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[This
is page three of a three-page article. Click here
to go to the first page.]
To find the remaining graves at Hillside, we have
to go back outside and do a bit of driving. Check the map
of the grounds, and drive around to the area in front of (west of)
the main mausoleum. There were fewer than 150,000 sets in use in America
when Milton brought his "Texaco Star Theater" variety show
to the air in 1948. It was live TV, and Milton soon created a persona for
himself, a cigar-chomping, joke-stealing, egomaniacal funnyman who wasn't
afraid to put on a dress for a laugh. His movies included "It's a Mad Mad Mad Mad World" and "Sun Valley Serenade".
Update: As of 2014, I'm told that the
blessing mural has been painted over, and is now just a blank
wall. That's unfortunate - it was a very nice mural, and made
Milton's grave easy to find.
At just 4'11", she had battled obesity and diabetes for years, before she passed away in her Beverly Hills home at age 54. Her crypt is located near Milton's. From Mr. Berle's
crypt, turn right, then right again, then go around the corner and turn
right again. Nell's crypt is on the very top row.
Early in her career, she was cast as a blonde sex symbol. As she matured, she found greater success with more gritty roles. Shelley won two Academy Awards: one for her performance as the mean-spirited mother of the blind girl in 1968's "A Patch of Blue" (with Sidney Poitier), and another for her role as 'Mrs. Van Daan' in 1959's "The Diary of Anne Frank." She was nominated for Oscars in 1972's "The Poseidon Adventure", and 1952's "A Place in the Sun" (with Elizabeth Taylor). She also had memorable roles in 1962's "Lolita" (as Lolita's mother) and as 'Ruby' in the original "Alfie". In 1951's chilling "Night of the Hunter", she played the gullible woman who is seduced into marrying the murderous preacher (played by Robert Mitchum). In all, she appeared in more than 100 films. According to her two autobiographies ( "Shelley" and "Shelley II"), her personal life was just as interesting. She was the roommate of Marilyn Monroe when they were both just starting out. She wrote of real-life romances with such Hollywood stars as Clark Gable, Burt Lancaster, Marlon Brando, William Holden and Errol Flynn. One of her marriages, to fellow actor Tony Franciosa, reportedly broke up when he had an affair with Bogart's widow, Lauren Bacall. (By an odd coincidence, Franciosa died just a few days after Shelley.) If you want to leave flowers, you'll find her lawn
grave not very far from Milton Berle's area, in the Hillside Slopes section,
(block 11, plot 358, space 8) - see the
map. From Milton's mural, look north up the road, and
you'll see a square, stone trash receptacle at the curb, and just beyond
that (also at the curb) is a white stone bench. Park next to this bench
and get out. Look up the grassy slope towards the mausoleum, and you'll
see a large tree with another white bench next to it. Walk up the grassy
slope (17 rows) to that tree. Shelly's lawn grave is located just five
spaces to the right (south) of that tree & bench.
(Incidentally, Tom wasn't Jewish, but his wife was.)
She passed away less than a year after Tom, and is
buried near him - just one row down and three spaces to the left, in a
lawn grave, just above the curb, in the Garden of Abraham section. (Tom also appeared occasionally on the first sitcom, as Bob's old friend "The Peeper".) But before Newhart, she appeared in such movies as Hitchcock's horror classic, "The Birds", "Support Your Local Gunfighter" (with James Garner), and Disneys' "The Shaggy D.A."
Check the map of the grounds again, then drive northwest to Garden of Memories section, located to the northwest of the park's entrance gates. Here, in the Court of Love, you'll find the grave of one mobster and one Stooge. The latter is Moe Howard
(1897-1975), leader of The Three Stooges.
Alas, his wall crypt is hard to find. It's located deep within the huge
Garden of Memories outdoor mausoleum. His crypt is in a small, triangular
courtyard located between the Court of Love (Incidentally, for faithful fans of the Three
Stooges: Moe's brother Curly Howard
is buried at Home of Peace cemetery
in Boyle Heights, and Larry Fine is
buried at Forest Lawn Glendale.)
Gangster Mickey Cohen (1914-1976) is also here (in the same Alcove of Love, crypt A-217), buried as 'Meyer H. Cohen' in a standard wall crypt (at the other corner to the left of Moe.). He ran the Hollywood mob back in the 1930's. A former prize fighter, he fell in with Bugsy Seigel and began operating a bookie joint out of several Hollywood locations, including the back room of what is now the Comedy Store.
(You'll find fellow
gangster Bugsy Seigel at Hollywood Memorial
Park.)
[click on the small images to see larger photos.]
He also hosted a popular game show in the
1950's called "Treasure Hunt" and appeared on a number of TV
shows from the era, including "Mannix", "The Lucy
Show" and "The Man From U.N.C.L.E."
He was best known for his starring roles in both the original 1953 sci-fi classic "War of the Worlds", (a role later reprised by Tom Cruise), and on the hit TV Western series "Bat Masterson" in the late 1950s & early '60s. Barry's character stood out in an era when TV was filled with Westerns.
His crypt is three from the bottom, and about six to the right of that statue.
There, you'll find the wall crypts of actress/dancer Cyd Charisse (1922-2008) and her husband, singer Tony Martin (1913-2012). They are on the first floor, wall S, crypt 40. Cyd is best remembered for dancing with Gene Kelly in the Broadway Melody ballet number in the classic "Singin' in the Rain" and "Brigadoon", and dancing with Fred Astaire in "Silk Stockings" and "The Band Wagon". Her husband, Tony Martin, was a matineee
idol with a semi-operatic voice, but the baritone managed to have 12
songs hit the Top Ten in his day (includingas "There's No Tomorrow" and "I Get Ideas".) He also appeared in a number of films, most of them musicals, but also including the 1948 drama "Casbah".
