Kensico Cemetery

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Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York

The Tower at the upper entrance to Kensico Cemetery

The lake at Kensico Cemetery

Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, New York, was founded in 1889, when many New York City cemeteries were becoming full, and rural cemeteries were being created near the railroads which served the city. Initially 250 acres (1 km²), it was expanded to 600 acres (2.4 km²) in 1905, and reduced to 461 acres (1.9 km²) in 1912 when a portion was sold to the neighboring Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

Many entertainment figures of the early twentieth century were buried here. The cemetery has a special section for members of the Actors' Fund of America and the National Vaudeville Association, some of whom died in abject poverty.

Notable burials include:

Peter Arno, (1904 - 1968), cartoonist
Anne Bancroft, (1931-2005), stage, screen, and television actress. Her most notable performance was 'Mrs. Robinson' in The Graduate
Wendy Barrie (1912–1978), actress
Ed Barrow, (1868-1953), hall of fame baseball manager and executive
Henri Bendel, (1868-1936), fashion designer, famed for the Bendel bonnet
Paul Bonwit, (1862-1939) founder of Bonwit Teller department store
Evangeline Booth, (1865-1950), evangelist, daughter of Salvation Army founder
Billie Burke, (1885-1970), actress, played "Glinda the Good Witch" in The Wizard of Oz
Paddy Chayefsky, (1923-1981), screenwriter, winner of three Academy Awards
Harry Cooper, (1904-2000), hall of fame golfer
Robert De Niro, Sr., father of actor Robert De Niro
Peter DeRose (1896-1953), Hall of Fame composer
Tommy Dorsey, (1905-1956), swing-era trombonist
Sherman Edwards, (1919-1981), Tony Award winning composer and songwriter
Judith Evelyn (1913-1967), stage actress
Geraldine Farrar, (1882-1967), opera singer
Harry Frazee, (1880-1929), owner of the Boston Red Sox who sold Babe Ruth
Gloria Foster,(1933-2001). Actress, The Matrix
Fred Friendly, (1915-1998), broadcaster
Lou Gehrig, (1903-1941), Baseball Hall of Fame baseball player
Al Hodge, (1912-1979), actor ("Captain Video", "The Green Hornet") and director/producer ("The Lone Ranger", "Challenge of the Yukon")
Danny Kaye, (1913-1987), comedic actor
Ruth Laredo, (1937-2005), pianist
William Van Duzer Lawrence (1842-1927), founder Sarah Lawrence College
Herbert H. Lehman, (1878-1963), politician
Cissie Loftus (1876-1943), Glasgow, Scottish-born and reared actress, singer, comedian and vaudevillian
Dorothy Loudon, (1933-2003), Tony Award winning actress
Robert Merrill, (1917-2004), baritone, Metropolitan opera star, sang national anthem at Yankee Stadium
Anna Moffo, (1932-2006), soprano
Anne Nichols, (1891-1966), playwright and screenwriter
David Graham Phillips, (1867-1911), journalist and novelist
Harriet Quimby, (1875-1912), pioneer aviatrix
Sergei Rachmaninoff, (1873-1943), composer, pianist, and conductor
Ayn Rand, (1905-1982), author, philosopher
David Sarnoff, (1891-1971), broadcaster and head of RCA
Gordon Scott, (1926-2007), actor, who starred in 6 Tarzan movies, including Tarzan's Greatest Adventure
Fay Templeton, (1865-1939), Broadway star
James E. West, (1876-1948) first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America [Section 187, Lot 14037, (Computer Number 15669]
John North Willys, (1873-1935), automobile manufacturer
Florenz Ziegfeld, (1869-1932) producer of the Ziegfeld Follies