His last movie, Game of Death (1978), was his first film to be shot with sound, unlike most of his earlier films which were filmed without sound and later dubbed in by the actors. Some of the lost footage was later shown in Bruce Lee: A Warrior's Journey (2000).
The 57-year-old Austrian is the grandson of the man widely acknowledged as the inventor of the snow globe. His grandfather, the first Erwin Perzy, came up with the idea by accident in 1900. Mass production started in Vienna in 1905, and 108 years later, the company - Original Vienna Snow Globes - is still going strong.
Monroe's first few years of recording had been quite successful, but all his biggest hits were yet to come. During 1945, There! I've Said It Again and Let It Snow! Let It Snow! Let It Snow! both spent more than a month at the top of the charts. And his two biggest hits, Ballerina and Riders in the Sky, came in 1947 and 1949, respectively.