Saint Raymond's Bronx
The men and women interred at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.
List activity
1K views
• 1 this weekCreate a new list
List your movie, TV & celebrity picks.
15 people
- Music Artist
- Music Department
- Actress
Billie Holiday was a true artist of her day and rose as a social phenomenon in the 1950s. Her soulful, unique singing voice and her ability to boldly turn any material that she confronted into her own music made her a superstar of her time. Today, Holiday is remembered for her masterpieces, creativity and vivacity, as many of Holiday's songs are as well known today as they were decades ago. Holiday's poignant voice is still considered to be one of the greatest jazz voices of all time.
At the age of 18 and after gaining more experience than most adult musicians can claim, Holiday was spotted by John Hammond and cut her first record as part of a studio group led by Benny Goodman, who was then just on the verge of public prominence. In 1935 Holiday's career got a big push when she recorded four sides that went on to become hits, including "What a Little Moonlight Can Do" and "Miss Brown to You." This landed her a recording contract of her own, and then, until 1942, she recorded a number of master tracks that would ultimately become an important building block of early American jazz music.
Holiday recorded about 100 new recordings on another label, Verve, from 1952 to 1959. Her voice became more rugged and vulnerable on these tracks than earlier in her career. During this period, she toured Europe, and made her final studio recordings for the MGM label in March of 1959. Billie Holiday, a musical legend still popular today, died an untimely death at the age of 44. Her emotive voice, innovative techniques and touching songs will forever be remembered and enjoyedPlot: St. Paul Section, Row 56, Grave #29.- Composer, conductor, singer, occasional actor, an trumpeter in the orchestras of Louis Armstrong, Kid Ory (with which he toured Europe), John Handy, King Oliver, Luis Russell, Fletcher Henderson, Fate Marable and George Lewis, as well as the house band at the Cafe Metropole in New York. He also formed his own sextet, and made many records. He joined ASCAP in 1958, and his popular music compositions include "Siesta at the Fiesta"; "Red Jump"; "Pleasing Paul"; "Algiers Stomp"; "Get the Mop"; and "Ride, Red, Ride".
- Soundtrack
The Chantels came out of the Bronx, NY, in the early 1950s. The group's members were students at St. Anthony of Padua School, and they took their name from that of another Catholic school, St. Francs de Chantal. They signed their first recording contract, with End Records, in 1957, but the record, "He's Gone", wasn't a hit; however, it later became a popular request on "oldies" and "doo-wop" stations. Their next record, however, was their biggest hit and is considered a classic of "doo-wop" girl groups: "Maybe", written by lead singer Arlene Smith. "Maybe" was later successfully covered by Janis Joplin, as "Maybe Maybe Maybe". It sold over a million copies for the group and was performed by them, in 1958, on TV's "American Bandstand", "The Saturday Night Dick Clark Show" and locally in NYC on Ted Steele's "Dance Time". Though their next two singles, "Every Night" and "I Love You So", didn't chart as well, the recordings received considerable airplay and are considered classics today. Nevertheless, in 1959 their recording company, End Records, dropped them. After some personnel changes the group signed with Carlton Records and had their second big hit, "Look In My Eyes". Again, they weren't able to follow that with another top-20 hit, and more personnel and label changes followed. In the 1970s former lead singer Arlene Smith, who had left the group for a solo career, formed a "new" Chantels to make the rounds of oldies shows and personal appearances. In 1999 the surviving members of the original Chantels reformed for the PBS TV special Doo Wop 50 (1999).
