Let’s get right to it. Our Hollywood tour guide was the most powerful woman in Hollywood.

Her name was June Mathis, and be honest, you’ve probably never heard of her.

Right?

It’s hard to say what exactly she did to reach such a position of power because there is very scant verifiable information about her life. In fact, her greatest recorded moment of fame was her death from a heart attack during a New York theatre production. The New York Times printed the headline “June Mathis Heart Victim”. We do know that she was born June Beulah Hughes and she took the surname of her mother’s second husband William D. Mathis as her stage name during her early years as a young vedette and assistant to the female impersonator Julian Eltinge. Her acting career lasted 13 years and was to provide her with the knowledge and insights needed to triumph in Hollywood.

She rose from the ranks of screenwriter, editorial supervisor and artistic director to being a production executive and the highest paid woman in all of Hollywood. This was no mean feat at a time when, like children, women were seen but not heard. Her name is associated with projects such as the Four Horses of the Apocalypse and Ben Hur. In fact, she has some 140 writing credits. Quite prolific, really!

It’s said that she discovered Rudolph Valentino, the earliest heart-throb of the big screen. She certainly championed his career and in spite of the fact that they had their spats and fell out over the years. When he died suddenly, June Mathis had him buried in her own plot at the Hollywood Forever cemetery. She was buried in the adjoining plot upon her death at just 40 years of age. This cemetery is just one of the many places you can visit in our Hollywood Experience, in the company of June Mathis. She knows Hollywood better than most and by the end of your visit, so will you.

Join June Mathis and let us make you a Hollywood legend for a day!

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