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.
Some lived to make us laugh, others to cry or fall in love,
while others still, lived to scare us to death!
In the quiet corridors of the Great Mausoleum in
Glendale we find Hollywood's first gothic star, Theda Bara. She was the
original Vamp, dark, exotic, and sinfully alluring. She was one of the most popular
actresses of the silent era, seen in films like Cleopatra and The She-Devil.
Tragically most of her films are lost.
The man who essentially invented
Hollywood's horror genre rests in the mausoleum at Home of Peace Cemetery.
Carl Laemmle was the founder of Universal Pictures.
Under his tenure in the 20s and
30s while other studios were making comedies and musicals, Universal decided
to tackle the world of monsters and introduced audiences to classic
creatures such as: Dracula, Frankenstein, The Mummy, The Wolfman,
The Creature from the Black Lagoon, and more.
The earliest Universal horror films, The Hunchback of
Notre Dame in 1923, and the Phantom of the Opera in 1925, were both silent films
and starred legendary character actor Lon Chaney, who rests deep in the dark
halls of the Great Mausoleum, in an unmarked crypt. Chaney was known as the
man of a thousand faces for his ability to morph into his characters through
makeup that he applied himself. Many consider him the Godfather of all
monster actors.
His son Lon Chaney Jr. followed in his footsteps, playing The Wolfman in the 1940s.
When Chaney Jr. died his body was donated to medical research.
The leading lady of several of these Universal monster movies was Mary Philbin,
who is entombed in a crypt in the mausoleum at Calvary Cemetery.
She starred alongside Conrad Veidt in The Man Who Laughs in 1928, but will forever
be remembered as Christine in 1925's Phantom of the Opera opposite Lon Chaney.
Her unmasking scene of the Phantom was reportedly so shocking it caused many in
the audience to scream and faint.
One of Universal's most iconic monsters was Dracula, which starred Hungarian
actor Bela Lugosi, buried in his Dracula cape here at Holy Cross Cemetery.
Lugosi's portrayal of the Transylvanian Count as both dangerous and alluring at
once, is considered by many as the definitive Dracula.
"I am Dracula."
He also starred in the 1932 film White Zombie,
considered the first zombie feature film.
"I see..."
"What is it?"
"I see... death."
"Madeline!
Madeline, what's wrong?
Madeline my dear, please!"
"Oh... no!"
"Madeline!"
In a garden out back of the Guildford Crematorium in Surrey England is the
humble marker to one of Hollywood's most iconic horror actors, Boris Karloff.
He was brought to life as Frankenstein's monster in several Universal films of
the 30s. The monster was originally credited simply with the question mark.
"When this dead hand moves, the monster created by a man they called mad is
turned loose to strike terror into the hearts of men.
Karloff also played The Mummy, Imhotep.
Back in LA, at the Chapel of the Pines Crematory, we find a Cenotaph to the man
who brought the monster to life. Colin Clive played Dr. Frankenstein in the
Universal films of the 1930s.
"Look... it's moving.
It's alive.
It's alive... it's moving!
It's alive... It's alive!
IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE!!
In the name of God... now I know what it feels like to be God!"
One of the pallbearers at Clive's funeral
was Peter Lorre, himself a legendary horror actor, resting here in
the Cathedral Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever. He was known for playing the
villainous and sinister foreigner. He starred alongside another horror icon,
Vincent Price, in several adaptations of the works of Poe, including The Raven, and
The Black Cat.
"Give back my head!"
Before Elvira mistress of the dark there was Vampira, the original Queen of
horror camp, and television's first horror host.
She rests here at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
She had her own television show in the 50s, The Vampira Show, and can
also be seen in Ed Wood's Plan 9 from Outer Space.
"Sounds like Clay's in trouble."
Sometimes we love a little campiness in our horror films. Take the 1958 film The Blob.
It starred Aneta Corsaut, buried here at Valhalla Memorial Park, and also
featured Steve McQueen in his first lead role.
"Now wait a minute Steve, tell us what happened."
"Well I'm trying to tell you. Now this thing, it killed the Doc."
"Well what was it?"
"Out with it kid!"
"Well it's kind of like a... like a mass that just keeps getting bigger and bigger."
"Every one of you watching this screen, look out!
Because soon, very soon, the most horrifying monster menace ever
conceived will be oozing into this theater."
Horror isn't always meant to just make us scream... sometimes it can make us laugh.
