Kensico Cemetery

Kensico Cemetery in Valhalla, New York

The Tower at the upper entrance to Kensico Cemetery

Mineola Lake in Kensico Cemetery

The statue of an elk in Kensico Cemetery

Kensico Cemetery, located in Valhalla, Westchester County, 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 (1.0 km²), it was expanded to 600 acres (2.4 km²) in 1905, but reduced to 461 acres (1.9 km²) in 1912, when a portion was sold to the neighboring Gate of Heaven Cemetery. Many baseball players are buried in this cemetery.

Many entertainment figures of the early twentieth century, including the Russian born Sergei Rachmaninoff, 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.

Sharon Gardens is a 76-acre (31 ha) section of Kensico Cemetery, which was created in 1953 for Jewish burials.

Notable burials

Richard Abbott (1899-1986) - Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Section, Lot 453
Mary Adams (1910-1973) - Actress. Plot: Actors' Fund
Glenn Anders (1889–1981), American actor
Edward Franklin Albee II (1857–1930), Vaudeville impresario
Glenn Anders (1889–1981), American actor
John Emory Andrus (1841–1934), mayor of Yonkers, New York, and a U.S. Congressman
Peter Arno (1904–1968), cartoonist
Victor Balasic Jr., (Victor Balasz) (1897-1943) Entertainer. Member of the Balasic Family Acrobats and Vaudeville Performers. He is buried in the National Vaudeville Association section of Kensico Cemetery. Plot: Lot 7822, Section 59,60, grave 291
Anne Bancroft (1931–2005), stage, screen, and television actress. Her most notable performance was 'Mrs. Robinson' in The Graduate, Wife of Mel Brooks
Wendy Barrie (1912–1978), actress
Ed Barrow (1868–1953), hall of fame baseball manager and executive
Marion Bauer (1882–1955), American composer
Aubrey Beattie (1865-1944) Stage and Screen Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Lee Beggs (1870-1943) Actor, motion picture director. Plot: Actors' Fund
Malcolm Lee Beggs (1907-1956) Actor. Cause of death: Murdered. Plot: Actors' Fund
Frank Behrens (1919-1986) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 427
Henri Bendel (1868–1936), fashion designer, famed for the Bendel bonnet
Vivian Blaine (1921–1995), Actress/singer.
William Blaisdell (1865-1931) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Ralph Albert Blakelock (1847–1919), Romanticist painter
Jerri Blanchard (1900-1984), Actress. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 405
Paul Bonwit (1862–1939), founder of Bonwit Teller department store
Evangeline Booth (1865–1950), evangelist, daughter of Salvation Army founder
Herbert Booth (1862–1926), songwriter
Sully Boyar (Irvin) (1923-2001), Stage and film actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 327
Russ Brown (actor) (1892–1964), actor
Thomas Broadhurst (1858-1936), Playwright. Plot: Actors' Fund
Billie Burke (1885–1970), actress.
Georgia M. Burke (1878-1985) Actress. Plot: Actors Fund Lot 456
Henry Burr (1882–1941), Canadian singer of popular songs
William J. Butler (1860–1927), Irish silent film actor
John Call (1908-1973), Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 427
Romaine Callender (1883-1976) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Hope Cameron (1920-1998) Stage, film, and television actress. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 1110
Ralph Chambers (1892-1968) Actor. Plot: Actors' Plot Lot 400
Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981), screenwriter, winner of three Academy Awards
Andy Clark (1894-1965), Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Dudley Clements (1889-1947) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Andy Coakley (1882–1963), baseball player
Frank Conroy (1890–1964), British film and stage actor
Bigelow Cooper, (1867-1953) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Harry Cooper (1904–2000), hall of fame golfer
Frederick E. Crane (1869–1947), Chief Judge of the NY Court of Appeals
Cheryl Crawford (1902–1986), theatrical producer
Milton Cross (1897–1975), radio announcer
Edward W. Curley (1873–1940), U.S. Congressman
George Ticknor Curtis (1812-1894), American author, writer, historian and lawyer.
Royal Cutter, (1874-1955) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Charles Dalton (1869-1942) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Harry Davenport (1866–1949), American film and stage actor
Olive Deering, actress.
Dolly Dawn (1916-2002), Singer. Plot: Actors Fund Lot 321
William Wallace Denslow (1856-1915) Illustrator.
Peter Derose (1896-1953) Songwriter.
Robert De Niro, Sr., father of actor Robert De Niro
William Wallace Denslow, (1856–1915), illustrator
Peter DeRose, (1896–1953), Hall of Fame composer
Elliott Dexter (1870–1941), American film and stage actor
Louis Palner di Cesnola, (1832-1904) Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient.
Charles Dickson (1855-1927) Actor.
Harry Dornton, (1866-1931) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956), swing-era trombonist
Malcolm J. Dunn, (1869-1946), Actor, Motion Picture Director. Plot: Actors' Fund
J. Gordon Edwards (1867–1925), prolific silent film director
