Bon Scott

Bon Scott

(1946 – 1980)

Lead singer for AC DC on some of their classic hits,  He replaced Dave Evans as the lead singer of AC DC in 1974. In 2004, he was voted by Classic Rock as the number one frontman of all time in front of Freddie Mercury and Robert Plant. Hit Parader in 2006 had him fifth on their list of the 100 greatest heavy metal vocalists of all time. High Voltage, T.N.T., and Dirty Deeds Done Dirt Cheap, what else can I say. Some of the greatest Rock ever, for me anyway. Bon Scott may have been one of the wildest frontmen ever, too. Read about his life if you get a chance. A lot of people don’t even remember him, but I’ll bet they remember the songs……….

He is buried in Fremantle, Western Australia, and his is reportedly the most visited grave in Australia. The National Trust of Australia decreed his grave important enough to be included on the list of classified heritage places.

Al Capone

Alphonse Capone

(1899 – 1947)

Probably the best known of the 1920’s gangsters, he ruled Chicago for a time. His name is synonymous even now with the roaring 20’s, Chicago, bootlegging, and vice of that era. He was actually born in New York, committed his first murder in 1924. Witnesses were bribed and he was found innocent, and the killings peaked when he ordered “The St. Valentine’s Day Massacre” in 1929(seven members of the Bugs Moran gang were killed). He was finally brought down on income tax evasion charges and sentenced to 11 years. He was only about 33 when he went to jail. He died in 1947 from cardiac arrest resulting from third stage syphilis . He is buried in the Mt Carmel Cemetery in Hillside, Illinois(Cook County).

Trivia:

Several other organized crime figures are buried there too-

Machine Gun Jack McGurn

Frank Nitti

Dion O’Banion

Jake Lingle

Sam Giancana

Jim Varney

 

 

 

 

Jim Varney

(1949 – 1950)

Jim Varney was a versatile actor, writer, comedian, and voice artist. Many remember him as Earnest, but probably don’t know he was working in television before the commercials that made Earnest

famous. He studied Shakespeare at the Barter theater in Abingdon, VA(one of the coolest old theaters you will ever find, if you get the chance to go there), and said that his dream role was Hamlet.

A great talent, I think it is awesome that they put the Comedy and Tragedy masks on his grave stone. It shows, I think anyway, his dedication to his craft.

He’s buried in the Lexington Cemetery in Lexington, Ky.

Trivia:

Adolph Rupp the revered Kentucky Basketball coach, and Henry Clay, considered one of the greatest senators ever, are both buried there as well.

Maude Adams

 

Maude Adams

(1872 – 1953)

Maude Ewing Kiskadden was and American actress that used the stage name Maude Adams. Most of her life was on the stage( for the first time at 9 months!).  She was the highest paid actor of her day, with a yearly income of over one million dollars during her peak. Talented, beautiful, mysterious, I was fascinated by her the first time I saw her picture. Peter pan is considered her greatest role on Broadway, but………

Trivia!

The movie “Somewhere in Time” is a great fantasy movie, has a cult following. The book is good too, called “Bid Time Return”. Richard Matheson, the author, reportedly based the main character, Elise McKenna, on Maude Adams. He saw a portrait of Maude in Nevada and said he fell in love with her, and wrote the story from there. Strange coincidence that I picked Maude Adams out of an old book by Daniel Blum and read as much as I could about her life(REALLY liked her, not sure I loved her lol), and then found out the character of Elise McKenna was based on her, since “Somewhere in Time” is one of my favorite movies.

Maude starred in “The Little Minister” and in the book, the play written for Elise is, you guessed it- “The Little Minister”

She is buried in Lake Ronkonkoma, NY in the cemetery of the Sisters of the Cenacle . Her friend Louise Boynton is buried beside her and her name is on the same stone.

Charlie “Bird” Parker

 

 

Charlie “Bird” Parker

(1920 – 1955)

A highly influential Jazz Soloist, personifying the jazz musician as an uncompromising artist and intellectual rather than just an entertainer. Parker’s uniquely identifiable style dominated Jazz for many years. Born in Kansas City, Mo, He poured his heart out in his 34 years. Brought down by heroin addiction and alcohol(a coroner estimated his age at 50 to 60), He is buried in the town of his birth at the Lincoln Cemetery, even tho he considered New York his home, and even told some he wanted to be buried there.

Check out his music!

Cool thought: Charles Mingus had a piece called “If Charlie Parker was a gunslinger, there’d be a whole lot of dead copycats. “

Ty Cobb

 

Tyrus Raymond  “Ty” Cobb

(1886 -1961)

“The Georgia Peach” was an American Major League Baseball player. He is widely credited with setting 90 records in his Major League career. Mind boggling ! One that may never be broken, is a .367 (or .366 depending on source) lifetime batting average. Unbelievable that anyone could hit over .300 for 23 straight seasons. His reputation has been tarnished with allegations of violence and racism, and even the kindest description, in my opinion, would be that he was one rough ol’ boy. Not a guy to pick a fight with, but no one can argue with, however he played the game, that he is arguably the greatest Player ever. There is a great book by Al Stump about him this has a lot of info.It’s called “Cobb” and was made into a film starring Tommy Lee Jones.

He is buried in Royston, Georgia at Rose Hill Cemetery. Only three Baseball players attended his funeral.

Trivia:  A shrewd business man, Cobb’s estimated net worth at the time of his death was  about 11.8 million dollars. That’s 93 million in todays dollars, folks.