Cemeteries no longer just for the dead: Spaces have a new life of their own

Cemeteries no longer just for the dead: Spaces have a new life of their own 
USA Today; by Phaedra Trethan; 10/27/24 
It all began with Rudolph Valentino. The silent movie star, one of cinema's first sex symbols, is buried in Hollywood Forever Cemetery, one of many celebrities interred there. Showing his movies for the devoted fans who showed up to remember him decades after his sudden and shocking death in 1926 at just 31, the cemetery's operators noticed the gathering grew year after year. Why not host more movie nights, especially in the final resting place of Hollywood royalty: Judy Garland, Cecil B. DeMille, Mickey Rooney, Tyrone Power and Douglas Fairbanks, to name a few, they thought? ... Hollywood Forever isn't the only cemetery offering programs beyond the usual historic tours and talks. Visitors at many U.S. cemeteries can check out movie screenings, market days, concerts, art installations and dance and theater performances. Some are even finding ways to change the conversation around death itself − and bringing life to spaces previously thought of only for the dead.