In the mid-1920s, visitors to Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery entered through a monumental Spanish Revival portal with a colorful tile dome. They would have been welcomed to bring picnics and blankets to sit on the lawns and listen to concerts performed for radio broadcast.
Named for the palace of Odin, the Norse god of slain heroes, Valhalla Memorial Park was one of Los Angeles' first lawn cemeteries with grave markers flat to the ground. Tourists came to walk its tree-line avenues and enjoy its three reflecting pools and park-like environment.
Scandal tarnished Valhalla just five months after its opening. Financiers John R. Osborne and CC. Fitzpatrick, who created the cemetery, were convicted of reselling the same burial plots – as many as 16 times – for a profit of $3 to $4 million. They were convicted, fined and sentenced to 10 years in prison. The cemetery was taken over by the State of California until 1950 when it was purchased by Pierce Brothers.
Among those laid to rest here are Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy fame; Bea Benaderet, the voice of Betty Rubble of “The Flintstones”; Aneta Coraut, who played Andy Griffith’s girl friend and his son Opie's teacher, Helen Crump on “The Andy Griffith Show,” Cliff Edwards, the voice of Jiminy Cricket in “Pinocchio”; and Curly-Joe De Rita, the sixth man to be a member of the “Three Stooges.”
Finding graves at Vahalla is sometimes a challenge, so bring your patience when you visit. While the map is helpful, geographically adjacent areas are not necessarily given consecutive letters.
Section A
Marshall Bradford (1885-1971) was an actor known for his roles in “It Conquered the World” (1956), “Western Renegades” (1949) and “The Lone Ranger” (1949). Lot 1, Block A, Section 1746 (unmarked)
Section C
Mae Clarke (1910 - 1992) was an actor who played Elizabeth in “Frankenstein” (1931) and made an uncredited appearance in the film “Public Enemy” (1931) where she had a grapefruit shoved in her face. Lot 2424.
Section D
Joe “Curly Joe” DeRita (born Joseph Wardell) (1909 -1993) was a median who joined “The Three Stooges” after Joe Besser left in 1958. He shaved his head to look more like the original Curly, played by Jerome Howard, who died in 1952. He was the last surviving member of the group. Section 338, Lot 19
Section E
Tiny Jones (1875-1952) was born in Cardiff, Wales, and came to the U. S. After World War I. She worked in both silent and talking films, usually as a villager or working class immigrant. She was in several films directed by John Ford, including her first “The Iron Horse” (1924) and her last, “The Quiet Man” (1952). Other films she was in included “Mutiny on the Bounty” (1935), “A Christmas Carol” (1938), “Drums Along the Mohawk” (1939), “How Green Was My Valley” (1941) and “M” (1951). Section 4932
Jane Murfin Crisp (1884 - 1955) got involved in filmmaking in 1913 and had the opportunity to write plays and movies, run a production company and direct. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her script for “What Price Hollywood?” (1932). The work of the production company she and her one-time husband director Laurence Trimble formed featured a dog named Strongheart, who was a rival for Rin Tin Tin. Her more than 60 writing credits include “Alice Adams” (1935), “The Women” (1939) and “Pride and Prejudice” (1940). Section 4348, Lot 5
Jane Cowl (1883 - 1950) was an actress famous for tear-jerking parts and a playwright. She wrote several plays in collaboration with Jane Murfin under the joint pseudonym Allan Langdon Martin, including “Lilac Time” (1917), “At Daybreak” (1917), “Information Please” (1918), “Smiin’ Through” (1919) and “The Jealous Moon” (1928). Between 1915 and 1951, she appeared in six films.ß
Section G
Buster Brodie (1885-1948) played one of the winged monkeys in “The Wizard of Oz” (1939) in the midst of a career that spanned the late 1920s through the mid-1940s. His films included "George White's Scandals" (1945), "Hit The Hay" (1945), "Bells of Rosarita" (1945), "Beyond the Pecos" (1945), "Crazy Knights" (1944), "Firebrands f Arizona" (1944), "Action In Arabia" (1944), "Lady In the Dark" (1944), "Hers To Hold" (1943), "Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch" (1942), "Tales of Manhattan" (1942), "Mountain Music" (1937), "A Doctor's Diary" (1937), "There It Is" (1928) and "All Aboard" (1927). Lot 5, Section 7690 Memorial G
Aneta Corset (1933-1995) had the good fortune to make her feature film debut opposite Steve McQueen in “The Blob” (1958). Six years later, she was given a recurring role in “The Andy Griffith Show” as Helen Crump, Opie’s teacher and Andy’s girl friend. She continued to appear on television through the 1970s, ‘80s and early 1990s. G (Graceland), Section 651, right next to curb marker 6583.
