James Cagney

 

"There's not much to say about acting but this.  Never settle back on your heels.  Never relax.  If you relax, the audience relaxes.  And always mean everything you say."

James Francis Cagney was born in New York City on July 17, 1899.  He was the second of seven children born to father James Sr., a bartender and amateur boxer of Irish descent.  The younger Cagney intended to major in Art upon his high school graduation but found himself as head of the family following his father's death during the 1918 flu pandemic.  

Cagney worked a variety of odd jobs for several years to support his family, serving as a copy boy for the New York Sun, a book custodian at the New York Public Library, a bellhop, and more.  Of this hectic time in his life, he would later say "it was good for me.  I feel sorry for the kid who has too cushy a time of it.  Suddenly, he has to come face to face with the realities of life without any mama or papa to do his thinking for him."

Cagney moved to Hollywood in 1929, and it didn't take long for his career to take off.  His first credited role was the 1930 crime drama Sinner's Holiday, playing Harry Delano, a character he reprised from the Broadway musical Penny Arcade.  He'd star in 60 feature films over the next five decades, the most famous of which was 1942's Yankee Doodle Dandy, for which he'd win an Academy award.

By 1986, Cagney had retired to a farm in Stanford, New York.  It was there that he died on Easter Sunday at the age of 86.  He was laid to rest at the Gate of Heaven Cemetery in Hawthorne, New York. President Ronald Reagan delivered the eulogy and issued this Presidential Statement.

Location: Saint Francis of Assisi Mausoleum #1, Wing #5, Corridor B, Crypt #76

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about James Cagney, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• While there is no dedicated James Cagney Museum, several institutions do offer exhibits on his career, including the Ramona Heritage Museum in Ramona, California.  There is also an original biographical stage production called Cagney! The Musical!, which debuted in 2009.
  
  
• Cagney impersonators often utter the phrase "you dirty rat," mistakenly believing that he actually said it.  He never did.
  
  
• Cagney was the inspiration for 1986 Madonna song White Heat.  Check out the video on YouTube.
  
  
• Near the end of his life, Cagney stated that if he had to choose anyone to play him in a biographical feature, he'd prefer it to be Michael J. Fox.  While no such film was ever produced, Fox did host a 1992 documentary entitled James Cagney: Top of the World.  Check it out on YouTube.

Vivian Blaine

 

"I put all my intelligence, such as it is, into playing dumb blondes."

Vivian Blaine was born Vivian Stapleton in Newark, New Jersey on November 21, 1921.  She was the only child born to father Leo, an insurance agent, and mother Wilhelmina.  She set her sites on the stage at an early age, with ambitions of an actress and singer.  She began touring after high school.

By the 1940s, Blaine was the top-billed act at New York City's Copacabana nightclub, the place where music and passion were always in fashion.  She outsold many top acts of the time, including Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. 

Bolstered by her success, she moved to Hollywood in 1942, where she signed a contract with Twentieth Century Fox.  She made her screen debut that year in the film It Happened in Flatbush, appearing opposite actor Lloyd Nolan.  Her film career was sporadic, making just 14 features over the next forty years, including the 1945 classic State Fair.

In 1950, Blaine made her Broadway debut in what is considered to be her signature role, Miss Adelaide, in Guys and Dolls.  She proved so popular in the role that she reprised it in the 1955 theatrical adaptation.  Between 1950 and 1983, Blaine would headline six successful Broadway productions.

By 1995, Blaine's health was in decline.  She ultimately died of congestive heart failure on December 9th.  She was 74 years old.

Vivian Blaine was laid to rest in Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York.  She shares a plot with actress Marion Ferguson, with whom she had no prior relationship.  The two are among many stage and screen actors buried in the Actor's Fund Plot. 

Location: Actor's Fund Plot, Grave #462.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Sadly, there are no biographies or museums dedicated to Blaine, but there is a collection of career artifacts at the Museum of the City of New York.
  
