Westwood Memorial Park

Short of the red carpet on Oscar night you'll rarely find as many celebrities in one spot as you will at Westwood Memorial Park. If your time as a tourist is short, skip the necropoli like Forest Lawn or Hollywood Forever and come here.

Westwood Memorial Park's History

People have been laid to rest in this area since the 1880s. Not until 1905, did the 2.72 acres at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Glendon Avenue become the state-sanctioned Sunset Cemetery. In 1926, a few years before UCLA opened, the name was changed to Westwood Memorial Park.


Only lawn burials were available until 1952 when the first of 10 mausoleums was built. In the 1950s and '60s, the unused Wilshire frontage was sold to the developers of the surrounding AVCO Building and theaters and the Westwood Presbyterian Church. Today, the cemetery is a little larger than two-acres. The wood-framed chapel was added in 1961.

The park was designated as Historical Cultural Monument 731 by the Los Angeles City Cultural Heritage Commission in 2002.

Finding Your Way Around the Park

This is an active cemetery. Please give consideration to mourners who may be visiting loved ones here.

Here is a suggested way to see the cemetery: Begin at the entry gate, go east around the edge of the cemetery and end with a tour of the main lawn.

Don Knotts (1924-2006) was an actor and comedian best known as Deputy Barney Fife in the 1960s TV series, “The Andy Griffith Show,” and as the duped landlord Ralph Furley in the late 1970s series, “Three’s Company.” He has a large, heavily engraved bronze marker easily visible as you walk east down the road.

Eva Gabor (1919-1995) was best known for her role as the New York City socialite married to an attorney who decides to become a farmer. (Her on-screen husband -- Eddie Albert -- can be found on the central lawn.) Her grave can be found near the park entrance and the Armand Hammer mausoleum.

John Cassavetes (1929-1989) starred as Mia Farrow’s husband in “Rosemary’s Baby” (1968) and directed “A Woman Under the Influence” (1974), which starred his wife, actress Gena Rowlands. As a director, he often worked with Peter Falk and Ben Gazarra. His grave is west of the wall where Truman Capote’s crypt is, behind a tree with a bench in front of it.

Further east toward the Sanctuary of Tenderness, you’ll find:

Irving “Swifty” Lazar (1907-1993) was an agent to stars such as Humphrey Bogart, Walter Matthau, Gregory Peck and Lauren Bacall; playwrights Noel Coward and Tennessee Williams and author Ernest Hemingway. His gravestone is on the lawn near the hedge on the north side of the cemetery.

Mel Tormé (1925-1999) (born Melvin Torma), wrote more than 250 songs, including the eternal “Chestnuts roasting on an open fire . . .” He also wrote several autobiographical books, a biography of Buddy Rich and a novel. A jazz singer, Torme was known as “the Velvet Fog.”

Truman Capote (1924-1984) wrote Breakfast at Tiffany’s and In Cold Blood. Reportedly only a portion of his ashes remains at Westwood Memorial Park. A portion was mixed with those of his long time companion Jack Dunphy and scattered at Crooked Pond on Long Island. Another was given to Capote’s friend Joanne Carson, at whose home he passed away. His ashes are in a wall crypt on the west, outer side of the Sanctuary of Tenderness.

Follow the road east to the Sanctuary of Tenderness. At the center back, about four feet from the ground, you'll find:

Sidney Sheldon (1917-2007) was the seventh best-selling author of his time and won an Academy Award for Writing the Best Original Screenplay in 1947 for "The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer." For TV, he created the "The Patty Duke Show" (1963-65), "I Dream of Jeannie" (1965-70) and "Hart to Hart" (1979-84). After he turned 50, he began writing best sellers such as Master of the Game, The Other Side of Midnight and Rage of Angels.

Sanctuary of Devotion

Next door in the Sanctuary of Devotion, you can find:

Greg Bautzer (1911-1987) was an attorney to celebrities such as actresses Ginger Rogers, Ingrid Bergman and Joan Crawford; MGM owner Kirk Kerkorian; businessman Howard Hughes; and businessman William Wilkerson who founded the Hollywood Reporter and the Flamingo Hotel.

