Like many, I find Old Hollywood mysteries fascinating – especially when they are connected to Old Hollywood.
In fact, I think many things that happened then are connected to what is happening today. The methods of covering it up have changed – we have much better technology to obfuscate truth – yet, crimes continue.
In this post, I’ve brought you a short list of some high profile case that you may not have heard of.
One case, I’m quite sure you’ve heard of – The Black Dahlia. Another, involving Kirk Douglas, you probably haven’t.
So, here goes ——>
The Murder of William Desmond Taylor (1922)
Silent film director and actor — William Desmond Taylor — was found shot in the back inside his Los Angeles bungalow. The crime scene was immediately compromised when studio executives arrived before police and began burning documents.
Suspicion fell on several high-profile actresses, including Mabel Normand and Mary Miles Minter, but a lack of evidence prevented any charges. Mabel Normand — The actress admitted to visiting William Desmond Taylor’s home the night before his body was found — was the last known person to see him alive. This effectively ended her career even though she was never charged. The ensuing press coverage created a massive public backlash against not only her, but Hollywood morality in general.
The Death of Thomas Ince (1924)
Movie mogul Thomas Ince fell ill and died after attending a party aboard the luxury yacht of media tycoon William Randolph Hearst.
While the official cause of death was listed as heart failure,
Hollywood rumors claimed Hearst shot Ince.
The whispered motive was that Hearst mistakenly targeted Ince while attempting to shoot film star Charlie Chaplin. Hearst suspected Chaplin of having an affair with his mistress, Marion Davies.
The Death of Paul Bern (1932)
Paul Bern was an MGM producer and screenwriter. He was also the newly married second husband of mega-movie-star, Jean Harlow.
Bern and Harlow married in July 1932. He was found dead on September 5, 1932, just over two months later, from a gunshot wound.
The official story is that Bern killed himself. However, there are many accounts which suggest he was murdered and that his suicide was staged.
The Death of Thelma Todd (1935)
Popular comedic actress Thelma Todd was found dead from carbon monoxide poisoning inside her car.
It was parked in a garage near her restaurant.
While authorities officially ruled her death an accidental suicide, physical evidence suggested foul play.
Todd had a split lip, bruised ribs, and her clothes were stained with blood.
Speculation persists that she was murdered by her abusive ex-husband. Or perhaps by mobsters after she refused to let organized crime use her restaurant for illegal gambling.
However, it was her current boyfriend at that time and business partner – Roland West — who received much interest in Thelma Todd’s death.
He also lived above her café. Although, West was never charged, he for years, carried an unofficial cloud of suspicion in the press.
The Disappearance of Conway Tearle’s Stepdaughter (1936)
A 20-year-old starlet named Jacqueline Hill—stepdaughter of prominent Hollywood actor Conway Tearle—walked out of her apartment to visit a friend and never returned.
Despite massive police searches, media appeals by her famous stepfather, and numerous reported sightings across California, no trace of her or her belongings was ever found.
The Murder of Georgette Bauerdorf (1944)
A wealthy young socialite and Hollywood Canteen hostess found murdered in her bathtub.
Some researchers have tried to link her death to the Black Dahlia case, though nothing’s been proven.
The Black Dahlia (Elizabeth Short, 1947)
Probably the most infamous unsolved murder in LA history.
Short, an aspiring actress, was found brutally mutilated in a vacant lot.
Hundreds of people falsely confessed over the years; the case has never been officially closed.
The Red Lipstick Murder – Jeanne French (1947)
Less than a month after Elizabeth Short’s body was found, a bulldozer operator discovered the badly beaten, nude body of a woman in a field near the Santa Monica Airport.
She was identified within hours as 45-year-old Jeanne French. A woman who’d struggled with alcoholism amid a difficult marriage to her fourth husband, Frank French, a former Marine.
The lipstick message written on her body in her own lipstick were the words “Fuck you B.D.” with “Tex” written beside it.
Police speculated the “B.D.” might have been written deliberately to falsely point toward the Black Dahlia killer as a copycat clue.
Police checked out her car, found abandoned at a drive-in restaurant with a witness placing it there around 3:15am.
However, they could never account for her whereabouts between then and her estimated time of death. Which was around 6am. The case quickly went cold.
The Disappearance of Jean Spangler (1949)
A starlet vanished after telling her family she was going to a film shoot.
She was never found, dead or alive.
However, Spangler’s family found her purse in a park with a torn note referencing a doctor and an abortion.
The torn note was addressed to “Kirk.” At the time, Douglas was working on the same set as Spangler for the film Young Man with a Horn.
Of course, rumors quickly spread that “Kirk” referred to the movie star Kirk Douglas.
The Death of Superman’s George Reeves (1959)
George Reeves was found dead of a gunshot wound, ruled a suicide, but the circumstances (no fingerprints on the gun, bruises on his body, a party downstairs he never came down for) fueled murder theories for decades.
Am interesting twist in this case – is the fact that George Reeves had been having an affair with Toni Mannix — Eddie Mannix’s wife. Mannix was an MGM executive along with being one of their head “fixers” beside Harold Strickling.
Some theories suggest either Toni or Eddie (through underworld ties) had a hand in his death.
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