You don’t really even know there’s a cemetery hidden amongst all of the big buildings until you’re practically inside Westwood Village Memorial Park. A vast majority of the tombs were set into walls and the ones that weren’t were pretty standardized. Which is why it was really apparent when someone went the extra mile to stand out by showing a little humor on their tombstones.
Merv Griffin’s had my husband in stitches (sorry about the reflection):
Equally funny was Jack Lemmon’s, who made it to one final marquee:
Fans of Grumpy Old Men and The Odd Couple will be pleased to know that Walter Matthau is buried nearby.
Obviously, Rodney Dangerfield couldn’t go out without a laugh:
As a writer, Billy Wilder‘s is especially close to my heart:
Meanwhile, Marilyn Monroe‘s is pretty nondescript:
Visiting Westwood made me wonder what other celebrities wanted to keep people laughing long after their deaths, so I did a little investigating.
Mel Blanc
The Man of a Thousand Voices knew how to leave his audience wanting more. On the off-chance that you’re not familiar, Mel was the voice of Bugs Bunny, Porky Pig, Daffy Duck, Sylvester the cat, Tweety Bird, Yosemite Sam and Foghorn Leghorn (among others). How fitting, then, that he chose to have this engraved on his headstone:
Robert Frost
You might expect one of Frost’s famous quotes to be inscribed on his tombstone: “In three words I can sum up everything I have learned about life: it goes on.” Instead, he went with something equally thought-provoking:
(“I had a lover’s quarrel with the world,” in case you can’t read it.)
Edgar Allan Poe
Such a dark and macabre writer such as Edgar Allan Poe would surely have something similarly creepy on his headstone, and he does not disappoint. “Quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore’,” is what the text on the arch over the raven says.
Ed Wynn
You may not know Ed Wynn by name, but Disney fans will recognize him as the voice of the Mad Hatter from Alice in Wonderland. Later, he played crazy Uncle Albert in Mary Poppins. Prior to Alice, he was a headliner on Broadway who found his way under W.C. Fields’ tutelage. Wynn remembered who was responsible for all of his success and made sure to note so on his memorial:
Finally, you wouldn’t expect a legend like Frank Sinatra to go out without last words to remember him by:
Stop squinting. It says, “The Best Is Yet To Come.”
What are some other entertaining, thought-provoking or otherwise interesting epitaphs we should know about?
More from mental_floss…
16 Movie Sequels Nobody Has Ever Heard Of
*
Who Is Sadie Hawkins and How Did She Get Her Own Dance?
*
He Took a Polaroid Every Day, Until the Day He Died
*
It’s Complicated: 5 Puzzling International Borders
*
10 Questions From the U.S. Naturalization Test
Comments (75)
Comment
- subscribe /
- give a gift /
- terms of service /
- about /
- contact us /
- write for us /
- ad info /
- subscriber services /
- press /
- privacy policy /
- rss /
© 2012 Mental Floss Inc. All Rights Reserved. Mental Floss is a registered trademark owned by Felix Dennis. mentalfloss.com is a trademark owned by Felix Dennis.
Disclaimer: All submissions made to mental_floss become the property of Mental Floss Inc and may be used without further permission by the submitter and without compensation to the submitter. If you do not agree to these terms, please do not submit anything to mental_floss.
On J.R.R. Tolkien’s grave he has printed the name “Beren” and on his wife’s, which is right next to him, is the name “Luthien.” Beren and Luthien were epic characters in his history before the Lord of the Rings. Beren, a man, and Luthien, an elf, were lovers, their story is a beautiful one.
posted by Sarah on 3-2-2008 at 8:35 pm
Wikiquote has a bunch of them. But my favorites are:
And away we go — Jackie Gleason
He lies here somewhere. — Werner Heisenberg
Despite them — Rob Roy MacGregor
If after I depart this vale you ever remember me and have thought to please my ghost, forgive some sinner, and wink your eye at some homely girl — H. L. Mencken
Dúirt mé leat go raibh mé breoite. [I told you I was ill] — Spike Milligan
posted by Samantha on 3-2-2008 at 8:39 pm
Grumpy Old Men? Your (young) age is showing. When I think of Jack Lemmon and Walter Matthaeu, I think of The Odd Couple. So I’m showing my age, too!
posted by Miss Cellania on 3-2-2008 at 9:38 pm
Oh really, Miss Cellania?
