Hollywood Forever Cemetery

History

The cemetery, the only one actually in Hollywood, was founded in 1899 on 100 acres (0.40 km²) and called "Hollywood Cemetery" by developer Isaac Lankershim and his business partner / son-in-law, Isaac Van Nuys. The cemetery sold off large tracts to Paramount Studios, which, with RKO Studios, bought 40 acres (160,000 m²) by 1920. Part of the remaining land was set aside for the Beth Olam Cemetery, a dedicated Jewish burial ground, where members of the local Jewish community are buried.

In 1939, Jules Roth, a convicted felon and millionaire, bought a 51% stake in the cemetery, the interment site of his parents. He used the money from the cemetery's operations to pay for personal luxuries while allowing the cemetery and crematory to fall into disrepair.

In 1952, despite her expressed wish, Roth would not allow the actress Hattie McDaniel, best known for her role of Mammy in the movie Gone with the Wind, for which she became the first African American to win an Academy Award, to be buried at Hollywood Memorial. At the time of her death, Hollywood Memorial, like other cemeteries, was segregated (the cemetery was desegregated in 1959). On the 47th anniversary of McDaniel's death, the cemetery's current owner dedicated a cenotaph in her honor at a prime location south of Sylvan Lake.

The crematory was shut down in July, 1974 after the cremation of singer Cass Elliot. According to the cemetery grounds supervisor Daniel Ugarte, the crematory was in such disrepair that bricks began falling in around Elliot's body (the crematory was later repaired and reopened in 2002).

By the 1980s, the California Cemetery Board began receiving regular complaints from the families of people interred there. Family members complained that the grounds were not kept up and were disturbed to hear stories about vandalism on the cemetery grounds. The heirs of well-known makeup artist Max Factor (who was interred in the Beth Olam Mausoleum in 1938) moved his and other Factor family remains after the mausoleum sustained water damage that discolored the walls.

In 1986, a Los Angeles woman and 1,000 other plot owners filed a class action lawsuit against the cemetery for invasion of privacy after they discovered that Roth allowed employees of Paramount Pictures to park in the cemetery while the studio's parking structure was undergoing construction.

In the late 1980s, to settle tax bills and maintain his lavish lifestyle, Jules Roth sold two lawns totaling three acres, facing the Santa Monica Boulevard front of the property. Those lawns are now strip malls which house, among other businesses, an auto parts store and a laundromat.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Roth couldn't afford to repair the roofs and other damage the earthquake caused to crypts. By that time, Hollywood Memorial was no longer making money and only generated revenue by charging families $500 for disinterments.

In 1997, Roth became ill after he fell in his Hollywood Hills home. He had been embroiled in a scandal regarding another cemetery he owned, Lincoln Memorial Park, in Carson, California. Several months before his death, Roth was bedridden and disoriented and during this time his will was changed to provide for his business associates and maid, who were the only witnesses to his signature. His relatives were written out. Roth died on January 4, 1998, and he was interred next to his wife Virginia, his father, and his mother in the Cathedral Mausoleum. The state of California had revoked the cemetery's license to sell its remaining interment spaces.

After Roth's death, it was discovered that the cemetery's endowment care fund, meant to care for the cemetery in perpetuity, was missing about $9 million, according to the current owner.

Those owners, Tyler and Brent Cassity, purchased the now 62-acre (250,000 m²) property which was on the verge of closure in a bankruptcy proceeding, in 1998 for $375,000. They renamed the cemetery "Hollywood Forever" and set-out to give it a complete renaissance, restoring, refurbishing and adding to it, investing millions in revitalizing the grounds and also offering documentaries about the deceased that are to be played in perpetuity on kiosks and are posted on the Web, as well as organizing tours to draw visitors.

In 2010, Brent Cassity and his father, along with several others, were indicted for running a Ponzi-like scheme stealing hundreds of millions of dollars from pre-need funeral contracts. Authorities later found that the money the brothers invested in the cemetery came from the proceeds of the scheme.

The cemetery has, since 2002, screened films at a gathering called Cinespia on weekends during the summer and on holidays. The screenings are held on the Douglas Fairbanks Lawn and the films are projected onto the white marble west wall of the Cathedral Mausoleum. Music events take place in the cemetery as well. On June 14 and 15, 2011, The Flaming Lips played at the cemetery in a two-night gig billed "Everyone You Know Someday Will Die," a lyric from their 2002 single "Do You Realize??"

Notable burials

Use the following alphabetical links to find someone:

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

U

V

W

Y

Z

"Forever Tributes"

The cemetery's website contains Forever Tributes of each star which consist of a video with introduction titles saying, "A Hollywood Forever Tribute, in honor of...(name)". The body of the video contains photos and film clips of the honoree, interviews with friends or relatives, music and narration. The conclusion again shows the honoree's name birth and death year. The videos are available through an interactive map of the property on the cemetery website.