Susan Atkins
As the cutest of the Manson Girls, Susan Atkins became an overnight sensation in the wake of the 1969 murder of Sharon Tate and her unborn child (as well as the next night’s murder of Leno and Rosemary LaBianca). The San Francisco native first met Charles Manson when she took a trip down to Los Angeles. They turned out to be kindred spirits, since Atkins was one of the few Manson Family members who hadn’t emerged from conservative suburbia. The lovely brunette had been raised among the budding San Francisco counterculture. Her pioneering hippie upbringing helped make her a natural thrill-killer. It also made her the least believable of the girls to later renounce Manson in favor of Christianity.

Atkins was still believable at one attempt in revising the Manson Family history. She always insisted that prosecutor Vincent Bugliosi was wrong to believe that Manson ordered the Tate-LaBianca killings to start a race war. Atkins maintained that Manson had another motive for framing the Black Panthers for the murders. The idea was to cover up Atkins’ own involvement in the earlier killing of a local drug dealer. She was certainly the most likely member Charlie would trust with that information.

Manson family member Susan Atkins. (click for larger version)

It was less believable when Atkins claimed that she was at the scene of the crimes only because she had a child that Manson was holding hostage. (Linda Kasabian—who had refused to kill anyone during the Tate murders—avoided imprisonment with the same story.) She also kept insisting that she hadn’t really killed Sharon Tate and her unborn child. Atkins continued to get letters from addled fans praising her revolutionary mayhem. She died behind bars, of course—in the same year that fellow Manson Girl Squeaky Fromme (who had tried to kill President Gerald Ford) was released from parole after 34 years in prison. (61, brain cancer) —J.R.T.

Reverend Ike
In the beginning, he was a flamboyant evangelist who looked pretty cool on Atlanta TV back in the 1970s. Reverend Ike—known more formally as The Rev. Frederick J. Eikerenkoetter II—worked the stage like a rock star, and preached that one does not wait for one’s pie in the sky by and by. Rather, one is to enjoy the riches of Earth as God wishes. To make his point, Rev. Ike wore lots of expensive jewelry paid for by his predominantly black congregation.

Reverend Ike (click for larger version)

He had a national audience, but Reverend Ike mostly leeched from thousand of parishioners at the United Church Science of Living Institute. His lack of a Southern accent kept him from receiving the disdain heaped on an Ernest Angley or Jimmy Swaggart. He also conned the national media with something called

“positive self-image psychology.” That didn’t sound any worse than EST. Ike peaked in the 1970s, when his broadcasts could be heard on 1,500 radio stations, but he kept preaching until a merciful stroke in 2006. His death, incidentally, was announced by family spokesman Bishop E. Bernard Jordan—who runs his own scam where he’ll charge $365 for a full year of saying prayers for you. Ike’s sad legacy lives on. (74, complications from a stroke) —J.R.T.

Fred Travelena
2009 was a tough year for impressionists. Danny Gans—whose hugely popular Las Vegas act featured his repertoire of voices—passed away last May. Fred Travelena—who passed away a month later—was a bigger name back in the 1970s. He wasn’t as famous as Rich Little, but Travelena was a regular presence on game shows like “Match Game” and “Super Password.” His broad style—with impressions from Kermit the Frog to Frank Sinatra—was never considered hip, and he was later replaced on the talk-show circuit by the likes of Dana Carvey.

He kept working, though, often secretly re-recording the flubbed dialogue of name actors in major motion pictures. Travelena also kept touring smaller venues. His assorted illnesses (including prostate cancer) inspired old fan David Letterman to bring him on as a guest in 2006. (66, non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma) —J.R. Taylor

Altovise Davis
Sammy Davis, Jr. left behind more than a wife and child when he passed away in 1990. His widow also had to deal with a tax debt estimated at up to $7 million, plus a $2.5 million mortgage and a late husband’s will that included plenty of charitable bequests. Frank Sinatra reportedly helped Altovise out with a quiet gift of $1 million. She still passed away owing nearly $3 million in back taxes. It’s notable that Altovise never cashed in with a tell-all book. She had seen plenty of decadence during her days with Sammy. We would go into more gossipy detail, but it’s not safe just because the Rat Pack is dead. Shirley MacLaine is still out there. (65, stroke) —J.R.T.