  
• Between 1973 and 1983, Blaine appeared on many "Best Dressed Women in America" lists.
  
  
• In the 1940s, Blaine appeared in advertisements for Camel cigarettes.  One such ad quotes her as saying "a singer must think of her throat.  I've found the cigarette that suits my throat best is Camel!"
  
  
• Blaine had three husbands - her agent, the head of Universal Pictures, and finally, a businessman who helped revive her career in the 1970s.  While the first two ended in divorce, her final marriage to Stuart Clark lasted more than 20 years, until her passing in 1995.
  
  
• Blaine's final credit was a 1985 episode of Murder, She Wrote.  Check out a clip on YouTube.

Philip K. Dick - Author of "Blade Runner," "The Man in the High Castle"

 

"The basic tool for the manipulation of reality is the manipulation of words.  If you can control the meaning of words, you can control the people who must use the words."

Philip Kindred Dick and his twin sister Jane were born in Chicago, Illinois on December 16, 1928.  The twins were six weeks premature, which contributed to Jane's death just one month later. 

Dick's parents divorced when he was just five years old, and his mother won custody.  They moved to Washington, DC and then later to Berkeley, California.  He briefly attended the University of California, but ultimately dropped out after just one semester.

By 1951, Dick was already drafting science fiction stories.  He sold his first one that year and soon became a regular contributor to the pulp magazines of the day, including Galaxy Science Fiction and Science Fiction Quarterly.  His first novel, Solar Lottery, was published in 1955.

Over the next thirty years, Dick published a number of stories that would later inspire feature films.  The most famous of these is his 1968 novel Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, which Hollywood adapted into the iconic film Blade Runner in 1982.  The film version launched the popular tech-noir and cyberpunk film genres in Hollywood.  Some of his other adapted works include We Can Remember it for You Wholesale, which became Total Recall (1966), Minority Report (1956), and The Man in the High Castle (1962).

As production on Blade Runner began in late 1981, Dick's health was already in decline.  There are conflicting reports as to whether he was able to view any of the completed work, but he wouldn't survive to see opening day.  He died of a stroke on March 2, 1982.  He was just 53 years old.

Dick was cremated.  His father took the ashes to Riverside Cemetery in Fort Morgan, Colorado and buried them with his long-dead twin sister.

Location: Section K, Block #1, Lot #56

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Philip K. Dick, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  Its all in books.  His novels are also worth your time.
  
  
• To date, the films based on Dick's novels have grossed more than $1 billion worldwide.  Dick himself saw little to none of this money, having passed away before earning any royalties.  Ironically, he died in relative squalor.
  
  
• Inspired by his twin sister's premature death, Dick often infused the idea of a "phantom twin" into many of his works.
  
  
• In 1979, Dick sat down for an interview with fellow sci-fi author Charles Platt.  You can listen to this exceptional two-hour conversation on YouTube.
  
  
• Dick served as a mentor to many up and coming sci-fi authors, including K.W. Jeter, who authored three Blade Runner sequel novels in the late 1990s.
  
  
• In 2021, artist Brennan Roach designed a utility box dedicated to Dick in his hometown of Santa Ana.  It was one in a series of such projects designed to beautify the city.  Check out its official website.
  
  
  
  
  
  

Olympia Dukakis

 

"So, I constantly play women who are damaged and out of touch, who are seeking without knowing, or knowing without the skills to transform their lives.  But then, that's really the fate of many women today."

Olympia Dukakis was born in Lowell, Massachusetts on June 20, 1931.  She was the daughter of Greek immigrants and had a younger brother named Apollo.  She was the cousin of former Massachusetts Governor Michael Dukakis, who would one day run for president (see Trivia below).

Olympia began her stage career at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts in the 1950s.  In 1973, Olympia and her husband co-founded the Whole Theater Company in Montclair, New Jersey.  She served as artistic director, producing five productions per season, and welcoming such actors as Samuel L. Jackson, Blythe Danner, Jose Ferrer and more.  The final curtain call was in 1990.

