Died On This Date - January 29

Durante, Jimmy
b. February 10, 1893 d. January 29, 1980
Legendary actor, comedian and vaudeville star for over 50 years. He is fondly remembered for his trademark large nose (which he referred to as the Great Schnozzola), gravel voice, and slaughter of words. His signature sign off, "Goodnight, Mrs. Calabash, wherever you are" is a tribute to his first wife, Jeanne Olsen, who had died in 1943. Born James Francis Durante in New York City, he dropped out of school in the eighth grade when his schoolmates made fun of his big nose, large ears.

Ladd, Alan
b. September 3, 1913 d. January 29, 1964
Actor. He is best remembered for his 1953 role of 'Shane' in the western movie of the same name. Although short (five feet, five inches), with a laconic manner and a face that never seemed to change expression, he quickly became a star. Born in Hot Springs, Arkansas to an accountant father and an English mother, when his father died in 1917, his mother married a house painter and the family moved to California, where he grew up.

Frost, Robert
b. March 26, 1874 d. January 29, 1963
Acclaimed writer and poet. Born in San Francisco, his family moved to Massachusetts after the death of his father. Frost attended Dartmouth college, but stayed for less than one term. He returned to Massachusetts and taught school, worked in a factory, and was a journalist. His first poem, Butterfly: An Elegy was published in 1894. He entered Harvard in 1897, and stayed just short of two years. He became a farmer and wrote much of his early work during this time.

White, William Allen
b. February 10, 1868 d. January 29, 1944
Journalist, Author, Politician. White started his newspaper career in El Dorado, Kansas. He was later a reporter in Lawrence and in 1892 went to work for the Kansas City Star as an editorial writer. In 1895, he purchased the Emporia Gazette, where he remained for the remainder of his life. In 1923, he won a Pulitzer for his editorial writing and again in 1947 (posthumously) for his autobiography.

Taylor, Ezra Booth
b. July 9, 1823 d. January 29, 1912
U.S. Congressman. At the outbreak of the Civil War, he was a prosecuting attorney in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio. He enlisted in September 1861, serving as a Private in Company A, 171st Ohio Infantry and was honorably discharged on August 20, 1864. After the war he was elected judge for the ninth judicial district of Ohio, in March 1877.

Vedder Jr., Elihu
b. February 26, 1836 d. January 29, 1923
Artist, Author. Born and raised in New York City, New York, he studied art there and in Paris, France and Italy. After returning to America in 1861, he worked as an illustrator for "Vanity Fair" magazine. Some of his more notable works include "The Keeper of the Threshold," at the Carnegie Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania; "The Sphinx," Boston Museum of Fine Arts; "The Pleiades" and "African Sentinel," Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York City.

Prinze, Freddie
b. June 22, 1954 d. January 29, 1977
Popular comic and television actor of the 1970s. Gained wide fame while playing the role of 'Chico Rodriquez' on TV's "Chico and the Man" opposite actor Jack Albertson. Father of actor Freddie Prinze, Jr. Prinze is buried in the same cemetery as his television costar Scatman Crothers, who played Louie on Chico and the Man.

Truman, Margaret
b. February 17, 1924 d. January 29, 2008
Author. Also known as Margaret Truman Daniel. Born Mary Margaret Truman in Independence, Missouri. She was the daughter and only child of U.S. President Harry S. Truman and Bess Truman. After graduating from George Washington University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in history, she became a trained vocalist and appeared with different orchestras.

Jacobs, Raymond
b. 1925 d. January 29, 2008
World War II United States Marine. He was one of the six United States Marines who raised the first American flag on Mount Surabachi on Iwo Jima on February 23, 1945. This flag was later replaced by the flag in the famous flag raising photograph taken by Joe Rosenthal of the Associated Press. He was the last survivor of either group of flag raisers.

Heydt, Louis Jean
b. April 17, 1903 d. January 29, 1960
American character actor with dozens of film credtis including "Gone With the Wind" (1939), "They Were Expendable" (1945), and "The Big Sleep" (1946).

Okubo, James
b. May 30, 1920 d. January 29, 1967
World War II Congressional Medal of Honor recipient. Served as a Medic, Technician Fifth Grade with the 442nd Regimental Combat Team near Biffontaine, France. Under constant barrages of German small arms and machine gun fire, he treated 17 men on October 28 and eight more on October 29, 1944. On November 4, 1944, he ran 75 yards under machine gun fire to reach a wounded crewman of a damaged tank. He treated and evacuated the seriously wounded crewman from the burning tank, saving his life.

Fowler, Art
b. July 3, 1922 d. January 29, 2007
Professional Baseball Player. As a right hander pitcher, he played in the majors for nine seasons with the Cincinnati Reds, the Los Angeles Dodgers, and the Anaheim Angels. He was on the Los Angeles Dodgers' 1959 championship team and in his career pitched in 362 games, mostly in relief, with a record of 54-51, 539 strikeouts, 32 saves and a 4.03 ERA. He worked as a pitching coach for 14 years with the Yankees, Minnesota, Detroit, Texas and Oakland.

Teasdale, Sara
b. August 8, 1884 d. January 29, 1933
Poet. Won the first Pulitzer prize.

Mencken, H. L. (Henry Louis)
b. September 12, 1880 d. January 29, 1956
Journalist, critic, author, and essayist. His insightful and humorous skepticism about American life and letters, expressed with penetrating style, made him one of the most influential critics of the 1920s and 1930s. Born in Baltimore, Maryland, he seemed destined ('doomed', in his words) to join the family tobacco and cigar business.