Ever wondered what happened to Hollywood’s most famous canine after her role in The Wizard of Oz, or what became of the man who played the voice of Daffy Duck? Ever questioned what happened to the man who created the first feature-length film, or the woman who won the first Academy Award for Best Actress? Where did all those old Hollywood stars go? The answers to these questions lie six feet under the ground in the Hollywood Forever Cemetery.

The Hollywood Forever Cemetery sits at 6000 Santa Monica Blvd., just next to the Paramount Studios backlot. At this location, the Hollywood sign lingers in the distance amongst the Los Angeles haze, serving as an appropriate tribute to the large number of old Hollywood stars who are buried at the cemetery. In a single walk, one can see picturesque ponds filled with lily pads and baby ducklings, gorgeously maintained roses, and vast expanses of green grass. With all that, the cemetery provides an atmosphere similar to that of a scenic park, and it appears to be a place where the stars of Hollywood can truly rest in peace.

Most of the celebrities who are buried at the cemetery are from the old Hollywood era, a time when the foundations for the film industry and for Hollywood were being built. For instance, the legendary film producer and director who worked on 70 films, Cecil B. DeMille, is buried at the cemetery. He was responsible for working with Jesse Lasky (also buried at the cemetery) to create the first feature-length film in Hollywood history, titled The Squaw Man (1914). Other stars buried at the cemetery include Mel Blanc, who voiced the characters of Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, Hattie McDaniel, who played “Mammie” in Gone With the Wind (1939), Fay Wray, who played the damsel in distress in the original version of King Kong (1933), and Janet Gaynor, who won the first-ever Academy Award for Best Actress. Even the man who gave Hollywood it’s name, Harvey Wilcox, is buried at the cemetery, further proving the cemetery as a place where the beginners of Hollywood came to an end.

One of the largest monuments at the cemetery is attributed to the actress Marion Davies, who was more famous for her role as William Randolph Hearst’s mistress than for her roles in acting. Furthermore, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery also has two indoor mausoleums: one called the “Abbey of the Psalms,” the other called the Hollywood Cathedral Mausoleum. The “Abbey of the Psalms” holds Victor Fleming, who directed two of the most popular and iconic movies in Hollywood history in the same year: Gone With The Wind and The Wizard of Oz (1939).

Inside the Hollywood Cathedral Mausoleum sits the crypt of Rodolfo Alfonzo Raffaello Pierre Filibert Guglielmi di Valentina d'Antonguolla, more commonly known as Rudolph Valentino. Valentino was a young Italian heartthrob who became famous for his roles in movies like The Shiek (1921) and The Young Rajah (1922). Women across America fell head-over-heels for Valentino's Latin lover persona. However, on August 23, 1926 the actor died of a gastric ulcer and a ruptured appendix at the young age of 31. An estimated 100,000 people, mostly women, were said to have attended his funeral to pay their respects. What differentiates this crypt from the others in the cemetery is that it is covered with fresh lipstick kisses. Valentino once said, "I am merely a canvas on which women paint their dreams," and it seems that he is still serving that purpose for many women even 86 years after his death.

There is one other site that is worth seeing at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery: the Toto Monument. This monument commemorates Terry, the beloved Cairn Terrier that played Toto in The Wizard of Oz. After Terry’s death in 1945, her owner and trainer, Carl Spitz, buried her on his Studio City ranch. Unfortunately, the 1958 construction of the Ventura Freeway destroyed Terry’s place of rest, so the Hollywood Forever Cemetery made the Toto Monument to provide a new place for fans to visit and remember the little black dog that helped Dorothy return home.

Today the Hollywood Forever Cemetery hosts screenings of film classics on Saturday and Sunday nights throughout the summer. During these screenings, people gather to watch their favorite Hollywood films amongst the bodies of those who created them. So, whether you are attending a screening or visiting for a day, the Hollywood Forever Cemetery is a place where one can dig deeper into Hollywood's rich history.

For more information, visit hollywoodforever.com.