Motorcycle Legend Randy Renfrow

 

Randy Renfrow is not exactly a household name.  He was born in Boonville, Missouri on April 9, 1956, and by the time he passed a mere 46 years later, he'd be enshrined in the American Motorcycle Association's (AMA) Hall of Fame.

Renfrow wound up on this blogger's radar when I discovered that he was laid to rest in Virginia just a short distance from my home.  As of this posting, I can find no connection to the Old Dominion, so his burial here remains a mystery to me.

He began his professional road racing career in 1981.  A few quick stats - altogether, he won a total of 17 AMA Nationals, including the 250 Grand Prix (1983), the Formula One (1986), and the Pro Twins Series (1989).  In 1998, he was named AMA's Sportsman of the Year.

In late March 2002, Renfrow was participating in another race at the Daytona International Speedway when he crashed.  He broke nine ribs, as well as his right knee, ankle, and foot.  Upon release from the hospital, he continued to recuperate at his parent's home in Pickerington, Ohio.  Five months later on August 9th, while still on crutches, Renfrow tragically fell down a flight of stairs, suffering multiple head injuries from which he'd ultimately pass away.

He was laid to rest at Stafford Memorial Park in Stafford, Virginia.

Note the remains of a Dunlop tire sticker, lower right.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Renfrow died in Pickerington, Ohio, the same city where the AMA Hall of Fame opened twelve years earlier.  Coincidence?
  
  
• AMA's Hall of Fame produced a five-minute tribute video to Renfrow.  Check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• Ironically, there is a retired NASCAR driver also named Randy Renfrow, who won an impressive 237 races throughout his career.

Stonewall Jackson - A Man With Two Graves!

 

"Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees."
  -- Stonewall Jackson's dying words

When most people pass away, they're typically laid to rest or cremated and that's the end of it.  There are some occasions however, when the deceased will have more than one final resting place.  This was the case for both Judy Garland and Anton Yelchin, both previously covered in this blog.  

In both of those cases, family members had the final remains moved from one cemetery to another, in order to better accommodate grieving fans.  Yelchin even got a statue!  Like those two Hollywood notables, Confederate General Thomas Jonathan "Stonewall" Jackson also has two graves, but he's actually buried in both of them!

On May 2, 1863, Jackson was wounded by friendly fire at the Battle of Chancellorsville, Virginia.  He took three bullets to the arm, which necessitated its amputation.  Regiment Chaplain Beverly Tucker Lacy buried the limb in a field behind Ellwood Manor in Fredericksburg.  A stone marker was set in place, which still welcome visitors to this day.

Jackson died of his wounds eight days later on May 10th.  He was 39 years old.  He was laid to rest at Oak Grove Cemetery in Lexington, about 120 miles away.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Stonewall Jackson, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• Jackson earned his nickname during the Battle of Bull Run, where General Barnard Bee noted "there is Jackson standing under a stone wall."
  
  
• Legend tells that the arm was exhumed by the military in 1921, but this has never been substantiated.  Whatever the truth may be, the marker remains as a local tourist attraction.
  
  
• Several museums honoring Jackson can be found in Virginia.  They include Stonewall Jackson's Headquarters in Winchester, the Jackson House Museum in Lexington, and the Jackson Death Site in Woodford.
  
  
• In recent years, several memorials to Jackson have been removed, including a monument in Richmond, Virginia and a stained-glass window at Washington National Cathedral.

Merv Griffin - I Will Not Be Right Back After This Message

 

"You know I never really get down.  My philosophy is that you have to constantly be turning the page, which prevents me from getting caught up in any negativity.  It's all about change for me.  I just keep moving and enjoying the ride."

Mervyn Edward "Merv" Griffin was born in San Mateo, California on July 6, 1925.  He was the son of a stockbroker and a homemaker, both active in their local church.  It was there that Griffin got his first taste of music by singing in the choir, then later serving as the official organist.

After graduating from high school, Griffin wanted to serve his country in World War 2.  His dreams were cut short, however, when he was classified as 4F, a status that would exempt him from military service.  He launched his professional singing career instead.  In 1949, he released the curiously titled single I've Got a Lovely Bunch of Coconuts, which sold three million copies.

Griffin began performing in nightclubs, where he was soon discovered by Doris Day.  She brought him to Hollywood for a screen test, where he was subsequently cast in a number of films, including The Beast from 20,000 Fathoms (1953) and Phantom of the Rue Morgue (1954).  Griffin was dissatisfied with the films however, and turned his attention to television.

By 1958, Griffin was an established game show host working for friends Mark Goodson and Bill Todman.  He had a few ideas of his own however, including one initially dubbed What's the Question?, wherein contestants are given the answer and must come up with the question.  This concept, which he credited to his wife Julann, evolved into the worldwide phenomenon called Jeopardy!, a series initially canceled by NBC, but which now flourishes in syndication.  In 1975, he created companion series Wheel of Fortune, which has found equal if not greater success in worldwide syndication.

Between hosting game shows and launching his own, Griffin found equal success as a daytime talk show host, first at NBC before setting out on his own.  He launched The Merv Griffin Show in 1965 and spent the next two decades interviewing actors, politicians, and all sorts of newsmakers.  His show is credited with introducing America to an as-yet-unknown actor named Arnold Schwarzenegger.

