[SpecialK]

Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.

Alexandra Cymboliak Zuck, better known as actress Sandra Dee. She played "Gidget", and was in "A Summer Place". She married pop idol Bobby Darrin.


Actor McLean Stevenson is best-known as "Col. Henry Blake" from the TV show "M*A*S*H", and as the father of two girls on "Hello, Larry". He was also the press secretary for cousin Adlai Stevenson during his presidential campaigns.


Andrew Roy Gibb was the youngest of the musical "Bee Gees". Depression, booze and drugs took a toll on him and he died just after his 30th birthday.


Stuntman Ron Ellis worked on "An Eye For An Eye" and "Beverly Hills Cop".

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Last edited by SpecialK; 02-12-2015 at 08:16 PM.

[SpecialK]

Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.

Singer Lou Rawls was nominated 13 times and won three Grammy's. He was a paratrooper in the 101st Airborne in the late 50s.


Clarence LeRoy Van Cleef Jr, known to us as actor Lee Van Cleef, is perhaps best-remembered in "A Fistful of Dollars", "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly", and other spaghetti westerns. He usually played the heavy. "Being born with a pair of beady eyes was the best thing that ever happened to me."


Joseph Francis Keaton Jr. , nicknamed "Buster", was a silent-era comedian. "All my life I have been happiest when the folks watching me said to each other, 'Look at the poor dope, will ya?'"


Bernard Whalen Convy, known as Bert, was a game-show host, actor and singer.


"Telly" Savalas is best-known perhaps for his TV-role as cop Theo "Kojak", who sucked lollipops, had a bald head, and had the catchphrase "Who loves ya, baby?". "I made 60 movies before 'Kojak' with some of the biggest names in the business, and people would still say, 'There goes what's-his-name.'" Those movies include the original "Cape Fear", "The Birdman of Alcatraz", "The Battle of the Bulge", "Kelly's Heroes", and "The Dirty Dozen".

[sealonsf]

Wow. Quite the series! Just wanted to point out that Ray Bradbury's tombstone doesn't have the date he died because he's still alive.

[SpecialK]

Forest Lawn, Hollywood Hills.

Orvon Eugene Autry, known as "Gene", gained fame as The Singing Cowboy on the radio, in movies and on TV. He owned the Angels baseball team from 1961 to 1997, and TV and radio stations in Southern California. His signature song was "Back in the Saddle Again", but his biggest hit was "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer". Much of his (and others') Western art and memorabilia is at the Museum of the American West (originally Gene Autry Western Heritage Museum) in Los Angeles.


Lester Alvin Burnett, known as "Smiley Burnette", was a country music performer and a comedic actor in Western films and on radio and TV, playing sidekick to Gene Autry and others. He also could play as many as 100 musical instruments. He ended up on the 60's TV show "Petticoat Junction".


Roy O. Disney was the brother of Walt Disney, and handled the business side of the Disney company. Had a son Roy E. Disney who was a company senior exec, and died in 2009.


Game-show host of "The Price Is Right" and "Truth or Consequences" Bob Barker is alive and well, but is planning ahead.


Jack Webb is best known as Sgt. Joe Friday from "Dragnet". He never said exactly "Just the facts, ma'am". His movie roles include the lead in "The D.I.", and the partying friend in "Sunset Boulevard".

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Last edited by SpecialK; 02-12-2015 at 08:22 PM.

[SpecialK]

San Fernando Mission.

Clarence Nash was the voice of Donald Duck and the other Disney ducks.


Carmen Dragon was an oscar-winning composer, conducted the Hollywood Bowl orchestra and is the father of Daryl Dragon of "The Captain and Tenille" fame.


Musician Richard Steven Valenzuela, known as "Richie Valens", had a huge hit with "La Bamba" in 1958. He was in a plane crash with Buddy Holly and JP Richardson (The Big Bopper) "the day the music died".

[SpecialK]

Inglewood Park.

Robert George Kardashian was a friend of OJ Simpson and one of Simpson's "Dream Team" of lawyers during his murder trial. Simpson stayed in Kardashian's house after the murders. Kardashian was seen carrying Simpson's garment bag the day Simpson flew back from Chicago. Prosecutors speculated that the bag may have contained Simpson's bloody clothes or the murder weapon. Simpson failed to turn himself in, and Kardashian read a letter (some say suicide note) by Simpson to the media.


Gypsy Rose Lee was an American burlesque entertainer, famous for her striptease act. She was also an actress, author and playwright, whose 1957 memoir was made into the stage musical and film "Gypsy".


Walker Smith, known as Sugar Ray Robinson was a professional boxer. He was 85-0 as an amateur with 69 knockouts, 40 in the first round. He turned professional in 1940, and by 1951 had a record of 128-1-2 with 84 knockouts. He held the welterweight title from 1946 to 1951, and won the middleweight title in 1951. He retired in 1952, then came back and won the middleweight title in 1955. He was the first boxer in history to win a divisional world championship five times.


