Welcome to Hollywood Graveyard, where we set out to remember and celebrate the
lives of those who lived to entertain us, by visiting their final resting places.
Today we conclude our tour of Mount Sinai Memorial Park, where we'll find
such stars as Eleanor Audley, Ross Martin, Hillel Slovak, and many more.
Join us, won't you?
Concluding our tour of Mount Sinai Memorial Park we'll pick up right where
we left off and explore the eastern portion of the cemetery.
Not much else to say so let's get right to it.
If you haven't done so already be sure to check out part 1.
We'll begin our tour in the southernmost part of the cemetery
in the Zion section.
Most of the way to the fence, across
which you'll see Forest Lawn Hollywood, is the grave of Martin Ragaway
He was an Emmy award-winning screenwriter, most notably of comedy.
He wrote a number of Abbot and Costello films,
and the Ma and Pa Kettle films.
He was also a writer
for many popular TV comedies of the era, including The Red Skelton Hour, the Dick
Van Dyke Show, Petticoat Junction, Here's Lucy, The Brady Bunch, and more.
Across the street to the north are the Courts of the Proverbs.
On the right side of this courtyard is a wall of niches.
Above eye-level we find the niche of Danny Wells.
He was a comedic actor known for being the first to play Luigi on
screen in The Super Mario Bros. Super Show!
"That was some tough job."
"Yeah but we're the Mario Bros., we're the best!"
"Hey, it's gonna be fun having an exchange student here, no?"
"Yeah, he's a smart one too!"
"What do you mean a smart one? How do you know that?"
"Well, because he sent his luggage ahead of him."
"Whoa! Some luggage!"
"Yeah, it got here this morning before you woke up."
"No kidding. Hey Mario, to tell you the truth, I hate these child-proof boxes."
"Boy they make 'em tight."
"I got it."
"Greetings! You must be Mario. You must be Luigi."
H also played Charlie the bartender on The Jeffersons.
His epitaph reads 'Keep 'em laughing.'
Further up this road on the left is the Ramah section. Let's head to the far north
end of this lawn. Just before the sidewalk is the grave of TV's most
famous Judge, Joseph Wapner. He presided over The People's Court from its
inception in 1981 until 1993, covering over 2000 episodes.
He died in February 2017,
so his marker is still temporary.
Let's head back the way we came and turn
right onto Mount Sinai drive. Across the street to the north of the courts of the
Psalms is the Moses section. Straight north down the hill from the trash bin
is the grave of Karl Freund. He was one of the great cinematographers of early
Hollywood. He's the man who captured on film movies like Metropolis and Dracula.
He innovated the unchained camera technique, which freed the camera from
the tripod allowing it to move around set. He also perfected the three camera
system used to shoot live audience sitcoms, starting with I Love Lucy in the 50s.
"Here she comes!"
Continuing east a few rows north, just past a tree, is the grave of actor Jesse White.
He is perhaps best remembered as Ol' Lonely, the Maytag Repairman, which he
played in ads for two decades. He can also be seen in the film Harvey, opposite
Jimmy Stewart, and on TV shows spanning the decades from Perry Mason,
The Munsters, and The Twilight Zone, all the way to his final appearance on
Seinfeld in the 90s.
Let's head back up the hill and cross the street to the
courts of the Psalms. On the wall to the right of this courtyard in the green
marble is the crypt of Pinky Lee. He hosted a popular children's television
show in the 50s called The Pinky Lee Show. The show is said to have inspired
similar shows like Pee-Wee's Playhouse.
[music]
In 1955 he collapsed on live TV. At first producers and the audience just assumed
it was part of the usual energetic ad-libbed performance,
but soon feared a heart attack.
When audiences tuned in the next day there was no Pinky Lee.
A rumor persisted that he had died of a heart attack on live TV, but it turned out to
have just been a serious sinus infection.
This incapacitated him for a time and
the show was cancelled not long after.
Several years later he hosted the Gumby Show.
Let's continue east on Mount Sinai Drive and stop right before the intersection.
To the south are the Gardens of Ramah.
Heading south into these Gardens, just past a small waterfall,
we find the grave of Brandon Tartikoff.
He was the president of NBC in the 80s and early 90s, and is credited for turning
around the network's primetime fortunes, with shows like The Cosby Show, Cheers,
Family Ties, Law & Order, Night Court, The Golden Girls, Seinfeld. and more. tartakov
Tartikoff helped to take the network from dead last to number 1.
Back to the road, a little further east, not far from the curve in the road,
we find the grave of actress Wendie Jo Sperber.
She was a comedic actress who played Marty McFly's
sister, Linda, in the Back to the Future films.
"Girls chasing boys. When I was your
age I never chased a boy or called a boy or sat a parked car with a boy."
"Then how am I supposed to ever meet anybody?"
"Well, it'll just happen, like the way I met your father."