Florence Halop (1923-1986) started her career doing radio series in the 1940s and then moved into television in the 1950s. She made appearances on “Meet Millie,” “I Love Lucy,” “I Spy,” “That Girl,” “Barney Miller,” “Soap” and “Difference Strokes.” She had a memorable role as the apple-faced, seen-it-all Bailiff Florence Kleiner on the series “Night Court” and as Mrs. Hufnagel in “St. Elsewhere.” She also appeared in a few feature-length films in the late 1930s, 1940s and 1960s. Her brother is actor Billy Halop, who appeared as one of the Dead End Kids. (He is buried in Mount Sinai Memorial Park.)
Section I
Theodore Kosloff (Fyodor Mikhallovich Koslov) (1882-1956) was a Moscow-born dancer and choreographer who became Cecil B. DeMille’s niece’s first ballet coach. Trained at the Imperial Theater ballet school, Kosloff could do 18 pirouettes in succession. When he graduated in 1901, he toured internationally with the Diaghilev Ballet Company. He came to the U. S. in 1909. He met and began teaching ballet to screenwriter Janie McPherson, who in turn introduced him to DeMille. DeMille’s niece Agnes encouraged DeMille to hire him. Over two decades, he appeared in 28 films. His thick accent prevented him from taking acting roles, but he choreographed Broadway musicals and the ceremonial dances in DeMille’s “Samson and Delilah” (1949). He had an uncredited cameo in “Stage Door” (1937) where he plays a rehearsal director of showgirls that include Ginger Rogers and Lucille Ball. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1617 Vine St. Block I, Section 12318, Lot 2
Section IJ
Nels P. Nelson (1918-1994) stood 4 feet, 3 inches tall. He reportedly appeared as a Munchkin in “Wizard of Oz” (1939). Later he appeared in episodes of the television series “Daniel Boone,” “Bonanza” and “The Twilight Zone.” Block IJ (Evergreen), L-10640, Space 3
Martha Vickers Rojas (1925-1971) was an actress and model who played the dreamy and amoral nymphet Carmen Sternwood in “The Big Sleep” (1946). Actress Lauren Bacall played her older sister and Humphrey Bogart was detective Philip Marlowe. Her family moved around a lot before settling in California. She became a model for photographer William Mortenson and then caught the attention of director David O. Selznick. Her first role (uncredited) was as a corpse in “Frankstein Meets the Wolfman” (1943). Through the 1940s she appeared in forgettable films and posed for pin-up pictures in GI magazines. In 1948, she married producer A. C. Lyles; divorced him the following year and married actor Mickey Rooney a month later. In 1951, she divorced Rooney and three years later married Chilean polo player-turned-actor Manuel Rojas. She made a few movies in the mid-1950s and early 1960s and appeared on television and then retired. Section I-J, Lot 10648.
Section L
Arthur Q. Bryan (1899 - 1959) was an actor more often heard than seen: he was the voice for the cartoon characters Elmer, Fudd, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and Porky Pig. He was the voice of the wisecracking Dr. Gamble on NBC Radio’s show “Fibber McGee and Molly” from 1943 to 1959. He appeared in some movies in the 1940s and then later made appearances on television shows. Block L, Section 998, Lot 7.
Kathleen Key (1903-1954) started her career playing ingenues and went on to playing vamps in the 1920s. She appeared as Tirzah in “Ben-Hur” (1925) among other films of the era. She was known for her fiery temper. During the mid-1920s, she was romantically involved with married actor Buster Keaton. When Keaton tried to end the relationship, she went into a rage and destroyed his dressing room. She eventually was fired by MGM and her career waned. Section L, Lot 816 (next to Gladys George).
George Melford (1877-1961) was an actor and pioneering director who made the legendary silent movie “The Sheik” (1921), which turned Rudolph Valentino into a star and set off an international craze for Arab-style fashion and interior design. Through the 1920s, he directed a number of notable films for Paramount. With the coming of talking films, his career flagged and he was assigned to making foreign-language versions of early talkies. He returned to acting and played character roles in “My Little Chickadee” (1940), “Hail the Conquering Hero” (1944), “A Tree Grows in Brooklyn” 1945), “The Robe” (1953) and “The Ten Commandments” (1956).
