Hollywood Forever Cemetery, Los Angeles

Hollywood Forever Cemetery, originally called Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery, is one of the oldest cemeteries in Los Angeles, California. It is located at 6000 Santa Monica Boulevard in the Hollywood district of Los Angeles, adjacent to the north wall, or back, of Paramount Studios.

Among those interred or entombed in the cemetery are a number of important personalities and famous persons, including men and women from theentertainment industry and important people in the history of Los Angeles and their relatives. The cemetery is active and regularly hosts community events, including music events and summer movie screenings. In 2011, the cemetery became a co-producer of the American silent movie Silent Life based on the story of the Hollywood idol Rudolph Valentino, who is entombed there.

History

The cemetery, the first in Hollywood, was founded in 1899 on 100 acres (0.40 km2) as "Hollywood Memorial Park Cemetery" by developer Isaac Lankershim and his 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 land was set aside for the Beth Olam Cemetery, a dedicated Jewish burial ground, where people from Hollywood's Jewish community are buried.

In 1939, Jules Roth, a convicted felon and millionaire, bought a 51% stake in the cemetery. 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 body of Hattie McDaniel 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 owners dedicated a cenotaph in her honor at a prime lakeside location. 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 the 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 grounds. The heirs of 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's parking lot while the studio's parking structure was undergoing construction. To settle tax bills and furnish his lavish lifestyle, he sold two lawns which ran east and west along Santa Monica Boulevard in the late 1980s. These lawns became strip malls which now house, among other businesses, an auto parts store and a laundromat.

After the 1994 Northridge earthquake, Roth failed to repair the roofs and other damages the earthquake caused to crypts. By this time, Hollywood Memorial was no longer making money and only generated revenue by charging families $500 for disinterments. In 1997, Roth was sick after he fell in his Hollywood Hills home. He had been embroiled in a scandal regarding another cemetery he owned, Lincoln Memorial Park Cemetery, in Carson, California. Several months before his death, Roth was bedridden and disoriented. 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 was interred next to his wife Virginia, his father, and his mother. The state of California had revoked the cemetery's license to sell its remaining plots. After his death, it was discovered that cemetery's endowment care fund, meant to take care of the cemetery till the end of time, missing about $9 million, according to the current owner.

On the verge of closure in the bankruptcy proceeding, Tyler and Brent Cassity purchased the now 62-acre (250,000 m2) property in 1998 for $375,000. They renamed it "Hollywood Forever" and started restoring, refurbishing and adding to it, investing millions in revitalizing the grounds, offering documentaries about the deceased that are to be played in perpetuity on kiosks and are posted on the Web, and organizing tours to draw visitors. Recently, the mausoleum in which Jules Roth is interred has undergone exterior additions which significantly changed the facade and the classical architecture of the structure.

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 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??"

In popular culture

The award winning film "An Ordinary Couple" was inspired by the building of a Hollywood Forever monument in the Garden of Legends and stars Bernardo Puccio and Orin Kennedy.

A documentary about the cemetery called The Young and the Dead, was made in 2000.

The cemetery is briefly shown in the short Stopover in Hollywood. The television series 90210 featured the cemetery in the episode "Hollywood Forever".

In one scene of the novel Expiration Date by Tim Powers, the main characters are evading the antagonists of the novel by hiding in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. At one point the main hero, Pete Sullivan, remarks at the tomb of Bugsy Siegel that his late Hollywood producer father was friends with Siegel and many of the other celebrities interred at Hollywood Forever. To illustrate, Sullivan knocks the first few beats of "Shave-and-a-Haircut" on the marble slab of Siegel's crypt, and, a moment later, receives the response "Two-Bits" knocked from insidethe crypt.

In Episode 'Blues from Laurel Canyon' in Season 2 of Showtime's Californication character Lou Ashby's grave is depicted at Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

A scene from the 2010 movie Valentine's Day took place in the cemetery. The movie shown in the cemetery was Hot Spell (1958).

A song entitled "Hollywood Forever Cemetery Sings" appears on the Father John Misty album, Fear Fun.

