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Holy Cross Cemetery, Culver City, CA

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Availability:	Open to the Public
Filed Under:	Cemeteries/Graveyards Infamous Crimes > The Manson Family
Added By:	Tom G
Added On:	April 28, 2007 - 04:59 PM UTC
Last Modified:	September 16, 2009 - 12:00 AM UTC
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Average Rating:	5 (1 ratings)
Visited By:	2 Users

Address
5835 W Slauson Ave, Ladera Heights, CA 90230, USA (Culver City, California)

Information
Holy Cross Cemetery Holy Cross Cemetery is a sprawling, scenic graveyard in Culver City, California (southwest of Los Angeles). The second largest cemetery in the Greater Los Angeles area; it is a popular place for burial among people of the Catholic faith who work in the film industry. A mixture of film stars from yesteryear through modern day are interred in the cemetery's "Risen Christ Mausoleum" or buried in the hilly terrain. In one small section alone, visitors will find the graves of actors Bela Lugosi, Bing Crosby and Sharon Tate. The cemetery's Catholic basis is readily apparent in its design, from the crosses that decorate the gates and streetlights to the shrines and religious statuary that dot the hills and grottoes of the sprawling location. The cemetery is also known for its beautiful scenery with ponds, waterfalls, and a variety of trees and other plantlife. Bela Lugosi The mention of the name Bela Lugosi will immediately bring to mind the vampiric character, Count Dracula. The actor had already appeared in more than 40 films by the time he portrayed the title villain in Tod Browning's Dracula (1931), but he is primarily remembered for that role and to a lesser extent, the roles in horror movies he appeared in following the success of that film. Bela Lugosi, originally named B�la Ferenc Dezs%u0151 Blask�, was born on October 20, 1882 in what is now Lugoj, Romania (fittingly not far from what used to be Transylvania). At the time, the area was called Lugos and was part of Austria-Hungary. Bela would later use the city of his birth for inspiration in creating his stage name "Lugosi." As a young actor Lugosi worked on the stage in Budapest, primarily acting in minor roles. In 1914, Bela enlisted in the Austro-Hungarian Army in order to support his country's cause during World War I. As an entertainer, he could have actually easily been deferred from military service, but he chose to fight for his country and became an infantry officer. He was injured on at least two occasions during the war (some accounts state it was three times), receiving a medal for one of his injuries. Bela had worked his way up to the rank of Captain by the time he left the military two years later. Shortly after returning to acting, Bela landed a lead role on the stage - that of Jesus Christ in a Passion play. He also ventured into film acting during this time, taking the acting name of Arisztid Olt for most of his early films. Apparently the last film in which he used that pseudonym was in a Hungarian adaption of Oscar Wilde's The Picture of Dorian Gray titled Az �let kir�lya (1918). He also married what would turn out to be the first of five wives, Ilona Szmik, during this time period. Their marriage only lasted a few years, failing to survive when they were forced to flee communists in his former home country due to his having formed an actor's union. He settled in Germany and set about working in film there, as his marriage disintegrated and his wife returned home to Hungary. While in Germany, he appeared as a butler in a German adaption of Robert Louis Stevenson's The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde titled Der Januskopf (1920). He immigrated to the United States in 1920, and sought citizenship and work there on both the stage and in film. In 1927, he was offered the lead role in the Deane and Balderston stage adaption of Bram Stoker's novel, Dracula. The play had successfully toured England for three years prior and had just been brought to Broadway in America. The play proved to be a success with American audiences, leading Universal Pictures to purchase the rights to make a film adaption. The picture, directed by Tod Browning was to star established horror actor Lon Chaney in the role of Count Dracula, but he died shortly before filming was to begin. Universal grudgingly gave the role to Bela Lugosi, who they didn't have confidence in despite him being well-versed in the role and popular with the stage audiences. The film proved to be a major success, leading Universal to sign a contract with Bela for more films. While Dracula made him famous, it also rapidly got him typecast as a horror film actor. Eventually, horror films became the bulk of his film appearances, with him appearing in over forty films that fit all or in part into the horror genre. Only a year after being the first actor to portray Count Dracula on the movie screen, Lugosi appeared in the first feature film adaption of Edgar Allan Poe's The Murders in the Rue Morgue as well as the first zombie film, White Zombie (1932). In 1933, Lugosi portrayed the Sayer of the Law in Island of Lost Souls, the first film adaption of H.G. Well's novel, The Island of Doctor Moreau. The Black Cat (1934), was the first of a number of films to star both Bela Lugosi and Boris Karloff. Lugosi had originally been cast as the monster