Marilyn Maxwell (1921 - 1972)

Marilyn Maxwell was an American actress and entertainer, known for her blonde hair and sexually alluring persona. She appeared in several films and radio programs and entertained the troops during World War II and the Korean War on USO tours with Bob Hope.

Born Marvel Marilyn Maxwell on August 3, 1921, in Clarinda, Iowa, she started her professional entertaining career as a radio singer while still a teenager before signing with MGM Studios in 1942 as a contract player. Some of her film roles included Lost in a Harem (with Abbott and Costello), The Lemon Drop Kid (with Bob Hope), Rock-A-Bye Baby (with Jerry Lewis), Champion (with Kirk Douglas), Presenting Lily Mars, DuBarry Was a Lady, Thousands Cheer, and Forever, Darling.

On March 20, 1972, Marilyn Maxwell's 15-year old son arrived home from school and found her dead in her Beverly Hills home at the age of 50 of an apparent heart attack. Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, and Jack Benny were honorary pallbearers at her funeral.

Donald Meek (1878 - 1946)

Donald Meek was a Scottish American character actor, born in Glasgow, Scotland, on July 14, 1878. He first worked as a stage actor and later became a film actor, starring in many movies including The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, State Fair, The Toast of New York, Jesse James, Air Raid Warden (with Laurel and Hardy), and My Little Chickadee (with W.C. Fields). He was often cast as a timid, worrisome character in many of his films and is perhaps best known for his roles as Mr. Poppins in You Can't Take it With You in 1938 and as Samuel Peacock in John Ford's Stagecoach in 1939. From 1931 through 1932, Meek was featured as criminologist Dr. Crabtree in a series of twelve Warner Brothers two- reel short subjects written by S.S. Van Dine.

Before becoming an actor, Meek fought in the Spanish-American War where he contracted yellow fever which caused him to lose his hair. Donald Meek died in Los Angeles on November 18, 1946, at the age of 68. He is interred at the mausoleum in Fairmount Cemetery, Denver, Colorado.

Willard Waterman (1914 - 1995)

Willard Waterman was born in Madison, Wisconsin, on August 29, 1914. He is best known for succeeding Harold Peary as the title character, Throckmorton P.

Gildersleeve, in The Great Gildersleeve on radio at the height of the show's popularity. He stayed with the show on radio from 1950 to 1957 and in a short run TV version in 1955. At the same time he was appearing on radio as Gildersleeve, Waterman had a recurring role as Mr. Merriwether in the short-lived radio comedy The Halls of Ivy starring Ronald Colman. 

Willard Waterman also found success on television, appearing on such shows as Lawman, My Favorite Martian, The Eve Arden Show, 77 Sunset Strip, The Dick Van Dyke Show, F Troop, and Dennis the Menace, in which he played the local grocer, Mr. Quigley. Between 1957 and 1959 he appeared five times as Mac Maginnis in The Real McCoys, starring Walter Brennan, Richard Crenna, and Kathleen Nolan.

Waterman retired from acting in 1973 but did appear in 1980 in the "Boss and Peterson" radio commercial for Sony, for which he received a Clio Award. He was a founding member in 1937 of the radio union now known as the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists. Willard Waterman died of bone marrow disease in Burlingame, California, on February 2, 1995, and is interred at Skylawn Memorial Park in San Mateo, California.

Minerva Urecal (1894-1966)

Minerva Urecal was born September 22, 1894, in Eureka, California, as Minerva Holzer. She was originally a radio and stage performer and made her film debut in 1933 in Her Bodyguard. She played largely uncredited roles, such as secretaries, laundresses, and frontierswomen. She began workin in television in the 1950s, favoring westerns. She guest starred on My Friend Flick and The Range Rider. She had a recurring role in the 1953-1954 CBS situation comedy Meet Mr. McNulty in the role of the dean of a women's college.

In 1957, Minerva Urecal had her only starring television role in the syndicated show The Adventures of Tugboat Annie, playing the role originated by Marie Dressler in the 1933 film Tugboat Annie. Also in 1957, Urecal appeared on Perry Mason as a landlady in the episode "The Case of the Fan Dancer's Horse". For the 1959-1960 season, she took over the role of Mother on Peter Gunn starring Craig Stevens. In 1965, she made a second appearance on Perry Mason in the episode "The Case of the Lover's Gamble". She also appeared as Walter Brennan's love interest in the 1960 episode of The Real McCoys entitled "The Gigolo". Her final TV appearances were in the 1965-1966 season of Petticoat Junction.

Minerva Urecal never married. She died of a heart attack at age 71 on February 26, 1966, in Glendale, California. She is interred in the mausoleum at Forever Hollywood Cemetery in Hollywood, California.