George Hamilton “Bud” Westmore (1918 - 1973) was a member of the legendary Westmore family that reigned over the field of Hollywood make-up from its early days onward. Patriarch George Westmore got his start at Metro Pictures in 1917. Each of his six sons worked at a different Hollywood studio. Bud, the second youngest, freelanced and then joined Universal in the late 1940s until his death. He built a reputation for his ability to create monsters for horror films. His credits include “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein” (1948), “The Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954) and the television series “The Munsters” (1964-66). He recreated the make-up for actor Lon Chaney in the biopic “The Man of a Thousand Faces” (1947). His more than 450 movie and television credits also include “To Kill a Mockingbird” (1962), “Flower Drum Song” (1961), “Sparticus” (1960), “Airport” (1970), “The Andromeda Strain” (1971) and “Soylent Green” (1973). L, Section 931, Lot 4
Chapel Gardens
Colin Higgins (1941 - 1988) was the French-born writer and director whose credits include writing the script for the cult classic “Harold and Maude” (1971). He also wrote and directed the movies “9 to 5” (1980), “The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas” (1982) and “Foul Play” (1978).
Garden of Devotion
Richard Day (1896 - 1972) was hired as a set decorator in 1918 by Erich von Stroheim and went on to earn seven Academy Awards for art direction and set design. His credits include “Exodus” (1960), “On the Waterfront” (1954), “a Streetcar Named Desire” (1951), “Miracle on 34th Street” (1947), “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), “The Grapes of Wrath” (1940), “Drums Along the Mohawk” (1939).
Lot 4.
Lot 4.
Ceferino Garcia (1906 - 1981) was a World Boxing Hall of Famer who achieved more victories than any other Filipino boxer. In 1939, he fought Fred Apostoli for the middle weight title in the U.S. And became the first boxer from the Philippines to become world champion at middleweight. After defending the title three times, he lost to Ken Overlin on points in 1940. At the end of his career he had 102 wins (67 by knock out), 28 losses and 12 draws over the course of 142 professional bouts. He was inducted into the World Boxing Hall of Fame in 1981 posthumously.
Federico Augustino Giorgi (1878-1963) was an Italian sculptor who designed and created the ornate stone castings that decorate the arches, eaves and pedestal of the Portal of the Folded Wings at Valhalla. Devotion, Block I, Section 12471, Lot 2.
Garden of Hope
Garden of Remembrance
Yakima (Enos) Canutt (1895 - 1986) was a stuntman, actor and director. A World Champion rodeo star, he was a natural in the silent B westerns of the late 1920s. His voice, which had been damaged from having the flu in the Navy, wasn’t considered suitable for talking movies and he returned to doing stunts and serving as a stunt double for stars such as John Wayne and Clark Gable. In “Stagecoach” (1939), he doubled for both Wayne and a pursuing Apache. He did his most famous stunt in that movie, dropping down in front of the moving stage coach, seeming to be dragged underneath and coming up the backside of the coach. Canutt developed a number of devices and methods to make movie fights and stunts safer, more realistic and more precise for filming. Wayne based his characteristic drawl and rolling gait on Canutt. After a series of severe injuries, Canutt got into directing action and second units. He directed the close-action scenes for “Spartacus” (1960) and staged the chariot race in “Ben-Hur” (1959), training Charlton Heston and Stephen Boyd to do their own charioteering. After his death, he was cremated and his ashes are scattered in the Garden of Remembrance. There is a memorial for him in the Portal of Folded Wings.
Mausoleum of Hope
Bea Benaderet (1906 - 1968) was an actress, singer, writer and voice actress for a number of Warner Bros. cartoon characters. She appeared in a number of radio programs, working with Jack Benny, George Burns and Gracie Allen and Lucille Ball. She also had regular roles on the television series “The Beverly Hillbillies” as Pearl Bodine, “The Flintstones” as the voice of Betty Rubble and “Petticoat Junction” as Kate Bradley. Lucille Ball wanted her to be Ethel Mertz in “I Love Lucy,” but Benaderet was unable to accept due a conflicting commitment. She is credited with more than 1,000 radio and television appearances, earning the nickname “Busy Be a” by the media. Four days after she died, on the day after her funeral, her second husband Gene Twombly died of a massive heart attack. He is buried beside her. Mausoleum of Hope, Row C, Crypt 34.
