Celebrities Underground Tour
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This company was looking for conversational copy for local tours that could either be read on an app or spoken aloud by tour guides. I came up with the tour subject as well as the copy and chose the celebrities available from the Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles. I researched each celebrity and created roughly 500 words of description that could be read while guests walked from stop to stop along the tour.
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Short Description
Discover old Hollywood from a different perspective with the Celebrities Underground Tour! We’ll take you through the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to learn about the legends that started Hollywood, both famous and infamous. Tour highlights include Judy Garland, Bugsy Siegel, Rudolph Valentino, and musicians Johnny Ramone and Chris Cornell.
Introduction
Welcome to the Hollywood Forever, the last resting stop for the Hollywood elite from the golden era of film. Before you embark on this journey through time, I’d like to introduce you to the cemetery. The Hollywood Forever is a celebrity itself! Established in 1899, it’s got quite a history! Several movies and television shows have filmed here over the years, from the 90s TV series ‘Frasier’ to the 2006 movie ‘The Prestige’ to the 2015 hit ‘Straight Outta Compton.’ Every year the cemetery hosts massive events like the outdoor film series Cinespia and Día De Los Muertos to raise money for the upkeep of these spectacular grounds. It’s home to a colony of cats, several families of geese and ducks, and over a dozen peacocks! Along this tour you’ll learn about the celebrities that made Hollywood what it is today. So much has changed and yet so much about Hollywood still echos from the characters that created it. A unique combination of entrepreneurial spirit, emotional turmoil, stormy relationships, and unprecedented creativity will forever link these individuals to the history of Tinseltown. Along the way you’ll learn about the men that founded the Hollywood area of Los Angeles, you’ll learn about Hollywood’s first movie star, and you may even learn some juicy tidbits about your favorite Hollywood legends! So give your legs a stretch and head over to the Colonnade building to the right of the cemetery entrance to get the dirt on your first celebrity!
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Location 1: HJ Whitley, 34.09031, -118.32111
The tour starts where Hollywood starts, with Hobart Johnstone Whitley. Located at the back of the Colonnade building near the entrance of the cemetery, you will walk past the Buddhist Cremation Garden and turn right. Walk to the end of the sidewalk and turn right again, through the wrought iron gates. Inside, Whitley’s grave is the first one on the right, all the way on the bottom. HJ Whitley was a businessman and real estate developer who moved to California when Hollywood was nothing more than a group of 18 families living in the area. Whitley is now known as the “Father of Hollywood” for his buying up of property in the area and subdividing it, allowing more families to move into the Los Angeles suburbs. In 1903 he built the Hollywood Hotel, which was reestablished at Vermont Ave. in 1964 and still stands to this day as a nod to old Hollywood glamour. In 1911 Whitley convinced the first movie studio to set up shop in Hollywood. The Nestor Company built their studio on the corner of Sunset and Gower, less than a mile from where you’re standing! They would later become part of Universal Pictures, the oldest surviving film studio in the United States. Whitley left quite a mark on California. It’s estimated that he founded over 140 towns throughout his life. His development company was responsible for getting the red car train line established in Los Angeles. He even had an oil company that drilled in the Los Angeles area. Whitley died on June 3, 1931 at the age of 83.
Location 2: Florence Lawrence, 34.09036, -118.31694
From Whitley’s grave marker, head back onto the main road of the cemetery and walk East along the wall of the cemetery entrance. When you reach the driveway of the Historic Chapel, take a left up the driveway. The grave of Florence Lawrence is all the way back on the corner, the first grave to the left of the chapel. Florence is forever known as the first movie star. It says so on her grave! When she first starting working in the moving pictures in the early 1900’s studios didn’t even credit their actors in films. They were afraid actors would become famous and demand more money, if you can believe such things… Well, Florence was getting very popular with her movies while working at a studio called Biograph. She was only known at the time as “The Biography Girl,” but she said nuts to that and left Biograph for a little company called the Independent Moving Pictures Company, founded by a man named Carl Laemmle. That company went on to become part of Universal Pictures. Laemmle promised Lawrence that he would give her a marquee. Laemmle started one of the first celebrity death rumors by leaking rumors that Lawrence had been killed by a street car. Then, after a media frenzy surrounding her death, he printed an ad in the newspaper proving that Lawrence was, in fact, alive and starring in his next movie ‘The Broken Oath.’ Lawrence went on to make and lose a small fortune throughout her career. In her later year her star was dimming and her health started failing her. She was diagnosed with a bone disease that induces depression and anemia. Unable to keep working, Florence decided to go out on her own terms, combining rat poison with cough syrup. She wrote a note to her housemate that reads:
“ Dear Bob, Call Dr. Wilson. I am tired. Hope this works. Good bye, my darling. They can't cure me, so let it go at that.
