They Passed Away on an April Day Quiz

Answer: John Forsythe

A native of New Jersey, John Forsythe played the unseen millionaire Charles Townsend on the TV series "Charlie's Angels" (1976-81) as well as in the feature film (2000). He survived a quadruple coronary bypass in 1979 to finish "Charlie's Angels" and star in the movie "...And Justice for All" that year as a corrupt judge.

He won two Golden Globe awards and was nominated several times for the Emmy. Not only was he an actor, but he owned and bred race-horses, and in the 1980s he hosted the annual Eclipse Awards. John Forsythe died of pneumonia on April 1, 2010.

Answer: "A Farewell to Arms" (1932)

Charles Bryant Lang, Jr. was the cinematographer for all the other films listed: "The Ghost and Mrs. Muir" (1947), "Some Like It Hot" (1959), "The Magnificent Seven" (1960) -- but only "A Farewell to Arms" (1932) won him an Oscar. Born in Utah in 1902, Lang work in film between 1918 and 1963. He earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the American Society of Cinematographers in 1991, after making over 114 films. Charles Lang died of natural causes in Santa Monica, California on April 3, 1998.

Answer: Roger Ebert

With partner Gene Siskel of the "Chicago Tribune", Ebert blazed the trail for film reviews on national TV with "Sneak Previews" on PBS in the 1970s. In 1975, Ebert became the first film critic to earn the Pulitzer Prize for Criticism. He opposed the MPAA rating system, and he lamented the resurgence of 3D effects in the 2000s.

He survived thyroid cancer in 2002, salivary cancer in 2003, and cancer in his right jaw in 2006. Complications left him unable to speak, and he adopted a computerized voice system and wore a prosthetic chin. Three years before his death, he wrote: "Know it is coming, and I do not fear it, because I believe there is nothing on the other side of death to fear".

He broke his hip in 2012, and it, too, was discovered to be cancerous.

He died on April 4, 2013.

Answer: Charlton Heston

Born John Charles Carter in 1923, Charlton Heston was best known for playing heroic roles in epic films such as "Ten Commandments" (1956) and "Ben-Hur" (1959) and in dystopic movies such as "Planet of the Apes" (1968) and "The Omega Man" (1971). The authoritative, individualistic masculinity of the roles he portrayed was also reflected in his public persona.

In the 1970s he rejected the liberal causes he had previously embraced and joined the ranks of the neoconservatives, particularly on issues of gun control.

He served as National Rifle Association president for many years, during which time he would end speeches with a rifle overhead and a variation of the famous "cold, dead hands" quote. He died of pneumonia on April 5, 2008 at age 84.

Answer: Greer Garson

Eileen Evelyn Greer Garson, born in Manor Park, Essex, England, became one of the top ten box office draws during World War II, according to "Motion Picture Herald". She had intended to become a teacher, and studied French and 18th century literature at the University of Grenoble, but turned to acting. Once Louis B. Mayer discovered her in London, he brought her to the States and put her in "Goodbye, Mr. Chips" (1938).

She made many more films, and also appeared on television as a guest on many shows, including "Laugh-In". Living less in the spotlight than her peers Bette Davis or Katharine Hepburn, Greer Garson died of heart failure in Dallas, Texas on April 6, 1996.

Answer: Walter Huston

Walter Huston won an Oscar for his performance as a wise old prospector in "The Treasure of the Sierra Madre", which also starred Humphrey Bogart. Walter's son, John Huston, directed him in that film; and John convinced his father, a handsome leading man in his youth, to appear without his false teeth so as to appear more grizzly and aged. John Huston also won Best Director for the film, and the two Hustons became the first father-and-son pair to win Academy Awards at the same time.

Not long after his 67th birthday, Walter Huston died of an aortic aneurysm on April 7, 1950.

His ashes were lost for twenty years, but John eventually found them and buried them at Walter Ranch in Porterville; three years later, John had them buried next to his stepmother.

Answer: Annette Funicello

Annette Funicello was born in Utica, New York but was raised in Southern California. Walt Disney discovered her at a ballet recital, and brought her on the "The Mickey Mouse Club" during its entire run (1955-60). The "Club" reruns, the "Bleach Blanket" movies of the 1960s, and Skippy peanut butter commercials kept Annette as "America's Girl Next Door" for decades. Diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in 1987, Annette did not reveal her disease until 1992, and only then to dispel rumors of drunkenness (the disease causes loss of balance). Annette succumbed on April 8, 2013 at Mercy Southwest Hospital in Bakersfield, California.

Other April 8 deaths: In 2008, Stanley Kamel, best known for playing Dr. Kroger on "Monk", died of a heart attack at age 65.

Answer: Sidney Lumet

Philadelphia-born Sidney Lumet was the son of actor Baruch Lumet, and he began his showbiz career on the radio at the tender age of four. During World War II he repaired radar in Burma and India. After leaving the army he directed off-Broadway and TV, and eventually made it to Hollywood.

He received Oscar nominations for "12 Angry Men" (1957), "Dog Day Afternoon" (1975), "Network" (1976), and "The Verdict" (1982). While he never won outright, he received an honorary Oscar for lifetime achievement in 2005.