In 2012, Los Angeles heavy metal band L.A. Guns released an album entitled Hollywood Forever (album), which also contains a title track. A music video for one of the albums tracks, "Requiem" featured excerpts filmed on location at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

A

• David Abel (1883–1973), cinematographer (aged 90)
• Joseph Achron (1886–1943), musician (aged 57)
• Walter Ackerman (1881–1938), actor (aged 57)
• Bert Adams (1891–1940), Major League Baseball player (aged 49)
• Don Adams (1923–2005), actor/comedian (aged 82)
• Louis Adlon (1908–1947), actor (aged 39)
• Renée Adorée (1898–1933), actress (aged 35)
• Gilbert Adrian (1903–1959), costume designer (aged 56)
• Helen Ainsworth (1902–1961), actress/producer (aged 59)
• Spottiswoode Aitken (1868–1933), actor (aged 65)
• Albert Akst (1899–1958), film editor (aged 59)
• Norman Alden (1924–2012), actor (aged 87)
• Erville Alderson (1882–1957), actor (aged 75)
• Frank Alexander (1879–1937), actor (aged 58)
• J. Grubb Alexander (1887–1932), screenwriter (aged 45)
• Charlie Allen (1942–1990), singer (aged 48)
• Lester Allen (1891–1949), actor (aged 58)
• Murray Alper (1904–1984), actor (aged 80)
• Albert Edward Anson (1879–1936), actor (aged 57)
• Andrew Arbuckle (1887–1939), actor (aged 52)
• Gus Arnheim (1897–1955), composer (aged 58)
• Sylvia Ashley (1904–1977), actress/socialite (aged 73)
• A.E. Anson (1879–1936), actor (aged 57)
• Gertrude Astor (1877–1977), actress (aged 100)
• Charles Avery (1873–1926), actor (aged 53)
• Agnes Ayres (1898–1940), actress (aged 42)

B

• Leah Baird (1883–1971), actress/screenwriter (aged 88)
• Charles Graham Baker (1883–1950), screenwriter/director (aged 67)
• Reginald Baker (1884–1953), actor/athlete/stuntman (aged 69)
• Fred J. Balshofer (1877–1969), director/producer (aged 92)
• Peter Bardens (1945–2002), musician (aged 57)
• George Barnes (1892–1953), cinematographer (aged 61)
• Anne Bauchens (1882–1967), film editor (aged 85)
• Frank Beal (1862–1934), actor/director/screenwriter (aged 72)
• William Beaudine (1892–1970), director (aged 78)
• Tony Beckley (1927–1980), actor (aged 53)
• Monta Bell (1891–1958), director (aged 67)
• Elmer Berger (1891–1952), inventor of the rear-view mirror (aged 61)
• Harry Bernard (1878–1940), actor/comedian (aged 62)
• Vic Berton (1896–1951), musician (aged 55)
• Herman Bing (1889–1947), actor (aged 58)
• Maurice Black (1891–1938), actor (aged 47)
• Paula Blackton (1881–1930), actress/director (aged 49)
• Richard Blackwell (1922–2008), fashion critic (aged 86)
• Mel Blanc (1908–1989), actor, comedian, and voice-over artist. His tombstone has one of the most famous epitaphs, "That's all folks" (aged 81)
• Lucille Bliss (1916–2012), actress/voice artist (aged 96)
• Lilian Bond (1908–1991), actress (aged 83)
• Gypsy Boots (1914–2004), fitness guru (aged 90)
• Egon Brecher (1880–1946), actor/director (aged 66)
• Joseph Carl Breil (1870–1926), singer/composer/director (aged 56)
• El Brendel (1890–1964), actor/comedian (aged 74)
• Felix Bressart (1892–1949), actor (aged 57)
• Jack Brooks (1912–1971), composer (aged 59)
• Coral Browne (1913–1991), actress (aged 78)
• Edward Bunker (1933–2005), actor (aged 72)

