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 continue our tour of New York
City in the Bronx, where we'll find such stars as Billie Holiday,
Miles Davis, Irving Berlin, and many more. Join us, won't you? We left off our last tour in Queens. Today we turn north and cross East River into the Bronx. If you haven't done so
already be sure to check out parts 1 & 2. Just across Whitestone Bridge in the
Throggs Neck area of the Bronx is St. Raymond's cemetery. This is a Catholic
cemetery founded in the 1870s and named for Saint Raymond of Penyafort, a 12th
century Catalan-Spanish Saint. St. Raymond's is one of the busiest
cemeteries in the country. The section immediately left of the entrance is St. Anthony. If we follow range 13 most of the way in
we find the grave of Frankie Lymon. He was the lead singer of the early rock
and roll group, The Teenagers, in the 1950s - Rock's first all teenage act. Their
biggest hit was "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" [music] After the teenagers he had a moderately
successful solo career, but struggled from a very young age with a heroin
addiction, which affected not just a singing career but his whole life. On
February 27th 1968, Lymon was found dead of a heroin overdose in his
grandmother's home. He was 25. Though his life and career
were cut short, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers would influence other groups
to follow, including the Jackson 5. In 1998 a movie was made about his life,
titled Why Do Fools Fall In Love. Several sections west of here is st. Paul
section. Let's follow row 56 about half way in
and pay a visit to Lady Day, the legendary Billie Holiday. Hers is one of
the most iconic and recognizable voices in blues and jazz. Born Eleonora Fagan,
she had a rough childhood, and began singing in nightclubs in Harlem. There
she was discovered by a producer who arranged to have her perform with Benny
Goodman, and later Teddy Wilson. She adopted her stage name from actress
Billie Dove, who she admired. Her first hit was "What a Little Moonlight Can Do.'
One of her best-known songs is the haunting "Strange Fruit," one of the early
anti-racism protest songs, which painted a grim picture of the horror of the
lynching of black men that was taking place in the south. [music] Other hits include, "God Bless the Child,"
one of her best selling. [music] She would go on to perform
sold-out shows at Carnegie Hall, but drugs and alcohol began to take a toll
on her life and career. By 1959 she had been diagnosed with cirrhosis of the
liver. She was taken to the hospital for treatment, but arrested and handcuffed
for drug possession as she lay dying in her hospital bed. In those days drug
addiction was seen as a crime not an illness. She died on July 17th at the age
of 44. She was posthumously inducted into the
Big Band and Jazz Hall of Fame, the Blues Hall of Fame,
and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. A film was made about her life, Lady Sings the Blues, in 1972,
starring Diana Ross as Billie. The next section West is St. John. Near
the intersection, across the street from the office, we find the grave of Lois
Nettleton. She was an actress of both stage and screen, beginning on Broadway
in the 40s in the play The Biggest Thief in Town. On film she can be seen
alongside Burt Reynolds and Dolly Parton in The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas.
On television she performed and appeared in a little bit of everything:
from The Twilight Zone to Bonanza, The Mary Tyler Moore Show to Seinfeld, In the Heat of the Night, and the Golden Girls. She was nominated for three Primetime
Emmys, and won two Daytime Emmys. Lois was married to Jean Shepard, of A
Christmas Story fame. Straight south along Foote Avenue we
reach Holy Cross section on the left. If we follow range 19 quite a ways into
the east we find the grave of Merlin Santana. He was an actor best remembered
for his role as Stanley on The Cosby Show, and as Romeo Santana on The Steve
Harvey Show, a role he played in over a hundred episodes. On film he can be seen
alongside Eddie Murphy in the 2002 film Showtime. Tragically, Santana was shot and
killed in South LA while sitting in a car with his friend. He was only 26. That's all we'll find here at St.
