Where Are They Buried?: How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy [Hardcover]

Tod Benoit (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 6, 2003

This enlightening and browsable guide features more than 500 profiles of the lives, deaths, and final resting places of our most influential figures from sports, music, film, television, literature, and politics.

This unparalleled compilation of profiles of the deceased--from Abbott & Costello to Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, from Arthur Ashe to Andy Warhol--offers all of the pertinent details on their lives, deaths, and grave sites, providing a pop-cultural road map for anyone fascinated by celebrity, history, and travel. Listings include Mark Twain, Sonny Bono, Dr. Seuss, Salvador Dali, Mickey Mantle, Marvin Gaye, Jimi Hendrix, Ingrid Bergman, William Shakespeare, Andy Kaufman, Bob Crane, Louis Armstrong, Walt Disney, Errol Flynn, Al Capone, Ella Fitzgerald, Mae West, Gertude Stein, and hundreds more.

Fifty photos and a number of informative sidebars (on such topics as how to find the grave of anyone you choose) round out this entertaining look at the permanent addresses of our most significant late citizens. And each listing offers concise directions to both the cemetery and the grave itself, an added benefit for tombstone travelers.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tod Benoit is an entrepreneur who has logged more than 10,000 miles driving around the country in search of notable graves.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 560 pages
• Publisher: Black Dog & Leventhal Publishers; First Edition edition (May 6, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1579122876
• ISBN-13: 978-1579122874
• Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 5.5 x 1.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (36 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #277,276 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

32 of 34 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Whatta Deal/A BIG BANG FOR AN INEXPENSIVE BOOK, April 22, 2003

By 

Gail K. Powers "Abra" (Harbor Country, Mi,N. Naples, FL, Chicago area) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Where Are They Buried?: How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy (Hardcover)

This book attempts to go where many others have gone before and manages to do a very good job... for a good quality hardcover book. It contains the locations of approximately 500 celebrity graves and is just a lot of fun.
The book is arranged by type of celebrity (sports figures, singers, authors, etc.). For each personality the author Tod Benoit provides a date of birth and death, a lengthy biography which summarizes pertinent facts concerning his subject's life, the manner in which his subject died, the burial location and/or the method of disposal, instructions as to how to find the cemetery using main highways and local streets, and explicit instructions for finding gravesites.
Aside from being just packed with good info, Tod Benoit has a wonderfully wry sense of humor which is good because it takes a lot of the sting out of a grim subject like death. I particularly enjoyed his take on finding grave locations at Forest Lawn in Glendale CA and his not-too-subtle suggestions for averting cemetery security. This man is hysterical!
Another very enjoyable section could have been subtitled "Tod's Practical And Sometimes Whacky Methods Used To Get Information". Odd as my subtitle sounds, the author's suggestions are quite inventive and I applaud him for his overall creativity. In truth, I can really see them being quite effective. This is probably because I've tried some, and will try the ones I haven't.
At the date of publication, all the information provided regarding grave locations was correct with the exception of Lucille Ball who was recently moved to a cemetery in Jamestown NY. There were a few biographical errors which I caught, but nothing that would interfer with the general pleasure I derived from this book.
Now please buy this book, so he'll write another one. It is that good.

22 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good Read, August 28, 2003

By 

Alan Beggerow (Sterling, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Where Are They Buried?: How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy (Hardcover)

This book not only contains the whereabouts of many 'famous' people's graves, but it has thumbnail boigraphies of the people in question.

For a casual reader, it can be picked up and a few sections can be read easily at one sitting. For the hard-core reader, it can be like 'bubblegum for the brain' and be an entertaining read.

Couldn't give it any higher than four stars. Like a reviewer states below, there is some misinformation in the book. Minor to be sure, but it is still an entertaining read.

16 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Grave Thoughts, June 18, 2003

By 

Maria Pergola (Middle Village, NY United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Where Are They Buried?: How Did They Die? Fitting Ends and Final Resting Places of the Famous, Infamous, and Noteworthy (Hardcover)

I have never, ever written a review before, but this book was such a terrific read that I just had to say something. Tod Benoit has found a unique subject and presented it in a fascinating format. The title caught my eye immediately and from the first page, I was hooked. The biographies were interesting and the grave directions were so precise that I may just spend my next free afternoon checking out the cemeteries in my own neighborhood. Who needs Beverly Hills? I can now claim several celebrities within a 4 mile radius of my home(of course, they're all dead, but what the heck). I would definitely recommend this book not only for the subject matter, but for the easy-going style in which it was written. I did find one huge biographical mistake, but I'll let future readers find it. Get this book...you won't be sorry.