Bert Lahr’s Death – Cause and Date

The movie actor Bert Lahr died at the age of 72. Here is all you want to know, and more!

Biography - A Short Wiki

He gave a memorable performance as the Cowardly Lion in The Wizard of Oz. His roles in Foxy, The Birds, and Waiting for Godot brought him additional fame.

He had difficulty divorcing his first wife due to the fact that she was hospitalized with a severe mental health problem. He was married to his second wife, Mildred Schoroeder, from 1940 to 1967.

When did Bert Lahr die?

The actor tragically passed away on December 4, 1967. At the time of his death, he was filming The Night They Raided Minsky’s. The producers managed to complete the film since Lahr’s had shot most of his scenes already.

One of his children, John Lahr, wrote in Notes on a Cowardly Lion: The Biography, the following:

“Bert Lahr died in the early morning of December 4, 1967. Two weeks before, he had returned home at 2 a.m., chilled and feverish, from the damp studio where The Night They Raided Minsky’s was being filmed. Ordinarily, a man of his age and reputation would not have had to perform that late into the night, but he had waived that proviso in his contract because of his trust in the producer and his need to work. The newspapers reported the cause of death as pneumonia; but he succumbed to cancer, a disease he feared but never knew he had.”

Where is Bert Lahr buried?

Lahr’s final resting place is at Union Field Cemetery, New York, NY.

Quotes

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“That was my one big Hollywood hit, but, in a way, it hurt my picture career. After that, I was typecast as a lion, and there just weren’t many parts for lions.” (Bert Lahr)