Lovingly, Florence - P.S. You've all been swell guys. Everything is yours.”
Her death was ruled a “probable suicide” due to her health, and Florence was buried here in an unmarked grave. It wasn’t until 1991 that an anonymous actor paid for her current memorial marker.
Location 3: Griffith J. Griffith, 34.09, -118.31741
Across the street from Florence, to the right, you’ll see a massive obelisk. This is the final resting place of Griffith J. Griffith. No, that’s not a typo. G.J. Griffith was a Welshman who immigrated to the U.S. in 1865. He made a fortune as a mining expert in San Francisco before heading to Los Angeles and buying 4,000 acres of land in Rancho Los Feliz. He then gifted 3,015 acres back to the City of Los Angeles, which would become Griffith Park, saying, “I consider it my obligation to make Los Angeles a happy, cleaner, and finer city. I wish to pay my debt of duty in this way to the community in which I have prospered.” Sounds like a swell guy, no? Well… one night in 1903 Griffith and his wife were vacationing at the presidential suite of the Arcadia Hotel in Santa Monica when Griffith shot his wife in the head! Only she didn’t die. She did lose an eye and was permanently disfigured. It turns out, Griffith J. Griffith was a closet drunk who had paranoid delusions while under the influence. His charges of assault with a deadly weapon with intent to commit murder were negotiated down by his lawyer to simple assault with a deadly weapon. The man served 2 years in San Quentin State Prison for shooting out his wife’s eyeball. His wife was granted a divorce and got custody of their son. Griffith got out of prison and became an advocate for prison reform. Griffith died in 1919 of liver failure, and most of his $1.5 million estate was used to build the Greek Theatre and the Griffith Observatory. Fun factoid: Griffith was known for being called by the monicker “Colonel,” even though there is no official record of him attaining that rank in any military service. Also, if you stand at the Griffith obelisk and face north you can see the Griffith Observatory.
Location 4: Cecile B. DeMille, 34.08984, -118.31679
Just East of Griffith, on the north side of the lake, lies Cecile B. DeMille. DeMille started his career in theatre and found a world of opportunity in early motion pictures. He founded Paramount pictures, which is located just on the other side of the south wall of this cemetery. While his career may have gotten off to a slow start, by 1931 he was making thirty films in five years and all of them were hits. He became one of America’s most successful film directors. In the Hollywood tradition, his tenure at Paramount was not without its scandals. The accusations of drug use, rape, and murder went flying and people believed it judging by the content of his films, which included Roman orgies. DeMille had an agreement with his wife, Constance Adams, that allowed him to take mistresses to satisfy his more “aggressive” sexual appetite. Scandalous films with extravagant budgets led to DeMill’s eventual exit from Paramount. When the “talkies” came along DeMille was able to adapt, coming up with a microphone boom, which is still used today. He also made the camera crane popular. After several successful films, he was back in with Paramount. He was obsessed with remaking his old films, starting a controversial Hollywood tradition that would continue to this day. DeMille died in 1959 after a series of heart attacks. DeMille is known for perfecting the spectacle film, whether it be Western, Biblical, or Roman-themed. His special effects used in parting the Red Sea in ‘The Ten Commandments’ are known as some of the best effects in film history. His later films became more adult in nature, relating more to marriage and sexuality. But he will forever be remembered for his role as himself in ‘Sunset Boulevard’, in which Gloria Swanson says the line, “All right, Mr. DeMille. I'm ready for my close-up.”
