategic cut outs, performing a then-provocative musical number titled “Lookin’ for Trouble.” In 1955, Russell and her first husband, former Los Angeles Rams quarterback Bob Waterfield, formed Russ-Field Productions. They produced Gentlemen Marry Brunettes (1955), The King and Four Queens (1956) starring Clark Gable and Eleanor Parker, Run for the Sun (1956) and The Fuzzy Pink Nightgown (1957), which was a box-office failure. [5] She also starred in Gentlemen Marry Brunettes alongside Jeanne Crain, and in The Revolt of Mamie Stover (1956).

Her film career began to decline in the 1960’s and after Fate Is the Hunter (1964), she made only four more movies. In 1971, she starred in the musical drama Company, making her debut on Broadway in the role of Joanne, succeeding Elaine Stritch. Russell performed the role of Joanne for almost six months. Also in the 1970’s, she started appearing in television commercials as a spokeswoman for Playtex “‘Cross-Your-Heart Bras’ for us full-figured gals.” Russell resided in the Santa Maria Valley along the Central Coast of California. She died at her home in Santa Maria of a respiratory-related illness on February 28, 2011 and is buried at the Santa Barbara Cemetery in Santa Barbara, California.

On February 28, 1993, actress Ruby Keeler died. She was an actress who was famous for a string of successful Warner Bros. musicals in the 1930’s. Keeler was born in Dartmouth, Nova Scotia, Canada. At an early age her family moved to New York City. In her early teenage years Ruby took up dance lessons. Her first taste of show business came in 1923 at the age of thirteen in George M. Cohen’s The Rise of Rosie O’Reilly. An up and coming star in the making she was noticed by Broadway producer Charles Dillingham and others. It was during this time that she met Al Jolson, and on September 21, 1928, after a brief courtship they were married. Their relationship was difficult from the start, and in 1940, it ended in divorce.

Keeler’s stardom was cemented when in 1933; producer Darryl Zanuck cast her in the Warner Bros. musical 42nd Street, in which she co-starred with Dick Powell and Bebe Daniels. Other screen credits include Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames (1934), Flirtation Walk (1934), Shipmates Forever (1935), Collen (1936), and Ready, Willing, and Able (1937). In 1937, Keller left Hollywood only appearing in two other films, the last being Sweetheart of the Campus (1941).

She married John Lowe, an Orange County land developer in 1941 and settled into a life as a wife and mother. In 1971, show business again called out to Keller and at the age of seventy-one came out of retirement to perform in the Broadway stage production on No, No, Nanette. After the shows conclusion she again returned to a leisurely private life in Rancho Mirage, California. Late in life she suffered several strokes and was in a coma for a period of time. After recovering, she became the spokeswoman for the National Stroke Association. On Sunday morning February 28, 1993, Ruby Keller died of kidney cancer at her home in Rancho Mirage. Her second husband John Lowe had preceded her in death in 1969. Ruby’s grave is found at Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Orange, California.

Philip Barton Key II was born on April 5, 1818 in Georgetown, Washington, DC and was the son of Francis Scott Key and the great-nephew of Philip Barton Key. He was also a nephew of Chief Justice Roger Taney. He married Ellen Swan, the daughter of a Baltimore attorney, on November 18, 1845. Allegedly the handsomest man in Washington, Key was known to be flirtatious with many women.

In 1859, Congressman Daniel Sickles shot and killed Phillip Barton Key, for having conducted a public affair with his wife Teresa Sickles. Sometime in the spring of 1858, Teresa Sickles began an affair with Key. Sickles had accused his much-younger wife several times during their five-year marriage of adultery, but she had repeatedly denied it. But then Sickles received an anonymous note on February 26, 1859, informing him of his wife’s liaison with Key. He confronted his wife, who confessed to the affair. Sickles then made his wife write out her confession on paper. Sickles saw Key sitting on a bench outside the Sickles home on February 27, 1859, signaling to Teresa, and confronted him. Sickles rushed outside into Lafayette Square, cried “Key, you scoundrel, you have dishonored my home; you must die”, and with a pistol repeatedly shot the unarmed Key. Key was taken into a nearby house, where he died some time later. At the time of his death, Key was the US States Attorney for the District of Columbia. He is buried in Oak Hill Cemetery in Washington.

