Fort Rosencranz National Cemetery
The men and women interred at Fort Rosencraz National Cemetery in San Diego, California.
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- Actor
- Soundtrack
A minor character actor who appeared in literally hundreds of films, actor Irving Bacon could always be counted on for expressing bug-eyed bewilderment or cautious frustration in small-town settings with his revolving door of friendly, servile parts - mailmen, milkmen, clerks, chauffeurs, cab drivers, bartenders, soda jerks, carnival operators, handymen and docs. Born September 6, 1893 in the heart of the Midwest (St. Joseph, Missouri), he was the son of Millar and Myrtle (Vane) Bacon. Irving first found work in silent comedy shorts at Keystone Studios usually playing older than he was and, for a time, was a utility player for Mack Sennett in such slapstick as A Favorite Fool (1915). Irving made an easy adjustment when sound entered the pictures and after appearing in the Karl Dane and George K. Arthur two-reel comedy shorts such as Knights Before Christmas (1930), began to show up in feature-length films. He played higher-ups on occasion, such as the Secretary of the Navy in Million Dollar Legs (1932), police inspector in The House of Mystery (1934), mayor in Room for One More (1952), and judge in Ambush at Cimarron Pass (1958), but those were exceptions to the rule. Blending in with the town crowd was what Irving was accustomed to and, over the years, he would be glimpsed in some of Hollywood's most beloved classics such as Capra's Mr. Deeds Goes to Town (1936), San Francisco (1936), You Can't Take It with You (1938) and A Star Is Born (1954). Trivia nuts will fondly recall his beleaguered postman in the Blondie (1938) film series that ran over a decade.
Irving could also be spotted on popular '50s and '60s TV programs such as the westerns Laramie (1959) and Wagon Train (1957), and "comedies December Bride (1954) and The Real McCoys (1957). He can still be seen in a couple of old codger roles on I Love Lucy (1951). One was as a marriage license proprietor and the other as Vivian Vance's doting dad from Albuquerque, to whom she paid a visit on her way to Hollywood with the Ricardos. Irving died on February 5, 1965, having clocked in over 400 features.Plot: Section A-F, Site 391- From the time she was a little girl, Geraldine Decker sang and performed for her parents and friends. Her high school yearbooks extolled her heavenly voice as she participated in choir and drama programs.
While her boys were little, she stayed active in community theater and local programs.
Her singing and acting career began full-time at age 40 after her boys were grown and out of the house. During this time, she received voice training from the accomplished Hungarian vocal coach, Dr. Domokos.
As an alto-contralto opera singer, Decker's range of voice opened many doors for her and allowed her interesting and significant roles from Mother Superior in Sound of Music to Erda (Earth Mother) in Wagner's Ring Cycle, and the Wicked Witch in Hansel and Gretel. She delighted her fans coast to coast as she performed various projects, most notably Disney Pictures, Cabrillo Music Theatre, Ventura County Symphony, California Lutheran College, Guild Opera Company, LA Civic Light Opera, Long Beach Opera, Seattle Opera, Chicago Lyric Opera, Opera San Jose, New York Metropolitan Opera and Carnegie Hall. She also performed several projects in Europe. Decker taught voice to students of all ages and also taught at Pepperdine University in Malibu for several years.
She lived in the Oxnard area for over 50 years. Her final live performance was held at Evergreen Assisted Living, San Jose, CA in 2010. - Lloyd Bucher was born on 1 September 1927 in Pocatello, Idaho, USA. He was married to Rose Rohling. He died on 28 January 2004 in Poway, California, USA.Plot: Section A-E, Site 33A
- Actor
- Art Department
Paul Byron was born on 12 September 1888 in New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor, known for A Child of Mystery (1916), The Heritage of Hate (1916) and The Second in Command (1915). He died on 12 May 1959 in San Diego, California, USA.Plot: Section O Lot 3648- Actor
- Soundtrack
Larry Clinton, "The Old Dipsy Doodler", was a musician who played trumpet, trombone and clarinet, arranged and wrote music, and served as the leader of his own dance band. Born on August 17, 1909, in Brooklyn, New York, he charted nearly 40 hit recordings, including the #1 hits "Cry, Baby, Cry" (1938), "My Reverie Heart and Soul" (1938) and "Deep Purple" (1939).
He was responsible for some of the more enduring hits in the dance band repertoire. He had a great, though short-lived, band 1937-1941 that recorded 214 sides for RCA Victor and Bluebird. Clinton was a great composer and arranger whose songs include "The Dipsy-Doodle," "Satan Takes A Holiday," "Study In Brown" and "Midnight In a Madhouse". Among his greatest hits were "Heart and Soul" and "My Reverie", which he 'borrowed' from Claude Debussy's "Reverie".