Location 5: Jayne Mansfield
Head toward the lake from DeMille’s gravesite and you’ll see an unassuming cenotaph next to a tree. While Jayne Mansfield isn’t interred at the Hollywood Forever, she is remembered here for her contribution to entertainment. Jayne Mansfield, born Vera Jayne Palmer, was a 1950s and 60s actress and sex symbol, rivaling Marilyn Monroe. She was well-known for her large bust, platinum blonde locks, and publicity stunts that included sexy wardrobe malfunctions. She was also known for her many marriages and relationships, having been married and divorced 3 times and having had relationships with men like John F. Kennedy. She appeared in and popularized Playboy magazine after appearing several times throughout the 1950s. After a few smaller roles, Mansfield signed a six-year contract with Twentieth Century Fox. Fox was having problems with their other bombshell, Marilyn Monroe, and needed someone new. Her film ‘The Girl Can’t Help It’ went on to be one of the most successful movies of the year (1956) and Mansfield became Fox’s main sex symbol. She struggled over the next few years to break out of her sex-symbol roles without success. Fox offered her several roles in order to fulfill her contract, but several pregnancies, including the one with her daughter Mariska Hargitay, prevented her from completing her 6-film deal. Despite many career setbacks, Mansfield was able to maintain her celebrity status because of her publicity stunts and her stage work. Mansfield became a household name because of her willingness to let the public into her life. The original reality star, she welcomed photographers and journalists into her life. Her life would be overshadowed by her death, though, when one early morning in 1967 Mansfield, her attorney, and her driver were killed when her driver slammed into a tractor-trailer that had been concealed in a heavy insecticide fog. Three of her children were sleeping in the backseat, and all three survived unharmed. Rumors swirled that Mansfield was decapitated in the accident, but in fact, she suffered a crushed skull. The car she died in was salvaged and is currently being displayed as a collector’s item in Los Angeles.
Location 6: John Huston, 34.08947, -118.3173
When you head south along the lake you’ll spot a hibiscus bush just off the road. At the foot of the bush lies the gravestone of legendary film director John Huston. Huston was a Hollywood story before ever moving to Los Angeles. He was a sickly child, surfing from heart and kidney problems, but grew into a robust teenager to become a highly ranked lightweight amateur boxer at the age of 15! During a brief stint as a writer in Hollywood in his youth, Huston was involved in a hit and run that killed actress Tosca Roulien. While there was speculation that Clark Gable may have actually been driving the car, neither Gable nor Huston was officially blamed. Huston drifted around London and Paris for a while after, but Hollywood called him back in 1937 and this time he was committed to taking his writing work seriously. In his directing debut for ‘The Maltese Falcon’ he earned an Academy Award nomination for best screenplay. He would have to put his Hollywood career on hold, though. In 1942 Huston was drafted into World War II. He would direct and narrate several films for the U.S. army depicting the soldier’s experience and often taking a controversial viewpoint of the war. Many of the films were censored for decades after their creation. Once back in Hollywood, Huston would go on to make classics like The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, The African Queen, and The Asphalt Jungle. Huston was married 5 times, having 5 children including actress Anjelica Huston. Interestingly, during his marriage to his 4th wife, Enrica Soma each of them had a child with someone outside their marriage. Talk about a modern family! In 1978, John Huston was diagnosed with emphysema. He lived with breathing difficulties for 9 years, only able to go off oxygen for short periods of time. He finally succumbed to lung disease in 1987, at the age of 81. He made over 50 films in his lifetime. Fun Fact: Recently a study was done on a shrunken head that was used as a prop in the John Huston film “Wise Blood” and researchers were shocked to discover that the head was in fact a human head! The head will be transported back to Ecuador where it came from.