I’m fourteen and the first thing that comes to mind regarding Jack Lemmon is Some Like It Hot.
Hmmph.
posted by Taira on 3-2-2008 at 10:02 pm
Haha, I’m sixteen (today!) and when I think of Jack Lemmon, I think of Some Like It Hot as well. Also, The China Syndrome.
posted by Allison on 3-2-2008 at 10:15 pm
Great post Stacy!
I’m having a hard time making out what it says on Poe’s grave. Can you help me out?
posted by Craig on 3-2-2008 at 10:25 pm
Craig,
the bit above the raven, of course, says “Quoth the raven ‘Nevermore,’” then under the dates it says “Mrs. Maria Clemm, his mother-in-law, lies upon his right, and Virginia Poe, his wife, upon his left under the monument erected to him in this cemetery.” Umm… whoa.
Very nice, Stacy!
posted by Becca on 3-2-2008 at 10:35 pm
Thomas Jefferson’s tombstone has the five things for which he’d most like to be remembered. (Google it!)
posted by KurtC on 3-3-2008 at 12:18 am
Penn and Teller’s grave is great.
“Is this your card?”
On top of that, they’re, of course, still alive.
posted by Tonberry2k on 3-3-2008 at 1:14 am
“I told you I was ill.”
Spike Milligan
posted by the spanielator on 3-3-2008 at 6:40 am
For anyone who’s interested in celebrity lives and deaths, there’s a great book called “Where Are They Buried and How Did They Die?” written by a guy with the last name of Benoit (can’t remember the first name right now…). Anyway, it tells the lives of hundreds of actors, writers, musicians, and various other scandal-makers of the last century or so, then tells how they died. It even gives directions to the grave-sites in case you want to visit! It’s a really interesting read, and it’s a good reference for anyone who’s ever heard a famous name and wondered why they were famous.
posted by bas on 3-3-2008 at 7:50 am
I have been to Hollywood Forever cemetery and have seen Mel Blanc’s grave. Another feature on the headstone is a little Bugs Bunny in a lower corner.
posted by Julie on 3-3-2008 at 8:13 am
The actual cemetery where Poe is buried in Baltimore (I think it’s on the corner of Fayette & Green) is so much more fitting to what you’d expect from him. Very spooky and beautiful, in a macabre sense. If you are ever in the area, definitely go visit!
I hope you enjoyed LA!
posted by Lauren on 3-3-2008 at 8:21 am
Someone above mentioned Jefferson’s tombstone. In a bizarre twist it does not actually mark his grave, but is rather on the quad at the University of Missouri. It was donated to them in honor of Mizzou being the first public university in the Louisiana Purchase.
posted by Aaron on 3-3-2008 at 9:44 am
Don’t forget Marcel Duchamp’s inscription on his grave:
“D’ailleurs, c’est toujours les autres qui meurent;”
-
“Besides, it’s always other people who die.”
posted by ttseco on 3-3-2008 at 11:49 am
The only famous person’s grave I’ve ever been to (I think) is Charles Lindburgh’s. It’s pretty non-descript and it in a church that is really hidden away. If you don’t know where you’re going, it’s really easy to miss the street. I thought for someone so famous he would have a more interesting tombstone but I guess he was pretty much a recluse when he died and probably preferred his grave that way.
posted by CK on 3-3-2008 at 12:08 pm
not a famous person, but an eloquent one:
“Think of me when you pass by,
as you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, someday you’ll be,
as you pass by here, think of me”
posted by kristi on 3-3-2008 at 2:12 pm
“All things considered, I’d rather be here than in Philadelphia”
W.C. Fields headstone
posted by floyd landis on 3-3-2008 at 2:35 pm
Here are two of the best, I think.
