Gloria Stuart

Gloria Stuart

(1910 -2010)

Gloria Stewart( she changed it to Stuart) was an American actress and artist. Most people remember her now as the iconic “Old Rose” in  the movie  “Titanic”, but she had been acting since about 1932. Kate Winslet is a stunner of course, but I think Gloria could have held her own with any beauty in her heyday. She was in about 79 movies and television shows, and was a star in her own right, not too long after the real Titanic sank(about 20 years or so!)

Read about her life and you will see someone who lived a rich, rewarding existence. She was cremated, so no grave to visit, but Obscurely Famous none the less!

Trivia:

At 87, she was the oldest person ever nominated for an Academy Award(for “Titanic” of course)

Marilyn Monroe

Marilyn Monroe

(1926 – 1962)

Norma Jean Baker was an American actress, singer, and model. She is so Iconic, I could go on for days about her so let’s just say this: She was so beautiful, it takes your breath away(take a look at pictures of her without makeup or just relaxing) and yet had a tragic quality of a person just trying to survive like the rest of us. Not saying she didn’t have to be tough to make it in the industry she was in, but it had obviously consumed her when she died at age 36.

She is buried in Westwood Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California.

Trivia:

One of the biggest movie stars of all time, she was never even nominated for an Academy Award…….

She was the very first Playmate for Playboy Magazine.

Jim Morrison

Jim Morrison

(1943 – 1971)

James Douglas Morrison, the Lizard King, was an American singer, poet, andsongwriter best remembered as the lead vocalist for The Doors. An enigmatic performer with a genius IQ, he was as unpredictable as they come. After reading about Arthur Rimbaud’s life , he sometimes said he was going to drop out and disappear, and then if he wanted to contact anyone, he would use the code name “Mr. Mojo Risin”, an anagram for “Jim Morrison”. After he died at the age of 27, the rumors flew(and still do) that he was still alive, and since no one ever saw his body, everybody waited…….. Over 40 years later we are still waiting for Mr. Mojo Risin. I don’t think he is coming back, but his legend keeps growing. There is a good book called “No One Here Gets Out Alive”,(based on a lyric of his) by Danny Sugerman and Jerry Hopkins that is a great read about his life.

He is buried in the Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise in Paris France.

Trivia:

This cemetery has over 1 million permanent residents……… !

Heath Ledger

Heath Ledger

(1979 – 2008)

Heath Andrew Ledger was an Australian actor and director. Incredibly gifted, he was a star at 20, and gone by age 28. His roles in The Patriot, Monsters Ball, Brokeback Mountain, to name a few, are priceless. His performance in The Lords of Dogtown is also so good sometimes you forget it’s him.

Then there is The Dark Night. Unforgettable , scary, tragic, unreal. He won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor posthumously for this role. What he might of done is something to ponder, but I guess we should appreciate how brightly his star burned while he was here. He was cremated and his ashes scattered at the site of his Grandparent’s grave in Perth, Australia, at the Karrakatta Cemetery and Crematorium.

Trivia:

Most of his acclaimed performances were done with an American accent, further proof of his talent.

Chang and Eng

Chang and Eng

(1811 – 1874)

Chang and Eng were conjoined twin brothers whose birth place and condition became the basis for the term “Siamese twins”. (Siam was the name off the current country Thailand at that time). They were joined at the sternum, and their livers were fused. Of course, someone tried to make money of their misfortune and they were brought to America in 1839 by a man named Robert Hunter.

But…..

They were determined to live as normally as possible, and in 1839 they bought land in Wilkesboro NC.

Here is where it gets interesting:

They married sisters in 1843.

They shared a bed built for 4.

They had 21 kids between them (Chang 11 and Eng 10)

After a number of years the wives had a falling out, and separate households were set up, and the brothers would alternately spend 3 days at each house.

With the strange life they were destined to lead, they maintained a high reputation for honesty and integrity, and were highly respected by their neighbors.

