Welcome to Hollywood Graveyard
where we set out to remember and celebrate the lives of those who lived
to entertain us, by visiting their final resting places. Today we're visiting LA
Cathedral and St. Matthew's Church, where we'll find such stars as Charlton Heston,
Gregory Peck, and June Marlowe. Join us won't you? Many stars our men and women of faith,
as we've seen when visiting various Catholic and Jewish cemeteries in LA. For
some though their desired final resting place is right on the grounds of a house
of worship. Today we'll be visiting two of these houses of worship: St. Matthew's
Episcopal Church and the Los Angeles Cathedral. So put on your Sunday best,
we're going to church. We'll begin way out west in Pacific
Palisades at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church. The Parish of Saint Matthew was
organized in the 40s, and this church was built in the early 1980s. Fans of Mel
Brooks will be interested to know that this is where the wedding scene in
Spaceballs was filmed. "Who the hell are you?" "Prince Lonestar!" "Prince?" "I just found out. That's what this says.
I'm an honest to god prince. Will you marry me?" Over the years this church has become home to some of Hollywood's devout, including legendary actor Charlton Heston. After his death in
2008 Heston's ashes were placed in a niche in the garden columbarium on the
grounds of the church. Broad-shouldered, square-jawed and with a commanding voice, Charlton Heston was built for the roles in historical and biblical epics for
which he became so well known. Roles like Judah Ben-Hur in 1959's Ben Hur a role which earned him an Oscar. Also as the title character in El Cid, and as
Moses in Cecil B DeMille's The Ten Commandments. "For this you shall drink
bitter waters. God has set before you this day his laws of life and good and death and evil. Those who will not live by the law shall die by the law!" Other notable roles include The Greatest
Show on Earth, and 1968's Planet of the Apes, with one of the great film endings
of all time. "You maniacs! You blew it up! Damn you... God damn you all to hell!" Heston was very active in politics for much of his life, both as a democrat and republican, fighting for civil rights,
and serving as president of the NRA. When Heston died of pneumonia in 2008 at the age of 84, Hollywood lost one of its truly legendary actors. That's' all there is to see here at St. Matthews, let's head back east to
downtown LA, and follow the sound of massive bronze bells which toll for
the occupants of downtown on the quarter hour. This is where we find the heart of
Catholicism in LA, the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, aka the Los Angeles
Cathedral. The original Cathedral, the Cathedral of Saint Vibiana, was built in 1876 and served the community for over a century. But it was severely damaged in
the 1994 Northridge earthquake. As a compromise between parties who wanted to
demolish and replace the cathedral and those who wanted to preserve it, plans
were put into effect to build a new cathedral on a nearby site. The Cathedral
of Our Lady of the Angels was completed in 2002, and the original Vibiana's is
now an event venue. The postmodern, geometric style of architecture and
plain concrete walls of the new cathedral certainly buck convention of
what we've seen in other cathedrals, and was somewhat controversial at the time.
Drive by it on the Hollywood Freeway and you may not even realize that it's a cathedral. The total cost of construction and furnishing added to the controversy - around $250 Million. Many in the community believing that money could be better spent on social programs. But whatever your opinion of the building itself, there is
much to see here that is awe-inspiring in terms of art and history. The main
entrance features grand and ornate bronze doors above which stands a statue
of Our Lady of the Angels. These were designed and sculpted by Robert Graham
who we visited in our tour of Woodlawn. You'll recall that his urn is actually a
miniature replica of the Cathedral gateway. Alright, let's head inside shall we? As soon as you enter the cathedral you're met with paintings, mosaics, and various
other works of art from Catholic lore. Perhaps the most stunning are the giant
tapestries that line the walls of the chapel. These aren't paintings, they're
woven cloth. Here we also find a 17th century gilded black walnut Spanish
baroque retablo. This was originally created to sit behind the altar of a
church in Spain before being brought to the States and eventually placed here. And one practice peculiar to Catholicism is the collection and display of relics
for veneration. Here at the LA Cathedral we find a number of relics, from Our Lady
of Guadalupe to Pope John XXIII. There are three classes of relics: third-class relics are objects that have touched a second or first-class relic, such as a
piece of cloth. Second-class relics are items that a saint owned or wore, like a
goblet or a mitre. And a first-class relic? Well, that would be physical
remains of the saints themselves, as in this actual piece of Saint John XXIII
here on display. And speaking of mortal remains, the sacred space beneath the
cathedral is the mausoleum, reminiscent of old world catacombs, though
significantly nicer. The walls are crafted of Spanish
limestone, and alabaster sconces immediately envelop you in a soft warm
glow. We're also treated to an array of stained-glass windows from the old St.
