DEATHIVERSARY: CLARA BLANDICK (April 15, 1962)

Clara Blandick is best known for her memorable minor role as Auntie Em in The Wizard of Oz. Blandick's health steadily declined throughout the 1950s. Her eyesight began to fail, and she was suffering greatly from severe, painful arthritis. At 69, Blandick had gone into seclusion at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel. On April 15, 1962, Blandick returned to her room from Palm Sunday services at church. She began rearranging her room, placing her favorite photos and memorabilia in prominent places. She laid out her resume and a collection of press clippings from her lengthy career. She dressed immaculately in an elegant royal blue dressing gown, and with her hair properly styled, she took an overdose of sleeping pills. She lay down on a couch, covered herself with a gold blanket over her shoulders, and tied a plastic bag over her head. She left the following note: "I am now about to make the great adventure. I cannot endure this agonizing pain any longer. It is all over my body. Neither can I face the impending blindness. I pray the Lord, my soul, to take. Amen." Blandick's landlady, Helen Mason, found her body Sunday morning. In preparing to die, she had disposed of all her medicines the previous week. Her ashes were interred at the Great Mausoleum, Columbarium of Security at Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale. Blandick's ashes lie just yards from those of Charley Grapewin, her on-screen husband in The Wizard of Oz.

DEATHIVERSARY: CARRIE FISHER (December 27, 2016)

