On Saturday, July 18, 2009, my friend Bob and I made our most extensive visit to the Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery in North Hollywood. I am certainly no stranger to this burial ground as I have visited it in 1980, 1988, 1992, 1995, 1997, 2005, 2007, 2008, 2009, and 2010 (at which time the photo above was taken). As you may have guessed, these visits to this cemetery where one might find the final resting place of Oliver Hardy, roughly correspond to my visits to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills where Stan Laurel is buried.
The cemetery was founded in 1923 and houses the graves of a good number of Hollywood greats. During the July 18, 2009 visit, Bob and I were able to track down and locate a good number of the graves we were looking for, ironically most of which had a Laurel and Hardy connection. However, there were a handful that we could not locate in the alloted amount of time on this dry, steamy day. The following are the graves that we located:
In my continuing quest to locate the graves of the Laurel and Hardy directors, I stopped by the grave of John G. Blystone, who directed two L&H films, Swiss Miss and Block-Heads (which happens to be my favorite). Strangely, Blystone passed away at the age of 45 before the latter film was ever released. He had also directed Buster Keaton in Our Hospitality in 1923.
Mantan Moreland was a prolific black actor, known for some rather controversial roles as a stereotypical manservant. He performed into the 1970’s, with his most notable role to me, being his appearance in Laurel and Hardy’s A-Haunting We Will Go.
Baldwin Cooke worked in Vaudeville with Stan Laurel long before his film career took off. Stan called on him once the team became popular and he appeared in about 30 of their films, mostly in uncredited roles, but most notably in Perfect Day and Be Big!
The sister of Dead End Kid Billy Halop, Florence Halop began her career as a child radio performer. She became a female character actress in TV series throughout the 50’s, 60’s, 70’s, and 80’s – but her most memorable role was as Bailiff Florence Kleiner for one season of Night Court.
C. Montague Shaw had a brief Laurel and Hardy connection. He played the father of Grady Sutton in their 1932 feature Pack Up Your Troubles.
Like Mantan Moreland, Willie Best also was a black actor known for his stereotypical roles. His nickname was “Sleep ‘n’ Eat”. Also like Moreland, Best appeared in the Laurel and Hardy feature A-Haunting We Will Go.
Not to be confused with the British dramatic actor of the same name, James Mason abbreviated film career is most notable to me for his work around the Hal Roach Studios, most notably as the meaner-than-mean Dan in the Our Gang short Fly My Kite.
Although the plaque placed on the wall by the Way Out West Tent in 1979 (seen at the top of the posting) is the most typically recognized monument associated with Oliver Hardy’s grave, you can see the actual original marker above.
In the 1920’s and 30’s, Cliff Edwards’ alter ego Ukulele Ike was a household name. He was a songwriter and musician known for his jazzy rendition of popular tunes. These days he is best remembered as the voice of Jiminy Cricket from the Walt Disney classic Pinnochio.
One of the most notable areas of Valhalla Memorial Park is the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation. Many aviation pioneers are interred here. There is a memorial plane (seen above) to the fallen crew of the Challenger and the Columbia in front of the shrine.
Obviously Amelia Earhart’s whereabouts are unknown, as she disappeared over the Pacific Ocean during her effort to circumnavigate the globe. Her official cenotaph is located inside the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation. Earhart was the first aviatrix to fly solo across the Atlantic Ocean.
Although I did not pose with it during this visit, the grave of Curly-Joe De Rita from the Three Stooges is also located at this cemetery. It can be seen here during my visit on October 4, 2008.
Return to Saturday in Hollywood…
Continue to the next Hollywood cemetery here…
Maybe she’s actually there and they have been scouring the wrong places all these years!
Dave Chasteen
December 12th, 2009
Oliver Hardy’s plaque was put up by the Sons of the Desert in general, not WOW Tent. Actually Tom Sefton’s San Diego Tent, made the arrangements.
Bob
December 30th, 2009