They died young

John Keats (31 October 1795 - 23 February 1821) was an English poet of the second generation of Romantic poets, with Lord Byron and Percy Bysshe Shelley, although his poems had been in publication for less than four years when he died of tuberculosis at the age of 25. They were indifferently received in his lifetime, but his fame grew rapidly after his death. By the end of the century, he was placed in the canon of English literature, strongly influencing many writers of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood; the Encyclopædia Britannica of 1888 called one ode "one of the final masterpieces". Jorge Luis Borges named his first encounter with Keats an experience he felt all his life. Keats had a style "heavily loaded with sensuality's", notably in the series of odes. Typically of the Romantics, he accentuated extreme emotion through natural imagery. Today his poems and letters remain among the most popular and analyzed in English literature - in particular "Ode to a Nightingale", "Ode on a Grecian Urn", "Sleep and Poetry" and the sonnet "On First Looking into Chapman's Homer".

Born to noble parents (his father Sergei was a retired major, and his mother, Nadezhda, was the granddaughter of an ennobled Ethiopian general) on the 26th of May, 1799 in Moscow, Alexander Sergeevich Pushkin became involved with a liberal underground revolutionary group that saw him exiled to the Caucasus.

He spent most of his time there writing poetry and novels. In 1826 Pushkin was pardoned by the Tsar and allowed to return home after six years of exile. He married Natalia Goncharova, whose coquettish behavior led to her husband challenging an admirer of hers to a duel in January 1837. Though both were wounded, only Pushkin died two days later from his injuries.

Juliusz Slowacki (French: Jules Slowacki; 4 September 1809 - 3 April 1849) was a Polish Romantic poet. He is considered one of the "Three Bards" of Polish literature - a major figure in the Polish Romantic period, and the father of modern Polish drama. His works often feature elements of Slavic pagan traditions, Polish history, mysticism and orientalist. His style includes the employment of neologisms and irony. His primary genre was the drama, but he also wrote lyric poetry. His most popular works include the dramas Kordian and Balladyna and the poems Beniowski, Testament Maj and Anhelli.

Nikolai (Mykola) Gogol was a Russian humorist, dramatist, and novelist of Ukrainian origin. His ancestors were bearing the name of Gogol-Janovsky and claimed belonging to the upper class Polish Szlachta. Gogol's father, a Ukrainian writer living on his old family estate, had five other children. He died when the Gogol was 15. Young Gogol was fond of the drama class at his high school in Nezhin, Ukraine. He was strongly influenced by his religious mother, as well as by the enchanting beauty of the Ukrainian folklore. He also called himself a "free Cossac".

At age 18 Gogol moved to St. Petersburg, became a student, and later a professor of history at the St. Petersburg University. His short stories, set in St. Petersburg, became a success. His play "Revizor" (1836, The Inspector General) had its premiere in St. Petersburg attended by the Tzar Nickolai I. But it also made him many powerful enemies who hated his satire on the corrupt Russian society. It was his friend Alexander Pushkin who suggested to him the subject for "Revizor". Pushkin also suggested the main idea of "The Dead Souls" (1842), a bitter satirical story of a crook, who was buying the names of dead surfs from various greedy landlords, for a tax-evasion scheme. In his other famous story "Shinel" (1842, The Overcoat) a poor clerk is intimidated both by thieves and by the government. Gogol's discontent against the slavery and social injustices in Russia caused him trouble. He escaped to Europe for 12 years, returning to Russia briefly to publish the 1st part of "The Dead Souls".

His religious beliefs were used by the State-controlled Orthodox Church to place guilt on him and to cause interruption of his literary work. In 1848 he made a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. After his return to Russia, he settled in Moscow, where he fell under the control of the fanatical Orthodox priest, Konstantinovskii, who demanded that Gogol quit writing and destroy the manuscript of the 2nd part of "The Dead Souls". Torn by his inner conflict with guilt and being under the pressure from the fanatical priest, Gogol burned his manuscript. He died nine days later in pain without having any food during his last days. In the 1931 excavation of his tomb, his body was found lying face down, which caused suspicion that Gogol was buried alive.