For much of the decade before he formed his own band in 1938, Clinton had been one of the top arrangers, writing for the Dorsey Brothers, then Jimmy Dorsey, the Casa Loma Orchestra, and finally for Tommy Dorsey. He was the arranger for both Claude Hopkins and Isham Jones in 1933 before moving on to the Dorsey Brothers in 1935. When the brothers split, he remained with Jimmy but soon replaced Gene Gifford as arranger with Glen Gray and the Casa Loma Orchestra.
In 1937, he arranged for Bunny Berigan, Louis Armstrong and Tommy Dorsey, the latter scoring huge hits with Clinton's "Satan Takes a Holiday" and "The Dipsy Doodle." The Tommy Dorsey band's recording of "Dipsey Doodle" proved to be one of the biggest hits of the 1930s. Dorsey and his label, RCA Victor, encouraged Clinton to form his own band, which he soon did (whenever Tommy Dorsey played "Dipsey Doodle", he would credit Clinton as the composer. The "plugs" made Clinton well known and helped launch his new band).
Later that year Clinton laid down his first tracks with a studio orchestra before going on the road with a live band, Larry Clinton and His Orchestra, in the summer of 1938. The repertoire, which typically featured Clinton's arrangements (in addition to Clinton's arrangements, Les Brown wrote some of the band's early arrangements while Van Alexander wrote some in the band's latter days), was clichéd and offered little variety, though the music was well performed. However, what was most important to the audience in the swing era was that Clinton's compositions were always lively and danceable. The band quickly caught on and became a popular attraction, though it never was in the first rank in terms of popularity, as were the separate bands of the Dorsey brothers or Glenn Miller.
The band's biggest asset was singer Bea Wain, considered to be one of the very best vocalists of the era. However, she parted company with Clinton in 1939 to go solo and was replaced by Mary Dugan. She, in turn, was followed by Helen Southern and Peggy Mann. Other vocalists who appeared with the band included Terry Allen, Carol Bruce and Ford Leary.
The Larry Clinton Orchestra's introduction-theme was "Dipsey Doodle" and its closing theme was "Study In Brown." Ironically, he was unable to record "Dipsey Doodle" because Tommy Dorsey had already recorded it on their label, RCA Victor (ditto his "Satan Takes a Holiday," another Tommy Dorsey hit on RCA Victor). He also was unable to record "Study In Brown" (originally composed for Glen Gray and The Casa Loma Orchestra) because Bunny Berigan had recorded it for RCA Victor.
Clinton was known for adapting melodies from the classical repertoire to create popular songs. "It goes in one ear and comes out his pen," one wag said of Clinton's facility for "swinging the classics" (which also entailed adding texts and light syncopation to the previously composed classical works). "My Reverie" was derived from Debussy, while the theme of "Our Love" was borrowed from Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. To high-brow criticism that he had desecrated great music, Clinton replied, "If your kids want to dance," he said, "would you rather have them dance to a Tchaikovsky melody or to 'Flat Foot Floogie'?"
Larry Clinton and His Orchestra officially broke up in 1942, the year he year joined the military. An excellent pilot, Clinton was commissioned as a lieutenant in the US Army Air Corps. He was promoted to captain while serving in Calcutta, India, where one of his men was Sgt. Tony Martin. He served as a flight instructor at the 1343rd ATC base unit in China. He was discharged from the service in 1946.
After being demobilized, Clinton went to work as the musical director for the small recording company Cosmo, recording several sides during his time there. He briefly toured in 1948 and remained active with a group until 1950. After leaving the performing end of the business, he spent the next decade in semi-retirement, remaining active in music publishing and recording. In the mid-1950s he re-recorded his most popular numbers in stereo for RCA Victor.
A consummate businessman who had saved his money when touring, Clinton officially retired from the music business in 1961. He lived in comfort, first in Florida and then in Green Valley, Arizona. In his later years he became a science fiction and humor writer.