Edgar Bergen was an American actor and radio performer, best known as a ventriloquist (even on the radio), with dummies named Charlie McCarthy and slow-witted Mortimer Snerd. Father of actress Candace Bergen.


Edmund "Hoot" Gibson was an American rodeo champion and a pioneer cowboy film actor, director and producer. His nickname devolved from "Hoot Owl".

[SpecialK]

Home of Peace.

Samuel Horowitz, better known as Shemp Howard, one of the Three Stooges.


Another Stooge, Jerome Lester Horowitz, known as "Curly" Howard.


Some of his sound effects, such as "woo, woo, woo", and "nyuk, nyuk, nyuk" were ad libs.


"Soitenly!" He died from a stroke.

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Last edited by SpecialK; 02-12-2015 at 08:33 PM.

[SpecialK]

Home of Peace.

Rabbi Edgar F. Magnin, a Jewish leader for 69 years, delivered the inaugural prayer for President Nixon in 1969. He became the rabbi of Congregation B'nai B'rith in Los Angeles in 1915, and performed many "Hollywood" services. Was related to the I. Magnin retailers.


Abraham Spiegel survived 4 concentration camps, and built a new life after the war in the US. He was a successful businessman and philanthropist here and in Israel, and was on the 1984 US Olympic committee.


Mark Sandrich, born Mark Rex Goldstein, is most famous for directing many of the Fred Astaire-Ginger Rogers musicals, and "Holiday Inn" with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby.

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Loretta King starred in Ed Wood's Bride of the Monster.


Actor James Coburn was in "The Magnificent Seven", "Charade", "The Great Escape", "Our Man Flint", and "Bad Day at Black Rock". He won a supporting actor oscar at age 70 for "Affliction".


Singer Peggy Lee, among other things, wrote the music and sang much of the Disney movie "Lady and the Tramp".

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Melvin Howard Tormé, nicknamed The Velvet Fog, was known for his jazz singing. He was also a jazz composer and arranger, drummer, actor in radio, film, and TV, and the author of five books. He composed the music for "The Christmas Song" ("Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire") and co-wrote the lyrics with Bob Wells.


Businessman Armand Hammer ran Occidental Petroleum, and has an art museum across the street.


Actress Eva Gabor is perhaps best known for the TV show "Green Acres".


Eddie Albert was also on "Green Acres", as well as being the president in "Dreamscape" and the warden in "The Longest Yard".

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Richard Basehart was in "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea", and the bad guy in TV-movie "Sole Survivor".



Actor-director John Cassavetes was in "The Dirty Dozen", and "Rosemary's Baby".


Comedian Jesse Donald Knotts started as a ventriloquist, and was Barney Fife on "Mayberry RFD", and starred in "The Incredible Mr. Limpet", "The Reluctant Astronaut", and "The Shakiest Gun in the West".

Old...


and new.


Sammy Cahn was an award-winning songwriter for "All the Way", "Three Coins in the Fountain", "Love and Marriage", "High Hopes", and "Call Me Irresponsible".

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Donna Belle Mullenger, better known as actress Donna Reed, frequently played the all-American mom, and had her own show at one time. She was in "It's A Wonderful Life", and earned a best supporting actress oscar for "From Here To Eternity."


Bob Crane of "Hogan's Heroes" fame. Wife, Sigrid, also was on the show. There used to be a vase or something in the middle. He was bludgeoned to death in his sleep.


Richard Conte was in one of my favorite Twilight Zone episodes in which he would die if he went to sleep. This one is a bit wordy.

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Producer Darryl F. Zanuck made "All About Eve", "12 O'Clock High", "Tora, Tora, Tora", and "The Longest Day".


Jim Backus played Thurston Howell III on "Gilligan's Island", was the dad in "Rebel Without a Cause", and was the voice of Mr. Magoo.


Playboy Playmate Dorothy Stratten was shot by her boyfriend, who then killed himself. Movie "Star 80" dramatizes the story.


A musical Beach Boy, Carl Wilson.

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Actress Eve Arden is probably most famous as Connie Brooks of Our Miss Brooks.


Leading man actor Burt Lancaster was "The Birdman of Alcatraz", one of "The Gypsy Moths", stole "The Train" and wanted to overthrow the government in "Seven Days in May". Did many of his own stunts, and won an oscar for "Elmer Gantry".


Walter Matthau was the sloppy half of "The Odd Couple", and the coach in "The Bad News Bears".


Supposedly, actor George C. Scott has the blank marker next to Walter. He was "Patton", and was in "Dr. Strangelove".

[SpecialK]

Westwood Village.

Big band leader Les Brown.


Daughter Daisy Keith jumped out of a building, and actor Brian Keith shot himself 10 weeks later after battling cancer.


My brush with Karl Malden came while I was a minor security guard on "The Return to the Streets of San Francisco" TV-movie (my location-manager sister got me the gig). During the outdoor lunch, Karl was walking toward his trailer. I saw he had his hands full with his lunch tray so I opened the trailer door for him, and he said, "thank you very much".


Talk show host and singer/band leader Merv Griffin had one of the biggest houses in town.