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're visiting LA Cathedral and St. Matthew's Church, where
we'll find such stars as Charlton Heston, Gregory Peck, and June Marlowe.
Join us won't you?
Many stars our men and women of faith, as we've seen when visiting various
Catholic and Jewish cemeteries in LA. For some though their desired final resting
place is right on the grounds of a house of worship. Today we'll be visiting two
of these houses of worship: St. Matthew's Episcopal Church and the Los Angeles Cathedral.
So put on your Sunday best, we're going to church.
We'll begin way out west in Pacific Palisades at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church.
The Parish of Saint Matthew was organized in the 40s, and this church was
built in the early 1980s. Fans of Mel Brooks will be interested to know that
this is where the wedding scene in Spaceballs was filmed.
"Who the hell are you?"
"Prince Lonestar!"
"Prince?"
"I just found out. That's what this says. I'm an honest to god prince.
Will you marry me?"
Over the years this church has become home to some of Hollywood's devout,
including legendary actor Charlton Heston.
After his death in 2008 Heston's ashes were placed in a
niche in the garden columbarium on the grounds of the church.
Broad-shouldered, square-jawed and with a commanding voice,
Charlton Heston was built for the roles
in historical and biblical epics for which he became so well known.
Roles like Judah Ben-Hur in 1959's Ben Hur a role which earned him an Oscar.
Also as the title character in El Cid, and as Moses in Cecil B DeMille's
The Ten Commandments.
"For this you shall drink bitter waters.
God has set before you this day his laws of life and good
and death and evil.
Those who will not live by the law
shall die by the law!"
Other notable roles include The Greatest Show on Earth, and 1968's Planet of the Apes,
with one of the great film endings of all time.
"You maniacs! You blew it up!
Damn you... God damn you all to hell!"
Heston was very active in politics for much of his life, both as a democrat and republican,
fighting for civil rights, and serving as president of the NRA.
When Heston died of pneumonia in 2008 at the age of 84,
Hollywood lost one of its truly legendary actors.
That's' all there is to see here at St. Matthews,
let's head back east to downtown LA, and follow the sound of
massive bronze bells which toll for the occupants of downtown on the quarter hour.
This is where we find the heart of Catholicism in LA, the Cathedral of Our
Lady of the Angels, aka the Los Angeles Cathedral. The original Cathedral,
the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, was built in 1876 and served the community for over a century.
But it was severely damaged in the 1994 Northridge earthquake.
As a compromise between parties who wanted to demolish and replace the cathedral and
those who wanted to preserve it, plans were put into effect to build a new
cathedral on a nearby site. The Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels was completed
in 2002, and the original Vibiana's is now an event venue.
The postmodern, geometric style of architecture and plain concrete walls of the new
cathedral certainly buck convention of what we've seen in other cathedrals,
and was somewhat controversial at the time. Drive by it on the Hollywood Freeway and
you may not even realize that it's a cathedral.
The total cost of construction and furnishing added to the controversy -
around $250 Million.
Many in the community believing that money could be better spent on social programs.
But whatever your opinion of the building itself, there is much to see here that is awe-inspiring
in terms of art and history. The main entrance features grand and ornate
bronze doors above which stands a statue of Our Lady of the Angels. These were
designed and sculpted by Robert Graham who we visited in our tour of Woodlawn.
You'll recall that his urn is actually a miniature replica of the Cathedral gateway.
Alright, let's head inside shall we?
As soon as you enter the cathedral you're
met with paintings, mosaics, and various other works of art from Catholic lore.
Perhaps the most stunning are the giant tapestries that line the walls of the chapel.
These aren't paintings, they're woven cloth.
Here we also find a 17th century
gilded black walnut Spanish baroque retablo. This was originally
created to sit behind the altar of a church in Spain before being brought to
the States and eventually placed here.
And one practice peculiar to Catholicism
is the collection and display of relics for veneration. Here at the LA Cathedral
we find a number of relics, from Our Lady of Guadalupe to Pope John XXIII.