C

• Louis Calhern (1895–1956), actor (aged 61)
• Edwin Carewe (1883–1940), actor/director/producer/screenwriter (aged 57)
• Lynn Cartwright (1927–2004), actress, wife of Leo Gordon (aged 77)
• Maurice Cass (1884–1954), actor (aged 70)
• Harry Chandler (1864–1944) publisher of the Los Angeles Times and investor (aged 80)
• Charles Chaplin Jr. (1925–1968), actor, son of Charlie Chaplin (aged 43)
• Hannah Chaplin (1865–1928), mother of Charlie Chaplin (aged 63)
• Emile Chautard (1864–1934), actor/director/screenwriter (aged 70)
• Al Christie (1881–1951), director/producer and screenwriter (aged 70)
• Charles Christie (1880–1955), movie studio owner (aged 75)
• Gertrude Claire (1852–1928), actress (aged 76)
• William Andrews Clark, Jr. (1877–1934), founder of the Los Angeles Philharmonic (aged 57)
• Lana Clarkson (1962–2003), actress/model (aged 40)
• Iron Eyes Cody (1907–1999), actor (aged 92)
• Harry Cohn (1891–1958), founder of Columbia Pictures (aged 68)
• Cornelius Cole (1822–1924), California Congressional Representative and U.S. Senator (aged 102)
• Thomas F. Cooke (1863–1941), Los Angeles City Council member, (1929–1931) (aged 78)
• Lillian Kemble-Cooper (1892–1977), actress and singer, wife of actor Guy Bates Post (aged 75)
• William Henry Crane (1845–1928), actor (aged 83)
• Alan Crosland (1894–1936), director (aged 32)
• James Cruze (1884–1942), actor/director (aged 58)
• Irving Cummings (1888–1959), film director and actor (aged 71)

D

• Orlando da Costa (1929–2006), Portuguese Minister (aged 77)
• Cass Daley (1915–1975), actress/comedienne/singer (aged 60)
• Viola Dana (1897–1987), actress (aged 90)
• Karl Dane (1886–1934), actor (aged 48)
• Bebe Daniels (1901–1972), actress (aged 71)
• Joe Dassin (1938–1980), American-born French singer/songwriter (aged 42)
• Marion Davies (1897–1961), actress (aged 64)
• Cecil B. DeMille (1881–1959), director/producer (aged 78)
• William C. DeMille (1878–1955), director/writer (aged 77)
• Basil Dickey (1880–1958), screenwriter (aged 78)
• Gloria Dickson (1917–1945), actress (aged 28)
• John Frances Dillon (1884–1934), actor/director (aged 50)
• Molly Dodd (1921–1981), actress (aged 60)
• Frances Drake (1912–2000), actress (aged 88)
• Jesse Duffy (1894–1952), screenwriter (aged 58)
• Bobby Dunn (1890–1937), actor/comedian (aged 47)
• Richard Dunn (1936–2010), actor (aged 73)
• Elmer Dyer (1892–1970), cinematographer (aged 78)

E

• B. Reeves Eason (1886–1956), actor/director/screenwriter (aged 70)
• Maude Eburne (1875–1960), actress (aged 85)
• Nelson Eddy (1901–1967), actor/singer (aged 66)
• Robert Edeson (1868–1931), actor (aged 63)
• Billy Engle (1889–1966), actor (aged 77)
• Skinnay Ennis (1907–1963), musician (aged 56)
• Charles Eyton (1871–1941), former general manager of Paramount Pictures (aged 70)

