Forest Lawn Glendale Memorial Park

The tragically brief life of fresh-faced, boyishly handsome Ross Alexander, who seemed to have everything going for him, plays these days like a bad Hollywood movie. Alexander was a charming, highly engaging young actor whose pleasant voice and breezy personality aided greatly in his transition from Broadway teen player to young adult Warner Bros. film actor. His peers would include such Warner stalwarts as Ruby Keeler, Dick Powell and Errol Flynn. Off-camera, however, Ross, a closeted homosexual, became an acutely self-destructive young man whose career instability and domestic tragedy would take its toll. The tormented Ross ended his own life at age 29.

Ross Alexander was born Alexander Ross Smith in Brooklyn, New York, to Maud Adelle (Cohen) and Alexander Ross Smith, a leather merchant. Raised in Rochester, New York, he pursued both drama and athletics in high school (soccer, swimming) and sidelined in little theater productions in town. In between he took his first Broadway bow as a young teen in Blanche Yurka's long-running comedy success "Enter Madame." He eventually moved back to New York City following schooling and began to build up his stage resume in stock companies. On Broadway he showed a modicum of promise in such plays as "The Ladder" (1926) and "Let Us Be Gay" (1929). The latter play introduced Ross to producer John Golden and marked an immoderate two-year association which would include the plays "After Tomorrow" (1930) and "That's Gratitude" (1930). Paramount apparently saw Ross' potential and started him off in pictures with The Wiser Sex (1932), but nothing happened. Continuing on Broadway with "The Stork Is Dead" (1932), "Honeymoon" (1932), "The Party's Over" (1933) and "No Questions Asked" (1934), he was re-noticed for films, this time by Warner Bros.

Warners signed him to appear in its popular backstage Depression-era musicals and collegiate capers. Alexander's fresh look and carefree, slightly cynical demeanor made him an instant favorite and he soon began humming with popular second leads in such musicals as Flirtation Walk (1934). On the dramatic side he was chosen to play Demetrius in the all-star A Midsummer Night's Dream (1935), and in Errol Flynn's Captain Blood (1935) he played Jeremy Pitt, Blood's friend and navigator. Trouble started brewing, however, behind the scenes. Ross was being perceived by Warners as a second-ranked Dick Powell. As the studio began featuring him in Powell's castoffs and other uninspiring B-grade movies, they decided it was too taxing to both groom him for matinée idol status and conceal his homosexuality at the same time.

A probable marriage of convenience to budding starlet Aleta Friele, who appeared on Broadway using the name Aleta Freel, ended disastrously with the 28-year-old actress taking her own life with a rifle in their Hollywood Hills home. The actor was deeply shaken by this tragic event. He tried to cover his tracks yet again, however, by marrying beautiful actress Anne Nagel, whom he met while on the set of Hot Money, (1936),China Clipper (1936) and Here Comes Carter (1936). It didn't help quash his spiraling depression.

Finally Warners lost all patience and interest after having to cover up a potentially career-threatening gay-sex scandal, and Ross' promising career went down the tubes. To add insult to injury, he incurred major debt. On January 2, 1937, less than five months after his marriage to Nagel and shortly after the first anniversary of his first wife's death, Aleta Friele who also committed suicide, Alexander shot himself with a pistol in a barn behind his Encino ranch home. His last movie, the moderately received Ready, Willing and Able (1937) with Ruby Keeler, was released posthumously. Despite the fact he was the co-lead in the film, he was billed fifth, thus emphasizing the point that he had already lost most of his clout.

Forrest J. Ackerman was born on 24 November 1916 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for Dead Alive (1992), The Wizard of Speed and Time (1988) and Vampirella (1996). He was married to Mathilde "Wendayne" Wahrman. He died on 4 December 2008 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Art Acord was born on 17 April 1890 in Stillwater, Oklahoma, USA. He was an actor, known for Set Free (1927), The Set-Up (1926) and Winners of the West (1921). He was married to Edna Nores, Edythe Sterling and Louise Lorraine. He died on 4 January 1931 in Chihuahua, Chihuahua, Mexico.