Mausoleum of the Resurrection
(Along the wall north and east of the entrance gate and the Veterans Memorial)
Leigh Harline (1907 - 1969) was an Academy Award-winning composer and song writer who created “When You Wish Upon a Star” from “Pinocchio” (1940) and the songs “Whistle While You Work,” “Heigh-Ho” and “Some Day My Prince Will Come” from the cartoon feature “Snow White and the Seven Dwarves” (1937). He studied piano and organ with the Mormon Tabernacle Choir conductor J. Spencer Cornwall and provided music for the first transcontinental radio broadcast to originate from the West Coast. Over his career, he composed nearly 200 songs, more than 50 for Walt Disney Studios. 2M 2 Mausoleum of the Resurrection.
The Portal of the Folded Wings
English contralto Maude Elliott gave a concert at its 1925 dedication. It served as the cemetery's entrance until 1952, when the rotunda was closed to vehicle traffic. The following year, the rotunda was rededicated as the Portal of the Folded Wings to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Wilbur and Orville Wright’s first flight on Dec. 17, 1903. With the control tower of Bob Hope Airport visible just north of the portal, it became a fitting place of remembrance for aviation pioneers.
It contains a cenotaph honoring record-breaking pilot Amelia Earhart and the graves of aviation pioneers Augustus Knabenshue, America’s first dirigible pilot; James Floyd Smith, who invented the manually operated parachute for the U.S. Army in 1918; Hilder F. Smith, a parachute jumper who in 1916 became the first female pilot to fly out of what later became LAX; Matilde Moisant, the second American woman to earn her pilot’s license; and her brother John who designed and built the first metal plane. A model of the space shuttle Columbia seems to lift off from the building’s west side.
Ironically, in 1969, a small airplane crashed into the dome killing the pilot and a passenger. The building was placed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998.
Others buried here include:
Walter Brookins (1889 - 1953) was a member of the early flight team of aviation pioneers Orville and Wilbur Wright. He became the first civilian to learn to fly at the Wright Brother’s flying school in 1909. He became the Wrights’ first pilot instructor and set a record for altitude with a flight of 4,380 feet in June 1910. A month later he broke that record in a Wright biplane flying at an altitude of one mile. He also pioneered c corkscrews and other stunt flying maneuvers.
Carl Brown Squier (1893 – 1967) was a World War I aviation pioneer and vice president of Lockheed Corp. He was the 13th licensed pilot in the U. S. He sold Charles Lindbergh his Sirius airplane in 1931, and sold aircraft to Amelia Earhart, Wiley Post, Howard Hughes and Arctic bush pilot Ben Eileson. Over his carrier, he sold Lockheed aircraft to 28 airlines and the militaries of nine governments. He is credited with saving Lockheed from dissolution during the Depression when he convinced investor Robert E. Gross and his associates to buy the company.
Prayer
Fredrick Alvin “Fred” Kelsey (1884 -1961) was a prolific actor who appeared in more than 400 films between 1911 and 1958 directed shorts for Universal. Prayer, Block L, Section 999, Lot 27
Madame Sul-Te-Wan (born Nellie Conley) (1873 – 1959) was the daughter of freed slaves who toured the East Coast with various theatrical companies before coming to California. She became known as a character actress, appearing in “The Birth of a Nation” (1915) and “Intolerance” (1916), both by Cecil B. DeMille. Unlike many other silent film era actors, she made the transition to sound films. During her 50-year- career, she became the first black actor to sign a film contract and be a featured performer. In 1986, she was inducted into the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. Although she appeared with top billed stars and worked steadily throughout the 1930s and ‘40s, the racism of the era kept her in roles as mammies and maids. She won critical praise for her role at Tituxba in “Maid of Salem” (1937) a retelling of the vents around the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. In 1954, she appeared in Otto Preminger’s musical drama “Carmen Jones,” which featured an almost entirely black cast. Sul-Te-Wan was cast as Dorothy Dandridge’s grandmother. Prayer, Block L, Section 943, Lot 9
Section VI
Gino Corrado (1893 - 1982) was an actor who often played roles as a waiter or butler. He had roles in "Intolerance" (1916), "The Iron Mask" (1929), "A Night at the Opera" (1935), "The Great Dictator" (1940), "Citizen Kane" (1941), "Casablanca" (1942), "Holiday in Mexico" (1946), "Arch of Triumph" (1948) and "Three Coins in the Fountain" (1954). Section 6, Lot 237 in Restland B Block, about 120 feet from curb 513.
Harry Harvey, Sr. (1901 - 1985) was born in Oklahoma Territory and became a character actor appearing in more than 300 films and television episodes. He had an ongoing role as Sheriff Tom Blodgett in “The Roy Rogers Show” from 1951 to 1957, as Mayor George Dixon in “Man Without a Gun” (1957-59) as well as appearances in “The Lone Ranger” (1949-1955), “Lassie,” “Bonanza,” “The Wild Wild West,” “Columbo” and “Mannix,” among others. Lot 17, Section 933, Block L.
