January 16, 2025 • 14 mins
This podcast is all about making sure that the stories of Hollywood’s dead never die, and after this absolutely horrific week, we need to do just that in our own small way. Thank you to all of the firefighters, volunteers, loving citizens of Los Angeles, and people helping from afar. Humanity is the only thing that can save us in these dark times.
Below you’ll find the links to the Los Angeles Times article that we referenced and used as a source for this episode in addition to links to various charities who are doing great work. Thank you so much for listening. We love you, Los Angeles <3
The LA Fire Victims: Who they Were
Dalyce Curry's Funeral Services GoFundMe
Charities
Baby2Baby
California Community Foundation
Los Angeles Regional Food Bank
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Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:17):
Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, the
podcast that normally digs intothe life stories of dead folks
who now reside permanently inthe Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
But this week is, unfortunately, a little different.
Hi everyone, this is not atypical episode.
(00:39):
I know that we are allanxiously awaiting the part
three, finale, of Myla Nurmi'sstory and I'm really excited to
talk about that.
But at the moment I'm feelinglike it's not appropriate to do
(00:59):
that and I'm also separated frommy co-host, marissa Rivera, due
to the fires that have plaguedLos Angeles and Altadena and the
surrounding areas.
(01:29):
It has been a really rough weekfor everyone in this city and
you know what this podcast isabout people who are laid to
rest in the Hollywood ForeverCemetery in Los Angeles.
So it feels like we would bedoing a disservice to the city
to not talk about the fires, butit really sucks to not have
Marissa here to do this with me,to not have Marissa here to do
this with me.
I don't enjoy talking by myself, but yeah, we're both safe,
(01:55):
everybody's safe, so that'sreally good.
But yeah, it's been verydifficult the last few days.
I'm talking right now from aAirbnb in Utah because my family
flipped out about the fires andthe smoke that was filling our
house which is fine, by the waybut we went to Long Beach for a
little bit to escape out offriends, and then that was
getting bad air quality andsince I have a toddler, we
(02:17):
decided to travel even furtheraway and we drove five hours
away and just so that she wouldbe able to play outside and have
fresh air, and you know and wethought we'd be able to relax,
but of course I can't relax.
It's, it's terrible.
Everything that's happened isterrible.
I'm still checking that watchduty app Like it's my job all
(02:39):
the time, trying to see what'sgoing on, and as of now, it does
look like things are gettingbetter.
But it's just kind of puts youin this paranoid state and,
especially as a parent, it'sbeen just really hard to do what
I have to do to do right by mykid, but I feel guilty for not
(03:04):
being to do right by my kid, butI feel guilty for not being in
Los Angeles and helpingeverybody out on the ground, you
know.
But at the same time, I'm soproud of everybody there for
showing up for each other andit's just really inspiring.
You know that everybody comestogether like this, and it is a
great city really is, and I hopeyou get that sense from
(03:24):
listening to this show andhearing about everybody's life
stories that are so incredibleand just knowing how many
amazing people are here and havebeen here.
So, that said, this podcast isabout making sure that the
stories of Hollywood's deadnever die.
It's also about people whoaren't quite famous.
(03:45):
And then there's me who's notfamous at all, and I hope that
on the day that I have to gomeet my maker, I hope that
people will talk about me evenif I wasn't famous, and I'm not
going to be.
So I feel like that's the jobof this show, right?
So I just wanted to mention afew of the people who have
(04:08):
passed in the fires and do rightby them.
I also want to do a shout outto my main source for finding
the stories of these folks.
It is the Los Angeles Times.
There's an article called theLA fire victims, who they were,
so I can include a link to thatin the show notes for this
episode as well, but I'm justgoing to summarize a little bit
(04:31):
here.
So one of the people who died inthe fire in Altadena in fact,
her name was Dallas Curry andshe was 95 years old.
She was a retired actress andshe is one of those actresses I
think that you would not know of.
She appeared in many reallyamazing films, but she also she
(04:57):
was smaller parts in them,didn't always have a name, and
she appeared in films like LadySings the Blues with Diana Ross,
and she was in the BluesBrothers as well, and she was
just an amazing person.