While known mostly for his activities as a film producer, Maurice Buddy Adler attended both Columbia and Pennsylvania universities and wrote fiction short stories for magazines prior to becoming involved in the film industry. In 1936 he joined MGM Pictures as a writer for the regular series of short subjects that were popular at the time. He married actress Anita Louise in 1940 and served with the U.S. Army Signal Corps in World War II, attaining the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. After the war he returned to MGM as a producer for a year and then moved to Columbia Pictures as a producer from 1949 to 1953. There he earned an Academy Award as producer of the Best Picture of the Year for 1953, From Here to Eternity (1953).

He left Columbia Pictures shortly thereafter and joined 20th Century-Fox, where in 1956 he succeeded Darryl F. Zanuck as Head of Production. He remained there until his death in 1960. He was the producer at Fox on a number of very successful films, many of which still enjoy a following today. Among those are Bus Stop (1956), A Hatful of Rain (1957), South Pacific (1958), Heaven Knows, Mr. Allison (1957), The Left Hand of God (1955) and The Inn of the Sixth Happiness (1958).

Sadly both he and his wife died young, he at 51 from lung cancer and Miss Louise at 55 as the result of a stroke.

Entering films as an actor in 1910, John G. Adolfi soon switched careers and became a director. He turned out numerous, mostly low-budget films for minor companies, but every so often got a chance to work at a big studio like Fox. His big break came in the sound era, when he formed a partnership with actor George Arliss and directed several of Arliss' most successful films.

Wally Albright was born on 3 September 1925 in Burbank, California, USA. He was an actor, known for Roll Along, Cowboy (1937), Thirteen Women (1932) and Salvation Nell (1931). He died on 7 August 1999 in Sacramento, California, USA.

Robert Alda's career began in vaudeville, as a singer-dancer. Graduating to performing on radio and in burlesque, he made a splashy film debut as George Gershwin in Rhapsody in Blue (1945). His film career faltered somewhat after that, but he had much greater success on the Broadway stage in such productions as "Guys and Dolls" and "What Makes Sammy Run." Settling in Rome in the early 1960s, he appeared in many Italian and European films over the next 15 years. While many of them were quite successful in Europe, few made it to the United States. Alda is the father of actor Alan Alda and Antony Alda.

Robert passed away 11.04.2018. Alexander Robert Graham 05.01.1942 - 11.04.2018

Actor. Late of Glebe.

Son of Bob and Jean Alexander (both deceased), brother of Ann, uncle of Sarah and Matt.

Adored partner (for 54 years) of Barry Blight; esteemed actor; accomplished musician; kind mentor to emerging young actors; cherished colleague; intelligent, generous, witty and convivial host to a multitude of fortunate friends.

Robert passed peacefully away at the Sacred Heart Hospice on Wednesday evening after a lengthy illness.

Gracie Allen was born on 26 July 1895 in San Francisco, California, USA. She was an actress and writer, known for The Gracie Allen Murder Case (1939), A Damsel in Distress (1937) and Honolulu (1939). She was married to George Burns. She died on 27 August 1964 in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, USA.

Elvia Allman was born on 19 September 1904 in Enochville, North Carolina, USA. She was an actress, known for The Nutty Professor (1963), Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and Halloween with the New Addams Family (1977). She was married to Jerome Laveck Bayler, Charles ("C.C.") Pyle and Wesley Benton Tourtellotte. She died on 6 March 1992 in Santa Monica, California, USA.

Wayne Allwine was an American voice actor, sound editor and artist who was well-known for voicing Walt Disney's mascot Mickey Mouse from 1977 until his death from diabetes complications in 2009. He was succeeded by Bret Iwan. He was married to Minnie Mouse voice actress Russi Taylor and had four children. He also did sound editing for Frankenweenie, The Black Cauldron and The Great Mouse Detective.

Lovely Connecticut-born blonde Astrid Allwyn, with her foreign-sounding name and icy countenance, spruced up a number of 1930s and early 1940s films. Of Swedish descent, she studied dancing and dramatics in New York and later gathered experience joining a stock company. Allwyn made her Broadway debut in 1929 in Elmer Rice's "Street Scene" and, on the strength of her second play "Once in a Lifetime," was brought to Hollywood in 1932.