"That was so stupid, Grandpa hit him with the car!"
"It was meant to be."
She can also be seen on TV and shows like Bosom Buddies.
In 1997 she was diagnosed
with breast cancer. Seeking light in this dark place she
founded weSPARK, a Cancer Support Center.
She continued to entertain until her death at the age of 47.
Heading back west we turn right onto Mariah Road. At the
bottom of this hill is the Memorial to the Six Million. This is a monument to
the six million Jews who were murdered in Europe under Nazi rule during WWII,
approximately two-thirds of the Jewish population in Europe.
The memorial was designed by artist Bernard Zakheim.
It features six figures rendered in burnt and tortured wood, depicting different
types of Holocaust victims. The figures are set among cement slabs bearing the
names of the Nazi concentration camps.
At the center is an eternal flame
symbolizing the eternal spirit of those who perished.
From left to right the figures are:
I don't want to get involved - the Jew who
is unwilling to act to save himself or others it who cannot escape destruction;
Woman Warrior - dedicated to the women who gave up their female identity to fight
as soldiers when there were no men to fight for them;
Genocide - a child bound in chains within the frame of death;
For our and your liberty - dedicated to the notion of freedom and the
willingness to self-sacrifice anything and everything to prove it;
Jew with the Torah - seeking peace and keeping his own order, but a victim still;
and Martyrdom -
commemorating the girls from a Jewish school who chose death rather than life
in the Nazi houses of prostitution.
May this monument forever stand and serve as
a powerful reminder of the dangers and evils of ethnic scapegoating,
and racial supremacy.
Back to the Stars, let's cross the street to the north. Just past a tree
is Ross Martin. If you're a fan of The Wild Wild West, you'll remember Martin as
master disguise artist Artemus Gordon.
Many of his disguises he designed himself.
The role earned him an Emmy nomination.
"That's some surprise, huh Artie?"
"Yeah. Shock of my life. You could have knocked me over with a 100 pound
artillery cannon."
"Well, let's make it difficult on them. We'll split up."
"Good idea, James. When you cannot confound the enemy then you have lost to them.
I am sure that you will get around to the back and I can join you there at that time.
The problem is getting around so that they don't know who we are.
I think we can manage it now. You all set?"
"I hope so."
Speaking of The Wild Wild West, east along this same row is Leonard Katzman.
He was producer of that show, but is perhaps best remembered as showrunner of
the primetime soap opera Dallas.
Other shows include Gunsmoke and Hawaii Five-0.
Let's continue around King David Drive to the north.
On the left is the Maimonides section. In Lot 26, several
spaces up from the road and east of a tree, is the grave of Hillel Slovak.
He was a musician, best remembered as the original guitarist and founding member
of the band the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The band formed in the early 80s with
fellow classmates Flea, Anthony Kiedis, and Jack Irons. Slovak's style was
primarily rooted in funk and hard rock. He recorded two albums with the Chili
Peppers: Freaky Styley, and The Uplift Mofo Party Plan.
[music]
Slovak became addicted to heroin early in his career, and despite efforts to
quit and start a new drug-free life he died of a heroin overdose at just 26.
His death motivated Kiedis, also a heroin addict, to try and get clean.
Kiedis and Flea decided to keep making music to build on what they had done with Slovak.
A little further west, on the north, is the Kedron section.
A few rows down from the road is the grave of actress Eleanor Audley.
She was both the model and voice for two of Disney's great villains: Lady Tremaine,
the evil stepmother of Cinderella, and Maleficent from Sleeping Beauty.
"Listen well, all of you.
The princess shall indeed grow in grace and beauty.
But...
before the sun sets on her 16th birthday, she shall prick her finger on the
spindle of a spinning wheel and die!"
"Oh no!"
And next time you ride the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland be sure to listen
for the voice of Eleanor as the spirit medium, Madame Leota.
"...call in the Spirits, wherever they're at..."
On TV she can be seen in shows like Green Acres, and My Three Sons.
Finally we cross the street
back to the southwest and head up the hill.
In Maimonides 20 we find the grave
of an all-around great entertainer, Bobby Van.
A song-and-dance man Bobby Van
can be seen in musical films and Broadway productions of the 50s through
the 70s. Films including Because You're Mine, Small Town Girl, and The Affairs of
Dobie Gillis alongside Debbie Reynolds.
Later in his career he frequently
appeared on game shows including Tattletales and Match Game 73.
He died of brain cancer at just 51.
And that concludes our tour! What are some of your
favorite memories of the stars we visited today?
Share them in the comments below, and be sure to like, share, and subscribe for
more famous grave tours.
Thanks for watching, we'll see you on the next one.
To all our Jewish friends out there...
Happy Hanukkah!
May it be a joyous holiday season for you and yours!
It doesn't snow here in LA, so we have to pretend :(