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Scandals of Hollywood

These days it seems as if some Hollywood celebrity is caught in a scandal every other day, and in each case the press corps swarms to the event like pigs to slop. But it's not as if any of these scandals represent something new. Hollywood folks have been getting caught in scandalous behavior involving theft, murder, or other misdeeds since the beginning of the industry.

We're not talking about Hugh Grant or Pee-Wee Herman. Even those are too recent for this site. No, we need to go back further, to the early days of Hollywood, where we find (roughly in chronological order) the follow juicy scandals:

* Back in 1920, when an actress named Olive Thomas died of poisoning, all kinds of rumors surfaced regarding the last few hours of her life, and questions are raised regarding her relationship with Jack Pickford and life insurance policies taken out on her the year before.

* In one of the most famous scandals of the era, actor Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle was accused of rape and murder in 1921, and it ruined his career, despite the fact that he apparently was innocent, railroaded by the Hearst newspapers.

* Director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in 1922. His murder was never solved, and there has been much speculation about the possible identity of the killer, even including luminaries such as Mack Sennett and Rudolph Valentino, but a site called Taylorology has kept the mystery alive, along with a lot of other related material.

* Handsome but almost forgotten actor Wallace Reid died in 1923, after a long struggle with morphine addiction brought about by his studio's need to keep him working despite injuries sustained in an on-location accident.

* Charlie Chaplin was hounded by red-baiters and tax-collectors to the point where he left the United States and lived in Switzerland. He was also well-known for his sexual activities; one biographer claimed that Nabokov's "Lolita" was inspired by Chaplin's relationship with Lita Grey.

* Jean Harlow's life was filled with scandals, in particular the suicide of her second husband, Paul Bern, not to mention her relationships with gangsters, nude photos taken at the age of 17, and a reported abortion of a child fathered by William Powell. Winona Ryder is a saint compared to Harlow -- or at least her public persona!

* Swashbuckling actor Errol Flynn was a colorful and controversial character who liked to drink, fight, and fool around, was tried three times on statutory rape charges, and was even accused of being a Nazi sympathizer!

* Actress Thelma Todd, known as the Ice Cream Blonde, died mysteriously in 1935 of carbon monoxide poisoning, and although her death was ruled a suicide, there were many who thought she was murdered.

* Silent film actress Margaret Campbell, was murdered in 1939 by her son with her former husband, German-born actor Josef Swickard. She was sexually assaulted and bludgeoned to death with a hammer. The son was also charged with 2 other murders -- a Russian dancer, who was bludgeoned to death, and actress Delia Bogard, who survived the attack. Swickard died a year later from natural causes. He was falsely rumored to have jumped from the Hollywood sign.

* In 1950, Ingrid Bergman, after having a child out of wedlock with director Roberto Rossellini, was denounced by Senator Edwin Johnson, who said she should be banned from the country. All was later forgiven.

* In 1958, Lana Turner's daughter Cheryl, fearing that her mother's life was in danger, fatally stabbed her mother's former boyfriend Johnny Stompanato, who also happened to be a mobster. The death was called justifiable homicide.

* Marilyn Monroe's death in 1962 is still the object of much discussion, most of it centering on the Kennedys.

* Director Roman Polanski's wife Sharon Tate was a victim of the madman Charlie Manson, and he was later convicted of statutory rape and fled the country to avoid jail.