First, Wm. Shakespeare’s…
“Good friend for Jesus sake forbeare,
To dig the dust enclosed here.
Blessed be the man that spares these stones,
And cursed be he that moves my bones.”
Second, the epitaph that Benjamin Franklin wrote for himself when he was a young man. Alas, it never made it to his tombstone…
“The Body of
B. Franklin
Printer;
Like the Cover of an old Book,
Its Contents torn out,
And stript of its Lettering and Gilding,
Lies here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be whlly lost:
For it will, as he believ’d, appear once more,
In a new & more perfect Edition,
Corrected and Amended
By the Author.”
posted by Mary on 3-3-2008 at 2:37 pm
I think of Some Like It Hot when I think of Jack Lemmon, too.
“DAPHNE!”
Hahahahahahahaha!
Also, Missing. That was a good one. He was up for an Oscar in that one. (Ben Kingsley won for Gandhi)
posted by Moon on 3-3-2008 at 5:14 pm
Kristi,
Your quote
“Think of me when you pass by,
as you are now, so once was I.
As I am now, someday you’ll be,
as you pass by here, think of meâ€
is part of a famous and powerful poem by Shelley:- look up Ozymandias in Wikipedia. Ozymandias was a name for Rameses II. Here is the entire poem, which is fitting here IMHO.
OZYMANDIAS
I met a traveller from an antique land
Who said: Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them on the sand,
Half sunk, a shatter’d visage lies, whose frown
And wrinkled lip and sneer of cold command
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamp’d on these lifeless things,
The hand that mock’d them and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
“My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!”
Nothing beside remains: round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare,
The lone and level sands stretch far away.
posted by Gary B on 3-3-2008 at 5:22 pm
BTW, I saw Some Like It Hot in the theaters – original release. Hahahaha! I’m not a teenager, that’s for sure.
posted by Moon on 3-3-2008 at 7:44 pm
Flickr has a whole group (called pool) of interesting headstones.
flickr.com/groups/graveribbers/pool/
posted by Shailesh on 3-3-2008 at 7:46 pm
“I knew if I waited around long enough something like this would happen.”
George Bernard Shaw
posted by Suddenly he on 3-3-2008 at 7:58 pm
The quote from WC Fields’ gravesite is wrong. It is in a masoleum in Forest Lawn (Glendale) in the L.A. area and simply has his name and birth/ death dates.
posted by Greg Bishop on 3-3-2008 at 8:57 pm
Frost, in his usual mischievous manner, asked for those words to be placed on his tombstone… in a poem! These words appear at the end of his poem titled “The Lesson for Today”:
And were an epitaph to be my story
I’d have a short one ready for my own.
I would have written of me on my stone:
I had a lover’s quarrel with the world.
posted by Allen on 3-3-2008 at 11:05 pm
My favorite is from the Tombstone cemetery. Lester Moore was a Wells Fargo station agent and when he tried to deliver a mangled package, there was an argument and guns were drawn. His epitaph:
HERE LIES LESTER MOORE
FOUR SLUGS FROM A 44
NO LES NO MORE
posted by Adrienne on 3-4-2008 at 12:09 am
I always liked the epitaph that Benjamin Franklin originally WANTED to put on his tombstone (though it never actually came to pass):
The body of
B. Franklin, Printer
(Like the Cover of an Old Book
Its Contents torn Out
And Stript of its Lettering and Gilding)
Lies Here, Food for Worms.