His style involves the elements of the fantastic and grotesque, with the taste for the macabre and absurd, following the tradition of E.T.A. Hoffmann. Fyodor Dostoevsky proclaimed, "We all came out from under his Overcoat", referring to Gogol's influence on Russian writers. Sometimes compared with Franz Kafka, Gogol had such followers, as Yevgeni Zamyatin, Vladimir Nabokov, and Mikhail A. Bulgakov.

Charlotte was born 1816, the third of the six children of Patrick Brontë, an Anglican clergyman, and his wife Maria Branwell Brontë. After their mother's death in 1821, Charlotte and her sisters, Maria and Elizabeth, were sent to Cowan Bridge Clergy Daughters' School, which Charlotte would later immortalize as the brutal Lowood school in "Jane Eyre". Conditions at the school were so bad that both Maria and Elizabeth became ill with consumption (tuberculosis) which killed them in 1825. Charlotte was very close to her surviving siblings, Anne Brontë, Branwell, and Emily Brontë. The children invented the imaginary kingdoms of Angria and Gondal, and spent much of their childhood writing poetry and stories about their make-believe realms. In 1846 the three sisters published a collected work of their poetry called, appropriately enough, "Poems", and in 1847 Charlotte published her most famous book, "Jane Eyre", under a male pseudonym, Currer Bell. Charlotte lost her remaining siblings within a brief time -- Branwell from alcoholism and Emily from consumption, both in 1848; Anne also from consumption in 1849. Charlotte was devastated, and became a lifelong hypochondriac. She resided in London, where she made the acquaintance and admiration of William Makepeace Thackeray. In 1854, she married Reverend A. B. Nicholls, curate of Haworth, against her father's wishes. Charlotte found she was pregnant not long after her marriage, and it was felt she would have a difficult pregnancy due to previous ill-health. She died on 31 March 1855.

Bozena Nemcová was a Czech writer of the final phase of the Czech National Revival movement. Her image is featured on the 500 CZK denomination of the Ceská koruna. According to the dating up to now accepted by the majority of Czech authors, Bozena Nemcová was born in 1820 as Barbara Pankel (or Barbora Panklová according to the usual Czech name-giving for women) in Vienna as a daughter of Johann Pankel from Lower Austria and Teresie Novotná, a maid of Bohemian origin. In her childhood she lived near the small town of Ratiborice, where her grandmother Magdalena Novotná played an important part in her life. Nemcová would later write her most famous novel with the main character inspired by her grandmother.

Ethelbert Nevin was born on 25 November 1862 in Edgeworth, Pennsylvania, USA. He died on 17 February 1901 in New Haven, Connecticut, USA.

Creston Clarke was born on 20 August 1865 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. He was an actor, known for The Battle of Ballots (1915). He was married to Adelaide Prince. He died on 21 March 1910 in Asheville, North Carolina, USA.

Mace Greenleaf began as a stage actor starring and supporting in many popular plays, perhaps his best known roles was as Herbert, the King's Forrester in 'The Prisoner of Zenda' in the 1890's and in 1898 played Mr. Hunston in Sir Arthur Wing Pinero's play 'Trelawny of the Wells' at the Lyceum Theatre in New York, other Broadway performances was in 'The Pride of Jennico' with James K. Hackett at the Citerion Theatre in 1900 and played Myrtle May's lover in 'The Parish Priest'. Over the first decade of the new century played starring roles in stock companies all over America, he returned to Broadway in 1905 to play the Prince of Wales in the romantic musical 'Edmond Burke'. In 1911 he joined the film industry where he would star in at least 20 drama movies, making his debut in The Golden Rule (1911) co-starring James Kirkwood at the Reliance Film Co. He is perhaps best known as Dr. Earl Headley in Alice Guy Blache's Falling Leaves (1912) for the Solax Film Co in 1912. His last film before his sudden death from pneumonia age 38 was in The Girl in the Arm-Chair (1912) with Blanche Cornwall. In 1906 Mace married Lucy Banning in Santa Ana, California, Lucy came from a very wealthy family they owned Catalina Island, she left Mace in 1910 for the son of prominent judge, Mace divorced his beautiful wife on the ground of desertion, Lucy was known as something of a free spirit and often scandalized 'polite society' with the number of men in her life.

