Parting words

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This article was published 07/01/2017 (3468 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

In the end, it came down to a mother’s love.

As 2016 staggered to a close, the world was thrown into a state of mourning by the sudden death of iconic Hollywood actress Debbie Reynolds.

The grief was especially intense because Reynolds, who starred in more than 50 films, including the classic musical Singin’ in the Rain, suffered a fatal stroke just one day after her daughter, actress and best-selling author Carrie Fisher, died of a heart attack.

Fans were quick to speculate Reynolds died of a broken heart caused by the loss of Fisher, who portrayed the fearless Princess Leia in the Star Wars film franchise and penned award-winning books that included touching on her battles with addiction.

We may never know whether a broken heart carried Reynolds away, but we do know that her heartbreaking last words revealed just how much the Hollywood legend loved and missed her famous daughter.

Todd Fisher, Reynolds’ son, told the media he and his mom had been planning Carrie’s funeral when she was overwhelmed by grief and declared: “I miss her so much, I want to be with Carrie.’

“She went to be with Carrie. In fact, those were the last words she spoke this morning.”

Grab a big box of tissues, kids, because in a tribute to the late star’s final expression of love for her late daughter, we are presenting our personal heart-tugging list of the Top Five Last Words of Love Uttered by Famous Folks:

“Happy anniversary. I love you.”

The famous speaker: Football coach Vince Lombardi

The last words of love: “Happy anniversary. I love you.”

The final bow: Vince Lombardi was not just a football coach; he was THE football coach. Many fans and experts view Lombardi as the greatest coach in the history of professional football. It seems only fitting that the National Football League’s Super Bowl trophy is named in his honour.

Enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame, Lombardi is most famous for the years he spent coaching the Green Bay Packers in the 1960s, when he led the green and gold to three straight titles and a total of five NFL championships over the course of seven seasons.

He coached before the era of social media, but he was a human quote machine. The famous quotation “Winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing” is frequently, but wrongly attributed to Lombardi. That quote, burned into our sporting lexicon, most likely came from UCLA coach Henry “Red” Sanders, but Lombardi had his own takes, including “If winning isn’t everything, why do they keep score?” and “Winning isn’t everything, but the will to win is everything.”

A notorious perfectionist and creator of punishing training regimens, he demanded absolute dedication and effort from his players. By most accounts, his fiery personality and hard-nosed approach to football also spread to his family life, where he was not always the easiest man to live with.

But on Sept. 3, 1970, at the age of 57, as he lay on his death bed, at the end of a fierce battle with a fast-growing colon cancer, it was clear Lombardi’s heart and priorities were in the right place.

At the end, surrounded by his parents, two children and six grandchildren, he looked to his wife, Marie, and declared: “Happy Anniversary. I love you.” Which made him a winner to the very end.

 

“You’re right. It’s time. I love you all.”

The famous speaker: Actor Michael Landon

The last words of love: “You’re right. It’s time. I love you all.”

The final bow: Born Eugene Maurice Orowitz in 1936, Michael Landon became TV’s quintessential family man. In 1959, at the age of 22, he rose to fame as Little Joe Cartwright, the youngest member of the Ponderosa Ranch’s all-male clan on Bonanza, one of the first TV series broadcast in colour.

Landon appeared in all 14 seasons of the iconic series before going on to play an idealized father, Charles Ingalls, in the equally iconic Little House on the Prairie from 1974 to 1982.

He then took on the role of an altruistic angel assigned by God to aid mankind and spread love in Highway to Heaven from 1984 to 1988.

A devilishly handsome actor with thick curly hair, Landon helped shape prime-time family fare for almost three decades. As an actor, writer, director, and family man, he wasn’t afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve.

“Detractors assailed Mr. Landon’s shows as sentimental happy-ever-after contrivances,” The New York Times wrote in a 1991 obituary. “Admirers praised him for sincerity in striving to deal honestly with sentiment and social concerns and for integrity in using his own company, Michael Landon Productions, to back his shows.”

A chain smoker and heavy drinker by his own admission, he was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in April 1991. His battle against cancer was highly public. “I am going to fight it,” he famously pledged. “Live every minute, guys.”

He was married three times and fathered nine children: five sons and four daughters. On July 1, 1991, at the age of 54, he lost his battle with cancer, dying at his ranch in Malibu, Calif.

In his final moments, he was reportedly surrounded by his children and his wife, Cindy. As they gathered at his bedside, one son said it was time to move on, prompting America’s Dad to reply: “You’re right. It’s time. I love you all.” And TV viewers loved him right back.

 

“Of course I know who you are. You’re my girl. I love you.”

The famous speaker: Hollywood icon John Wayne

The last words of love: “Of course I know who you are. You’re my girl. I love you.”

The final bow: John Wayne was a lot more than just a six-gun-toting movie star. He was also a true American icon, right up there with George Washington and Abe Lincoln.

Born Marion Mitchell Morrison, he became known by the nickname “Duke,” a moniker he apparently shared with a beloved pet dog.

Playing a seemingly never-ending series of tough-talking, slow-walking cowboys, this bigger-than-life star performed in somewhere around 175 movies, some decidedly of the B variety. Biographer Ronald Davis has said Wayne personified the Old West for millions of movie fans. “Eighty-three of his movies were Westerns, and in them he played cowboys, cavalrymen, and unconquerable loners extracted from the Republic’s central creation myth,” Davis gushed.