In 1996, Griffin was diagnosed and treated for prostate cancer.  It bought him another decade, but by 2007, it had returned with a vengeance.  He ultimately died on August 12th at the age of 82.  He was laid to rest at Pierce Brothers Westwood Memorial Village.  His headstone contains a humorous nod to his show business career.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Merv, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• The musical interlude that accompanies "Final Jeopardy" was written by Griffen himself.  Take a listen on YouTube.
  
  
• Griffin owned more than 20 hotels, gaming resorts, and riverboats throughout the world.
  
  
• Griffin's sexuality was a source of constant speculation for the tabloids.  Although divorced with a son, it was generally accepted in Hollywood's inner circles that Griffin was gay.  In 1991, he was even sued for sexual harassment by Dance Fever host Deney Terrio.  The case was later dismissed.
  
  
• There's a classic episode of Seinfeld from 1997 wherein Cosmo Kramer finds the remains of Griffin's set in a New York City dumpster and recreates it in his living room.  That was quite an accomplishment, considering that Griffin's series, which was filmed in Los Angeles, ended its run in 1986.  Check out a clip on YouTube.
  
  
• Pierce Brothers is the final resting place for hundreds of Hollywood notables, most famously Marilyn Monroe.  Griffin's plot can be found among its famed "Celebrity Row," which includes the likes of Farrah Fawcett, Carroll O'Connor, George C. Scott and more.
  
  
• Scroll back up and look at Merv's profile picture.  What's he hiding in his pocket?

The Final Flight of Carole Lombard

 

"Heads up, hands up, America!  Let's give a cheer that will be heard in Tokyo and Berlin!"

A few years ago, my friend Tom gave me a fantastic biography of actress Carole Lombard called Fireball (see Trivia below).  Author Robert Matzen shares the fascinating story of Lombard's rise to fame, her marriage to the legendary Clark Gable, and the horrific plane crash that took her life while serving her country.  It offers much more than this blog post will ever convey, and I highly recommend it.

Carole Lombard was born Jane Alice Peters in Fort Wayne, Indiana on October 6, 1908.  She was born into a lap of luxury, and by the time she was 12, the family had relocated to Los Angeles, where she made her debut in the 1921 film A Perfect Crime.  Her career was almost cut short, however.  When she was just 19, she was involved in a horrible car accident, a precursor for tragedies to come.  Her face was severely scarred, threatening any hopes for a Hollywood career.  She'd spend more than a year in physical therapy and would often wear her hair so as to cover the scar.

In 1927, she began her comeback by appearing in a series of short sketch comedies.  They caught the eye of Paramount Pictures, who signed her on as its next leading lady.  During this time, she married Hollywood hearthrob William Powell, but the marriage was doomed from the start.  By 1937, they were divorced, at which time she married Clark Gable.  They were Hollywood's first power couple.

Hollywood stars of the day tended to be quite patriotic, and Gable and Lombard were no different.  When America entered World War 2, they wrote to President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, asking how they could help serve their country.  As a result, Lombard became the public face of America's war bond campaign.  In early January 1942, she traveled by train to her native Indiana, where she kicked off the campaign by raising more than $2 million (in 1942 dollars).

After the event, Lombard was in a hurry to return to Los Angeles, having recently fought with her husband.  Against the wishes of both Gable and the studio, Lombard and her party, which included her mother, opted to fly home.  While that may seem like an everyday occurrence now, air travel in 1942 was not the refined operation that exists today.  The Lombard Party boarded TWA Flight #3.  Although bound for Boulder City, it would reroute to Las Vegas, where it would meet with tragedy.

On Friday, January 16, shortly after 7:00 p.m., Flight #3 took off from Vegas bound for Los Angeles.  A few minutes into the flight, it disappeared from radar.  In the nearby town of Goodsprings, locals heard a fiery explosion atop Mount Potosi.  A command center was established at the Pioneer Saloon (see Trivia below), where a team of volunteers launched their search and rescue operation.  Upon hearing of the crash, Gable immediately traveled to Goodsprings, though his exact mode of travel is still a subject of great debate.

It took the rescue team more than a day to locate the wreckage, which ended all doubt of any possible survivors.  Lombard and 21 others, including members of the Army Air Corps, all perished in the crash, which was later attributed to pilot error.  Fireball describes the exact condition of Lombard's charred remains, which were missing the head and left arm.

In accordance with his wife's wishes, Gable conducted a fairly low-key service at Forest Lawn Glendale, a dual ceremony for both Carole and her mother.  Lombard was interred in the Great Mausoleum.  Despite remarrying twice in the years that followed, Gable would claim his final resting place next to her when he ultimately passed away himself in 1960.

Location: Memorial Terrace, Sanctuary of Trust, Crypt #5874

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• For more information on Lombard's life, the accident, and the aftermath, this blogger recommends Fireball: Carole Lombard and the Mystery of Flight 3, by author Robert Matzen.
  
  
• Two months after Lombard's death, her final film, To Be or Not to Be, a satirical look at the rising Nazi threat, was released in theatres.  It was a box office success, in part due to morbid curiosity.  Out of respect for Lombard, producers deleted a sequence in which her character asks the question "what can happen in a plane?"
  
  
• Lombard's childhood home in Fort Wayne is a recognized historical site.  There is also a memorial bridge named in her honor.
  
