Curated playlist
Burials at Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
- Marilyn MonroeAn unimpressed studio head signed Marilyn Monroe specifically to keep her away from a rival studio.
- Dean MartinDean Martin, born Dino Paul Crocetti, delivered one of his sharpest hometown jokes in a 1967 spy spoof. In The Ambushers, his secret agent Matt Helm is about to be executed and is offered a last cigarette. Helm tells the man who hands it…
- Kirk DouglasKirk Douglas insisted on giving blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo an on-screen credit for Spartacus.
- Truman CapoteOn the 23rd of August 1984, Truman Capote boarded a flight from New York to Los Angeles with a granny-square baby blanket. A relative he called Sook had made it for him when he was small. Friends said he was seldom without it, even when he…
- Brian WilsonOn a flight to Houston in 1964, Brian Wilson broke down sobbing. He then quit touring with the Beach Boys.
- Hugh HefnerIn 1992, Hugh Hefner paid $75,000 for a burial crypt in Los Angeles, and the neighbor he wanted was Marilyn Monroe. He never met her. In 2009 he told the Los Angeles Times, "Spending eternity next to Marilyn is an opportunity too sweet to…
- Roy OrbisonRoy Orbison died weeks after finishing the best-selling album of his career. He never heard Mystery Girl released.
- Frank ZappaAs a boy, Frank Zappa spread mercury across his bedroom floor with a hammer. His father brought it home from work.
- Geoff EmerickGeoff Emerick ran John Lennon's voice through a spinning organ speaker for "Tomorrow Never Knows".
- Armand HammerArmand Hammer was buried across the street from the oil company he ran for 33 years. He never practiced medicine.