Raymond's today. Let's continue north to Woodland Cemetery. You can drive, or if you take the subway the 4 train goes right to Woodlawn at
the end of the line, right to the cemetery's front gates. Woodlawn is a true gem of a cemetery, a
green oasis right here in the northern end of the Bronx. It was founded during
the civil war in 1863, designed in the landscape-lawn style across 400 acres,
and located for easy access from Manhattan. It's been named a National
Historic Landmark, marking a transition in cemetery design, and becoming a
popular final resting place of the famous and powerful. Its memorials are
among the largest and finest collections of funerary art in the whole country. These certainly are the grandest
private mausoleums we've ever seen. And like Hollywood Forever in Los
Angeles, Woodlawn hosts tour and cultural events designed to educate and
connect visitors with the past and the present. Woodlawn has also served as
backdrop for film and television programs, from Ocean's 8 to Gotham. If we turn right on West Border Avenue from the main entrance and head south,
we reach Spiraea Section on the left, a small triangular section. Here we find
Bert Williams, a Bahamian-American entertainer who was one of the
preeminent comedians of the vaudeville era, and a true pioneer of black
entertainers in America, breaking many of the color barriers for stage performers
at the time. His Broadway breakthrough came in 1903 in the landmark musical,
In Dahomey, Broadway's first full length musical
written and played by black performers. It made Williams and his partner George
Walker international stars. In 1910 he joined Ziegfeld Follies. It was a radical
notion at the time to have a featured black performer in an all-white show,
and many cast members took exception to it. Ziegfeld's response was, "I can replace
every one of you, except Williams." He was a sensation. And the onstage team of
Williams and Leon Errol, who was white, was groundbreaking, and had never been
seen before on the Broadway stage, especially given the equality of the two
in the sketches. Around the 1920s Williams was the best-selling black
recording artist, and ranked alongside other best-selling artists of the time,
including Al Jolson. [music] Despite all his success in popularity,
Williams faced institutional racism his entire life. Because of the color of his
skin he was often made to travel and lodge separately from other performers,
and groups like The White Rats, afraid of the encroachment of blacks and women in
vaudeville, demanded he get reduced salary and billing. Fellow vaudevillian W.C. Fields once described him as "The funniest man I ever saw, and the saddest man I ever knew." In February 1922 Williams collapsed on stage during a performance, and died a month later at the age of 47. Straight East is Arbutus
section. Up the hill a ways we find another pioneering black vaudeville and
Broadway star, Florence Mills. She was known as the Queen of Happiness for her
effervescent stage presence. Young Florence began performing on stage
with her sisters as the Mills Sisters. Florence soon went solo and became well
known in New York with her success in the Broadway musical, Shuffle Along, in
1921. By 1924 she headlined at Palace Theatre, the most prestigious booking in
vaudeville, and became an international star in Lew Leslie's Blackbirds. Her signature song was
"I'm a Little Blackbird Looking For a Bluebird." Florence was universally loved for her gentle and polite demeanour and
graciousness, and so New York was dealt a devastating blow when Florence died in
1927 of an infection following an appendix operation. She was only 31 years
old. An estimated 150,000 mourners lined the streets of Harlem during her funeral
procession to pay their respects. Further east we find an entire intersection of
jazz greats, where Fir, Heather, and Knollwood avenues meet... Jazz Corner some call it.
In Hillcrest section just up the hill is jazz drummer Max Roach. He was one of the
first drummers to play in a bebop style, and in the 40s helped innovate the
modern style of jazz drumming. Roach would perform in bands with other greats
such as Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Thelonious Monk, and Miles Davis. He also
formed his own band in the 50s with Clifford Brown. Further along in the same section, near the road, is Jean-Baptiste Jacquet, also
known as Illinois Jacquet. He was an acclaimed jazz saxophonist who was a
pioneer of the honking tenor saxophone, regularly featured in early jazz and
rock and roll. He's perhaps best remembered for his standout solo in
"Flying Home," considered the first R&B saxophone solo. [music] Just behind us, right on the intersection,
is Miles Davis. He was a jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and songwriter, considered one
of the most important figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music.
He went to Juilliard, but left the school to perform in a bebop quintet with
Charlie Parker in the 40s. In the 50s he recorded a number of albums which would
become classics, including Birth of the Cool, and Kind of Blue, considered Miles'
masterpiece, the best-selling jazz album of all time. [music] In the decades that followed Miles would
continue to experiment with different styles and genres, including jazz fusion.
In his career he won eight Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Rock and Roll
Hall of Fame in 2006. He died from the combined effects of a stroke, pneumonia,
and respiratory failure at the age of 65. He was buried here with one of his
trumpets. Crossing Heather Avenue we find one of Miles Davis's heroes, Duke
Ellington, right next to the road. He was a jazz musician, big bandleader, and
prolific composer. He rose to fame in the 20s through his orchestra's appearances
at the Cotton Club in Harlem. His band, Duke Ellington and the Washingtonians,
would become the best-known in jazz. Duke would play and conduct from the piano.
