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For more than 100 years, Hollywood Forever Cemetery has been one of the premier burial locations for entertainment celebrities, studio executives and members of the Hollywood film community. Today, it’s one of the top tourist destinations for fans who want to pay their respects to their favorite stars. “Hollywood Forever Cemetery: The Unauthorized Guide” is the most complete and comprehensive directory to find the final burial locations for everyone from “The First Movie Star” to the most recent additions, along with detailed personal and professional biographies.
Organized as four separate walking tours of the property, the book includes nearly 70 names, from the legendary Rudolph Valentino, Douglas Fairbanks Sr. and Cecil B. DeMille, to more recent additions, including Don Adams, Mr. Blackwell, Estelle Getty and “Vampira.” The book also features the stories behind the stones, including the legend -– and the true story –- behind Valentino’s mysterious “Lady in Black,” the mystery of Marion Davies’ secret child, the ghosts seen at the graves of silent film actress Virginia Rappe and actor Clifton Webb, the death of Carl “Alfalfa” Switzer, the secret life and unsolved murder of director William Desmond Taylor, and the puzzling epitaph on the crypt of gangster Bugsy Siegel.
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“Celebrity grave books have become popular over the years and “Fade to Black” manages to do a good job going where many others have gone before, but does so with a twist – everyone included has received an Academy Award. The book is arranged by each year’s Academy Award ceremony beginning with the first awards given out in 1927 and continues until 1950. For each year the author, Michael Thomas Barry, provides a recap of the evening’s ceremony; a listing of the nominees; a brief biography of the winners along with the location of their grave. Along with many photographs, there are also side-bars entitled “Did You Know?” which offers interesting tidbits. Just a few of the Academy Award winning actors included are Mary Pickford, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Stewart and many more. “Fade to Black,” which is published by Schiffer, is an out of the ordinary look at celebrity graves that would appeal to a larger audience especially if you are a fan of the Oscars. It’s definitely a must for the libraries of celebrity gravers.” – Allan R. Ellenberger, Hollywoodland
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Tour the final resting places of Hollywood’s Oscar-winning legends of the Golden Age (1927 to 1950). Visit burial locations and read shocking life stories and film career biographies of extraordinary actors, actresses, and directors. Stories include famous names such as Mary Pickford, Katharine Hepburn, Clark Gable, Bette Davis, Spencer Tracy, Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Jimmy Stewart, James Cagney, Ingrid Bergman, and many more. Helpful travel directions allow you to sit back, relax, and hold on, as you get up close and personal with some of Hollywood’s greatest bygone icons.
Michael Thomas Barry has lived in Orange County since 1986. He is a graduate of the California State University, Fullerton, with degrees in Criminal Justice and History. Author of Final Resting Places Orange County’s Dead & Famous.
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(lapl)
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“We were like dragonflies. We seemed to be suspended effortlessly in the air, but in reality, our wings were beating very, very fast.” – Mae Murray
“It is worse than folly for persons to imagine that this business is an easy road to money, to contentment, or to that strange quality called happiness.” – Bebe Daniels
”A girl should realize that a career on the screen demands everything, promising nothing.” – Helen Ferguson
In Dangerous Curves Atop Hollywood Heels, author Michael G. Ankerich examines the lives, careers, and disappointments of 14 silent film actresses, who, despite the odds against them and warnings to stay in their hometowns, came to Hollywood to make names for themselves in the movies.
On the screen, these young hopefuls became Agnes Ayres, Olive Borden, Grace Darmond, Elinor Fair, Juanita Hansen, Wanda Hawley, Natalie Joyce, Barbara La Marr, Martha Mansfield, Mary Nolan, Marie Prevost, Lucille Ricksen, Eve Southern, and Alberta Vaughn.
Dangerous Curves follows the precarious routes these young ladies took in their quest for fame and uncovers how some of the top actresses of the silent screen were used, abused, and discarded. Many, unable to let go of the spotlight after it had singed their very souls, came to a stop on that dead-end street, referred to by actress Anna Q. Nilsson as, Hollywood’s Heartbreak Lane.
Pieced together using contemporary interviews the actresses gave, conversations with friends, relatives, and co-workers, and exhaustive research through scrapbooks, archives, and public records, Dangerous Curves offers an honest, yet compassionate, look at some of the brightest luminaries of the silent screen. The book is illustrated with over 150 photographs.
Check out Michael G. Ankerich’s website at http://michaelgankerich.com/
CLICK HERE TO PURCHASE “DANGEROUS CURVES” AT AMAZON
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One of the most alluring, enigmatic, and simply irresistible movie icons of all time, Rudolph Valentino continues to inspire generation after generation of moviegoers. In Rudolph Valentino, The Silent Idol: His Life in Photographs, author Donna Hill retells the story of Valentino’s life using a treasure trove of rare photographs. Drawn from the author’s extensive collection and those of generous fellow collectors and archives, most of the images in this volume have not been seen since the 1920′s; many have never been released publicly until now.