Florence Barker was born on November 22, 1891 in Los Angeles, California. Her father, Norman Barker, was a farmer and she had four siblings. When she was a teenager she began acting with stock companies. She fell in love with actor Joe De Grasse, who was 18 years her senior; they moved in together and he helped guide her career. In 1908 she made her film debut in D.W. Griffith's "An Awful Moment." Over the next three years she appeared in more than 50 films, including "The Course of True Love," "The Diamond Star," and "The Newlyweds" with Mary Pickford. She became one of the first American actresses to make films in Europe. About acting she said "I love the work and would advise any actress to make a try for the pictures. The work is arduous to be sure. No one ever attained success unless it was accomplished by close and concerted application." The talented young actress was signed by Powers Players in 1912. She was given leading roles in the comedies "Her Yesterday" and "The Petticoat Detective." Her performances got good reviews and her future seemed bright. She also wrote the script for her 1912 comedy "Priscilla's Comedy." While visiting her mother in early 1913 she became ill. Tragically, on February 15, 1913 she died from pneumonia at only 21 years old. She was cremated and her ashes were buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Los Angeles, California.

John R Cumpson was born in Buffalo, New York, one of the youngest in a large family. His father was a blacksmith. In 1887, John R Cumpson was listed in a Buffalo City Directory as a bank clerk, and in the 1890 census as a bookkeeper. He apparently soon set aside ledgers and took up a career in acting. By 1901, he had moved to New York City and had a role on in a drama at the 14th Street Theater, "Upstate New York." By 1905 he was acting in silent film shorts, and by 1908 he was working with D.W. Griffith (who was then just at the beginning of his own career). He most often worked as a comedic character. He played Mr. Jones opposite Florence Lawrence in a series about a hapless couple. He created the role of "Bumptious" for the Edison Studios, and was under contract to Carl Laemmle's company when he died of cardiac dilatation at the age of 46.

Arthur V. Johnson was born on 2 February 1876 in Cincinnati, Ohio, USA. He was an actor and director, known for The Beloved Adventurer (1914), Annie Rowley's Fortune (1913) and The Adventures of Dollie (1908). He was married to Maude Webb. He died on 17 January 1916 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA.

Mace was a dentist from Erie, Pennsylvania who at one point did some stage stock work for Mack Sennett. Heading west, he worked for Carl Laemmle and Thomas H. Ince before settling back with Sennett. After achieving success as the Chief of the Keystone Kops, he quit Sennett and opened his own company, trying to develop films around his old "One-Round O'Brien" character. After that didn't work out as he planned, Mace moved to Apollo Films. That was also a failure, and he later formed his own company, the Fred Mace Feature Film Company. Unfortunately, the company folded, and Mace returned to Sennett. By that time, however, his popularity had wained, and Mace received few roles over the next two years. He was ultimately found dead in a New York City hotel room, reportedly of a stroke.

Young Danish Valdemar tried to make a success in the theatre when he first appeared on Casino Teater in 1901. He never succeeded on the stage - his voice didn't sound right! But notices were otherwise kind to him.

Psilander was good-looking, charming and exuding a certain joie-de-vivre. He soon abandoned his plans of becoming an opera singer, preferring the new medium of motion pictures in 1910.

Soon he became a raving hit all over Europe (especially Russia - but never USA) and his exorbitant salary made him the most successful actor at Nordisk Film. In an international vox populi he would even out-shine Asta Nielsen, Henny Porten, Max Linder and other stars.

Psilander believed in having fun. The enormous amounts of money (pre-income tax) he made, was spent on a care-free way of life with friends and colleagues. Marrying actress Edith Buemann (1879-1968) in 1911 made no change to his bon-vivant lifestyle. When they separated in 1916 - after long periods of separations - the marriage settlement made her a very wealthy divorcée and she would always speak and write affectionately of Valdemar until she died - even after four marriages. During this only marriage and after the divorce, he was associated with actress Gudrun Houlberg. They appeared together in "Klovnen", 1917.