Location 7: Johnny Ramone, 34.08853, -118.31723
Johnny Ramone, born John William Cummings, was born in Queens, NY in 1948. Johnny founded the punk rock band The Ramones in the early 70’s as a guitarist and songwriter. He and vocalist Joey Ramone remained the longest running member of the band. Johnny was known for his uniques style of exclusively downstroking on the guitar, a technique previously never used to that extent. In addition to this, he used six-string barre chords combined with power chords to create the early punk rock, aggressive sound that previous bands had never used. Rumor has it that the band was inspired by Paul McCartney of The Beatles. McCartney used to check into hotels under the name Paul Ramon, and that’s how the band name The Ramones came about. None of the members actually has the last name Ramone. Originally inspired by Jimmy Page, Ramone went on to inspire a whole slew of future musicians including Iron Maiden, Metallica, and Megadeath. He was known to prefer Mosrite guitars over more pricy Fenders, saying they were “Perfect for playing nonstop barre chords.” While you might think this rocker would be part of the liberal anti-war generation, Ramone was a known Republican. He looked up to Ronald Reagan as the greatest president of his lifetime. The Ramones broke up over a rift between Johnny and Joey Ramone over their political growing differences and a girl. When Johnny married his wife Linda, formerly the girlfriend of Joey, the two bandmates started to drift apart. Their rift would never be fully mended, as Joey died in 2001 never having settled their differences. Altogether, the Ramones put out 14 albums, and 71 singles. On September 15, 2004 Johnny Ramone succumbed to his years long battle with prostate cancer. He was 55 years old. This 8 ft tall memorial statue was commissioned by Johnny’s wife, Linda. The Hollywood Forever cemetery holds an annual memorial to Johnny, with the benefits going toward cancer research. Celebrities like Lisa Maria Presley, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Eddie Vedder, and even Johnny Depp have attended the events.
Location 8: Hattie McDaniel, 34.0886, -118.3171
Hattie McDaniel was born in Wichita Kansas on June 10, 1893. She was the youngest of 13 kids! It’s no wonder the acting bug bit her. Just try getting attention in a house full of older siblings. Her career started as a minstrel, singing with her sister in the McDaniel Sisters Company in 1914. In 1931 she moved to Los Angeles with her brother and two sisters. She worked as a maid while pursuing her recording career. One of her characters “Hi-Hat Hattie” was an early success. She played a bossy maid who spoke out of place for her servant position. While her radio star was rising, her wages were so low that she had to continue working as a maid during her recording years. In fact, even when she was cast as an actress she couldn’t shake the maid persona. While some members of the Black community spoke out against her for not doing more to change the perception of Black people in Hollywood, McDaniel also faced scrutiny from the White community for stealing scenes from her fellow White cast members, like Katherine Hepburn. She continued to work and fight for the roles she could get, though, and eventually landed the role of Mammy in ‘Gone With The Wind,’ beating out Eleanor Roosevelt’s actual maid for the role. Unfortunately, because of Jim Crow Laws in Georgia, McDaniel wasn’t allowed to attend the Atlanta premier. Clark Gable nearly boycotted the premier, but McDaniel convinced him not to. She was able to attend the Hollywood premier on December 28, 1939. Director David Selznick insisted that her image be featured on the program with the rest of the cast. She won the Academy Award for best supporting actress that year, the first Black actor to be nominated, let alone win an Oscar. It would be 50 years before another Black woman won an Oscar. While McDaniel was allowed in the ceremony because of a special consideration, she was made to sit in a separate section in the back. She was also denied entry into the after parties, which were located at White-only clubs. Her career last many years, and she continued to work in films and eventually got her own radio show, Beulah, earning her $2,000 a week. During her career she was also active in community service, serving as chairman of the Negro Division of the Hollywood Victory Committee. The HVC entertained troops stationed at military bases during World War II. She was eventually diagnosed with Breast Cancer, though, and became too ill to work. McDaniel passed away in 1952, at the age of 59. She wrote in her will that she wanted to be buried in a white casket, with gardenias in her hair, in the Hollywood cemetery. At the time, the Hollywood cemetery (now the Hollywood Forever) was segregated and no Black people were allowed to be buried here. She was instead interred at the Rosedale Cemetery. In 1999 the new owners of the now Hollywood Forever Cemetery offered to re-inter her here, but the family did not want to remover her remains after so long. So they place this cenotaph on the lawn overlooking the lake.