With the help of the Greta Garbo craze, the chic, heart-shaped faced beauty managed to parlayed her placid Scandinavian allure into a film career. She made her debut supporting Constance Bennett in the romantic comedy Lady with a Past (1932) and continued to charm then harm as the "other woman" opposite many of the big male stars of the day -- Humphrey Bogart in Love Affair (1932), Lee Tracy in The Night Mayor (1932), James R. Murray in Bachelor Mother (1932), Lionel Atwill in Beggars in Ermine (1934), Lew Ayres in Servants' Entrance (1934), John Boles in The White Parade (1934), Spencer Tracy in It's a Small World (1935), Herbert Marshall in Accent on Youth (1935), Henry Fonda in Way Down East (1935), Fred MacMurray in Hands Across the Table (1935), Fred Astaire in Follow the Fleet (1936), William Gargan in Flying Hostess (1936), James Dunn in Venus Makes Trouble (1937), Alan Baxter in It Could Happen to You (1937), Preston Foster in The Westland Case (1937), Bruce Cabot in Love Takes Flight (1937), Robert Young in Miracles for Sale (1939) and Richard Dix in Reno (1939).

Rarely placed in the leading lady position, Astrid was given few front-tier assignments aside from Mystery Liner (1934), International Crime (1938) and as the lady reporter opposite John Archer's cop in the crimer City of Missing Girls (1941). She is probably better remembered for her support roles in the Charles Boyer/Irene Dunne tearjerker Love Affair (1939), as the scheming, predatory daughter of Senator Claude Rains who focuses her sights on James Stewart in the Frank Capra classic Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939) and as a barfly in No Hands on the Clock (1941).

After filming Hit Parade of 1943 (1943), Astrid made a decision to retire so she could focus on family and raising children. Briefly married to first husband/actor Robert Kent, the couple appeared together in the Shirley Temple vehicle Dimples (1936) and Astrid went on to provide her customary chilly demeanor to little Miss Temple later again in Stowaway (1936). Married a second time in 1941 to businessman Charles O. Fee, a union that lasted until her death, they had two children -- Melinda O. Fee and Vicki Fee, both of whom became actresses. Astrid died of cancer in 1978 at age 72, and was interred at Forest Lawn Glendale, Court of Freedom, #955.

An attractive actress whose major feature was her cute dimples, Lona Andre played leads in minor films and supporting roles in major films for most of her career. Her four-day marriage to actor Edward Norris must have set some kind of record. After her screen career was over, she became a businesswoman, finding much more success there than she had in films.

Ms. Andrews and her sisters, Patty and Maxene, were one of the most successful women's singing groups, with 19 gold records and sales of nearly 100 million copies. The sisters began performing in the early 1930s when the Depression wiped out their father's business. In 1937, the sisters scored their first big hit with 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen.' In addition to 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy', their best-known songs included 'Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree' and 'Rum and Coca Cola'. The trio officially broke up after the death of Laverne in 1967, and a suitable replacement could not be found.

Ms. Andrews and her sisters, Patty and Laverne, were one of the most successful women's singing groups, with 19 gold records and sales of nearly 100 million copies. The sisters began performing in the early 1930's when the Depression wiped out their father's business. In 1937, the trio of sisters scored their first big hit with 'Bei Mir Bist Du Schoen'. In addition to 'Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy, ' their best-known songs included 'Don't Sit Under the Apple Tree' and 'Rum and Coca Cola'. The trio officially broke up after the death of Laverne in 1967, but temporarily interrupted their feud to star in the 1974 Broadway musical "Over Here!". Ms. Andrews began a solo career in 1979. Her album and its title, were released in 1990, 'Maxene: An Andrews Sister'. Her last performance was on Sunday, October 8th, 1995, in the show 'Swing Time Canteen', at New York City's Blue Angel Theater.