Clarence Sinclair Bull (1896-1979) was head of the MGM Stills Department for nearly 40 years. His powerful, exquisitely lit portraits of actors from Hollywood's Golden Age are instantly recognizable. He was Greta Garbo’s favorite photographer. He also photographed Clark Gable, Joan Crawford, Katherine Hepburn, Ava Gardner, Elizabeth Taylor and Grace Kelly.

Go back out to the road, turn left and pass the Sanctuary of Tranquility.

Corridor of Memories

In a wall crypt adjacent to the eastern side of the Sanctuary of Tranquility you will find the Corridor of Memories and:

Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962) (born Norma Jean Baker) is interred in a simple wall crypt, burnished by touches and stained with lipstick prints. Her stunning sensual beauty, tentative innocence and crippling insecurities made her an enigma to this day. The American Film Institute ranked her as the sixth greatest female star of all time. She appeared on the premiere cover of Playboy magazine. Her films included “The Asphalt Jungle” (1950), “Gentlemen Prefer Blondes” (1953), “Some Like it Hot” (1959), “The Seven Year Itch” (1955) and “The Misfits” (1961). As she became more successful, Monroe became increasingly dependent on alcohol and prescription drugs. Her death on Aug. 5, 1962, was listed as acute barbiturate poisoning. Whether it was accidental, suicide or something else has contributed to her enduring mystique.

Hugh Hefner (1926-2017), Playboy founder, purchase the niche next to Marilyn Monroe's. According to the New York Daily News, Hefner said ". . . to me, there's something rather poetic in the fact that we'll be buried in the same place.  And that cemetery also has other meanings and connections for me.  Friends like Buddy Rich and Mel Torme are buried there.  So is Dorothy Stratten."

Jay Livingston (1915-2001) was a musician with his partner lyricist Ray Evans, wrote popular songs such as “Mona Lisa,” “Que Sera, Sera” and the Christmas favorite, “Silver Bells.” The pair also wrote the themes for the TV shows “Bonanza” and “Mr. Ed.” Top left above Marilyn Monroe.

Sanctuaries of Peace, Love and Remembrance

From the Corridor of Memories, turn south and walk until you come to the Sanctuary of Love. Here, you will find:

Dean Martin (1917-1995) (born Dino Paul Crocetti) was a singer, actor and comedian who broke into stardom when he teamed up with comedian Jerry Lewis in 1946. He did 16 films with Lewis before personal conflicts led to a painful split. With “Ocean's Eleven” (1960), he became associated with the so-called Rat Pack that included actors and singers Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr., Joey Bishop and Peter Lawford. In 1965, he became host of “The Dean Martin Show,” which earned him a Golden Globe Award. In the mid-1980s, he went on tour singing with other members of the Rat Pack. He left the public eye in 1987 after a plane crash killed his son, Dean Paul Martin. (North wall.)

Garden Estates

At the southeast end of the cemetery, in garden estates, you’ll find:

Peter Falk (1927-2011) became famous for portraying Lt. Columbo in the 1971-78 TV series, “Columbo.” He had acted as a child and teen, but later earned a master's degree in public administration and managed the Connecticut state budget. In the mid-1950s, he decided to pursue acting full time. He received Academy Award nominations for his performances in “Murder, Inc.” (1960) and “Pocketful of Miracles” (1961). He introduced the character of Columbo in a 1968 TV movie, “Prescription: Murder.”

Karl Malden (1912-2009) (born Mladen George Sekulovich) made his Broadway debut in “Golden Boy” in 1937 and his film debut in “They Knew What They Wanted” (1940). He appeared in nearly 100 films, TV shows and theater productions. He won an Academy Award for his portrayal of Harold Mitch in “A Streetcar Named Desire” (1951). He was nominated again for his work in “On the Waterfront” (1954). He also had roles in “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962), “Gypsy” (1962) and “Patton” (1970), among other films. He appeared in the TV series “The Streets of San Francisco” as Lt. Mike Stone with Michael Douglas. He served as president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences from 1989-1993.