  
• Lombard and Gable honeymooned at Palm Spring's historic Willows Inn, which is still in service today.  The couple shared what's known as the Library Room, which you and your party can custom reserve.  
  
  
• Following her death, the Navy christened the S.S. Carole Lombard, a cargo ship that saw great service during World War 2 and beyond.  It has since been decommissioned and scrapped.
  
  
• Wanna see the crash site for yourself?  Plan your hike today!
  
  
• As noted above, much of the rescue effort was headquartered in Goodsprings, Nevada.  Today, the Pioneer Saloon, which first opened its doors in 1913, maintains a Clark Gable Room which tells the story.  This blogger first visited the saloon in 2008.  
  
  
  
  
  

Rebecca Schaeffer - The "My Sister Sam" Murder

 

Rebecca Lucile Schaeffer was born in Eugene, Oregon on November 6, 1967.  She was the daughter of Benson, a child psychologist, and Danna, a community college professor.  As a junior in high school, she began her modeling career, appearing in a slew of commercials and department store magazines.  With her parents' blessings, she moved to New York when she was only 16.  

Shortly after signing with a prominent modeling agency, Schaeffer was cast on the long-running soap opera Guiding Light, and later, its CBS sister show One Life to Live.  These small roles led to her being cast in the Woody Allen film Radio Days, though all but one of her scenes wound up on the cutting room floor.

In 1986, Schaeffer appeared on the cover of Seventeen magazine.  It caught the attention of the folks at Warner Brothers, who were casting a new series starring Mork and Mindy veteran Pam Dawber.  Schaeffer was quickly signed to the project, a sit-com called My Sister Sam.  It was an initial hit for the Tiffany network, but it was ultimately canceled just two years later.

After the series ended, Schaeffer continued to find small roles on the big screen.  In late 1989, she was being considered for the role of Michael Corleone's daughter in Francis Ford Coppola's ill-conceived Godfather 3.  On the morning of July 18th, she was at her apartment awaiting a script from the studio when she opened her door for Robert John Bardo.  The 19-year-old had traveled from his home in Tucson to meet his favorite star, whom unbeknownst to Schaeffer, he'd been stalking for two years.  Finding her home address had been as simple as going to the DMV.

After a brief conversation, Schaeffer sent a dejected Bardo on his way.  He returned one hour later, and since Schaeffer was still awaiting the overdue script, she opened the door one last time.  Bardo shot her at point-blank range, later stating that her final words were simply "why, why?"  She was rushed to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center, where she was pronounced dead.  

Rebecca's parents returned her to her native Oregon, where she was laid to rest in Portland's Ahavai Sholom Cemetery.

Location: Row #232, Plot #75

Bardo fled to Tucson, where he was arrested the next day.  He was returned to Los Angeles, where he went on trial for the murder, ultimately pleading guilty.  He is currently serving a life sentence in Avenal, California.

Rest in peace, Rebecca.

Trivia

• The inscriptions read "Beloved daughter and courageous spirit" as well as "I am so wise to think love will prevail.  I am so wise."  The latter quote is attributed to Schaeffer herself, shortly before her death.
  
  
• There haven't been many books written about Rebecca's life or the case itself, but you can find one on Amazon.
  
  
• Pam Dawber and her My Sister Sam co-stars appeared in a public service announcement advocating for stricter gun laws.  You can see a clip of it on YouTube.
  
  
• In response to the killing, California passed the first anti-stalking law in 1990.  Since then, every state has passed similar legislation.
  
  
• At the time of her death, Schaeffer was dating director Brad Silberling.  The experience would later influence his 2002 film Moonlight Mile, which tells the story of a man coping with the death of his fiance.  Check out the trailer on YouTube.
  
  
• During Bardo's trial, the state was represented by Marcia Clark, who would become famous just a few years later in the case against OJ Simpson (he did it).
  
  
• Rebecca's mother Danna passed away in 2022.  She was laid to rest next to her daughter
  

* Editor's Note: While this blog was created to display the photos I've taken in my travels, the photo in this article is courtesy of Find a Grave.  While I did travel to Oregon to pay my respects, a winter storm and icy roads prevented me from accessing the cemetery.

Billie Burke - The Good Witch

 

"Age is something that doesn't matter, unless you are a cheese."

Mary William Ethelbert Appleton "Billie" Burke was born in Washington, DC on August 7, 1884.  She was named after her father William "Billy" Burke, a famed clown and comedian with the Barnum & Bailey Circus (pre Ringling Brothers).

As a child, Billie traveled with her parents throughout the United States and Europe, eventually settling in London's West End.  It was here that she made her stage debut in 1903, before returning to America and finding a home on the Broadway stage. During a production of The Amazons around 1913, she met producer Florenz Ziegfeld (Ziegfeld Follies), marrying him one year later.

In 1915, Burke made her film debut in the title role of Peggy, a comedy from the silent film era. A slew of films would follow, but she is best remembered for her immortal role of Glinda, the Good Witch, in Victor Fleming's 1939 classic The Wizard of Oz.

She enjoyed numerous stage and film appearances over the next thirty years and penned two autobiographies (see Trivia below). By 1970 however, her health was in decline.  She ultimately died of natural causes in Los Angeles on May 14th at the age of 85. 

Billie Burke was returned to Valhalla, New York and interred next to her husband at Kensico Cemetery.  There was no funeral or memorial service, but a statue stands in silent watch over her grave.

