The Kensico Cemetery was founded in 1889 in Valhalla at a time when many of the cemeteries in New York City were filling up, and several rural cemeteries were founded near the railroads that served the metropolis. Initially 250 acres (100 ha) in size, the cemetery was expanded to 600 acres (2.4 km2) in 1905, but reduced to 460 acres (1.9 km2) in 1912, when a portion of its land was sold to the neighboring Gate of Heaven Cemetery.

The Kensico Cemetery is the final resting place of the actress Billie Burke, who played Glinda, the "Good Witch of the North", in the classic film The Wizard of Oz. Also interred within Kensico Cemetery and Gate of Heaven Cemetery are the big band leader Tommy Dorsey; the New Yorker cartoonist Peter Arno; the former CBS News president Fred Friendly; the legendary New York Yankees star Lou Gehrig; the film star and comedian Danny Kaye; the comedian and TV pioneer Soupy Sales; the virtuoso pianist, composer, and conductor, Sergei Rachmaninoff; the author Ayn Rand; NBC founder David Sarnoff; artist Robert De Niro, Sr.; and the first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America, James E. West.

It is also where the remains lie of Herbert Howard Booth, the son of the Salvation Army founder William Booth, who was the founder of the Salvation Army Musical Department. Giovanni Turini, a sculptor from Italy, who was born in 1841 and died in 1899, made the statue of Giuseppe Garibaldi, a man he served in the fighting surrounding the unification of Italy, in Washington Square, and also the bust of Giuseppe Mazzini in Central Park is buried there, as is actress Anne Bancroft (Brooks) (Born: September 17, 1931 – Died: June 6, 2005).

It is also the resting place of Harriet Quimby, America's first certified female pilot. Famous Pakistani delegate to the United Nations, Professor Syed Ahmed Shah Bukhari also known by his pen name Patras Bokhari is also buried there.