Larry Clinton died in Tucson, Arizona, on May 2, 1985. He is a member of the National Academy of Music's Songwriter Hall of Fame.Plot: Section A-A, Site C-562- Hal Craig was born on 8 January 1894 in Pasadena, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Scrapper (1922), There He Goes (1928) and After a Million (1924). He was married to Pauline Craig. He died on 5 October 1964 in Camarillo, California, USA.Plot: Section Aa, Grave 721
GPS coordinates: 32.4094086, -117.1471024 (hddd.dddd) - Actor
- Soundtrack
Who was the first "Robin, the Boy Wonder"? No, not Burt Ward, but this popular, curly-haired child actor of the 1940s. In addition to being in the first "Batman" film, he appeared in many other major films, mostly at Warner Brothers. In almost all of these films, he played the hero as a boy, "growing up" to be, among others, James Cagney in Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942), Gary Cooper in The Pride of the Yankees (1942) and Ronald Reagan in Kings Row (1942). Not much is known of him after he dropped out of acting towards the end of the decade.Plot: X, 1327- Actor
- Soundtrack
David Ford was born on 30 October 1925 in La Jolla, California, USA. He was an actor, known for 1776 (1972), Dark Shadows (1966) and Search for Tomorrow (1951). He was married to Nancy Barrett. He died on 7 August 1983 in New York City, New York, USA.Plot: X, C-139- Actor
- Director
- Producer
Richard Garrick (born Richard T. O'Brien) was active on stage, in film, television and radio from 1907 through 1957. His New York City acting career began with "The Boys of Company B" (in which Mack Sennett appeared in one of his 2 stage roles).
Garrick went on to become Gaumont's Director General in Tallahassee, Florida where he directed the 5-reel film "The Idol of the Stage," "According to Law" and "The Drifter," among others. He often also acted in these silent films.
In the 1920s Garrick spent time in Europe where he appeared in the films "Trent's Last Case," "Rank Outsider," "The Romance of a Movie Star," "The Pride of the Fancy" and "La Soleil de Minuit." At that time, he also ran "The Hollywood," offering "Tea, Cocktail and Dinner Dances" on Rue Danou in Paris.
When he returned to the United States, Garrick pursued his acting career and assumed the role of The Doctor (sometimes billed as The Stranger) in the Broadway production of "A Streetcar Named Desire," where Marlon Brando made his stage debut. Garrick repeated his stage role on film in 1951, alongside Brando and Vivian Leigh. Other film credits include "Trouble Along the Way" (1953) starring John Wayne, "Desiree" (1954) with Brando and Jeanne Simmons, "East of Eden" (1955) starring James Dean, "A Man Called Peter" (1955), "The Mountain" (1956) starring Spencer Tracy," High Society" with Grace Kelly, Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra (1956) and "The Three Faces of Eve"(1957) starring Joanne Woodward.
Garrick also toured with the USA Camp Shows in Europe during World War II in the production "Ten Little Indians" by Agatha Christie, had a regular radio program on KRKD in Los Angeles, and appeared on television in shows such as Dragnet, Calvacade of America and My Friend Flicka.Plot: Section Y Grave 59
GPS coordinates: 32.4104195, -117.1471176 (hddd.dddd)- Art Department
Tom Higgins is known for Mermaids (1990) and American Buffalo (1996).- American silent-era leading man who became a familiar heavy in B-Westerns of the talkie period. Born Hermon (not Herman) Reed Howes in Washington, D.C., in 1900, he served as an apprentice seaman in the U.S. Navy during the last year of the First World War. After the war he graduated from the University of Utah and attended Harvard Graduate School, then appeared in small parts in stock and vaudeville shows. A strikingly handsome man, he was chosen to be a model for artist J.C. Leyendecker's famous Arrow Collar ads. Howes was only one of several models for the ads (others include John Barrymore, Fredric March, Brian Donlevy and Jack Mulhall), but alone of all the future actors who modeled for Leyendecker, he has been remembered as "the former Arrow Collar Man" (some sources have also claimed that Howes was Leyendecker's lover, but they have confused Howes with the original Arrow Collar model, Charles Beach). Actor-director-producer Ben F. Wilson noticed the handsome model and signed him up to appear in films. Howes quickly became a popular leading man and played opposite many of the most famous actresses of the day. With the coming of sound, it was apparent that neither Howes' voice nor his dramatic ability were as well suited to the new demands on a leading man, and he soon drifted into supporting roles, often as villains, in action films and B-Westerns. He continued in these roles throughout the 1940s and 1950s before retiring due to ill health. His health declined further, and he died in 1964 at the Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital, where he had been confined for months. He was 64. His final appearance was in an episode of the TV series Mister Ed (1961). He is buried in the Fort Rosecrans National Cemetery in San Diego, California.Plot: Section X Lot 2163
GPS coordinates: 32.4101906, -117.1473694 (hddd.dddd) - Director
- Writer
- Actor
New York-born Jacques Jaccard got an early start in the film business, appearing on-screen as an actor as early as 1913. While continuing his acting career, he also performed behind-the-scenes duties such as assistant director, but he found his niche as a writer and eventually began directing also. He specialized in serials, westerns and action films, many for Universal Pictures. However, starting around the mid-'20s he began working for lower-rent studios like Goodwill Pictures, Syndicate Pictures and Arrow Pictures and then for cheapjack independent producers like Ben F. Wilson. When the sound era dawned Jaccard, like many silent-era directors, didn't adjust well to the new technologies and procedures, and while he found work as a director, it was mostly on low-grade westerns destined for the states-rights market. At one point he apparently was so desperate for work that he took a job as director on one of legendary fly-by-night, bottom-of-the-barrel producer Robert J. Horner's productions, The Cheyenne Kid (1930) (and, given Horner's reputation, probably never got paid for it).