Hollywood's original spooky family, The Addams Family, debuted on television in 1964.
The matriarch of this family is Morticia Addams, first played by Carolyn Jones,
who rests here at Melrose Abbey in Anaheim.
"Did I just hear a peal of thunder?"
"You did, Tish, you did."
"Oh, that's the most heavenly sound. It makes life worth living.
You remember our honeymoon, Gomez?"
"Who could forget our first night in Death Valley?"
"There was a stillness in the air... the moon was full, that lovely soft fluttering of bat wings,
in that divine cave."
At Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, we find the grave of another Adams
character, the beloved Uncle Fester, first played by Jackie Coogan in the 60s TV series.
"Uncle Fester, looks, charm and personality aren't everything. There such a thing is
learning an accomplishment."
"Accomplishment!? Who else do you know
that's 110 volts? Watch!
I could even make it blink!"
The first child of Gomez and Morticia Addams is a roly-poly boy named Pugsley.
He was played by Ken Weatherwax. Ken died in 2014, but a public memorial for him
was held on Halloween Day 2017, and his cremated remains were entombed in a
niche here at Valhalla Memorial Park.
"Once upon a midnight dreary,
while I pondered weak and weary,
over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore.
While I nodded nearly napping,
suddenly there came a tapping...
Pugsley darling you're not listening.
The Raven was always one of your favorites.
You said it made you feel so nice and cozy."
"I like it alright. I've just got other things on my mind."
The eldest member of the Addams Family
is grandma Addams, a witch and the mother of Gomez. She was first played on
screen by a Blossom Rock, buried here at Forest Lawn Glendale.
"You only got 10 points."
"I kicked him in the ear, didn't I?"
"Ear? Watch the master."
You're standing right in my way1"
"It's the only safe place!"
"Step aside. Now watch this one, right in the old gizzard."
"That was close. Go ahead Fester, you get another shot."
The undisputed master of suspense in the mid 20th century was Alfred Hitchcock,
and some would say Psycho is his greatest work. At Westwood Memorial Park
we find the final resting place of Janet Leigh, who played the unfortunate Marion
Crane, who ran afoul of Norman Bates and his mother at the Bates Motel.
Just a few feet from Janet is the grave of Ray Bradbury, known mostly as the
author of Fahrenheit 451 and several sci-fi works, he also penned a beloved
Halloween story, The Halloween Tree, which traces the history of Samhain, and
Halloween.
Another of the legendary horror films from the 60s is Rosemary's Baby.
Also here at Westwood is the grave of John Cassavetes, who played Guy Woodhouse.
"This was published in 1933. There were covens in Europe, that's what
they're called the, uh, the congregations. Covens in Europe, in America and in
Australia, and they have one right here. That whole bunch... the parties with the
singing and the flute, and the chanting, those are sabbats, or whatever they're called."
"Honey, don't get excited."
"Read what they do, Guy. They use blood in their rituals. And the blood
that has the most power is baby's blood. And they don't just use the blood they
use the flesh too."
"Rosemary, for God's sake!"
One of the greatest horror of
parodies is Mel Brooks' Young Frankenstein.
And there was no more perfect man to
play Dr. Frankenstein's assistant, Igor, than British funnyman, Marty Feldman -
buried here at Forest Lawn Hollywood.
"I ain't got nobody, and nobody cares for me... yakatata ha!"
"Igor!"
With the recent success of the film IT, there's no
doubt that Stephen King is one of the all-time great horror writers. In 1980
Stanley Kubrick directed an adaptation of his novel, The Shining, a film
considered a horror masterpiece. It featured actor Scatman Crothers, who
also rests at Forest Lawn Hollywood.
"You know, Doc, when something happens it can
leave a trace of itself behind.
Say like if someone burns toast.
Well, maybe things
that happen leave other kind of traces behind.
Not things that anyone can notice
but things that people who shine can see.
Another legendary horror film from the 80s not
only terrified audiences, but brought along with it rumors of a curse, after
two of its young starlets met tragically early deaths. Heather O'Rourke played
Carol Anne in the Poltergeist films. She died at the age of 12, and is entombed
here at Westwood Memorial Park.
"They're here!"
Buried nearby is Heather's Poltergeist co-star, Dominique Dunne, who played Dana
in the first film. She died at just 22, murdered by an ex-boyfriend.
"What... what's happening?
WHAT'S HAPPENING!?
-"WHAT IS IT!?" -"Dana, get in the car!"