Frederick “Fred” Kennedy (1909 - 1958) was an actor and stuntman who appeared in the backgrounds of classic westerns from the 1930s through the 1950s. While working on “The Horse Soldiers” (1959) starring John Wayne, Kennedy was doing a stunt for co-star William Holden that involved falling from a horse. In the process, he broke his neck and died on the way to the hospital. The footage of the accident was kept in the final cut. Lincoln Memorial Section, Lot 31.
Edward Ludlum (1920 - 2000) was an acclaimed stage director credited with bringing Canadian actors Lorne Greene and Ted Knight to the attention of Hollywood producers. In addition to working on Broadway, he also directed television shows, including “Death Valley Days.” Niches of Remembrance, Niche 8, Row J.
May Murray (born Marie Adrienne Koenig) (1889 - 1965) was a popular silent film star known as “the girl with the bee-stung lips.” She was a Ziegfeld headlining dancer on Broadway who made her film debut in “To Have and To Hold” (1916). When she joined the new MGM studio in 1924, she was among the highest-paid performers in the business. She played dancers and attractive blondes across from stars such as Rudolph Valentino, Wallace Reid and John Gilbert. One of her best performances was was in “The Merry Widow” (1925) directed by Erich von Stroheim. Her repeated clashes with him earned her a reputation as one film’s most temperamental prima donnas. Her career took a dark turn in 1926 when she married the gold-digging Russian Prince David Mdivani. He insisted she walk out on her MGM contract and go to Europe with him, where they spent her money lavishly. When the money ran out, so did the prince. They divorced in 1933. When she returned to Hollywood at 44, she discovered her former boss Louis B. Mayer had had her blacklisted at all the major studios. She went bankrupt, lost her son by Mdivani in a bitter custody battle. She lived in a one-room apartment in a Los Angeles building she once owned and drifted into a fantasy world where she believed that she was still a sought-after star. An authorized biography, The Self-Enchanted, was published in 1959. That year she was found dazed and hungry wandering the streets of St. Louis believing that she was in New York. She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6318 Hollywood Blvd.
Fayard Nicholas (1914 - 2006) was a choreographer, dancer and actor who with his brother Harold became Hollywood dance legends with a 1943 routine on a huge double staircase on which the brothers leapfrogged over each other to land in a split on the step below. Known as the Nicholas Brothers, their unique tap dancing style blended “masterful jazz steps with daredevil athletic moves and an elegance of motion worthy of ballet.” They appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies on Broadway and worked with jazz choreographer Buddy Bradley in London. Movie mogul Sam Goldwyn spotted them at the Cotton Club and cast them in the Eddie Cantor musical “Kid Millions” (1934). They inspired tap dancers around the world, including Fred Astaire, Savion Glover and Gregory Hines. Farad shared a Tony Award in 1989 for his choreography of “Black and Blue.” Both brothers were awarded Kennedy Center Honors in 1991.
Frank Weatherwax (1907 – 1985) was the legendary trainer of animal stars such as Lassie (several generations of them) and the dogs that appeared in “A Dog of Flanders” (1935), “Old Yeller” (1957), “Hondo” (1954) and “Sounder” (1972). He and his brother Rudd trained the collie they owned, Pal, for the role as Lassie in “Lassie Come Home” (1943). That was the first of many Lassies who delighted audiences in film and television. At his request, Weatherwax’s coffin was lined with the ashes of some of the late Lassies so he could be with them forever.
Daniel Simmons (1891 – 1966) was a singer and actor who was born on the Yakima Reservation in Washington state and often portrayed Native Americans in films. His career in entertainment began as a bass in opera productions and he acted in various stage productions. In 1925, he debut in films with a role in “Tonio, Son of the Sierras.” He took the name Chief Yowlachie and appeared as Billy Jackrabbit in “The Girl of the Golden West” (1930), Running Deer in “White Eagle” (1941), Chief Yellow Feather in “The Paleface” (1948), Cochise in “The Last Outpost” (1951) and Harry Willowtree in “The FBI Story” (1959). Over the course of his career, he appeared in nearly 70 motion pictures.
The Details:
Location: 10621 Victory Blvd., North Hollywood, CA 91606
Telephone: (818) 763-9121
Directions: Can be found on the website.
No comments:
Post a Comment