He had been briefly married
to actress Alice Faye, but his marriage to Ms. Charisse lasted 60
years. Despite the fact that he was almost ten years older than Cyd,
and despite the fact that she lived to age 86, Tony outlived her,
living to age 98.
Look for a tree near the curb here with a white bench next to it. Vic is buried in the first row to the right of the tree (when your back is facing the road), seven or eight spaces in from the curb.
But even that role was overshadowed by reports of his tragic death, which made worldwide headlines. Vic was carrying two children while filming a chase scene in "Twilight Zone: the Movie," when a helicopter flying low overhead was hit by a special-effects explosive used in the filming. The copter crashed, its blades decapitating Morrow and killing both child actors.
[Click
here to see a map of the Hillside grounds.]
He played the beloved, pointy-eared, half-Vulcan on the original "Star Trek"
TV series in the 1960s for just three seasons, before the show was
canceled in 1969. But he spent the rest of his life being identified with
the character. In 1979, the popularity of "Star Wars" renewed studios' interest in sci-fi sagas, and Paramount launched a series of new "Star Trek" movies that revived the U.S.S. Enterprise on the big screen, with Leonard Nimoy back in the classic role of Spock, opposite William Shatner's Captain Kirk. As mentioned elsewhere on this
site, he was inspired to create Spock's famous spread-finger Vulcan
salute by a similar gesture used by Jewish priests during blessings. Over his career, Leonard
Nimoy played many roles, mostly on TV, ranging from Apache warriors on
old TV westerns to a regular role (as 'Paris') on the original
"Mission: Impossible" TV series. And he even directed. But
it always seemed to come back to Spock. In 1975, perhaps a little
frustrated by it all, he wrote a book titled "I Am Not Spock".
But two decades later, in 1996, he wrote another book (perhaps
surrendering to the inevitable) called "I Am Spock". Just two years before his death, he once again appeared as the (aging, time-traveling) Vulcan in "Star Trek: Into Darkness", part of Paramount's' new reboot of the "Star Trek" saga with a new cast filling the well-known roles. Among the mourners at his funeral here at Hillside were "Star Trek" director J.J. Abrams, Zachary Quinto (who plays young Spock in the new films) and Chris Pine (who plays young Kirk). To find his grave, you'll have to look behind (east/northeast of) the main mausoleum. Behind it, you'll find a
curving path that wanders past a very attractive area filled with
boulders, waterfalls, ponds and flowers. This is called The Garden of Salomon. It is hidden behind (northeast of) the area where you'll find the graves of Lorne Greene and Dinah Shore. If you park at the curb, at
the (east/southeast) start of this path, and walk in (west/northwest),
this curving path will first pass a number of lawn graves, then it will
go over a small wrought-iron footbridge, before reaching the waterfall
area. Mr. Nimoy's grave is just past this small footbridge. In fact, it's the very first small boulder you will encounter after the bridge ends, on your right side. It would appear that he was cremated
and his ashes buried either under or within the boulder. There is
a marker on the boulder that identifies it (see the photos). As of March 2015,
when I shot these photos, the current marker was a temporary, paper
one. Since then, a permanent marker has been added to his grave. The official location is Garden of Solomon, Block 4, Space 10. (This Bing map will show you the exact spot.)
There are two other celebrities
buried along the winding path of this new area of brooks & ponds,
along with 'Mr. Spock', and surprisingly all three died in the same
year: 2015.
Most famous for his lead role of 'Tevia' in "Fiddler on the Roof", which he performed on stage over 2,000 times, he also originated the role of Captain Von Trapp in Broadway's "The Sound of Music".
On TV, he starred in a memorable episode of "The Twilight Zone", and "Star Trek" fans will remember him as Worf's (human) adopted-father.
This is the grave of Jerry Weintraub (1937-2015). You may be trying to place that familiar name, but Mr. Weintraub was a behind-the-scenes Hollywood star, a producer who gave us films like "The Karate Kid", "Oh, God!" and the "Oceans Eleven" franchise, and even the TV series "Westworld".
Starting out as an agent and concert
manager, he also produced the musical TV specials of a number of singers
that he also represented as a manager, including Frank Sinatra, Neil
Diamond, John Denver and the Carpenters.
While you are in the neighborhood, you should make it a point go next door to Holy Cross Cemetery, where you'll find the grave of the beloved Bing Crosby and many other celebrities (see the accompanying article). [This
is page three of a three-page article. Click here
to go to the first page.] Hours: Sun-Fri: 8:30 AM - 4:30 PM. Closed on Saturdays. Getting there: Hillside is located just south of the Fox Hills Mall, southeast of the intersection of the San Diego (405) Freeway and the Marina Del Rey Freeway. Its green hillsides and large Jolson memorial can be easily seen from the 405 freeway. / From the San Diego (405) Freeway north, take the Slauson Avenue exit. Turn right (east) at the first stoplight on Green Valley Circle, and drive less than half a mile to Bristol Parkway, then turn right again (south) on Bristol Parkway. Go two blocks south on Bristol to Centinela Avenue (at the base of the 405 freeway). Turn left (southeast) on Centinela and go a short distance to the cemetery gate (look for the green & white sign with a Star of David), then turn left through the park's open iron gates. |
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