Notable interments in Kensico division

• Richard Abbott (1899-1986) - Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Section, Lot 453
• Mary Adams (1910-1973) - Actress. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Virginia Admiral (1915-2000) - Painter and poet, mother of Robert De Niro
• Elizabeth Chase Allen (1832-1911) - Author and poet
• Glenn Anders (1889–1981), American actor
• Edward Franklin Albee II (1857–1930), Vaudeville impresario
• John Emory Andrus (1841–1934), mayor of Yonkers, New York, and a U.S. Congressman
• Peter Arno (1904–1968), cartoonist
• Victor Balasic Jr., (Victor Balasz) (1897-1943) Entertainer. Member of the Balasic Family Acrobats and Vaudeville Performers. He is buried in the National Vaudeville Association section of Kensico Cemetery. Plot: Lot 7822, Section 59,60, grave 291
• Anne Bancroft (1931–2005), stage, screen, and television actress. Her most notable performance was 'Mrs. Robinson' in The Graduate, Wife of Mel Brooks
• Wendy Barrie (1912–1978), actress
• Ed Barrow (1868–1953), hall of fame baseball manager and executive
• Marion Bauer (1882–1955), American composer
• Aubrey Beattie (1865-1944) Stage and Screen Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Lee Beggs (1870-1943) Actor, motion picture director. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Malcolm Lee Beggs (1907-1956) Actor. Cause of death: Murdered. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Frank Behrens (1919-1986) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 427
• Henri Bendel (1868–1936), fashion designer, famed for the Bendel bonnet
• Vivian Blaine (1921–1995), Actress/singer.
• William Blaisdell (1865-1931) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Ralph Albert Blakelock (1847–1919), Romanticist painter
• Jerri Blanchard (1900-1984), Actress. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 405
• Paul Bonwit (1862–1939), founder of Bonwit Teller department store
• Evangeline Booth (1865–1950), evangelist, daughter of Salvation Army founder, fourth General of The Salvation Army
• Herbert Booth (1862–1926), songwriter, son of Salvation Army founder
• Sully Boyar (Irvin) (1923-2001), Stage and film actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 327
• Russ Brown (1892–1964), actor
• Thomas Broadhurst (1858-1936), Playwright. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Billie Burke (1885–1970), actress.
• Georgia M. Burke (1878-1985) Actress. Plot: Actors Fund Lot 456
• Henry Burr (1882–1941), Canadian singer of popular songs
• William J. Butler (1860–1927), Irish silent film actor
• John Call (1908-1973), Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 427
• Romaine Callender (1883-1976) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Hope Cameron (1920-1998) Stage, film, and television actress. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot 1110
• Ralph Chambers (1892-1968) Actor. Plot: Actors' Plot Lot 400
• Andy Clark (1894-1965), Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Dudley Clements (1889-1947) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Andy Coakley (1882–1963), baseball player
• Frank Conroy (1890–1964), British film and stage actor
• Bigelow Cooper, (1867-1953) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Harry Cooper (1904–2000), hall of fame golfer
• Frederick E. Crane (1869–1947), Chief Judge of the NY Court of Appeals
• Cheryl Crawford (1902–1986), theatrical producer
• Milton Cross (1897–1975), radio announcer
• Edward W. Curley (1873–1940), U.S. Congressman
• George Ticknor Curtis (1812-1894), American author, writer, historian and lawyer.
• Royal Cutter, (1874-1955) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Charles Dalton (1869-1942) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Harry Davenport (1866–1949), American film and stage actor
• Olive Deering (1918-1986), actress
• Dolly Dawn (1916-2002), Singer. Plot: Actors Fund Lot 321
• William Wallace Denslow (1856-1915) illustrator.
• Robert De Niro, Sr., artist, father of actor Robert De Niro
• Peter DeRose, (1900–1953), Hall of Fame composer
• Elliott Dexter (1870–1941), American film and stage actor
• Lew Dockstader (1856-1924), vaudeville comedian.[1]
• Luigi Palma di Cesnola, (1832-1904) Civil War Congressional Medal of Honor Recipient.
• Charles Dickson (1855-1927) Actor.
• Harry Dornton, (1866-1931) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Tommy Dorsey (1905–1956), swing-era trombonist
• Malcolm J. Dunn, (1869-1946), Actor, Motion Picture Director. Plot: Actors' Fund
• J. Gordon Edwards (1867–1925), prolific silent film director
• Sherman Edwards (1919–1981), Tony Award winning composer and songwriter
• Angna Enters (1897–1989), entertainer
• Charles Esdale (1873-1937) Actor.
• Judith Evelyn (1913–1967), stage actress
• Geraldine Farrar (1882–1967), opera singer
• Sid Farrar (1859–1935), Major League baseball player
• Emanuel Feuermann (1902–1942), master cellist
• Ezio Flagello (1931-2009) Opera Singer. Plot: Section 10, Lot 87, Grave 2
• Viola Fortesque (1875-1953) Actress. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Gloria Foster (1933-2001) Actress. Plot: Actor's Fund Plot
