The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals Read online

  Michelle Morgan was the president of the Marilyn Lives Society, a UK fan club, from 1991 to 2007. She is the author of Marilyn’s Addresses and Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed. She is the co-producer of the upcoming documentary Gable: The Ties that Bind with Prospect House Entertainment. She lives in Northamptonshire.

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  Also by Michelle Morgan

  Marilyn Monroe: Private and Undisclosed

  THE MAMMOTH BOOK OF

  Hollywood

  Scandals

  Michelle Morgan

  Constable & Robinson Ltd

  55–56 Russell Square

  London WC1B 4HP

  www.constablerobinson.com

  First published in the UK by Robinson,

  an imprint of Constable & Robinson Ltd, 2013

  Copyright © Michelle Morgan, 2013

  The right of Michelle Morgan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs & Patents Act 1988.

  All rights reserved. This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without written permission from the publisher and without a similar condition, including this condition, being imposed on the subsequent purchaser.

  A copy of the British Library Cataloguing in Publication

  Data is available from the British Library

  UK ISBN: 978-1-47210-033-7 (paperback)

  UK ISBN: 978-1-47210-034-4 (ebook)

  1 3 5 7 9 10 8 6 4 2

  First published in the United States in 2013 by Running Press Book Publishers,

  A Member of the Perseus Books Group

  All rights reserved under the Pan-American and International Copyright Conventions

  This book may not be reproduced in whole or in part, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system now known or hereafter invented, without permission from the publisher.

  Books published by Running Press are available at special discounts for bulk purchases in the United States by corporations, institutions, and other organizations. For more information, please contact the Special Markets Department at the Perseus Books Group, 2300 Chestnut Street, Suite 200, Philadelphia, PA 19103, or call (800) 810-4145, ext. 5000, or e-mail [email protected].

  US ISBN: 978-0-7624-4946-0

  eISBN: 978-1-4721-0034-4

  US Library of Congress Control Number: 2013933735

  9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

  Digit on the right indicates the number of this printing

  Running Press Book Publishers

  2300 Chestnut Street

  Philadelphia, PA 19103-4371

  Visit us on the web!

  www.runningpress.com

  Printed and bound in the UK

  Cover photography and design: Ken Leeder

  This book is dedicated to my dear friend, Claire Hollies

  Slater, who has been in my life since we were both

  eleven years old. She is one of the strongest women I

  know and will always be an inspiration to me.

  To my grandparents, Bill, Lily, Cosimo Pacitti and

  Pearl, for teaching me all about “the olden days” and

  inspiring my love for times gone by.

  And to the memory of my dear friend Ross

  McNaughton, who was really looking forward to this

  book.

  Acknowledgements

  I would like to thank my friends and readers who not only pointed me in the direction of various scandals, but also provided a lot of information, help and support along the way. In that regard I would particularly like to thank Eric Woodard, Richard Kirby and Hanna Nixon, who all sent items that they felt would inspire my work on this project.

  To my agent, Robert Smith; all the staff at Constable & Robinson, and my wonderful editor Howard Watson.

  Christina Rice from the Los Angeles Public Library helped me so much during the writing of this book; while it seems clichéd to say that it could not have been written without her, I honestly believe that to be true.

  I would like to thank my wonderful husband Richard, who has supported and loved me for the past twenty-six years, and Mum, Dad, Paul, Wendy and Angelina for always being there for me.

  And last but by no means least, my gorgeous daughter Daisy, for inspiring me every single day for the past nine years. I love you, baby; all my dreams came true because of you.