During the end of 1916 his salary demands were so outrageous that Nordisk Film had to let him go. He was tired of the same old material and he wanted to form his own production company. After having hired actors, actresses, directors and writers - it all suddenly came to a halt.

He died in his suite at Bristol Hotel, Copenhagen, at the age of 32 - at the pinnacle of his career.

To this very day rumors will insist that Psilander took his own life. In 1917 Nordisk Film would suppress the fact that he HAD died, afraid that the truth might hurt ticket sales.

However, records have shown that Psilander had a severe heart condition involving a lot of medication. Combining this with a stressful career as a burgeoning producer ultimately resulted in a brain hemorrhage.

But like so many others his early death made him even more popular all over Europe.

A notable theater/film colleague had this to say about Psilander: He had a wonderful physique and a splendid face. He was a great charmer and a ladies hero, but his talent was mediocre if not ordinary.

Clara Wieth (1883-1975) - who appeared with him in 11 films - had this to say of Psilander: In front of the camera he would just prance around "putting on airs", but he did it so splendidly with a keen knowledge of camera technique that it was truly believable.

J. Frank Burke was born on 22 April 1867 in Hartland, Vermont, USA. He was an actor, known for The Iced Bullet (1917), Madcap Madge (1917) and The Italian (1915). He died on 23 January 1918 in Los Angeles, California, USA.

Joseph Kaufman was born in 1882 in Washington, District of Columbia, USA. He was a director and actor, known for A Woman Went Forth (1915), The Traveling Salesman (1916) and Shirley Kaye (1917). He was married to Ethel Clayton. He died on 1 February 1918 in New York City, New York, USA.

Vernon Castle and his wife Irene Castle were the best known ballroom dancers of the early 20th Century. Beginning about 1914 they operated several clubs and studios in the New York City area, toured the country dancing, and were able to charge as much as a thousand dollars an hour for lessons.

From 1906 through 1913 he appeared in nine Broadway musicals: "The Sunshine Girl", "The Lady of the Slipper", "The Hen-Pecks", "The Summer Widowers", "Old Dutch", "The Midnight Sons", "The Mimic World", "The Girl Behind the Counter", and "About Town." In 1914, he appeared with Irene in the Irving Berlin musical "Watch Your Step." Vernon (as a military flying instructor) was killed in an airplane accident shortly before the end or World War I.

Vernon and Irene were the subjects of the movie The Story of Vernon and Irene Castle (1939).

Thomas V. Emory was born in 1883. He was an actor, known for The Price He Paid (1914). He died on 18 March 1921 in New York City, New York, USA.

Florence Deshon born to Samuel and Florence C. Danks of Austrian and English descent. She began as a stage actress and appeared opposite Mary Boland in 'My Lady's Dress and in the comedy 'Seven Chances' prior to making her screen debut in 1915's 'The Beloved Vagabond' directed by Edward Jose for Pathe, Florence starred in 24 silent melodrama and crime movies but perhaps her best known was 'The Desired Woman' directed by Paul Scardon and co-starring Harry T. Morey for the Vitagraph Film Company in 1918 and her final film as Sally McTurk in John Francis Dillon's 'The Roof Tree' with William Russell for the Fox Film Co in 1921. She moved to Greenwich Village, New York in hope to resume her film career but on the 4th February she was found unconscious on the third floor of her apartment building, a window was open in her bedroom but illuminating gas flowed from a opened jet, a newspaperwoman, Minnie Morris, found Deshon, an Ambulance took her to Hospital, but attempts to revive her were unsuccessful, she died the following afternoon, adding that the only mystery was why 'with the apartment especially wired for electricity, Miss Deshon should have used the single gas jet in the room and forgotten to turn it off, some say she had no reason to kill herself and that her death was accidental, the New York Medical Examiner concluded her death was accidental but rumors persisted that she might have committed suicide because of grief.

