There’s the obelisk to Harrison Gray Otis, leader of the paper soon after it was founded in 1881 and owner from 1884. The Times folks get their own little section. The first is the mausoleum of Marion Davies, the actress who was the longtime mistress of newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, the inspiration of Orson Welles’ “Citizen Kane.” The whole thing backs up against the Paramount backlot.Īs a journalist, there are two areas of interest when I visit Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

The cemetery is the final resting spot of silent-era heartthrob Rudolph Valentino, studio head Harry Cohn, gangster Bugsy Siegel and dozens of other famous folks. In the summer, it shows movies on the grounds. Hollywood Forever fully embraces its tourist attraction role. My 17-year-old son’s favorite spot is the oddest grave in Southern California, housing a graphic artist and missile enthusiast named Carl Morgan Bigsby, who had his headstone carved into a 20-foot replica of an Atlas rocket. My wife and daughter performed the traditional kiss of Dee Dee’s gravestone (it’s covered with lipstick-slathered smacks). Groundskeepers, tourists and locals alike claim to have experienced strange phenomena at night. It’s no surprise that it’s rumored to be haunted. There is a lot of history associated with this landmark. Dee Dee was buried after dying of a heroin overdose in 2002. Located at 412 South Cherry Street in Richmond, Virginia, Hollywood Cemetery is one of the most well-known and beautiful cemeteries in America. Mendoza in Hollywood (aka At the Edge of the West) / book four The Graveyard. Dee Dee’s headstone, black and inscribed “OK… I gotta go now,” was across a lake from Johnny, past Tyrone Power and Cecil B. Mendoza in Hollywood & The Graveyard Game are early reprints. It’s right next to a memorial to Academy Award winner Hattie McDaniel (Mammy in “Gone With the Wind”) and across a narrow road from the reflecting pool of the crypt for Douglas Fairbanks (Sr. We saw Johnny’s marker, called a cenotaph, with a bust of him playing guitar (he was cremated after his death from prostate cancer in 2004).

Hollywood graveyard