French-born (Paris) George Archainbaud got his start in show business as an actor and stage manager in France. Emigrating to the US in 1915, he got work as an assistant director to fellow French expatriate Emile Chautard at William A. Brady's World Film Co. in Fort Lee, NJ. His directorial debut came in 1917 with As Man Made Her (1917). Archainbaud turned into a prolific director in both films and television, turning out more than 100 features over the next 35 years and numerous TV series episodes.

Although a good amount of his feature-film output was fairly routine, there was some first-rate work scattered among them, such as The Lost Squadron (1932), a gritty and dark tale of a group of former World War I aviators who find work as stunt fliers in war movies. It was a critical and financial success, earning accolades from critics for its exciting flying sequences.

The genre most associated with Archainbaud, however, is westerns. In the 1940s he turned out some fast-paced, exciting westerns, such as The Kansan (1943) and several entries in the Hopalong Cassidy series. When cowboy star Gene Autry went to television to star in his own series, he brought Archainbaud along with him and he became the principal director on the show and other Autry-produced series, such as Buffalo Bill, Jr. (1955), Annie Oakley (1954) and The Adventures of Champion (1955).

He died of a heart attack in Beverly Hills, CA, in 1959.

American leading man famed as the star of one of the longest-running shows in U.S. television history, Gunsmoke (1955). Born of Norwegian heritage (the family name, Aurness, had formerly been Aursness) in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Rolf and Ruth Duesler Aurness. His father was a traveling salesman of medical supplies and his mother later became a newspaper columnist. James attended West High School in Minneapolis. Although he appeared in school plays, he had no interest in performing, and dreamed instead of going to sea. After high school, he attended one semester at Beloit College before receiving his draft notice in 1943. He entered the army and trained at Camp Wheeler, Georgia, before shipping out for North Africa. At Casablanca, Arness joined the 3rd Infantry Division in time for the invasion of Anzio. Ten days after the invasion, Arness was severely wounded in the leg and foot by German machine-gun fire. His wounds, which plagued him the rest of his life, resulted in his medical discharge from the army.

While recuperating in a hospital in Clinton, Iowa, Arness was visited by his younger brother Peter (later to gain fame as actor Peter Graves), who suggested he take a radio course at the University of Minnesota. James did so, and a teacher recommended him for a job as an announcer at a Minneapolis radio station. Though seemingly headed for success in radio, he followed a boyhood friend's suggestion and went with the friend to Hollywood to find work as a film extra. Arness studied at the Bliss-Hayden Theatre School under actor Harry Hayden, and while appearing in a play there was spotted by agent Leon Lance. Lance got the actor a role as Loretta Young's brother in The Farmer's Daughter (1947). The director of that film, H.C. Potter, recommended that he drop the "u" from his last name and soon thereafter the actor was officially known as James Arness.

Little work followed this break, and Arness became sort of beach bum, living on the shore at San Onofre and spending his days surfing. He began taking his acting career more seriously when he began to receive fan mail following the release of the Young picture. He appeared in a production of "Candida" at the Pasadena Community Playhouse, and married his leading lady, Virginia Arness. She pressed him to study acting and to work harder in pursuit of a career, but Arness has been consistent in ascribing his success to luck. He began to act small roles with frequency, often due to his size, and mostly villainous characters. Most notable among these was that of the space alien in The Thing from Another World (1951).

While playing a Greek warrior in a play, Arness was spotted by agent Charles K. Feldman, who represented John Wayne. Feldman introduced Arness to Wayne, who put the self-described 6', 6" actor under personal contract. Arness played several roles over the next few years for and with Wayne, whom he considered a mentor. In 1955, Wayne recommended Arness for the lead role of Matt Dillon in the TV series Gunsmoke (1955). (Contrary to urban legend, Wayne himself was never offered the role.) Arness at first declined, thinking a TV series could derail his growing film career, but Wayne argued for the show, and Arness accepted. His portrayal of stalwart Marshal Dillon became an iconic figure in American television and the series, aired for 20 seasons, is, as of 2008, the longest-running dramatic series in U.S. television history. Arness became world-famous and years later reprized the character in a series of TV movies.

