Who Else is Buried With Jim Morrison?

James Douglas Morrison (1943-1971) was the singer and front man for the L.A. based rock group The Doors.  A brilliant lyricist and poet who originally studied at UCLA’s famous film school, Morrison lived the fast-paced, iconoclastic, drug-induced life of a 1960s rock star until his early death in Paris.

Morrison was buried at Cimetiere du Pere Lachaise at 16 rue du Repose on the northeast side of Paris.  The gravesite is almost hidden between two rows of other graves that each face outward.  You have to search with some determination to find it because there are scores of erroneous graffiti markers saying things like “Jim is near” that send you in opposite directions.  When I asked a groundskeeper in butchered French “Pardon monsieur, s’il vous plait, ou est Jim Morrison?” he just smiled, pointed behind me and said “Oui, oui, Jim, Jim.” 

Thousands of fans regularly flock to this cluttered, tree-lined cemetery, the largest in Paris and among the most famous in the world.  It is a part of their pilgrimage to Morrison’s final resting place.  People snap photos, light candles or drink alcohol while writing graffiti across the adjacent grave markers.  Yet most have no idea that many other famous artists, writers, actors and composers are buried there as well.  That’s why Morrison chose this location for his burial site.  Here is a short list in no particular order of some of the better-known people.

Oscar Wilde - Irish writer

Max Ernst - German Surrealist painter

Jacques Louis David - French Classical painter

Gertrude Stein - American writer

Camille Pissaro - French Impressionist painter

Frederic Chopin - Polish pianist and composer

Eugene Delacroix - French Romantic painter

Honore Daumier - French cartoonist and painter

Sarah Bernardt - British actress

Victor Hugo - French poet and novelist

Amedeo Modigliani - Italian painter

Antoine-Jean Gros - French Napoleonic painter

Marcel Proust - French writer

Guillaume Apolinaire - French poet

Honore Balzac - French novelist

Georges Seurat - French Post-Impressionist painter

Jean-Baptiste Moliere - French actor

Camille Carot - French painter

Felix Nadar - French Photographer

Dominique Ingres - French Classical painter

Antonio Rossini - Italian composer

Georges Melies - French film maker

Theodore Gericault - French Romantic painter

Gustave Caillebotte - French painter

Yves Montand - French movie actor

Jim Morrison - American poet, singer

You can download an updated site map and more information about Pere Lachaise Cemetery and Morrison’s grave, including photographs, on line at: www.geocities.com/SunsetStrip/Palms/2914/…

                                                                               -Ken Magri