3rd July 1957, Wednesday

[Graeme]

Day number 8213Site Date Map

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[ColinB]

Sad death of Judy Tyler:

From Wikipedia:

"After filming Jailhouse Rock, Tyler and her second husband, Gregory Lafayette (born Earl Gregory Nisonger Jr.), drove home to New York from Hollywood.
While driving through Wyoming on July 3, 1957, they were involved in an automobile accident on U.S. Route 287 near Rock River.
Tyler was killed instantly, aged 24, and Lafayette died the next day, also aged 24.
The Casper Morning Star reported the passenger killed in the oncoming car, driven by Paul Reed, was Don D. Jones, 23, of Hanna, Wyoming.
Police said Lafayette swerved to avoid hitting a car that was towing a trailer and collided with the other vehicle involved in the crash.
Reporter Ted Smith wrote in The Commercial Appeal that the trailer-towing car was returning to the highway after leaving a tourist shop."

[Alan]

I'd always understood that the couple were newly wed and that they were heading to New York (Tylers home) for their honeymoon.
I can't find a date they were married, but given the acting commitments with the film and also the episode of Perry Mason and that their length of marriage is shown as 1957 - 1957, it may well be the case.
      
http://www.wyomingtalesandtrails.com/lincrockriv3.html
"Billy the Kid's" today is remembered as the location of a horrific automoble accident on July 3, 1957,Judy Tyler (stage name, actual name Judith Mae Hess) who appeared in the Howdy Doody Children's television program as "Princess Summerfall Winterpring" and her husband Gregory Lafayette were killed. Tyler and her husband were returning to New York after filming a Elvis Presley movie, "Jailhouse Rock," in which Tyler had co-starred and a Perry Mason television program, "The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse.". Lafayette was driving when a vehicle pulling a trailer pulled out in front of them. Lafayette jammed on the brakes of the couple's 1957 Chevrolet. The car skidded ending up sideways in the northbound lane. There it was struck by a northbound 1954 Cheveolet driven by Paul Reed of Hanna. Tyler was killed instantly. Lafayette died at the Ivenson Hospital in Laramie the next day. Also killed were Tyler's two pets, a poodle and a cat. Reed's passenger Don Jones was also killed instantly. Reed was seriously injured.

      
      

Billy the Kid's roadside attraction, approx 1958, photo by Sanborn Souvenir Co.

      
      
Some press reports over the next few days:
             
      

Click to play Perry Mason Series 1, Episode 15, The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse
(First aired on December 28th 1957.)