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Looking north through its front gates, you can see
the Hollywood Sign up atop the Hollywood Hills. Looking south, you can
see the historic back lot of the famous Paramount
Studios. And interred throughout the cemetery grounds are some of the
most famous stars in the history of Old Hollywood, including Rudoph Valentino,
Mickey Rooney, Douglas Fairbanks, Nelson Eddy,
Peter Lorre, Janet Gaynor,
Tyrone Power and Clifton
Webb.
The new pavilion is at the south end of the
existing (Abbey) mausoleum, on the west side of the park (which
is described below), a gray, ivy-covered building with glass doors that
face east. It is officially a private building, and, early on, the doors were usually locked. But
recently, visitors have found the doors open most of the time, so you
will probably be able to enter the pavilion for a closer look. ( But even if they're locked when you arrive, they are glass doors, and Judy's new crypt is clearly visible just inside if you peek in.)
Considering that her longtime childhood co-star,
Mickey Rooney, was just recently buried at Hollywood Forever, it seems
fitting for Judy to be here as well. They always made a great pair
onscreen in 10 movies ranging from the "Andy Hardy" series to musicals like "Babes in Arms". Of course, as both a singer and an actress, Judy was a Hollywood legend in her own right, from her adolescent days when she starred as 'Dorothy' in "The Wizard of Oz", through her young solo musicals such as "Meet Me in St. Louis" and "The Harvey Girls", to her adult roles in films like "Easter Parade" (with Fred Astaire) and 1954's "A Star is Born", she had one hit after another. She won a special Oscar for her role in "The Wizard of Oz", and was nominated for another for her work in "A Star is Born". That movie career was supplemented by TV shows and specials over the years, and of course, concerts and her recordings. Besides the classic "Somewhere Over the Rainbow", Judy also introduced the songs "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas", "The Trolley Song", "Good Morning", "The Boy Next Door", "Be a Clown" and "The Man That Got Away", among others. She released scores of singles, and her album "Judy at Carnegie Hall" hit gold, winning five Grammy Awards and staying at number one on the charts for 13 weeks. Unfortunately, Judy died young, at just 47, from
an accidental overdose of barbiturates (a habit she reportedly picked up
as a youngster in show biz, when she was given pills by adults to help
her work longer hours). To find her pavilion, turn right (west) as you drive
into the park, and follow the road around the bend (it turns south) to the first large
mausoleum you see, on your right (west) side. Judy's new pavilion is near the
south end of that western mausoleum, and juts out from the older
building. (The doors face east, so you'll be walking west as you enter.)
This is a large cemetery, with two huge indoor mausoleums and countless outdoor graves. You will need a map if you are going to locate any of the stars' burial sites. Fortunately, the administration here is cooperative, and you can pick up a map of the grounds as you enter the park, from the flower shop at the main gate, which highlights the locations of many of the stars buried here.
Some sections of the cemetery grounds are a little unkempt (more than a handful of tombstones are broken or tilted by overgrown tree roots), but the tranquil area by the lake is beautiful. There are two major mausoleums, both filled with Hollywood movie stars. And despite their age, both buildings are white and sunny (illuminated by stained-glass skylights), not at all the sort of dark & spooky environs your imagination might conjure up when you think of an old mausoleum. We will first visit the mausoleum on the far west side of the park, which is named the "Abbey of the Psalms." Here, you will find the crypts of actress Norma Talmadge (and her sisters Constance & Natalie); famed director Victor Fleming, actress Joan Hackett, movie mogul Jesse Lasky, actress Darla Hood, and Charlie Chaplin Jr. (Most of the crypts here aren't numbered, but as
you enter each section, note that the names of the various hallways and
corridors are conveniently written on the tile floor.)
Norma Talmadge (1894-1957),
all but forgotten by today's movie-goers, was a superstar in her day. In
fact, Her sister, Constance Talmadge
(1897-1973),
also buried here, starred in D.W. Griffith's 1916 silent epic, "Intolerance,"
while Natalie Talmadge (1895-1969)
was married to Buster Keaton
and co-starred with him in many of his silent comedies.
[Click
on the small markers to see larger versions.]
If you have read the page on this website about the Hollywood
Studio Museum, you know that Jesse Lasky and Cecil B. DeMille
shot the first full-length movie ever made in Hollywood, "The Squaw Man,"
back in 1913. Lasky's Famous Players
Next is Victor Fleming (1883-1949).
Perhaps no other director on earth accomplished what Fleming did in 1939,
when he directed two of the most beloved movies in the history of
Hollywood in the very same year: "The Wizard
of Oz" and "Gone With the
Wind." (Interesting that he should wind up buried just a short walk away from the final resting place of Judy Garland.)
Go back outdoors to the front of the mausoleum. Now, turn right, into the second corridor on your right (the Sanctuary of Trust). Walk north, past one side corridor (on your right), and a second side-corridor (on your left), then stop and face the left (west) wall. Here, on the bottom row, you'll find the crypt of Charlie Chaplin's son, Charlie Chaplin Jr. (1925-1968)
(Chaplin's mother, Hannah,
is also buried at this cemetery, over by the lake.)
"Go Away - I'm Asleep.."
To find the final star in this mausoleum, go back
into the main (east-west) hallway, and walk west to the rear of the
building and the last corridor. Turn to the right (north), into the Sanctuary
of Memories [see
a map] and walk about 26 spaces down the corridor, and look
at the wall of crypts on your left (west) side, three spaces up from the
bottom. Here, you'll find the crypt one of the of more recent celebrities to be buried at Hollywood Forever, actor Iron Eyes Cody (1904-1999). When he died in 1999, the obituaries referred to him as "the Crying Indian." And perhaps most people do remember him most from that 1971 series of "Keep America Beautiful" anti-littering TV commercials, where he played the Indian chief shedding a tear over a polluted American landscape. But Iron Eyes Cody (born Espera DiCorti) had
a long history as an actor playing Native American roles in Hollywood.
It's time to leave this mausoleum and cross to the southeast section of the park, to discover superstars such as Valentino and Douglas Fairbanks...
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