Location 9: Chris Cornell, 34.08855, -118.31706
Christopher Cornell is a singer songwriter most known for his work with the band Soundgarden. Cornell was Born in Seattle, Washington in 1964. He began playing the piano and guitar as a child, but he found some less healthy hobbies as he got older. By the age of 13 Chris was using alcohol and drugs to self-treat his anxiety and depression. He would experiment with LSD and shrooms, in addition to marijuana and prescription drugs. He and fellow bandmates formed Soundgarden in 1984 and earned a Grammy for best Metal Performance by 1990. After their Grammy win they signed with A&M records. This was huge at the time, because they were the first grunge band to sign with a major label. The band would go on to create 6 studio albums together, including Grammy winning singles “Spoonman” and “Black Hole Sun. ” They have sold over 25 million records worldwide. But Cornell’s battle with depression and addiction would come to a head in the early 2000s, at the same time that his marriage was falling apart. Cornell checked himself into rehab in 2002 and had several years of sobriety throughout the 2000s. Tragedy struck after his 2017 show in Michigan, when his bodyguard found Cornell unconscious in his hotel room. He was found with blood in his mouth and an exercise band around his neck, which doesn’t exactly paint a good picture of what happened. After the autopsy it was revealed that Cornell had taken 4 Ativan pills, which were prescribed as a sleep aid, along with a decongestant and No-Doze pills. His death was ruled a suicide. Cornell was placed next to Johnny Ramone’s cenotaph since the two were friends. In what could be seen as a coincidence or a tragic tribute Cornell’s friend and lead vocalist of Linkin Park, Chester Bennington, committed suicide by hanging two months after Cornell’s death. Bennington’s death was on what would have been Chris Cornell’s 53rd birthday. Bennington was said to have taken Cornell’s death badly, and had depression issues of his own.
Location 10: Mickey Rooney, 34.0884524,-118.3189792
Mickey Rooney was one of the most prolific comedian and actors in Hollywood History. His career spanned 9 decades! He appeared in over 300 films from the time he was a star at only 6 years old to one of his last roles in ‘Night at the Museum: Secret of The Tomb’ at the age of 94. He got his first Academy Award nomination at the age of 19 for ‘Babes in Arms.’ At 14 Rooney went to work for Warner Brothers and met a young girl by the name of Judy Garland. The two became lifelong friends and often played roles opposite one another in films. When World War II hit, Rooney was drafted into the army. He spent nearly 2 years entertaining the troops abroad. After the war times were harder. Rooney got TV jobs here and there, but he was grown up now, and a little too short to play the leading man. He continued to work steadily, though. He got a fresh wind in 1979 playing a jockey in Francis Ford Coppola’s ‘The Black Stallion.’ Then later, in 1983 he earned the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. His home life was much more complicated than any Hollywood movie, though. Mickey Rooney was married a total of 8 times! 6 of those times ended in divorce. One of his wives was murdered by her lover while Mickey was out of town. His final wife, Jan Chamberlin latest 34 years, which is longer than all his other wives combined. They were separated at the time of his death, though. He had 9 children, which can be quite messy when you’re paying out child support. Although Mickey earns millions of dollars over the years, at the time of his death he was estimated to be worth $18,000. His children were accused of elder abuse and swindling away his money, but no charges were formally filed against them. On April 6, 2014, Mickey Rooney died of natural causes at the age of 93. He was one of the last surviving actors of the silent pictures era. If you look around his crypt you’ll recognize the animal companion of his childhood friend Judy Garland. A memorial statue of Toto lies less than 6 feet away.