Location: Powhatan Plot, Section #78, Lot #6588

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Billie Burke, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• In 1936, Burke founded the Ziegfeld Club, a non-profit organization devoted to supporting women in musical theatre, which is still in operation today.  Visit them on Facebook.
  
  
• In 2024, the Stuff You Missed in History Class podcast devoted an episode to the life of Billie Burke.  Check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• Someone at NASA sure loves Billie Burke.  In 2015, a crater on the planet Mercury was named in her honor.
  
  
• Clive Cussler, a best-selling author (this blogger's favorite) and noted car collector, bought a 1919 Cadillac owned by Burke and Ziegfeld and added it to his collection.  With Cussler's passing in 2020, the car's current location is unknown.

Brock Peters - Twice the Star Trek Star

 

Note: This blogger just returned from the 2025 Star Trek convention in Las Vegas and was inspired to blog a Star Trek grave.

Brock Peters was born George Fisher in Harlem, New York, on July 2, 1927.  He was the son of a sailor and from a nearly age, set his sights on a career in show business.  Encouraged by his mother, he studied the violin and honed his singing abilities at New York's famed High School of Music & Art.  He later studied Physical Education at the City College of New York.

Upon graduation, he changed his name and pursued a career on the Broadway stage, landing a role in the 1949 touring production of Porgy and Bess.  Hollywood was calling however, and he made his film debut in the 1954 Otto Preminger film Carmen Jones.  Eight years later, he would co-star with Gregory Peck in the role for which he is most famously known, that of Tom Robinson in Harper Lee's To Kill a Mockingbird.

Over the next 25 years, Peters enjoyed steady guest work in television and film, including the role of Admiral Cartwright in the 1986 sequel Star Trek 4: The Voyage Home. Peters would reprise the role five years later in the final installment of the Star Trek series, The Undiscovered Country.  He returned to the franchise in 1995 with a recurring role on Deep Space Nine, playing Joseph Sisko, father of station commander Benjamin Sisko.

In the early 2000s, Peters was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer.  It ultimately took his life on August 23, 2005.  He was 78 years old.  He was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills.

Location: Revelation Section, Map #G01, Lot #3529
Inscription: Your strings of life touched music empyrean, singing your memory
as actor, husband, father, friend better than you knew.  May your spirit rest in peace.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• A talented singer, Peters provided back-up vocals on Harry Belafonte's 1956 classic Banana Boat (Day-O).  Take a listen on YouTube.
  
  
• Peters was the chairman and co-founder of the Dance Theatre of Harlem.
  
  
• Peters stepped into the role of Darth Vader for NPR's radio adaptations of the original Star Wars trilogy, including The Empire Strikes Back.  Take a listen on YouTube.  His dialogue begins at the 1:16:35 mark.

• Peters provided the narration for an audio adaptation of Richard Wright's 1945 novel Black Boy.  You can hear it in its entirety on YouTube.
  
  
• In June 2003, Peters gave the eulogy at the funeral for his friend and co-star Gregory Peck, with whom he had shared the screen in the 1962 classic film To Kill a Mockingbird.

Larry Drake - I Know, It Doesn't Suck

 

"People were always coming up to me and treating me like I was slow.  I would have to tell them that I'm not really retarded, the character I play on TV is retarded.  It was actually pretty flattering because it showed that these people thought my acting was really that convincing."

Larry Richard Drake was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma on February 21, 1949.  Like many from the Sooner state, his father was an engineer in the oil industry, while his mother raised the family.  After high school, Larry graduated from the University of Oklahoma.

His first film was a 1971 moonshine flick entitled This Stuff'll Kill Ya.  Over the next 45 years, he'd amass more than 80 credits in film and television, but he is best remembered for his portrayal of Benny Stulwicz, a mentally disabled man, on the hit NBC drama L.A. Law, for which he'd win two Emmy awards for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series.

In the 1990s, Drake made a new name for himself in the horror genre, appearing in the Darkman film series and Dr. Giggles.  He also appeared in the comedy sequel American Pie 2. 

Drake's death was rather sudden.  On March 17, 2016, he was found dead in his home.  His manager later revealed that Drake was in poor health in the months prior his passing.  His final cause of death was listed as blood cancer.  He was 67 years old.

Larry Drake was cremated and his ashes were interred at the famed Hollywood Forever Cemetery, a place where this blogger hopes to one day work.

Location: East Lake View Mausoleum, Niche AD-4

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• The inscription on Larry's marker, "scio, non sugit," is Latin for "I know, it doesn't suck."  This blogger would love to know the backstory for that!
  
  
• In 1992, Drake reprised his role of Durant for a proposed Darkman series on FOX.  It was never picked up by the network, but you can watch the pilot episode on YouTube.
  
  
• In addition to his on-screen work, Drake was a popular voice-over artist as well.  His most notable role was that of "Pops" on the Cartoon Network series Johnny Bravo.  Take a listen on YouTube.
  
  
• Does anyone besides me and his mother remember that Pat Sajak once left Wheel of Fortune to host his own nighttime talk show?  Here's a clip from 1989, in which he interviewed Larry about L.A. Law.  Skip to the 19-minute mark.