But the Work shall not be Lost;
For it will (as he Believ’d) Appear once More
In a New and More Elegant Edition
Revised and Corrected
By the Author.
posted by Peter on 3-4-2008 at 9:38 am
I don’t think anything beats the inscription on Clay Allison’s tomb: “He never killed a man that did not need killing.” (Allison was a famous gunslinger.)
posted by atomotomato on 3-4-2008 at 9:47 am
Nice collection! Thanks for the effort!
posted by Dave Greiman on 3-4-2008 at 9:59 am
A really great Jack Lemmon film is Save the Tiger, which I recently saw with my 21 year old son. We both loved it, he for the first time.
posted by Dan on 3-4-2008 at 10:28 am
A friend of mine recently passed away and we had this put on his headstone. It was something he used to say a lot.
“If you aim for nothing, you’re liable to hit it. If you reach for the stars, you’ll at least touch the sky.”
posted by unstablereality on 3-4-2008 at 10:42 am
The best I know is comedian Spike Milligan’s: “I Told You I Was Ill”
posted by Dan Owen on 3-4-2008 at 10:59 am
Great article and it does put things in perspective. No matter how famous you might be, or how much money you have, at the end all that is left of you is a memory. Live well, be happy and read Mental Floss, just because :-)
posted by Marvin on 3-4-2008 at 11:07 am
Kristi and Gary B:
the poem Kristi quotes is a nicer and less morbid version of the one found on many Puritan gravestones in Boston:
“Think of me as you pass by
As you are now, so once was I
As I am now so you shall be
Prepare for death and follow me”
Those Puritans sure knew how to uplift a mourner’s soul.
posted by Dawn on 3-4-2008 at 11:16 am
My Uncle Waldo wanted this on his tombstone: “Here lies the shell. The nut’s gone home.”
posted by gerry hostetler on 3-4-2008 at 12:04 pm
I cannot read the first one for some reason. Can you please put quotes of what these stones say?
posted by Hosting Reviews on 3-4-2008 at 12:07 pm
@unstablereality: you just put that quote on his headstone. just like that?
you are quite an airhead, i imagine.
posted by Stoeckner on 3-4-2008 at 12:07 pm
Spike Milligan ftw.
“I told them I wasn’t feeling well”
posted by Susan on 3-4-2008 at 1:45 pm
I’m surprised at how modest some of those stones are.
posted by Matt on 3-4-2008 at 1:47 pm
My favorite is on the grave of Charles Bukowski. It reads, “Don’t Try.”
posted by Cory on 3-4-2008 at 2:39 pm
Unknown but a favourite:
“All my life i have tried my best to be a gentleman. Curse it! Look at me now!”
posted by Od_vjesala on 3-4-2008 at 4:00 pm
You’ve been pranked. Those Westwood tombstones were put in a few years ago in an area newly opened up for graves behind the older, original cemetary where Maryln Monroe, Armand Hammer, Minnie Ripperton, and other people are buried. They are fakes set up for tourists while the cemetary owner waits for someone to buy the plots. Didn’t you think they were a little too clever?!
posted by Benjamin Philips on 3-4-2008 at 8:52 pm
Having to do a homework assignment on some like it hot dont count….
posted by heh on 3-5-2008 at 7:29 am
http://www.tvokay.com for free movies and tv shows… check it out, it’s worth a bookmark
posted by kary on 3-5-2008 at 9:05 pm
Saw this one on a tubestone a while back
“The End”
posted by Mike on 3-5-2008 at 11:41 pm
My father-in-law was a stern, gruff character. He was always asking people, “What the hell is the matter with you?”
When he died my wife was trying to think of something to put on his tombstone. We ended up putting “What the hell is the matter with you?” in German on it. Since he was buried in the Lutheran graveyard, we had to get the board’s permission. They knew the man well and approved without any hesitation.
posted by Dennis on 3-6-2008 at 1:30 pm
I’m surprised that most or all of the tombstones are very plain. I’ve been to cemeteries in other countries (“third world”) where the tombstones are like works of art. Although that’s from a couple of centuries ago. Bue Edgar Allan Poe’s should be better, like a mausoleum.
posted by SandFlyer on 3-6-2008 at 9:51 pm
Oscar Wildes last words, while dying in a Paris flophouse:
“Either that wallpaper goes, or I do!”