Olympia made her silver screen debut in the 1963 avant-garde production Twice a Man.  She'd go on to star in some of the biggest films of the 1980s, including Steel Magnolias (1989), Look Who's Talking (1989), and Moonstruck (1987), for which she'd win an Academy Award (see Trivia below).

By 2021, Olympia's health was in decline, prompting her to enter hospice care.  She ultimately passed away on May 21st at the age of 89.  Her exact cause of death has never been revealed.

Olympia Dukakis was entombed in a mausoleum at Mount Hebron Cemetery in Montclair, New Jersey.  Her alcove is rather high up and can be difficult to photograph.

Location: Lower Mausoleum, North Wing Panel #2

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Olympia Dukakis, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• Vlogger Jordan the Lion documented Olympia's final resting place in 2025.  Check out his video on YouTube.
  
  
• In 2018, a documentary film entitled Olympia was released in theatres.  Today, it is available for free on some streaming services, including Roku and Tubi.  Check out the trailer on YouTube.
  
  
• In 1988, Olympia was recognized by the Academy Awards as Best Supporting Actress in the 1987 film Moonstruck.  During her acceptance speech, she gave a shout out to her cousin Michael, who was running for president that year and ultimately won a whopping ten states. In 1989, Olympia's home was burglarized and the award was stolen.  The thief was kind enough, however, to leave her nameplate.
  
  
• Other notable Mount Hebron interments include paint magnate Benjamin Moore, TV inventor Allen DuMont, and Hazel star Shirley Booth, formerly featured in this blog.

Jack Webb

 

The story you about to read is true.

John Randolph "Jack" Webb was born in Santa Monica, California on April 2, 1920.  He never knew his father, who left the family before Webb was born.  He grew up in the Bunker Hill section of Los Angeles, an area ripe with poverty.

Webb attended St. John's University in Minnesota, but he never received his diploma.  Like many of his generation, he put his studies on hold as America entered World War 2.  He enlisted with the Army Air Corps, where he served on the crew of a B-26 Marauder.  Webb was ultimately issued a hardship discharge however, as he was the sole provider for his mother and grandmother.

After the war, Webb got his start in radio, working for station KGO in San Francisco.  The Jack Webb Show, his first weekly series, was actually a comedy, running contrary to the serious persona for which he'd become known.  In 1949, he introduced Dragnet and his Joe Friday character on NBC Radio in Los Angeles, where it ran for the next eight years. 

Three years into its run, the first television version, also starring Webb, began airing on NBC.  It ran until 1959.  Webb brought it back to television as a mid-season replacement in 1967, where it ran for the next three years.  If you've ever stumbled across a Dragnet rerun in syndication, its from this three-year time period.

On December 23, 1982, Jack Webb died of a sudden heart attack.  He was just 62 years old.  He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills with full honors befitting an LAPD detective, including a 17-gun salute.

Location: Sheltering Hills Section, Map #C07, Lot #1999

Rest in peace.

Just the Facts

• If you want to learn more about Jack Webb, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• While there is no Jack Webb Museum per se, there is a rather unique exhibit on display at the Valley Relics Museum in Lake Balboa, California.  It includes a wall of televisions sets from Webb's former living room, from which he would simultaneously watch his own shows as well as those of his competitors.
  
  
• Joe Friday's badge number was 714.  This was an homage to Babe Ruth and the number of home runs he scored during his baseball career.  Webb was his biggest fan. 
  
  
• Upon Webb's passing, the LAPD retired his badge number and christened a police academy auditorium in his honor.
  
  
• Back when late-night television was actually funny, Webb appeared on The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson in a spoof of his Joe Friday character.  If you've never seen it, I highly recommend it.  Check it out on YouTube.
  

JonBenet Ramsey

 

JonBenet Patricia Ramsey was born in Atlanta, Georgia on August 6, 1990.  She was the youngest of two children born to John Bennett and Patrica Ramsey.  She had an older brother named Burke and three half-siblings.