He directed his last film in 1936--a cheap western for low-rent Beaumont Pictures, Senor Jim (1936)--and worked as a screenwriter and dialogue director until he retired in 1944. He died in Los Angeles in 1960.Plot: Section W Grave 1528
GPS coordinates: 32.4110489, -117.1470871 (hddd.dddd)- Donald S. Jones is known for Triangles and Tribulations (2001).Plot: Section CBC, row 5, site 443
- Writer
- Producer
- Director
Alan Le May was a novelist, short-story writer and screenwriter, although today he may be best remembered for his novels which served as the basis for two classic westerns, The Searchers (1956) and The Unforgiven (1960). He started his career as a journalist before becoming a full-time author (he wrote 17 novels in all).Plot: Section A-a Grave 2376
GPS coordinates: 32.4096489, -117.1470871 (hddd.dddd)- Additional Crew
- Actor
John S. Peters was an American actor and military technical adviser of films and television series of the 1950s and 1960s whose career goes back to the 1920s. He is not to be confused with another actor, Hans Joby, who doubled for Erich von Stroheim, who he also imitated, and who he also somewhat resembles.Plot: Section Aa Grave 2383
GPS coordinates: 32.4096718, -117.1471863 (hddd.dddd)- David Rowlands was born on 5 March 1926 in Fort Smith, Arkansas, USA. He was an actor, known for The Killing of a Chinese Bookie (1976), Opening Night (1977) and Faces (1968). He was married to Mary Lynn Russell and Rosemary J Schwebs. He died on 25 April 2000 in Coronado, California, USA.Plot: SECTION CBE, ROW 4, SITE 193
- Wally Schirra was born on 12 March 1923 in Hackensack, New Jersey, USA. He was an actor, known for Outdoor Rambling (1972), Moonbug (2010) and Bicentennial Minutes (1974). He was married to Josephine Cook Fraser. He died on 3 May 2007 in La Jolla, California, USA.
- Harry Spear was born on 16 December 1921 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor, known for The Flying Horseman (1926), School Begins (1928) and Raisin' Cain (1926). He died on 22 September 2006 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Laurence Stallings was born on 25 November 1894 in Macon, Georgia, USA. He was a writer, known for She Wore a Yellow Ribbon (1949), The Jungle Book (1942) and Song of the West (1930). He was married to Louise St. Leger Vance and Helen Purefoy Poteat. He died on 28 February 1968 in Pacific Palisades, California, USA.
- Actor
- Director
- Cinematographer
Coy Watson was born on 16 November 1912 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was an actor and director, known for Erskine Johnson's Hollywood Reel (1949), The Smart Set (1928) and The One Woman Idea (1929). He was married to Willie Watson. He died on 14 March 2009 in Alpine, California, USA.- Actor
- Soundtrack
Rough-and-tumble American actor Dick Wessel had a fierce-looking scowl on a bulldog of a mug. That, coupled with a thick build and imposing stance, earned him appearances in countless Warner Bros. comedies and hard-boiled crime dramas throughout the late 1930s and 1940s. Although he made hundreds of films, he had few chances to show off, appearing uncredited in over half of them and in minor, fleeting roles when he did receive billing. He had roles in such "A" pictures as Angels with Dirty Faces (1938), Yankee Doodle Dandy (1942) and Strangers on a Train (1951), but his visibility in them was practically nil.
Born Richard M. Wessel in Wisconsin in 1913, the husky-framed character began his career on stage before starting in films in the mid-'30s. Getting unbilled extra roles at first, he appeared on both sides of the moral fence over the years, playing as many brutish gangsters, henchmen and convicts as he did rough-hewn cops or streetwise characters (cabbies, mailmen, bartenders, boxers, etc.) The tough-sounding names of his characters, such as "Monk," "Beans," "Moxie" and "Chopper Kane", pretty much said it all. His best showcase--and it should have worked out better for him--was menacing, bald-pated arch-villain Harry "Cueball" Lake in Dick Tracy vs. Cueball (1946). Here he was finally given a chance to shine but it did not lead to meatier roles.
