Mary Astor

Posted in Holy Cross Cemetery (CA) with tags , on October 15, 2013 by Cade

astor1May 3, 1906 – September 25, 1987

Making the transition to the “talkies” was every Silent Era star’s nightmare.  For some, the change was easy and sound only helped make their career greater.

Meet Mary Astor; the young, auburn-haired girl of German descent whose family moved to New York so she could be discovered. A ploy that worked, as it turns out. Astor (born Lucile Vasconcellos Langhanke) landed small roles in silent films and  a contract with Paramount pictures. Though successful, her early life as an actor was not a happy one. In fact, Mary’s life was rife with scandal.  Her parents lived lavishly off the money she made and kept her locked away from the world in their Hollywood mansion. She endured tragic marriages and messy divorces. Lawsuits, affairs, secret diaries, you name it. If TMZ existed in the 1930’s, they would have loved her.

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George C. Scott

Posted in Westwood Memorial Park with tags , on October 15, 2013 by Cade

scott1October 18, 1927 – September 22, 1999

George Campbell Scott won a lot of awards over the course of his prolific career. He didn’t necessarily accept all of them, but he won them nonetheless.

A gifted actor on both stage and screen, Scott is best remembered for his iconic roles in both Dr. Strangelove, or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb and, of course, Patton (with Westwood neighbor Karl Malden). For the latter, he was nominated – for the third time – for an Academy Award. He refused the nomination famously saying “The whole thing is a goddamn meat parade. I don’t want any part of it.” Naturally, he won anyway.  His stage accomplishments were just as decorated. He was nominated for the Tony Award three times for his performances in Uncle Vanya, Inherit the Wind and Death of a Salesman. Continue reading →

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Jimmy Durante

Posted in Holy Cross Cemetery (CA) with tags , , on October 15, 2013 by Cade

durante1February 10, 1893 – March 29, 1980

James Frances Durante and his nose were born in New York City to Italian immigrant parents. Young Jimmy dropped out of school to become a jazz and ragtime pianist. Something he was very good at. By the time he was 27, Durante had his very own New Orleans Jazz Band. But, his piano chops aside, Jimmy Durante was most famous for being a comedian. His self-deprecating humor – he called himself “The Great Schnozzola” because, well… – intentionally butchered language and staccatoed speech patterns earned him fame on the Vaudeville stages, the radio and, ultimately, film and television. Continue reading →

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Lou Rawls

Posted in Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills with tags , on October 14, 2013 by Cade

rawls1December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006

Two things you should know about Lou Rawls: 1) He was a multi-Grammy award winning soul and R&B singer whose career spawned more than 60 albums and 18 Billboard Top 100 singles. And 2) He holds the distinction of being one of the only people represented on this blog who died twice.

While on tour with a young Sam Cooke in 1958, Rawls, then just 23, was in a severe car accident and was pronounced dead at the scene. Not content with that outcome, Rawls decided to come back and scrap it out for another 48 years. Continue reading →

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Milton Berle

Posted in Hillside Memorial Park on October 11, 2013 by Cade

berle1July 12, 1908 – March 27, 2002

Milton Berle. Uncle Miltie. Mr. Television.

Milton Berle was arguably TV’s first great star.  The actor/comedian who got his start as a kid in silent pictures and on vaudeville, rose through the ranks of stage and radio to become the host of NBC’s Texaco Star Theater where he translated the outrageous costumes and slapstick of his youth into a brand new, visual medium: television. America ate it up. Throughout the 1950’s, Berle hosted a variety of versions of the show. In 1951, NBC signed him to a 30-year contract. A little long-sighted, maybe. By the ’60’s his popularity had declined, but he was still able to perform in Las Vegas and in films with a good deal of success. What followed then was a career of guest appearances and upstaging others wherever and whenever possible. Continue reading →

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Rosalind Russell

Posted in Holy Cross Cemetery (CA) with tags , on October 9, 2013 by Cade

russell1June 4, 1907 – November 28, 1976

Multiple Golden Globe and Tony Award winner, Rosalind Russell, was a versatile character actress who made a career out of playing both comedic and dramatic roles. Russell was known for her portrayal of professional-types and was rarely cast as a sex symbol. Her career highlights included films such as His Girl Friday, Mourning Becomes Electra and The Trouble With Angels and stage hits like Auntie Mame and Wonderful Town. In addition to the aforementioned awards, she was also nominated for an Academy Award twice. Continue reading →

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Richard Dawson

Posted in Westwood Memorial Park with tags , , on October 9, 2013 by Cade

dawson1November 20, 1932 – June 2, 2012

Richard Dawson (born Colin Emm in England) was a television personality best known for his role in Hogan’s Heroes opposite Bob Crane, and as the host of the game show Family Feud from 1976 to 1985. Dawson appeared on a number of other TV shows including guest spots on The Dick Van Dyke Show and The Odd Couple and made regular appearances on Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In. He was a panelist on the 1970’s version of the Match Game, which led to his being brought on to host Family Feud. Continue reading →

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Hunter S. Thompson

Posted in Cremated with tags , on October 9, 2013 by Cade

thompson1July 18, 1937 – February 20, 2005

Hunter Stockton Thompson was a writer and journalist, sure. But, let’s not pretend like he was your average, run-of-the-mill cub reporter. Thompson rose to the public eye after spending a year living and traveling with the Hell’s Angels motorcycle gangs. He wrote about the experience and launched what he would refer to from that point on as “Gonzo” journalism. That is, not just reporting the story, but becoming a part of the story. He went on to write his greatest works in this manner. Most notably in his most popular book, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream. 

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Henry David Thoreau

Posted in Sleepy Hollow Cemetery (MA) with tags , , , , on October 9, 2013 by Cade

thoreau1July 12, 1817 – May 6, 1862

“I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach,”

Henry David Thoreau is best remembered as a writer of poems, essays and books and for his leadership in the Transcendentalist movement. He famously removed himself from the grid – if such a thing existed in the 1800’s – and wrote about his intentionally simple life in the woods in his most popular work. Walden. But nothing about him was “simple.” Continue reading →

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Ayn Rand

Posted in Kensico Cemetery with tags , on October 9, 2013 by Cade

rand2February 2, 1905 – March 6, 1982

Little Alisa Zinov’yevna Rosenbaum was born in St. Petersburg, Russia, moved to the United States at the age of 20, wrote some plays, some books, became an armchair philosopher and, some 80 years later, died.

Of course, simplifying Ayn Rand’s life isn’t fair. So, I’ll expand a bit. Most of her early writings were met with limited success, but she made a splash in 1943 with The Fountainhead. This sprawling 700-page philosophical novel earned her international acclaim and was made into a feature film. She followed it up with, arguably, her most famous book, Atlas Shrugged, an even MORE sprawling 1100-page dystopian philosophical mystery-romance. Both novels put her on the literary map. She devoted herself from that point forward to a personal philosophy she referred to as Objectivism – a theme and subject she would promote and explore the rest of her life.

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