Back to the road that runs along the south end of Westwood Memorial Park, you'll find more garden estates:

Carol Matthau (1925-2003) was an actress and writer, whose first husband was novelist William Saroyan and her second actor Walter Matthau. Married to Matthau for 41 years, she met him when they both appeared in “Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?” in the 1950s. She wrote an autobiography, Among the Porcupines and a novel, The Secret in the Daisy. Chapel Garden Estate

Walter Matthau (1920-2000) helped his family by playing bit parts in a Yiddish theater as a child. He made his Broadway debut in 1948 in “Anne of the Thousand Days.” And his film debut in “The Kentuckian” (1955). In 1965, he was cast in his signature role as Oscar Madison in the Broadway play, “The Odd Couple.” He received a Tony Award for his performance. He played Oscar Madison again in the 1968 film version starring opposite Jack Lemmon. The pair made 10 movies together, including “The Fortune Cookie (1966), which earned Matthau a Best Supporting Oscar. Chapel Garden Estate.

You will come to the entrance to the Garden of Serenity. Pass this for a moment and continue walking along the road to the next set of garden estates, where you'll find:

Merv Griffin (1925-2007) started out as a singer and went on to appear in movies and on Broadway. He hosted a talk show, “The Merv Griffin Show” from 1965 to 1986. He started his own production company and created game shows, including “Jeopardy!” and “Wheel of Fortune.” He created the musical theme for “Jeopardy!” as well. He ventured in real estate, purchasing the Beverly Hilton Hotel in Beverly Hills, owned a resort and spa in Palm Springs and a boutique hotel once owned by director John Huston in Galway, Ireland. His tombstone reads, “I will not be right back after this message.”

Farrah Fawcett (1947-2009) became internationally when she appeared as private investigator Jill Munroe in the TV series “Charlie’s Angels” in 1976. A poster of her released that year turned her into an iconic sex symbol and broke sales records. Young women of the 1970s and 80s copied her long, layered, wavy hair style. She went on to appear in off-Broadway productions with good reviews and TV movies in challenging roles, including “The Burning Bed” (1984), “Nazi Hunter: The Beate Klarsfeld Story” and “Double Exposure: The Story of Margaret Bourke-White” (1989). Her work was recognized with numerous awards.

Rodney Dangerfield (1921-2004) (born Jacob Cohen) left a career as a Borscht Belt comic at Catskill resorts to make a more stable living as an aluminum siding salesman and house painter. He returned to show business in the 1960s as Rodney Dangerfield. As a comedian and owner of Dangerfield’s, a New York City comedy club, he helped the careers of Jerry Seinfeld, Jim Carrey, Roseanne Bar, Jeff Foxworthy and Tim Allen. He made his film debut in 1971 with “The Projectionist.” In 1994, he made a rare appearance in dramatic role as an abusive father in “Natural Born Killers” to rave critical reviews. His headstone is marked with a signature piece of self-deprecating humor, “There goes the neighborhood.”

In the Chapel Garden Estates along the south edge of the memorial park in front of the chapel, you'll find:

Jack Lemmon (1925-2001) made 50 films over the course of his 47-year acting career, earning eight Academy Award nominations and two Oscars. He was the first man to win Oscars for both Best Actor (“Save the Tiger,” 1973) and Best Supporting Actor (“Mister Roberts,” 1955). His work included “Some Like It Hot” (1959), “The Apartment” (1960), “Days of Wine and Roses” (1962), “The China Syndrome” (1979), “Tribute” (1980) and “Missing” (1982).

Carroll O’Connor (1924-2001) was best known for playing the bigoted, abrasive Archie Bunker on the TV series “All in the Family” (1971-1979). It’s sequel, “Archie Bunker’s Place” ran from 1979 to 1983. O’Connor won four Emmy Awards for his portrayal of Archie Bunker. When his adopted son, Hugh, who had battled drug addiction for years killed himself, O’Connor became an advocate for drug education and abuse prevention. He was interested in restoring cars. His 1936 Rolls Royce Phantom III was parked outside the church at his funeral.

