Elegy Written in a Westwood Burial Ground

Recently I attended an event both sad and uplifting:  a memorial service for Frances Doel, who was Roger Corman’s right-hand woman for decades. The high esteem in which she was held by everyone who knew her was indicated by the who’s-who list of attendees, including producer Gale Anne Hurd, who credits Frances with being the very first to read and support her and James Cameron’s landmark script for Terminator.

 Frances’ celebration of life, wonderfully stage-managed by her sister Rosemary, was held at what is now called Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park. As cemeteries go, it’s tiny, and tucked away behind office towers that make it hard to find. But it dates back to 1905, and has been an interment site of choice for many well-known members of the Hollywood community. That’s why it’s a popular draw for tourists. L.A. has several celebrated burial sites that attract looky-loos. Hollywood Forever cemetery near Paramount Studios boasts the celebrated wall crypt that holds the remains of Rudolf Valentino and for years was ritually visited by the mysterious Lady in Black. (Hollywood Forever also hosts an annual summer film series on its sprawling lawn.)

 Westwood Village Memorial Park is known, first and foremost, as the final resting place of Marilyn Monroe. I couldn’t resist seeking out her site, and admiring the fresh flowers in a vase next to her wall plaque. Famously, right next door to Marilyn is Playboy honcho Hugh Hefner, although his flowers are fake (which seems rather apt). On my leisurely stroll through the premises on a very hot day, I missed many other famous names: among them Burt Lancaster, Natalie Wood, Dean Martin, Ray Bradbury, and Billy Wilder. Still,  I saw some historic resting places, like that of early director Josef von Sternberg, celebrated today for directing Marlene Dietrich in The Blue Angel. Kirk and Anne Douglas share a simple space that also bears a poignant reference to their troubled son Eric, who died young. Screenwriter Ernest Lehman’s gravestone sums up a busy, fulfilling life; composer Ray Coniff’s boasts a snatch of one of his most popular musical themes. Carl Wilson of The Beachboys is memorialized as “the heart and voice of an angel.” Soul singer Minnie Riperton (mother of Maya Rudolph), is honored by the presence of some actual CD’s of her work. Any native Angeleno will be especially moved, I think, by the joint resting place of Harry and Marilyn Lewis, whose Hamburger Hamlet restaurant chain was the backdrop for our growing-up years.

 Most eccentric gravesites? Comic actor Don Knotts has a plaque etched with images of him in highly familiar roles, like Mayberry Deputy Barney Fife. The splashiest site I saw belonged to German-born filmmaker Wolfgang Petersen, whose most celebrated work was 1981’s World War II submarine drama, Das Boot. (His ample section boasts candles, a world globe, landscaping, and a lot of fabric roses.) I also appreciated the sites of more modest Hollywood figures, like one Jeff Morris, whose plaque describes him as fine actor, and records what must have been a favorite phrase: “weather permitting.”

 But of course not everyone interred here has a Hollywood connection. I don’t know who Rita Kaslov was, but her stone contains her photo, as well as the information that she was a psychic. At bottom, passers-by can read an advertisement for her services: there’s the image of a hand, fingers  outstretched, and the announcement that she offers $5 palm readings. It’s impossible to say where the late Rita is now, but I’m sure she has gained a lot of insights since she shuffled off this mortal coil.

PS I couldn't resist looking up the gravestone for writer/director Billy Wilder, famous for (among many others) Some Like It Hot.  It reads: "I'M A WRITER. BUT THEN .  . . NOBODY'S PERFECT."