Celebrity Death Certificates (Paperback)

~ M. F. Steen (Editor)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

Marilyn Monroe died at 36. Her death certificate lists "Acute Barbiturate Poisoning. Ingestion of Overdose" as the cause. Just below that line, you can see that the person who issued her death certificate typed "Probable Suicide." Many people question whether her death was a suicide, an accident, or possibly a homicide.

A death certificate is an intriguing document. It encapsulates a person’s life story on one page—the birthplace, parents, education, length of career, residence, time, place, and cause of death and finally, what happened to the remains. The information required for a death certificate can vary since each state looks at it differently. California regards them as public documents. Texas and New York makes them available only to family members and others showing a direct need. Satisfying curiosity is not considered a need.

John Belushi, John Denver, George Harrison, Truman Capote, "Fred and Ginger" and Frank Sinatra are just a few of the 182 Hollywood notables from the Silent Era to today whose intriguing death certificates are collected here—fascinating!

About the Author

M.F. Steen has been a funeral service provider for 35 years. For 11 years he directed funerals and burials for the rich and famous at Pierce Brothers Westwood Memorial Park. In 1989, Gentleman’s Quarterly called Mr. Steen the "Mortician to the Stars." He lives in Santa Monica, California.

Product Details

• Paperback: 208 pages
• Publisher: McFarland & Company (August 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0786416416
• ISBN-13: 978-0786416417
• Product Dimensions: 10.7 x 8.3 x 0.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #1,334,331 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Bare Bone Facts About Celebrity Death, June 17, 2005

By	Lisa Burks (Burbank, CA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

"Celebrity Death Certificates" takes a VERY different approach to examining the deaths of numerous celebrities by providing simple clean copies of their actual death certificates. I enjoyed reading these legal documents, which I found easy to decipher, for their bare bone facts. Steen's legwork saved me time and money digging them up on my own; there are literally thousands of dollars worth of documentation in this volume if one wanted to start a similar collection. Steen, a death care professional, refrains from making editorial comments which works nicely within this format. The array of celebrities is diverse, 182 in all, and he includes many "posthumous reunions" such as the cast of "I Love Lucy," husband and wife teams like Ozzie & Harriet Nelson and George Burns & Gracie Allen; dueling gossip columnists Hedda Hopper and Louella Parsons; the list goes on and on. This book stands out as THE conversation piece on my Hollywood history library shelves. I'm looking forward to purchasing and perusing Vol. 2 later this year.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Walk Down Memory Lane, August 12, 2003

By A Customer

For any baby boomer, this book is a walk down memory lane for all the folks who kept us clued to the television or entertained us in movie theaters during our growing-up years.

It is one of those books that you hate to admit to anyone that you just couldn't put it down. As you go from page to paget, each name on a death certificate sparks a memory and many times brings a smile.

The biography at the end is a help too. I am gald that they did not try and put each one of the same page as the death certificate. That would have been a distraction from the certificate itself.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars MORBID HISTORY/XLNT RESEARCH, August 11, 2003

By	M. Steen (Beverly Hills, CA USA) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This extraordinary effort is far more then just a book of brief bios. This is a "tabletop" book that not only includes the bios BUT A COPY OF THE ORIGINAL DEATH CERTIFICATE! That alone is worth reading as it reveals much of the "personal" info re the deceased.

This book is a must have for ALL Hollywood celeb buffs that are also interested in the trivia surrounding the mystique of Hollywood and its movers and shakers.

I'm certain that the author has accumulated more then the stated amount of certificates, in this first printing, and I can hardly wait for upcoming volumes to help fill in my research library.