F

• Douglas Fairbanks (1883–1939), actor (aged 56)
• Douglas Fairbanks, Jr. (1909–2000), actor (aged 90)
• Marion Fairfax (1875–1970), screenwriter (aged 95)
• Timothy Farrell (1922–1989), actor (aged 67)
• Julia Faye (1893–1966), actress (aged 73)
• Maude Fealy (1881–1971), actress (aged 90)
• Charles K. Feldman (1904–1968), agent/film producer (aged 64)
• Hugo Felix (1866–1934), composer (aged 68)
• Mark Fenton (1866–1925), actor (aged 59)
• Flora Finch (1869–1940), actress (aged 71)
• Peter Finch (1912–1976), actor (aged 64)
• Victor Fleming (1889–1949), director (aged 60)
• Edna Flugrath (1893–1966), actress (aged 73)
• John Taintor Foote (1881–1950), writer (aged 69)
• John Foreman (1925–1992), film producer (aged 67)
• Sidney Franklin (1893–1972), director (aged 79)
• Kathleen Freeman (1919–2001), actress (aged 82)
• Otto Fries (1887–1938), actor (aged 51)
• Joe Frisco (1889–1958), actor/comedian (aged 69)
• George Froeschel (1891–1979), screenwriter (aged 88)
• Leo Fuchs (1911–1994), actor (aged 83)

G

• Victor A. Gangelin (1899–1967), set designer (aged 68)
• Ed Gardner (1901–1963), actor/comedian (aged 62)
• Tony Gaudio (1883–1951), cinematographer (aged 68)
• Janet Gaynor (1906–1984), actress (aged 78)
• Gidget Gein (1969–2008), musician/bassist for Marilyn Manson (aged 39)
• Carmelita Geraghty (1901–1966), actress, wife of Carey Wilson (aged 65)
• Estelle Getty (1923–2008), actress/comedienne (aged 85)
• Maury Gertsman (1907–1999), cinematographer (aged 92)
• Etienne Girardot (1856–1939), actor (aged 83)
• Leo Gordon (1922–2000), actor, husband of Lynn Cartwright (aged 78)
• Archie Gottler (1896–1959), director/screenwriter/composer/actor (aged 63)
• Griffith J. Griffith (1850–1919), park and observatory donor (aged 69)
• Bob Guccione (1930–2010), magazine publisher (aged 79)

H

• George Hackathorne (1896–1940), actor (aged 44)
• Joan Hackett (1934–1983), actress (aged 49)
• Bianca Halstead (1965–2001), musician (aged 36)
• Harley Hamilton (1861–1933), musician (aged 72)
• John Hamilton (1887–1958), actor (aged 71)
• Curtis Harrington (1926–2007), director (aged 81)
• Kenneth Harlan (1895–1967), actor (aged 72)
• George Harrison (1943–2001), singer/songwriter (cremation) (aged 58)
• Mildred Harris (1901–1944), actress (aged 43)
• Don C. Harvey (1911–1963), actor (aged 52)
• Jean Havez (1869–1925), songwriter (aged 56)
• Wanda Hawley (1895–1963), actress (aged 68)
• Lennie Hayton (1908–1971), composer, conductor and arranger
• Lillie Hayward (1891–1977), actress/screenwriter (aged 86)
• Pauline Pfeiffer Hemingway (1895–1951), wife of Ernest Hemingway (aged 56)
• Woody Herman (1913–1987), musician (aged 74)
• Benjamin Franklin Hilliker (1843–1916), Medal of Honor recipient (aged 73)
• Darla Hood (1931–1979), actress/singer (aged 48)
• David Horsley (1873–1933), built the first Hollywood movie studio (aged 60)
• Jean Howard (1910–2000), actress/photographer (aged 90)
• H. Bruce Humberstone (1901–1984), actor and director
• John Huston (1906–1987), director/screenwriter (aged 81)

J

• Steve James (1952–1993), actor (aged 41)
• Rick Jason (1923–2000), actor (aged 77)
• Christopher Jones (1941-2014), actor (aged 72)
• Walter Jurmann (1903–1971), composer (aged 68)

K

• Olga Kaljakin (1950–2008), film poster designer (aged 58)
• Bronisław Kaper (1902–1983), composer (aged 81)
• Skelton Knaggs (1911–1955), actor (aged 44)
• Zoltán Korda (1895–1961), director (aged 66)
• Erich Wolfgang Korngold (1897–1957), composer (aged 60)
• May Kitson (1869–1943), actress (aged 74)