Shelley Winters

 

"I think on-stage nudity is disgusting, shameful and damaging to all things American.  But if I were 22 with a great body, it would be artistic, tasteful, patriotic and a progressive religious experience."

Shelley Winters was born Shirley Schrift in St. Louis, Missouri on August 18, 1920. She was the daughter of Austrian-Hungarian immigrants, her mother a singer, her father a clothing designer.  Her parents were in fact, third cousins. 

In 1929, the family moved to Brooklyn.  It was here that she took her first steps towards stardom.  As a young woman, she worked as a model, before embarking on a career on the Broadway stage.  Her first role was in a 1941 production of The Night Before Christmas. 

By the mid-1940s, Winters had relocated to Los Angeles, where she was under contract with Columbia Pictures.  Her career would span more than four decades, and she appeared in nearly 40 films.  She was twice named Best Supporting Actress by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, for The Diary of Anne Frank (1959) and A Patch of Blue (1965).  This blogger could never do her career the justice it deserves.

On October 14, 2005, Winters suffered a heart attack, from which she'd never fully recover.  She ultimately died of heart failure just three months later, on January 14, 2006.  She was 85 years old.

Shelley Winters was laid to rest at Hillside Memorial Park in Culver City, California.

Location: Hillside Slope, Block #11, Plot #358, Grave #8

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Shelley Winters, take a voyage to Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• During a 1975 episode of The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson, Winters got into a heated debate with fellow guest Oliver Reed.  She walked off stage, retrieved a glass of whiskey, and dumped it on Reed's head, much to the shock of Carson.  Fortunately, you can watch the entire segment on YouTube.
  
  
• Winters donated her Oscar for The Diary of Anne Frank to the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam.
  
  
• In 1966, Winters appeared on the Adam West Batman TV series, playing one-off villain Ma Parker.  Four years later, she'd play the real thing, Ma Barker, in Roger Corman's Bloody Mama.
  
  
• Vlogger and friend to Winters Jordan the Lion shared a video on the 2023 demolition of her Los Angeles home.  You can check it out on YouTube.
  

Loving Couple Goes to Washington

 

Maybe you've never heard of Richard and Mildred Loving, but their's is a fascinating tale.  An interracial couple from Virginia, they were the plaintiffs in a landmark 1967 case, in which the Supreme Court overturned the legal ban on such unions.  More on that later.

They met in their hometown of Central Point, Virginia in 1950, when he was 17, and she was just 11.  They started dating several years later, during Mildred's senior year in high school.  By the time she was 18, Mildred was pregnant with their first child, and after a few years of living together, they decided to make their union official. In June 1958, they drove up to Washington, DC, where they took their vows before God and State.

At the time, interracial marriage was still against the law in Virginia.  An anonymous source informed the Caroline County Sheriff's Department, who proceeded to arrest the couple while they slept in their bed. They were charged with "cohabitating as man and wife, against the peace and dignity of the Commonwealth."  The Lovings pled guilty and were sentenced to a year in prison.  The sentence was suspended however, when the Lovings agreed to leave Virginia for 25 years.

The couple relocated to Washington, but whereas jobs had been plentiful in Central Point, they now faced economic hardships.  They also discovered that the city could be unforgiving as well, when their young son was hit by a car on the busy streets.  In their hearts, they knew it was time to go home.

After a few years of legal wrangling, the case of Loving v. Virginia finally went before the Supreme Court in 1967.  In a ruling passed down on June 12th, the Court overturned their convictions and ruled the ban on interracial marriage as unconstitutional.

The Lovings returned to Virginia, where they began to raise a family.  Their happiness would be short-lived, however.  On June 29, 1975, their car was hit by a drunk driver.  Richard, only 41, died on the scene.  Mildred survived the accident, and would spend the next 40 years living a quiet, secluded life in Virginia, often downplaying her role in history, giving the real credit to God.  She ultimately passed of pneumonia on May 2, 2008.  She was 68 years old.

The Lovings are laid to rest in a quiet church cemetery in Central Point, Virginia.  A historical marker lies just outside the park.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Richard and Mildred Loving, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• Following the Supreme Court ruling, the couple discussed their story with ABC News.  You can watch that interview on YouTube.
  
  
• The Loving story has been chronicled in a number of films, with varying degrees of accuracy.  Of 1996's Mr. and Mrs. Loving, Mildred would state "not much of it was very true.  The only part of it right was I had three children."  Other adaptations include the 2011 documentary The Loving Story and 2016's Loving.
  
  
• In 2009, country artist Nanci Griffith released her single The Loving Kind in tribute to the couple.  Take a listen on Amazon.
  
  
• In honor of the landmark case, June 12th is now an unofficial U.S. holiday - Loving Day.

The Forgotten Grave of John Spencer

 

"I've never wanted to do anything but act.  It saved my life, it's the reason I get up in the morning, it's my opiate.  The prize for me was always getting the next gig so I could do this wonderful thing that I love."

John Spencer was born John Speshock, Jr. in New York City on December 20, 1946.  He was interested in the theatre from an early age, much to the chagrin of his parents, who had immigrated to America and settled in Totowa, New Jersey.

Spencer attended a prep school in Manhattan, alongside fellow future celebrity Liza Minnelli, before enrolling in Fairleigh Dickinson College.  He never completed his degree however, moving straight into the world of theatre.