• Alexander Frank (1866-1939) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund Lot
• Harry Frazee (1880–1929), owner of the Boston Red Sox.
• Truman Gaige (1906-2002) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Albert Gaston (1851-1931) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Echlin Gayer (1877-1926) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Lou Gehrig (1903–1941), Hall of Fame baseball player
• Dorothy Graham (1893-1959) Author.
• Julian Greer (1871-1928) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Ulu Grosbard (1929-2012) Motion picture and stage director, producer
• Leonard Grover Jr. (1858-1947) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Chalres W. Harbury (1843-1928) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Thomas Hardie (1864-1928) Actor. Plot: Actors' Fund
• Marion Harris (1896–1944), American popular singer
• Valerie Jill Haworth (1945-2011) British movie and stage actress
• Grace Henderson (1860–1944), stage actress
• Gustave Herter (1830-1898), furniture maker and interior decorator
• Al Hodge (1912–1979), actor.
• May Irwin (1862-1938), stage comedienne
• Danny Kaye (1913–1987), comedic actor
• Guy Kibbee (1882–1956), American stage and film actor
• Joseph Kilgour (1863–1933), Canadian actor of the silent era
• Ruth Laredo (1937–2005), pianist
• William Van Duzer Lawrence (1842–1927), founder of Sarah Lawrence College
• Herbert H. Lehman (1878–1963), politician
• Jeffreys Lewis (abt. 1852-1926), stage actress
• Joseph J. Little (1841–1913), U.S. Representative from New York
• Cissie Loftus (1876–1943), Glasgow, Scottish-born and reared actress, singer, comedian and vaudevillian
• Dorothy Loudon (1933–2003), Tony Award winning actress
• Tommy Manville (1894–1967), heir to the Johns Manville asbestos fortune
• Jack McGowan (1894–1977), Broadway writer, performer, and producer
• Claudia McNeil (1917–1993), motion picture and television actress
• Herman A. Metz (1867–1934), U.S. Congressman
• Anna Moffo (1932–2006), soprano
• William Muldoon (1852–1933), America's first wrestling champion
• Allan Nevins (1890–1971), American historian and journalist
• Anne Nichols (1891–1966), playwright and screenwriter
• Carlotta Nillson (1876-1951), stage actress
• Frank O'Connor (1897–1979), American actor and husband of novelist and philosopher Ayn Rand
• Caroline Love Goodwin O'Day (1875–1943), United States Representative from New York
• Eulace Peacock (1914-1996), track star who beat Jesse Owens a majority of the time
• Ann Pennington (1893–1971), popular Ziegfeld stage star
• David Graham Phillips (1867–1911), journalist and novelist
• Harriet Quimby (1875–1912), pioneer aviatrix
• Sergei Rachmaninoff (1873–1943), composer, pianist, and conductor
• Ayn Rand (1905–1982), author, philosopher
• Lawrence Jossenberger (1894-1935), actor under name Larry Rich
• Jacob Ruppert (1867–1939), owned the New York Yankees
• David Sarnoff (1891–1971), broadcaster and head of RCA
• Fritzi Scheff (1879–1954), American actress and vocalist
• Gordon Scott (1926–2007), actor
• Gil Scott-Heron (1949 – 2011) American soul and jazz poet, musician
• Ann Shoemaker (1891–1978), American actress
• Richard B. Shull (1929–1999), American character actor
• Ivan F. Simpson (1875-1951), Scottish character actor
• Alison Skipworth (1863–1952), English stage and screen actress
• Alfred Holland Smith (1863–1924), president of the New York Central Railroad
• Howard Smith (1893–1968), American character actor
• Peter Moore Speer (1862–1933), U.S. Congressman
• Ellsworth Milton Statler (1863–1928), American hotel pioneer
• Henry Stephenson (1871–1956), actor
• Max Stern (businessman) (1898–1982), entrepreneur, philanthropist
• Ghity Amiel Lindenbaum Stern, philanthropist
• Lewis Stone (1879–1953), film character actor
• Amos Sulka, founder of international men's apparel store
• Oscar W. Swift (1869–1940), U.S. Congressman
• Fay Templeton (1865–1939), Broadway star
• Gertrude Thanhouser (1880–1951), actress
• Benjamin I. Taylor (1877–1946), U.S. Congressman
• Deems Taylor (1885–1966), composer and journalist
• Wen-Ying Tsai (1928-2013), Pioneer American cybernetic sculptor
• William L. Ward (1856–1933), U.S. Congressman
• Charles Weidman (1901–1975), pioneer of American modern dance
• James E. West (1876–1948), first Chief Scout Executive of the Boy Scouts of America (Section 187, Lot 14037, Computer Number 15669)
• Spencer Wishart (1889-1914), American racecar driver
• William B. Williams (1923–1986), disc jockey
• John North Willys (1873–1935), automobile manufacturer
• Charles E. Wilson (1886-1972), president of General Electric
• Francis Wilson (1854–1935), American actor
• Blanche Yurka (1887–1974), American theatre and film actress
• Herbert Zelenko (1906–1979), U.S. Congressman
• Florenz Ziegfeld (1869–1932), producer of the Ziegfeld Follies

Notable interments in Sharon Gardens division

• Paddy Chayefsky (1923–1981), screenwriter, winner of three Academy Awards
• Fred Friendly (1915–1998), broadcaster
• Robert Merrill (1917–2004), baritone, Metropolitan opera star
• Beverly Sills (1929–2007), operatic soprano