Actor Raul Julia-Levy saddened by condition of father's grave

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Actor Raul Julia-Levy saddened by condition of father's grave

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LOS ANGELES, CA -- After returning from visiting his father's eternal resting place in San Juan, Puerto Rico, actor/producer Raul Julia-Levy said he was disheartened to see how much his paternal family's lawn crypt and burial site have degraded since his father's interment some sixteen years ago.

"There were no signs of any recent family visitation," said Julia-Levy, the biological firstborn son of legendary actor Raúl Juliá.

"There were no flowers on his grave. "It just looked like no one cared."

Julia-Levy spent New Year's Eve 2010 at the Juliá family's private plot at Buxeda Cemetery in San Juan where Juliá, his parents and a roster of the Juliá bloodline are buried underground -- becoming one with the earth.

Paying tribute to his father was already a sentimental experience for Julia-Levy, who first met his sire only four years prior to his departure from the physical world. After noticing signs of disrepair, Julia-Levy said he became overwrought with both sadness and disappointment.

"After my emotions subsided, I looked around and noticed so much negligence, from a dirty family crypt to hard-to-read names on my family's gravemarker," said Julia-Levy.

Stretching from a magnificent crypt bearing the likeness of the Virgin Mary cradling the crucified body of her son, Jesus, the Juliá plot reaches some 500 square feet -- making it one of the larger and more pronounced memorials at the historic cemetery.

Julia-Levy said he sent urgent correspondence on January 3, asking cemetery management to work more admirably to improve the cleanliness and cosmetics of the Juliá family plot.

"This is not the way I want my father to be memorialized," said Julia-Levy. "He deserves better."

Juliá, an accomplished thespian and humanitarian, died in 1994 following complications from a stroke; he was 54.

Julia-Levy is a television and motion picture actor who is set to star opposite Jean-Claude Van Damme in "Havana Heat," a film scheduled to shoot on location in Colombia.

Van Damme also shared the screen with Julia-Levy's father in the movie "Street Fighter." 

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