The Chantels were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.Singer Jackie Jackson is interred at Saint Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.- Actress
- Director
Lillian Lorraine was born Lillian Muriel Jaques on January 1, 1892 in San Francisco, California. Her father walked out when she was just six. Lillian and her mother lived in Leadville, Colorado before moving to New York City. She began her career on stage when she was a teenager. At the age of sixteen she was discovered by producer Florenz Ziegfeld. He cast her in the Broadway show Miss Innocence where she sang "By The Light Of The Silvery Moon". Then she appeared in the Ziegfeld Follies and the musical Over The River. Forty-one year old Florenz fell madly in love with Lillian and left his long time girlfriend Anna Held to be with her. He helped to promote her career and commissioned a nude portrait of her. The couple had a tempestuous relationship and they both cheated on each other. Lillian was called "the most beautiful actress in the world". She had auburn hair, blue eyes, and a voluptuous figure. In 1912 she made her film debut in The Immigrants Violin. That same year she impulsively married Frederick Gresheimer, a Chicago millionaire who had dated Fannie Brice. The two women had once gotten into a heated fight over him. Unfortunately he was not legally divorced from his first wife. The couple had to wait and get married again in April of 1913. Soon after Frederick got into a fistfight with Flo Ziegfeld outside a restaurant.
After just three months of marriage she filed for an annulment claiming he had kept her prisoner. Lillian had a starring role in the 1915 drama Should A Wife Forgive. She also appeared in the serial Neal Of The Navy and Playing The Game with Charles Ray. Then in 1918 she returned to the Ziegfeld Follies and starred in the Midnight Frolic. She was badly injured when she fell outside a nightclub in 1921. By this time she had developed a serious drinking problem and her film career had stalled. Her final role was in the comedy Lonesome Corners. She was forced to file for bankruptcy in 1923. Lillian spent the next several years performing in vaudeville. She nearly died in 1928 when her appendix burst. As she grew older she suffered from arthritis and became more reclusive. In February of 1941 she started a fire in her apartment and was hospitalized in a psychiatric ward. Then she began dating an accountant named Jack O'Brien. They were never legally married but they lived together in a common-law marriage. On April 17, 1955 Lillian died in her sleep from natural causes. She was sixty-three years old. Sadly only three people attended her funeral and she was buried in an unmarked pauper's grave. She was later buried in her family's plot at St. Raymond's Cemetery in the Bronx, New York.- Actor
- Composer
- Music Department
Frankie Lymon was born on 30 September 1942 in Harlem, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and composer, known for American Graffiti (1973), October Sky (1999) and The Big Fix (1978). He was married to Emira Lymon, Zola Taylor and Elizabeth Waters. He died on 28 February 1968 in New York City, New York, USA.Plot: St. Anthony, Range 13, Grave 70- Actress
- Soundtrack
Angela Martin was born on 5 February 1942 in Astoria, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She was an actress, known for Annie (1982) and Rapunzel Let Down Your Hair (1978). She died on 3 April 2004 in Elmhurst, Queens, New York City, New York, USA.- Actress
- Soundtrack
This most consummate, vibrant and versatile actress established a distinguished reputation on the stage, in films and on TV. The former Miss Chicago of 1948 beauty pageant winner and Miss America semifinalist was born in Oak Park, Illinois. Her family was impoverished and her parents divorced early on. Young Lois used make-believe to escape her reality by creating small plays in her backyard, which led to an affinity with the idea of acting. Having set her sights on the stage she joined a community theatre at the tender age of eleven and appeared on local radio and television. She later continued her training at Chicago's Goodman Theatre and then studied 'the method' at the Actors' Studio in New York City, eventually making her Broadway debut in Dalton Trumbo's "The Biggest Thief in Town" (1948) using the stage moniker "Lydia Scott" (her given name, she felt, was too plain and sounded "schoolmarmy").
Lois was understudy to Barbara Bel Geddes for the role of "Maggie the Cat" in the original 1955 Broadway production of Tennessee Williams's Pulitzer-Prize winning "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof", staged by Elia Kazan. Occasionally, she got to play "Maggie", herself. Of her (own personal favourite) role as Blanche DuBois in the 1973 stage production of "A Streetcar Named Desire", New York Times critic Clive Barnes wrote: ""Miss Nettleton plays Blanche as a woman of nearly unshatterable courage." Williams himself called her one of the greatest actresses with whom he had ever worked. Not surprisingly then, that the self-confessed method actress went on to win the prestigious Clarence Derwent Award for her performance in "God and Kate Murphy".
