Shelley Winters

 

"I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American.  But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience."

Shelley Winters was born Shirley Schrift in St. Louis, Missouri on August 18, 1920. She was the daughter of Austrian-Hungarian immigrants, her mother a singer, her father a clothing designer.  Her parents were in fact, third cousins. 

In 1929, the family moved to Brooklyn.  It was here that she took her first steps towards stardom.  As a young woman, she worked as a model, before embarking on a career on the Broadway stage.  Her first role was in a 1941 production of The Night Before Christmas. 

By the mid-1940s, Winters had relocated to Los Angeles, where she was under contract with Columbia Pictures.  Her career would span more than four decades, and she appeared in nearly 40 films.  She was twice named Best Supporting Actress by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965).  This blogger could never do her career the justice it deserves.

On October 14, 2005, Winters suffered a heart attack, from which she'd never fully recover.  She ultimately died of heart failure just three months later, on January 14, 2006.  She was 85 years old.

Shelley Winters was laid to rest at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

Location: Hillside Slope, Block #11, Plot #358, Grave #8

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Shelley Winters, take a voyage to Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• During a 1975 episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Winters got into a heated debate with fellow guest Oliver Reed.  She walked off stage, retrieved a glass of whiskey, and dumped it on Reed's head, much to the shock of Carson.  Fortunately, you can watch the entire segment on YouTube.
  
  
• Winters donated her Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank to the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam.
  
  
• In 1966, Winters appeared on the Adam West Batman TV series, playing one-off villain Ma Parker.  Four years later, she'd play the real thing, Ma Barker, in Roger Corman's Bloody Mama.
  
  
• Vlogger and friend to Winters Jordan the Lion shared a video on the 2023 demolition of her Los Angeles home.  You can check it out on YouTube.
  

Loving Couple Goes to Washington

 

Maybe you've never heard of Richard and Mildred Loving, but their's is a fascinating tale.  An interracial couple from Virginia, they were the plaintiffs in a landmark 1967 case, in which the Supreme Court overturned the legal ban on such unions.  More on that later.

They met in their hometown of Central Point, Virginia in 1950, when he was 17, and she was just 11.  They started dating several years later, during Mildred's senior year in high school.  By the time she was 18, Mildred was pregnant with their first child, and after a few years of living together, they decided to make their union official. In June 1958, they drove up to Washington, DC, where they took their vows before God and State.

At the time, interracial marriage was still against the law in Virginia.  An anonymous source informed the Caroline County Sheriff's Department, who proceeded to arrest the couple while they slept in their bed. They were charged with "cohabitating as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth."  The Lovings pled guilty and were sentenced to a year in prison.  The sentence was suspended however, when the Lovings agreed to leave Virginia for 25 years.

The couple relocated to Washington, but whereas jobs had been plentiful in Central Point, they now faced economic hardships.  They also discovered that the city could be unforgiving as well, when their young son was hit by a car on the busy streets.  In their hearts, they knew it was time to go home.

After a few years of legal wrangling, the case of Loving v. Virginia finally went before the Supreme Court in 1967.  In a ruling passed down on June 12th, the Court overturned their convictions and ruled the ban on interracial marriage as unconstitutional.

The Lovings returned to Virginia, where they began to raise a family.  Their happiness would be short-lived, however.  On June 29, 1975, their car was hit by a drunk driver.  Richard, only 41, died on the scene.  Mildred survived the accident, and would spend the next 40 years living a quiet, secluded life in Virginia, often downplaying her role in history, giving the real credit to God.  She ultimately passed of pneumonia on May 2, 2008.  She was 68 years old.

The Lovings are laid to rest in a quiet church cemetery in Central Point, Virginia.  A historical marker lies just outside the park.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Richard and Mildred Loving, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• Following the Supreme Court ruling, the couple discussed their story with ABC News.  You can watch that interview on YouTube.
  
  
• The Loving story has been chronicled in a number of films, with varying degrees of accuracy.  Of 1996's Mr. and Mrs. Loving, Mildred would state "not much of it was very true.  The only part of it right was I had three children."  Other adaptations include the 2011 documentary The Loving Story and 2016's Loving.
  
  
• In 2009, country artist Nanci Griffith released her single The Loving Kind in tribute to the couple.  Take a listen on Amazon.
  
  
• In honor of the landmark case, June 12th is now an unofficial U.S. holiday - Loving Day.

The Forgotten Grave of John Spencer

 

"I've never wanted to do anything but act.  It saved my life, it's the reason I get up in the morning, it's my opiate.  The prize for me was always getting the next gig so I could do this wonderful thing that I love."

John Spencer was born John Speshock, Jr. in New York City on December 20, 1946.  He was interested in the theatre from an early age, much to the chagrin of his parents, who had immigrated to America and settled in Totowa, New Jersey.

Spencer attended a prep school in Manhattan, alongside fellow future celebrity Liza Minnelli, before enrolling in Fairleigh Dickinson College.  He never completed his degree however, moving straight into the world of theatre.

His first role was on The Patty Duke Show, before moving onto the Broadway stage.  His first theatrical role was in the 1983 Matthew Broderick film War Games, playing a silo commander who was told to "turn your key, Sir!"  Later films included the 1990 Harrison Ford thriller Presumed Innocent and 1996's The Rock.

In 1990, he returned to television for the final four seasons of the hit drama L.A. Law, playing grizzled attorney Tommy Mullaney.  It wasn't until 1999 that he assumed the role for which he is most famously known, that of Leo McGarry on the political drama series The West Wing, a role for which he'd win an Emmy Award in 2002.

Well into his West Wing run, Spencer died quite unexpectedly of a heart attack, on December 16, 2005.  He was just four days shy of his 59th birthday.  He was laid to rest in Laurel Grove Memorial Park in his hometown of Totowa. 

The grave appears to be neglected, as this blogger had to clear away shrubbery and bird residue.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Like his West Wing character, Spencer was a recovering alcoholic.
  
  
• At the time of his death, Spencer had completed two episodes of The West Wing that were in post-production, each of which featured his character as a candidate for Vice President.  Following his untimely death, the writers gave his character a heart attack as well, having him die on election night. 
  
  
• The episode featuring McGarry's death aired on March 19, 2006.  It came two months after a similar death on the series Smallville, which saw Jonathan Kent, played by John Schneider, die of a heart attack after winning his seat for Kansas State Senate.  
  
  
• Spencer was an avid gardener, who once presented Ellen DeGeneres with a bouquet of flowers on her daytime talk show.  You can watch the clip on YouTube.
  
  
• Spencer was a regular participant in L.A.'s annual AIDS Walk fundraising event.