Sickles was acquitted on the basis of temporary insanity, a crime of passion, in one of the most controversial trials of the 19th century. Sickles’ attorney, Edwin Stanton, later became the Secretary of War. Sickles became one of the most prominent political generals of the Civil War. At the Battle of Gettysburg, he insubordinately moved his Corp to a position in which it was virtually destroyed, an action that continues to generate controversy. His combat career ended at Gettysburg when his leg was struck by cannon fire. After the war, Sickles commanded military districts during Reconstruction, served as US Minister to Spain, and eventually returned to the US Congress. He died on May 3, 1914 and is buried at Arlington National Cemetery. The remainder of their marriage Teresa and Daniel Sickles were estranged, she died in 1867 from tuberculosis ay age thirty-one.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Elizabeth Taylor was born on February 27, 1932 in Hampstead Garden, London. She became one of the great screen actresses of Hollywood’s Golden Age. As one of the world’s most famous film stars, Taylor was recognized for her acting ability and for her glamorous lifestyle, beauty and distinctive violet eyes. She appeared in National Velvet (1944), Father of the Bride (1950), A Place in the Sun (1951), Giant (1956), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958), and Suddenly, Last Summer (1959). She won the Academy Award for Best Actress for Butterfield 8 (1960), she also played the title role in Cleopatra (1963). She was married to co-star Richard Burton and they appeared together in 11 films, including, Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf (1966), for which Taylor won a second Academy Award. From the mid-1970s, she appeared less frequently in film, and made occasional appearances in television and theatre. Taylor died of congestive heart failure on 23, March 2011 and is buried within the Great Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale.

Who died on this date:

On February 27, 1993, actress Lillian Gish died. She was born on October 14, 1893 in Springfield. Ohio. Her stage, film and television career spanned seven decades from 1912 to 1987. In 1912, Mary Pickford introduced Gish to D.W. Griffith, and helped get her a contract with Biograph Studios. She would soon become one of America’s best-loved actresses. Her film debut was in 1912’s, An Unseen Enemy and she went on to star in many of Griffith’s most acclaimed films, including The Birth of a Nation (1915). Having appeared in over 25 short films and features in her first two years as a movie actress, Lillian became a major star, becoming known as “The First Lady of the Silent Screen” and appearing in lavish productions, frequently of literary works. With her debut in talkies only moderately successful, she acted on the stage for the most part in the 1930s and early 1940s.

Returning to movies, Gish was nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award in 1946 for Duel in the Sun. She appeared in films from time to time for the rest of her life, notably in Night of the Hunter (1955). Gish received a Honorary Academy Award in 1971 “For superlative artistry and for distinguished contribution to the progress of motion pictures.” Her last film role was in 1977’s; The Whales of August at the age of 93.Gish never married and had no children. The association between Gish and D. W. Griffith was so close that some suspected a romantic connection, an issue never acknowledged by Gish, although several of their associates were certain they were at least briefly involved. For the remainder of her life, she always referred to him as “Mr. Griffith.” She maintained a very close relationship with Mary Pickford, for her entire life. Another of her closest friends was actress Helen Hayes. Gish died in her sleep on February 27, 1993 and is interred at St. Bartholomew’s Episcopal Church in New York City.

On February 25, 1957, gangster George “Bugs” Moran died. He was born on August 21, 1891 in St. Paul, Minnesota. It is believed that Moran became a criminal as a teenager. When he was 19 years old, he moved to Chicago. Moran’s fierce temper became generally known in the world of feuds and guns, and earned him the nickname “Bugs,” gang slang for “completely crazy.” One possibly apocryphal story relates that he first attained the name after arriving at a tailor shop to pick up a suit he had ordered. When told the price of the finished suit, he became enraged and assaulted the tailor.