George C. Scott (1927-1999) played strong memorable roles ranging from Buck Turgidson in “Dr. Strangelove” (1964), the prosecutor in “Anatomy of a Murder” (1959) and the bombastic general George Patton in “Patton” (1970). He reportedly is buried just left of the Matthaus’ gave. The headstone is blank, however.

Billy Wilder (1906-2002) was a writer, director and producer for more than 60 years. His epitaph reads, “I’m a Writer, But Then Nobody’s Perfect.” Wilder worked as a reporter before becoming a screenwriter in 1929. He wrote for German films until Adolf Hitler came to power. Being Jewish, he decided to move to Paris and then later the U.S. He shared an apartment with actor Peter Lorre in his early days in Hollywood. In 1938, he formed a partnership with Charles Brackett, first writing and later producing and directing. Together they created “Ninotchka” (1939), “The Lost Weekend” (1945) and “Sunset Boulevard” (1950). Without Brackett, Wilder made “Double Indemnity” (1941), “Some Like It Hot” (1959) and “The Apartment” (1960). Nominated repeatedly, Wilder won three Academy Awards.

Garden of Serenity

Behind the garden estates that line the south side of the south road is a memorial garden. Here you'll find:


James Coburn (1928-2002) was best known for roles in westerns or thrillers, including “The Magnificent Seven” (1960), “The Great Escape” (1963), “Charade” (1963), and “Our Man Flint” (1966). He won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor in 1999 for his performance in “Affliction” (1997). His memorial is a bench by a fountain near the entrance of the Garden of Serenity.

Peggy Lee (1920-2002) (born Norma Dolores Egstrom) was a singer, songwriter and actress remembered for such songs as “Fever” (her signature song), “Lover,” “Is That All There Is?” and “Big Spender.” She got the attention of band leader Benny Goodman in Chicago and joined his band from 1941 to 1943. She influenced artists such as Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Paul McCartney, Bette Midler, Madonna and Dusty Springfield. She wrote songs for the Disney movie, “The Lady and the Tramp” (1955) and did the singing and speaking voices for four characters (the human, Darling; the dog, Peg, and the Siamese cats, Si and Am). She has a memorial bench across from James Coburn’s.

Brian Keith (1921-1997) had a 40-year acting career on stage, TV and film. Some of his memorable roles were in “The Parent Trap” (1966), “The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming” (1975), “The Wind and the Lion” (1975), and the (1966-71) TV series “Family Affair,” where he played Bill Davis, a bachelor uncle turned reluctant parent. He is buried next to his daughter Daisy.

Ray Bradbury (1920-2012) wrote books of fantasy, science fiction, horror and mystery. The New York Times credited him with bringing science fiction into the literary mainstream. He is best known for Fahrenheit 451, which he wrote the first version of on a rental typewriter in UCLA's Powell Library. His first paid writing job was at 14 when radio star George Burns hired him to write for "The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show." When he began writing for magazines, it was a young Truman Capote, then an editorial assistant for Mademoiselle magazine, who pulled Bradbury’s story, “Homecoming,” out of the slush pile and recommended it for publication. It won a place in the O. Henry Prize Stories of 1947.

Janet Leigh (1927-2004) (born Jeanette Helen Morrison) made an unforgettable impact as Marion Crane, who was murdered in the shower in "Psycho” (1960). The role won her a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress and an Academy Award nomination. She was married to Tony Curtis and is the mother of Kelly and Jaime Lee Curtis. Her works include “My Sister Eileen” (1955), “Angels in the Outfield” (1951), “The Naked Spur” (1953) and “Houdini” (1953), “Touch of Evil” (1958). (Her married name was Janet Leigh Brandt.)

