Celebrity Graveland

May 7, 1922 – February 25, 2006

“Fra-gee-lay” …it must be Italian!”

Darren McGavin’s career spanned more than 40 years. He appeared in films ranging from 1955’s Summertime with Katharine Hepburn to Adam Sandler’s Billy Madison in 1995. His second most well-known role was that of Carl Kochak in the TV movie The Night Stalker and its subsequent sequel and spin-off series. McGavin’s MOST well-known role was, of course, as the comically gruff and oblivious old man in the 1983 holiday classic, A Christmas Story. Continue reading →

June 26, 1904 – March 23, 1964

Born in Vienna, Peter Lorre (László Löwenstein) was already on his way to stardom in Europe appearing on the German stage as well as in films including – most notably – Fritz Lang’s 1931 chiller, M. Then in 1933, the Nazis took control of Germany and Lorre fled to England where he was able to continue his career. He appeared in Hitchcock’s The Man Who Knew Too Much before sailing to the United States. In Hollywood, Lorre found success in bit roles and B-movies usually playing sinister foreign characters. In 1941, he went to work for Warner Bros. in the John Huston classic The Maltese Falcon. The film changed the trajectory of Lorre’s career and he went on to appear in numerous films with co-stars Humphrey Bogart, Claude Raines and Syd Greenstreet including the all-time opus, Casablanca. Continue reading →

November 19, 1889 – October 13, 1966

Clifton Webb was already a 20+ year veteran of the Broadway stage – where he starred in memorable classics like As Thousands Cheer, Blithe Spirit and the Gershwins‘ Treasure Girl – when he landed his first major film role in 1944’s noir classic, Laura, opposite Gene Tierney. Webb’s portrayal of the charismatic newspaperman in the film earned him his first of three Academy Award nominations. Continue reading →

May 6, 1895 – August 23, 1926

Before Michael Jackson. Before Elvis. Before Marilyn. There was Valentino.

Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguella, known to the world as “Rudolph Valentino” was an Italian-born silent film actor who was an international sex symbol and one of the first Hollywood superstars. And his life and career had all the trappings of a Hollywood superstar: getting caught up in a murder in New York, fleeing to Los Angeles and stumbling into the motion picture industry, marrying too many women at the same time. You know, the standard tropes. His exotic good looks and dancing ability enabled him to play a range of characters from a sheik in 1921’s The Sheik to a Spanish bullfighter in 1922’s Blood and Sand. Continue reading →