My own epitath, which I’ve told my family to use:
“That which does not kill us makes us stronger”
posted by Rohn Jay Miller on 3-17-2008 at 8:41 am
I loved the epitath’s. It is good to see that they were able to keep us laughing after the left us.
posted by tombstones on 11-30-2008 at 9:16 pm
My favorite epitath is from the Swedish writer Fritiof Nilsson Piraten: “Här under är askan av en man som hade vanan att skjuta allt till morgondagen. Dock bättrades han pÃ¥ sitt yttersta och dog verkligen den 31 jan. 1972.”, which roughly translates as “Here lie the ashes of a man who had the bad habit of postponing everything to the next day. But he got better in his final days and really died on the 31st of Jan. 1972.”
posted by Roger on 12-19-2008 at 7:59 pm
My favorite epitath is from the Swedish writer Fritiof Nilsson Piraten:
“Här under är askan av en man som hade vanan att skjuta allt till morgondagen. Dock bättrades han pÃ¥ sitt yttersta och dog verkligen den 31 jan. 1972.”
A rough translation is
“Here lie the ashes of a man who had the bad habit of postponing everything to the next day. But he got better in his final days and really died on the 31st of Jan. 1972.”
posted by Roger on 12-19-2008 at 8:20 pm
Interesting and a little bit scary at the same time.
posted by griffin on 1-24-2009 at 8:45 am
Can anybody help me telling me what is written on the tombstone of Bernard Shaw?
posted by jkim on 2-13-2009 at 8:39 am
like the poems that edgar allan poe
posted by bianca on 6-25-2009 at 12:15 pm
I always thought I’d have my epitaph read,
This is the last place I thought I’d end up.
But since meeting the love of my life 10 years ago, I’ve decided on…
Of all the places I’ve been, and of all the things I’ve seen, next to you is the place I love the most.
(I just hope she wants to be buried next to me.)
posted by Jim on 7-3-2009 at 12:57 pm
wheres my grave at!!!!??????
posted by michael jackon on 10-21-2009 at 2:06 pm
“No Comment” -Edward Abbey
(and he’s illegally buried in a secret spot in a nature reserve in the Arizona desert…good luck finding the grave, you won’t.)
posted by Ryan on 10-29-2009 at 12:32 pm
Scott Craig Jones went to my school as Edgar Allan Poe and let me tell you he’s really talented !!!!!!!
posted by angela on 11-25-2009 at 1:47 pm
Ed Wynn was who you say he was, but you have a picture of the tombstone of Keenan Wynn, Ed Wynn’s son.
posted by Sully on 3-8-2010 at 1:51 pm
@ sully
The picture of Ed Wynn’s tombstone has 4 names and dates on it. I am wondering if this is the outside of a columbarium. I know that Ed and Keenan were cremated so it stands to reason that the other 2 were as well.
posted by veetie on 3-8-2010 at 3:55 pm
I’m surprised no one else has mentioned Dorothy Parker, who wrote her own epitaph: \Excuse my dust.\
Also, while we’re on the topic, when I think of Jack Lemmon I think of \The Apartment.\
posted by Christina on 3-8-2010 at 9:25 pm
The epitaphs for Dorothy Parker “Excuse my Dust” and W C Fields “On the whole, I’d rather be in Philadelphia” were actually part of an article in the 1920′s that asked celebrities what they would put on their tombstones – not what actually IS on their tombstones.
posted by Susan on 3-9-2010 at 2:46 am
charles bukowski, internationally known hard drinking, hard living L.A. poet & novelist is buried in nearby san pedro & has the silhouette of a boxer & the words; ‘don’t try’ on his marker
posted by stosh machek on 3-9-2010 at 3:18 am
Nick Drake’s headstone has a line from his last song on the Pink Moon album. It says “And Now We Rise and We Are Everywhere.” It always made me think of zombies. as if to say that him and everyone else thats buried there will rise from the dead.
posted by Phoebe on 3-9-2010 at 3:18 pm
the edgar alleen poe one has the wrong dates he was born january 9 1809 and dies october 7 1849
posted by bookworm on 5-15-2010 at 11:42 am
Hello Bookworm, read Edgar Allen Poe’s headstone again. It is where he was buried from 1849 to 1875.
posted by John Murphy on 8-24-2010 at 8:53 am
Nick Drake’s tombstone for sure. The line is from his song “From the Morning” that people probably recognize from the AT&T commercial that has the orange sheets falling from buildings, et cetera.