Many of his compositions have since become standards, including "In a
Sentimental Mood," "Sophisticated Lady," "Caravan," and "It Don't Mean a Thing (If It
Ain't Got That Swing). [music] He didn't slow down when the big-band era began to end in the 40s, continuing to write and perform and also branch out into other musical forms. He
was the first African-American to score a major feature film, for Otto
Preminger's Anatomy of a Murder, in 1959. He was nominated for an Oscar for Paris
Blues in 1961. Duke Ellington won 14 Grammys in his career, and his big band
remained popular until his death in 1974. Across Knollwood Avenue is Lionel Hampton.
He was a jazz musician and bandleader known for popularizing the use of the
vibraphone in jazz. He performed in Benny Goodman's band in the 30s,
one of the first racially integrated jazz groups to perform before audiences.
Lionel would then form his own big band orchestra, becoming one of the
high-profile groups of the 40s and 50s. One of their biggest hits, as mentioned
earlier, was "Flying Home," inscribed here on his tombstone. [music] In later years he would perform with
greats like Louis Armstrong. He died of congestive heart failure at the age of 94. North on Heather, then right on Whitewood, we find the mausoleum where
Marilyn Miller is entombed, on the left. Marilyn was one of the most popular
Broadway stars of the 20s and 30s, an early Triple Threat as she could sing,
act, and dance. She became a star performing in the Ziegfeld Follies in
the 19-teens. In 1920 she starred in the musical comedy, Sally, popularizing the
song "Look For the Silver Lining." [music] Other roles include Peter Pan, and Sunny
in 1925, which made her the highest-paid star on Broadway.
Her last Broadway show was the Irving Berlin & Moss Hart musical, As Thousands
Cheer. In 1936, at the age of 37, she died from complications after surgery to her
nasal passages. She's entombed here with her first
husband. She was portrayed by Judy Garland in the film, Till the Clouds Roll By.
Years later when a young Norma Jean Dougherty was looking for a stage name,
she chose "Marilyn" after Marilyn Miller. Back to Heather Avenue, a little further
north, is Columbine Plot, where we find the grave of Irving Berlin, one of
America's greatest songwriters, whose work makes up a large part of the Great
American Songbook. Berlin was actually born in Russia, but his family fled
Jewish persecution to find refuge in New York when Irving was a child. His first
big hit was "Alexander's Ragtime Band" in 1911 which sparked an international
dance craze. In the years that followed, Berlin's songs,
many of which have become standards, would draw from and celebrate all things
Americana, like "God Bless America," [music] "White Christmas," [music] "There's No Business Like
Show Business," [music] and "Blue Skies." [music] Over his career he penned around 1,500
songs, including scores for 20 Broadway plays, and tunes used in countless films.
His songs have been performed by just about every major star of the past
century. Walter Cronkite once said of Berlin, "He helped write the story of this
country, capturing the best of who we are and the dreams that shape our lives." Irving Berlin lived to be 101. Many waters cannot quench love,
neither can the floods drown it. So reads the epitaph on this monument to
two victims of the Titanic sinking: Ida and Isidor Straus. Isador was a
businessman congressman and co-owner of the Macy's department store. He and his
wife Ida were among the wealthiest passengers on the Titanic.
Isidor and Ida were inseparable, so when it became clear that the Titanic would
sink and women were being loaded onto the lifeboats without their men, Ida
refused to leave her husband. They were last seen on deck arm-in-arm. They both
died that night. Isidor's body was recovered, but Ida was never found, so the
family collected water from the wreck site and placed it in an urn for her,
entombing it in this mausoleum. Their story was depicted in the movie,
Titanic. While one scene was cut from the final film, one of the most moving scenes
in the film, featuring an elderly couple embracing in bed while waters fill their
room, is the Straus's. "Please, Ida, get into the boat." "No! We've been together for 40
years, and where you go I go." "Don't argue with me, Isidor.
You know it does no good." [music] Turning south on Myosotis Avenue we
reach Walnut Section. Next to the road we find the mausoleum of Celia Cruz. She was
a Cuban-American singer dubbed the Queen of Salsa, and considered one of the most
popular Latin music artists of the 20th Century.