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Location 11: Rudolph Valentino, 34.08809, -118.31632
Rudolph Valentino was the original Latin lover. In fact, Hollywood execs created the term just for him! Born Rodolfo Alfonso Raffaello Pierre Filiberto Guglielmi di Valentina d’Antonguella ( Whew! What a mouthful) in Italy, he was the male sex symbol of the 20s. He started his career playing “heavies” or villains, but after the ladies started swooning over his dark eyes the studios took notice and put him in the leading role that would be the start of his legend as the Latin lover. Valentino played Sheik Ahmed Ben Hassan in the 1921 movie ‘The Sheik,’ and carefully sidestepped the negative stereotypes depicting Arabs at the time. He would go on to play several Spanish characters. In between films, Valentino was wrapped up in a bigamy trial. It seems he married his second wife, Natacha Rambova, less than a year after his divorce from his first wife, Jean Acker. At the time California you couldn’t get married again for at least a year after a divorce. Valentino was forced to annul his marriage to Rambova and wait a year to marry again. Their marriage had its ups and downs. Studios that paid Valentino weren’t happy with Rambova’s “creative input”, and strategically cut her out of deals. It probably didn’t help them that women were salivating over Valentino at every turn. While women couldn’t get enough of his sensual characters on screen, American men accused his of being too effeminate. At the time it was fashionable to look up to actors like Douglas Fairbanks, but this Italian man with his slicked back hair wasn’t the “traditional American man.” Rumors swirled around his being gay, with men claiming to have been his lover. But they were all debunked and no evidence remains that Valentino was anything other than a ladies man. In fact, plenty of evidence piles up to that end. After his divorce wit Rambova in 1925 Valentino was said to have been with several women, and at the time of his funeral he was involved with two! One woman, Pola Negri threw a fit at the funeral, claiming that she was engaged to Valentino. If she was, he never mentioned it to another soul. Maybe he just didn’t have time. Valentino was suddenly hospitalized in August 1926 and underwent surgery for appendicitis and gastric ulcers. He made it through the surgery, but suffered complications afterward. After being conscious and talking to his doctors, he fell into a coma. He died on August 23rd at the age of 31. Valentino had a massive funeral in Manhattan with over 100,000 people spilling out into the streets to pay their respects. His longtime friend, June Mathis made arrangements for Valentino to be buried in the crypt she had originally purchased for her now ex-husband (since she no longer wanted him next to her). It was thought to be a temporary solution until other arrangements could be made, but he still lies there today. Mathis died a year later, and the two remain side by side even to this day. Legend has it that every year a woman in black comes to place a red rose at Valentino’s crypt. More fun facts: Hollywood High School named their mascot The Shiek after Valentino. Also, fashion designer Valentino is named after him.
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Location 12: Estelle Getty, 34.08848, -118.32033
Estelle Gettleman, better known as Estelle Getty, was an actress and comedienne. Best known for her role of Sophia on ‘Golden Girls,’ Estelle’s career spanned 60 years until she retired in 2001. While Getty knew she wanted a career in entertainment from a young age, she continued to work straight jobs and raise her children while auditioning for theatre roles here and there in New York City. It wasn’t until 1982, at the age of 60, that she had her breakout role in the Broadway production of Torch Song Trilogy, playing Mrs. Beckoff. After playing that role for four years, Getty was cast as Sophia, Dorothy’s cranky mother, in ‘The Golden Girls.’ She was actually a year younger than her TV daughter, played by Bea Arthur, and has to wear wigs and age herself up to play a woman in her 80’s. In 1988, Getty won an Emmy award for her portrayal of Sophia. Even with her steady paychecks, Getty shunned the lavish life. Once, on the set of ‘The Golden Girls’ her Toyota Tercel was towed out of her parking space because security assumed someone else had parked in her spot. She went on to appear in several shows after ‘The Golden Girls’ seven year run was over, but nothing had the same magic as her role as Sophia. During her career, Getty was also known as an active HIV/AIDS activist. She lost several close friends to the disease in the 80s and 90s, and helped open a hospice for AIDS patients in Greensboro, North Carolina. Getty died on July 22, 2008, only three days before her 85th birthday. Her official cause of death was “dementia with Lewy bodies,” a degenerative condition that affects the memory, behavior and cognition. The star of David is etched on her gravestone to demonstrate her Jewish heritage.
