Valhalla Memorial Park Cemetery and Mortuary is a cemetery and funeral home located at 10621 Victory Boulevard in North Hollywood, California, straddling the border between that Los Angeles neighborhood and Burbank.

The cemetery's east entrance features the Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation, the final resting place for aviation pioneers — "barnstormers, daredevils and sundry architects of aviation". The cemetery is south of Hollywood Burbank Airport. It has memorials to Amelia Earhart and others, honoring their accomplishments. The portal features colorful tiled dome and female figures stretching their arms to the heavens. The cemetery was named "Valhalla" for the hall of slain warriors presided over by Odin, the Norse god of war and death, amongst other associations.

Among those interred in Valhalla are celebrities from the entertainment industry.

History Founding Valhalla was founded in 1923 by Los Angeles financiers John R. Osborne and C. C. Fitzpatrick. The Spanish Mission Revival entrance structure was designed by architect Kenneth A. McDonald Jr. For the decorative stone castings, McDonald hired Italian-born sculptor Federico A. Giorgi, who had created statues of elephants and lions for the 1916 epic film Intolerance, and helped to craft the exterior of downtown's Million Dollar Theater. The gateway to the new cemetery cost $140,000.

The rotunda was dedicated March 1, 1925, with a concert by English contralto Maude Elliott. Picnickers spread blankets on the surrounding grassy expanse between three reflecting pools and flat cemetery markers, which were a new concept at the time. It became a tourist attraction and was used for concerts that were broadcast over radio station KELW by station owner Earl L. White. Just five months after the dedication, Osborne and Fitzpatrick were convicted of fraud. They had repeatedly sold the same burial plots—as many as 16 times—and netted a profit of $3–4 million, according to the Los Angeles Times. They were fined $12,000 each and sentenced to 10 years in prison, but served less than three years.

State control The cemetery was taken over by the state of California. It is unclear how long the state owned the cemetery, but Pierce Brothers bought it in 1950 and, within two years, closed the rotunda to vehicle traffic and moved the entry to the cemetery from Valhalla Drive in Burbank to Victory and Cahuenga boulevards in North Hollywood. There, they opened a two-story office building and mortuary.

On December 17, 1953—the 50th anniversary of Orville and Wilbur Wright's 12-second powered hop at Kitty Hawk—the rotunda was rededicated as the Portal of the Folded Wings, through the efforts of aviation fan and cemetery employee James Gillette. During the ceremony, the cremated remains of Walter R. Brookins, the first aviator to take a plane to an altitude of a mile and the Wright brothers' first civilian student, were interred.

When sculptor Giorgi died in 1963, he was buried outside the structure, near his masterpiece. Gillette was also buried outside, near the shrine he helped found.

The memorial was featured in Visiting... with Huell Howser Episode 426.

Sale of property

In 1958, Pierce Brothers sold its family-owned chain of Southern California mortuaries and cemeteries to Texas financier Joe Allbritton, who sold of Valhalla for development. In 1991, the cemeteries and mortuaries were acquired by Service Corp. International of Houston, but the Pierce Brothers sign remains at Valhalla.

Notable burials Note: this is a partial list. Use the following alphabetical links to find a name.

A Fred Abbott (1874–1935), Major League Baseball player Bert Acosta (1895–1954), aviation pioneer Eddie Acuff (1903–1956), actor Ernie Adams (1895–1947), actor Luis Alberni (1886–1962), actor Mary Alden (1883–1946), actress James Anderson (1921–1969), actor Harry Antrim (1884–1967), actor (unmarked) Johnny Arthur (1883–1951), actor Edwin August (1883–1964), actor, director, screenwriter

B Jill Banner (1946–1982), actress Lionel Belmore (1867–1953), actor, director Bea Benaderet (1906–1968), actress, voice actress Belle Bennett (1891–1932), actress Willie Best (1916–1962), actor Clem Bevans (1879–1963), actor John G. Blystone (1892–1938), director Stanley Blystone (1894–1956), actor Symona Boniface (1894–1950), actress Al Bridge (1891–1957), actor Tyler Brooke (1886–1943), actor Walter Brookins (1889–1953), aviation pioneer Arthur Q. Bryan (1899–1959), actor, comedian, voice actor, radio personality Nana Bryant (1888–1955), actress Paul E. Burns (1881–1967), actor Frederick Burton (1871–1957), actor

C Georgia Caine (1876–1964), actress Brun Campbell (1884 –1952), musician Mark Mitchell Campbell (1897–1963), barnstormer, stuntman, Lockheed executive Yakima Canutt (1895–1986), actor, stuntman, director Jay Chamberlain (1925–2001), racing driver (unmarked) Naomi Childers (1892–1964), actress Ken Christy (1894–1962), actor Mae Clarke (1910–1992), actress Chester Clute (1891–1956), actor Edmund Cobb (1892–1974), actor John Collum (1926–1962), actor Baldwin Cooke (1888–1953), actor and comedian Melville Cooper (1896–1973), actor Jim Corey (1883–1956), actor Gino Corrado (1893–1982), actor Aneta Corsaut (1933–1995), actress Jane Cowl (1883–1950), actress Richard Crane (1918–1969), actor Nick Cravat (1912–1994), actor and stuntman

