"Sahara" Actor Louis Adlon 1947 Hollywood Forever Cemetery

Louis Adlon (October 7, 1907 – March 31, 1947), also known as Duke Adlon, was a German-born motion-picture actor.

Biography

Adlon was the grandson of Lorenz Adlon, founder of the famous Adlon Hotel in Berlin, where he spent much of his childhood. Adlon was the son of Louis Adlon, Sr., who had five children with his first wife Tilly. After almost 15 years of marriage, he met a hotel guest, the German-American Hedwig Leythen (1889–1967),[2][3][4][5] called Hedda, at a New Year's Eve party in the Hotel Adlon, left his wife and children, and in 1922 he married her. It was one of the biggest scandals of Berlin in the 1920s.[6] Tilly moved with her daughter Elisabeth, then two, to the south of Germany, while the other children Susanne (mother of Percy Adlon), Lorenz and the twins Carl and Louis (junior) were sent to boarding school and later all four emigrated to America.[7]

Adlon was a supporting actor and bit player in Hollywood from the late 1930s.[8] 

He married Rose Douras Davies aka Rosemary Davies, sister of actress Marion Davies. 

Adlon became a war correspondent for International News Service in May 1945, sent by his wife's sister's lover, William Randolph Hearst to a ruined Berlin, sees only a ruin of his parents' house, and a burnt Hotel Adlon. His first article is about personal loss, the destroyed city of his youth and the death of his father.[9]

Louis Adlon died of a heart attack following a trip to Mexico. Originally interred in the Douras Family Mausoleum at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, he was removed and buried in front of the mausoleum in March 1951.

Although his Hollywood screen roles were minuscule at best, Adlon later gained fame as the main character of the 1997 semi-documentary In The Glamorous World of the Adlon Hotel, written and directed by his nephew, German cult director Percy Adlon.

Louis Adlon, Sr. and second wife, Hedwig Leythen

See also

Lorenz Adlon (1849–1921), German hotelier, grandfather of Louis

Hotel Adlon, Berlin, Germany – built by Lorenz Adlon

Percy Adlon (born 1935, Munich), German film producer, cousin of Louis

Pamela Adlon (born 1966), American actress, daughter-in-law of Percy

Hotel Adlon, German film, from book by Louis's father's second wife

References

1. "Hollywood Filmograph." Feb. 17, 1934 ... Ciro's (formerly the Club New Yorker) threw its doors open Wednesday night to the public. It was one of the swellest turn-outs we have seen in some time. Harold Lloyd dropped in with his wife, Mildred, and ... Mrs. Buckley's party. Mario Alverez's orchestra furnished the music. The place is being operated by Erich Alexander, George Sorel and Louis Adlon, Jr.
2. Adlon, Hedda (30 December 1994). "Hotel Adlon." Heyne – via Google Books.
3. "Adlon, Hedda [WorldCat Identities]." webcache.googleusercontent.com.
4. "Katalog der Deutschen Nationalbibliothek." portal.dnb.de.
5. "Hotel Adlon Kempinski." www.tscheiar.ch.
6. "Familien-Saga Adlon: Was ist wahr und was ist Erfindung im großen TV-Epos? - TV - Bild.de." 10 January 2013. 
7. Stöcker, Martina. "Berliner Hotel: Die wahre Geschichte des Adlon." RP ONLINE.
8. Louis Adlon on IMDb
9. "In der glanzvollen Welt des Hotel Adlon - Leben im Grand Hotel - de - ARTE." 16 January 2013. 

California Governor Buron Rogers Fitts SUICIDE 1973 Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery

Buron Rogers Fitts (March 22, 1895 – March 29, 1973) was the 29th lieutenant governor of California, from 1927 to 1928, and Los Angeles County district attorney thereafter until 1940.

Early life

Born in Belcherville, Texas, Fitts received his law degree in 1916 from the University of Southern California, and while a student there worked as a clerk for the prominent attorney Earl Rogers.

Fitts was a severely injured veteran of World War I whose base of political support lay in the American Legion organization of war veterans. He had been shot in the knee in the Battle of Argonne and limped for the rest of his life.[1]

Career

He was appointed deputy district attorney for Los Angeles County in 1920 during the term of Thomas Lee Woolwine and chief deputy in 1924 under Asa Keyes. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1926 and served in the administration of Governor C.C. Young. Fitts's term as lieutenant governor was from January 4, 1927, to November 30, 1928. Governor Young appointed H. L. Carnahan as lieutenant governor on December 4, 1928, to succeed Fitts.

In 1928, Keyes was indicted for bribery (in connection with the Julian Petroleum Company scandal), and Fitts resigned effective November 30 of that year to become a special prosecutor in that case. He was elected district attorney (the county's chief law officer) as well.

Fitts was elected for a second term in 1932, and he investigated the death of Hollywood producer-director-screenwriter Paul Bern, the husband of actress Jean Harlow. Samuel Marx, in his book Deadly Illusions (1990) accuses Fitts of having been bribed by MGM studio officials to accept a fabricated version of Bern's suicide to avoid scandal in Hollywood. 

