Where Are They Buried? (43 page)

Ten years after she retired for good, natural causes sent Billie over the rainbow at 85.

She rests alongside husband Florenz at Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.

CEMETERY DIRECTIONS:
From I-287, take Exit 4 and follow Route 100A north for 2½ miles. (Route 100A will become Route 100 after 2 miles.) Turn right on Lakeview Avenue, and after another half-mile, turn right onto Commerce Street and enter the cemetery.

GRAVE DIRECTIONS:
Proceed down Commerce Street, make a right turn onto Tecumseh Avenue, a left onto Cherokee Avenue and, when you get to the “T,” turn right onto Powhattan Avenue. Drive up to the circle and 75 feet behind the Roth mausoleum is the plot.

FEBRUARY 23, 1883 – JANUARY 6, 1949

Starting in Hollywood as a chauffeur, Victor Fleming eventually finagled a position as an assistant cameraman. Later, as President Woodrow Wilson’s official cameraman, he filmed the signing of the Treaty of Versailles, which marked the end of World War I. Armed with those credentials, Victor returned to Hollywood in 1919 and made his directorial debut, launching a three-decade-long career with MGM Studios.

Victor had a talent for spectacular action movies but, though
The Wizard of Oz
may have been a bit of a departure from his usual directorial duties, the film certainly doesn’t seem to have suffered. Remarkably,
Oz
wasn’t the only blockbuster that Victor directed in 1939; when George Cukor quit as director of
Gone With the Wind
, Victor took over the job and, for two months until the shooting for
Oz
finished, he directed them simultaneously. When Academy Awards were passed out in February 1940, it was no surprise that a frazzled Victor walked out with the award for best director, though it was for his
Gone With the Wind
work.

At 65, Victor died of a heart attack and now lies at Hollywood Forever in Hollywood, California.

CEMETERY DIRECTIONS:
This cemetery is easy to find at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., just west of Highway 101.

GRAVE DIRECTIONS:
Enter the cemetery, turn right after the information booth, then make a left and stop in front of the Hollywood Forever Mausoleum (formerly called the Abbey of Psalms) which is the huge building on your right. Victor is inside this mausoleum in the Sanctuary of Refuge. Walk inside, turn left, and, about halfway down this hall, on the right-hand side and second row from the floor, is Victor’s crypt at number 2081.

DECEMBER 20, 1869 – FEBRUARY 2, 1956

By the time Charlie Grapewin was offered the role of kindly old Uncle Henry in
The Wizard of Oz
, he’d already spent nearly 40 years in the movie business and was thinking about getting out of it for good. But when casting began for the movie, Charlie was the first choice to fill the role, in no small part because he appeared in the original
Wizard of Oz
stage musical back in 1902. For old times’ sake, he postponed his retirement and accepted the role.

Apparently, Charlie enjoyed his one week of filming because he forgot his retirement plans and appeared in another two dozen movies after
Oz
, most notably as Grandpa Joad in
The Grapes of Wrath
.

At 86 Charlie died of natural causes. He was cremated and his ashes interred at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California.

For directions, see Clara Blandick’s profile above. Her ashes happen to be interred in the same mausoleum as Charlie’s, though his are kept at Niche 14639 in the Columbarium of Inspiration.

AUGUST 10, 1899 – JUNE 6, 1979

Jack Haley, the Tin Man who wanted a heart, used to say that the first five years of his life were a waste because he didn’t yet know what he would do with his life but, at six, he attended a play and resolved to become a dancer. After a run in vaudeville, Jack became a contract player at Fox and he appeared with Judy Garland in her very first feature film,
Pigskin Parade
, in 1936.
But like the rest of the cast, it was his
Oz
role that brought Jack immortality.

Buddy Ebsen was MGM’s original choice for the Tin Man, but after he suffered a nearly fatal allergic reaction to the makeup, Fox lent Jack out for the role. Jack later recalled that his days on the
Oz
set were among his most miserable because of the costume. Two hours a day were spent in the makeup chair, and once he had his costume on, he could not sit or lie down.