D Richard Day (1896–1972), motion picture set designer Claudia Dell (1910–1977), showgirl and actress Joe DeRita (1909–1993), actor, comedian, member of the Three Stooges Don Dillaway (1903–1982), actor Douglass Dumbrille (1889–1974), film and TV actor Edna Dunkerley (1907–1990), Studio Nanny for Hal Roach Studios Little Rascals and Our Gang Comedies

E Warren S. Eaton (1891–1966), aviator Cliff Edwards (1895–1971), actor, singer, voice-over artist

F Morgan Farley (1898–1988), actor Franklyn Farnum (1878–1961), actor Eddie Firestone (1920–2007), actor Louise E. Francis (1869-1932), journalist

G Ceferino Garcia (1906–1981), boxer Louis Gasnier, film director Gorgeous George (1915–1963), professional wrestler Gladys George (1904–1954), actress Lowell Gilmore (1906–1960), actor Leslie Goodwins (1899–1969), film director and screenwriter Lita Grey (1908–1995), actress and 2nd wife of Charlie Chaplin

H

Oren W. Haglund (1905–1972), production manager of eleven ABC/Warner Brothers television series from 1955 to 1961 Jonathan Hale (1891–1966), actor Florence Halop (1923–1986), actress Lois Hamilton (1943–1999), model, author, actress, artist, aviator Mahlon Hamilton (1880–1960), actor Oliver Hardy (1892–1957), actor and comedian, partner of Stan Laurel Leigh Harline (1907–1969), composer Dell Henderson (1877–1956), actor, director, writer Colin Higgins (1941–1988), director & screenwriter

I Roger Imhof (1875–1958), actor

J Selmer Jackson (1888–1971), actor

K Fred Kelsey (1884–1961), pioneer actor Crauford Kent (1881–1953), actor Kathleen Key (1903–1954), actress Charles Criswell King (1907–1982), psychic known as The Amazing Criswell Bert Kinner (1882–1957), aviation pioneer Fuzzy Knight (1901–1976), actor June Knight (1913–1987), actress and dancer Theodore Kosloff (1882–1956), actor, choreographer, ballet dancer Paul Kruger (1895–1960), actor

L Frank Lackteen (1897–1968), actor Alice Lake (1895–1967), actress Elsa Lanchester (1902–1986), actress Sheldon Lewis (1868–1958), actor Robert Lowery (1913–1971), actor Sam Lufkin (1891–1952), actor James Luisi (1928–2002), actor

M

Barton MacLane (1902–1969), actor Kermit Maynard (1897–1971), actor Sam McDaniel (1886–1962), actor and brother of performers Hattie McDaniel & Etta McDaniel Francis McDonald (1891–1968), actor George Melford (1877–1961), actor, director Michu Meszaros (1939–2016), actor and circus performer Bob Mizer (1922–1992), photographer John Moisant (1868–1910), aviation pioneer Matilde Moisant (1878–1964), pioneer aviator Mantan Moreland (1902–1973), actor Kay Morley (1920–2020), actress Mittie Morris (1874–1953), social reformer Mae Murray (1885–1965), actress

N Buddy Noonan (1937–1989), producer, The Roving Kind syndicated TV series Fayard Nicholas (1914–2006), actor and dancer James Nusser (1905-1979), actor

O Wheeler Oakman (1890–1949), actor

P Virginia Pearson (1886–1958), pioneering film actress Eddy Polo (1875–1961), actor, stuntman, the first to parachute off the Eiffel Tower

R "Slapsie Maxie" Rosenbloom (1904–1976), champion boxer, actor Gail Russell (1924–1961), actress

S Lewis Sargent (1903–1970), actor Charles Sellon (1870–1937), actor Eve Southern (1900–1972), actress Charles Stevens (1893–1964), actor (unmarked) Onslow Stevens (1902–1977), actor (unmarked) Madame Sul-Te-Wan (1873–1959), actress

T Charlie Taylor (1868–1956), aviation engineer Lyle Tayo (1889–1971), actress Alma Tell (1898–1937), actress Alice Terry (1900–1987), actress Roland Totheroh (1890–1967), cinematographer Lorna Thayer (1919–2005), actress

V Alberta Vaughn (1904–1992), actress Martha Vickers (1925–1971), actress and model Joey D. Vieira (1944-2025), actor Josef von Stroheim (1922–2002), sound editor (unmarked)

W Anna Mae Walthall (1894-1950), actress Ken Weatherwax (1955–2014), actor Rudd Weatherwax (1907–1985), animal trainer Bud Westmore (1918–1973), makeup artist Alice White (1904–1983), actress Dave Willock (1909–1990), actor Henry Willson (1911–1978), talent agent Frederick Worlock (1886–1973), actor

Y Chief Yowlachie (1891–1966), Native American actor

See also List of cemeteries in the United States

References

External links

The Portal of the Folded Wings Shrine to Aviation ]