South of the Garden of Serenity, you'll find a locked aisle with the marker for:

Fanny Brice (1891-1941) (born Fania Borach) was the Ziegfeld Follies headliner portrayed by Barbra Streisand in “Funny Girl” (1968). The daughter of fairly well-off saloon owners, Brice dropped out of school to work in a burlesque review. She worked for the Ziegfeld Follies off and on from 1910 into the 1930s. As a singer, her signature songs were "My Man” and “Second Hand Rose.” She played Baby Snooks on the radio during the last decade of her life. (She has launched the role in a Follies skit.) Originally buried at Home of Peace Cemetery in East Los Angeles, her cremated remains were moved to Westwood Memorial Park and interred with those of her daughter Frances in 1992.

Rose Garden

In front of the office and chapel is a rose garden. There, you'll find a small marker for:

Jim Hutton (1934-1979) starred in a lighthearted comedies in the early 1960s, most notably “Where the Boys Are” (1960). A tall, lanky man with an absent-minded air, he was sometimes compared to actor James Stewart. In the late 1960s he appeared in a number of dramas including “The Green Berets” (1968) and “Hellfighters” (1968) based on oil well firefighter Red Adair. From the 1970s on, Hutton worked only in television. He played the title role of Ellery Queen in a 1975 TV movie that led to a TV series of the same name. Two days after his 45th birthday, Hutton died from liver cancer. His son, actor Timothy Hutton, dedicated his 1980 Academy Award to his father. A portion of his ashes were scattered in the Garden of Roses area.

Central Lawn

If you stand outside the cemetery office looking north, you’ll see a large tree with an urn garden to your left (west). At the northern most edge of of the urn garden, you’ll find:

Sebastian Cabot (1918-1977) was a portly English actor best known as gentleman’s gentleman Giles French in the TV series “Family Affair” (1966-71). His marker can be found on the top row of the section about 12 markers west of the eastern (right hand) edge of this area.

Walking east along the south road, back toward the Chapel Garden Estates, you’ll find:

Ray Conniff (1916-2002) was a musician and composer who received a Grammy Award for his recording of “Somewhere My Love” and a CBS Records Best Selling Artist for 1962 Award among many others. His plot is on the lawn roughly across from Rodney Dangerfield’s grave.

Follow the road east, take the turn at the end left (north) until you’re even with the wall between the Sanctuaries of Remembrance and Love, turn to the left (west) and on the lawn you’ll find:

Minnie Riperton (1947-1979) was a singer with a five and a half octave range best known for her 1975 hit “Lovin’ You.” The melody was created to distract her daughter Maya Rudolph, a "Saturday Night Live" actress, when she was a child. The song sold more than a million copies.

Carl Wilson (1946-1998) was a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist for the Beach Boys. Songs where he served as lead vocalist include “God Only Knows” (1966), “Good Vibrations” and “I Can Hear Music” (1969). He is the brother of Brian Wilson. He is a few spaces left of Riperton.

A little further on, across from the Sanctuary of Love is a large oak tree. On the lawn are a collection of urns including:

Burt Lancaster (1913-1994) was named by the American Film Institute in 1999 as 19th among the greatest male stars of all times. His work included “From Here to Eternity” (1953), “Elmer Gantry” (1959), “Birdman of Alcatraz” (1962); “The Swimmer” (1966), in which he appeared nude; and his last film, “Field of Dreams” (1989). In addition to acting, he was a partner in several production companies. His ashes are buried under a large oak tree, across from the Sanctuary of Love.

At the base of the oak tree on the western side, you’ll find:


Will (1895-1981) and Ariel (1898-1981) Durant were philosophers, historians and co-authors of the 11-volume The Story of Civilization, which they wrote between 1935 and 1975. The 10th volume, Rousseau and Revolution (1967), won them a Pulitzer Prize. They were awarded a Congressional Medal of Freedom in 1977. The pair met when 13-year-old Ariel (born Chaya Kaufman) was a student at the Ferrer Modern School and he the teaching principal. Within two years they had fallen in love and eventually convinced her mother to allow them to marry. Their love was so strong that Mrs. Durant later said that they “almost have one breath, one life, one interest.” They died within days of each other.