In 1974, an oddly personal bond was forged between Judy Garland and Jack; the Tin Man’s real-life son, Jack Haley, Jr., married Dorothy’s real-life daughter, Liza Minnelli.

Ironically, after wanting for a heart in
Oz
, it turned out that Jack’s real-life ticker failed him. At 79, he died of a heart attack and was buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California.

CEMETERY DIRECTIONS:
From I-405, follow Slauson Avenue east for a half-mile. The cemetery is on the left at #5835.

GRAVE DIRECTIONS:
Enter the cemetery, turn left, and start up the hill. A hundred yards on the left is the Grotto lawn and altar and six rows down the hill from the altar is Jack’s grave.

DECEMBER 9, 1902 – MAY 16, 1985

Margaret Hamilton, who was a kindergarten teacher before landing her first movie role in 1933, played the cackling Wicked Witch of the West. And, like Jack Haley, the Tin Man, Margaret wasn’t the studio’s original choice for the role of the Wicked Witch.

The producers originally wanted the Wicked Witch of the West to be slinky and glamorous, like the wicked queen in Disney’s
Snow White
, and they cast star actress Gale Sondergaard, envisioning her in a tight-fitting black sequined dress. But when it was decided that the witch would instead be ugly and hateful, Sondergaard backed out of the film and Margaret got the nod.

When Margaret Hamilton stepped onto the set she was already experienced in the role, having played it twice in community theater productions. After suffering through the makeup routine, Margaret’s withering scowl and screeching chortle further enhanced the character’s identity and audiences believed her to be
very old. But in fact, Margaret was just 36, while Billie Burke, as Glinda the Good Witch, was 55.

After
Oz
, Margaret continued to act in a variety of media and in the 1970s she appeared in commercials as Cora, the shopkeeper who sold only Maxwell House coffee.

At 82, Margaret died of a heart attack. She was cremated and her ashes remain with her family.

AUGUST 13, 1895 – DECEMBER 3, 1967

Like most of his
Oz
costars, Bert Lahr, the Cowardly Lion, got his start in burlesque theatre and vaudeville. He met his wife, Mercedes Delpino, on the circuit, and by 1925 they were listed as a Keith-Albee All-Star Act. By the 1930s Bert’s career was firing on all cylinders but Mercedes’ mental health was deteriorating and she was soon committed to a sanitarium. Bert spent the next years mugging and gagging his way through film roles but, personally, he anguished over Mercedes.

Within a few years it was apparent that Mercedes’ situation was hopeless, and Bert became involved with another woman, Mildred. But Bert was unable to annul his marriage to Mercedes and, in the meantime, Mildred married someone else. By the time filming for
The Wizard of Oz
began, Bert was beside himself, constantly anxious, unable to sleep, and suffering from a variety of imagined illnesses—just like the Cowardly Lion.

The boundless energy that made Bert the perfect lion made him difficult to cast in other films and after
Oz
, Bert retreated back to the stage. Bert was finally offered a role in the nostalgic 1967 film,
The Night They Raided Minsky’s
. But unfortunately, he died of a hemorrhage resulting from cancer complications during the film’s production, forcing the producers to finish the film with a different actor in several scenes.

At 72, Bert was buried at the Union Field Cemetery of Congregation Rodeph Sholom in Ridgewood, Queens, New York.

CEMETERY DIRECTIONS:
From the Jackie Robinson Parkway, take Exit 3 and turn west along Cypress Avenue. The cemetery is a short distance ahead on the right.

GRAVE DIRECTIONS:
Proceed down the road that’s directly behind the office. After it bends to the left, watch for path markings
on the curb and stop at number 5 on the right. A short way down this path, Bert is buried on the right-hand side.

JULY 1, 1890 – SEPTEMBER 18, 1949

When casting began for
The Wizard of Oz
, MGM executives searched for a famous comedian to fill the tile role. But their first choice, W.C. Fields, wanted too much money and Ed Wynn turned down the part because he felt it was too small.

Finally, one of the studio’s own character actors who already had an Academy nomination under his belt, Frank Morgan, auditioned for the part of the befuddled Wizard. He was perfect. In fact, Frank landed not just one part but five: Frank also played Professor Marvel, the Emerald City gatekeeper, a cabby, and a soldier.

