Front Row Dress Circle

The two have gone together, sadly, since the small backwater orange-growing town became the movie capitol of the world. The list of stars who topped themselves is a long one and, for those of you who are interested, here’s a sample of some of them…

Olive Thomas: 1894-1920

Olive was married to Jack Pickford brother of America’s Sweetheart Mary Pickford. However both Olive and Jack were both cocaine addicts. Olive was a young actress well loved by audiences of the silent film era and once married to Jack travelled extensively together. In Paris, staying at the The Ritz, she took a fatal overdose of mercury chloride which had been prescribed to treat Jack’s syphilis. Jack claimed it was an accidental overdose but many claimed she had been depressed and had in fact killed herself intentionally.

Lupe Velez: 1908-1944

Known as The Mexican Spitfire she enjoyed a tempestuous lovelife with her husbands including Tarzan star Johnny Weissmuller. She had an affair with Gary Cooper however this ended as he refused to marry her. In 1944 Lupe was involved with German actor Harald Ramand (also known as Harald Maresch) when she discovered she was pregnant. Harald refused to marry her leaving her distraught; she swallowed a massive amount of pills in an attempt to end it all. But sadly it did not go according to plan. She regained consiousness and stumbled to the toilet to throw up when she fell and hit her head on the bowl and ended up with her head caught in the toilet bowl where she drowned. She was discovered, dead, in this tragic manner at the age of 34.

George Sanders: 1908-1972

The handsome and suave English actor was married three times: 1) Madga Gabor 2)Benita Hume 3)Zsa Zsa Gabor, sister of Magda. He was famed for his beautiful rich voice and his ability to play the high-class cad in his films. He also provided the voice for the villain Shere Khan in the animated film The Jungle Book in 1967. Given to depression throughout his life he once remarked to actor David Niven in 1937 that he intended to kill himself before he grew too old. In 1972, in a hotel in Barcelona Spain, he did just that, with five empty nembutal bottles found by his side and this note: “Dear World, I am leaving because I am bored . I feel I have lived long enough. I am leaving you with your worries in this sweet cesspool. Good luck.”

Jean Seberg: 1938-1979

The hauntingly beautiful actress of the 50’s and 60’s led a troubled life, particularly where relationships were concerned. She starred in the title role of Saint Joan and rose to prominence in the arty new wave films of French director Jean-Luc Godard (Breathless). She committed suicide in Paris in 1979, her body was discovered eleven days later in the back of her car in the 16 arrondissement after she had imbibed a massive combination of drugs and alcohol.

But this actress set a precedent in 1932 for ‘going out in true Hollywood style’…

Peg Entwistle: 1908-1932

Peg Entwistle achieved the legend and fame in her death in a way that she never would have as a struggling actress trying to crack the bigtime in 1930’s Hollywood. She became despondant and depressed at being unsuccessful at becoming the huge star she desperately dreamed of being - one of the many thousands who travelled to Hollywood from all over America in the hope of being A Star. On September 18th, 1932 at the age of just 24 she got into her car and drove to the top of Mount Lee, the slope overlooking Hollywood and which held the giant sign, which back then read, Hollywoodland.

She used a workmans ladder to climb to the top of the letter H and leapt to her death 100ft below in the ravine. It was found she did not die immediately, but slowly over two days from multiple fractures to her pelvis. Peg set a precedent; she represented the loss and failure of the hopes and dreams of all those young hopefuls who arrived in the town each week to become a star. Following in her steps, other young hopefuls who despaired of never making it killed themselves in the same manner as Peg Entwistle - from the top of the Hollywood sign. The letters, land, were removed in 1949 and the sign has stood as Hollywood to this day.

Carole Landis: 1919 - 1948

Carole Landis was one of the golden girls of Hollywood in the late 1930’s and 1940’s. She was nicknamed The Ping Girl’  and ‘The Chest’ due to her impressive 36 DD inch bust. Although she desperately wanted to be taken seriously as an actress she was willing to pose for endless cheescake photos if it helped her career. Carole’s trademark was a gold cross she always wore around her neck. The cross had been a gift from her friend Diana Lewis.

Landis appeared in a string of successful films in the early forties, usually as the second female lead. In a time when many actresses were dubbed in their singing roles, Landis’ own voice was considered good enough and was used in her few musical roles. Carole landed a contract with 20th Century Fox and began a relationship with Darryl F. Zanuck. She had roles playing opposite fellow pin-up girl Betty Grable in ‘Moon Over Miami‘ and ‘I Wake Up Screaming‘, both in 1941. When Carole ended her relationship with Zanuck, her career suffered and she was assigned roles in B-movies.

 Landis became a popular pin-up with servicemen during World War II. In 1942, she toured with comedienne Martha Raye, dancer Mitzi Mayfair and actress Kay Francis with a USO troupe in England and North Africa. Two years later, she entertained soldiers in the South Pacific with Jack Benny. Carole traveled more than 100,000 miles during the war and would spend more time visiting troops than any other actress. She nearly died from amoebic dysentery and malaria she contracted while traveling overseas.

