Westwood Village Memorial Park: Stars' Graves (2024)

If you had to choose only one Hollywood cemeteryto visit, Pierce Brothers Westwood Village Memorial Park would be yourbest bet. It is a small, intimate park (just two and a half acres), where the stars' graves are fairlyeasily located (unlike the massive ForestLawns),yet there are numerous major celebrities buried here.

It is also noted as the final resting place of manyof Hollywood's young actresses who died tragically before their time.

Popular with the show biz crowd (especially sinceMarilyn was buried here), Pierce Brothers is tucked away on the south sideof Wilshire Boulevard in Westwood,and its almost impossible to find without specific directions.It can't be reached from either the north, south or east sides - the onlyentrance is on the west side, from Glendon Avenue.

Ironically, this final resting place forHollywoodstars is located just a few steps away from the iPic movie theatres onWilshire Boulevard. Most movie-goers there are probably unaware thatthey are only a few yards away from some of the mostfamous stars in the history of Hollywood.

The Westwood Village Memorial Park is a very small,quiet, well-kept cemetery, with a single circular road which allows visitorsto drive directly into the park. This road circles a grassy oval lawn wheremost of the stars are buried. To the south side of this grassy oval areoffices; the northern and eastern borders of the park are lined by wallsof outdoor crypts. (Refer to the mapfor exact locations.)

Since it's a small park, it's much easier to finda grave here than in a larger cemetery such as one of the Forest Lawns.But even so, you'd be surprised just how long you can wander around tryingto locate a particular name if you don't know where to look.

Look around you here on any given day, and you'llsee people doing just that - wandering about, heads down, trying to spotthat one particular star's marker. Fortunately, you've come to the rightwebsite. I've put in the long hours needed to track down the stars foryou. Here, you'll find a map of thepark I've drawn up for you, as well as detailed directions to mostof the stars' graves.

Thegrave of one of the most famous people buried at Westwood is also probablythe easiest grave to find here: that of actress NatalieWood(1938-1981).It is located just a bit northwest of the center of the main lawn, threeor four rows south of a large tree. You can spot it easily enough, sinceseveral sizable flower pots and planters rest on and around the grave.People also tend to leave coins on her marker.

Natalie Wood, was the star of "RebelWithoutaCause,.""WestSide Story," "Miracleon34thStreet,""Splendor in the Grass" and "MarjorieMorningstar.."She was twice nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress. Nataliealso has her footprints immortalized outside of Grauman'sChinese Theatre. She accidentally drowned in 1981 at age 43, at CatalinaIsland, off the yacht owned by her husband, RobertWagner.

Just one row down (south) from Natalie Wood's grave,and about three or four spaces the right (east), you'll find the graveof Col. Hogan himself of TV's "Hogan'sHeroes," BobCrane(1928-1978).He was murdered back in 1978 in Scottsdale, Arizona. His controversialprivate life and that unsolved murder were dramatized in a 2002 moviecalled "Auto-Focus".

Originallyburied out at Oakwood in the Valley, Bob was moved to Westwood in 1999.His grave was unmarked until 2003, but it now has a beautful marker, black&white stone, with photos of Bob and his wife, Sigrid Valdis,the blonde actress who played Col. Klink's secretary 'Hilda' on "Hogan'sHeroes". The two were married on the set of the TVshow backin 1970. The marker reads "Hogan and Hilda - Together Forever."

In the center of the marker is a tall, black ceramicvase which makes it easy to spot the grave from a distance.

Threerows below(south of)Natalie Wood's grave, and about three spacesto the left (west) is the grave of actor EddieAlbert(1906-2005).

Eddie is probably best remembered today as 'OliverWendell Douglas' on the popular TV sitcom "GreenAcres".In the show, New York lawyer 'Oliver' decided he wanted to be a gentlemanfarmer, and dragged his spoiled wife, 'Lisa' (played by EvaGabor),out to a ramshackle farm in the boondocks of Hooterville. (And who couldforget his neighbor, 'Arnold' the pig?)

Created by the same team that gave us "The BeverlyHillbillies" and "PetticoatJunction", the hit sitcomwas a clever spin on the old "Egg &I" plot -it ran for seven years (1965-1971).

Earlierin his career, Eddie had been a trapeze performer and later a Broadwayactor. In the movies, he was nominated for an Oscar for his role as GregoryPeck's friend in 1953's "RomanHoliday". (His sonis actor Edward Albert.)

It's not well known, but Eddie was a war hero duringWW2, a Navy man who was awarded the Bronze Star for for finding & rescuingwounded Marines who'd been abandoned on a beach - under heavy fire.

A feisty environmentalist, some say the date forEarth Day (April 22) was chosen because it was Eddie's birthday. Eddielived to the ripe age of 99. He outlived his younger TV wife, Eva Gabor(who is also buried here at Pierce Bros) by 10 years.

Alsoa few spaces to the left (west) of Natalie Wood are the graves of famedproducer DarrylF.Zanuck(1902-1979),and his wife.

Justto the left (west) of Donna Reed, in the same row of graves, is famed songwriterSammyCahn (1913-1993),whowrote the lyrics to such memorable songs as "Love and Marriage,""High Hopes," and "It's Magic."