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Location 13: Bugsy Siegel, 34.08717, -118.32203
Inside the Beth Olam Mausoleum, down the second hallway on the right (M2) C-1087, you’ll find the remains of Benjamin “Bugsy” Siegel. Born in Brooklyn New York to Russian Jewish immigrants, Bugsy Siegel had an early start to his life of crime. By the time he was 21 years old he racked up a laundry list of crimes, from burglary to extortion, racketeering, drug trafficking, armed robbery, bootlegging, rape, and murder. In addition to the Jewish mafia, he made a name for himself with the Italian mafia and worked as a contract killer across New York, New Jersey, and Philadelphia with a little group he founded called Murder, Inc. In 1937 he was sent to Los Angeles, California to run the gambling rackets there. He became acquainted with Hollywood actors and directors like Clark Gable, Gary Cooper, and Jean Harlow (who was the godmother to Siegel’s daughter! While there, he turned to extorting the Hollywood studios and “borrowing” money from his celebrity friends to the tune of $400,000 to provide for his lavish lifestyle in LA. Before you ask, no, they never saw their money again. In 1941, Siegel took notice of a small gambling town northeast of California. You may have heard of it. It was called Las Vegas, but at the time it was not much more than a pit stop in the desert. Siegel convinced the mob to give him $3 million to build a casino there. That casino was the Flamingo, and in addition to its 77 rooms it included a private suite for Siegel that had 5 different escape exits! It was also built with bullet proof glass. Paranoid much? Maybe not, because after the construction cost skyrocketed past $6 million the mob began to suspect Bugsy of skimming off the top. They sent a hit man after the hit man, gunning him down in the beverly Hills home of his girlfriend while he was reading the LA Times newspaper. He was 47 years old. No one was ever charged for the killing and the crime remains unsolved to this day. Bugsy lives on in Hollywood, though. In 1991 Warren Beatty played the titular role in the movie ‘Bugsy,’ a highly fictionalized version of the biography of Siegel’s life of crime. Several other actors have portrayed Bugsy over the years, including Michael Zegen, who portrayed Siegel in the HBO series Boardwalk Empire.
Location 14: Judy Garland, 34.08885, -118.32146
Judy Garland is a true Hollywood legend. She started out performing vaudeville with her older sisters, and it wasn’t long before Hollywood caught their eye. In 1938 she was cast in ‘The Wizard of Oz’ at the age of only 16 years old. ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was a huge success, leading to her one and only Academy Award, the Academy Juvenile Award. She went on to star in classics like “A Star is Born’ and Judgement at Nuremberg.’ She made over two dozen films with MGM during her 15 years on contract, often sharing the screen with her friends Mickey Rooney and Gene Kelly. Her career spanned 45 years, including singing, dancing and vaudeville acts. It wasn’t all yellow brick roads and emerald cities, though. Her whole life Judy struggled with image and self esteem issues. Studio execs told her she wasn’t pretty enough to be a star, and were constantly coming up with ways to make her “more appealing.” This led to her lifelong struggle with alcoholism and drug use. She suffered stormy relationships and messy financial dramas, including owing hundreds of thousands of dollars in back taxes to the IRS. Garland was involved in relationships with fellow actors from the time she was a teenager. Her first marriage to David Rose lasted only 3 years. She became pregnant shortly after her marriage, but was forced to have an abortion by the studio and her own mother. The latter didn’t think a pregnancy would be a good look for her. She had another abortion two years later after an affair with actor Tyrone Power. In 1944, around the same time that she was making ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’ with her future husband Vincente Minelli, Garland had a brief affair with film director Orson Welles. Welles was married to Rita Hayworth at the time, and unlike most affairs in Hollywood, this one ended amicably on all sides. Garland gave birth to Liza Minelli in March of 1946, only 9 months after her marriage to Vincente Minelli. During the marriage she suffered her first nervous breakdown and had a brief stint in a sanatorium. Months later she would attempt suicide and be placed in another psychiatric hospital. She continued to work in films, but her dependence on sleeping pills and morphine was steadily growing. Her behavior became more erratic, and it was increasingly difficult to get her on set with any regularity. She was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in ‘A Star is Born,’ but the drama on set combined with little financial success had MGM ushering her toward the door. After MGM let her go, Garland continued to work in films and television. As a singer and performer, Garland did four weeks in Las Vegas making $55,000 per week. She was Vegas’ highest paid performer at the time. The following years were a blur of marriages, affairs, short-lived television shows and public appearances. She was making huge paychecks, but mismanagement and embezzlement by her managers left her in debt to the IRS to the tune of $500,000. Every penny she earned went toward paying off that debt. Garland married her fifth and final husband, Mickey Deand in March 1969. Her health was deteriorating rapidly. Just months later, on June 22, Deans found Judy dead in their rented London house. Her death was listed as “accidental” after a large amount of barbiturates was found in her blood. The barbiturates had built up slowly over time and her stomach was empty, ruling out an intentional suicide. Originally interred at Ferncliff Cemetery in New York, Garland’s family had her moved in 2017 and re-interred here at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Every year thousands of visitors write their well wishes and thoughts to Judy in the guestbook by her crypt. She truly was the iconic Hollywood legend.