A prominent conservative Republican, Wayne didn’t get as much love from the Academy Awards as you might expect. His lone Oscar for best actor came in 1969’s True Grit, wherein he portrayed Rooster Cogburn, an eyepatch-wearing drunkard and lawman who helps a young woman track down her father’s killer.

A longtime chain smoker, he survived a battle with lung cancer in the 1960s, undergoing surgery to remove a lung and four ribs. In his final film role, he portrayed an aging gunfighter dying of cancer in 1976’s The Shootist, along with Jimmy Stewart and Lauren Bacall.

In 1978, the Duke was diagnosed with stomach cancer. His final public appearance came at the 1979 Academy Awards, not long after which he collapsed in agony and was hospitalized.

On June 11, 1979, at the UCLA Medical Centre, Wayne took his final breaths. He had fathered seven children from two of his three marriages, and was surrounded by family members as he faded in and out of consciousness.

According to online accounts, his daughter, Aissa, held his hand and asked her father whether he knew who she was. Which led to his last words: “Of course I know who you are. You’re my girl. I love you.”

With that, one of the most popular actors of the 20th century rode off into the sunset.

 

“Love one another.”

The famous speaker: Rock legend George Harrison

The last words of love: “Love one another.”

The final bow: For Baby Boomers, George Harrison was “the quiet Beatle,” the thoughtful lead guitarist who helped his legendary bandmates, and the rest of us, widen our musical horizons by incorporating Indian instrumentation into the band’s music.

He didn’t have the songwriting chops of John Lennon or Paul McCartney, but most Beatles albums after 1965 contained a couple of his songs. The beautifully crafted While My Guitar Gently Weeps and Here Comes the Sun are considered modern classics.

“He was known as the reclusive one … yet he served as an anchor for the quartet, leading the others on a spiritual quest toward Eastern philosophy that influenced their music in the latter part of the 1960’s, epitomized for millions of fans by the sitar he played on Norwegian Wood,” The New York Times said in a 2001 obituary. He was reportedly the first Beatle to advocate abandoning the concert stage, because fans were making too much noise to listen.

In the years after the Beatles broke up, Harrison churned out a series of albums, including two with the Traveling Wilburys, a supergroup he helped co-found as a lark with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison.

In 1997, he was diagnosed with throat cancer, an illness he publicly blamed on years of smoking. He had bravely fought the illness for four years by the time he died in 2001 after lung cancer spread to his brain.

He reportedly spent his final days meditating in a Hollywood Hills mansion owned by a friend, and visited by people such as Ravi Shankar. His famous final words, spoken to second wife Olivia and their son, Dhani, were these: “Love one another.”

Which seems appropriate, as the website Flavorwire noted in a 2012 article, observing: “There was something in the way George moved us: he was certainly the quietest Beatle by nature, and perhaps the most peaceful in other ways, too. Of course, it makes complete sense that such a serene individual might find the simplest and most touching message with which to bid us farewell.”

 

“I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.”

The famous speaker: Baseball legend Joe DiMaggio

The last words of love: “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.”

The final bow: For Joe DiMaggio, it was all about love.

First, it was love of the game of baseball. We’re talking about a man who is arguably the greatest ballplayer of all time. He made his debut with the New York Yankees on May 3, 1936, and the guy they called “Joltin’ Joe” and “The Yankee Clipper” led the club to nine World Series titles in his 13-year career.

In fact, the Yankees won four consecutive World Series in DiMaggio’s first four seasons, making him the only athlete in North American pro sports to turn that historic trick. He stepped into legendary status in 1941 when he went on a record-shattering 56-game hitting streak.

Perhaps the only thing he loved more than baseball was screen legend Marilyn Monroe. In 1952, the year after he retired from baseball, DiMaggio, who had a son from a previous marriage, met and fell madly in love with Monroe.

It was considered one of the most high-profile romances in American history. They wed on Jan. 14, 1954, in what the press called “the Marriage of the Century.”

But the relationship was doomed because Monroe’s career was soaring just as Joltin’ Joe was ready to settle down. They were divorced after less than a year, but their friendship survived.

Reports say, after Monroe died in 1962, the lovelorn slugger had roses delivered to her crypt three times a week for the next 20 years.

A heavy smoker as an adult, DiMaggio died on March 8, 1999, at the age of 84, from complications from lung cancer. He died with Marilyn’s name on his lips, according to his lawyer, Morris Engelberg, who was at the Yankee legend’s bedside when he died and recalled his last words for Vanity Fair magazine.

With his last breath, DiMaggio said: “I’ll finally get to see Marilyn.” The lawyer told ABC News DiMaggio never stopped loving Monroe even after their nine-month marriage ended in divorce. In fact, he said, Monroe was likely the only person DiMaggio really loved. Baseball and love were never just a game for the Yankee Clipper.

 

Which somehow brings us to the end of today’s list, which means we need to come up with our own last words. We wanted to say all you need is love, but we’re starting to think that could be hazardous to our health. So just try to be careful out there, OK.

doug.speirs@freepress.mb.ca