  Contents

  1. The Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle Scandal

  2. The Choy Ling Foo Dance Troupe

  3. The Life and Death of Norman “Kid McCoy” Selby

  4. Lucille Ricksen, the Adult Child Star

  5. The “Almost Perfect” Murder

  6. Clara Bow’s Scandalous Love Life

  7. Lottie Pickford: Mary’s Naughty Sister

  8. Christine Collins and the Wineville Chicken Coop Murders

  9. Clara Bow, the Lawsuit and the Breakdown

  10. Peg Entwistle and the Hollywood Sign

  11. The Mysterious Death of Paul Bern

  12. The Tragic Death of Russ Columbo

  13. The Fall of Karl Dane

  14. The Life and Death of Lou-Tellegen

  15. The Strange Death of Thelma Todd

  16. Clark Gable’s Baby Scandals

  17. Aleta Freel Alexander and Ross Alexander

  18. The Knickerbocker Hotel

  19. Jean Harlow, Hollywood’s Baby

  20. The Sad Death of Marie Prevost

  21. The Rape of Patricia Douglas

  22. Florence Lawrence: Hollywood’s First Forgotten Star

  23. Clark Gable Tackles a Burglar

  24. The Suicide Apartments

  25. The Tragic Love of Peggy Shannon and Albert Roberts

  26. Mrs Gable: The Carole Lombard Tragedy

  27. Miss Hot Tamale, Lupe Vélez

  28. Carole Landis, the Heartbroken Star

  29. Marilyn Monroe’s Nude Calendar Scandal

  30. The Wrong Door Raid

  31. The Sudden Death of James Dean

  32. The Mysterious Death of Lana Turner’s Boyfriend

  33. Marilyn Monroe: Suicide, Accident or Murder?

  34. The Murder of Ramón Novarro

  35. The Bizarre Dea
th of Albert Dekker

  36. The Death of Pete Duel

  37. The Dreadful Murder of Sal Mineo

  38. Elvis Presley, the King of Rock and Roll

  39. Mommie Dearest and My Mother’s Keeper

  40. The Deaths of Charles Wagenheim and Victor Kilian

  41. Natalie Wood Drowns Mysteriously

  42. John Belushi Dies at the Chateau Marmont

  43. Madonna’s Nude Scandals

  44. Rock Hudson Dies of AIDS

  45. The Tumultuous Marriage of Madonna and Sean Penn

  46. Zsa Zsa Gabor Slaps a Policeman

  47. River Phoenix Dies Outside the Viper Room

  48. Madonna’s Hollywood Stalker

  49. Hugh Grant’s Hollywood Scandal

  50. John Denver Leaves on a Jet Plane

  51. The Ups and Downs in the Life of George Michael

  52. Winona Ryder Is Arrested for Shoplifting

  53. The Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston and Angelina Jolie Love Triangle

  54. The Tragic Life and Death of Anna Nicole Smith

  55. Michael Jackson, the Man from Neverland

  56. The Marriage Break-up of Kelsey and Camille Grammer

  57. Arnold Schwarzenegger’s Love Child

  58. The Very Public Meltdown of Charlie Sheen

  59. The Relationship of Demi Moore and Ashton Kutcher

  60. The Rise and Fall of Whitney Houston

  61. The Marriage of Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes

  Introduction

  “There are three sides to every story . . . His, hers and the truth.” – Anon

  Some people consider Hollywood a location; some an industry; others a state of mind. To me, and for the purpose of this book, Hollywood is a combination of all three. Some of the scandals in this book happened in California where Hollywood is located, of course, while others may have happened elsewhere but are included here because the people concerned were (or are) part of the Hollywood industry and legend.

  Within these pages you will read about strange deaths, tragedies, suicides, sex scandals, robberies, murders and much, much more. These scandals run the gamut from the days of silent films right up to the present day, and show that while times may change, the extraordinary lives people live and the things they get up to are the same now as they were a hundred years ago. People are drawn to scandal; scandal is drawn to them. It all goes on no matter if the star is from the 1920s or the present day.

  This book covers over sixty different scandals from the high-profile – Whitney Houston’s death, the Fatty Arbuckle court case and the fatal stabbing of Lana Turner’s boyfriend – to those scandals long since forgotten, such as the death of actor Albert Dekker or the colourful life of boxer/actor Norman Selby. Some scandals are small; others so large I wondered if they would ever come to a conclusion, but all are revealing, tragic, outrageous and at times – such as the case of Zsa Zsa Gabor clobbering a policeman – somewhat entertaining.

  When I first began writing this book, it became clear very early on that there was a huge amount of information to get through, and many areas to cover. With that in mind I decided that, rather than zip through every scandal with just an ounce of information, I really wanted to delve into the archives to bring out many facts about each and every story I wrote. With that in mind, each chapter is a story in itself – an investigation into the lives of the stars and the underbelly of Hollywood society – and it is my belief that no other book has been written which covers not only almost a hundred years of Hollywood scandals, but also in such an in-depth manner.

  It has been an absolute pleasure to write this book; I have been introduced to many extraordinary stars and situations, and have really learned a great deal. In that regard I very much hope that you enjoy reading the finished book as much as I have enjoyed writing it.

  Michelle Morgan

  1

  The Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle Scandal

  Hollywood has seen hundreds – maybe thousands – of scandals during the course of the past hundred years, but the first and probably most memorable one was the Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle scandal, which brought Hollywood to its knees in the early 1920s.

  Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle was born on 24 March 1887, in Kansas, to Mollie and William Goodrich Arbuckle. The saying goes that he weighed somewhere between fourteen and sixteen pounds at birth and his brother was so traumatized by the sight of him that he actually fled from the room. This was not the most positive of entrances to the world, and was made worse when his father wondered if such a huge child could possibly be his own. The birth – not surprisingly – was so horrific that Roscoe’s mother never fully recovered and the health problems she encountered afterwards were said to be contributory factors when she passed away twelve short years later.