He also directed "Fail-Safe" (1964) and "Murder on the Orient Express" (1974), and on Broadway, he directed the controversial "Caligula" (1960). Sidney Lumet died from lymphoma at age 87 on April 9, 2011 and was buried at Mount Carmel Cemetery in Glendale, NY.

Answer: Dixie Carter

Dixie Virginia Carter was born McLemoresville, Tennessee in 1939, the middle of three children. A botched tonsillectomy at age seven spoiled her dreams to sing opera. She studied music nonetheless, and in college she belonged to the Delta Delta Delta sorority and ran in several beauty pageants.

She debuted on stage in the 1960s in "Carousel" and also played in "The Winter's Tale" in New York. Her first TV show was on "The Edge of Night" from 1974 to 1976. Carter played the rather liberal Julia Sugarbaker on CBS's "Designing Women" (1986-93), though she was in reality a conservative Republican, and in a deal with producers, every time she was forced to give a liberal monologue as Julia, Carter was allowed to sing a song on the next episode. Dixie Carter died of endometrial cancer on April 10, 2010.

She was survived by her third husband, Hal Holbrook, whom she had married in 1984.

Answer: Jonathan Winters

Jonathan Winters was born in 1925 Bellbrook, Ohio. His mother was a radio personality and his father an insurance agent. Two of his best-known characters are the "infant" son Mearth on the last season of "Mork and Mindy" and Maude Frickert, a sharp-tongued old lady, but he was also the voice of Papa Smurf and he appeared on nearly every talk show in existence from the 1960s through the 1980s. With a rubbery face and squinty eyes, he could impersonate Groucho Marx, Cary Grant, and almost anyone the audience would request.

A prolific comic, Winters released albums in five different decades. Sadly, he suffered from bipolar disorder and had to be hospitalized in the 1960s. He also painted and would present his work in one-man shows at various California galleries.

He outlived his wife, Eileen, to whom he had been married for 51 years. Jonathan died of natural causes on April 11, 2013.

Answer: Greta Garbo

Greta Lovisa Gustafsson was born in Stockholm, Sweden, where Louis B. Mayer discovered her and brought her to America. She became famous in the silent era, and her deep-voiced accent worked well for her when the talkies came. Garbo spoke the famous line "I want to be alone", as a melancholic Russian ballerina named Grusinskaya in "Grand Hotel" (1932), a classic MGM film with an ensemble cast that included John Barrymore.

In retirement, however, she was not as reclusive as reputed, and did spend time with friends, although she eschewed public appearances.

Her health deteriorated with age and though she survived breast cancer in 1984, she had to receive dialysis treatments three days a week. She died on April 15, 1990, from pneumonia and kidney failure.

Answer: Kitty Carlisle Hart

Kitty Carlisle, sometimes billed as Kitty Carlisle Hart, was born as Catherine Conn in New Orleans, Louisiana in 1910. The granddaughter of a Confederate veteran, Kitty had German Jewish ancestry on her father's side. Her mother sent her to Europe to marry nobility, but Kitty ended up at the Sorbonne and then acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London.

She starred in a couple of Marx Brothers movies and a few musicals, and she studied singing privately with a teacher from Julliard. She became a regular panelist on "Who Said That?" in the 1950s, her first of many game shows in her career.

She is best known as a panelist on several incarnations of "To Tell the Truth", a game show requiring a celebrity to identify the correct contestant with an unusual occupation or experience from among imposters by asking them questions.

A patron of the arts, she served for 20 years on the New York State Council on the Arts. After a long bout of pneumonia lasting many months that required frequent hospitalized Kitty Carlisle Hart died of congestive heart failure at her home on April 17, 2007.

Answer: Dick Clark

Richard Wagstaff Clark of Mount Vernon, New York decided from age ten that he wanted a career in radio, and studied advertising at Syracuse University in New York. He started out in the mailroom of WRUN, an AM radio station owned by his uncle, but soon he became an announcer.

In 1952, he became a disc jockey at WFIL in Philadelphia. He took over the hosting of "Bob Horn's Bandstand" when the host lost his job due to a drunk-driving arrest. ABC Television picked up the show, and Dick Clark became a national star. "American Bandstand" was on the air from 1952 to 1989. Clark also hosted the various "Pyramid" game shows in the 1970s and '80s, and in 1972 he began hosting "Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve", which featured live remotes in Times Square and covered the famous drop of the Times Square Ball at midnight. Dick Clark survived a stroke in 2004 and continued to make media appearances, but he died of a heart attack on April 18, 2012, after prostate surgery.

Answer: Mr. Green Jeans

Hugh Brannum, born in 1910 in Sandwich, Illinois, was the son of a Methodist minister. In addition to acting, Brannum played the violin, and he was a composer and arranger. On the children's show "Captain Kangaroo", he wore his signature green jeans even though much of the show's run was in black-and-white and so the significance of his nickname was lost to viewers until the show began broadcasting in color in the 1970s. Brannum played other characters, too, including the Professor and Greeno the Clown, but Mr. Green Jeans was the most famous. Hugh Brannum died of cancer in Pennsylvania on April 19, 1987.

