Final Resting Places
It’s time for another of my periodic tributes to Western filmmakers through sharing visits to their final resting places.
This is one of the ways I reflect on what each person’s work has contributed to the Western genre, giving all of us many happy hours of entertainment.
On Easter Sunday this year I paid a visit to Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills, where by pure chance I stumbled across the grave of the great Western screenwriter Borden Chase. A special plaque on a nearby wall called my attention to his gravesite.
Borden Chase wrote the screenplays for some of the greatest Westerns ever made, including Red River (1948), Winchester ’73 (1950), Bend of the River (1952), and The Far Country (1954). I’ve written about many of his films here over the years, including listing Bend of the River as one of my all-time favorite Westerns in my very first post here, back in 2018. I also wrote about a TCM Classic Film Festival screening of Winchester ’73 in 2019.
Actor David Carradine is also at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills. His entire family has quite a legacy in Westerns, including his father John appearing in John Ford’s classic Stagecoach (1939). David’s Western work included appearing with his brothers Keith and Robert in The Long Riders (1980), in which David played Cole Younger. Robert, who was a regular guest at the Lone Pine Film Festival, sadly passed away earlier this year.
Another actor who played Cole Younger was Frank Lovejoy, who starred in the title role in Cole Younger, Gunfighter (1958). Lovejoy, a prominent radio actor along with starring in movies, also appeared in the Westerns Black Bart (1948) and The Charge at Feather River (1953). Sadly, Lovejoy was only 50 when he died unexpectedly of a heart attack. He’s buried at Holy Cross Cemetery in Culver City, California, alongside his wife, actress Joan Banks. Joan appeared in a small handful of TV Western episodes.
Another highly regarded screenwriter, Nunnally Johnson, whose remains are interred at Westwood Village Memorial Park, wrote several Westerns, including Jesse James (1939), Along Came Jones (1945), and The Gunfighter (1950).
Johnson’s wife Dorris Bowdon, who is memorialized at his final resting place, had a brief screen career, including appearing in three John Ford films, one of which was The Grapes of Wrath (1940).
The Grapes of Wrath was written by Bowdon’s husband and costarred David Carradine’s father John. Bowdon and Carradine were also both in Ford’s Revolutionary War era Drums Along the Mohawk (1939), set on the New York frontier. As readers of past Final Resting Places columns may have noticed, there are endless connections to be found among the classic era filmmakers remembered here.
Tyrone Power’s leading lady in Jesse James (1939), written by Nunnally Johnson, was Nancy Kelly; she is memorialized on a plaque at Westwood Village Memorial Park. Kelly won a Tony Award for the Broadway production of The Bad Seed (1955) and was the older sister of Jack Kelly, who starred as Bart Maverick on TV’s Maverick.
Robert Lowery – who coincidentally made at least one film with Nancy Kelly — was a busy working actor for three decades ahead of his early passing in 1971, aged 58. Lowery appeared in numerous “B” Westerns alongside stars such as Don “Red” Barry and “Wild Bill” Elliott, including I Shot Billy the Kid (1950) and The Homesteaders (1953). Later in his career Lowery appeared in some of the ‘60s “Geezer Westerns” produced by A.C. Lyles, who I wrote about in a column last year. Robert Lowery is buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood, California.
Another veteran of Lyles’ “Geezer Westerns” was Bill Williams, who is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills under his real name, Herman A. W. Katt. Williams had a long career in Westerns, including The Cariboo Trail (1950), a Randolph Scott film which I wrote about here 2020. He met his wife, actress Barbara Hale, when they filmed the “B” Western West of the Pecos (1945), which starred a young Robert Mitchum.
As of my last visit to Forest Lawn, Barbara Hale’s gravesite alongside her husband was unmarked, as seen above. Hale, best known as a star of TV’s Perry Mason, appeared in many Westerns, including The Lone Hand (1953) with Joel McCrea, which I wrote about here after it was shown at McCrea Ranch in 2023. Williams and Hale’s three children include actor William Katt (The Greatest American Hero).
In 2019 I included Hale’s Perry Mason costar William Talman in my column on “Unexpected Western Leads” thanks to his role in the enjoyable Two-Gun Lady (1955), which costarred Peggie Castle and Marie Windsor. Talman also appeared with Dana Andrews in Smoke Signal (1955).
Our final visit in this column honors character actor Griff Barnett, whose film career began with the serial The Lone Ranger (1938). Over the course of his 20-year career Barnett appeared in a great many Westerns of all types, with favorites including Cattle Drive (1951) and The Duel at Silver Creek (1952). His 1954 appearance in a Lone Ranger TV episode brought his career rather “full circle”! Barnett is buried at Rose Hills Memorial Park in Whittier, California.
For additional photos of the burial places of Western filmmakers, please visit my tribute columns from May 2019, February 2022, November 2, 2022, November 29, 2022, April 2023, November 2023, March 2024, July 2024, February 2025, and November 2025.
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– Laura Grieve for Classic Movie Hub
Laura can be found at her blog, Laura’s Miscellaneous Musings, where she’s been writing about movies since 2005, and on Twitter at @LaurasMiscMovie. A lifelong film fan, Laura loves the classics including Disney, Film Noir, Musicals, and Westerns. She regularly covers Southern California classic film festivals. Laura will scribe on all things western at the ‘Western RoundUp’ for CMH.