L

• Don LaFontaine (1940–2008), voice-over actor (aged 68)
• Arthur Lake (1905–1987), actor (aged 82)
• Barbara La Marr (1896–1926), actress (aged 30)
• Jesse L. Lasky (1880–1958), pioneer, founded Famous Players-Lasky, which became Paramount Pictures (aged 78)
• Jesse Lasky, Jr. (1908–1988), screenwriter, son of Jesse Lasky (aged 80)
• Florence Lawrence (1886–1938), actress (aged 52)
• Lillian Lawrence (1868–1926), actress (aged 58)
• Henry Lehrman (1886–1946), director (aged 60)
• Edward LeSaint (1870–1940), actor (aged 70)
• Elmo Lincoln (1889–1952), actor (aged 63)
• Perry Lopez (1931–2008), actor (aged 77)
• Peter Lorre (1904–1964), actor (aged 60)
• Ben Lyon (1901–1979), actor (aged 78)

M

• Robert S. MacAlister (1897–1957), Los Angeles City Council member, (1934–39)(aged 60)
• Jeanie MacPherson (1887–1946), actress, screenwriter (aged 59)
• Leo D. Maloney (1888–1929), pioneer actor/director and producer (aged 41)
• Jayne Mansfield (1933–1967), actress (she has a cenotaph; she is buried in Fairview Cemetery, Pen Argyl, Pennsylvania) (aged 34)
• Paul Marco (1925–2006), actor (aged 81)
• Tully Marshall (1864–1943), actor/producer and director (aged 79)
• Hattie McDaniel (1895–1952), actress, (She has a cenotaph; she is buried in Angelus-Rosedale Cemetery; Hollywood Memorial Park cemetery did not permit burial of black people in 1952) (aged 57)
• Darren McGavin (1922–2006), actor (aged 84)
• Adolphe Menjou (1890–1963), actor (aged 73)
• Charles B. Middleton (1874–1949), actor (aged 75)
• Arthur Charles Miller (1895–1970), cinematographer (aged 75)
• Laura Spellman-Middleton (1890–1945), actress (aged 55)
• Robert Mitchell (1912–2009), organist (aged 97)
• Paul Muni (1895–1967), actor (aged 72)

N

• Dudley Nichols (1895–1960), screenwriter (aged 65)
• Maila Nurmi (1922–2008), actress and television host (aged 86)

O

• Donald Allen Oreck (1930–2006), actor (aged 76)
• Harrison Gray Otis (1837–1917), Los Angeles Times publisher (aged 80)
• Frank Overton (1918–1967), actor (aged 49)

P

• Art Pepper (1925–1982), musician (aged 77)
• Barbara Pepper (1915–1969), actress (aged 54)
• Ben Pollack (1903-1971), drummer and bandleader
• Guy Bates Post (1875–1968), actor (aged 93)
• Eleanor Powell (1912–1982), actress/dancer (aged 70)
• Tyrone Power (1914–1958), actor (aged 44)

R

• Dee Dee Ramone (Douglas Glenn Colvin) (1952–2002), musician and member of The Ramones (aged 50)
• Johnny Ramone (1948–2004), musician and member of The Ramones (his ashes were retained by his wife and, after her death, they will both be inurned in the Ramone statue) (aged 56)
• Virginia Rappe (1891–1921), actress (aged 30)
• Marie Rappold (1879–1957), singer (aged 80)
• Tom Reddin (1916–2004), Los Angeles police chief (1964–1969) (aged 88)
• Rodd Redwing (1904–1971), actor (aged 67)
• George Regas (1890–1940), actor (aged 50)
• Pedro Regas (1897–1974), actor (aged 77)
• Nelson Riddle (1921–1985), musician/composer (aged 64)
• Al Ritz (1901–1965), actor/comedian (aged 64)
• Harry Ritz (1904–1985), actor/comedian (aged 81)
• Jimmy Ritz (1907–1986), actor/comedian (aged 79)
• Theodore Roberts (1861–1928), actor (aged 67)
• Mickey Rooney (1920–2014), actor and entertainer (aged 93)
• Harold Rosson (1895–1988), cinematographer (aged 93)