Answer: Señor Wences

Born Wenceslao Moreno in Peñaranda de Bracamonte, Salamanca, Spain in 1896, Señor Wences was one of the most famous and skilled ventriloquists of his day. He would often throw his voice while smoking or otherwise engaging his mouth. He was also well-known for switching voices rapidly while opening boxes which supposedly contained Pedro and other characters (S'awright? S'awright!).

He often used puppet characters as well, and he would finish with juggling and plate-spinning. He married twice, and his brother and his nephew were also ventriloquists.

He retired at age 100(!), but ventriloquist Michele LaFong took over his characters and was taught the routines by Wences himself. Señor Wences died of natural causes in his Upper West Side apartment in New York on April 20, 1999.

Answer: William Dozier

William Dozier was born in 1908 in Omaha, Nebraska. Not only the executive producer, Dozier was also the uncredited narrator of "Batman". He made in a cameo in the very last episode as a victim of the villain played by Zsa Zsa Gabor. He also produced "Green Hornet" in emulation of "Batman"'s success, but the "Hornet" didn't fly. Dozier married three women in his lifetime, including Joan Fontaine and Anne Rutherford. William died on 23 April 1991, survived by his son, the screenwriter Robert Dozier.

Two other people associated with "Batman" also died on 23 April. Otto Preminger (1905-1986) was the second of three actors to portray the villainous Mr. Freeze; he succumbed to cancer. In the first season of "Batman", Walter Slezak (1902-1983) played a lesser-known villain, the Clock King. He died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Answer: Bud Abbott

William Alexander "Bud" Abbott was born in 1895 in Asbury Park, New Jersey, to workers in the Barnum & Bailey Circus: a bareback rider (his mother) and an advance man (his father). He met Lou Costello in vaudeville, whereupon Abbott and Costello became a team in burlesque shows and radio programs in the 1930s.

After many Hollywood films and a TV series, they broke up in 1957; and Costello died two years later. In the 1960s, Abbott tried teaming up with Candy Candido but then quit because, as Abbott said, "No one could ever live up to Lou".

He voiced himself in the short-lived Hanna-Barbera series "The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show" (1967-68) -- with Stan Irwin voicing Costello. An active Freemason and shriner, Abbott was married for 55 years to Betty Abbott, and they adopted two children. Enduring lifelong epilepsy, Abbott experienced a series of strokes in the 1960s and broke his hip in 1972.

He succumbed to cancer on April 24, 1974. Groucho Marx called him "the greatest straight man ever".

Answer: Ginger Rogers

Born Virginia Katherine McMath in 1911, Ginger Rogers starred in ten films with the dashing Fred Astaire in the 1930s. After her partnership with Astaire ended, she starred in other dramas and comedies through the 1950s, when her career began to decline. Ginger Rogers was a Christian Scientist and a friend of Lucille Ball and Bette Davis.

In fact, she danced the Charleston for the first time in decades on Lucille Ball's last successful sitcom "Here's Lucy" in 1971. She suffered a stroke in the 1990s and became confined to a wheelchair. Ginger Rogers died of a heart attack on April 25, 1995.

Answer: Lucille Ball

Lucille Désirée Ball was born in 1911 in Jamestown, New York (although she sometimes claimed to be from Butte, Montana for reasons unclear). She was a descendant of some of the earliest English colonists, including Edmund Rice of Massachusetts. In the 1930s she worked as a contract player for RKO Radio Pictures and became known as "Queen of the B's" (supplanting the title from Fay Wray).

In 1940 she married Desi Arnaz, with whom she starred in "I Love Lucy". They also started the studio Desilu Productions, which pioneered filming before a live audience and using multiple cameras and adjacent sets. Lucille Ball became the first woman to head a television production company.

She had several television series, all of which were successful except for her last one, "Life with Lucy" in the 1980s. Lucille Ball died from an abdominal aortic rupture on April 26, 1989.

She was survived by her children, Desi Arnaz, Jr. and Lucie Arnaz.

Answer: Agnes Moorehead

A character actress of extraordinary range, Agnes Moorehead won a Primetime Emmy, two Golden Globe awards, and four Oscars in her career. Moorehead began as a principal Mercury Player on Orson Welles' "The Mercury Theatre on the Air", in various adaptations of plays and short stories.

In fact, she was in demand more than any other actress in radio, including the CBS series "Suspense". Her most memorable radio performance was in "Sorry, Wrong Number" in 1943, in which she plays a neurotic woman who overhears a murder plot and then realizes that she herself is to be the victim.

She replayed the role six times for "Suspense" and other radio programs. Because of her performances, the writers for the TV show "Twilight Zone" wrote a script for her, "The Invaders" (broadcast in 1961), in which a farm woman fights off intruders from another planet, although she had no dialogue at all! In "Bewitched" (1964-1972) she played Endora for eight seasons. Agnes Moorehead died of uterine cancer on April 30, 1974.