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.  
  

Liz Taylor

"I, along with my critics, have never taken myself very seriously."

Dame Elizabeth Rosemond Taylor was born in London, England on February 27, 1932.  As her parents were American citizens traveling abroad, she was granted dual citizenship.  By 1939, with war brewing across Europe, the family returned to America, settling in Pasadena, California.

Taylor's natural good looks, including her dark blue eyes, often earned praise from friends and teachers alike.  With her mother's approval, she auditioned for Universal Pictures and MGM, both of whom offered her contracts.  She ultimately signed with Universal.

Taylor's first role was in the 1942 feature There's One Born Every Minute.  It would prove to be her only film with Universal however, though she'd soon sign a contract with MGM.  Before retiring in 2003, she'd star in over 50 theatrical releases, including Cleopatra (1963), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1958) and Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1966), the latter of which would earn her an Academy award.

Taylor suffered a myriad of illnesses throughout her life, starting with scoliosis as a child.  She had back and hip problems and underwent an emergency hysterectomy, but it was congestive heart failure that ultimately took her life on March 23, 2011.  She was 79 years old.  Her obituary, as published in the New York Times, was penned by former staffer Mel Gussow, who had himself passed away six years earlier.  In explaining why they chose to run the piece, editors stated it was "too good to throw away."

Liz Taylor was cremated and placed within an angelic statue at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California.

Location: The Great Mausoleum, Memorial Terrace

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Liz Taylor, take a voyage to your public library or Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• While there is no standalone Liz Taylor Museum, her estate has created a virtual archive.  
  
  
• Taylor was famous for her eight marriages (to seven men), all of which ended in divorce. Of this, she once quipped "I am a very committed wife.  And I should be committed too, for being married so many times."
  
  
• Taylor was famous for her friendship with musical icon Michael Jackson, who wrote the 1987 song Leave me Alone as a tribute to her.  Today, they are enshrined in the same mausoleum just one floor apart.
  
  
• Taylor was the visual inspiration for the DC Comics character Carol Ferris/Star Sapphire, the girlfriend of Hal Jordan/Green Lantern.

The Guest Stars of Star Trek!

This month marks the 60th anniversary of the premiere of Star Trek, the cultural juggernaut that has spanned countless movies, spinoffs, novels, and so much more.  We thought in honor of that occasion, we'd visit (or re-visit) the final resting places of those guest stars who have at last reached the final frontier.  Engage!

Ricardo Montalban (Khan, Space Seed)
Holy Cross Cemetery (Los Angeles, California)
Cause of Death: Congestive Heart Failure

Frank Gorshin (Bele, Let That Be Your Last Battlefield)
Calvary Cemetery (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Cause of Death: Lung Cancer, Emphysema, Pneumonia

Jill Ireland (Leila Kalomi, This Side of Paradise)
Brownsville Cemetery (West Windsor, Vermont)
Cause of Death: Breast Cancer

Gene Lyons (Ambassador Robert Fox, A Taste of Armageddon)
Calvary Cemetery (Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania)
Cause of Death: Alcoholism

Michael Ansara (Kang, Day of the Dove)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles, California)
Cause of Death: Alzheimer's Disease

Jay Robinson (Ambassador Petri, Elaan of Troyius)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles, California)
Cause of Death: Congestive Heart Failure

Janos Prohaska (Mugato, A Private Little War)
Woodlawn Cemetery (Santa Monica, California)
Cause of Death: Plane Crash

Morgan Woodward (Captain Ron Tracey, The Omega Glory)
Arlington Cemetery (Arlington, Texas)
Cause of Death: Prostate Cancer

Vic Tayback (Jojo Krako, A Piece of the Action)
Forest Lawn Memorial Park Hollywood Hills (Los Angeles, California)
Cause of Death: Heart Attack

Jeffrey Hunter (Captain Christopher Pike, The Menagerie)
Glen Haven Memorial Park (Sylmar, California)
Cause of Death: Skull Fracture

Glenn Corbett (Zefram Cochrane, Metamorphosis)
Fort Sam Houston National Cemetery (San Antonio, Texas)
Cause of Death: Lung Cancer

Robert Lansing (Gary Seven, Assignment: Earth)
Union Field Cemetery (Ridgewood, New York)
Cause of Death: Lung Cancer

Harry Townes (Reger, Return of the Archons)
Maple Hill Cemetery (Huntsville, Alabama)
Cause of Death: Undisclosed

Live long and prosper!

Tom Burnett - Hero of Flight #93

 

"Don't worry, we're going to do something."

Thomas Edward Burnett, Jr. was born in Bloomington, Minnesota on May 29, 1963.  He was the middle child of Tom Sr. and Beverly and had both a younger and an older sister. 

After graduating from high school in 1981, he studied Economics at the University of Minnesota, where he was a star quarterback on the football team.  An injury shortened his athletic career however, but he ultimately graduated with a Bachelor of Science in Finance before earning his MBA from Pepperdine University.

In 1996, Burnett joined the Thoratec Corporation, a medical product manufacturer, as Vice President of Sales and Marketing.  That same year, he and his wife Deena welcomed the first of three daughters, having settled down in San Ramon, California.  According to Deena, Burnett began experiencing an extreme sense of foreboding by late 2000.  Unable to explain it, he began attending mass on a daily basis.

One year later, on September 11, 2001, Burnett was one of 33 passengers who boarded United Airlines #93 in Newark, New Jersey, bound for San Francisco, California.  It was one of four planes hijacked that day in the single largest terrorist attack on American soil, culminating in the deaths of more than 3,000 citizens.

Burnett and his fellow passengers were ushered to the back of the plane by the four hijackers.  The time was 9:28, almost an hour after the attack on the World Trade Center had begun.  Burnett called Deena, who informed him of the attacks.  He rallied with his fellow passengers, including Todd Beamer, Jeremy Glick, and Mark Bingham, to retake the plane and prevent another attack.  While they were ultimately successful, the plane did crash near Shanksville, Pennsylvania, killing all 44 people aboard.

Having begun his college education at the United States Air Force Academy, Burnett was entitled to a military burial.  He was laid to rest at Fort Snelling National Cemetery in Minnesota.  Appropriately, his headstone bears the title "Citizen Soldier."

Rest in peace, and never forget.

Trivia

• The final resting place of fellow passenger Todd Beamer, who was also instrumental in retaking the plane, has also been profiled by this blog.  
  
  
• Along with the other passengers and crew, Burnett's name is etched on the memorial wall at the Flight 93 National Memorial in Shanksville, Pennsylvania.  Their names also appear at the South Pool of the National 9/11 Memorial and Museum in New York. 
  
  
• The University of Minnesota, Burnett's alma mater, founded the Tom Burnett Leadership Program in 2006.  According to its website, the program "teaches students how to become personal leaders who are active, engaged citizens committed to the broader community and their careers after graduation."
  
  
• The post office in Burnett's hometown of Bloomington, Minnesota was renamed in his honor.
  
  
• Although Burnett's life story has never been told, his widow Deena did publish Fighting Back: Living Life Beyond Ourselves, in 2006.  Highlighting actions taken by the passengers as well as events from her own personal life, the author demonstrated how each of us can be a hero, however big or small.  Pick up a copy from Amazon.