Apparently, her granddaughtersaid that she was full of
vitality, elegance and anunmatched zest for life, and you
(05:18):
can tell from her pictures thatthat seems to be true.
I also saw a picture of her inher youth and I will put this
together as well for you guys tosee.
But she was a stunning,stunning woman and you can see
her zest just in her eyes at anyage, and it's terrible that she
has passed.
(05:38):
She was 95 years old.
So rest in peace, dallas Curry.
We remember you fondly and wetoast you.
I feel like if we could leave anoffering for Dallas.
I feel like she is elegant andshe is.
I mean, it sounds like herCadillac actually survived the
(05:59):
fire that's what I read as wellLike the house completely burned
down, but her Cadillac wasproudly sitting outside.
So I don't know, some sort oflittle flashy Cadillac or some
kind of like those fabulous likeleopard seat covers or
something for her car.
I feel like she would get downwith that.
(06:19):
That might be a good offeringfor Dallas, I don't know, um, or
probably just some reallybeautiful flowers.
She seems like a lady who don'talways love flowers.
Uh, the next person that I wantto mention is Rory Sykes.
Um, he's 32 when he passed away, which is quite young, and I
really was kind of floored byhis story, looking at this.
(06:42):
He was born with cerebral palsy, throughout his life had 11 leg
operations and eye operation.
He was born blind but he had alifetime of physiotherapy and he
was able to walk and see again.
I mean, that's incredible,right, he was somebody who was a
(07:06):
speaker at a young age and hewas on this Australian talk show
with his mom and he said thisquote where he said it's not
what happens to you in your life, it's what you do with it that
counts.
And that was when he was a kid.
So he's just the sweetest andrest in peace, rory.
I think his offering should besmiley faces and ice cream.
(07:27):
Apparently, he loved ice cream,so you should get all 31
flavors.
Just all the best for Rory, youwere awesome.
There's also several otherpeople who passed Arthur I'm not
sure if I'm saying this rightArthur Simenu, who's 69.
And he was a guy who was apassionate hang glider, an early
(07:50):
pioneer of the sport, as thisarticle mentions, and he even
didn't wear shoes to do so untilhe was older and needed to
probably project his joints onthe landings every now and then.
So yeah, I mean, of course, theoffering for him would be a
little tiny, tiny hang gliderfigurine or something of that
nature.
(08:10):
Then there was Mark Sternberg,who immigrated with his wife,
marina, in 1980.
And he was looking for a placewhere his family would not have
to endure antisemitism, whichwas he was experiencing in
Russia, and he was actually anengineer for NASA here at JPL.
(08:34):
So just an incredibly smart,courageous person, um.
So he gets a little.
He gets a little NASA rocketship for sure for his offering.
Um, anthony Mitchell and JustinMitchell are another couple of
folks who died in this fire, um,in one of these fires, and this
(08:55):
was a father and son, um,anthony senior.
He was a guy who was a mentorto every young man in his life,
gave everybody fun nicknames andwas just someone who gave
everybody advice.
He was always wanting to offerthat to every young person that
(09:15):
he saw.
And then his son was born withcerebral palsy, much like Rory
Sykes and, um, he made it to histhirties even though he was.
You know, his parents were toldhe would only make it to the
age of 12.
So that's already incredible.
And um, uh, this one kind ofgets me.
(09:40):
They were found together,huddled in their Altadena home
and that is how they passed, andI just feel like I don't know
that that one really sticks withme.
It sounds like, I don't know,I'm running out of things, of
(10:06):
offerings for some of thesepeople.
I feel like I don't know, Ijust they just have all of my
respect and, um, I'm not sureI'm sorry I'm running out of
things.
Creative to, to add to this,it's just really sad, you know,
um, but I'll keep going.
There was Randall Miod, who is55.
I might be saying his namewrong, I apologize.
(10:27):
Um, he had on his Instagrampage that he was a Malibu man of
mystery.