One of the first black superstars of popular entertainment, Egbert Austin Williams, although born in the Bahamas, was raised largely in California. Nursing show business aspirations early on, he teamed with boyhood friend George Walker to form a highly successful vaudeville act, which continued until the ravages of syphilis brought about Walker's retirement and premature death in 1909. Two years later, Williams joined the Ziegfeld Follies and experienced perhaps his greatest fame as one of its' star comedians until his death. Although he played the (then) typical stereotype of the slow-witted, dialect-spouting black, and had to wear burnt cork to disguise his true ethnicity, he still managed to project an elan and style that was all his own, gently mocking the various stereotypes even as he was playing them. His recordings on American Columbia records were best-sellers in their time. An intelligent, articulate man privately, he was bitterly disappointed in a society that could applaud him onstage, yet still treat him like a second-class citizen off stage. Although he lived at one of the city's top hotels during his years in New York, he always had to ride the service elevator to his suite rather than come in by the main entrance. Ill health in his last years, primarily hypertension and lung trouble, brought about his early death at the age of only 47, while he was still a headliner. Long and happily married, he and his wife had no children but raised a niece and nephew.

Czech author Jaroslav Hasek was born in 1883 in Prague, Bohemia (now Czech Republic), which at the time was part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire. His father was an alcoholic schoolteacher who was constantly moving the family in search of better paying jobs, and died when Jaroslav was 13. The youngster apprenticed himself to a druggist at 15, but decided that wasn't for him and eventually attended business school. He briefly worked as a bank clerk before taking up a career as a freelance writer and journalist.

In 1907 he became involved in the anarchist movement, which brought him to the attention of the Austrian secret police, resulting in his being arrested and imprisoned several times for his political activities. That same year he met a young woman named Jarmila Mayerova, and the two decided to get married. However, her parents did not approve of him--especially his politics--and would not sanction their marriage. Hasek resolved to distance himself from his political activities and concentrate on his writing in order to win her parents' approval, but when he was arrested for vandalizing an Austrian flag, her parents moved her from Prague far out into the country, hoping that the distance would eventually break up the couple. It didn't work, though, and the two were married in 1910. Unfortunately, it didn't work out and she moved back with her parents in less than a year.

In 1914, on the outbreak of World War I, Hasek was drafted into the Austro-Hungarian army and sent to the Russian front. He was captured by the Russians in 1915 and sent to a prisoner-of-war camp, where he contracted typhus, but he eventually recovered. At the camp he was recruited into an outfit called The Czech Legion, a unit put together by the Russians consisting of Czech POWs who agreed to fight the Austrians. At the end of the war he left the Czech Legion but joined the Red Army, mainly as a recruiter and propagandist. In 1920 he remarried, although he was still technically married to Jarmila.

In 1920 he returned to Prague, but his health had severely deteriorated and he was grossly overweight. He began working on a book of his that had originally been published in 1912, called "The Good Soldier Schweik and Other Strange Stories", about the adventures of a good-natured but not particularly bright soldier named Schweik who looked on his army time as basically a lark. He now began to rewrite and add new chapters to the book, giving it a somewhat darker tone due to his own wartime experiences, but his health kept getting worse and he wound up dictating the new chapters to an assistant because he could not actually perform the physical task of writing. He died of heart failure in the Czech village of Lipnice on Jan. 23, 1923. His final work, now called "The Good Soldier Schweik", has become a classic in European literature, and has been successfully adapted on stage and in film many times.

Ethel Lloyd was born on 23 March 1886 in Brooklyn, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for The Ransom (1916), A Florida Enchantment (1914) and Beauty Unadorned (1913). She was married to Lloyd Hamilton. She died on 12 January 1923 in Brooklyn, New York, USA.

