Tuesday, July 23, 2019

A Visit to Hollywood Forever Cemetery

I first visited Hollywood Forever Cemetery in 2014 and shared several photos.

I've returned for a couple visits over the past half-decade, most recently this past April, just ahead of the TCM Classic Film Festival. Below are a number of photos of gravesites not shared in my earlier post, followed by a few new photos of some of the cemetery's most impressive sights.

Since my last visit Judy Garland's children had her remains moved from a New York cemetery, where she had been since her passing in 1969, to Hollywood Forever.


It is planned that in the course of time her children and grandchildren will be interred next to her at Hollywood Forever.


It seems rather fitting that Garland's costar in many MGM musicals, Mickey Rooney, is also at Hollywood Forever.


This small mausoleum near the lake is the final resting place of actors Marion Davies and Arthur Lake. Lake was married to Davies' niece, Patricia Van Cleve Lake, who is also interred inside. Over the years there has been speculation that Patricia was actually the daughter of Davies and William Randolph Hearst.


Erich Wolfgang Korngold composed my favorite film score, for THE ADVENTURES OF ROBIN HOOD (1938), as well as other great film scores.


The ashes of singing cowboy Herb Jeffries are in this columbarium:


Rudolph Valentino is in the Cathedral Mausoleum:


Peter Finch is interred in the same corridor as Valentino:


Peter Lorre is also nearby. I didn't realize at the time of our visit that actress Helen Parrish (THREE SMART GIRLS GROW UP) is just a few spaces over from Lorre.


This cenotaph is in memory of Oscar-winning actress Hattie McDaniel:


For me, the single most moving location in the park is the burial site of my favorite actor, Tyrone Power.


We paid return visits to the family plots of director Cecil B. DeMille...


...and Columbia Pictures studio head Harry Cohn:


Finally, a visit to the beautiful burial site shared by Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Douglas Fairbanks Jr.:


Coming in the future: Photo posts of visits to Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica and Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village.

Additional photo posts on the final resting places of historic Hollywood figures: A Visit to Forest Lawn Glendale, Part 1, A Visit to Forest Lawn Glendale, Part 2, A Visit to the Forest Lawn Museum, A Visit to Hollywood Forever Cemetery (2014), A Visit to Westwood Village Memorial Park - The Musicians, A Visit to Westwood Village Memorial Park - The Comedians, A Visit to Westwood Village Memorial Park - The Actors, A Visit to Westwood Village Memorial Park - Writers, Directors, and More, A Visit to Holy Cross Cemetery, Part 1, A Visit to Holy Cross Cemetery, Part 2, A Visit to Holy Cross Cemetery, Part 3, A Visit to Desert Memorial Park, Los Angeles National Cemetery, A Visit to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Part 1, A Visit to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Part 2, A Visit to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, Part 3, A Visit to Forest Lawn Cathedral City, A Visit to Oakwood Memorial Park, A Visit to Hillside Memorial Park, Part 1, and A Visit to Hillside Memorial Park, Part 2.

2 Comments:

Blogger Raquel Stecher said...

Thank you for sharing Laura! Next time I go I want to pay my respects to Herb Jeffries!

10:49 AM  
Blogger Stefano said...

Thanks Laura, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a thoughtful must for classic film fans. Another is the Angelus Rosedale Cemetery, where Hattie McDaniel is interred. Every autumn the Angelus hosts one of the most unusual and engrossing pieces of theatre imaginable: a walking tour to selected gravesites where live actors portray the deceased. Many entertainment notables are buried here, and on different visits I have "encountered" Anna May Wong, Ivie Anderson, Marilyn Monroe's grandmother, Tod Browning, and many more from all fields of life. Choice costumes, props and sound effects accompany the presentation, which while respectful is often humorous too.

As a bonus the Angelus is as "classic" looking a cemetery as one could wish, with tombs, mausoleums, statuary and cannons dating to the 19th century. Highly recommended.

11:45 AM  

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