Dead and Kind of Famous
Is the breaking news of today breaking you? Are true crime podcasts making you feel like trash? Then come on down and listen to us talk about old news and dead people who were NOT murdered!! Oooo ethical AND intriguing... This is the podcast where two friends - one who's a nobody (Courtney Blomquist) and one who's kinda famous (Marissa Rivera) - dive into the life stories of dead folks who enjoyed a touch or two of fame in their time and now reside permanently in Hollywood Forever Cemetery. So if you need to escape the now for an hour and you want to show your respect for some amazing life stories that have perhaps been forgotten, hit that follow button. Because with your help, we can make sure that the stories of Hollywood's dead never die. And believe me - these stories are WAY too good to be forgotten.
Episodes
NOTE: After this episode, we will have a brief pause due to vacation scheduling and making space for all that DREADED summer fun. I hope you all are doing the same, sweet taphophiles! Check out another great show, Candy is Dandy while we're away!
A tombstone at Hollywood Forever Cemetery calls him the “Desperado Of Deceit” and that’s not a metaphor. We’re telling the story of David Avadon, a working magician an...
Today, we discuss the life of the actor, James Michael Tyler, the man who turned barista experience and a last-minute bleach job into 148 episodes of Friends. I mean is that luck, magic or a strange version of highly-paid-hell where you are stuck being a barista forever no matter what you do?
We dig into the “arc” of his famed Friends character, Gunther in our first ever crossover episode! That’s right, we’re teaming...
A plane crash, a scar across the face, and a spine injury so bad doctors push reconstruction surgery.
We trace how Jeffries finds Autobiography of a Yogi, seeks out Paramahansa Yogananda at the Mount Washington ashram, and commits to months of yoga that he credits with a shocking recovery. From there, the timeline opens up into Paris nightclubs, celebrity circles, hit records, and the media machine that ke...
Hey Taphophiles! Are you ready for another wild ride? Well good. Hop in, losers!
Herb Jeffries is the kind of Hollywood Forever Cemetery resident who forces us to slow down and ask harder questions than we planned to ask.
There’s the Louis Armstrong napkin of recommendation, the jazz career that was delivered by Duke Ellington’s “Flamingo” and the black singing cowboy persona… that was attributed to a man who was not ...
If you’ve made it this far, congratulations! This is the final installment of our Holly Woodlawn series and it’s not a quiet last act.
The deaths of Andy Warhol, Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis left Holly looking for a fresh start and with that, her Hollywood chapter began. Fate led her to meet Jeffrey Copeland, the unexpected co-writer of her life story, A Low Life in High Heels, which has been the main source for ...
We trace Holly Woodlawn’s rise through Paul Morrissey’s lens, the buzz from Trash, and the spiral that followed as headlines collided with addiction and a brazen UN scam. It’s fame at full voltage and a human wrecking ball underneath, ending with a jaw-dropping 1971 interview and a tease of what comes next.
This is old, old Hollywood news, but it's so much better than the stupid current news, so hop in and go ba...
A sex change budget blown and a cinematic breakup lead to upstate pig-slut shenanigans and a Miss Donut crown. Confused? You should be.
In this episode, Holly finds her last name, meets Warhol, and almost ruins her chance with him shortly there after. If you've been listening to parts 1 and 2, it's no surprise that this chapter is quite the wild ride on the wild side. And get ready - Holly is goin...
From streetwalking to a pseudo housewife life, this episode is a journey in and of itself. Holly sold her body, slept on the subway, and even suffered from "streetwalking pneumonia". But she survived. She also met her future Warhol Factory counterparts, Candy Darling and Jackie Curtis, and found herself in a very serious relationship with a straight man who made the mistake of gifting her a Macy's cr...
A lightning strike beside a soda machine. A pair of freshly shaved legs in a roadside motel. A runaway from Miami who would become the source of the first verse of Lou Reed's Walk on the Wild Side. She was a Warhol Superstar, trans icon, and hilarious writer as exemplified in her autobiography, A Lowlife in High Heels.
This is the origin story of Holly Woodlawn—born in Puerto Rico, raised between San...
We're back, baby! Season 2 of Dead and Kind of Famous is here for you so that you can continue to joyfully think about graveyards even though Halloween has passed. And catch up with Marissa and Courtney about how they're adjusting to living across the country from one another.
But today, we're talking about Carroll Righter, "reader to the stars" and astrological legend who made horo...
Today we bid adieu to Season 1! Join us as we visit the Hollywood Forever Cemetery to pay tribute to Season 1's final featured individuals (Tomata du Plenty and Maila Nurmi) and share some significant personal news as Courtney announces her upcoming move to Minnesota. To see our other grave offerings for Season 1, check out our instagram or substack!
In short order, we do all of the following in this episode:
• R...
Spoiler alert!!! - Tomata keeps doin' stuff in this episode. Our deep dive into his life reveals an artist who refused to be defined by any single medium, constantly evolving from drag performer to punk rock icon to folk artist without ever losing his authenticity.
When a broken leg temporarily halted Tomata's performance career in 1983, he discovered a children's paint kit in an alley and began creat...
At the intersection of drag theater, punk rock innovation, and fearless artistic evolution stands David Xavier Harrigan - better known to those in-the-know as Tomato DePlenty.
From his early days with the revolutionary Cockettes (described by John Waters as "insane hippie drag queens" creating "complete sexual anarchy"), to founding Ze Whiz Kidz in Seattle, to pioneering synthesizer-based punk wi...
Well, here it is. The final installment of our four part series on Maila Nurmi. Maila didn’t get all she deserved in her life and she never really reaped the benefits of her creations. But the life she lived was full of adventure, fascination, excitement and in many ways, love. In this particular episode, we explore her final romances, alleged marriages and marriages of convenience. We also dig into her lasting frie...
Just when Maila’s career was starting to run out of steam, some luck with Liberace kept her in the spotlight for a time. But this was quickly followed by bad decisions, bad boys and a very bad movie called Plan 9 from Outer Space. Pop in those ear buds, friend. You don’t want to miss this.
Links from the show:
https://youtu.be/alPPXVJA4Kw?si=K0PQr8H7zHZCKA1x
https://youtu.be/wtPgPYwtBhs
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 tha...
As we unravel the layers of Vampira's gothic charm, we celebrate her unique blend of dark humor and magnetic persona that captivated 1950s audiences. Picture her cruising Sunset Boulevard in full vampire regalia, her chilling scream echoing through the night—a scene that marked her groundbreaking show, Nightmare Attic. We reminisce about her vibrant friendships with Hollywood's misfits, including the infam...
Get ready to unravel the journey of a remarkable woman who bucked the expectations of her time at every turn. Maila Nurmi (better known as Vampira) was really and truly the original mistress of the night.
As we take a look at her early years, we can see that dichotomy was always present for her. Her father was a teetotaler, while her mother was an alcoholic. She loved beauty, but she also gravitated towards...
Did you know that Toto was a lil lady pup named Terry who used to pee on the rug? Well in this episode, Toto tells ALL. And she tells it in first person! Our main source for this episode was an adorable book called I, Toto, which was written by Willard Caroll after he discovered a scrapbook that shed light on Terry's life and featured her favorite cheddar biscuit recipes.
Happenstance led to Toto bec...
Today, we return to the complex story of Christopher Jones and explore his final "lost years" after he turned his back on Hollywood in the height of his fame. We unwind the tangled web of his life, from his alleged romance with Sharon Tate amidst Italian film sets, to his eerie ties with the infamous Cielo Drive.
As we reflect on Jones' troubled final years, we ponder the profound impact of...
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