He moved to the north side of Chicago when he was 19, where he became affiliated with several gangs. He was incarcerated three times before turning twenty-one. On February 14, 1929, in an event which has become known as the St. Valentine’s Day massacre, seven members of his gang were gunned down in a warehouse, supposedly on the orders of Moran’s rival Al Capone. He has been credited with popularizing the drive-by-shooting.

Contrary to popular belief, Moran managed to keep control of his territory and what remained of his gang through the end of Prohibition and through the early 1930s. But with the repeal of Prohibition the North Side gang declined along with many other gangs and Moran decided to leave Chicago after a few years. However, Capone did not go unpunished either. After the massacre, the government and the public expressed a new level of outrage with gangland killings and shootouts. With the government coming at him from all sides, Capone himself started to decline. The government managed to convict Capone of tax evasion and sent him to prison in 1932.

In April 1930, Frank Loesch, chairman of the Chicago Crime Commission had compiled a “Public Enemies” list of 28 people he designated as corrupting Chicago. Capone topped the list and Moran ranked sixth. The list was published widely and ensured Moran’s notoriety. The majority of published researchers of the Chicago gangland era and those who have studied Moran’s life have come to the conclusion that Moran’s biggest liability as a gang boss was Moran himself. He was simply not very smart in the ways of long-term survival as a mob leader. While Capone was a master at planning out moves and feints several steps in advance, Moran’s approach was more that of an ordinary street brawler. Having been gradually squeezed out of Chicago after the end of Prohibition, he reverted to his earlier life and resumed committing common crimes like mail fraud and robbery. By the 1940s, only 17 years after being one of the richest gangsters in Chicago, Moran was almost penniless.

In July 1946, Moran was arrested in Ohio for robbing a bank messenger of $10,000, a paltry sum compared to his lifestyle during the Prohibition days. He was convicted and sentenced to ten years in the Ohio Penitentiary. Shortly after his release, Moran was again arrested for an earlier bank raid. Moran received another ten years and was sent to the Leavenworth Federal Prison. Only a matter of days after arriving there, most of which were spent in the prison hospital, Bugs Moran died of lung cancer on February 25, 1957. He was estimated to be worth about $100 at his death, and he received a pauper’s burial in the prison cemetery, known as Peckerwood Hill Cemetery.

Who was born on this date:

Actress Marjorie Main was born on February 24, 1890 in Acton, Indiana. She was a character actress for MGM, best known for her role as Ma Kettle in the Ma and Pa Kettle films. Her first film was A House Divided in 1931. She was typecast in abrasive and domineering roles because of her distinct voice. She made six films with Wallace Beery in the 1940s and retired from movies in 1957. She died from lung cancer on April 10, 1975 at St. Vincent’s Hospital in Los Angeles and is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Actress Angela Green was born on February 24, 1921 in Dublin, Ireland. She is best known for playing leads in B pictures and despite her looks and talent, Greene was too independent-minded for a starring career in Hollywood. She nevertheless amassed a respectable resume, including the films Hollywood Canteen (1944) and Mildred Pierce (1945), and also appeared in dozens of TV shows. During World War II, she became a popular World War II pin-up girl and her bikini-clad image graced the nose of the US bomber Skipper 2, which flew 25 missions over North Africa and Europe. She dated naval lieutenant John F. Kennedy before marrying businessman Stuart Martin in 1946. She died from a stroke on February 9, 1978 and is buried at the San Fernando Mission Cemetery in Mission Hills, California.