“And now we rise, and we are everywhere.”
@Phoebe: I an mildly insulted that you think of zombies…. I don’t think that’s at all what he meant, and I could never assosciate Nick Drake with the undead. But I commend you highly for mentioning him. :)
posted by catherine on 10-14-2010 at 6:12 pm
So many people loved “Some Like it Hot” that I’m amazed that no one recognized Billy Wilder’s epithet as the last line from that movie. Remember? Jack Lemmon admits to Joe E. Brown that he can’t marry him because he’s a man and Brown says “that’s ok. Nobody’s perfect.”
posted by Hans Hailey on 10-21-2010 at 6:01 pm
EDGER ALLAN POE DIED IN THE YEAR 1849 THE TOMBSTONE IS WRONG…. WOW THE PEOPLE WHO MADE THE TOMBSTONE ARE STUPID.
posted by Karlee on 11-13-2010 at 3:05 pm
What, no one cited George Burns and Gracie Allen’s grave marker? Inside the Freedom Mausoleum at Forest Lawn Glendale is their very deluxe wall crypt, with the words “Say goodnight, Gracie” and “Together Forever.”
Incidently, there are no pranks at all in Westwood. Those are real grave markers, and they are in the newest area of the memorial park. (Who would try to get away with faking the graves of anyone as prominent as Jack Lemmon and Billy WIlder?)
Finally, note that the dates on the Poe headstone are not his date of birth and death, but rather the dates of when he was originally buried in that location. 1849 is when he was buried.
posted by DeeEmm on 2-8-2011 at 2:38 am
Calling all Jack Lemmon fans! Does no one
remember “Days of Wine and Roses”? and the
wonderful “Prisoner of 2nd Avenue”? Here’s to
Mr. Lemmon—a class act!
posted by Jimmie on 3-22-2011 at 11:03 pm
Thank you Stacy, I enjoyed your tombstones, and re-posted this article on my FB wall.
I have a small collection of pictures of non-celebrity stones that are still humorous. One says, “Here lies an Athiest. All dressed up and no place to go.” Another: “Connection reset by peer. He came, he saw, he logged out.” An Arabic stone with: “I am not really dead. Do not believe these American lies.” I also have a pic of a horizontal marker with a large flip top cellphone on top and the flip end is slanted up slightly, and one that simply says: “Bye”. I’d be happy to send them to the Author, as you have my email address on this post. Just include the word Tombstone in the subject line so I don’t delete it.
Some here are correct in that W.C. Field’s marker did not include the verse he wanted very badly. The explanation for that is humorous as well. Fields often said live and in recordings and on radio: “I’d rather be dead in L.A. than alive in Philadelphia.” He said it many times, thus the marker he really wanted read: “On the whole, I’d rather be in Philadelphia.”
Finally, hopefully many years from now, Arnold Schwartsenegger’s perfect stone should certainly read: “I’ll be baaack”
posted by James on 9-6-2011 at 5:20 pm
Ahh I have the kind of morbid sense of humor that I got a book called Final Exits all about the ways people can die (fascinating read). There’s a whole section dedicated to epitaphs and this one has always been my favorite:
Tom Smith is dead, and here he lies,
Nobody laughs and nobody cries;
Where his soul’s gone, or how it fares,
Nobody knows, and nobody cares.
posted by Angela on 11-3-2011 at 9:46 am
Leslie Nielsen: “Let ‘er rip.”
posted by Sillstaw on 11-3-2011 at 1:58 pm