After
The Wizard of Oz
, Frank continued acting and earned another Oscar nomination for
Tortilla Flat
in 1942. Away from Hollywood, he tended to his 550-acre California farm.

At 59, Frank died in his sleep and was buried at Greenwood Cemetery in Brooklyn, New York.

CEMETERY DIRECTIONS:
The main entrance to Greenwood is at the intersection of 5th Avenue and 25th Street. It’s easy to reach by exiting the Prospect Expressway at either Exit 2 or Exit 3.

GRAVE DIRECTIONS:
Enter through the cemetery’s elaborate gates, bear left up Battle Avenue, and drive up the hill. Turn left onto Border Avenue, keeping the city street and fence to your left, until you reach Sassafras Avenue. Turn right, then make a left onto Grape Avenue and, immediately before Lychnis Path, you’ll see the Wupperman plot on the left. (Wupperman was Frank’s given surname.)

1932 – 1945

Contrary to popular belief, the little Cairn terrier who played Toto in
The Wizard of Oz
was not named Toto, until
Oz
became so popular that almost everyone forgot what her original name was. Like all of the other cast members, she had a character name, Toto, and a real name, Terry. She may have been the best player on the set too, because, without even the
benefit of makeup or a costume, Terry the girl dog played Toto the boy dog.

Terry’s owner and trainer, a guy named Carl Spitz who ran the Hollywood Dog Training School, adopted her in 1933 but had no plans for little Terry to become a movie star. Her original owner had left her to be trained but never returned. Later, when the casting director put out a call for a dog that looked like the one in the illustrations in
The Wonderful Wizard of Oz
, Carl knew right away that they needed a Cairn terrier, and he brought Terry to the studio.

Terry was hired on the spot and she immediately began living the high life, which meant two weeks at Judy Garland’s house and a $125-a-week salary. But life in the spotlight wasn’t always glamorous. Terry didn’t like being in the basket, she cowered when the set’s wind machines were switched on, and she suffered a sprained foot after being stepped on accidentally by one of the Witch’s guards. But Terry recuperated, and she returned a few weeks later to film the Munchkinland scenes, as good as new.

After
Oz
, Terry’s name was officially changed to Toto and she appeared in another half-dozen films. In 1945, Toto died at thirteen (that’s 91 in dog years) and was buried somewhere in Carl’s backyard, somewhere in Hollywood, California.

JULY 20, 1938 – NOVEMBER 29, 1981

Natalie Wood was only four years old when she began her Hollywood career, and this little darling became one of the very few child actors who made a successful transition to adult stardom. Born Natasha Gurdin to Russian parents, Natalie made her mark as a nine-year-old costar in
Miracle on 34th Street
. After struggling through adolescence on a television series called
Pride of the Family
, she broke out for good as a young adult opposite James Dean in
Rebel Without a Cause
.

In 1961, the success of
West Side Story
vaulted petite and doe-eyed Natalie to superstar status and so began an insatiable public appetite for Natalie. The reports of her flamboyant lifestyle, huge salaries, and romantic escapades, her mansions and yachts, midnight swims, motorcycle rides, celebrity parties, and night life, fueled the aura surrounding Natalie Wood. Heightening the mystique further, many of her films’ titles during this era were suggestive and controversial and, even though most were not critical successes, her films were consistent box office hits because of her star power.

Natalie was wed three times, including twice to the same guy, actor Robert Wagner. At 19, she married him for five years and then, at 30, she married British producer Richard Gregson with whom she stayed for four years and had a daughter. In 1973, when she was 35, Natalie and Robert married for the second time, but several years later the marriage again began to crumble.

One night in November 1981, after a swordfish dinner and a lot of wine at a posh restaurant on California’s Catalina Island, Natalie and Robert, along with actor Christopher Walken, returned to the couple’s yacht, anchored offshore. Walken had been romantically linked to Natalie and he was costarring with her in
Brainstorm
, a science-fiction film that would be released posthumously. Around midnight, Natalie excused herself and went to bed while the two drunken men carried on, sometimes arguing.