Welcome to Hollywood Graveyard, where we set out to remember and celebrate the
lives of those who lived to entertain us, by visiting their final resting places.
Today we conclude our tour of New York, in Westchester County, where we'll find
such stars as Babe Ruth, Billie Burke, James Cagney, and many more.
Join us, won't you?
Hard to believe it, but we've reached the final stretch of
our tour of New York. We'll continue to make our way through Westchester County
at Kensico and Gate of Heaven cemeteries. If you haven't done so
already be sure to check out parts one through four.
Just a few miles north east
of Ferncliff, where we left off part 4, is Kensico Cemetery. This is a
non-denominational cemetery founded in 1889 as part of the surge of rural
cemeteries in New York after the Rural Cemetery Act was passed.
It sits on close to 500 acres here in the beautiful Valhalla area.
Let's make our way in from the southern entrance, off Grasslands, and head to
section 93 northeast a ways. A short walk in leads us to "The Iron Horse," legendary
New York Yankee, Lou Gehrig. He played major league baseball for the
Yankees from 1923 until 1939, and remains one of the sport's greatest players.
His nickname, "The Iron Horse," comes from his record-setting streak of continuous
games played: 2,130, a record that stood until 1995. He played first base, and was
one of the most dominant hitters in baseball, with a career batting average
of .340 and 493 total home runs. The Yankees won six World Series with Gehrig.
In 1938 his performance began to slip, but more than just the effects of age.
He voluntarily took himself off the Yankee lineup in 1939 and was soon after
diagnosed with ALS, a neuromuscular disease, now commonly known as
Lou Gehrig's disease. The disease forced him to retire at 36, and two years later it
took his life.
"Today I consider myself the luckiest man on the face of the earth."
[applause]
Let's head to the next section northeast. Just north of the roundabout, near a statue,
are the graves of husband and wife, Flo Ziegfeld and Billie Burke. If you've
watched many of our previous videos you'll probably recall hearing the name
Ziegfeld quite a bit. Here's the man himself. Florenz Ziegfeld was a
theatrical producer, known for his Ziegfeld Follies. Inspired by the
Folies Bergere of Paris, the Ziegfeld Follies were an annual series of elaborate and
extravagant theatrical revues that ran on Broadway from 1907 to 1931, with a few
revivals thereafter. Some of Hollywood's biggest names would
jump start their careers in the follies. Comedians WC Fields and Ed Wynn were
regular performers. Marilyn Miller and Fanny Brice also rose to stardom on
those spectacular stages. And then there was a legendary Ziegfeld Girls -
the quintessential Jazz Age American Beauty who paraded before audiences in
elaborate costumes. These were the chorus girls and showgirls in the follies, as
well as featured performers. Stars like Olive Thomas, Louise Brooks, Dolores
Costello and Billie Dove were Ziegfeld Girls. Outside of the follies Ziegfeld
produced other Broadway shows, including the hit, Show Boat. He died in 1932 at the
age of 66. A fictionalized biopic was made about his life in 1936, The Great
Ziegfeld, starring William Powell as Ziegfeld. The film won the Best Picture Oscar
for that year.
[music]
Ziegfeld is buried next to his wife, Billie Burke. She was an actress who
caught the eye of Ziegfeld as she performed on Broadway in the 19-teens.
They married in 1914. She found great success acting in silent films, beginning
with the 1916 film, Peggy. But by the 20s she began to focus more on stage acting.
But after the stock market crash of 1929 and her husband's death in 1932, Billie
returned to film to support herself. Her best-known role of this period is
perhaps as Glinda, the Good Witch of the North, in The Wizard of Oz.
"I am a witch. I'm Glinda, the witch of the north."
"You are? Oh I beg your pardon.
But I've never heard of a beautiful witch before."
"Only bad witches are ugly."
She was nominated for an Oscar for her role in Merrily We Live, and is also
remembered for her appearances in the Topper film series. Billie lived to be 85.
This statue of a seated woman was dedicated by Billie Burke in honor of her
mother, Blanche.
The next section north is Uncas section.
