The Final Curtain Call - Hollywood Style Quiz

Answer: massive heart attack while on a television sound stage

During a rehearsal for his new television series, "The Royal Family" (1991), Foxx suffered a massive heart attack between rehearsal sessions on a television sound stage in Hollywood California. In full view of his cast and production crew, Foxx clinched his chest, and frantically proclaimed that he was having a heart attack. The cast and crew laughed, thinking Foxx was faking a heart attack, and reenacting the heart attack scene he made so famous as a running gag, on his previous series, "Sanford and Son" (1972).

It wasn't until he fell to the floor, something that was not a part of his "Elizabeth, this is the big one" heart attack routine from his comedy act, that it was realized that Foxx was actually experiencing a coronary episode. Foxx never regained consciousness, and died. In a macabre irony, Foxx, the seasoned comedian, got his final laughs as he lie dying on the floor. John Elroy Sanford, aka Redd Foxx was 68 years old at the time of his death.

Answer: self inflicted gunshot wound

While on the set of his television production between takes, Hexum allegedly placed a prop pistol, a 44 Magnum to his head, and pulled the trigger. Even though the gun was loaded with blanks, Hexum most probably did not realize that even the blank material loaded in the weapon, could cause serious injury or death by propelling the material at high velocity when the weapon was fired, and striking a vital organ or body part.
Even though the production was in progress, no one actually witnessed the fatal incident.

A final footnote to the tragedy was that after Hexum was declared brain dead, his body was maintained on life support, and was flown to San Francisco, California, where vital body parts were harvested.
Hexum's heart was implanted into a 36 year old Nevada resident, and his kidneys and corneas were donated to an organ transplant bank for future use.

Answer: victims of home fires

All victims perished as a result of fires in their residence.

Jack Cassidy died in a fire while sleeping on the couch in his apartment in West Hollywood, California, on December 12, 1976. An investigation into the incident revealed that Cassidy, a heavy smoker, fell asleep on the couch while holding a lit cigarette, which caused the tragic blaze. Cassidy was 49 at the time of his death.
Cassidy was an award nominated stage actor, a movie and television star actor.
Cassidy was married to actress Shirley Jones (of "Partridge Family" fame), and was the father of four sons, David, Shaun, Patrick, and Ryan Cassidy.
Cassidy performed in over 20 Broadway stage productions. was featured in over 25 movies, and guest starred on over 50 popular television series, including a co-starring role as Oscar North on the 1967 television series, "He & She".

Singer and actress Teresa Graves died are a result of a home fire in her Hyde Park (a suburb of Los Angeles, California) home. Firefighters responding to the fire, found Graves unconscious in the bedroom of her home. She was rushed to the hospital, but died there a short time later. Graves was 54 at the time of her death on October 10, 2002.
Graves career started as one of the original members of the 1960's easy listening, pop music group, "The Doodletown Pipers", but is remembered for her movies and television series.
Graves was featured in the movies "That Man Bolt" (1973) and "Vampira" and "Black Eye" in 1974.
Graves appeared on six television series, most notably as a bikini clad dancer/comedian on the hit series, "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" (1969), and in the title role of her own series, "Get Christie Love!" in 1967.

Royce Applegate, an accomplished character actor, died in a fire in his Hollywood Hills, California home in 2003.
Applegate was born on Christmas Day in 1939, and died on New Years Day in 2003, one week after his 63rd birthday.
Applegate compiled a lengthy list of acting credits, appearing in over 80 movie and television productions. Most notably, Applegate played the role of Chief Manilow Crocker on the television series "Seaquest DSV" in 1993.

Answer: massive heart attack

After attending a movie at a Hollywood theater, Frawley was walking down Hollywood Boulevard when he suffered a heart attack on March 3, 1966. The 79 year old actor was dragged by his male nurse and constant companion, to the nearby Knickerbocker Hotel, where he once resided. From there, Frawley was then rushed to Hollywood Receiving Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.