Who died on this date:

On February 24, 2006, actor Don Knotts died. He was born on July 21, 1924 in Morgantown, West Virginia. He is best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards. He also played landlord Ralph Furley on the 1970s television sitcom, Three’s Company. Knotts began his career performing as a ventriloquist act and got his first major break on television in the soap opera, Search for Tomorrow, from 1953 to 1955. He came to fame in 1956 on Steve Allen’s variety show, as part of Allen’s repertory company. In 1958, Knotts appeared in the film, No Time for Sergeants, alongside Andy Griffith. In 1960, when Griffith was offered the opportunity to headline in his own TV show, Knotts took the role of Barney Fife, the deputy of Sheriff Andy Taylor (portrayed by Griffith). Knotts went on to star in a series of film comedies which drew on his high-strung persona from the TV series: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), and The Reluctant Astronaut (1967). In 1979, Knotts returned to series television in his second most identifiable role, the wacky, but lovable landlord Ralph Furley on Three’s Company. Knotts died on February 24, 2006 from pneumonia related to lung cancer and is buried at Westwood Memorial park in Los Angeles.

On February 24, 1994, actress/ singer/ TV hostess Dinah Shore died. She was born Frances Rose Shore on February 29, 1916 in Winchester, Tennessee. She reached the height of her popularity as a recording artist during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 1950s, but achieved even greater success a decade later, in television, mainly as hostess of a series of variety programs for Chevrolet. In her early career, while in New York, Dinah Shore was briefly involved with drummer Gene Krupa. After Dinah relocated to Hollywood she became involved with Jimmy Stewart. Shore was married to actor George Montgomery from 1943 to 1962. It is also alleged that Shore and Frank Sinatra had a long-standing affair in the 1950s. After her divorce from Montgomery, she briefly married Maurice Smith. Romances of the later 1960s involved comedian Dick Martin, Eddie Fisher and Rod Taylor. In the early 1970s, Shore had a long and happy public romance with actor Burt Reynolds, who was 20 years, her junior. The relationship gave Shore an updated, sexy image, and took some of the pressure off Reynolds in maintaining his image as a ladies’ man. The couple was featured in the tabloids and after the relationship cooled, the tabloids paired Shore with other younger men. Dinah Shore died February 24, 1994, in Beverly Hills from ovarian cancer. She was cremated and her ashes were divided and she has two burial sites. Half were interred at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, and the other half interred at Forest Lawn Cathedral City.

On February 24, 1970, actor Conrad Nagel died. He was born on March 16, 1897 in Keokuk, Iowa. He was an actor of the silent film era and founding member of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. He is buried at the Lutheran Cemetery in Warsaw, Illinois (which is in dispute).

On February 23, 1930, actress Mabel Normand died. She was born on November 9, 1892 in New Brighton, Staten Island, New York. She was a silent film actress and popular star of Mack Sennett’s Keystone Studios. Throughout the 1920s her name was linked with scandal including the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor, after which, her film career declined, possibly due to the scandal and a recurrence of tuberculosis in 1923. Director William Desmond Taylor shared her interest in books and the two formed a close relationship. Taylor was deeply in love with Normand, who had originally approached him for help in curing her cocaine dependency. Based upon Normand’s subsequent statements to investigators, her repeated relapses were devastating for Taylor. According sources Taylor met with Federal prosecutors shortly before his death and offered to assist them in filing charges against Normand’s cocaine suppliers. It is believed that Normand’s suppliers learned of this meeting and hired a contract killer to murder the director. According to these same sources, Normand suspected the reasons for her lover’s murder, but did not know the identity of the triggerman.

On the night of Taylor’s murder, February 1, 1922, Normand left Taylor’s bungalow at 7:45 p.m. in a happy mood, carrying a book he had given her as a loan. They blew kisses to each other as her limousine drove away. Normand was the last person known to have seen Taylor alive. The LAPD subjected Normand to a grueling interrogation, but ruled her out as a suspect. No one was ever arrested in the murder and today it remains open and unsolved.

By this time, Normand’s career had already slowed and her reputation was tarnished by revelations of her addiction, which was seen as a moral failing. In 1926 she married actor Lew Cody, however, her film career never recovered and health issues developed. After an extended stay in a sanitarium she died from tuberculosis on February 23, 1930 and was buried at Calvary Cemetery in Los Angeles. Taylor is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Hollywood, California.