That's All, Folks

Mel Blanc's Gravesite

Hollywood Cemetery,
6000 Santa Monica Blvd., Hollywood
AAA Map: Central and Western Area, Metropolitan LA
Map Reference: C 20, D 20
Freeway Exit: Hollywood Freeway, Gower Exit.

Hollywood Cemetery has perhaps the most celebrity graves per square inch than even Pere Lachaise Cemetery in Paris, France. If Hollywood is America's nobility and bards, then Hollywood Cemetery is our Westminster Abbey. Although recently in the news when the operating company went bankrupt, a new owner has pledged to maintain the splendor of the place and keep it open to movie fans from all over the world.

This is perhaps the only cemetery which offers a "Map to the Stars' Graves." Seriously. Go into the business office and you can purchase one for a nominal fee. And one of the celebrity graves you will find listed in that guide is one of the most important figures in the classic period of theatrical animation.

Mel Blanc was the heart and soul of the great characters of the Warner Bros. theatrical shorts from the late '30s onward. It is a testament to just how great of a voice actor he was that every attempt to do shorts featuring characters like Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck has failed miserably because nobody can either do the voices right or, more importantly, equal the voice acting abilities of this great artist. Space Jam was very much diminished by Blanc's absence.

So we finish this tour with a respectful pause in front of Blanc's Tombstone.

Mel Blanc's tombstone.