Frawley, an accomplished performer, appeared in over 130 movies, 9 Broadway stage productions, and 4 television series. Frawley will be most remember for his roles as "Bub" O'Casey on the TV series "My Three Sons" (1960), and of course as Fred Mertz on "I Love Lucy" (1951). In the latter role, Frawley earned five Emmy Award nominations (1954, 1955, 1956, 1957, and 1958) as "Best Supporting Actor".

Answer: self inflicted gunshot wound

Prinze died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in his room at the Beverly Comstock Hotel, in West Los Angeles, California, on January 22, 1977.
Prinze experienced radical mood swings and severe depression during the last year of his life. Prinze suffered from a reported drug dependency problem that threatened the security of his personal life.

Following his arrest for "driving under the influence of Quaaludes", Prinze's wife, Kathryn filed for divorce, citing that Prinze's drug problems endangered both herself and their young son. Prinze moved out of the family home and into the hotel. While in a depressed mood, Prinze made a series of telephone calls from his hotel room to friends, family, and business associates to say good bye, explaining that he could no longer cope with the problems in his life. Upon receiving a call, Prinze's business manager rushed to the hotel room to check on the well being of his client and friend. Following a brief conversation, and in full view of his associate, Prinze produced a firearm, and shot himself in the head. Prinze was rushed to UCLA Medical Center, and underwent emergency surgery; but Prinze's injuries were too severe, and he was placed on life support. Prinze died shortly after his family requested that he be removed from life support. Prinze was 22 years old at the time of his death. Freddie Prinze and his wife Kathryn, were the parents of one son, Freddie Prinze Jr., who was to follow his father's footsteps as an entertainer.

Prinze was primarily a stand-up comedian, whose biggest National television break came in December of 1973, when he appeared came on "The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson" (1962). So impressed was Carson with Prinze's comedy material, he broke a long standing tradition and invited Prinze to come over to the guest couch for a chat, marking first time that Carson ever extended the privilege to a young comedian. Prinze gained fame as the title character Chico Rodriguez on the series "Chico and the Man" (1974).

In a strange development. the shooting of Prinze was later re-classified by the Los Angeles County Coroners Office as being "accidental" and not "suicide". The new ruling, spearheaded by an investigation by L.A. County Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Naguchi, revealed that Prinze had a "weird" fascination with guns, often playing with them, and faking suicide to his friends and relatives for his own personal amusement. The fact that Prinze shot himself in full view of a witness is also inconsistent with the historic actions of suicide victims. Speculation was that when Prinze committed the act while thinking that the weapon was unloaded.

Answer: plane crash

Rick Nelson, and six others, were killed when the airplane on which they were they were passengers on, developed mechanical problems, requiring the pilots to attempt a force landing in a field near Texarkana, Texas. Nelson and his band had just completed a show in Gunderville, Alabama, and were enroute to a New Years Eve concert in Dallas, Texas. The pilots survived the crash by escaping through the cockpit window after the airplane hit the ground. It was later determined by Federal officials investigating the crash, that the smoke that filled the cabin of the aircraft during the flight was from a faulty floor heater in the cabin of the aircraft.

Rick Nelson appeared as himself (Ricky Nelson) during the 14 season run of the popular TV series, "The Adventures of Ozzie and Harriet" (1952). Rick's music career started as he was featured performing songs as part of his family's television series. During his music career which span nearly 30 years (1957-1985), Nelson produced 30 record albums, including "Ricky" (1957), which reached the #1 position on the Billboard Top 100 Music Chart, and 68 single records, including "Poor Little Fool" (1958) and "Traveling Man" (1961), which also reached the #1 position on the Billboard Top 100 Singles Chart.

Answer: shot and killed by his wife

Hartman was shot and killed in his bed while he slept by his wife, Brynn, a former fashion model. Brynn Hartman, who had a history of alcohol and drug abuse, got into a heated argument with her husband on the evening of May 28, 1998. Following their altercation, Phil retired to the bedroom and went to sleep. Shortly before three in the morning, Brynn entered the bedroom with a 38-caliber handgun, and as he slept, shot her husband three times, twice in the head and once in the side.