in Frankenstein (1931), but the role had gone to Karloff when the deal soured with Bela. Just as Chaney's death had opened the door for Lugosi, his removal from James Whale's Frankenstein picture had opened the door to bigger things for Boris Karloff. Lugosi had also nearly been cast as Dr. Pretorius in the film project that eventually became The Bride of Frankenstein (1935). It wasn't until the films Son of Frankenstein (1939), Ghost of Frankenstein (1942) and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman (1943), that Bela was finally successfully cast in a Frankenstein film. Son of Frankenstein (which was Karloff's final turn as Frankenstein's Monster in a feature film) and Ghost of Frankenstein cast Lugosi in the role of Ygor, the demented lab assistant. Ghost of Frankenstein and Frankenstein Meets the Wolfman paired Lugosi up with the son of Universal's original choice for Dracula as Lon Chaney Jr. appeared in turns as the Monster and then the Wolfman. Lugosi would finally play Frankenstein's Monster in the latter film. Bela Lugosi found himself on a different career track than Boris Karloff. His accent, poor education and lack of business savvy allowed the studios to push him around - earning him far less money than he should have been making and ultimately driving him into lower budget fare. Another factor that didn't help his career was his addiction to pain killers - the result of prescriptions for a medical condition that had likely been caused by his war injuries. Lugosi began appearing in more and more comedies parodying the Universal Studios horror pantheon he had been part of. His second and final time playing Count Dracula was in the most famous of the horror comedies of its period, Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948). Boris Karloff is said to have never even seen the movie because he found the very concept of the film an insult. In Bela Lugosi's final years he struck up a friendship with eccentric B-movie filmmaker Ed Wood Jr. Three out of four of Lugosi's final pictures were directed by Ed Wood - Glen or Glenda (1953), Bride of the Monster (1955) and Plan 9 from Outer Space (1959). All three films became cult classics due to how ineptly made they were. Plan 9 from Outer Space was actually created years after Lugosi's death in order to make use of a tiny bit of footage Wood had shot of Lugosi for another project that had been scrapped. The film is often referred to as being the worst ever made, yet its flaws give it an entertainment value that cause it (and the other Ed Wood films with Lugosi) to be remembered far more than other films Bela appeared in his latter years. The relationship between the aging downtrodden horror star and the oddball filmmaker were explored decades later in the Tim Burton film, Ed Wood (1994). The bittersweet performance of Martin Landau as Lugosi at his most down-trodden netted Landau awards at the Golden Globes, Academy Awards and the Screen Actors Guild. Bela Lugosi passed away from a heart attack on August 16, 1956 (he was 73 years of age). As per his family's request, he was buried wearing the cape he wore as Count Dracula during the stage productions of the play (the cape used in the movie is still owned by Universal Studios). He is buried in the Grotto, Lot 120, Grave 1. Sharon Tate Actress Sharon Tate and her unborn son, Paul Polanski, are interred at this cemetery. They were among the murder victims of the infamous Manson Family (see The Sharon Tate House). Tate also starred in her husband Roman Polanski's film The Fearless Vampire Killers. John Leslie "Jackie" Coogan Jr. The actor known as Jackie Coogan was born on October 26, 1914 in Los Angeles, California. Jackie's parents worked in vaudeville and it wasn't long at all before Jackie followed into the entertainment business. While only a toddler, Jackie appeared in the film Skinner's Baby (1917), and was performing on stage by the age of four. It was during one of his vaudeville performances that he was spotted by the film actor Charlie Chaplin. Chaplin had the youngster cast in a minor role for the silent film, A Day's Pleasure (1919). After seeing how well Jackie performed in that film, Chaplin chose him for his co-star in The Kid (1921). The movie proved to be a huge hit and led to merchandising the form of dolls and figurines made to look like him and use of his image on products such as peanut butter. He rapidly became one of the highest paid stars in Hollywood, making him a child millionaire. Jackie Coogan's film career cooled off as he got into his teen years. The year 1935, when Jackie turned 21 years of age, proved to be a traumatic one for him, leading to a dark period of his life. On May 4, 1935, Jackie was in a car accident along with his best friend and his father. His friend, fellow child actor Junior Durkin, was killed immediately. His father, Jack Coogan Sr. expired from his injuries at a nearby hospital a few hours later. Jackie's mother remarried before the year was out. Shortly after Coogan tried to gain access to the fortune he had earned as a child actor, only to find himself blocked by his mother and stepfather. One seeming bright spot for Coogan in 1935 was his engagement to young actress Toby Wing - however, his relationship crumbled as he sank into depression and began heavily drinking alcohol. The engagement came to an end the same year. Jackie was forced to take his mother