December 13 | Lupe Vélez

July 18, 1908 - December 13, 1944: Age 36

"The first time you buy a house you think how pretty it is and sign the check. The second time you look to see if the basement has termites. It's the same with men."

Lupe Vélez was a Mexican actress most famous for her role as Mexican Spitfire. She had a talent for comedy, and the "Mexican Spitfire" character, which parodied stereotypes of Hispanic women, was popular enough to become a series and to make her a major star.

The list of her lovers is truly impressive, and includes Errol Flynn, Johnny Weismuller (whom she married), Anthony Quinn, Charlie Chaplin, Red Skelton, Gary Cooper, and John Gilbert, to name but a few. Also among them was a married Austrian actor named Harald Maresch. Lupe seems to have been in love with him, and when she became pregnant with his child could not choose abortion and could not face the shame of bringing an illegitimate child into the world. She took an overdose of Seconal and died in her sleep, leaving a suicide note that read, "To Harald, may God forgive you and forgive me too but I prefer to take my life away and our baby's before I bring him with shame or killing him, Lupe."

A nasty urban legend perpetrated by Kenneth Anger in Hollywood Babylon claims that she died by drowning with her head in the toilet, but it seems to be not only undocumented by any shred of evidence, but also wildly implausible. Let's hope Mythbusters gets onto this one.

Sources: Wikipedia, The Straight Dope, Who's Dated Who?

September 18 | Jimi Hendrix

November 27, 1942 - September 18, 1970: Age 27

Hendrix was a brilliant guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer whose musical output and lifestyle continue to amaze, delight, offend, and bewilder people. Knowing the magnitude of his influence on the history of rock and roll, it is suprising to remember that he was only 27 when he died. Rolling Stone put him at the top of their list of the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all time in 2003.

His breakthrough performance was at the Monterey Pop Festival in 1967, when he played an incredible, groundbreaking set, ending it by burning his guitar on stage, smashing it to bits, and tossing the pieces out to the audience. He was the headline act at the 1969 Woodstock music festival, considered a bigger attraction than The Who, Santana, Grateful Dead and Jefferson Airplane.

Artistically he was amazing; personally and professionally things were chaotic. He had huge problems with his manager. He took a lot of drugs, although not heroin, apparently, as many have assumed, because he was afraid of needles. His drug of choice was LSD. When he drank alcohol he would get angry and violent.

His death was caused by asphyxiating on his own vomit in his sleep after taking nine sleeping pills in combination with wine. There is some confusion about exactly when he died, as his girlfriend maintained he was alive when he went into the ambulance but the attendants reported that he had been dead for some time when they got there. Hendrix died in London; when the news got out thieves broke into his New York apartment and stole personal items, tapes, and lyrics.

Sources: Wikipedia, Official Jimi Hendrix Website