Celebrity Grave Hunting, Episode 1

Saturday afternoon we did something that I had been wanting to do for a long time, but just never got around to: Celebrity grave hunting. I did it once back in 1987, but it wasn't until I started reading the Find-a-Grave website a couple of years ago that my interest in celebrity graves was resurrected. And given that we live in Southern California — which is a treasure trove of stars' post-life homes — Tim, Jon, Amy and I set out to find celebrity graves.


I was expecting Liberace's crypt to be shaped like a piano. (09/03/2006)

Our stop for this afternoon was Forest Lawn - Hollywood Hills, since it was close to the Hollywood Bowl where we would be later that night. Plus it had a good sounding list of residents, including Steve Allen, Gene Autry, Buster Keaton, Harriet & Ozzy Nelson, among others.


Jon poses in front of Rod Steiger's home. (09/03/2006)


Our first find was Liberace, who was buried in the same crypt as his mother and brother (about whom Liberace famously said, "I wish my brother George was here."). Shortly thereafter we found famed James Bond film producer Albert "Cubby" Broccoli, Hot Seat host Wally George, Look at Me I'm Sandra Dee and Rod Steiger.


Bette Davis — She did it the hard way. (09/03/2006)

Afterwards, we stumbled onto Bette Davis, Charles Laughton and Freddie Prinze. We struggled a while to find Lucille Ball, only to learn later that her ashes were moved to her hometown of Jamestown, New York in 2002. The other one we had a hard time finding was Lou Rawls, who has only been there since last January.


Freddie Prinze, who was 1/2 of Chico and the Man. (09/03/2006)

At another section of the cemetary, we found Stan Laurel (of Laurel & Hardy fame), onetime president of the Disney Corporation Frank G. Wells (the one who died in a helicopter crash in 1994), and Telly Savalas (aka TV's Kojak). It wasn't until we got there that we realized that we should have left him a lollipop.


Jon and Amy pay their respects to Telly Savalas. Who loves ya, baby? (09/03/2006)

John Ritter was nearby, but despite all our hunting efforts, we weren't able to find him, which was a shame, considering that I am a huge Three's Company nut. Oh well, there's always next time. Who's coming with us?