  But long before death came to the Arbuckle family, they moved to Santa Ana, California, where Roscoe developed a strong interest in the theatre. His mother tried desperately to encourage her child to develop what seemed to be a very natural talent, but this did not sit well with his father, who took to telling the child that he would go nowhere in life; especially in “the show business”. The frustrated Mollie complained bitterly that her husband was being too hard on the boy, but showing a strength of character that would do him good in the years to come, Roscoe carried on with his dream regardless and gained a job with the Frank Bacon stock company when he was just eight years old.

  Shortly afterwards the child’s embittered father decided to leave the family and move to Watsonville, California, saying he was going to look for gold. Devastation later hit when Mollie passed away and it was decided that Roscoe should go to live with his father, since by this time he was the only child who was still living at home. The child did not find much comfort in the thought of living with the man who had laughed at his dreams and abandoned him completely, but he went to Watsonville anyway, anxious to discover if his father had changed in any way since he had last seen him. Unfortunately for Roscoe, however, on hearing that the child would be moving to his new home town, the neglectful father fled once again. By the time the child arrived at the train station, he was well and truly on his own.

  With no choice but to raise and support himself, it was not long before Roscoe found his way into show business once again, singing songs in local theatres and, by 1904, working for entrepreneur Sid Grauman, firstly as a ticket taker and then as an entertainer at the Unique Theater in San Francisco. Thus began a theatre career which saw Roscoe touring not only the United States but China and Japan too, where his funny routines, clowning and singing were a huge hit with the vaudeville audience and he loved the attention he received.

  By August 1908 Arbuckle was in Long Beach where he met a seventeen-year-old woman called Minta Durfee. Short and petite, she told him she was not interested in men of his size, but he soon won her over with his personality and together they set up a comedy duo and married several months later. After that, both their careers began to take off and they often acted together in early Hollywood comedies, the first being Fatty’s Day Off in 1913. But while things were going well in his life at last, there was still part of Roscoe Arbuckle that never got over the early death of his mother and abandonment by his father, as witnessed by Minta on many occasions during their marriage.

  “He always said he would never live to be 50,” she told reporters. “We were married when we were just kids and he used to drive me to distraction when he said this.”

  Roscoe’s career went off like a bullet when producer Mack Sennett took a shine to him and decided to offer him a contract. The producer was especially pleased at how agile the actor was, particularly given his huge size, and was impressed by the amount of acrobatic moves he could make for comedy value: back flips, somersaults, tumbles . . . he could do them all. The joy went both ways, as given the opportunity of signing with a studio, Roscoe was able to meet and work with Hollywood star Mabel Normand, as well as later mentoring future stars such as Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. Arbuckle’s status as
a comedic genius was now set in stone, and his future looked bright.

  It wasn’t long before other studios started to develop a keen interest in the actor and a bidding war began which saw Paramount sign Roscoe on an unheard-of-million dollar contract in 1914. Sadly, the marriage between Minta and Roscoe was beginning to break down and they became estranged around the time the Paramount contract was drawn up. Some say the breakdown in the marriage came as a result of a clause in Arbuckle’s contract which forbade him to be married, which seems a little extreme but could nonetheless be true. However, the cause was more likely the fact that the couple had been through various personal tragedies in the recent past, including miscarriage and an inability to have children, and this most certainly would have added to their marital problems.

  Talking about the end of the marriage some years later, Minta told reporters:

  When we were married I was 17 and my husband was 21. That was back in 1908. Five years ago we agreed to disagree and I received a separate maintenance. Unfortunately – or perhaps fortunately, as you please, there are no children. We were not bitter against each other. We simply decided that we would remain good friends. Mr Arbuckle has been very generous in his treatment of me financially – I have not had to work during these years and last February he made me a present of a fine automobile.

  As his marriage was breaking down, so too was the state of Roscoe’s health. He began drinking heavily, and after suffering from an infection in his leg in 1916, he became addicted to morphine. He was also developing a big distaste for his nickname, “Fatty”, which he had endured since childhood and was quickly overtaking his real name in terms of popularity. The characters he played were often also called “Fatty” and this was certainly the name by which the media and fans knew him, but it was something he wanted to get away from. He began encouraging everyone to call him Roscoe, and anyone caught calling him Fatty to his face would be met by the stern reply, “I’ve got a name you know!”

  After a brief stint running his own film company, “Comique”, the actor went on to sign another lucrative contract with Paramount, this time for $3 million to make up to eighteen feature films. To say this was a scoop for Roscoe would be an understatement; $1 million was a fortune, but three? He was on top of the world. Unfortunately, his new-found position as a top earner in Hollywood left him wide open for trouble and in September 1921 Roscoe Arbuckle found out that the higher you climb, the further you fall, when all hell broke loose at a party he hosted during Labor Day weekend.