Hollywood Forever Cemetery
Few places capture the strange poetry of Hollywood quite like this one. Established in 1899, Hollywood Forever is where the city’s myths come to rest — and, in a way, refuse to. Beneath its palms and marble crypts lie the dreamers who built the industry: actors and directors, scandal queens and forgotten artisans, all part of the grand pageant that turned a dusty suburb into the world’s capital of illusion.
Cemetery of the Immortals
To walk these grounds is to stroll through film history — from the silent era’s silver ghosts to the legends of Technicolor and beyond. Every headstone tells a story, every name a headline once bright with promise. In this section, we’ll revisit their lives and legacies, not as relics of a bygone Hollywood, but as eternal players in its ongoing drama. After all, in this town, even the dead still crave a little spotlight.
Original entrance
The original entrance was where the Historic Chapel is today. This was the entrance from 1902 to 1923.
Masonic Lodge
This was the Masonic organization's headquarters from 1931 until the mid 1960s.
Chapel and Columbarium
The chapel, columbarium and crematory opened in the fall of 1922.
Notable Residents
This section offers brief biographies and grave locations of its notable residents, tracing the lives that helped shape the dream factory. Here, you’ll find the legends who defined an era, the forgotten names who built it, and the hidden corners where history still lingers beneath the palms.
Hugh Trevor (1903-1933)
THE TRAGIC PROMISE OF AN EARLY TALKIE STAR
Hugh Trevor was an attractive but short-lived American film actor of the late 1920s and early 1930s. He began his career late in the silent era and came into his own as an actor during the first years of the talkies. Having been signed to a contract with Columbia Pictures around 1929, Trevor was used almost exclusively in crime dramas, melodramas, and comedies, his boyish good looks and slightly rakish charm always playing up his leading-man potential. Some of his best-known films were Ladies Must Play (1930), Party Husband (1931), Cross Streets (1930), and Manhattan Parade (1931). He was frequently paired with actresses such as Dorothy Revier, Evalyn Knapp, and Anita Page, and he had the clean-cut but slightly cynical tone that Depression-era leading men of the time were expected to convey. Reviewers of the day frequently commented that Trevor had a very easy way on screen, and that with the right roles, he had the potential to become a major star. Alas, Trevor's career and life were to be cut short. On November 10, 1933, his career was suddenly ended when he died thirteen days after his 30th birthday, from post-operative complications following an appendectomy. Today, Hugh Trevor is remembered as one of the many casualties of the early-talkie period—talented performers who briefly shone on the Hollywood horizon before disappearing into the mists of legend.
ABBEY OF THE PSALMS, SANCTUARY OF REFUGE, CRYPT 505 [WEST, TOP OF STAIRS]
Eugene Plummer (1852-1943)
LAST OF THE CALIFORNIA DONS
Señor Eugene Plummer, remembered as Hollywood’s oldest resident, once owned 942 acres in the heart of the city, including land later occupied by the Ambassador Hotel and much of La Brea and Santa Monica Boulevards. A gifted storyteller, he recalled California’s Spanish days and settled in the Cahuenga Valley in 1869, later marrying Maria Amparo Lamoureux of Rancho Los Feliz, with whom he had a daughter, Frances. After a heart attack, he died on May 19, 1943. Though his name never appeared on the family stone, Plummer’s legacy endures through Plummer Park, a reminder of Hollywood’s frontier roots.
GARDEN OF THE EXODUS (SECT. 13, LOT 417, GRAVE 4) [Family marker only]
Estelle Taylor (1894-1958)
CHAMPION FOR PETS RIGHTS
Estelle Taylor, famed Hollywood beauty and one-time wife of boxing legend Jack Dempsey, starred on stage and screen before devoting herself to animal welfare as founder of the California Pet Owners Protective League and vice chair of the City Animal Regulation Commission. She fought against vivisection and compulsory rabies inoculation, championing compassion for the voiceless. Taylor died of ovarian cancer at her North Crescent Heights home on April 15, 1958; at her funeral, wreaths shaped as her beloved boxer and poodle flanked her casket, fitting tributes to a star whose legacy shone in both glamour and kindness.
Location: GARDEN OF BEGINNINGS (SECT. 2, LOT 9, Grave 402B)
HOLLYWOOD FOREVER CEMETERY TOUR...
"The Cemetery of the Stars"
Come with tour-guide Karie Bible as she visits legendary notables such as Cecil B. DeMille, Marion Davies, Tyrone Power, Rudolph Valentino, Vampira, John Huston, Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney and more. It is a great overview of Hollywood Forever Cemetery and its most famous residents.
For more information, go to: cemeterytour.com
What we do
We celebrate Hollywood—past and present. Through history, biography, and review, this blog explores the people, films, and places that shaped the dream factory, preserving its stories while connecting them to today’s entertainment world.
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