Lois was married for seven years to Jean Shepherd, a radio host and television humorist. She and Shepherd clicked after she called his nightly radio show at WOR in the 1950s and the beguiled Shepherd broadcast their telephone conversations on the air. They later appeared together in Shepherd's off-Broadway play "Look Charlie" in 1959.
While her official film debut came in the 1962 adaptation of Tennessee Williams's "Period of Adjustment", Lois had previously played a bit part in Elia Kazan's classic A Face in the Crowd (1957), scripted by Budd Schulberg. She subsequently acted in many movies, but most of her best work was on stage and in television where she appeared in everything from sitcoms to soap operas. In a 1985 interview she referred to herself as 'a gypsy actress', saying "I always wanted to be as different in everything as possible". Consistently selective, on the lookout for 'interesting' characters and mature roles to play, she tackled pretty much every genre -- even playing one of Londo Mollari's bitchy wives in Babylon 5 (1993). She gave a particularly fine performances in the classic 1961 "Midnight Sun" episode of The Twilight Zone (1959). She declared her own personal favourite screen role to have been that of the Israeli prosecutor (opposite Maximilian Schell) in the American Film Theater production of The Man in the Glass Booth (1975). Roger Ebert for the New York Times wrote "She has a steadiness and intelligence and doesn't back down. She's the closest thing the film has to a moral center."
A charming and gracious actress, Lois was nominated six-times for Emmy Awards. She won twice for her TV work: for the daytime special The American Woman: Portraits of Courage (1976) and for "A Gun for Mandy" (1983), an episode of the syndicated religious anthology Insight (1960).- Benny Paret was born on 14 March 1937 in Santa Clara, Cuba. He was married to Lucy Paret. He died on 3 April 1962 in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA.Plot: St. Luke-Range 4, Grave 13
- Writer
- Composer
- Producer
Hilton Ruiz was born on 29 May 1952 in New York City, New York, USA. He was a writer and composer, known for American Beauty (1999), Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989) and Case File # 264889: The Paranormal Study (2008). He was married to Aida. He died on 6 June 2006 in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.- Merlin Santana was born in New York to parents from the Dominican Republic. His mother pushed him into a showbusiness career to keep him off the mean streets and out of trouble. He began as an advertising model for a fast-food chain at age 3, and soon became noticed as Stanley, one of Rudy Huxtable's admirers on the hit TV show The Cosby Show (1984). At 15, he co-starred in the short-lived sitcom Getting By (1993) alongside Cindy Williams and Telma Hopkins. His best-known role was as smooth-talking Romeo Santana on the popular WB series The Steve Harvey Show (1996) in 1996.
Merlin Santana was murdered on November 9, 2002 in Los Angeles, California, while he was sitting in a car. He was 26 years old.Plot: Holy Cross section, Range 19, Grave 48 - Actress
- Composer
- Music Department
Well known for her high level of camp and her energetic performances, La Lupe was one of the Spanish-language world's greatest performers. Born in Cuba to a poor family, La Lupe began her life as a schoolteacher in Havana at her father's request. However music was in her blood, and against his wishes she entered a singing competition on the radio where she won first place. Later she joined the singing group "Trio Los Tropicales" and made many successful club debuts throughout Havana. When La Lupe went solo, her performances at Havana's La Red night club caused quite a stir, an impact that leaked slowly to the rest of the island. Overnight La Lupe had become a source if wonderment, controversy and a national celebrity.
