So, I have a thing for making notes on Google Earth for the places where the famous are laid to rest. Judge me, please do. It’s a weird fascination of mine. I have other odd fascinations, but that’s for another article. Some graves are shrines to fans who love the work of the deceased; many will flock to them, even if it’s out of the way, to pay their respects. All of the cemeteries in Hollywood are full of the famous, but not one has the history to it that is equal to the legendary Père Lachaise Cemetery in eastern Paris.
Opened in 1804 by Napoleon, he sought to establish a secular place for anyone of any stature to be buried. Being considered too far out from the center of the city, Napoleon had several famous French figures buried in the cemetery, which was intentionally designed to be an open garden with lined trees and designed memorials to honor the dead. It quickly became popular for tourists to visit, and, with many Parisians planning ahead to be buried, more than 1 million people have been laid to rest with another 3.5 million people visiting annually.
Among the most famous graves in Pere Lachaise are composer Frederic Chapin, stage actress Sarah Bernhardt, rock singer Jim Morrison, and author Oscar Wilde. Wilde’s grave is the most visited of them all with people writing notes and giving kisses on the barrier that surrounds the stone sculpture. Others were cremated and set in the columbarium, which opened in 1889. A chunk of France’s history is within the necropolis and many figures from French cinema are also buried here.
Chantal Akerman (1950-2015)
Akerman’s most famous film is 1975’s Jeanne Dielman, a three-hour, real-time drama in three parts about a single mother who follows a strict regime throughout the day at home while also discreetly prostituting herself on the side. It is one of the best films on feminism, a slice-of-life modernist tale told so radically for its time during the feminist movement. Her previous film, Je Tu Il Elle, is also considered one of the best lesbian-themed films with Akerman in the leading role, portraying an uncompromising character who is comfortable with her sexuality. Among her fans are Gus Van Sant and Sofia Coppola.
Georges Méliès (1861-1938)
Marie-Georges-Jean Méliès, as was his whole name, took the invention of cinema and knew that it could be used to tell a story. He was present for the Lumiere Brothers’ presentation of their film camera and the first moving images to be publicly presented. Méliès bought his own film camera and would go on to shoot 500 films from 1896 to 1913, shooting in his own film studio, inventing new special effects, and pushing the limits of what a movie could be in its infancy. Immortalized in Martin Scorsese’s Hugo, Méliès lost most of his films to bankruptcy, public use of his materials for World War I, and urban development. However, the 200 films that do survive cement his legacy as a pioneer in cinema.
Yves Montand (1917-1991) / Simone Signoret (1921-1985)
Montand was one of France’s best-known actors following World War II, starting with his singing skills that attracted singer Edith Piaf, another famous celebrity buried at Pere Lachaise. Due to his singing abilities, Montand was cast in several musicals and films in France, but he made himself a major name globally with his performance in Henri-Georges Clouzot’s The Wages Of Fear, which won the Palme d’Or. Montand would also become a star in the United States performing on Broadway and star in several Hollywood productions but maintained his home in France with his wife, actress Simone Signoret.
The German-born Signoret made her breakthrough in 1950s La Ronde and followed it up with acclaimed performances in Casque d’Or and Les Diaboliques. This grabbed the attention of British director Jack Clayton and cast Signoret in her first English-speaking role in 1959’s Room At The Top opposite Laurence Harvey. It received critical acclaim, gathered six Academy Award nominations, and won Signoret the Oscar for Best Actress, the first French actress to win an acting Oscar. She married Montand in 1951 and the two would remain together until Signoret’s death from cancer in 1985. Montand was buried alongside her after his death six years later.
Max Ophüls (1902-1957)
Ophüls was a successful theater director in Vienna, Austria, and moved to be a director of films with Germany’s UFA in the early 1930s. After Hitler and the Nazis came to power, Ophüls, a Jew, moved with his wife and became a French citizen, only to become a refugee in the United States during World War II. He would continue to make movies in Hollywood with films such as Letter From An Unknown Woman and Caught before returning to France where he would make his most notable works. Le Ronde, The Earrings of Madame de…, and Lola Montes, allow him to go back to the types of stories he wished to focus on: from a woman’s point-of-view, high-class set designs, and two men fighting for the same woman.
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