Today in History - May 19: Hollywood A-lister's wife killed during hide-and-seek freak accident
The wife of one of Hollywood's biggest stars died in a freak accident during a game of hide-and-seek on May 19, 1946.
A group of A-listers were at a party in Los Angeles when they suggested playing 'Sardines'.
A variation of hide-and-seek, Sardines is played in the dark, with everybody at the party looking for one person.
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David Niven with his wife Primmie. Nine Archives
When a person finds the person hiding, they hide with them.
The game finally ends when the most unsuccessful seeker finds everybody else hiding in a confined space, crammed like sardines in a tin.
Playing the game that night was party host Tyrone Power, Rex Harrison, Cesar Romero, and David Niven and his wife Primmie.
The Nivens had just relocated to Hollywood six weeks earlier following his service in the British Army during World War II.
Primmie had been chosen to be the first to hide, and the lights were switched off.
During the search, fashion designer Oleg Cassini opened a door to what he thought was a closet.
"I found a door, opened it, and almost lost my balance," Cassini said.
"It led to a lower level, a garage-like area with a cement floor, but the first step was very tricky, greater than expected."
But before he closed the door, Cassini heard a soft moaning sound from the bottom of the staircase.
Primmie Niven had made the same mistake as Cassini, but she had fallen down the hard stairs.
She was rushed to hospital but died after surgery two days later.
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Primmie Niven died after falling down a dark staircase during a game of Sardines. Nine Archives
"Primmie and I were married six years ago. She has given me two little boys and complete happiness. I am infinitely lucky," her widower said in a statement read at her funeral.
"She always longed to come to California after the war and share my life here. They were the six happiest weeks of her life."
In subsequent years, David Niven would go from being a minor actor to a major star, winning an Oscar at one of the four ceremonies he hosted during his career.
He married a Swedish supermodel in 1948 and would be later romantically linked to Princess Margaret.
Cassini would go on to become the White House "Secretary of Style" for Jackie Kennedy.
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David Niven hosting the Oscars in 1974. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences
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