and stepfather to court in an attempt wrest the money he had worked for away from them before they spent it all. Despite the court finding in favor of Coogan, the only money left of his former fortune (estimated to have been as high as four million dollars) was roughly $250,000. After legal fees were excised, he was left with only $126,000. His court case drew attention to the need for legal protection of minors working in the entertainment industry. The California Child Actor's Bill (also referred to as the Coogan Bill) assures that at least a portion of a child actor's earnings are placed in a trust for them and set standards for children's work hours and schooling when they are working for the film industry. Jackie Coogan was married to actress Betty Grable for nearly two years in the late 1930s. She was the first of four wives for Coogan. Jackie joined the Army shortly after the United States entered into World War II. During his time of service, he acted as a glider pilot, silently flying soldiers deep behind enemy lines. He did not return to film acting until appearing in Kilroy Was Here (1947). Roles in films were scarce for Coogan and he turned to acting in television programs. It was on television that he landed the role for which most modern audiences remember him, that of Uncle Fester on The Addams Family (1964-1966). The series, which was inspired by the darkly funny comic strip created by Charles Addams, proved popular for a time and caused new audiences to take note of Jackie Coogan. This in turn led to plentiful work for Coogan who had been financially struggling at the time. Jackie Coogan died from cardiac arrest on March 1, 1984 at the Santa Monica Medical Center. He was 69 years of age at the time. He is buried in Section F, Tier 56, Grave 47 at Holy Cross. The Wizard of Oz (1939) Three actors who appeared in the film adaption of Frank L. Baum's The Wizard of Oz are interred at separate locations in the cemetery. Two of them, Jack Haley and Ray Bolger, were leads in the film (the Tin Man and the Scarecrow), while the remaining actor Billy Rhodes played the part of the Munchkin Barrister. Jack Haley, who is remembered largely today for his role as the Tin Man in the movie, is buried in the Grotto section, lot 100, plot 2. Haley landed the Wizard of Oz role through chance; two others were cast in the role prior to him. Initially, actor Ray Bolger had been cast as the Tin Man, with actor Buddy Ebsen playing the part of the Scarecrow, but ultimately the studio switched their roles. Unfortunately for Ebsen, the makeup used in creating the Tin Man's look caused him extreme respiratory problems, forcing him to drop out of the film entirely, opening the way for Jack Haley to step into the role. The move had also been fortuitous for Ray Bolger, who was happier playing the part of the Scarecrow. Luckily for Haley, the studio chose to change the type of makeup used for the Tin Man after nearly killing Ebsen with the first concoction. Still, the new makeup caused an infection in Haley's eyes that had him out of work for four days. Jack Haley also played the lead in One Body Too Many (1944) in which he performed with fellow actor and permanent Holy Cross resident Bela Lugosi. Jack Haley died of a heart attack on June 6, 1979 (age 80). Ray Bolger played the role of the Scarecrow in The Wizard of Oz (1939). He is also remembered to a lesser extent for his appearances in the films The Great Ziegfeld (1936) and Sweethearts (1938). He was also one of two actors to portray the father of Shirley Partridge on the television show The Partridge Family. As fate would have it, Jackie Coogan, who was the other actor to play that particular role, is also buried at Holy Cross Cemetery. In a further coincidence, his final acting appearance was in the Diff'rent Strokes Halloween-themed episode, A Haunting We Will Go, in which he appeared with Jackie Coogan's former Addams Family co-star John Astin. Ray Bolger passed away due to bladder cancer on January 15, 1987 at the age of 83. He is interred in a wall crypt inside the Risen Christ Mausoleum. Visitors can find him there in block 35, crypt F2. "Little" Billy Rhodes appeared in the The Wizard of Oz as the Munchkin Barrister. He was not directly credited in the film for his role, as the movie's credits simply state that the Munchkins were played by the "Singer Midgets." At the age of five, Billy Rhodes was discovered in an illegal Massachusetts brothel during a bust - he was the son of one of the prostitutes being arrested. One of the arresting officers rescued the boy. The officer (who was the future grandfather of playwright John Guare) had brothers that worked in vaudeville acts and they incorporated Billy into their performances, teaching him acting, singing and dancing. He stayed with the Guare family and performed with them until he reached his early-to-mid-twenties. Story has it that Billy along with other members of the Guare family would occasionally play a practical joke on unsuspecting passerby in the street. The future parents of John Guare are said to have pushed Billy around in a baby carriage. When people would peer into the carriage to see the "baby," they would instead be greeted with the spectacle of Billy Rhodes, smoking a cigar and verbally abusing them with foul language. Billy Rhodes moved on to other stage acts and eventually film work (where he was often credited simply as "Little Billy"), appearing in more than 20 films in his career, including the cult films The Terror of Tiny Town (1938) and The Wizard of Oz (1939). Billy's appearance in these two films was the result of his joining up with the Leo Singer's Midgets, a troupe of little person performers managed by a man named Leo Singer. The Terror of Tiny Town, a novelty western with an all little person cast achieved cult following largely because of how bad it was (unlike The Wizard of Oz). In the film, Billy Rhodes played the role of "The Villain," Bat Haines. The contract for providing "Munchkins" for the film production of The Wizard of Oz went to Leo Singer. The contract stated that Singer was to provide 124 little people to fill the roles of the Munchkins in the fantasy film. This led to Leo Singer sending out a casting call for more little people to fill his troupe to the size needed for the movie. Billy Rhodes was part of the minority of little people in the movie to have prior experience in performing and working in film, leading to him being cast in one of the more major Munchkin roles. Billy Rhodes died of a stroke on July 24, 1967 (age 72). Besides appearing in The Wizard of Oz and being interred at the same cemetery, all three actors have one more thing in common - Jack Haley, Ray Bolger and Billy Rhodes all spent their childhoods in Massachusetts. Haley and Bolger were born in the "Bay State," while Rhodes was born in Illinois and moved to Massachusetts at a very young age. John Candy Born October 31, 1950, in the city of Toronto in Ontario, Canada, John Candy rose to fame from his work with the Canadian comedy troupe known as The Second City, including their television show Second City Television (SCTV). Among the many characters he played in SCTV skits, one of the fan favorites was that of Dr. Tongue. Dr. Tongue was a fictional filmmaker responsible for making a series of schlocky non-scary 3-D horror films shown in the Monster Chiller Horror Theatre skits featuring Joe Flaherty as make-believe horror host, Count Floyd. Dr. Tongue himself would appear in his "movies," thrusting things like plates of pancakes at the camera repeatedly while suspenseful music played in the background. While known for his work in comedies, such as Summer Rental (1985) and Planes, Trains & Automobiles (1987), Candy appeared in a number of projects with a horror/suspense-slant to them. The suspense films The Clown Murders (1976) and The Silent Partner (1978) are among John Candy's earliest feature-length film appearances. He also appeared as fictional radio DJ Wink Wilkinson in musical horror comedy Little Shop of Horrors (1986) and played two roles (a brother and his sister) in the bizarre Dan Ackroyd horror comedy, Nothing But Trouble (1991). John Candy was originally intended for the role of Louis Tully in the film Ghostbusters (1984), but was replaced with Rick Moranis because he insisted on portraying Tully with a thick German accent. John Candy had a history of heart disease in his family (both his grandfather and father had died of heart attacks at young ages) and it was ultimately heart disease that claimed his own life at the age of only 43. Despite his efforts to lose weight and live healthier in the final year of his life, Candy suffered a fatal heart attack in his sleep on the night of March 4, 1994. At the time he was shooting on location for the comedic western, Wagons East! (1994). The movie was completed through use of a body double for John Candy. John Candy lies in rest inside wall crypt B1 in Room 7 at the Risen Christ Mausoleum. Sara Allgood John Candy is not the only actor with a Halloween birthday who is interred at Holy Cross Cemetery. Irish actress, Sara Allgood, was born on October 31, 1879 in Dublin, Ireland. Her early years in the acting career were centered around stage performances in Ireland. She married British actor Gerald Henson and bore him a daughter. However, her happiness was short-lived as the Influenza Outbreak of 1917 claimed the lives of both her spouse and infant child. A year later, Allgood made her first film acting appearance as the lead in the silent film Just Peggy (1918). It would be more than a decade before she would appear in her next film, Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film Blackmail (1929). She would again work with Hitchcock a year later in Juno and the Paycock (1930) in which appeared as the title character Juno. Sara performed in the minor role of Mrs. Higgins in the horror film, Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1941). During the rest of her career she also appeared in the thrillers The Lodger (1944), The Spiral Staircase (1945) and The Accused (1949). Sara Allgood officially became a citizen of the United States in 1945, just five years before her death. She died of a heart attack on September 13, 1950, shortly after completing work on her final movie, Sierra (1950). Sara Allgood is buried in Section D, Lot 249, Grave 6. Diane Carol Sherbloom Diane "Dee Dee" Sherbloom was an American figure skater who specialized in ice dancing. Despite not originally intending to compete in the 1961 United States Figure Skating Championships, a twist of fate would lead her to both a gold medal victory and a tragic death at the age of only 18 in that same year. Ice dancing partners, Marilyn Meeker and Larry Pierce, had been all set to compete at the US championships when an