Brynn then left the house and drove to the home of a family Friend, where she confessed to the murder. Brynn and the friend drove to the Encino, California Hartman residence in separate vehicles. When the friend saw Hartman's body, he immediately called 9-1-1 to report the incident.
When police arrived, Brynn barricaded herself in a bedroom, and using the same weapon she used to kill her husband, committed suicide by shooting herself once in the head. It was later determined that Brynn was under the influence of alcohol and cocaine when she committed the murder.

Phil Hartman was a multi-talented performer. He got his start in comedy working with the improvisational comedy troupe "The Groundlings" in Hollywood, California. There he met fellow comic Paul Reubens, and helped Reubens develop his character, Pee Wee Herman. Hartman gained notoriety when he joined the sketch comedy show "Saturday Night Live" in 1986.
On the show, Hartman was known for his dead-on impersonations of figures such as Frank Sinatra, Ed McMahon, Phil Donahue, and President Bill Clinton. Hartman left "Saturday Night Live" in 1994. Throughout his career, Hartman appeared in over 25 movies and 38 television series, including providing the voice for characters on 10 animated cartoon series.

Answer: complications from "routine" surgery

Blocker died suddenly of pulmonary embolism on May 13, 1972, following what was considered to be "routine" gall bladder surgery in Los Angeles, California. The producers of "Bonanza" took what was an unusual action of making reference to the death in the storyline the following season, something that was very rarely done at the time.

It was mentioned in the first episode of season 14 that Hoss had been killed in an accident on the ranch. During his career, Blocker was featured in ten movies, and over 25 guest appearances on television shows, but will probably best remembered as Ben Cartwright's gentle giant son, Eric "Hoss" Cartwright.

Answer: death from drowning near Catalina Island in California

Following an investigation conducted by the Los Angeles County Coroner Office, Chief Medical Examiner Dr. Thomas Noguchi announced that the official cause of death was "accidental drowning".

Wood, her husband, actor Robert Wagner, and a family friend, actor Christopher Walken, were aboard "Splendor", the yacht owned by Wood and Wagner, on a weekend boating trip to Santa Catalina Island, just off the Pacific coast near Los Angeles, California. The yacht was anchored in a cove just outside of Catalina, where the party enjoyed a relaxing evening. While there were no actual witnesses to the incident, Dr. Noguchi was able to piece together a probable scenario to the incident, based on the coroner investigation.

Dr. Noguchi surmised that at some point that evening, Wood either attempt to leave the yacht, or was trying to secure a small dinghy to prevent it from banging against the hull of the yacht, when she slipped, and accidentally fell overboard. The post mortem toxicology report from the coroner's office suggested that that Wood had consumed 7 or 8 glasses of wine before the accident, and was intoxicated when she fell into the water. At the time, Wood was wearing a heavy down-filled coat and wool sweater. With her judgment impaired by the alcohol in her body, she probably did not realized how heavy the wet coat and sweater would be, and she was pulled underwater by the additional weight of the clothing.

In a career that went from 1943 until 1983, Wood appeared in 47 movies, earning the Academy Award nomination for "Best Supporting Actress" in 1956 for "Rebel Without A Cause" (1955), and "Best Actress" nominations in 1962 for "Splendor In The Grass" (1961), and in 1964 for "Love With A Proper Stranger" 1963).

Answer: victim of cancer

In the Spring of 1995, Elizabeth Montgomery was diagnosed with "colorectal cancer", but chose to delay treatment until filming of her current project, the TV movie, "Deadline For Murder: From The Files of Edna Buchanan" (1995) was completed. The delay in seeking treatment proved to be costly, as the illness had quickly advanced to the point that there was no hope for her recovery. Faced with the prognosis, Montgomery, at the age of 62, chose to spend her remaining days at her Beverly Hills, California home.

She died there on May 18, 1995, in the company of her three children, and her husband, actor Robert Foxworth. Her passing came eight weeks after her diagnosis. Her role as the perky witch, Samantha Stevens on "Bewitched" earned her Emmy nominations for "Outstanding Lead Actress-Comedy Series in 1966, 1967, 1968, 1969. and 1970.