Western RoundUp: Final Resting Places, Western Filmmakers 4

Western Filmmakers Final Resting Places

Once or twice a year I pay tribute to Western filmmakers in this column via sharing visits to their final resting places.

I’ve been privileged to visit these sites, located throughout the Los Angeles area and beyond, over a period of several years.  

It’s my hope that these photographic tributes enable far-flung readers to join me in reflecting on what each person’s work has contributed to the Western genre.  They may no longer be with us, but thanks to film their work lives on.

Earlier this year I attended a family funeral at Forest Lawn Cypress in Cypress, California.  Before departing the cemetery I stopped by the gravesite of cowboy star Ken Maynard to pay my respects.

Maynard’s Western career began in the silents and continued through 1944, with a couple additional films in the early ’70s, not long before his 1973 passing. I most recently watched Maynard in The Fiddlin’ Buckaroo (1933) at this year’s Lone Pine Film Festival.

Ken Maynard’s younger brother was cowboy actor Kermit Maynard, who is buried at Valhalla Memorial Park in North Hollywood.  While I have not yet been to Kermit Maynard’s burial place, I’ve visited a memorial plaque for famed stuntman extraordinaire Yakima Canutt at Valhalla. Canutt’s stunts include the “under the horses” scene in John Ford’s Stagecoach (1939).

Also at Valhalla is actress Martha Vickers.  Vickers’ most famous role was as Carmen Sternwood in The Big Sleep (1946), but her last feature film was a “B” Western I love, Four Fast Guns (1960).  I wrote about it here in a 2020 column on “Hidden Gems.”

Vickers, who was at one point married to producer A.C. Lyles and then actor Mickey Rooney, is buried under her final married name, Rojas.

Vickers’ first husband, A.C. Lyles, is at Westwood Memorial Park in Westwood, California.  Lyles lived to 95 and was a popular figure in Hollywood. I recall seeing him walk by, looking quite dapper, as I stood in line at the 2012 TCM Classic Film Festival the year before he passed.  

Lyles may be best known by Western fans for his ’60s series of what are sometimes affectionately called “Geezer Westerns,” utilizing the great talents of beloved, if then slightly over-the-hill, stars such as Scott Brady, Dale Robertson, Virginia Mayo, Yvonne de Carlo, Dana Andrews, Rory Calhoun, Howard Keel, Jane Russell, and many more.

A number of other actors are interred at Westwood. There’s a memorial bench for actor James Coburn near Lyles’ bench.  Coburn was one of the stars of Ride Lonesome (1959), which I wrote about in my very first column here back in 2018. Ride Lonesome is one of my all-time favorite movies. Coburn’s Westerns also included The Magnificent Seven (1960).

Jane Greer is also at Westwood, where her plaque has faded and become difficult to read. She is more closely associated with film noir (Out of the Past) than Westerns, but the RKO “B” Western Sunset Pass (1946) was an early role. More significantly, Greer starred opposite Dick Powell in the “Western noir” Station West (1948).  There’s much more about that film in my columns on “Unexpected Western Leads” and “Noir-Tinged Westerns.”

David Nelson, the son of Ozzie and Harriet Nelson and the older brother of Rick, is best known for his family’s TV series. That said, he was in a superb Western, Andre De Toth’s Day of the Outlaw (1959), which I wrote about here in 2018. He is also at Westwood Memorial Park.

Our last visit at Westwood is at the final resting place of actor Brian Keith.  The son of actor Robert Keith, Brian Keith appeared in a number of Westerns over the years.  My very favorite is Fort Dobbs (1958), costarring Clint Walker and Virginia Mayo. It’s a terrific film which I recommend.

We’ll next stop by Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City, California, to pay our respects to James Coburn’s Magnificent Seven costar, Brad Dexter. Dexter’s other Westerns included The Oklahoman (1957) with Joel McCrea and Last Train From Gun Hill (1959) starring Kirk Douglas.

Finally, we stop by Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills to visit the burial site of Glenn Strange. Strange was in countless movie Westerns, most of them “B’s,” beginning in 1930, and he also guest-starred in many TV Westerns. His best-known role was as Sam the Bartender in TV’s Gunsmoke; he appeared on the show from 1961 until 1973, the year he passed away.

For additional photos of the burial sites of Western filmmakers, please visit my columns from May 2019, February 2022, November 2, 2022, November 29, 2022, April 2023, November 2023, March 2024, July 2024, and February 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.