injury caused Meeker to drop out of the competition, leaving Pierce without a partner. Larry Pierce managed to convince Diane Sherbloom to become his new partner shortly before the championships and the pair went on to win a gold medal at the event. Pierce and Sherbloom then proceeded to take fourth place at the North American Figure Skating Championships. Diane and her new ice dancing partner were chosen to be part of the skating team representing the United States at the 1961 World Ice Skating Championships being held that year in Prague, Czechoslovakia. Unfortunately, Diane Sherbloom, Larry Pierce and the other 16 members of the US Skating Team never made it to the World Championships event. On February 15, 1961, the Boeing 707 (Sabena Flight 548) in which the team was being transported crashed, killing everyone on board. It was the first time a 707 providing passenger service had suffered a fatal crash. The jet had been circling Zaventem Airport in Brussels, Belgium in preparation for landing when it suddenly climbed, banked and crashed without warning. The jet went down in a nearby field, killing one local farmer and causing the loss of another farmer's leg to flying debris. Including the man killed on the ground, a total of 73 lives were lost in the incident. Besides the entire US team, the jet had been carrying the top US skating coaches of the time, a referee and two ice skating judges, along with a number of family members of the skaters and number of regular passengers and crew. The exact cause of the crash has never been officially determined. The jet crash resulted in the cancellation of the 1961 World Ice Skating Championships out of respect for the lives lost. The crash had a negative impact on the figure skating program in the United States, which had been dominating the sport in the decade previous. It was not until near the end of the 1960s that the US figure skating program began to recover. The USFSA Memorial Fund, which was founded in the memory of the crash victims, funds the training of ice skaters who demonstrate a qualifying amount of talent in the sport. Diane is buried in Precious Blood, Section M, Tier 764, Grave 6 at Holy Cross. Also Interred at Holy Cross There are many celebrities buried in Holy Cross Cemetery - here is a short list of some who can be found there. Frank Albertson Actor who played Tom Cassidy in Psycho (1960) and appeared in other Alfred Hitchcock projects. Tod Andrews Actor who appeared in the Twilight Zone episode The Bewitchin Pool. Jimmy Durante Comedic Actor. James Flavin Actor. King Kong (1933), Mighty Joe Young (1949), two episodes of The Twilight Zone and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer. Wallace Ford Actor. The Mummy's Tomb (1942). Charles Gemora Actor. I Married a Monster From Outer Space (1958), The Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954), The War of the Worlds (1953), Murders in the Rue Morgue (1932) and The Unholy Three (1930). Allison Hayes Actress. The Crawling Hand (1963), Attack of the 50 Foot Woman (1959), The Unearthly (1957), The Undead (1957) and The Zombies of Mora Tau (1957). Rita Hayworth Actress. Soledad Jim�nez Actress. Frankenstein (1931) and The Cat and the Canary (1930). Carlota Monti Actress. King Kong (1933). Chris Penn Actor. Mulholland Falls (1996). Paul Porcasi Actor. King Kong (1933). Fred F. Sears Actor/Director. Earth vs the Flying Saucers (1956) and The Giant Claw (1957). Visiting Holy Cross Luckily for fans, the cemetery is friendly towards visitors wanting to pay respects to their favorite actors, directors or other historical figures. During business hours, visitors to Holy Cross can visit the office (located inside the Risen Christ Mausoleum) to obtain maps and information to assist them in locating whatever cemetery resident they wish to visit. It is recommended that anyone wishing to visit the grave of a celebrity should have the name and date of death for the individual in question in order to assist the cemetery staff in providing an accurate location. Tourists should take care not to disrupt mourners or any services being held in the mausoleum or cemetery.

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Find A Grave: Holy Cross Cemetery A list of historical people buried in Holy Cross Cemetery, the final resting place of Bela Lugosi.

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The Grave of Sharon Tate at Holy Cross Cemetery

Photo of the grave of Sharon Tate and her unborn son at Holy Cross Cemetery in L.A. - January 2009.
From: TheCabinet

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The above content is for informational purposes only. Before making any travel arrangements, it is highly recommended that you contact those in charge of the property to check for updated availability and hours of operation. While we do our best to keep this information updated, we cannot guarantee that it is completely valid and up to date. Any destination marked "Closed to the Public" is marked that for a reason and we discourage any visits or attempts to gain access to that facility. Similarly, take note of any "Travel Advisory" that may be associated with a destination. Finally, treat any location and its local residents with respect. Any vandalism and/or unruly behavior is completely despicable and only ruins the experience for future visitors.

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