The son of writer-theater producer-director-actor Hal Reid, Wallace was on stage by the age of four in the act with his parents. He spent most of his early years, not on the stage, but in private schools where he excelled in music and athletics. In 1910, his father went to the Chicago studio of "Selig Polyscope Company" and Wallace decided that he wanted to be a cameraman. However, with his athletic good looks, he was often put in front of the camera instead of behind - a situation that he disliked. His first film before the camera was The Phoenix (1910), where he played the role of the young reporter. Wallace preferred to be a cameraman, a writer, a director - anything but an actor. He took his fathers play "The Confession" to Vitagraph where he wanted to write and direct the film. Wallace ended up also acting in it. Starting with bit parts in various films, Wallace was eventually cast as the leading man to Florence Turner in numerous films. Wallace next moved on to "Reliance" where he acted, but also wrote screenplays. His next big move was to Hollywood, where he was hired by Universal director Otis Turner, as assistant director, second cameraman, gopher and scenario writer. It was what he was looking for, but he ended up back in front of the camera. At 20, Reid was an unknown assistant director. In 1913, Wallace married Dorothy Davenport, one of the stars that he both directed and starred with. Although only 17, Dorothy had spent a number of years on the stage before heading to the silver screen. The roles that Wallace played were getting bigger and bigger, but after appearing in over 100 films, he took a salary cut and a small part to work with D.W. Griffith on his milestone film The Birth of a Nation (1915). It was after this film that Jesse L. Lasky signed Wallace to a contract with "Famous Players" and he became a big star, but his dreams of directing and writing ended. An alcoholic for years, this situation worsened. His first film for "Famous Players" was The Chorus Lady (1915). Wallace went on to star in a series of pictures in which he represented all that was best of the ideal American. He had parts in over 60 more pictures including Intolerance (1916) and The Squaw Man's Son (1917). But it was the daredevil auto movies that he was most popular at. Flashing cars, dangerous roads and sometimes a race with a speeding locomotive thrilled and scared the public. His auto pictures included The Roaring Road (1919), Excuse My Dust (1920) and Double Speed (1920). When the U.S. entered World War I, Wallace was 25, six foot one and a crack shot. Even though he wanted to enlist, pressure was exerted on him not to. He was the rock on which "Famous Players" was built and his loss would have materially effect the company. He had a newborn son and was the sole support for his wife, his son, his mother, her mother, his father and also had to consider his status as a matinée idol.

He did volunteer his time to selling Liberty bonds and often opened his house to veterans. His films were financial successes, but in his personal life, he spent money like water. Wallace was a star who was worked continuously by the studio but disaster struck on a film site in Oregon. While making the film The Valley of the Giants (1919), Wallace was involved in a train crash and his injuries prevented him from finishing the film. Unwilling to stop the film, the studio sent the company doctor up to Oregon with a supply of morphine so that he would continue working and not feel the pain of his injury. After the picture was finished, he was needed to begin another so the studio kept supplying Wallace with morphine and he became hooked. Coupled with the alcohol, Wallace never had a chance and by 1922, he started entering a succession of hospitals and sanitariums as his health faded. Making his last film for the studio, Thirty Days (1922), Wallace was barely able to stand, let alone act. He died at the sanitarium, in Dorothy's arms, on the 18th day of January 1923 at the age of only 31. Wallace was the third major Paramount personality to be involved in scandal in 1922.

Sidney Mason was born on 26 September 1886 in Paterson, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Orphan Sally (1922), The Good-Bad Wife (1920) and The Seven Sisters (1915). He was married to Marie Mason (née Van). He died on 1 March 1923 in New York City, New York, USA.

The beautiful Lillian Drew was born in Chicago in 1886. Lillian became a highly popular musical comedy theatre star from the mid 1900's, often appearing with her husband actor E.H. Calvert. Later Lillian a gorgeous brunette starred in more than 90 drama and comedy films and became known as Lily of the Essanay, she made her first film playing the role of Edith Towne in 'The Broken Heart' with Ruth Stonehouse in 1913, she perhaps best remembered as Elvira in 'The Fable of Elvira and Farina and the Meal Ticket' co-starring Gloria Swanson in 1915. In 1920 she suffered a nervous breakdown and appeared in only one more movie 'Children of Jazz' directed by Jerome Storm and starring Ricardo Cortez at Famous Players Film Co in 1923. At the time of her death in February 1924 she was recovering from both a car crash and a difficult breakup with her husband. Lily dead in Chicago age 38 from veronal poisoning, the death was eventually ruled an accident