Tag: Russell (Lillian)

  • Lillian Russell Moore Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    Lillian Russell Moore mausoleum

    This is the Lillian Russell who was widely considered the most beautiful woman in the world in the late 1800s and into the 1900s. Her fourth and last husband was Alexander Pollock Moore, who owned the Leader in Pittsburgh. When she died unexpectedly in 1922, he gave her this tiny but tasteful mausoleum; he was buried with her later, but her name is the one above the columns, and the epitaph is hers: “The world is better for her having lived.”

    Lillian Russell and Alexander Pollock Moore

    Mrs. Moore’s opinion as “Immigration Inspector” was that Europe was sending us its worthless dregs; she is sometimes blamed for the restrictive immigration policies that followed, but it is very likely that the Harding administration appointed her to reinforce and not to create anti-immigrant prejudice. She injured herself in a very minor way on the trip back, but died unexpectedly from complications.

    Initials in bronze

    The initials of both residents are rendered in bronze on the doors.

    Stained glass in the mausoleum

    The simple stained glass has suffered some damage, which should be fairly easy to repair.

  • Lillian Russell Moore Mausoleum, Allegheny Cemetery

    Probably the most famous beauty in American history, Lillian Russell married four times. Her fourth marriage was to Alexander Pollock Moore, publisher of the Leader in Pittsburgh, and it seems to have been a happy union. When Lillian died in 1922, her mourning husband put up this mausoleum, with the simple epitaph “The world is better for her having lived.” Mr. Moore later went on to be ambassador to Spain and then to Peru, but when he finally joined his wife, she still got top billing. His initials on the door are the only external indication that Mr. Moore is buried here, too.