I picture this guy like thedude from the Big Lebowski.
Um, he was like just an eternalsurfer.
He, uh, people said he was likeJeff Spicoli from Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, so that makessense too.
(10:48):
Um, and he had this like reallyold red barn style house, uh,
and he rented it for a long timeand then was given the
opportunity to buy it which isamazing and everybody called it
the crap shack and he welcomedsurfers from all over and and he
was just like.
He was that guy, you know,really like warm hearted
(11:11):
youthful person up through every, you know, every part of his
life, just kind of that, thatperson who stays true to who
they are and doesn't change, andI think that's amazing.
So those are some of the peopleI had some notes about, but some
of the other people that havepassed, at least that we know of
now, are early in Louise Kelly,evelyn McClendon, charles
(11:35):
Mortimer, rodney, kent Nickerson, annette Rosalie, victor Shaw,
kim Wieniecki and Zee Fang Zhao.
So those are all folks that welay to rest in Los Angeles right
now.
I think this article does amuch better job of honoring them
(11:56):
in specifics and beautifuljournalism than I just did, but
it's a little bit of a summarythat felt appropriate for our
show, so I just wanted to sharethat with you all.
I also want to share that thereare um a couple opportunities
here that I will also add linksto for you all to to offer your
support to the community um in aspecial way, if you'd like to.
(12:21):
So there is a GoFundMe forDallas Curry, actually for her
funeral services.
Her family's trying to puttogether money for her funeral
services, and that's the woman Imentioned first who was an
actress in Lady Sings the Bluesand Blues Brothers.
So if you wanted to offer yoursupport to her family, you can
(12:47):
absolutely reach out to theGoFundMe.
I will also include some otherlinks to some amazing charities
doing really great work in LosAngeles in the show notes that
you can give to as well.
But until next time, I'm goingto sign off from here in my
Airbnb in Utah, and I can't waitto talk to you again about Myla
(13:12):
Nurmi and get back to a littlebit of normalcy, a little bit of
old Hollywood, a little bit ofescaping into the past, getting
out of this awful current moment.
I appreciate you guys so muchand I can't wait for that better
future moment that's coming tous.
So, uh, until next time.
(13:32):
You might not be famous, butyou're not dead yet and uh,
that's something to celebrate inthese times.
So we'll see you soon.
Bye, take care, thank you.
Hello and welcome to Dead and Kind of Famous, the
podcast that normally digs intothe life stories of dead folks
who now reside permanently inthe Hollywood Forever Cemetery.
But this week is, unfortunately, a little different.
Hi everyone, this is not atypical episode.
(00:39):
I know that we are allanxiously awaiting the part
three, finale, of Myla Nurmi'sstory and I'm really excited to
talk about that.
But at the moment I'm feelinglike it's not appropriate to do
(00:59):
that and I'm also separated frommy co-host, marissa Rivera, due
to the fires that have plaguedLos Angeles and Altadena and the
surrounding areas.
(01:29):
It has been a really rough weekfor everyone in this city and
you know what this podcast isabout people who are laid to
rest in the Hollywood ForeverCemetery in Los Angeles.
So it feels like we would bedoing a disservice to the city
to not talk about the fires, butit really sucks to not have
Marissa here to do this with me,to not have Marissa here to do
this with me.
I don't enjoy talking by myself, but yeah, we're both safe,
(01:55):
everybody's safe, so that'sreally good.
But yeah, it's been verydifficult the last few days.
I'm talking right now from aAirbnb in Utah because my family
flipped out about the fires andthe smoke that was filling our
house which is fine, by the waybut we went to Long Beach for a
little bit to escape out offriends, and then that was
getting bad air quality andsince I have a toddler, we
(02:17):
decided to travel even furtheraway and we drove five hours
away and just so that she wouldbe able to play outside and have
fresh air, and you know and wethought we'd be able to relax,
but of course I can't relax.
It's, it's terrible.
Everything that's happened isterrible.
I'm still checking that watchduty app Like it's my job all
(02:39):
the time, trying to see what'sgoing on, and as of now, it does
look like things are gettingbetter.