Her big break came in the 50s when she joined the Cuban band la Sonora Matancera, performing and touring with them for years. When Fidel Castro came to power in
1959 the group left Cuba never to return. Cruz then became a citizen of the United
States. She left the band to pursue a solo
career, and in the years to follow became an international sensation. She recorded
dozens of albums and won seven Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. [music] After the Cuban Revolution she was a
powerful symbol of artistic freedom for Cubans. She died of brain cancer at the
age of 77. One section west is Wintergreen Plot. Here is the final
resting place of Olive Thomas, dubbed the most beautiful girl in New York, in 1914.
She began her career modeling for painters, and in 1915 she was hired for
the Ziegfeld Follies. Her popularity in the follies and legendary beauty led her
to be cast in Ziegfeld's more risque show, Midnight Frolic, an after-hours show for
wealthy male patrons who would lavish the beautiful young female performers with
gifts and money. She made her screen debut in 1916, and would appear in little
more than 20 films, including The Flapper in 1920, the first film to depict the
flapper lifestyle. Olive was married to Jack Pickford, silent film star and
brother of Mary Pickford. While on a sort of a second honeymoon in Paris in 1920
Olive accidentally swallowed a mercury by chloride solution. The label
was in French so she may have mistaken it for something else. She screamed out,
crying, "Oh my god, I'm poisoned!" Jack ran to her and then raced her to the
hospital where he stayed by her side. "She didn't want to die," Jack recalls. "She took
the poison by mistake." "Olive fought hard, holding on to her life as only one case
in 50," said Jack. A torturous five days he watched as his beautiful wife slowly
died, taking her last breath on September 10th 1920 at the age of 25. So distraught
was Jack that as he brought Olive's body home to the States he attempted suicide
but was talked out of it. Her death became an early celebrity
scandal as rumors floated about that she had committed suicide, or was
intentionally poisoned. But in the end her death was ruled
accidental. The New Amsterdam theater in New York where the Follies were housed
is said to be haunted by the ghosts of Olive Thomas. From here we had a long way
northeast to Catalpa Plot. "Call me Ishmael." And call the man who wrote those
words "Herman." Herman Melville was an American novelist short story writer and poet during the American Renaissance period. His works draw on his experiences
as a sailor, including Typee, a romanticized account of his experiences
in Polynesia. His best-known work today is the whaling epic Moby Dick, which
tells the tale of Captain Ahab's obsessive quest for revenge on Moby Dick,
the white whale that bit off Ahab's leg at the knee. A commercial failure in its
day, Moby Dick wasn't classified as a great American novel until the 20th
century, long after Melville's death. Moby Dick has inspired a number of film and
television productions over the years. Turning west again past Woodlawn Lake we
reach Juniper section. Here is the grave of Lotta Crabtree,
beloved actress and founder of noble charities, one of the greatest
entertainers of the late 1800s. During those years she was known as "the
nation's darling." She made a name for herself in
California before relocating to the east coast to perform in plays like Uncle
Tom's Cabin. With her petite size she became popular for portraying children,
and by the 1870s she was touring the nation with her own theatrical company.
At the peak of her career in the 1870s and 80s she was a national star and the
highest-paid actress in America. After an injury from a fall on stage in 1889 she
decided to retire from the stage at age 45. When she died at age 76 she dedicated
much of her wealth to charitable causes, including veterans, aging actors, and
animals. Near the northeast corner of the cemetery is Butternut Plot. Next to
the road is the mausoleum of one of America's great all-around entertainers,
George M. Cohan. He was a songwriter, actor, producer, and
playwright, considered the father of the American musical comedy. And in his day
called "the man who owned Broadway." He's best remembered for his patriotic tunes, like "Over There," [music] "You're a Grand Old Flag," [music] and "Yankee Doodle Boy." [music] He also penned the tune perhaps most closely associated with Broadway, "Give My Regards to Broadway." [music] This tune came from his first Broadway
hit, Little Johnny Jones, in 1904. He wrote, produced, and appeared in more than three
dozen Broadway musicals. And for his contributions to wartime morale,
President Roosevelt presented him with the Congressional Gold Medal. Ironically,
Cohan played the role of FDR in the musical, I'd Rather Be Right, in 1937. A
musical film was made about the life of Cohan, Yankee Doodle Dandy, in 1942, which
starred James Cagney who, despite starting out as a song-and-dance man, was
mostly known at the time for his gangster roles. The performance earned
him an Oscar. [music] Cohan died of cancer at the age of 64,
just months after the release of Yankee Doodle Dandy in 1942. South along Filbert Avenue
we reach Goldenrod Plot on the left. Here is the grave of Oscar
Hammerstein I. He was a theatre impresario whose passion was opera. He
opened several opera houses in America which helped boost opera's popularity
here in the 1800s. His first theater was the Harlem Opera House in 1889. He also
built the Manhattan Opera House, now the Manhattan Center. In addition to building
opera houses he also wrote and produced operas, including Santa Maria in 1896, and
Naughty Marietta in 1910. He was the grandfather of Oscar Hammerstein II, of
Rodgers and Hammerstein fame, whose hits includes The Sound of Music. South of here is Parkview. Not far from
the opulent John Harbeck mausoleum we find the final resting place of Irene
and Vernon Castle, marked by this beautiful statue of a weeping woman.
