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Lenny Bruce
Controversial comedian Lenny Bruce was born Leonard Alfred
Schneider October 1925. Bruce was famous in the 50s & 60s for his satirical routines about social themes
of the day, including politics, religion, race, abortion,
and drugs. His use of profanity -- rarely done at that
time -- got him arrested numerous times. He was eventually
convicted on obscenity charges but was freed on bail. On August 3, 1966, Bruce, a known drug addict, was found
dead in the bathroom of his Hollywood Hills home with a
syringe, a burned bottle cap, and other drug
paraphernalia. The official cause of death was acute
morphine poisoning caused by an accidental overdose.
Robert Pastorelli
Born in 1954, actor and former boxer Robert Pastorelli was
best known as Candace Bergen's housepainter on the sitcom Murphy Brown. He had numerous minor roles on
TV and also appeared in Dances with Wolves, Sister
Act 2, and Michael, as well as a number of made-for-TV
movies. Pastorelli struggled with drug use and in 2004 was found
dead on the floor of his bathroom of a suspected heroin
overdose.
Orville Redenbacher
Founder of the popcorn company that
bears his name, was born in 1907 in Brazil, Indiana.
Millions came to know him through his folksy television
commercials for the specialty popcorn he invented. He sold the company to Hunt-Wesson Foods in 1976 but
remained as a spokesperson until September 20, 1995, when
he was found dead in a whirlpool bathtub in his
condominium, having drowned after suffering a heart
attack.
Claude François
French pop singer in the 1960s who
had a hit with an adaptation of Trini Lopez's folk song
"If I Had a Hammer." On March 11, 1978, François's obsession with cleanliness
did him in when he was electrocuted in the bathroom of his
Paris apartment as he tried to fix a broken light bulb
while standing in a water-filled bathtub.
Albert Dekker
Actor who appeared in Kiss Me Deadly, The
Killers, and Suddenly, Last Summer, was blacklisted in
Hollywood for several years for criticizing anticommunist
Senator Joe McCarthy. Dekker later made a comeback, but in May 1968, he was
found strangled to death in the bathroom of his Hollywood
home. He was naked, bound hand & foot, with a hypodermic
needle sticking out of each arm and obscenities written
over his body. The cause of death was
eventually ruled to be accidental asphyxiation.
Jim Morrison
Born December 8, 1943, Jim Morrison was best known as
the lead singer for The Doors, a top rock band in the late
1960s. His sultry looks, suggestive lyrics, and onstage
antics brought him fame, but drug and alcohol abuse ended
his brief life. On July 3, 1971, Morrison was found dead in his bathtub in
Paris. He reportedly had dried blood around his mouth and bruising on his chest, suggesting a massive hemorrhage brought on by tuberculosis. The official report
listed the cause of death as heart failure. No autopsy
as there was no sign of foul play.
Elvis Presley
January 8, 1935, Elvis Presley born in Tupelo, Mississippi. He was discovered
in Memphis by Sun Records founder Sam Phillips, who was
looking for a white singer with an African-American sound.
Elvis catapulted to fame following three appearances on
The Ed Sullivan Show in 1956 - 1957. Although he was
pushed off the charts by The Beatles, he still sold more
than a billion records in his lifetime.
His movie career kept him in the public until his
comeback album in 1968. In the 1970s, he sold out
shows in Vegas as an overweight caricature of his
former self. Elvis's addiction to prescription drugs was well known.
On August 16, 1977, he was found dead on the bathroom
floor at Graceland. A vomit stain on the
carpet showed that he had become sick while seated on the
toilet. A
medical examiner listed the cause of death as cardiac
arrhythmia caused by a large number of drugs.
Judy
Garland:
(born Frances
Ethel Gumm, June 10, 1922) was an American
actress and singer. Through a career that spanned 45 of
her 47 years, Garland attained international stardom as an
actress in musical and dramatic roles. Respected for her
versatility, she received a Juvenile Academy Award, won a
Golden Globe Award, received the Cecil B. DeMille Award
for her work in films, as well as Grammy Awards and a Tony
Award. She had a contralto singing range.
1968, Judy went to
London and married her fifth husband, a 35 manager named Mickey Deans. She began a
three week engagement in London cabaret which turned
out to be the worst flop of her career. Not only was she
habitually late for performances, but her voice frequently
cracked and she constantly forgot her lines. Sometime
during the night of June 22, 1969, she stumbled in the
bathroom of her London apartment. She was found dead in
the morning by Deans. The official coroner's verdict
attributed her death to an accidental overdose of sleeping
pills.
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