But it's just kind of puts youin this paranoid state and,
especially as a parent, it'sbeen just really hard to do what
I have to do to do right by mykid, but I feel guilty for not
(03:04):
being to do right by my kid, butI feel guilty for not being in
Los Angeles and helpingeverybody out on the ground, you
know.
But at the same time, I'm soproud of everybody there for
showing up for each other andit's just really inspiring.
You know that everybody comestogether like this, and it is a
great city really is, and I hopeyou get that sense from
(03:24):
listening to this show andhearing about everybody's life
stories that are so incredibleand just knowing how many
amazing people are here and havebeen here.
So, that said, this podcast isabout making sure that the
stories of Hollywood's deadnever die.
It's also about people whoaren't quite famous.
(03:45):
And then there's me who's notfamous at all, and I hope that
on the day that I have to gomeet my maker, I hope that
people will talk about me evenif I wasn't famous, and I'm not
going to be.
So I feel like that's the jobof this show, right?
So I just wanted to mention afew of the people who have
(04:08):
passed in the fires and do rightby them.
I also want to do a shout outto my main source for finding
the stories of these folks.
It is the Los Angeles Times.
There's an article called theLA fire victims, who they were,
so I can include a link to thatin the show notes for this
episode as well, but I'm justgoing to summarize a little bit
(04:31):
here.
So one of the people who died inthe fire in Altadena in fact,
her name was Dallas Curry andshe was 95 years old.
She was a retired actress andshe is one of those actresses I
think that you would not know of.
She appeared in many reallyamazing films, but she also she
(04:57):
was smaller parts in them,didn't always have a name, and
she appeared in films like LadySings the Blues with Diana Ross,
and she was in the BluesBrothers as well, and she was
just an amazing person.
Apparently, her granddaughtersaid that she was full of
vitality, elegance and anunmatched zest for life, and you
(05:18):
can tell from her pictures thatthat seems to be true.
I also saw a picture of her inher youth and I will put this
together as well for you guys tosee.
But she was a stunning,stunning woman and you can see
her zest just in her eyes at anyage, and it's terrible that she
has passed.
(05:38):
She was 95 years old.
So rest in peace, dallas Curry.
We remember you fondly and wetoast you.
I feel like if we could leave anoffering for Dallas.
I feel like she is elegant andshe is.
I mean, it sounds like herCadillac actually survived the
(05:59):
fire that's what I read as wellLike the house completely burned
down, but her Cadillac wasproudly sitting outside.
So I don't know, some sort oflittle flashy Cadillac or some
kind of like those fabulous likeleopard seat covers or
something for her car.
I feel like she would get downwith that.
(06:19):
That might be a good offeringfor Dallas, I don't know, um, or
probably just some reallybeautiful flowers.
She seems like a lady who don'talways love flowers.
Uh, the next person that I wantto mention is Rory Sykes.
Um, he's 32 when he passed away, which is quite young, and I
really was kind of floored byhis story, looking at this.
(06:42):
He was born with cerebral palsy, throughout his life had 11 leg
operations and eye operation.
He was born blind but he had alifetime of physiotherapy and he
was able to walk and see again.
I mean, that's incredible,right, he was somebody who was a
(07:06):
speaker at a young age and hewas on this Australian talk show
with his mom and he said thisquote where he said it's not
what happens to you in your life, it's what you do with it that
counts.
And that was when he was a kid.
So he's just the sweetest andrest in peace, rory.
I think his offering should besmiley faces and ice cream.
(07:27):
Apparently, he loved ice cream,so you should get all 31
flavors.
Just all the best for Rory, youwere awesome.
There's also several otherpeople who passed Arthur I'm not
sure if I'm saying this rightArthur Simenu, who's 69.
And he was a guy who was apassionate hang glider, an early
(07:50):
pioneer of the sport, as thisarticle mentions, and he even
didn't wear shoes to do so untilhe was older and needed to
probably project his joints onthe landings every now and then.