𝙾𝚗 𝙳𝚎𝚌𝚎𝚖𝚋𝚎𝚛 𝟻, 𝟸𝟶𝟷𝟻, 𝙸 𝚖𝚎𝚝 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎, 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎 𝙵𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛, 𝚠𝚑𝚒𝚕𝚎 𝚜𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚏𝚘𝚛 "𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙵𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎 𝙰𝚠𝚊𝚔𝚎𝚗𝚜." 𝙸 𝚌𝚛𝚊𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜'𝚜 𝚙𝚛𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝚌𝚘𝚗𝚏𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚗𝚌𝚎, 𝚌𝚛𝚘𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚛𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝚑𝚎 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚎. 𝙸 𝚑𝚊𝚍 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙻𝚎𝚒𝚊 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚝𝚘 𝚑𝚊𝚟𝚎 𝚊𝚗𝚢 𝚖𝚎𝚊𝚗𝚒𝚗𝚐. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚏𝚒𝚟𝚎-𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜-𝚘𝚕𝚍, 𝙸 𝚜𝚊𝚠 "𝚁𝚎𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙹𝚎𝚍𝚒" 𝚊𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝙴𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝟹 𝚃𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚛𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝙼𝚊𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝙴𝚊𝚜𝚝 𝙼𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝙱𝚛𝚢𝚊𝚗, 𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚜 - 𝚊 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛 𝚒𝚗 𝚊𝚗 𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚗 𝚜𝚖𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚗 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚒𝚍𝚍𝚕𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚃𝚎𝚡𝚊𝚜. 𝙰𝚜 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚍𝚒𝚝𝚜 𝚛𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍, 𝚖𝚢 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚕𝚍 𝚘𝚙𝚎𝚗𝚎𝚍 𝚞𝚙. "𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚗𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚍𝚘 𝚠𝚑𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚟𝚎𝚛 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚢'𝚛𝚎 𝚍𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐," 𝙸 𝚒𝚗𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚖𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚢 𝚍𝚊𝚍 𝚊𝚜 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚕𝚎𝚊𝚟𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛. 𝚁𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚛𝚎, 𝙸 𝚍𝚎𝚌𝚒𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚘𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚘 𝚛𝚞𝚗 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 𝚝𝚘 𝚊 𝚐𝚊𝚕𝚊𝚡𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚛, 𝚏𝚊𝚛 𝚊𝚠𝚊𝚢 (𝙻𝚘𝚜 𝙰𝚗𝚐𝚎𝚕𝚎𝚜) 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚓𝚘𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚜 (𝚘𝚞𝚝 𝚘𝚏 𝚠𝚘𝚛𝚔 𝚌𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚝𝚒𝚟𝚎-𝚝𝚢𝚙𝚎𝚜) 𝚒𝚗 𝚝𝚑𝚎𝚒𝚛 𝚏𝚒𝚐𝚑𝚝 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕 𝚎𝚖𝚙𝚒𝚛𝚎 (𝙷𝚘𝚕𝚕𝚢𝚠𝚘𝚘𝚍). 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚊𝚜𝚢 𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚎𝚍 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙻𝚎𝚒𝚊 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚖𝚎𝚍𝚊𝚕 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝚏𝚘𝚛 𝚖𝚢 𝚋𝚛𝚊𝚟𝚎𝚛𝚢 𝚊𝚐𝚊𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚌𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚎𝚟𝚒𝚕. 𝚃𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚢 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛𝚜 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕 𝙿𝚛𝚒𝚗𝚌𝚎𝚜𝚜 𝙻𝚎𝚒𝚊 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎𝚜𝚝𝚘𝚠 𝚞𝚙𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚎 𝚊 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕-𝚕𝚒𝚏𝚎 𝚋𝚊𝚍𝚐𝚎 𝚘𝚏 𝚑𝚘𝚗𝚘𝚛 𝚊𝚜 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚍𝚘𝚐, 𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚢, 𝚜𝚕𝚘𝚋𝚋𝚎𝚛𝚎𝚍 𝚘𝚗 𝚖𝚢 𝚙𝚊𝚗𝚝𝚜 𝚕𝚎𝚐. 𝚆𝚑𝚎𝚗 𝙸 𝚏𝚒𝚗𝚊𝚕𝚕𝚢 𝚐𝚘𝚝 𝚝𝚘 𝚖𝚎𝚎𝚝, 𝙸 𝚝𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝙲𝚊𝚛𝚛𝚒𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚏𝚎𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚋𝚎𝚏𝚘𝚛𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚊𝚕𝚒𝚣𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜 𝚐𝚊𝚢. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚑𝚘𝚠𝚕𝚎𝚍, 𝚝𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚎 𝚝𝚑𝚊𝚝 𝙸 𝚠𝚊𝚜𝚗'𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚜𝚝 𝚐𝚊𝚢 𝚖𝚊𝚗 𝚝𝚘 𝚏𝚊𝚕𝚕 𝚒𝚗 𝚕𝚘𝚟𝚎 𝚠𝚒𝚝𝚑 𝚑𝚎𝚛. 𝚂𝚑𝚎 𝚙𝚞𝚕𝚕𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎 𝚒𝚗 𝚌𝚕𝚘𝚜𝚎 𝚊𝚜 𝚒𝚏 𝚠𝚎 𝚠𝚎𝚛𝚎 𝚘𝚕𝚍 𝚏𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚗𝚍𝚜, 𝚜𝚚𝚞𝚎𝚎𝚣𝚎𝚍 𝚖𝚎, 𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚜𝚝𝚊𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚍 𝚔𝚒𝚜𝚜𝚒𝚗𝚐 𝚖𝚢 𝚏𝚊𝚌𝚎. 𝙰 𝚢𝚎𝚊𝚛 𝚕𝚊𝚝𝚎𝚛, 𝙵𝚒𝚜𝚑𝚎𝚛 𝚠𝚘𝚞𝚕𝚍 𝚋𝚎 𝚍𝚎𝚊𝚍, 𝚋𝚞𝚝 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚛𝚎𝚋𝚎𝚕𝚕𝚒𝚘𝚗 𝚕𝚒𝚟𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚗. 𝙼𝚢 𝚋𝚘𝚜𝚜 𝚍𝚒𝚍𝚗'𝚝 𝚏𝚒𝚛𝚎 𝚖𝚎; 𝚒𝚗𝚜𝚝𝚎𝚊𝚍, 𝚑𝚎 𝚝𝚘𝚘𝚔 𝚙𝚒𝚌𝚝𝚞𝚛𝚎𝚜 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚖𝚘𝚖𝚎𝚗𝚝.

DIED TODAY: RENI SANTONI (August 1, 2020)