There are three classes of relics:
third-class relics are objects that have touched a
second or first-class relic, such as a piece of cloth. Second-class relics are
items that a saint owned or wore, like a goblet or a mitre.
And a first-class relic?
Well, that would be physical remains of the saints themselves, as in
this actual piece of Saint John XXIII here on display.
And speaking of mortal remains,
the sacred space beneath the cathedral is the mausoleum, reminiscent
of old world catacombs, though significantly nicer.
The walls are crafted of Spanish limestone, and alabaster sconces
immediately envelop you in a soft warm glow. We're also treated to an array of
stained-glass windows from the old St. Vibiana's Cathedral. This is the newest
mausoleum that we've yet visited, as you can see by the many still unoccupied crypts.
And there's a time capsule here that will be opened in 2102, so if you're
watching from 2102, hello from 2018! What was in the time capsule?
To access the mausoleum head to the northwest corner of the Cathedral and take the
stairs down to the lower level.
Before heading into the mausoleum let's pay a
visit to the patron saint of the Los Angeles archdiocese, St. Vibiana, whose
shrine and relics are located at the end of this corridor. Pope Pius IX was
the one who chose to name the original Cathedral after the 3rd century virgin
martyr, Saint Vibiana. Her remains were discovered in the Roman catacombs in
1853, along with the symbol of a laurel wreath and a vial of blood indicating
her innocent and pure status as a martyr. She was quickly canonized,
despite nothing being known about her life, and her remains now rest here.
On the wall to the right is a replica of the tablet that sealed Vibiana's tomb
in the catacombs. It reads,
"the soul of the innocent and pure Vibiana, in peace
August 31st," followed by a laurel wreath, which was an early symbol of martyrdom.
Let's head now into the cathedral mausoleum.
The third left is Corridor B North,
where we find the crypt of distinguished actor Gregory Peck, known
for playing heroic and noble figures, perhaps most notably as Atticus Finch in
To Kill a Mockingbird. The role earned him an Oscar.
"Now gentlemen.
In this country our courts are the great levelers.
In our courts all men are created equal.
I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the
integrity of our courts and of our jury system.
That's no ideal to me, that is a living, working reality."
He can also be seen alongside Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound,
and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.
And horror fans will recognize him for his
role as Robert Thorn in The Omen.
A lifetime of humanitarian efforts earned
him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1969. He's entombed here next to his
beloved wife Veronique.
Let's continue further down the Grand Foyer.
You might be asking yourself, "Why is Arthur wearing sunglasses inside?"
Well, you've heard the eyes are the windows to the soul,
and being that this is a house of God,
best keep the blinds drawn, eh?
At the very end of the grand foyer at the
Resurrection Window, we find the crypt of actress June Marlowe. Her career began in
the silent era alongside stars like Jean Hersholt and Rin Tin Tin. But she is best
remembered today as the beloved schoolteacher, Miss Crabtree, in the
Little Rascals short films of the 1930s.
"Hello everybody! Here's your pickins."
"What, no candy?"
"No candy."
"Gee, thems guys are getting stingy."
"I'll be seeing you."
"Wait a minute Miss Crabtree, let's see you kick that bucket."
"Why should I kick that bucket?"
"[??] says you kicked the bucket."
"Well, let's kick the bucket!"
Her character inspired the Simpsons character which became a
sort of antithesis of Miss Crabtree, Miss Krabappel...
crabapple.
By 1933 June had retired from acting.
After her death in 1984 at age 80 she was originally buried
at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, but later re-entombed here
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.
If you've been watching our tours for a while
you've probably caught wind of my affinity for stained glass.
There's just something awe-inspiring and singularly beautiful about painting with
natural light. The windows here in the cathedral mausoleum are no exception.
But one character in particular from these tableaus of the life of Christ is my favorite.
Look at this guy in the Nativity Window, this devious looking
little lamb with a devilish smirk. What's he up to I wonder... what sort of schemes
are brewing in that little mind of his?