Slightly further west is:

Eve Arden West (1908-1990) (born Eunice M. Quedens) is best remembered for playing the sardonic high school teacher on “Our Miss Brooks” (1956) and the principal of Rydell High School in “Grease” (1978) and “Grease 2” (1982). She played Joan Crawford’s wise-crack friend in “Mildred Pierce” (1945) which won her an Academy Award nomination; James Stewart’s secretary in "Anatomy of a Murder" (1959) and performed acrobatics trying to see Groucho Marx’s wallet in the film “At the Circus” (1939).

Further north, on the level of the Sanctuary of Peace and south of Marilyn Monroe’s crypt, you’ll find:

Edmund M. DiGiulio (1927-2004) was a leading technological innovator in the movie industry. He developed the Steadicam, a reflex viewing system and a camera with video assist and control for three-camera filming. He worked on a number of special projects with director Stanley Kubrick including “A Clockwork Orange” (1971) and “Barry Lyndon” (1975). For the latter, he developed ultra-high-speed lenses for capturing candlelit scenes. He won a number of awards, including the 2001 Gordon E. Sawyer Lifetime Achievement Award for technological advances.

From the north section of the road, walk south from the Sanctuary of Tenderness toward the tree. Past the tree, you’ll come to:

Natalie Wood (1938-1981) (born Natalia Nikolaevna Zahharenko) began working in film as a child actress and had earned three Academy Award nominations before she was 25. Her best known work included "Miracle on 34th Street" (1946), "Splendor in the Grass" (1961), "Rebel Without a Cause" (1955) and “West Side Story” (1961). After appearing in “Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice” (1969), she took a break and had two children. While working on her final film, “Brainstorm” (1983), she drowned near Catalina Island. Her death was classified initially as an accident, then changed to “undetermined” after a second 2012 investigation.

One row south of Wood’s grave and about three tombstones east is:

Bob Crane (1928-1978) was a drummer turned disk jockey turned actor. He was Capt. Hogan on the TV series “Hogan’s Heroes” (1965-1970). His brutal 1978 murder remains unsolved.

A few spaces west of Wood’s grave, you’ll find:

Darryl F. Zanuck (1902-1979) was a producer, writer, actor, director and studio executive. He was one of the founders of 20th Century Films (which later became 20th Century Fox). His work won three Academy Awards for Outstanding Motion Picture: “How Green Was My Valley” (1941), “Gentleman’s Agreement” (1947), and “All About Eve” (1950). Zanuck had a blind eye for media other than film. In 1946, he said that television “won’t be able to hold on to any market it captures after the first six months. People will soon get tired of staring at a plywood box every night.”

South of Zanuck and east toward Wood is:

Eddie Albert (1906-2005). Although he made his motion picture debut in the comic “Brother Rat” (1938), Albert may be best remembered for his role as a lawyer, Oliver Wendell Douglas, who leaves New York City to take up farming in “Green Acres.”

South and slightly east of him is:

Donna Reed (1921-1986) won the 1955 Academy Award for best supporting actress for her role in “From Here to Eternity.” She played Jimmy Stewart’s wife, Mary, in “It’s a Wonderful Life” (1946). In television she played Donna Stone, a housewife in the long-running sitcom, “The Donna Reed Show” and Miss Ellie on “Dallas.” Lawn. (A few rows south of Natalie Wood and a little west.)

Moving west, you’ll come to

Sammy Cahn (1913-1993) (born Samuel Cohen) was a lyricist, songwriter and musician who won four Academy Awards for “Three Coins in the Fountain”(1954); “All the Way” (1957) from the film “The Joker is Wild”; “High Hopes" (1959) from the film “A Hole in the Head” and “Call Me Irresponsible" (1963) from the film “Papa’s Delicate Condition.” In addition, he was nominated 22 times between 1942 and 1974. Among his well-known songs are “Come Dance with Me,” “Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow,” and “Love and Marriage.” He has a long black tombstone.

