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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 Co., 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" 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
• Fred Friendly, (1915-1998), broadcaster
• Lou Gehrig, (1903-1941), baseball player who gave his name to Lou Gehrig's disease
• 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
• 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
• 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

• List of famous cemeteries

• Kensico Cemetery homepage
• Maps and aerial photos Coordinates: 41.0779° -73.7865°
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