Vibiana's Cathedral. This is the newest mausoleum that we've yet visited, as you
can see by the many still unoccupied crypts. And there's a time capsule here
that will be opened in 2102, so if you're watching from 2102, hello from 2018!
What was in the time capsule? To access the mausoleum head to the northwest
corner of the Cathedral and take the stairs down to the lower level. Before heading into the mausoleum let's pay a visit to the patron saint of the Los
Angeles archdiocese, St. Vibiana, whose shrine and relics are located at the end
of this corridor. Pope Pius IX was the one who chose to name the original
Cathedral after the 3rd century virgin martyr, Saint Vibiana. Her remains were
discovered in the Roman catacombs in 1853, along with the symbol of a laurel
wreath and a vial of blood indicating her innocent and pure status as a martyr.
She was quickly canonized, despite nothing being known about her
life, and her remains now rest here. On the wall to the right is a replica of the
tablet that sealed Vibiana's tomb in the catacombs. It reads, "the soul of the innocent and pure Vibiana, in peace August 31st," followed by a laurel wreath,
which was an early symbol of martyrdom. Let's head now into the cathedral
mausoleum. The third left is Corridor B North, where we find the crypt of
distinguished actor Gregory Peck, known for playing heroic and noble figures,
perhaps most notably as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. The role earned
him an Oscar. "Now gentlemen. In this country our courts are the great levelers. In our courts all men are created equal. I'm no idealist to believe firmly in the integrity of our courts and of our jury
system. That's no ideal to me, that is a living, working reality." He can also be seen
alongside Ingrid Bergman in Spellbound, and Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday. And horror fans will recognize him for his role as Robert Thorn in The Omen. A lifetime of humanitarian efforts earned him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in
1969. He's entombed here next to his beloved wife Veronique. Let's continue
further down the Grand Foyer. You might be asking yourself, "Why is Arthur wearing sunglasses inside?" Well, you've heard the eyes are the windows to the soul, and being that this is a house of God, best keep the blinds drawn, eh? At the very end of the grand foyer at the Resurrection Window, we find the crypt of
actress June Marlowe. Her career began in the silent era alongside stars like Jean
Hersholt and Rin Tin Tin. But she is best remembered today as the beloved
schoolteacher, Miss Crabtree, in the Little Rascals short films of the 1930s. "Hello everybody! Here's your pickins." "What, no candy?" "No candy." "Gee, thems guys are getting stingy." "I'll be seeing you." "Wait a minute Miss Crabtree,
let's see you kick that bucket." "Why should I kick that bucket?" "[??] says you kicked the bucket." "Well, let's kick the bucket!" Her character inspired the Simpsons
character which became a sort of antithesis of Miss Crabtree, Miss
Krabappel... crabapple. By 1933 June had retired from acting. After her death in
1984 at age 80 she was originally buried at San Fernando Mission Cemetery, but
later re-entombed here And that concludes our tour. What are some of your
favorite memories of the stars we visited today?
Share them in the comments below, and be sure to like, share, and subscribe for
more famous grave tours. Thanks for watching, we'll see you on the next one. If you've been watching our tours for a while you've probably caught wind of my
affinity for stained glass. There's just something awe-inspiring and
singularly beautiful about painting with natural light. The windows here in the
cathedral mausoleum are no exception. But one character in particular from these
tableaus of the life of Christ is my favorite. Look at this guy in the
Nativity Window, this devious looking little lamb with a devilish smirk. What's
he up to I wonder... what sort of schemes are brewing in that little mind of his?