Here is the final resting place of Ayn Rand. She was a Russian-born author, known
for developing the Objectivist philosophy. She achieved fame with her
1943 novel, The Fountainhead, and in 1957 published her best-known work, her magnum
opus, Atlas Shrugged. The book was eventually made into a multi-part film
series, beginning in 2011.
A short distance east is the grave of Tommy Dorsey,
a trombone player and popular band leader of the swing era. He was
known as the sentimental gentleman of Swing for his mellow and smooth tone.
No one could make the trombone sing quite like Tommy Dorsey. Early in life he
played with his brother, Jimmy, who played saxophone and clarinet. He then broke out
on his own to lead one of the most popular bands in the 30s through the 50s.
Among his hits are "I'll Never Smile Again," and his theme song, "I'm Getting
Sentimental Over You." The first five notes of which are right here on his marker.
[music]
Tommy died suddenly in his sleep at the age of 51.
Continuing north we make our way to Mineola Lake.
Across the street to the east of the lake we find the bench that marks the
final resting place of Danny Kaye, another of the entertainment world's
all-around great talents who found success in nearly every facet of
entertainment. He was known for his idiosyncratic performances and
rapid-fire tongue twisters. Kaye found success on Broadway in the 30s and 40s
including in the Moss Hart comedy, Lady in the Dark. In the 40s and 50s he had a
string of successful films, including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty,
White Christmas, and The Court Jester. Many of his film roles were made memorable by
his musical performances, including the song that is perhaps most closely
associated with him, "Inchworm," first performed in the 1952 film
Hans Christian Andersen.
[music]
He had his own radio show in the 40s, The Danny Kaye Show, and in the 60s would
host a popular variety show of the same name. The show won four Emmys and a
Peabody Award. Danny Kaye continued to sing, act, dance, and make audiences laugh
until he died of heart failure at the age of 76.
Kaye is buried here with his wife, Sylvia Fine,
who was his creative partner. She would not only help manage her husband's
career, but also wrote songs and music for many of his projects, including
The Five Pennies, and The Court Jester. She was nominated for two Oscars for her songs.
Just north of here is the Friar's Club section.
Near the road is Soupy Sales.
He was an early pioneer of children's television, known for his show
Lunch with Soupy Sales, which ran from 1953 to 1966. The silly sketches on his
show often ended with him getting a whipped cream pie to the face.
He estimates that over the span of his career he and his guests took over
20,000 pies to the face. His high-energy antics and rubberface performances made
him one of the most popular performers among children in that era.
One infamously improvised gag came on New Year's Day 1965 when he told all the
kids to take dollars from their parents' wallets and send them to him.
Many children did and they received thousands of dollars. The gag got him suspended but
only increased the popularity of his show. Later in life he also made regular
appearances as panelists on game shows like What's My Line and the $10,000 Pyramid.
He died of cancer at the age of 83.
Let's now turn west to the other side of the cemetery.
Off the roundabout and Pocantico Avenue is the grave of Sergei Rachmaninoff.
He was the Russian pianist and composer of the Romantic period. Among his
best-known works are Prelude in C# Minor,
and Piano Concerto #2.
After the Russian Revolution he fled to the US in 1918 where he continued to
write and perform. One of his personal favorite works, and mine as well,
was Vespers (The All-Night Vigil), the stunningly beautiful angelic choral work.
He requested the fifth movement of this piece be performed at his funeral.
[music]
As his health began to fail he moved to California for the warmer weather,
passing away in 1943 at the age of 69.
Just west of here is a special section
of the Actor's Fund of America and National Vaudeville Association. Not all
stars die wealthy as fame can be fickle and fleeting. So these charities were
established to help aging stars, even with funeral expenses.
In this section we find Olive Deering. She played Miriam in two Cecil B DeMille
biblical epics: The Ten Commandments and Samson and Delilah.
She was also frequently seen on
television in the 50s and 60s, including on Suspense, Perry Mason, The Outer Limits,
and Kraft Theater. She died of cancer at the age of 67.
Also here, further north past a tree is Howard Smith.
The heavyset character actor was
known for roles as judges, police officers, or gruff corporate bigwigs.