She wrote about these experiences later on and they became the basis of a film ‘Four Jills in a Jeep’. Carole, who had suffered increasingly from depression, began an ill-fated affair with British actor Rex Harrison which ended bitterly when he refused to leave his wife, Lilli Palmer. Landis had threatened to expose their affair which threw suspicion on Harrison after Landis was found dead in her bathroom. Her death was declared suicide as she had left a note:

“Dearest Mommie - I’m sorry, really sorry, to put you through this but there is no way to avoid it - I love you darling you have been the most wonderful mom ever And that applies to all our family. I love each and every one of them dearly - Everything goes to you - Look in the files and there is a will which decrees everything - Good bye, my angel - Pray for me - Your Baby.”

However her family always maintained Harrison had a direct hand in her death claiming she was still alive when he discovered her collapsed.

RIP to all these people.

Above: Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood sign.

Popularity: 100% [?]

Divorce in Hollywood is as common as dieting but the one thing about modern day marriage breakups between the stars is that all the juiciest details tend to be kept under wraps. Libel laws…remember? but when the stars divorced back in the twenties, thirties and forties there was always a certain amount of scandal involved and some of the details were so juicy that they still make great reading even today!

* Charlie Chaplin Vs Mildred Harris (1920 )was a divorce scandal involving certain details that both delighted and shocked the public. Chaplin had married Mildred Harris, a young starlet, when she was just 16 and he was 29 years old and she had supposedly fallen pregnant to him. Almost 9 months to the day after the marriage Mildred gave birth to an extremely deformed baby who only lived for 3 days and was buried with a headstone marked ‘The little mouse’. Chaplin quickly tired of his child-bride; she had very little education and was not given to intellectual conversation. The marriage last one year and during the divorce proceedings each made a series of scurilous accusations against each other with Mildred making the most sensational one of all: she charged that her husband forced her to perform a certain sex act beginning with ‘f’ which had most of the population running for their dictionaries.

* Mary Astor Vs Franklin Thorpe was a divorce that went pretty straightforward in 1935 until the famed actress sued for custody of their young daughter. Then came The Diary! Mary Astor had previously enjoyed a passionate affair with playwright George Kaufman and wrote about it, and him, in her diary in extremely graphic detail. Her husband found the diary and used it in the case against her. The details titillated most of America!

* Debbie Reynolds Vs Eddie Fisher was legendary in that the named mistress was goddess Elizabeth Taylor. Reynolds and Fisher were the darling young couple of Hollywood with two very young children, the essence of happy wedlock, until the death of producer Mike Todd, husband of Taylor, in a plane crash in 1958. Todd had been Fisher’s mentor and closest friend and the resulting grief drew Fisher and the widow Taylor together into a passionate affair. Fishers and Reynold’s marriage folded with Debbie getting miles of sympathetic publicity from the papers and Taylor being painted and reviled as a homewrecker. Reynolds often was photographed speaking to reporters at the door of her home with a nappy pinned to her blouse and a babies bottle in her hand. She milked it for all it was worth.

Popularity: 62% [?]

In modern day Hollywood it is more the norm for the stars to get together, live together and have babies without getting married. While couples like Brad and Angelina are admired and loved by the fans today for being such a solid unmarried family unit, they would not have gotten away with it a few decades ago. In fact, there were quite a few babies born to stars who were unmarried, or married but to someone else, and these were nearly always hushed up. Even hidden. Here’s a few examples…

* Clark Gable and Loretta Young enjoyed a passionate affair whilst filming Call of the Wild in 1935. Problem was Gable was married to another woman at the time and Loretta Young was a strict catholic meaning he was technically off limits. Young fell pregnant to Gable and the strict moral code of the day prevented them becoming a couple, or revealing their secret child. Loretta Young went away for a year and returned to Hollywood with a baby girl she claimed she had adopted. The child was named Judy Young but later became better known as Judy Lewis.  Many quietly commented over the years on her striking resemblance to Clark Gable and when she grew up she penned a book about her life. She was an adult before her mother admitted the truth about her birth.

* Ingrid Bergman was publically vilified after she left her husband and young daughter for the director Roberto Rossellini; she bore him three children and for quite a long time her name was effectively mud in Hollywood…and this was the 50’s!

Many abortions were secretly dealt with too…

* Lana Turner and Tyrone Power had an affair during the late 1940’s which resulted in her falling pregnant. He got cold feet and left the terrible decision to her as to whether or not to have the baby. If she decided to terminate they had decided on a secret code phrase ‘I found the house today’ that she would say on telephoning him; if she decided not to terminate she would say ‘I did not find the house today’. Power took the phone call whereby Lana told him…’I found the house today’. Very sad really. Power quickly dumped her for unknown actress Linda Christian in 1948.

* Judy Garland was forced to terminate her first pregnancy to new husband, composer, David Rose on account that it would jeopardise her ‘good girl’ image. Despite the fact that she and Rose were married makes it even more tragic - and her husband was the one who sided with the studio bosses on the issue!

* Ava Gardner ( the most stunning woman of her era ) and husband Frank Sinatra were going through a rocky patch in their marriage whilst she was in Africa filming Mogambo with Clark Gable. She discovered she was pregnant and, against his wishes, terminated. He was reportedly devastated when she informed him. They divorced soon after but he loved her until the day she died over 30 years later.

* Going back even further - queen of the silent films Gloria Swanson had a well hushed up affair with Joseph Kennedy, father of JFK.  Kennedy was very much a married man at the time, staunch catholic, and rather a hypocrite when you look at it. However, Swanson fell pregnant to him and as it was during the 1920’s there was absolutely no question of proceeding with the pregnancy. She terminated and almost lost her life with the resulting infection.

Popularity: 52% [?]