Frank E. Campbell’s humble obituary betrayed no indication that this was a man who revolutionized the mortuary business. However, researching his business in historical newspapers tells a different story. Campbell’s funeral home business pioneered the over-the-top celebrity burial and his list of clients reads like a Who’s Who of Hollywood stars. With a fleet of Rolls Royces and a private yacht, last rites at Campbell’s allowed one to truly “go out in style.”

A Star is Born

Born July 4, 1872, Campbell got his start in the death business as a casket-maker at an undertaker’s shop. But he had bigger dreams and moved to New York City at the tender age of twenty, where he spent a few years cutting his teeth in the city’s funeral parlors. This was the time of horse-drawn hearses and quiet viewings hosted at the deceased’s home. Those quiet, grim affairs would begin to look quite different after Campbell opened his own funeral home on 23rd Street in Manhattan. There, he began to change the way we mourn forever.

The Day Hollywood Wept

Campbell’s first celebrity burial was the opera singer Enrico Caruso, but it was the spectacle of Rudolph Valentino’s funeral that really skyrocketed Campbell’s business. Valentino was an Italian movie star and international sex symbol who was in the prime of his life when he suddenly collapsed at the Hotel Ambassador in Manhattan. Leading man of iconic silent films like The Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse and The Sheik, Valentino was known for his star power and captivating good looks, which earned him the nickname “Latin Lover.”

Just days after his collapse, the beloved performer was dead at the age of 31 as a result of peritonitis. The star’s sudden death shocked his fans and immediately elevated Valentino from actor to icon. An estimated 100,000 people turned up outside the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel to mark the loss of Valentino, turning the streets of Manhattan into a hysterical mob of mourners.

This was the beginning of the era of movie stars with rabid fan clubs and an active media breathlessly reporting every aspect of their lives. Prior to Valentino’s untimely demise, celebrity deaths were not the source of media frenzy and excitement they are today. In some ways, the drama of his funeral was a precursor to the public obsession with movie stars.

Buried with Her Canary Bird

Campbell’s funeral home became known for its star-studded list of clients, but it also won the hearts of those in the city who wanted something a little more special for their final farewells.

One such client put a call through to Campbell when she found her beloved pet canary dead in its cage. The elderly lady requested Campbell take the bird and embalm him, so her tiny plumed companion could be buried with her when the time came. Not one to turn down a heartfelt last wish, the funeral home took the bird and reunited him with his owner when the time came. Along with the media-circus celebrity funerals, this kind of devoted service also helped Campbell make a name for himself in New York.

Rest in Peace, Mr. Campbell

After a lifetime of providing dignity and comfort to the bereaved, Campbell passed away January 19, 1934 at the age of 61. Never one to be outdone, he requested to be buried in a casket of solid bronze. Weighing in at 1,400 pounds, the casket was entirely too large for Campbell’s requested interment site at Bergen Crest Mausoleum. And so, Campbell languished in his casket in a closet under a staircase in the mausoleum for the next fifty years, until the president of the Frank E. Campbell Funeral Chapel received the necessary permissions to move the remains to Woodlawn Cemetery. Campbell was finally laid to rest on October 3, 2001. 

He is remembered as a New York City icon and a giant in the history of the funeral business. Since Campbell’s death, his funeral home has been the last stop for celebrities like Judy Garland, John Lennon, and Heath Ledger. 

Everybody who’s anybody wants their body laid to rest at Frank E. Campbell’s.