He had a role in Orson Welles' infamous radio production of War of the Worlds in
1938, and had roles in films like Death of a Salesman and Murder Inc.
On television he made guest appearances on many of the great shows of the era, from
Bewitched, to The Twilight Zone, and is known for playing Harvey on the
sitcom, Hazel.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 74.
Our last stop in Kensico is in the southwest corner of this same lawn, near
the roundabout. Here is the final resting place of Anne Bancroft. She honed her
skills as an actress at the Actors Studio under Lee Strasberg and would go
on to become one of the finest actresses of her generation. After a slow start in
Hollywood Anne focused on Broadway performances. She won a Tony for her role
in The Miracle Worker, as the woman who teaches Helen Keller. She would appear in
the 1962 film version of the play, which won her the Oscar.
"Teacher.
Teacher."
Having also won an Emmy, Anne Bancroft is one of only a handful of actors to have
won an Oscar, Tony, and Emmy. Today though she's perhaps best remembered for her
role as Mrs. Robinson, the married woman who tries to seduce Dustin Hoffman in
the Graduate.
"Mrs. Robinson you're trying to seduce me."
Anne was married to
legendary comedic filmmaker Mel Brooks, and would appear in a number
of his films as well, including Dracula: Dead and Loving It.
She died of cancer at the age of 73.
Farewell Kensico. Next stop: Gate of Heaven.
Gate of Heaven is a Catholic cemetery adjacent to Kensico to the north.
It was organized between 1916 and 1918.
Like Kensico, Gate of Heaven is surrounded by the beauty of nature.
We're not in upstate New York, but were definitely no longer in the city.
We'll begin our tour of Gate of Heaven in section 47, which is in the southeast
portion of the cemetery. Close to the southwest intersection we find the grave
of Fred Allen. He's considered one of the most popular humorists of the Golden Age
of Radio, in his absurdist radio program, The Fred Allen Show, which ran from 1932
to 1949. Fred innovated radio comedy, with topical humor examining current events
and presenting skits with recurring characters. And he's remembered for his
long-standing mock feud with fellow radio comedian, Jack Benny.
After radio he became a regular panelist on the game show What's My Line.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 61.
One section north of here, section 48, is
where we find the final resting place of Bess Houdini. If you saw part two of our
tour of New York you'll recall our visit to legendary magician, Harry Houdini.
Bess was not only his wife but also a performer and his stage assistant.
After her husband's death she worked to promote Houdini's memory and legacy.
Additionally, because of Houdini's interest in and skepticism toward
spiritualism, before he died he told his wife that after his death if he could
find a way to communicate with her, he would send her the secret message:
"Rosabelle Believe."
Every year on Halloween after Houdini's death
Bess held a seance, but never heard from Houdini.
On the tenth anniversary of his death, she extinguished a candle she had kept
burning beside a photo of Houdini since his death.
"The Houdini shrine has burned for 10 years.
I now, reverently, turn out the light.
It is finished.
Goodnight, Harry."
Later she famously quipped, "Ten years is long enough to wait for any man."
Bess had intended to be buried with Harry after her death, in fact her name
was even placed on the marker with the dates blocked out in anticipation of her death.
But when the time came her family, being Roman Catholic, did not want her
buried in a Jewish cemetery. Do she was laid to rest here, alone
at Gate of Heaven.
Heading now to the western edge of the cemetery in section
23 we find the grave of Dorothy Kilgallen. She began her career as a
columnist, mostly writing show business news and gossip, but also politics sent
true crime. Her column, The Voice of Broadway, was eventually syndicated in
over 140 newspapers. In the 1950s she was often seen right
alongside Fred Allen as a panelist on What's My Line, remaining on the show 15
years until her death at the age of 52 of an apparent accidental overdose.
In section 2 north of here, just in from the road is the final resting place of
actor Sal Mineo. He was one of the rising stars of the 50s and 60s. He dropped out
of school as a child and joined a street gang, and after an arrest for robbery the
age of 10 was given two choices: juvenile detention, or acting school. He chose the latter.
And it wouldn't be long until he appeared on Broadway. He reached the peak
of his success playing play-doh alongside James Dean in Rebel Without a Cause.