Rudolph Valentino was more than the “sheik” of one of his most famous films. He was more than the legendary star who died at a tragically young age. For long-time fans as well as curious newcomers, these remarkable images — candid snapshots at home, traveling, on film sets — reveal the glamour and charm of the man who continues to beguile and inspire movie lovers to this day.
About the Author:
A lifelong film afficionado with a particular affection for films of the silent era, Donna Hill has collected memoriabilia with regard to Rudolph Valentino for over thirty years. The collection of rare photos is shared by the author’s blurb book, Rudolph Valentino The Silent Idol, his Life in Photographs. The author lives in San Francisco.
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NEW YORK (AP) — Rue McClanahan, the Emmy-winning actress who brought the sexually liberated Southern belle Blanche Devereaux to life on the hit TV series “The Golden Girls,” has died. She was 76.
Click here to continue reading the obituary for Rue McClanahan
Click below to see Blanche and the Lebanese / Lesbian
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The first Latin American actor to become a superstar, Ramon Novarro was for years one of Hollywood’s top actors. Born Ramon Samaniego to a prominent Mexican family, he arrived in America in 1916, a refugee from civil wars. By the mid-1920s, he had become one of MGM’s biggest box office attractions, starring in now-classic films, including The Student Prince, Mata Hari, and the original version of Ben-Hur. He shared the screen with the era’s top leading ladies, such as Greta Garbo, Myrna Loy, Joan Crawford, and Norma Shearer, and became Rudolph Valentino’s main rival in the “Latin Lover” category. Yet, despite his considerable professional accomplishments, Novarro’s enduring hold on fame stems from his tragic death—his bloodied corpse was found in his house on Halloween 1968 in what has become one of Hollywood’s most infamous scandals.
A lifelong bachelor, Novarro carefully cultivated his image as a man deeply devoted to his family and to Catholicism. His murder shattered that persona. News reports revealed that the dashing screen hero had not only been gay, but was dead at the hands of two young male hustlers. Since then, details of his murder have achieved near mythic proportions, obscuring Novarro’s professional legacy. Beyond Paradise presents a full picture of the man who made motion picture history. Including original interviews with Novarro’s surviving friends, family, co-workers, and the two men convicted of his murder, this biography provides unique insights into an early Hollywood star—a man whose heart was forever in conflict with his image and whose myth continues to fascinate today.
REVIEWS:
“Concisely written and carefully researched.” — Variety
“The rise and fall of Ramon . . . Novarro . . . is superbly chronicled in this smooth, solid, exhaustively researched biography.” — San Francisco Chronicle
“Intelligent, thoughtful, knowledgeable.” — Washington Times
”One of the best books on Hollywood in years.” — The Guide
“A remarkable new book. . . as close to the truth as we are able to get.” — Tucson Citizen
Click here to purchase ‘Beyond Paradise’ by Andre Soares
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When The Wonderful Wizard of Oz was written at the turn of the century, it quickly became an icon of American culture. The public and the media were entranced by myths surrounding Baum’s creation. What was the entomology of Oz? What was the meaning of the yellow brick road? Was the Cowardly Lion the leader of the Populist party? Baum himself became a figure of interest: Was he haunted by his world into the characters of his story?
America was itself living i a time of fantasy. With one foot in the more primitive 1800′s — with mysticism and tall tales consuming muchof the population, and the other engrossed in modernization. Baum, spent his early adulthood in the Wild West playing real Cowboys and Indians, fighting for woman’s rights, attending the World’s Fair in Chicago, and getting involved in the first motion pictures.
Ultimately, Baum used his adventures and imagination to create a world that blurred his own sense of reality and fantasy. The Wonderful Wizard of Oz became a force of nature and he was caught up in its power. He understood the magnitude of his fairytale had and began to create a myth around it. He utilized the growing power of media and pop culture to make it bigger and more profitable. He even wrote the first Broadway play to reflect the story of Dorothy and Toto. Later, his estate supported the Judy Garland movei whose iconic ruby slippers are one of the most popular museum items in the world. Even today, modern productions and spin offs are incredibly popular and profitable. The interest in Baum’s world seems endless.
From the Great Plains to Hollywood, Baum’s life had more twists and turns than a cyclone. His writing has touched readers the world over. The story continues to excite and intrigue even more than 70 yeasrs after the classic MGM film first premiered. The Real Wizard of Oz is the first biography of the man behind it all.
Click here to purchase The Real Wizard of Oz at Amazon
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BORN: January 12, 1910, Dusseldorf, Germany
Currently living in London
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Click below to see Luise Rainer as Anna Held in The Great Ziegfeld (1936)
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