Sherman Edwards (1919–1981), Tony Award winning composer and songwriter
Angna Enters (1897–1989), entertainer
Charles Esdale (1873-1937) Actor.
Judith Evelyn (1913–1967), stage actress
Geraldine Farrar (1882–1967), opera singer
Sid Farrar (1859–1935), Major League baseball player
Emanuel Feuermann (1902–1942), master cellist
Ezio Flagello (1931-2009) Opera Singer. Plot: Section 10, Lot 87, Grave 2
Viola Fortesque (1875-1953) Actress. Plot: Actors' Fund
Gloria Foster (1933-2001) Actress. Plot: Actor's Fund Plot
Alexander Frank (1866-1939) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot
Harry Frazee (1880–1929), owner of the Boston Red Sox.
Fred Friendly (1915–1998), broadcaster
Truman Gaige (1906-2002) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Albert Gaston (1851-1931) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Echlin Gayer (1877-1926) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), Baseball Hall of Fame baseball player
Dorothy Graham (1893-1959) Author.
Julian Greer (1871-1928) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Ulu Grosbard (1929-2012) Motion picture and stage director, producer
Leonard Grover Jr. (1858-1947) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Chalres W. Harbury (1843-1928) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Thomas Hardie (1864-1928) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
Marion Harris (1896–1944), American popular singer
Grace Henderson (1860–1944), stage actress
Gustave Herter (1830-1898), furniture maker and interior decorator
Al Hodge (1912–1979), actor.
May Irwin (1862-1938), stage comedienne
Danny Kaye (1913–1987), comedic actor
Guy Kibbee (1882–1956), American stage and film actor
Joseph Kilgour (1863–1933), Canadian actor of the silent era
Ruth Laredo (1937–2005), pianist
William Van Duzer Lawrence (1842–1927), founder of Sarah Lawrence College
Herbert H. Lehman (1878–1963), politician
Jeffreys Lewis (abt. 1852-1926), stage actress
Joseph J. Little (1841–1913), U.S. Representative from New York
Cissie Loftus (1876–1943), Glasgow, Scottish-born and reared actress, singer, comedian and vaudevillian
Dorothy Loudon (1933–2003), Tony Award winning actress
Tommy Manville (1894–1967), heir to the Johns Manville asbestos fortune
Jack McGowan (1894–1977), Broadway writer, performer, and producer
Claudia McNeil (1917–1993), motion picture and television actress
Robert Merrill (1917–2004), baritone, Metropolitan opera star.
Herman A. Metz (1867–1934), U.S. Congressman
Anna Moffo (1932–2006), soprano
William Muldoon (1852–1933), America's first wrestling champion
Allan Nevins (1890–1971), American historian and journalist
Anne Nichols (1891–1966), playwright and screenwriter
Carlotta Nillson (1876-1951), stage actress
Frank O'Connor (actor) (1897–1979), American actor and husband of novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand
Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day (1875–1943), United States Representative from New York
Eulace Peacock (1914-1996), track star who beat Jesse Owens a majority of the time
Ann Pennington (Ziegfeld star) (1893–1971), popular stage star
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
Jacob Ruppert (1867–1939), owned the New York Yankees
David Sarnoff (1891–1971), broadcaster and head of RCA
Fritzi Scheff (1879–1954), American actress and vocalist
Gordon Scott (1926–2007), actor
Gil Scott-Heron (1949 – 2011) American soul and jazz poet, musician
Ann Shoemaker (1891–1978), American actress
Richard B. Shull (1929–1999), American character actor
Beverly Sills (1929–2007), operatic soprano
Ivan F. Simpson (1875-1951), shottish character actor
Alison Skipworth (1863–1952), English stage and screen actress
Alfred Holland Smith (1863–1924), president of the New York Central Railroad
Peter Moore Speer (1862–1933), U.S. Congressman
Ellsworth Milton Statler (1863–1928), American hotel pioneer
Henry Stephenson (1871–1956), actor
Max Stern (businessman) (1898–1982), entrepreneur, philanthropist
Ghity Amiel Lindenbaum Stern, philanthropist
Lewis Stone (1879–1953), film character actor
Amos Sulka, founder of international mens apparel store
Oscar W. Swift (1869–1940), U.S. Congressman
Fay Templeton (1865–1939), Broadway star
Gertrude Thanhouser (1880–1951), actress
Benjamin I. Taylor (1877–1946), U.S. Congressman
Deems Taylor (1885–1966), composer and journalist
Wen-Ying Tsai (1928-2013), Pioneer American cybernetic sculptor
William L. Ward (1856–1933), U.S. Congressman
Charles Weidman (1901–1975), pioneer of American modern dance
James E. West (1876–1948), first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America (Section 187, Lot 14037, Computer Number 15669)
Spencer Wishart (1889-1914), American racecar driver
William B. Williams (DJ) (1923–1986), disc jockey
John North Willys (1873–1935), automobile manufacturer
Charles E. Wilson (1886-1972), president of General Electric
Francis Wilson (actor) (1854–1935), American actor
Blanche Yurka (1887–1974), American theatre and film actress
Herbert Zelenko (1906–1979), U.S. Congressman
Florenz Ziegfeld (1869–1932), producer of the Ziegfeld Follies