His first role was on The Patty Duke Show, before moving onto the Broadway stage.  His first theatrical role was in the 1983 Matthew Broderick film War Games, playing a silo commander who was told to "turn your key, Sir!"  Later films included the 1990 Harrison Ford thriller Presumed Innocent and 1996's The Rock.

In 1990, he returned to television for the final four seasons of the hit drama L.A. Law, playing grizzled attorney Tommy Mullaney.  It wasn't until 1999 that he assumed the role for which he is most famously known, that of Leo McGarry on the political drama series The West Wing, a role for which he'd win an Emmy Award in 2002.

Well into his West Wing run, Spencer died quite unexpectedly of a heart attack, on December 16, 2005.  He was just four days shy of his 59th birthday.  He was laid to rest in Laurel Grove Memorial Park in his hometown of Totowa. 

The grave appears to be neglected, as this blogger had to clear away shrubbery and bird residue.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Like his West Wing character, Spencer was a recovering alcoholic.
  
  
• At the time of his death, Spencer had completed two episodes of The West Wing that were in post-production, each of which featured his character as a candidate for Vice President.  Following his untimely death, the writers gave his character a heart attack as well, having him die on election night. 
  
  
• The episode featuring McGarry's death aired on March 19, 2006.  It came two months after a similar death on the series Smallville, which saw Jonathan Kent, played by John Schneider, die of a heart attack after winning his seat for Kansas State Senate.  
  
  
• Spencer was an avid gardener, who once presented Ellen DeGeneres with a bouquet of flowers on her daytime talk show.  You can watch the clip on YouTube.
  
  
• Spencer was a regular participant in L.A.'s annual AIDS Walk fundraising event.

The Luckiest Man in America

 

Last year, Hollywood finally made the documentary that this blogger had been waiting 20 years for - sort of.  The 2024 film The Luckiest Man in America tells the improbable story of an ice cream truck driver named Michael Larson, who in 1984, won more than $110,000 on the TV game show Press Your Luck.  Starring Paul Walter Houser, the film does an adequate albeit fanciful job of showing how Larson beat CBS at its own game, but it failed to delve into his life prior to 1984, nor did it disclose his fate.  Enter Six Feet Under Hollywood.

Paul Michael Larson was born in Lebanon, Ohio on May 10, 1949.  He was the youngest of four children to father Robert, a butcher with a local grocery store chain, and mother Ruth, a stay-at-home mom.  While his older brothers took on great responsibilities, including college, military service, and joining the workforce, Michael leaned more towards get-rich quick schemes, which often blew up in his face.  During the 1970s, he was arrested on three separate occasions for larceny, possession of stolen goods and petty theft.

Larson also had commitment issues, with two failed marriages under his belt, each of which produced a single offspring.  By 1984, he was living with his common-law wife Teresa, with whom he had a third child.

By the 1980s, he had turned to television for the next big thing, amassing twelve sets in his living room, from where he would launch his next attack.  In 1983, he discovered a new game show called Press Your Luck, which featured a supposedly random prize board.  For those who haven't seen the film, and it is worth a watch, Larson used his VCR, a new technology then, to slow down the board's blinking lights. 

He learned that despite the show's claims, the lights did indeed have a pattern, five in fact, all of which he memorized.  He also discovered that two squares on the board never held a "Whammie," the dreaded demon who would steal all of a contestant's earnings.  Armed with this knowledge, Larson made his way to Hollywood, was cast on the show, and took CBS for more than $110,000 in cash and prizes, more than ten times the amount that any previous contestant had ever won.

Larson returned to Ohio with his winnings, quickly losing much of it in a shady real estate scheme.  CBS, embarrassed by the event, aired Larson's episode in two parts, locked them away in a vault for 20 years, and did their part to move on.  Press Your Luck would run for another three years before ultimately being canceled in 1986.

Larson resurfaced in 1994, when he was interviewed by Good America, America.  In a raspy voice, he said that it had taken him six months to memorize all of the patterns, and that he hoped to one day be cast on Jeopardy, as he had figured out a few angles on their board as well.  He'd never get the chance to implement them however, as he died of cancer five years later while living in Florida.  At the time of his death, he was in hiding from the law, the result of another of his get-rich quick schemes.  He was just 49 years old.

Michael Larson was laid to rest in the family plot at Lebanon Cemetery in Lebanon, Ohio.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Michael Larson, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• While this blogger missed the initial 1984 broadcast (it was a school day), you can watch it in its entirety (both parts) on YouTube.
  
  
• In 2003, Game Show Network pulled Larson's episodes out of mothballs and incorporated them into an excellent documentary called Big Bucks: The Press Your Luck Scandal.  In this blogger's opinion, the two-hour basic cable presentation does a better job of telling Larson's story than its big brother Hollywood counterpart would do twenty years later.  Check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• As noted above, Larson lost most of his winnings in more get-rich-quick schemes, one of which involved a local radio contest.  Larson withdrew half of his winnings in $1 bills, attempting to match a serial number that the station was looking for.  While he and Teresa were out one evening, their home was robbed, and the bills were never recovered. 
  
  
• To say that the film's producers embellished the story would be an understatement.  Whereas the film shows us Larson driving his ice cream truck from Ohio to Hollywood, he actually flew in coach.  Producer Bill Carruthers is portrayed in the film, but he's joined by executives who simply did not exist, thrown into the film to present a more diverse cast than was present in 1984.  Also, ludicrously, the movie shows Larson stepping out during the taping to appear as a guest on a talk-show hosted by Johnny Knoxville. 

