Celebrity Graveland

August 13, 1895 – December 4, 1967

Tony Award-winning comedian/actor, Bert Lahr, dropped out of school to join a vaudeville troupe. It was on the stage that he spent most of his career. But it was on film – one film, in particular – where he found his greatest and most notable success. Lahr brought his humor and bravado to the role of the Cowardly Lion in the classic The Wizard of Oz and generations have loved him for it.

Irving Lahrheim was New York through and through. He was born there. He died there. And he performed practically the entire time in between. He had a long, successful career on Broadway working alongside such greats as Flo Ziegfeld and Ethel Merman and notably originated the role of Estragon in the first American production of Waiting for Godot. He dabbled in film and television, but it was Oz that would be his biggest hit. Warned about Hollywood’s penchant for type-casting, Lahr famously responded, “Yeah, but how many parts are there for lions?”

Lahr died of cancer – which he didn’t know he had – at the age of 72, while filming his last movie, The Night They Raided Minksy’s.

Burial

Union Field Cemetery – Queens, NY

Specific Location

Follow the Main Road all the way to the back of the cemetery until it turns left (Central Ave.). Past the residential area, there will eventually be a series of numbered paths on your right. Take Path 5 and Bert’s family plot will be the fourth one on your right.

This entry was posted on December 27, 2016 at 10:03 pm and is filed under Union Field Cemetery with tags Union Field Cemetery, Wizard of Oz. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.