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On 11 June 2007 I again visited Lidingö Kyrka to leave a card and (artificial) flowers at Gerald's gravestone.
It was a beautiful, warm and sunny day. Along with my friends, I arrived at around 11 a.m. and placed the new flowers in the cup which I'd arranged to have beneath his stone two years ago, and attached the card thereto. The choice of white and red carnations and forget-me-nots were deliberate in the "language of flowers". At the foot of the card I attached Scotland/America and Scotland/Sweden flag badges to denote the three countries involved. Also, the colour of the flowers denotes both the American flag and the UK flag.
The green label seen in the photo above was attached to the stone when I arrived, so after I had finished I went to the Churchyard office to ask what it meant. It denoted that there were no known living relatives who could be contacted to attend to the stone. I filled in a form with my name and home address in the event that Gerald's son or stepsons, whose names I also added to the form, may wish to make their addresses known to the Churchyard office. I was assured that the label would be removed from the stone but, when I returned on Friday 15 June, this had not yet happened. I also discovered from this form that Gerald had died in Södermalm, City of Stockholm.
I have also posted a dedication to Gerald's "Find A Grave" website, as follows:
Monday 11 June 2007
The sun shone on Södermalm today
And on the leafy Lidingö glade where you forever stay.
It was a joy to visit you
And a great sadness too.
I will return, I know not when.
But, until I come back again
Three flowers and a card I left this day
Saying to you all I want to say.
On Wednesday 13 June I went to the National Archive of Recorded Sound and Moving Images at Karlavägen 98 in the Karlaplan district of Stockholm and viewed "Wild West Story", Gerald's 1964 film made and registered in Sweden, in which the good guys speak Swedish and the bad guys (Gerald et al) speak in English, with no subtitles. It is a comedy and I enjoyed it very much, despite not being familiar with Swedish. Gerald was dressed as a cowboy, all in black, with a two-gun holster tricked in silver.
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The Lidingö Tidning newspaper again ran an article about my visit, published on Tuesday 19 June. Here's a photo of the article, translation hereunder:
Translation
"Actor is Honoured Again"
For the third year in a row Linda Wood has visited Lidingö and its churchyard. The purpose, as before, was to honour the memory of American actor Gerald Mohr, whose resting place is in the Garden of Remembrance.
Mohr was, at the end of his career, a regular visitor to Sweden. He died of a sudden heart attack after filming a pilot episode of a new TV series, "Private Entrance". He died in 1968.
Linda Wood, who rediscovered her teenage idol a few years ago when her local TV channel was showing repeat episodes of "Bonanza" has, in the meantime, built a website dedicated to her idol as well as collecting a large number of his films, radio plays and TV series.
There are a lot of them! On IMDb.com (an internet movie database), there are 144 roles listed during a career stretching from 1939 to 1968. He acted in over 500 radio plays, 73 feature films and 100 episodes on TV. His main roles were as baddies or private detectives. In 4 films he had the leading role and was reputedly a good character actor.
"He always gave that little bit extra to his roles." says Linda.
During this third visit, the main purpose of which was to lay flowers at the plaque in the Garden of Remembrance on the actor's birthday, Linda has made some new discoveries.
"I have found the Swedish film "Wild West Story" in which Mohr plays a baddie opposite Carl Gustav Lindstedt and Lena Granhagen. I found it in the Swedish Sound and Picture Archive and am having a private viewing." she says, beaming with joy.
In answer to the question as to whether she intends to make the pilgrimage to the Garden of Remembrance at Lidingö Church every year, she answers "As long as I can afford it."
Written by Joachim Björk.
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As I had done last year, I returned alone to Lidingö Kyrka on Friday 15 June, the day before we flew home, and spoke to the lady in the office, who assured me that the green card would be removed. I spent a short time at Gerald's stone after I'd spoken to her. It was again a beautiful day, in a beautiful place. At noon I had to go, as I had an appointment with the editor of the Lidingö Tidning. The newspaper again ran a short article on my visit, but I was told that it would not be printed until Tuesday 19 June and that I would be sent copies.
I hope that I will be able to return at a future date, but, if I cannot be there next year, the lady in the church office said that she would make sure any card I sent would be placed at his stone on 11 June.
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