S

• Hans J. Salter (1896–1994), composer (aged 98)
• Hyman B. Samuels (1909–1973), third husband of actress Lynne Roberts (aged 64)
• Tom Santschi (1880–1931), actor (aged 51)
• Ann Savage (1921–2008), actress (aged 87)
• Joseph Schildkraut (1896–1964), actor (aged 68)
• Leon Schlesinger (1884–1949), head of animation at Warner Bros. (aged 65)
• Herman Schopp (1899–1954), cinematographer (aged 55)
• L'Wren Scott (1964–2014), stylist/fashion designer (aged 49; cremated after funeral service at Hollywood Forever Cemetery; ashes given to family)
• Tony Scott (1944–2012), producer/director (aged 68)
• Vito Scotti (1918–1996), actor (aged 78)
• Rolfe Sedan (1896–1982), actor (aged 86)
• Harry Semels (1887–1946), actor (aged 59)
• Peggy Shannon (1910–1941), actress (aged 31)
• Ann Sheridan (1915–1967), actress (aged 52)
• Benjamin "Bugsy" Siegel (1906–1947), gangster (aged 41)
• Jerry Siegel (1914–1996), co-creator of Superman comic books (aged 82)
• Chief Luther Standing Bear (1868–1939), Sioux Nation actor (aged 71)
• Vsevolod Starosselsky (1875–1953), Russian émigré, former military commander (aged 78)
• Ford Sterling (1883–1939), actor (aged 56)
• Yma Sumac (1922–2008), singer/actress (aged 86)
• Josef Swickard (1866–1940), actor (aged 74)
• Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer (1927–1959), actor (aged 32)
• Harold Switzer (1925–1967), actor, older brother of Carl Switzer (aged 42)
• Natasha Shneider (1956–2008), musician, actress (aged 52)

T

• Constance Talmadge (1897–1973), actress (aged 76)
• Natalie Talmadge (1899–1969), actress (aged 70)
• Norma Talmadge (1893–1957), actress (aged 64)
• Eva Tanguay (1879–1947), singer (aged 70)
• Estelle Taylor (1894–1958), actress (aged 64)
• William Desmond Taylor (1872–1922), director (aged 50)
• Verree Teasdale (1906–1987), actress (aged 81)
• Terry (1933–1945), dog actress, best known for playing Toto in The Wizard of Oz. Terry has a cenotaph; following her death in 1945, she was buried on owner/trainer Carl Spitz's ranch in Studio City, Los Angeles. The grave was subsequently destroyed during the construction of the Ventura Freeway in 1958 (aged 12-Human years)
• Charles E. Toberman (1880–1981), builder of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel (aged 101)
• Gregg Toland (1904–1948), cinematographer (aged 44)
• Noel Toy (1918–2003), actress/dancer, wife of Carleton Young (aged 85)
• Victor Travers (1884–1948), actor (aged 64)
• John Tyrrell (1900–1949), actor (aged 49)
• Tamara Toumanova (March 2, 1919 – May 29, 1996), actress (aged 77)

U

• Edgar Ulmer (1904–1972), director (aged 68)

V

• Rudolph Valentino (1895–1926), actor (aged 31)

W

• George D. Wallace (1917–2005), actor (aged 88)
• Jean Wallace (1923–1990), actress (aged 67)
• Steve Wayne (1920–2004), actor (aged 84)
• Clifton Webb (1889–1966), actor (aged 77)
• David White (1916–1990), actor (aged 74)
• Marjorie White (1904–1935), actress (aged 31)
• Hobart Johnstone Whitley (1847–1931), Named Hollywood while honeymooning with his wife; gravesite is marked "The Father Of Hollywood" (aged 84)
• Harvey Henderson Wilcox (1832–1891), founded the city of Hollywood (aged 59)
• Rozz Williams (1963–1998), musician (aged 35)
• Fay Wray (1907–2004), actress (aged 96)

Y

• Duke York (1908–1952), actor (aged 44)
• Victor Young (1899–1956), composer (aged 57)

Z

• Eric Zeisl (1905–1959), composer (aged 54)