Fitts was also indicted for bribery and perjury in 1934 for allegedly taking a bribe to drop a statutory rape charge against a millionaire real-estate promoter. He was acquitted two years later. 

He was also accused of using his position to block action against the rapist of Patricia Douglas at the MGM Sales Convention in 1937, a case that was the subject of David Stenn's 2007 documentary film Girl 27.

Fitts was elected to a third term as district attorney in 1936 and remained until 1940, when he was defeated by a reform candidate, John F. Dockweiler. Fitts, J.D. Fredricks (1903–1915), and Steve Cooley (2000-2012) are only Los Angeles County District Attorneys to serve three complete terms.

On March 7, 1937, Fitts was wounded by a volley of shots fired through the windshield of his car.[2] Nobody was ever arrested in that case.

He joined the Army Air Corps in 1942 with the rank of major. He was chief, intelligence, Pacific Overseas Air Technical Services.

Death

Fitts' last residence was in Three Rivers, in Tulare County, California, where he committed suicide by a pistol shot to the head on March 29, 1973, one week after his 78th birthday.

Buron Rogers Fitts is buried at Forest Lawn Hollywood Hills Cemetery. 

References

 Parrish, Michael (2001). For the People: Inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office 1850-2000. Angel City Press. ISBN 978-1883318154.

 "Dist.-Atty. Fitts Shot by Gang of Gunmen." Los Angeles Times. March 8, 1937. 

 For the People — Inside the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office 1850-2000 (2001) by Michael Parrish. ISBN 1-883318-15-7

 He Usually Lived With a Female: The Life of a California Newspaperman (2006) by George Garrigues. Quail Creek Press. ISBN 0-9634830-1-3

 Deadly Illusions by Samuel Marx and Joyce Vanderveen (Random House, New York, 1990), re-published as Murder Hollywood Style - Who Killed Jean Harlow's Husband? (Arrow, 1994, ISBN 0-09-961060-4)

Actress & William S. Hart Wife Winifred Westover 1978 Westwood Village Cemetery

Winifred Westover (November 9, 1899 – March 19, 1978) was a Hollywood actress of the 1910s and 1920s.

Early years

The daughter of Swedish parents, Westover was born in San Francisco, California. Her schooling came at the Dominican Convent of San Rafael.[1]

Career

On screen, Westover was the typical blushing ingenue and was almost always cast opposite robust leading men. Her career in film started with a small part in D. W. Griffith's Intolerance[1] in 1916.

In 1919 she starred in John Petticoats with William S. Hart, who proposed to her.[2] They married on December 7, 1921 and had a son, William S. Hart Jr., in September 1922.[3] 

They separated in 1922 after three months of marriage[4] and divorced in 1927.[5] Hart was known in the industry to be "prone to domestic violence." His behavior was parodied in the 1922 short The Frozen North by Buster Keaton.[6]

Westover retired to raise her son in 1923 but made a comeback in 1930 with the help of her ex-husband. The film, a melodrama called Lummox, was her last;[7] it was unsuccessful and she left her career in film.[2]

Death

On March 19, 1978, Westover died in Los Angeles. She was 78.[7] She was survived by her son.[8]

Winifred Westover is interred nearby her mother, Sophie Westover, and son, William S. Hart Jr. at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles, California. 

Selected filmography

Intolerance (1916)

Microscope Mystery (1916)

The Matrimaniac (1916)
The Halfbreed (1916)
Jim Bludso (1917) - Kate Taggart
An Old-Fashioned Young Man (1917) - Mame Morton
Cheerful Givers (1917) - Estella
All the World to Nothing (1918)
Hobbs in a Hurry (1918)
All the World to Nothing (1918)

Love (1919)

John Petticoats (1919)
This Hero Stuff (1919)

Marked Men (1919)

The Village Sleuth (1920)
Old Lady 31 (1920) - Mary

The Fighter (1921)

Is Life Worth Living? (1921)

Anne of Little Smoky (1921) - Anne

Love's Masquerade (1922)

Lummox (1930)

References

1. "Given Chance After 8 Years." Detroit Free Press. Michigan, Detroit. January 5, 1930. p. Part Four - Page 1. 
2. "mtv.com"
3. Ogden, Tom (2015). Haunted Hollywood: Tinseltown Terrors, Filmdom Phantoms, and Movieland Mayhem. Rowman and Littlefield. p. 24. ISBN 9781493015788. 
4. "silentera.com"
5. Neibaur, James L.; Niemi, Terri (2013). Buster Keaton's Silent Shorts: 1920-1923. Scarecrow Press. p. 184. ISBN 9780810887411. 
6. "Progressive Silent Film List: The Frozen North." Silent Era. Retrieved March 26, 2008.
7. Katchmer, George A. (2002). A Biographical Dictionary of Silent Film Western Actors and Actresses. McFarland. p. 394. ISBN 9780786446933. 
8. "Winifred Westover Hart." The New York Times. New York, New York City. United Press International. March 22, 1978.