Before the days of Ginger Rogers and Fred Astaire, Irene and Vernon Castle
were the entertainment world's favorite dance couple, credited for reviving the
popularity of modern dance. They married in 1911 and immediately began performing
together, traveling to Paris to perform in a dance revue, where they became
quite the sensation. Their reputation preceded them back in the states where
they would become Broadway darlings in Irving Berlin's first musical, Watch Your
Step in 1914, written for the Castles. In this
production they popularized the foxtrot. The Castles inspired a generation to
learn and try new forms of dance. Irene would also become a fashion icon in the
early 19-teens, including popularizing the bob hairstyle. After the
onset of World War I Vernon was determined to fight and began flight
school. He returned to England to enlist in the Royal Flying Corps, and served
with distinction, being awarded the Croix de Guerre in 1917. But in 1918, during a
training exercise in Texas, Vernon's plane stalled and crashed. He died at the
age of 30. Irene was left to carry on alone, devastated at the loss of her
beloved partner. She would star in a handful of silent films in the 1920s, but
by the late 20s retired from dancing or performing. She dedicated much of the
rest of her life to social causes, like animal rights.
A film was made about the Castles, starring none other than Ginger Rogers
and Fred Astaire. The grieving figure here is Irene
who posed for the sculpture. For our last stop of the day we'll continue back toward the main
entrance to the Velma Woolworth Memorial Chapel, built in 1935 as a donation from
Fred and Velma Woolworth, of Woolworths five-and-dime stores fame. In the Chapel Community Mausoleum, Chapel B, Azalea room, low on the back
wall is the niche of Otto Preminger. He's best known as the director of a number
of landmark films in the 40s through the 60s, first gaining national attention for
his noir films, such as Laura in 1944, considered one of Hollywood's top
mystery films. In later years he showed that he wouldn't shy away from topics
that were taboo in the era, pushing the limits of censorship when freely
exploring drug addiction in The Man With the Golden Arm, homosexuality in Advise
and Consent, and rape in Anatomy of a Murder. He was nominated for three Oscars,
for Laura, Anatomy of a Murder, and The Cardinal. Other popular films include
Carmen Jones, starring Dorothy Dandridge, with whom he had a years-long affair.
Preminger was also an actor, performing on stage in his younger years, and was
the second actor to play Mr. Freeze on the Batman TV series. He died of lung
cancer at the age of 80. 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 followed our channel for a time
you'll know I'm a great admirer of Edgar Allan Poe. Just a few miles southwest of
Woodland Cemetery in the Bronx is the cottage where Poe lived during his final
years. Poe moved here with his ailing wife Virginia and her mother Maria in
the spring of 1846. He had hoped that the country air would improve his wife's
health as she battled tuberculosis. For years Poe had watched his young life ebb
and flow from the brink of death and back again, a period Poe described with the
now infamous words, "I became insane,
with long intervals of horrible sanity." While here at Fordham Poe wrote some of his best-known works, including Ulalume, The
Bells, The Cask of Amontillado, and Annabel Lee, published after his death in
1849. Much of his writing would have been done right here in this main parlor.
Most of the furniture here are period but not original to the cottage. This
rocking chair, the mirror behind it, and the bed in the next room however are
believed to have belonged to the Poe family. Next to the parlor is a small
bedroom. As Virginia's condition worsened her bed was brought downstairs from the
upstairs bedroom, to be closer to the warmth. This is the very bed in which she
died in 1847, at the age of 24, undoubtedly inspiring Poe to write
Annabel Lee. On the second floor is a small room on
the left where Poe did some writing on warmer days. And the last room was the
main bedroom. Poe died under mysterious circumstances while on a trip to
Baltimore in 1849. After which Maria moved out, and the cottage is now an historic landmark.