Space Monkey!

 

When I first started this blog, my goal was to showcase the grave photos that I have taken in my travels and to help the reader locate them for themselves.  That said, I do have spies in the field, and, on occasion, I will showcase someone else's photos.  When my friend Neil told me that he had just visited the grave of the first monkey in space, I knew this would be one such exception.

Miss Baker, as she is known, was a squirrel monkey born in Peru in 1957.  She came to the U.S. shortly thereafter, eventually ending up in a Miami pet store.  Around 1958, she was one of 26 monkeys bought and sent to the Naval Aviation Medical School in Pensacola.  

The research team there noted that she was smarter than the other test subjects and was also much more loving.  As a result, she was moved to the head of the pack along with another female.  They were later christened Alpha and Beta by the Army, but just before flight, their names were changed to Able and Baker, in conjunction with the Joint Army/Navy Phonetic Alphabet.

On May 28, 1959, the two were packed into a Jupiter rocket and launched from Cape Canaveral.  Their flight lasted for 16 minutes, more than half of which was spent in weightlessness.  They traveled more than 1,500 miles and were recovered off the coast of Puerto Rico.  Able and Baker were the first animals launched into space by the United States who safely returned.

In 1971, Miss Baker moved to the U.S. Space & Rocket Center in Huntsville, Alabama.  There, she was a popular museum exhibit, who welcomed guests to the center on a daily basis.  She also received up to 150 letters a day from schoolchildren all around the world.  Her birthdays were four-star affairs, as were the anniversaries of her historic flight.  Miss Baker ultimately passed of kidney failure on November 29, 1984.  At age 27, she was the oldest living squirrel monkey on record.

Miss Baker was buried on the grounds near the museum.  As seen in the photo below, her grave is often decorated with bananas and some of her other favorite foods.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• In 1960, author Olive Woolley Burt released a children's book entitled Space Monkey: The True Story of Miss Baker.  You can pick up a copy from Amazon.
  
  
• Upon their return to Earth, Able and Baker attended a NASA press conference, where they addressed a crowd of eager journalists.  You can watch this fantastic news account on YouTube. They also appeared on the cover of Life magazine.
  
  
• Popular podcast The Space Shot devoted a 2017 episode to the pair, entitled Able & Miss Baker: The Monkeynauts.  You can listen wherever you get your podcasts, or you can watch it on YouTube.
  
  
• So what happened to Able?  Her body was taxidermied and later put on display at the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington, DC.  It has since been archived, but you can see a picture of it here.  YouTuber Jacob the Carpetbagger vlogged Able back in 2019 when she was still on display and you can watch that video here.  Fast forward to the 11-minute mark.

Creepy David Carradine

 

"I'm perhaps the most gifted actor of my generation."

David Carradine was born John Arthur Carradine, Jr. in Los Angeles on December 8, 1936.  He was the son of celebrated actor John Carradine and his first wife Ardanelle.  John Sr. would later remarry (again and again).  As a result, John Jr. was brother to a handful of half-siblings, including Bruce, Keith, Christopher and Lewis Skolnick himself, Robert.

After a tour with the army, Carradine decided to follow in his father's footsteps by becoming an actor.  It was at this point that he legally changed his name to David, so as to avoid any confusion between the two.

He had early roles on such TV series as Gunsmoke, Ironside, and Night Gallery.  Then in 1972, he landed the role that would not only define his career but would change his life as well, that of martial arts expert Kwai Chang Caine on Kung Fu.  The series ran for three seasons with reruns continuing for years in syndication.  Although Carradine had no previous experience in the martial arts, he embraced the techniques and the culture into his daily life.  This was evident years after its cancellation, when he was cast by Director Quentin Tarantino as the title character in the martial arts film series Kill Bill.

With his career reinvigorated, Carradine flew to Bangkok in late May 2009, having signed on to appear in the film Stretch.  He was last seen alive on June 3rd.  When he failed to report to the set the next day, investigators went to his hotel room, where he was found dead, hanging in a closet.  While there was no suicide note, authorities did find rope attached to his genitalia, leading them to conclude that he accidentally died by his own hand, a case of auto-erotic asphyxiation.  He was 72 years old.

David Carradine was laid to rest at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. 

There is a lot of text on this one, which this blogger suspects that Carradine wrote himself.  It reads as follows:

He will ever more be revered as one who popularized the spiritual values of the east in the west.  

Dancer, musician, artist, actor, producer, director, writer, composer, storyteller, poet, philosopher, aesthete, academician, martial artist, master, teacher, Kung Fu.

Devoted and loving brother, husband, father, grandfather, great grandfather, uncle and friend.

"I'm lookin' for a place where the dogs don't bite, and children don't cry and everything always goes just right and brothers don't fight....."   --David Carradine

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• Carradine authored a series of martial arts book as well as an autobiography.  Check out his library of work at Amazon.
  
  
• Five years after his death, Carradine was posthumously inducted into the Martial Arts History Museum in Glendale, California.
  
  
• Unhappy with the relationship of his father and stepmother, Carradine attempted to commit suicide when he was just five years old.  His preferred method?  Hanging.
  