Her first recordings, which included Spanish versions of Rock hits by Paul Anka and other American authors, as well as Cuban standards, made the hit parades of radio stations across the country. Her unique voice, combined with extravagant performance antics, made her a smash in the Cuban music scene. However, after the Cuban Revolution of 1959, La Lupe felt that she could no longer live in a country that did not accept her singing style, which was officially classified as anti-revolutionary. She left Cuba for Mexico in 1962, where she sought to relaunch her career, but was never accepted. Later she moved to New York, where she met fellow Cuban musician Mongo Santamaría. Both teamed up with to make the album make "Mongo Introduces La Lupe" in 1963. That album made her a star and later she joined the legendary musician Tito Puente to record four successful albums which confirmed and cemented her enormous popularity.
Voted the best singer by the Latin press in 1965 & 1966, La Lupe went on to become one of the top two divas of salsa music (the other was Celia Cruz). It was during these years that she recorded some of her greatest songs, especially those written by Puerto Rican composer C. Curet Alonso, such as "La Tirana" and "Puro Teatro". In the 1970's La Lupe saw her career decline somewhat. First she was banned from television from Puerto Rico after she tore her clothes off during an awards ceremony on national television. Next, her record label, Tico Records, was purchased by Fania Records, and company executives decided to focus their energies on the less controversial Celia Cruz. Although she had several hits during that decade, she slowly faded into obscurity. In the 1980's, La Lupe, retired from the industry, found herself destitute. Her husband's medical bills, her large donations to the African-based religion of "Santeria", and her personal problems often left her and her family homeless. She became paralyzed following a domestic accident and was healed in a Pentecostal church. After this, she converted to Pentecostalism and recorded Christian oriented material in the late 80s. She continued her faith activities by funding a ministry she named La Lupe in Christ which allowed her to preach to Pentecostal communities until her death in 1992.
La Lupe never saw the surge in her popularity after her death, especially after the legendary Spanish director, Pedro Almodovar chose her song, "Puro Teatro," to be the closing song of his Oscar nominated hit film, "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown". Fania re-released her recordings on their Tico labels during that decade, and many of her records went platinum throughout Spain and Latin America. Considered by many to be a combination of Bette Midler meets Judy Garland with a dash of Eartha Kitt, La Lupe's largest fan base is primarily the gay Latin community. Many drag performers imitate her and she is considered to be the Judy Garland of the Spanish-language world due to her torrid love affairs, heavy drug use, poor financial management and her bout with bipolar-ism. Doubtless, La Lupe is one of the most remarkable musical divas the world has ever known.Plot: St. Matthew section, Range #7, Grave #88- Additional Crew
- Actor
- Art Department
Hector Camacho was born on 24 May 1962 in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. He was an actor, known for Reclaim (2014), SOS Island (2013) and The Wayans Bros. (1995). He was married to Amy Torres Camacho. He died on 24 November 2012 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.- Actor
- Producer
- Writer
Frank Pesce was an actor who had a successful Hollywood career. Began his acting career appearing in various films, such as the Jack Palance action film "One Man Jury" (1978), the crime picture "Fingers" (1978) with Harvey Keitel and "Paradise Alley" (1978) with Sylvester Stallone. He also appeared in the comedy "Tilt" (1979) with Brooke Shields, the drama "American Gigolo" (1980) with Richard Gere and the Jan-Michael Vincent action picture "Defiance" (1980). He working in film throughout the eighties, starring in the thriller "Cameron's Closet" (1989) with Cotter Smith, "Hit List" (1989) and the action flick "Lock Up" (1989) with Sylvester Stallone. He played roles in "Ice" (1994) with Traci Lords, the India Allen romance sequel "Seduce Me: Pamela Principle 2" (1994) and the Nicolas Cage comedy "Trapped in Paradise" (1994). He also appeared in the Pruitt Taylor-Vince comedy "Cottonwood" (1996) and the crime drama "Donnie Brasco" (1997) with Al Pacino. Most recently, Pesce acted in "Creed" (2015).- Music Department
- Soundtrack
Dave Valentin was born on 29 April 1952 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA. He is known for I Like It Like That (1994), GRP All-Stars: Live from the Record Plant (1985) and Legends of Jazz (2006). He died on 8 March 2017 in Bronx, New York City, New York, USA.