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Prominent graves in, near City of Angels |
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Written by DeadGirl
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Saturday, 18 February 2006 |
Gary A. Warner
Orange County (Calif.) Register
Feb. 19, 2006 12:00 AM
The Los Angeles area is home to hundreds of movie-star graves and monuments. The top three spots for seeing stars' final resting places are:
6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Los Angeles, 1-(323)-469-1181 or www.hollywoodforever.com.
Hollywood's oldest cemetery - dating to 1899 - is also its most colorful. Rescued from bankruptcy a few years ago, the plot, near Paramount Studios, has new owners, who have added summer movies and video tombstones to make the place a tourist attraction.
Key sights: The tombstone of Mel Blanc, the voice of Bugs Bunny and dozens of other cartoon characters, is chiseled with Porky Pig's famous exit line, "That's All, Folks!" Carl Morgan Bigsby's headstone includes a replica of an Atlas rocket. Silent-film star Rudolph Valentino's crypt was a mecca for decades after his death. Rock guitarist Johnny Ramone's statuelike headstone features a guitar.
Look for: Gangster Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel, movie producer Cecil B. DeMille, swashbuckling father and son actors Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Jr., a memorial for bombshell Jayne Mansfield.
Secret spot: Virginia Rappe, the woman whose death in a San Francisco hotel brought down silent-screen great Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle. Accused of rape, Arbuckle was acquitted, but his career was destroyed.
Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park
1218 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles (Westwood district), 1-(310)-474-1579.
Most celebrity-grave tourists come to this small spot in the far-west end of Los Angeles to see the grave of Marilyn Monroe. For many years, ex-husband and Yankee baseball great Joe DiMaggio had roses sent to the crypt.
Key sights: Monroe's crypt, Burt Lancaster, Natalie Wood, author Truman Capote.
Look for: Donna Reed, Dean Martin, George C. Scott, comedian Rodney Dangerfield, director Billy Wilder, producer Darryl F. Zanuck, Green Acres star Eva Gabor, All in the Family star Carroll O'Connor, singer Roy Orbison and rock guitarist Frank Zappa.
Secret spot: Fanny Brice, the vaudeville star whose reputation was reignited by the biographical musical and movie Funny Girl. Elizabeth Taylor already has picked out a plot here. (Her parents are buried here.)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Glendale
1712 S. Glendale Ave., Glendale, 1-800-204-3131 or www.forestlawn.com/visi tors_guide/memorial_parks/ glendale.
The largest collection of major-star graves is at this sprawling cemetery once lampooned in Evelyn Waugh's novel The Loved One. Filled with kitsch architecture and over-the-top reproductions of famous art, such as The Last Supper.
Forest Lawn has a split personality. It encourages visits to its public areas, but won't divulge information on stars' graves.
Key sights: Humphrey Bogart, Clark Gable, Spencer Tracy, James Stewart, Walt Disney and Errol Flynn.
Look for: Singers Nat "King" Cole, Sam Cooke and Sammy Davis Jr., silent-film vamp Theda Bara, silent-era "It Girl" Clara Bow, sound-era vamp Jean Harlow, comedian W.C. Fields, comedians Adolph "Harpo" and Milton "Gummo" Marx, early film star Mary Pickford, comedian couple George Burns and Gracie Allen, comedian Richard "Red" Skelton, film fashion designer Edith Head, actor Alan Ladd, producer David O. Selznick.
Secret spot: Future President Ron Reagan chose the cemetery as the place for his first wedding. He and actress Jane Wyman tied the knot at the Wee Kirk O' the Heather chapel in 1940. They divorced in 1948.
Some of the other major repositories of the last addresses of major screen legends:
Hillside Memorial Park
6001 Centinela Ave., Culver City, 1-(310)-641-0707 or www.hillsidememorial.com.
One of Southern California's most prominent Jewish cemeteries holds the remains of many stars.
Key sites: Singer Al Jolson, star of The Jazz Singer, Hollywood's first film with sound. His monument shows him on a knee, singing Mammy. Comedian Jack Benny and Three Stooges star Moe Howard.
Look for: Singer Dinah Shore, comedian Milton Berle, makeup master Max Factor, Bonanza stars Lorne Greene and Michael Landon.
Secret spot: Gangster Mickey Cohen, a top lieutenant and gunman for Bugsy Siegel.
Forest Lawn Memorial Park, Hollywood Hills
6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Burbank, 1-800-204-3131 or www.forestlawn.com/visi tors_guide/memorial_parks/ hollywoodhills/.
A favorite burial spot during the Golden Age of Hollywood because of its proximity to the major motion-picture studios.
Like its bigger cousin in Glendale, this Forest Lawn doesn't like to give out the whereabouts of significant graves.
Key sites: Bette Davis, silent-film legend Joseph "Buster" Keaton, singing cowboy and former owner of Major League Baseball's Angels Gene Autry, comedian Lucille Ball.
Look for: Comedian Stan Laurel, actress Dorothy Lamour, singer Andy Gibb, showman (Wladziu Valentino) Liberace, singer Ricky Nelson, comedian Freddie Prinze, movie bad guy George Raft, Kojak star Telly Savalas.
Secret spot: Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, the producer behind the never-ending James Bond franchise.
Holy Cross Cemetery
5835 W. Slauson Ave., Culver City, 1-(310)-670-7697.
Catholic cemetery with a small but important roster of Hollywood greats.
Key sites: Director John Ford, crooner Bing Crosby, actress Rita Hayworth.
Look for: Actor Fred McMurray, actress Rosalind Russell, actress Mary Astor, comedian John Candy, comedian Jimmy Durante, actors Jack Haley (Scarecrow) and Ray Bolger (Tin Man) from The Wizard of Oz, Sharon Tate (actress killed by members of the Manson family).
Secret spot: Dracula star Bela Lugosi is buried here.
Tip: There are dozens of other Hollywood notables buried around the LA area. Oakwood Memorial Park, 22601 Lassen St., Chatsworth, 1-(818)-341-0344, is the final resting place of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, the great on-screen dance team.
http://www.azcentral.com/arizonarepublic/travel/articles/0219dead0219places.html |
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