Roy Orbison (1936-1988) was a singer songwriter who created “Oh, Pretty Woman,” “Crying” and “Only the Lonely.” He was dubbed the “Caruso of rock” for his natural baritone with a three- to four-octave range and operatic complexity. He performed wearing black clothing and sunglasses and standing virtually motionless. Between 1960 and 1964, 22 of his songs placed on the Billboard Top 40. His career sagged during the 1970s but revived in the 1980s when David Lynch used his 1963 song “In Dreams” in the movie “Blue Velvet.” In 1988, he joined the Traveling Wilburys with George Harrison, Bob Dylan, Tom Petty and Jeff Lyne and released a new solo album. His unmarked grave is between two trees in the same row as Donna Reed.

Lew Ayres (1908-1996) starred as Paul in “All Quiet on the Western Front” (1930). He played the title role in “Young Dr. Kildare” (1938) and went on to play in several later Dr. Kildare films. Later, when he was offered the part in the TV version of “Dr. Kildare,” he requested that the show accept no cigarette advertising. The offer was withdrawn and went to actor Richard Chamberlain. A pacifist, Ayres served with distinction in the Medical Corps in the Pacific theater and New Guinea. His role in “Johnny Belinda” (1948) earned him a Best Actor nomination from the Academy and inspired co-star Jane Wyman to leave her husband, Ronald Reagan.

Frank Zappa (1940-1993) was a composer, singer-songwriter, electric guitarist, recording engineer, record producer and film director. He produced most of the more than 60 albums he released with the band The Mothers of Invention and as a solo artist. He was known for an experimental approach that could draw from rock, jazz, classical or rhythm and blues sources as well as studio-generated effects and sound collages. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 and received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1997. His unmarked grave is next to Ayres.

Looking south from Ayres’ grave is a tree. On the south side of the tree, you’ll find:

Henny Backus (1911-2004), wife of Jim Backus, was an actress and best-selling author. She co-starred with her husband in the 1968-69 TV series “Blondie,” as Cora Dithers. She also appeared in an episode of “Gilligan’s Island.” She and her husband co-wrote several humorous books, including Only When I Laugh. Henny wrote Care for the Caretaker about her husbands battle with Parkinson’s Disease.

Jim Backus (1913-1989) was the voice of the cartoon character Mr. Magoo and played Thurston Howell III in the 1964-67 TV series “Gilligan’s Island.” His film work included portraying James Dean’s father in “Rebel Without a Cause” (1955), “Pat and Mike” (1952), “Man of a Thousand Faces” (1957), “It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World” (1963) and “Myra Breckinridge” (1970).

Some of the other well-known residents include:

Ken Annakin OBE (1914-2009) directed nearly 50 films in a four-decade career that began in the mid-1940s. Some of his best known films include “The Longest Day” (1962), “Battle of the Bulge” (1965) and “Those Magnificent Men in their Flying Machines” (1965).

Bettie Page (1923-2008) was a brunette pin-up queen whose playful sexy photos were heralds of the 1960s sexual revolution. An estimated 20,000 photographs were taken by amateur photographers from 1949 to 1957 showing her in high heels and bikinis, negligees, bondage apparel — or her birthday suit. She was an early Playboy Playmate and inspired paintings of her “bad girl” personas. In 1948, she caught the attention of New York Police Officer and amateur photographer Jerry Tibbs on the beach at Coney Island, who introduced her to camera clubs. The photographs caught the attention of Irving and Paula Klaw, a brother and sister who ran a mail order business specializing in cheesecake and bondage photos. Her most famous photos were taken in1955 by fashion photographer Bunny Yeager. At 35, she walked away from it. A fight with her second husband led her to a small white church where she had a “born-again” experience. Later in life, she battled emotional illness.

Here's a map of the memorial park:

The Details: Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park

Location: 1218 Glendon Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90024
Telephone: 310.474.1579
Hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily

A more complete listing of residents is available online.