He became a stock player for Columbia and their assembly-line of short comedy subjects, essaying a slew of burglars, thieves, wrestlers, circus strongmen and lummox husbands for The Three Stooges, Andy Clyde and others. On TV he was a rugged presence on such western series as Gunsmoke (1955), Laramie (1959), Rawhide (1959) and Bonanza (1959). Close to the end of his life and career he had a regular part as a crew member on the adventure series Riverboat (1959) with Darren McGavin. Dick's final role was released posthumously, playing a bit as a frantic garbage man in The Ugly Dachshund (1966). He had died a year earlier at his Hollywood home of a heart attack on his 52nd birthday. His wife and a daughter survived him.- Mack Williams was born on 8 February 1907 in Pickens, South Carolina, USA. He was an actor, known for Cape Fear (1962), The Twilight Zone (1959) and You Are There (1953). He died on 29 July 1965 in Hollywood, California, USA.Plot: Section A-a Grave 602
GPS coordinates: 32.4090195, -117.1468506 (hddd.dddd) - Actress
- Writer
- Soundtrack
Born in Los Angeles, Gloria worked in show business as a child. Small roles in movies led Gloria to be cast as Jackie Gleason's daughter "Babs" on the television series "The Life of Riley" (1949). This show ran during the 1949-50 season. Her next television series was "Sky King" (1951), wherein she was cast as the niece, "Penny". This show ran from 1951 to 1959, and during that run Gloria began dating Dean Vernon, the show's sound engineer. This dating soon led to marriage. Gloria also played "Penny" in the comedy 'Hold That Line (1952)', which starred the Bowery Boys. Gloria retired from show business after "Sky King" ended, but she remained close to Kirby Grant until his death in 1985.Plot: Section CBH Row 4 Site 160- Bill Glynn was born on 30 July 1925 in Sussex, New Jersey, USA. He died on 15 January 2013 in San Diego, California, USA.
- Actress
- Soundtrack
Sally's parents were both amateur ballroom dancers, so it was no surprise when Sally developed an interest in dancing. She entered dance classes by the first grade and was signed by MGM upon her graduation from high school. In 1945, she moved with her parents to Hollywood, where Sally worked on the dances used in the films Till the Clouds Roll By (1946) and The Kissing Bandit (1948). Soon unemployed, she worked in small roles until she teamed with Ida Lupino, who was producing and directing small films at the time, and Sally was cast in the lead role of Not Wanted (1949). The picture was a critical and commercial success, and Sally also received critical acclaim for her role. After appearing in a few more Lupino movies, including Never Fear (1950), Sally returned to MGM, where she was cast in movies with stars such as Boris Karloff and Red Skelton. When her husband, Milo O. Frank Jr., moved to New York, she went with him. There, she worked in summer stock and on Broadway in the stage play "The Seven Year Itch". Sally appeared in only a couple of movies after that, but she again worked with Ida Lupino in While the City Sleeps (1956).- Producer
- Writer
Milo O. Frank was born in New York City in 1922. He served in the US Marines during WWII and attended the USC-sponsored language school in Boulder, Colorado.
Frank worked as a talent agent for the William Morris Agency in the late 1940s and early 1950s, and became agent for Sally Forrest (born Sally Feeney), whom he married in 1951. Mrs. Frank still lives (2009), and had a career as a movie actress, starring in Not Wanted (1949), a 1948 movie directed by Ida Lupino and in MGM's Excuse My Dust (1951), a 1952 movie co-starring Red Skelton, and also as a dancer/entertainer who appeared on TV shows during the 1950s, including The Dinah Shore Chevy Show (1956).
Frank went on to work as head of Talent And Casting for CBS Television, and later for Cinerama. He became a producer of independent movies in the 1960s, including All the Loving Couples (1969), a movie about wife-swapping which became a major box-office success in 1970.
In his later life, he became an author, and wrote "How To Make Your Point In Thirty Seconds", and was hired as a business management consultant by major corporations assisting in meeting planning and executive communications streamlining. He died in California in 2004 at age 82 of Parkinson's Disease.- Actress
- Soundtrack
Martha Wright was born on 23 March 1923 in Seattle, Washington, USA. She was an actress, known for The Bell Telephone Hour (1959), Goodyear Playhouse (1951) and Arias and Arabesques (1962). She was married to George J. Manuche Jr. and Theo. W. Baumfeld. She died on 1 March 2016 in Newburyport, Kent's Island, Massachusetts, USA.- Dave Garcia is known for Domino Springs (2024), The Snow is Always Whiter (2023) and Seven Short Films About (Our) Marriage (2020).