After the surprising cancellation of "Gunsmoke" in 1975, Arness jumped immediately into another successful (though much shorter-lived) Western project, a TV-movie-miniseries-series combination known as "How The West Was Won." A brief modern police drama, McClain's Law (1981), followed, and Arness played his mentor John Wayne's role in Red River (1988), a remake of the Wayne classic.

Following the aforementioned "Gunsmoke" TV movies (the last in 1994, when Arness was 71), Arness basically retired. His marriage to Virginia Chapman ended in divorce in 1960. They had three children, one of whom, Jenny Lee, committed suicide in 1975. Arness subsequently married Janet Surtrees in 1978.

Roscoe Ates was born on 20 January 1895 in Grange, Mississippi, USA. He was an actor, known for Freaks (1932), The Great Lover (1931) and Tumbleweed Trail (1946). He was married to Beatrice Heisser, Barbara Ray and Clara C. Adrian. He died on 1 March 1962 in Hollywood, California, USA.

Gene Austin was a singer, songwriter ("When My Sugar Walks Down the Street") and author, educated at Baltimore University. He served in the US Army in 1916 with the Mexican Punitive Expedition, then in World War I. He sang in theaters, vaudeville, radio, television and films, and made many recordings. He joined ASCAP in 1925 and his chief musical collaborators include Jimmy McHugh, Roy Bergere and Nathaniel Shilkret. His other popular song compositions include "The Lonesome Road", "How Come You Do Me Like You Do?", "Please Come Back to Me", "Ridin' Around in the Rain", "Whippoorwill, Go Tell My Honey that I Love Her", "Take Your Shoes Off, Baby".

Marion Aye was born Maryon Eloise Aye on April 5, 1903 in Chicago, Illinois. Her father was a lawyer who moved the family to California. She was discovered by Fatty Arbuckle and started her career at Balboa Studios. When she was fifteen Marion lied about her age to elope with cameraman Sherman Plaskett. Sadly he passed away just a year later. After moving to New York City she worked at Bothwell Browne's Revue and became a Mack Sennett bathing beauty. Marion appeared in more than a dozen films including The Hick, Montana Bill, and The Weak-End Party with Stan Laurel. She also starred in a series of Cactus Westerns with Bob Reeves. In 1921 she made headlines when she became the first star to sign a contract with a morality clause in it. The following year was chosen to be one of the first Wampas baby stars along with Colleen Moore and Lois Wilson.

Her second marriage, to press agent Harry Wilson, ended in 1924. That same year Marion appeared in a successful stage production of White Collars. She seemed destined for stardom but her career never took off. Her last movie role was in the 1930 drama Up The River. Marion continued to work on the stage and the radio. Unfortunately she suffered from depression and in 1935 she attempted suicide. She married actor Robert Forester in 1936. Marion tried to make a comeback in 1951 and auditioned for a role on television. When she didn't get the part she became despondent. On July 10, 1951 she swallowed a large amount of poison in a Culver City motel. She was hospitalized but tragically she died eleven days later at the age of forty-eight. Her husband later told reporters that he never took her threats of suicide seriously. Marion was buried next to her mother at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Tall, regal, sultry, flame-haired (later blonde) Lynn Baggett is better remembered for her turbulent, unhappy private life than for her "B" level acting roles. Born Ruth Baggett in Wichita Falls, Texas, on May 10, 1923, her father, David L., was in the oil business and her mother, the former Ruth Simmons, was a stenographer. While in Dallas following her high school graduation, the pretty teenager was discovered by a Warner Bros. agent and signed. As a girl with no experience, Lynn (sometimes billed as Lynne) was promoted by the studio as a beauty queen and titleholder ("The Cobra Girl," "The Triple A Girl," etc.) while paying her dues in a slew of unbilled sexy starlet bits as chorines, nurses, waitresses, singers and party-girl types. For five long years she toiled obscurely in such WWII-era films as Manpower (1941), Air Force (1943), The Adventures of Mark Twain (1944), Roughly Speaking (1945), Mildred Pierce (1945) and Night and Day (1946).

