Bo Diddley

Bo Diddley

( 1928 – 2008 )

Legendary musician, guitarist, vocalist……Born Elias Bates McDaniel in McComb Mississippi, and raised in Chicago, He influenced more big acts than I can name here. He is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his many contributions to R & B and Rock music. If you want some blues, listen to Bo.

He is buried in Rosemary Hill Cemetery, Bronson, Florida.

Trivia:

He co-wrote the song “Love is Strange”, sung by Mickey and Sylvia, a hit (that doesn’t sound like the blues to me) in 1957.

Louise Brooks

Louise Brooks

(1906 – 1985)

Louise was an American dancer and actress. Her first film was an uncredited role in 1925, and she made several silents in America and Europe. She was a wild child for sure, read her autobiography. It’s called “Lulu in Hollywood”, quite a commentary and quite a life. Pandora’s Box is one of her best known films, and remember, this is the silent era, it explores modern sexual mores and even lesbianism. She was quite a girl, and lived her life the way she wanted. After her fall from films, she worked at Saks Fifth Avenue for a while. Beautiful, beautiful lady, that has been re-discovered and has quite a following today. There is even a “Louise Brooks Society”.

She died in 1985 and is buried at the Holy Sepulcher Cemetery in Rochester, New York.

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.

Maurice Barrymore

Maurice Barrymore(Born Herbert Arthur Chamberlayne Blythe) was the patriarch of an American Acting Dynasty. He was a great stage actor in the late 19th century, and married Georgina Drew, a member of another great acting dynasty, the  Drew Family. His children were famous actors in their own right:

John Barrymore

Ethyl Barrymore

Lionel Barrymore

All three are in the American Theatre Hall of Fame. Ethyl and Lionel both won Academy Awards, but John Might arguably be the most remembered for the life he lead.

John’s son, John Drew Barrymore, was an actor, but not nearly as famous as the generation before him.

But-

I’ll bet you know his famous daughter, whose name came from two of the most famous acting families of the 19th century-

Drew Barrymore.

Maurice is buried in at Mount Vernon Cemetery, Philadelphia, PA.

 

Harry Houdini

 

 

Harry Houdini

(1874 – 1926)

Born Erik Weiss, later Erich Weiss, he was a Hungarian American illusionist and escape artist. At least one of, if not the most famous magician ever. He had world wide fame as a magician, made movies, debunked spiritualists, was an aviator(some say the first man to fly an airplane in Australia, but some dispute it), he did it all! To this day people are still trying to figure out how he did his tricks(magic?)

Ironically, he died on Oct. 31, (Halloween), 1926.  He is buried in the Machpelah Cemetery in Queens, NY.

Trivia:  His wife (Bess) wanted to be buried with him when she died, but her family buried her in a Catholic cemetery(Gate of Heaven) 35 miles away in  Hawthorne, NY because the one he is in is Jewish.

Babe Ruth is also buried in the same cemetery as Bess.

Evelyn Nesbit

 

Evelyn Nesbit (1884 – 1967)

Don’t know where to start with her. She was a super, SUPER model in the early 20th century….she was a cultural celebrity, her picture on magazine covers, newspapers, souvenirs, calendars, you name it. The  scandal involving the man who plucked her from a chorus line(Stanford White, who built Madison Square Garden) and her future husband(Pittsburg millionaire Harry k. Thaw) was billed as the crime of the century, and it was only 1906 . The story is chronicled in a great book, “American Eve” if you get the chance to read it. There is a picture of the cover above.

Two movies that I know of were made involving the scandal and her life: “The Girl in the Red Velvet Swing” from 1955 and “Ragtime” from 1981.

She died in a nursing home in 1967 and was buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

John Cazale

 

 

John Cazale

(1935 -1978)

During his six year  film career John Cazale appeared in five films that were nominated for Academy Awards as best picture: The Godfather, The Conversation, The Godfather Part II, Dog Day Afternoon, and The Deer Hunter. One of Hollywood’s premier character actor’s, he is unforgettable as Fredo Corleone in The Godfather. In a relationship with Meryl Streep when he died, he is an incredible presence on screen. He was only 42 when he died and is buried in Holy Cross Cemetery in Malden, Massachusetts.

Junius Brutus Booth

booth-grave

Junius Brutus Booth (1796 – 1852) was an English stage actor, considered by many to be the foremost tragedian  of the mid 19th century. He moved to the United States in 1821, and was he an eccentric! Read about his life if you have time. Like his son Edwin, who was famous in his own right after him, Junius Brutus Booth is remembered as the father of John Wilkes Booth, the assassin of Abraham Lincoln. He is buried in Green Mount Cemetery in Baltimore, MD.

Trivia: He once wrote and mailed a letter threatening to kill Andrew Jackson, who at the time was President of the United States.

Dagmar

 

 

Born Virginia Ruth Egnor, Dagmar was an American Entertainer and Actress. She was the first female star of television. She starred with Jerry Lester, Milton Berle, was on Bob Hopes very first show, and even recorded a duet with Frank Sinatra. Dagmar Bumpers from the fifties were named for here (she had a 42 inch bust, you make the comparison). There is even a guitar named for her because of it’s larger curves. She is buried in Woodmere Cemetery in Huntington, WV .