Kate Smith - Lake Placid, NY - Grave of a Famous Person on Waymarking.com

Kate Smith of Greenville Virginia got her start in big time show business when she appeared on Broadway in the musical “Honeymoon Lane” in 1926. She appeared in a couple other shows but grew tired of playing the “fat lady” in burlesque comedies and turned instead to recording. Soon she was offered a radio gig which began a lengthy career hosting various variety shows which extended into the early days of television.

Besides hosting her own variety show, “The Kate Smith Hour,” Smith was a regular on other variety shows such as “The Ed Sullivan Show,” “The Tonight Show” and the “ABC Hollywood Palace.” Her recording career spanned five decades beginning in the 78-rpm era and included dozens of LPs. Kate Smith won a Grammy for her 1965 album “How Great Thou Art.”

In 1938, Irving Berlin was asked to write a patriotic song for Kate Smith to sing on her radio show. Unable to come up with anything new, the composer dusted off an old song he wrote during World War I which had been rejected. After a few small changes, Irving Berlin presented Kate with “God Bless America” which was an instant success and went on to become one of Kate Smith’s signature songs.

Kate Smith is a member of the Radio Hall of Fame, a recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom and has two stars on Hollywood’s Walk of Fame: one for recording and one for radio. From 1935 until her death in 1986, Kate Smith maintained a summer residence in Lake Placid where she is interred at the St. Agnes Cemetery.
(Sources: wikipedia.com, imdb.com.)

Description: See Long Description above. Date of birth: 05/01/1907 Date of death: 06/17/1986 Area of notoriety: Entertainment Marker Type: Tomb (above ground) Setting: Outdoor Visiting Hours/Restrictions: none Fee required?: No Web site: [Web Link]

Visit Instructions:
To post a visit log for waymarks in this category, you must have personally visited the waymark location. When logging your visit, please provide a note describing your visit experience, along with any additional information about the waymark or the surrounding area that you think others may find interesting.

We especially encourage you to include any pictures that you took during your visit to the waymark. However, only respectful photographs are allowed. Logs which include photographs representing any form of disrespectful behavior (including those showing personal items placed on or near the grave location) will be subject to deletion.

Recent Visits/Logs:

There are no logs for this waymark yet.