His performance earned him an Academy Award nomination. Other memorable
performances include the title role in The Gene Krupa Story, and Exodus, which
earned him another Oscar nomination. But like so many this young talent's life was
cut far too short, depriving the world of what might have been. While in Los
Angeles rehearsing for a play he was stabbed to death in a botched robbery
attempt in an alley near the Sunset Strip. He was 37.
Curving around to the
northeast we reached section 25. Up the hill a short ways is the unmistakable
grave of the Sultan of Swat, the Bambino, or as most people know him: Babe Ruth.
If it isn't evident from all the balls and bats surrounding his grave, he was one of
the greatest baseball players in history, if not the greatest. He began as a
left-handed pitcher for the Boston Red Sox, winning three World Series with the
Sox. In an unprecedented move the Red Sox sold Ruth to the Yankees in 1919,
ushering in an 86 year World Series drought for the Red Sox, known to many as
the Curse of the Bambino. With the Yankees Babe Ruth became a megastar, an
unparalleled hitter, winning for additional World Series with the team.
By the end of his career he had set countless records many, of which took
decades to be broken, and some still stand. His 714 career home runs have only
been surpassed by Hank Aaron and Barry Bonds. His charismatic personality made
him the larger-than-life cultural figure off the field as well in the roaring 20s,
becoming not just a sports hero but an American Hero.
Babe Ruth retired from the game in 1935 and was one of the first five inaugural
members of the Baseball Hall of Fame In 1936.
He was diagnosed with cancer in 1946
and died two years later at the age of 53.
Babe Ruth was portrayed by John Goodman in the 1992 film, The Babe.
Finally, for our last stop,
not just of the day but of our entire New York trip, we make our way up to one
of the iconic landmarks of Gate of Heaven, past the lake to the St. Francis
of Assisi mausoleum and chapel, in the very northern end of the cemetery.
There are no filters on this. This is actually how it looks here inside the
Saint Francis of Assisi Chapel.
It's quite surreal.
Fitting that our last stop
on our tour of New York is an actor considered one of the greatest of
Hollywood's golden age: James Cagney. Early in his career he was known for his
tough-guy gangster roles, shooting to stardom in the 1931 film, The Public Enemy.
Along with the likes of Edward G Robinson, Humphrey Bogart, and George Raft,
James Cagney would come to define the movie gangster.
"Come out and take it ya
dirty yellow-bellied rat or I'll give it to you through the door!"
"Made it Ma! Top of the world!"
His role in Angels with Dirty Faces would earn him an Oscar nomination, and
White Heat is considered one of the greatest gangster movies of all time.
So after cementing himself as a gangster, audiences were surprised and delighted
to discover that Cagney could sing and dance,
quite adroitly at that. In 1942 he portrayed George M Cohan in the biopic,
Yankee Doodle Dandy. The role earned him the Oscar, and is considered by many to
have been his best. His final film role was in Ragtime in 1981.
He died of a heart attack at the age of 86
and his eulogy was read by Ronald Reagan.
The American Film Institute has ranked James Cagney number 8 on their list of top
male stars of the 20th century.
And that concludes our tour of New York.
What are some of your favorite memories of the stars we visited today?
Share them in the comments below, and be sure to like, share,
and subscribe for more famous grave tours.
Thank you for watching, we'll see you back in LA.
It's a bittersweet moment as the sun
sets on us for the last time in New York. Our time here has been amazing,
challenging, inspiring, and unforgettable. We're honored to have visited so many
amazing people from history and to have been able to share these moments with you.
As we pack our bags and head back to LA there are some people I'd like to
acknowledge who made this trip possible: to Jason and everyone on Patreon and
GoFundMe who helped fund this expedition, thank you!
We never would have gotten here without you. To John who wrangled up some
additional footage for us, thank you. And most of all, my good buddy, Will, who was
at my side every minute and every mile of this trip, sacrificing sleep, shins, and
sanity to get us around to New York at a back-breaking pace, all without a hitch.
Thank you, brother!
Farewell New York. Until next time, thanks for the memories...
and also for the pastrami.
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