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Hollywood’s golden age dazzled audiences but hid dark secrets behind the glamor. From shocking betrayals and mysterious deaths to courtroom dramas and studio cover-ups, these iconic stars and scandals shaped the era’s Hollywood lore. Join us for a deep dive into the harsh realities and jaw-dropping stories that rocked Old Hollywood before 1970.
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00:00I guarantee it's all there, the rest of America, just waiting to swallow you up and forget all about you.
00:09Welcome to Ms. Mojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the biggest PR disasters and scandals
00:14that took place during the classic Hollywood era before 1970.
00:18Yeah, what's the story?
00:19The story. I have a credible source and I'm going to run it and I think you know what story
00:24I mean.
00:26Number 30. Mae West gets arrested for sex.
00:30Long before the production code cracked down on Hollywood, Mae West was already pushing buttons on Broadway.
00:35Back in 1927, she wrote, produced, and starred in a play simply titled Sex.
00:40The show was a massive hit, but city officials were not amused by the themes of sex work and the
00:45star's suggestive humor.
00:46The theater was raided and West was arrested on moral charges.
00:49She was sentenced to 10 days in a workhouse, but ever the PR genius, she turned the punishment into a
00:54photo op.
00:55She reportedly dined with the warden and claimed she wore her silk underwear under her prison uniform,
01:00proving that you couldn't keep a good, bad girl down.
01:03Number 29. Mary Astor's Purple Diary.
01:06What have you ever given me beside money?
01:09Have you ever given me any of your confidence, any of the truth?
01:12Haven't you tried to buy my loyalty with money and nothing else?
01:14What else is there I can buy you with?
01:16In 1936, a custody battle turned into one of Tinseltown's steamiest tabloids.
01:21When actress Mary Astor fought for custody of her daughter,
01:24her ex-husband threatened to introduce her personal diary as evidence,
01:27hoping to use it as proof that she was an unfit mother.
01:30Known as the Purple Diary, it allegedly contained graphic details of her affairs with the Hollywood elite,
01:36including the married playwright George S. Kaufman.
01:39The press went wild speculating on which leading men were named in the sordid pages.
01:43Although the diary was eventually destroyed by a judge to protect the industry's reputation,
01:48the scandal surprisingly made Astor even more popular than ever,
01:52proving the timeless adage, bad news is good business.
01:55I haven't lived a good life. I've been bad.
01:59Worse than you could know.
02:01Yeah, that's good because if you actually were as innocent as you pretend to be,
02:05we'd never get anywhere.
02:06Number 28. The Mysterious Death of Thelma Todd.
02:09Say, what are you doing in there?
02:12Nothing.
02:13Come on in.
02:14Known as Hot Toddy, comedic actress Thelma Todd was a bright fixture in the 1930s,
02:19but in 1935, at the height of her fame,
02:22her body was found in her car inside the garage of her lover-slash-business partner Roland West.
02:27The official cause of death was carbon monoxide poisoning,
02:30but the circumstances were incredibly suspicious.
02:33Todd was found still wearing her evening gown and jewelry,
02:36and some report that she had a broken nose,
02:38although this was disproven by the official autopsy report.
02:41Rumors swirled that she had been murdered by the mob
02:44for refusing to let Lucky Luciano run an illegal gambling operation in her restaurant.
02:48Despite the heavy speculation and the accidental ruling,
02:51the case remains one of Hollywood's coldest mysteries.
02:54No, no, no, no, don't.
02:56My husband might be inside, and if he finds me out here, he'll wallop me.
02:59Number 27. Errol Flynn's Wicked Ways.
03:02Why you speak treason?
03:04Fluently.
03:05Have you ever heard the phrase,
03:07in like Flynn?
03:08Well, this trial cemented the phrase in American slang and gave it a specifically sexual connotation.
03:13In 1942, legendary actor Errol Flynn was charged with the sexual assault of two teenage girls.
03:19The trial was a media circus,
03:21with Flynn's defense team aggressively attacking the character of the young accusers.
03:25Flynn was ultimately acquitted, but not through great defense work.
03:28It was largely due to his charm and the studio's powerhouse legal team.
03:32While the trial destroyed the reputations of the girls,
03:35Flynn's bad boy image was only cemented further,
03:38and his career continued to flourish despite the sordid allegations.
03:41Is there nothing England's king can grant the outlaw who showed him his duty to his country?
03:45Yes, your majesty.
03:46A pardon for the men of Sherwood.
03:49Granted with all my heart.
03:50Number 26. The Death of Jean Harlow's Husband.
03:53Jean Harlow was the platinum blonde sex symbol of the 1930s,
03:57but her personal life was marred by tragedy.
03:59In 1932, Harlow's husband Paul Byrne was found dead in their home from a gunshot wound.
04:04And just two months after the couple had gotten married,
04:07police found a cryptic note addressed to his dearest dear,
04:10which alluded to his, quote,
04:12abject humiliation as the reason for the act.
04:14However, MGM fixers allegedly arrived at the scene before the police,
04:18resulting in a muddled narrative.
04:20The prevailing rumor was that Byrne ended his life due to impotence,
04:24a narrative the studio heavily pushed in order to keep Harlow out of a murder investigation.
04:28Bad Whitlock has been kidnapped.
04:36This is bad.
04:40Bad for movie stars everywhere.
04:42Number 25. Frances Farmer's Fall From Grace.