As a former Miss West Virginia herself (1977), Patricia began entering her daughter in beauty pageants from a very early age.  During her brief career, JonBenet won no less than seven titles, including Little Miss Colorado, Little Miss Charlevoix (Michigan), and Little Miss Christmas, the latter of which she won the week before her death.

On the morning of December 26, 1996, the Ramsey family reported that JonBenet was missing.  Later that day, her body was discovered in the basement of their home.  A subsequent investigation determined that she had been strangled on Christmas night, and the case was ruled a homicide.

Sadly, the case remains unsolved to this day, almost thirty years after the crime.  JonBenet was laid to rest at Saint James Episcopal Cemetery in Marietta, Georgia.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Several books have been written on this tragic case, enough to fill a library.  Check out some of them on Amazon.
  
  
• The Alcatraz East Crime Museum in Pigeon Forge, Tennessee has a few of Ramsey's personal effects on display, including her bicycle and a pair of tap-dancing shoes.  They are housed within the museum's cold cases gallery.
  
  
• Seven years after the murder, forensic investigators examined DNA taken from Ramsey's clothing and compared it to every sample on file.  There was no match in their database.
  
  
• The current owners of the former Ramsey House in Colorado, Timothy and Carol Milner, have turned down multiple Hollywood offers to showcase the property, including those from Netflix and Dr. Phil.  As Carol told one media outlet, "we want nothing to do with the exploitation of that poor family."
  
  
• Ten years after her daughter's death, Patricia Ramsey lost her battle with cancer, passing away at the age of 49.  She was laid to rest with her daughter.
  
  

  

  This photo courtesy of Find a Grave.

Strother Martin

 

"No man can achieve immortality.  We don't live for what comes after we are dead, but for what we can achieve in this life - the only chance we have."

Strother Douglas Martin, Jr. was born in Kokomo, Indiana on March 26, 1919.  As a child, he excelled at swimming and diving (see Trivia below).  He later served as a swimming instructor with the U.S. Navy during World War 2 and then as a student at the University of Michigan.

His swimming abilities then took him to Hollywood, where he found work as an instructor for such films as The Damned Don't Cry (1950) starring Joan Crawford.  His foot in the door, he soon started earning small parts on such series as Gunsmoke and Have Gun - Will Travel.  Throughout his career, he'd amass 189 credits in television and feature films.

Martin is best remembered for his role in the 1967 Paul Newman film Cool Hand Luke. Credited simply as the Captain, he served as a prison warden and main antagonist in the film, who was best remembered for this scene.

By 1980, Martin was under a doctor's care for diabetes and cardiac-related issues.  He ultimately died of a heart attack on August 1st at the age of 61.

Strother Martin was cremated and his ashes were interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills.

Location: Court of Remembrance, Columbarium of Radiant Dawn,
Outdoor Garden Niche #62310

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• While there are no biographies or museums for Martin, there is a mural painted in his honor in Los Angeles.
  
  

  

  Location: 5200 Fountain Avenue

  
  
• In 1970, Chico State College in California hosted the First Annual Strother Martin Film Festival.  Sadly, it did not become an annual event as originally billed.
  
  
• Martin's most famous line of dialogue from Cool Hand Luke serves as the opening of the Guns N' Roses song Civil War.  Check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• An avid swimmer who earned the nickname "T-Bone Martin," Martin won the National Junior Springboard Division Championship in 1936.  Although he failed to make the 1948 Olympic team, he would later coach the children of Hollywood stars, agents, executives, and more.
  
  
• Just a few months before Cool Hand Luke opened in theatres, Martin appeared on a classic episode of the sit-com Gilligan's Island (see profile picture above).  He played a man who was attempting to win a cash prize for being marooned on an island.  Despite the similarity between this concept and the reality series Survivor, it would take CBS 37 years to develop the award-winning format.