Film Stars Speak at Selznick Rites
by Peter Bart
(New York Times, June 25, 1965)
Glendale CA. - A memorial service was held today at Forest Lawn Cemetery with the type of all-star movie cast befitting a titan.
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Joseph Cotten were among who eulogized the motion picture producer, who died on Tuesday in Beverly Hills of a coronary occlusion. Mr. Selznick, who produced "Gone With The Wind", was 63 years old.
The Hollywood power structure was amply represented among the 200 persons who crowded into the small Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn this morning. Among the pallbearers were Alfred Hitchcock and William Wyler, directors, Sam Spiegel and Samuel Goldwyn, producers, Christopher Isherwood, writer, and William S. Paley, Board Chairman of the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Mr. Selznick's widow, Jennifer Jones, the actress sat with friends at the front of the small chapel.
Actors in Audience
The audience included the heads of the major Hollywood studios as well as many of the old-time producers and directors of Hollywood, including Billy Wilder, Henry King, George Cukor, William Wellman and Pandro Berman. Performers at the services included Lauran Bacall, Burgess Meredith, Louis Jourdan and Edgar Bergen.
Cary Grant, silver haired and bespeckled, read a short tribute that had been written by Mr. Paley. "The one word that fits David Selznick better than any other is extravagance," the tribute stated. "He was extravagant in every way, in his generosity, friendship, attention to those who sought him out for advice and his love for those he loved."
George Cukor, who directed "My Fair Lady," read a eulogy written by Truman Capote. "Among filmmakers, David O. Selznick was unique," it said. "He was at once geniunely creative and deeply cultured; he combined down-to-earth acumen with virile ambition and daring showmanship guided by his sensibility, refinement and taste."
It continued: "His fantastic vitality was matched only by the profoundness of his sense of integrity, responsibility, honor and loyalty, his good taste and his originality."
Noting that Mr. Selznick was an inveterate writer of memorandums, Mr. Capote in his tribute said that he had even written a memo covering his funeral, which dictated that the services be kept simple and brief. Mr. Selznick doubtless would have relished the prospect of writing a critique of his own funeral, the eulogy noted.
Miss Hepburn, her brown hair tied simply with a black bow, gave a passionate reading of the poem "If" by Kipling.
Crowd Outside is Small
Despite the all-star turnout, only about 75 spectators gathered outside the small church to watch the celebrities arrive in their black limousines. In the past at funerals of major movie stars, Forest Lawn has been overrun by thousands of gawkers.
Among the show business leaders who attended the services were Mike Frankovich, vice president and production chief of Columbia Pictures; Richard D. Zanuck, vice president and studio chief at 20th Century Fox, Jules Stein, board chairman of MCA Inc., parent company of Universal Pictures, and Robert Blumofe, vice president for production at United Artists.
The service began with a a short prayer by Rabbi Max N. Nussbaum of Temple Israel, Hollywood, of which Selznick was a member.
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by Peter Bart
(New York Times, June 25, 1965)
Glendale CA. - A memorial service was held today at Forest Lawn Cemetery with the type of all-star movie cast befitting a titan.
Katharine Hepburn, Cary Grant and Joseph Cotten were among who eulogized the motion picture producer, who died on Tuesday in Beverly Hills of a coronary occlusion. Mr. Selznick, who produced "Gone With The Wind", was 63 years old.
The Hollywood power structure was amply represented among the 200 persons who crowded into the small Church of the Recessional at Forest Lawn this morning. Among the pallbearers were Alfred Hitchcock and William Wyler, directors, Sam Spiegel and Samuel Goldwyn, producers, Christopher Isherwood, writer, and William S. Paley, Board Chairman of the Columbia Broadcasting System.
Mr. Selznick's widow, Jennifer Jones, the actress sat with friends at the front of the small chapel.
Actors in Audience
The audience included the heads of the major Hollywood studios as well as many of the old-time producers and directors of Hollywood, including Billy Wilder, Henry King, George Cukor, William Wellman and Pandro Berman. Performers at the services included Lauran Bacall, Burgess Meredith, Louis Jourdan and Edgar Bergen.
Cary Grant, silver haired and bespeckled, read a short tribute that had been written by Mr. Paley. "The one word that fits David Selznick better than any other is extravagance," the tribute stated. "He was extravagant in every way, in his generosity, friendship, attention to those who sought him out for advice and his love for those he loved."
George Cukor, who directed "My Fair Lady," read a eulogy written by Truman Capote. "Among filmmakers, David O. Selznick was unique," it said. "He was at once geniunely creative and deeply cultured; he combined down-to-earth acumen with virile ambition and daring showmanship guided by his sensibility, refinement and taste."
It continued: "His fantastic vitality was matched only by the profoundness of his sense of integrity, responsibility, honor and loyalty, his good taste and his originality."
Noting that Mr. Selznick was an inveterate writer of memorandums, Mr. Capote in his tribute said that he had even written a memo covering his funeral, which dictated that the services be kept simple and brief. Mr. Selznick doubtless would have relished the prospect of writing a critique of his own funeral, the eulogy noted.
Miss Hepburn, her brown hair tied simply with a black bow, gave a passionate reading of the poem "If" by Kipling.
Crowd Outside is Small
Despite the all-star turnout, only about 75 spectators gathered outside the small church to watch the celebrities arrive in their black limousines. In the past at funerals of major movie stars, Forest Lawn has been overrun by thousands of gawkers.
Among the show business leaders who attended the services were Mike Frankovich, vice president and production chief of Columbia Pictures; Richard D. Zanuck, vice president and studio chief at 20th Century Fox, Jules Stein, board chairman of MCA Inc., parent company of Universal Pictures, and Robert Blumofe, vice president for production at United Artists.
The service began with a a short prayer by Rabbi Max N. Nussbaum of Temple Israel, Hollywood, of which Selznick was a member.
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