The studio did little to increase her stature in Hollywood, and she eventually was released from her contract in 1946. After signing with Universal, she finally received her first role of substance in The Time of Their Lives (1946), an above-average Abbott and Costello haunted-house comedy. Following her marriage to the Austro-Hungarian producer Sam Spiegel ("On the Waterfront") in 1948, she acted less frequently, showing up in a few secondary roles, that of a shady lady of mystery in the classic film noir D.O.A. (1949)) probably being her best-remembered one and those in The Flame and the Arrow (1950) and The Mob (1951) being her most prominent.

The Spiegel-Baggett marriage was quite stormy, marred by adultery and nasty fighting, and they separated in 1952. Three years later, she finally received a divorce. With her career now in shambles, Lynn found work as an Arthur Murray dance teacher. In 1954, she was the direct cause of a fatal two-car accident in which a 9-year-old boy, on his way home from a summer camping excursion, was killed. Another young boy in the same car was seriously injured. Overcome by fear and acute anguish, she "blacked out" and was later charged with leaving the scene of an accident and was convicted of felony hit-and-run.

A failed comeback attempt at acting led to severe depression, mental problems and acute substance abuse. She attempted suicide by pills in 1959 before succeeding a year later on March 22, 1960, dying of acute barbiturate intoxication. She had been released from a private sanitarium several weeks earlier. She was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park. Never close to showing her true potential, Lynn(e) Baggett became one of Hollywood's sadder statistics.

Constantin Bakaleinikoff was born in Moscow in 1896 and studied music at the Moscow Conservatory. Trained as a violoncellist and conductor, he formed a trio with fellow young conservatory graduates and toured Russia, until enlistment in the infantry during World War I forced a temporary stop to his career. Along with his (also musical) brothers Mischa and Vladimir, Constantine fled from Russia during the October Revolution of 1917 and resettled in the United States, after travelling through Asia. Once established in Los Angeles, his talent was soon recognized. Within a year, he conducted the L.A. Philharmonic, and, subsequently, became musical director of several noted theatre orchestras in the area, including the Mayan, the Eqyptian and the Criterion. In 1923, he married the actress Fritzi Ridgeway. His major breakthrough came four years later, in the shape of an appointment to conduct the prestigious new million dollar Grauman's Chinese Theatre in Hollywood.

From 1929, Constantine worked in the film industry as orchestrator and occasional composer, primarily for documentary short subjects. After stints at MGM, Paramount and Columbia, he secured a contract with RKO in 1940. He remained with that studio for the remaining 17 years of its existence, usually billing himself as 'C.Bakaleinikoff'. Almost all of his work was as musical director, and much of it, in conjunction with the prolific composer Roy Webb. He is best remembered for orchestrating None But the Lonely Heart (1944) (which earned him an Oscar nomination) and Alfred Hitchcock's classic spy thriller Notorious (1946). He also worked on many of RKO's seminal Val Lewton horror films, notably Cat People (1942), I Walked with a Zombie (1943) and The Body Snatcher (1945). When not working on the sound stages, Constantine continued to front theatre orchestras, as well as conduct at the Hollywood Bowl.