And we think we have problems! We could could all learn a lesson from these guys about dealing with adversity.

They are buried in The White Plains Baptist Church Cemetery in White Plains, North Carolina.

Lillian Lorraine

Lillian Lorraine

(1892 – 1955)

Lillian was an entertainer, considered one of the greatest beauties of the Broadway Stage before WW 1. Known as one of the most popular “Ziegfeld Girls”, it didn’t hurt that she became Florenz Ziegfeld’s mistress and the resulting affair broke up his marriage. A fixture for 3 or 4 years in the “Ziegfeld Follies”, her personal life was scandalous. Drinking, blackmail, affairs, a shadowy connection to the mob(reportedly to Arnold Rothstein, the man that fixed the 1919 World series, called the Black Sox Scandal), helped her burn out but she still found time to act in 10 silent films.

Her life should be a movie!

Originally buried in a pauper’s grave in the Calvary Cemetrery(Queens),She is now buried in Saint Raymonds Cemetery in the Bronx, NY. Singer Billie Holiday is buried in the same cemetery , as well as singer Frankie Lymon, and actress Lois Nettleton.

Fred Gwynne

Fred Gwynne was an American Actor remembered most for his role as Herman Munster in the 60”s sitcom “The Munsters”. Completely typecast to most people who weren’t aware of him before, he was actually what I would call a renaissance guy. He was a well respected author of Children’s Books (10 of them), a Harvard Graduate, and a Navy Vet during WW 2. Somewhere between all of that he acted in many movies, television and theater. Not a bad record……check out his work if you get a chance. He died in 1993, 8 days before his 67th Birthday, and is buried in the Sandy Mount United Methodist Cemetery, Finksburg, Maryland, in an unmarked grave.

Trivia: While he will always be Herman Munster, the show only ran for two seasons, but still has cult status……

Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin

Jean Eugene Robert-Houdin

( 1805 – 1871 )

A French Magician, he is widely considered the father of modern style conjuring. So good was he as an entertainer that Napoleon III used him to prove French magic was powerful and quell a rebellion in French Algeria.

His real name was Jean Eugene Robert, and when he married Josephe Cecilia Houdin, he got a special dispensation from the French Government to use HER last name. Hmmmmm……Oh well, He was great magician, one of, if not the, most famous of his time.

He is buried in Blois, Department de Loir-et-Cher

Centre, France

Trivia-

A Magician named Eric Weiss from Hungary was so impressed with Houdin that he changed his name…… to Harry Houdini…..Even so, later, Houdini , disillusioned with Houdin, wrote a book called “The Unmasking of Robert-Houdin” because he believed that Houdin took credit for other performer’s innovations.

Leslie Nielson

Leslie Nielson

( 1926 – 2010 )

You remember him as a brilliant comedic actor, but Canadian born Leslie Nielson was in over 100 films and  150 Television programs in his career, many of them dramatic roles. “Forbidden Planet” and “The Poseidon Adventure” were two great roles for their time. He is forever Frank Drebin, but the  serious roles are there all though his career, and if  comedy is really as hard as they say, He made it look easy.  We should all appreciate his work- He was one of a kind.

He is buried at Evergreen Cemetery in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida.

As one final bit of  humor, he chose “Let ‘er rip” to be on his tombstone……. Ya gotta love a guy that is after laughs till the very end.

Phil Lynott

Phil Lynott

( 1949 – 1986 )

Founding member of the band “Thin Lizzy”, Phil Lynott was born in England, but raised in Ireland, and considered himself to be Irish. If you aren’t familiar with their music, I’ll bet you remember the song “The Boys are Back in Town”, it’s a standard of seventies rock, but there was a lot more to the band than that one song. He was a great songwriter and charismatic performer, but he also wrote poetry, having two books published of his work before he died. Like a lot of Rock stars, he fell victim to the party life, and his last years were clouded with Alcohol and heroin.

He died in Dublin, Ireland and was buried in St. Fintan’s Cemetery.