Busby Berkeley

Birth Name:

Berkeley William Enos

Birth Date:

November 29, 1895

Birth Place:

Los Angeles, California

Death Date:

March 14, 1976

Place of Death:

74394 Peppergrass, Palm Desert, California

Age:

Cause of Death:

Natural Causes

Cemetery Name:

Desert Memorial Park

Claim to Fame:

Show Business

Associates:

Busby Berkeley was an American film director and musical choreographer best known for his elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns and showgirls - lots and lots of showgirls. Flamboyant, energetic, ingenious, Busby Berkeley created and perfected a musical genre of extravagant fantasy—multiple spectaculars bulging with outsized props and battalions of beautiful girls dancing in kaleidoscopic patterns or posed in elaborate geometric formations. Berkeley's popularity with an entertainment-hungry Depression audience was secured when he choreographed five musicals back-to-back for Warner Bros.: 42nd Street, Footlight Parade, Gold Diggers of 1933, Dames, and Fashions of 1934, as well as In Caliente and Wonder Bar with Dolores del Río.

Fun Facts

In September 1935, Berkeley was responsible for an automobile accident in which three people were killed and five seriously injured. During the three trials witnesses testified that motorist Berkeley sped down Roosevelt Highway in Los Angeles County one night, changed lanes, crashing headlong into one car, sideswiped another. Some witnesses said they smelled liquor on him. The first two trials for second degree murder ended with hung juries; he was acquitted in a third. Ah the good old days of killing random strangers while drunk driving and then walk away without so much as a ticket.

Cemetery Information:

Final Resting Place:

Desert Memorial Park

31-705 Da Vall Drive

Cathedral City, California, 92262

USA

North America

Map:

Map of Desert Memorial Park in Cathedral City California

Grave Location:

Section A-14, Grave 74

Grave Location Description

As you enter the cemetery drive straight ahead and park right before the road splits off to the right. Look for the the tree on your left with the A-14 sign at the base. Follow the row directly behind the tree and Busby Berkeley’s marker is the 20th marker. His wife is buried beside him.