Michael "Mike" Todd

 Michael "Mike" Todd (born Avrom Hirsch Goldbogen, June 22, 1909 – March 22, 1958)

Todd was a theater and film producer, best known for his 1956 production of Around the World in 80 Days, which won an Academy Award for Best Picture. He is known as the third of Elizabeth Taylor's seven husbands and is the only one whom she did not divorce (he died in an accident a year after their marriage). He was the driving force behind the development of the eponymous Todd-AO widescreen film format. On March 22, 1958, Todd's private plane Lucky Liz crashed near Grants, New Mexico. The plane, a twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar, suffered engine failure while being flown overloaded in icing conditions at an altitude that was too high for only one engine working under the heavy load. The plane went out of control and crashed, killing all four on board. In addition to Todd, those who died in the crash were screenwriter and author Art Cohn, who was writing Todd's biography The Nine Lives of Michael Todd, pilot Bill Verner, and co-pilot Tom Barclay. When the plane's regular co-pilot did not show up, Barclay was his substitute. Todd is buried in Forest Park, Illinois, at Beth Aaron Cemetery.