It's Close Up, the Celebrity Cemetery Cat By Karie Bible
I am the in-house tour guide at Hollywood Forever Cemetery and have been giving tours several times a month since 2002. This work has been such an incredible gift and I've made many new friends along the way. Two years ago the cemetery tour yielded what has been perhaps my most unusual and unexpected friendship.
I was giving a tour shortly after the death of my beloved black labrador "Max". Even though he lived for 13 years, I was having a terrible time coping with the loss. One day while giving a tour, I spotted a black, shiny cat lurking at a nearby grave. The next week he showed up on my tour and started prancing up and down the crypt of director Cecil B. DeMille. Even though I've been allergic to cats, I decided to pet him. Much to my surprise, my hands didn't break out into a rash and I didn't start sneezing. This beautiful black cat took a liking to me and started following the tour through the cemetery. He was funny and seemed to revel in the attention he got from me and the guests on the tour. Since we met at DeMille's grave, I named him "Close Up" after Gloria Swanson's famous line "Alright Mr. Demille, I'm ready for my close up". The name seemed like a perfect fit.
He started following my tour every week and we became a team. When the pandemic hit, I was unable to give the tour for three months. At one point the cemetery even had to close for everyone except property owners. It was rough not being able to see "Close Up". I worried about him, but the cemetery assured me they have a cat caretaker and an entire team of people who feed the cats daily and take care of the grounds. The cats are spayed / neutered and their medical needs are met. I still missed my little furry friend. After several weeks of lock down, I was finally able to get permission for a visit. The weeks of isolation and quarantine had taken their toll and when I walked toward DeMille's grave, "Close Up" came running toward me. I sank to my knees and started crying.
After three months, I was finally able to start doing the tour again. Fortunately some things haven't changed and "Close Up" is still there every week following me around and leaping up on headstones.
Sometimes on my days off or after the tour, I spend time at the cemetery just walking around and getting some much-needed time outdoors. One thing that I've noticed is that "Close Up" seems to be very perceptive about the needs of others. One of the cat caretakers has family members buried at Hollywood Forever. She visits their grave several times a week and feeds the cats. I've watched "Close Up" interact with her. He often does things to make her laugh. She said that when she visits the cemetery, she finds herself smiling and feeling joy instead of sorrow. Other times "Close Up" will sit with grieving families for hours serving as a silent friend and companion. In a way, "Close Up" serves as an emotional support animal to countless visitors at the cemetery.
I've often come across the quote, “Everything you love is very likely to be lost, but in the end, love will return in a different way.” I like to think that "Close Up" is the embodiment of so much love that has come before from so many others. He has truly found his home and his purpose.
"Close Up" and Karie have posed together for the award-winning pet portrait photographer Diana Lundin and they've been in the video "Famous Animal Grave Tour - An Ode to Our Furry Friends" for the popular Youtube series "Hollywood Graveyard". They will also be on the new series “World’s Greatest Cemeteries” hosted by Roberto Mighty. Their episode will air on November 4 at 7:00pm on Channel KVCR. Please check your local listings. You can follow them on Instagram at @Closeupthecemeterycat for more updates.
The cemetery tour was named "Best in L.A. 2021" by Los Angeles Magazine. Karie gives full credit for this to "Close Up".
Karie Bible
Born a heterochromatic baby (put down the medical reference book - it means she's got two different colored eyes) with the last name "Bible" on Halloween night, Karie was destined to be nothing if not unique. Her passion for history and Hollywood's past led her to starting a cemetery tour in 2002 under the guidance of historian Marc Wanamaker. In keeping with her love of living history, she gives the tour in vintage gowns from her collection that spans the 1920s through the 1950s.
Karie has appeared in segments for Turner Classic Movies, CNN, History Channel and Travel Channel. She co-authored the book "Location Filming in Los Angeles" with historians Marc Wanamaker and Harry Medved and co-authored "Hollywood Celebrates the Holidays" with Mary Mallory
Hollywood Forever is a full-service funeral home, crematory, cemetery, and cultural events center in the heart of Hollywood.
Founded in 1899, the cemetery is one of the world’s most visited landmarks, and the final resting place of hundreds of Hollywood legends, including Judy Garland, Cecil B. DeMille, Rudolph Valentino, Mickey Rooney, Tyrone Power, Douglas Fairbanks, Johnny and Dee Dee Ramone, Valerie Harper, Chris Cornell, and hundreds of others, alongside thousands of neighborhood residents and individuals from across the globe. The functioning cemetery offers lawn spaces, cremation niches, mausoleum crypts, and the Beth Olam section is one of the oldest, active Jewish cemeteries in California.
Since 2000, Hollywood Forever has partnered with Cinespia to present cinema screenings each summer on the Fairbanks Lawn, and the cemetery’s Dia de Los Muertos celebration attracts over 30,000 visitors each year. Paramount Studios was built on the undeveloped south end of the original site, where the studio still operates, and the cemetery was listed on the National Register of Historic Sites in 1999.
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