So yeah, I mean, of course, theoffering for him would be a
little tiny, tiny hang gliderfigurine or something of that
nature.
(08:10):
Then there was Mark Sternberg,who immigrated with his wife,
marina, in 1980.
And he was looking for a placewhere his family would not have
to endure antisemitism, whichwas he was experiencing in
Russia, and he was actually anengineer for NASA here at JPL.
(08:34):
So just an incredibly smart,courageous person, um.
So he gets a little.
He gets a little NASA rocketship for sure for his offering.
Um, anthony Mitchell and JustinMitchell are another couple of
folks who died in this fire, um,in one of these fires, and this
(08:55):
was a father and son, um,anthony senior.
He was a guy who was a mentorto every young man in his life,
gave everybody fun nicknames andwas just someone who gave
everybody advice.
He was always wanting to offerthat to every young person that
(09:15):
he saw.
And then his son was born withcerebral palsy, much like Rory
Sykes and, um, he made it to histhirties even though he was.
You know, his parents were toldhe would only make it to the
age of 12.
So that's already incredible.
And um, uh, this one kind ofgets me.
(09:40):
They were found together,huddled in their Altadena home
and that is how they passed, andI just feel like I don't know
that that one really sticks withme.
It sounds like, I don't know,I'm running out of things, of
(10:06):
offerings for some of thesepeople.
I feel like I don't know, Ijust they just have all of my
respect and, um, I'm not sureI'm sorry I'm running out of
things.
Creative to, to add to this,it's just really sad, you know,
um, but I'll keep going.
There was Randall Miod, who is55.
I might be saying his namewrong, I apologize.
(10:27):
Um, he had on his Instagrampage that he was a Malibu man of
mystery.
I picture this guy like thedude from the Big Lebowski.
Um, he was like just an eternalsurfer.
He, uh, people said he was likeJeff Spicoli from Fast Times at
Ridgemont High, so that makessense too.
(10:48):
Um, and he had this like reallyold red barn style house, uh,
and he rented it for a long timeand then was given the
opportunity to buy it which isamazing and everybody called it
the crap shack and he welcomedsurfers from all over and and he
was just like.
He was that guy, you know,really like warm hearted
(11:11):
youthful person up through every, you know, every part of his
life, just kind of that, thatperson who stays true to who
they are and doesn't change, andI think that's amazing.
So those are some of the peopleI had some notes about, but some
of the other people that havepassed, at least that we know of
now, are early in Louise Kelly,evelyn McClendon, charles
(11:35):
Mortimer, rodney, kent Nickerson, annette Rosalie, victor Shaw,
kim Wieniecki and Zee Fang Zhao.
So those are all folks that welay to rest in Los Angeles right
now.
I think this article does amuch better job of honoring them
(11:56):
in specifics and beautifuljournalism than I just did, but
it's a little bit of a summarythat felt appropriate for our
show, so I just wanted to sharethat with you all.
I also want to share that thereare um a couple opportunities
here that I will also add linksto for you all to to offer your
support to the community um in aspecial way, if you'd like to.
(12:21):
So there is a GoFundMe forDallas Curry, actually for her
funeral services.
Her family's trying to puttogether money for her funeral
services, and that's the woman Imentioned first who was an
actress in Lady Sings the Bluesand Blues Brothers.
So if you wanted to offer yoursupport to her family, you can
(12:47):
absolutely reach out to theGoFundMe.
I will also include some otherlinks to some amazing charities
doing really great work in LosAngeles in the show notes that
you can give to as well.
But until next time, I'm goingto sign off from here in my
Airbnb in Utah, and I can't waitto talk to you again about Myla
(13:12):
Nurmi and get back to a littlebit of normalcy, a little bit of
old Hollywood, a little bit ofescaping into the past, getting
out of this awful current moment.
I appreciate you guys so muchand I can't wait for that better
future moment that's coming tous.
So, uh, until next time.
(13:32):
You might not be famous, butyou're not dead yet and uh,
that's something to celebrate inthese times.
So we'll see you soon.
Bye, take care, thank you.
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