  
• Carradine appeared with his father and two half-brothers, Keith and Robert, in a 1984 episode of The Fall Guy entitled "October the 31st."  Adding further titillation to this Halloween-centric episode is an appearance by TV hostess Elvira, Mistress of the Dark, aka Cassandra Peterson.  You can watch a recording of the 1984 broadcast, complete with commercials, on YouTube.  
  
  
• In 1987, Carradine marketed his own tai chi workout video.  Check out this hilarious commercial for it on YouTube.
  
  
• In 1993, Carradine returned to television in a revival of his signature series, now titled Kung Fu: The Legend Continues.  The series ran for four seasons in first-run syndication, surpassing the original series, which had only lasted for three.
  

Mummified Nun on Display!

 

Odds are you've never heard of Saint Frances Xavier Cabrini.  No worries, I hadn't either, until a recent trip to New York City.  She'd come to be known as the Patron Saint of Immigrants, but would ultimately be famous for something much macabre.

She was born in Italy on July 15, 1850.  She was the youngest of 13 children and one of only four to survive past adolescence.  As a young girl, she fell into a river and was swept downstream, later attributing her survival to divine intervention. 

After years spent as a teacher and in service to the church, Cabrini came to America in 1889, eventually becoming an American citizen in 1909.  Over the course of her career, she helped open and establish nearly 70 institutions throughout the United States, including schools, hospitals, and orphanages.  Today, there are 41 churches named in her honor throughout the United States as well as six hospitals, one near you. 

By 1917, her health was failing, so she traveled to Chicago to be cared for the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart.  There, she was diagnosed with chronic endocarditis, which ultimately took her life on December 22nd.  She was 67 years old.

She was initially interred at what is today known as the National Shrine of Saint Frances Cabrini in Chicago.  Her remains were exhumed in 1933 however, when the church began her sainthood campaign. 

As part of the canonization process, her remains were divided up.  Most significantly, her head was removed and sent to the Missionaries of the Sacred Heart Motherhouse in Rome, where it is currently on display.  The rest of her body was sent to the Saint Frances Cabrini Shrine in Hudson Heights, New York, a quiet residential neighborhood just a few miles from Manhattan.  Today, it remains on permanent display, complete with a fake head.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Mother Cabrini, take a voyage to Amazon.  It's all in books.
  
  
• Mother Cabrini was officially canonized by Pope Pius XI on November 13, 1938, more than 20 years after her death.  She was the first American to be recognized by the Vatican as a saint.
  
  
• In 2020, Colorado officially renamed Columbus Day "Cabrini Day" in her honor.  That same year, Inside Edition took its viewers on a video tour of the shrine.  You can check it out on YouTube.
  
  
• The shrine is a functioning house of worship, where the faithful come to pray and pay their respects on a daily basis.  If you go to visit, please be respectful.
  
  
• The 1989 John Candy film Uncle Buck contains a reference to Mother Cabrini when a drunken clown arrives at a children's birthday party.  Check out this clip on YouTube to see what happened next.

Tallulah Bankhead - Unlikely Bat-Villain

 

"Nobody can be exactly like me.  Even I have trouble doing it."

Tallulah Bankhead was born in Huntsville, Alabama on January 31, 1902.  Her mother died in childbirth, something Tallulah would never forgive herself for.  Her father, a democratic politician, would later serve as Speaker of the House of Representatives during the 1930s.

Like many aspects of her life, Tallulah took an unconventional route to fame and stardom.  At 15 years old, she submitted her photo to Picture Play magazine, in response to a contest seeking new starlets.  She forgot to include her name and address however, and only learned she had won some months later, when the magazine published her photo and asked for the public's help to identify her.  She set off for New York to begin her career, but before leaving, she was warned by her father to avoid alcohol and men.  As a bisexual, she'd later famously quip "he didn't say anything about women and cocaine."

Tallulah made a name for herself on the Broadway stage as well as in films and television.  Over the course of her career, she amassed more than 300 credits, including an Academy Award-winning performance in Alfred Hitchcock's 1944 film Lifeboat.  Her last credited role is the one that this blogger knows best - that of arch villain Black Widow on the 1960s Adam West Batman TV series.

By this time, she was already feeling the effects that a lifetime of drugs, alcohol, and cigarettes were having on her health.  By the end of 1968, she was being treated for pleural double pneumonia, which ultimately took her life on December 12th.  She was just 66 years old.  Reportedly, her final words were a request for bourbon and codeine.

Tallulah Bankhead was laid to rest on the grounds of St. Paul's Church in Chestertown, Maryland, near the Eastern Shore.  While she never personally lived in that community, it was the home of her sister Evelyn, who saw to her final arrangements.  When Evelyn herself passed away in 1979, she was laid to rest next to her sister.

Rest in peace.

Trivia

• If you want to learn more about Tallulah Bankhead, take a voyage to Amazon.  Its all in books.
  
  
• Tallulah was named after her paternal grandmother, who was herself named after the community of Tallulah Falls, Georgia.
  
  
• An advocate of civil rights. Tallulah was the first Caucasian woman to appear on the cover of Ebony magazine.
  
  
• Tennessee Williams wrote a number of characters for Tallulah in his plays, the most famous being Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire.
  
  
• Tallulah is referred to in the 1958 Blossom Dearie song "Give Him the Ooh-La-La."  Take a listen on YouTube.