Art Baker was born on 7 January 1898 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for Spellbound (1945), Impact (1949) and The Farmer's Daughter (1947). He was married to Alice Baker. He died on 26 August 1966 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Suzan Ball, a second cousin of Lucille Ball, was born on March 3, 1934, in Jamestown, New York. She came to Hollywood with her family in 1941. She sang with the Mel Baker Orchestra from 1948-1953. Her first part in Hollywood was as a harem girl in Aladdin and His Lamp (1952) at Monogram. She got an interview with the talent department of Universal-International and signed a contract. In 1952 she was proclaimed "The New Cinderella Girl of 1952". She had a fleeting romance with Scott Brady, whom she met on the set of Untamed Frontier (1952), and they planned to marry. She then filmed City Beneath the Sea (1953) and fell for Anthony Quinn, who was still married. Their romance lasted only a year because Quinn was still in love with his wife, Katherine DeMille. Suzan was proclaimed one of the most important "New Stars of 1953" by Hedda Hopper. On her next film, East of Sumatra (1953), she suffered an injury to her right leg during a dance number. Later in 1953, while filming War Arrow (1953), she was told by doctors that her leg had developed tumors. Later that year at home, she slipped on some spilled water and broke her leg. She was rushed to the hospital and operated on to remove the tumors. The operation was not a success and she was told that amputation of her right leg would be necessary. In December of 1953, she became engaged to Richard Long. On January 12, 1954, her leg was amputated. On April 4th, 1954, she was married to Long in Santa Barbara wearing an artificial limb. Some guests in attendance at her wedding were Rock Hudson, Tony Curtis and Janet Leigh, David Janssen, and Jeff Chandler. In May 1955 she embarked on a nightclub tour. In July, while rehearsing a scene for an episode of Climax! (1954), she collapsed and was rushed to the hospital. Doctors found that the cancer had spread to her lungs. On August 5th, 1955, Suzan died of cancer, only six months after her 21st birthday. She fought her battle with cancer for 16 months and lost. She was buried at Forest Lawn Cemetery. Her husband Richard was always praised for his love and devotion to Suzan during her long illness.

Travis Banton was the star costume designer at Paramount during the studio's heyday of glamour and sophistication in the 1930's. During his tenure (1924-38), he created imaginative, often daring designs for stars like Kay Francis, Carole Lombard, Mae West and, most famously, Marlene Dietrich. His best work was done in tandem with the director Josef von Sternberg, cinematographer Lee Garmes and art director Hans Dreier. Collectively, they created a visual style of costume, make-up and scenery, which became known as 'Hollywood baroque'. For Banton, this emphasized the use of sumptuous, figure-hugging, often heavily embellished or reflective fabrics, as well as imparting a sense of kinetic energy through the prodigious use of trailing feathers or veils. He also coached stars like Dietrich on posture and demeanour to compliment 'the look'.

Banton's family had left Texas for New York when he was just two years old. After schooling, he briefly served aboard a submarine during World War I, subsequently resuming studies at Columbia University and the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts. Like his contemporaries Robert Kalloch and Howard Greer, Banton spent his apprenticeship in New York, working for the fashion house of Lucille until 1924, eventually setting up his own couture label. Heavily influenced by the French fashion industry, he initially designed for theatre, creating gowns for the Ziegfeld Follies and for Broadway musical comedy, such as "Little Miss Bluebeard" and "My Girl". In 1924, he was recruited by producer Walter Wanger to work under Howard Greer at Paramount. For several years, the future Oscar-winning designer Edith Head was assigned to him as a sketch artist and assistant, duly acknowledging him in later years as a crucial influence on her career. By 1927, Banton had become Paramount's leading, most innovative designer. During the next decade, his work set the benchmark for lavish elegance in continental haute couture, with credits like Shanghai Express (1932), Trouble in Paradise (1932) and Belle of the Nineties (1934).

A drinking problem forced Banton to leave Paramount in 1938, though he did not remain out of work for long. Joining Howard Greer's label, Greer Inc., he also found employment at United Artists (1938-39). After that, he free-lanced in between stints with 20th Century Fox (1939-41), Columbia (1943-44) and, as head stylist, at Universal (1945-48). His creative flair in this period is best exemplified by films like The Mark of Zorro (1940), Lillian Russell (1940), and, particularly, Cover Girl (1944), perfectly balancing contemporary design with 1890's period costume.

In the end, the pressure of consistently creating high-end fashion for both the studios and for his own label, plus frequent feuding with stars and executives and a longing to leave the West Coast and return to New York - were all beginning to take their toll. Banton's on-set behaviour became more erratic and his increasing alcoholism made him less reliable. After his final motion picture assignment, the hopelessly flawed biopic Valentino (1951), Banton left the film business altogether and went back to work for Greer Inc.. He returned to Hollywood once more in 1956, to open a fashion salon with Russian-born couturiere Marusia Toumanoff Sassi, collaborating with her in designing the extravagant gowns worn by Rosalind Russell in the Broadway play "Auntie Mame". Banton died two years later, in February 1958, at the age of 63.