04:45Your name?
04:47You jerks drag me down here in the middle of the night,
04:49you don't know who the hell I am?
04:51Your name, lady.
04:55Frances Elena Farmer.
04:58You want me to spill it?
04:59Frances Farmer was a stunning talent who refused to play the Hollywood game,
05:03and she paid a terrible price for it.
05:05After a series of arrests for assault and driving under the influence,
05:08Farmer was famously dragged kicking and screaming from a courtroom in an image that shocked the public.
05:13Her erratic behavior led to her being involuntarily committed to a mental hospital.
05:17While the sensationalized rumors of her receiving a lobotomy have been fiercely debated,
05:22the reality was grim enough.
05:23She spent years in institutions enduring harsh treatments like electroconvulsive therapy that completely derailed her career.
05:30It remains a harrowing example of how the system treated women who didn't fall in line.
05:35Frances.
05:41You're crazy.
05:46Don't tell anybody.
05:48Number 24.
05:49Clara Bow and the Daisy DeVoe Trial.
05:51As one of Hollywood's original It Girls, after starring in 1927's It,
05:56Clara Bow defined the Roaring Twenties, but the 30s saw her demise.
06:01In 1931, Bow took her former secretary, Daisy DeVoe, to court for embezzlement.
06:06But the trial backfired spectacularly when DeVoe began airing Bow's dirty laundry to the press,
06:11revealing sordid details about the star's gambling debts, raucous partying, and fluid love life.
06:15The tabloids not only painted her as unstable and immoral, they also made up wildly exaggerated stories.
06:22The scandal shattered Bow's nerves and public image, leading her to retire at just 28.
06:27She retreated from the spotlight altogether, moving to Nevada and finding work as a rancher.
06:32Number 23.
06:33Rex Harrison and the Death of Carol Landis.
06:35But Rex Harrison was not one to alter his behavior for the sake of convention.
06:40He began a very public affair with 28-year-old actress Carol Landis,
06:46who offered Rex the kind of danger and excitement that was missing in his five-year marriage to Lily.
06:52In 1948, actress Carol Landis was found dead from an apparent overdose.
06:57The man who found her was her lover, famous British actor Rex Harrison.
07:01Instead of calling the police immediately, Harrison reportedly left the scene,
07:05went home, and waited several hours before notifying the authorities.
07:08Harrison was married to actress Lily Palmer at the time,
07:11and Landis had been distraught over his refusal to leave his wife for her.
07:15The scandal of leaving his lover's body to protect his own reputation
07:18cast a dark shadow over his personal reputation.
07:21However, it didn't stop his career from flourishing,
07:23and he later won the Oscar for My Fair Lady.
07:39Number 22, Rock Hudson's Arranged Marriage.
07:42You're a Texan now.
07:47Was that a state of mind?
07:50I'm still myself.
07:52You're my wife, honey.
07:53You're a better date.
07:54Rock Hudson was the ultimate heartthrob in the 1950s,
07:58but he had a secret that could have ended his career instantly.
08:01You see, Hudson was gay.
08:02Doesn't sound like anything today, but this was really bad news back then.
08:06To keep this out of the tabloids,
08:08agent and studio fixer Henry Wilson arranged a marriage between Hudson and his own secretary, Phyllis Gates.
08:13The union was a calculated PR move to quell rumors from Confidential magazine,
08:18which was onto the star and threatening to out him.
08:20The marriage lasted only three years,
08:22and while it successfully protected Hudson's image at the time,
08:26it stands as a sad testament to the extreme lengths that LGBTQIA plus stars had to go to survive in
08:32old Hollywood.
08:32You want to know something, Leslie?
08:36If I live to be 90,
08:40I'm never going to be able to figure you out.
08:43Number 21.
08:44Betty Davis and Joan Crawford at the Oscars.
08:46You wouldn't be able to do these awful things to me if I weren't still in this chair.
08:55But you are, Blanche!
08:58You are in that chair!
08:59The feud between these two is the stuff of legend and myth,
09:03and the fury peaked at the 1963 Academy Awards.
09:06Betty Davis was nominated for Whatever Happened to Baby Jane,
09:09while her co-star Joan Crawford was famously snubbed.
09:12Determined not to let Davis have the spotlight,
09:15Crawford actively campaigned against her,
09:17and even offered the other nominees to accept the award on their behalf if they couldn't attend.
09:21When the winner was announced as the absent and Bancroft,
09:24Crawford made a show of brushing past Davis to collect the statue on stage.
09:28It was the ultimate scene-stealing move,
09:30and probably the pettiest moment in the history of the award show.
09:33Ms. Bancroft said,
09:35Here's my little speech, dear Joan.
09:38Quote,
09:39There are three reasons why I deserve this award.
09:42Arthur Penn,
09:44Bill Gibson,
09:46and Fred Wolf.
09:48Unquote.
09:49Number 20.
09:50Walt Disney gave Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl a tour.
09:53In 1938,
09:55Adolf Hitler's grand and horrifying plan for fascist Germany was in full swing.
09:59Propaganda films were integral to getting the regime's message across,
10:03with the most famous ones being made by the documentarian Leni Riefenstahl.
10:21When Riefenstahl arrived in Hollywood with orders to get her newest documentary Olympia distributed in the US,
10:27she was met with closed gates at most of the major studios.
10:30However, she was greeted with open arms by none other than Walt Disney himself.
10:34Following Pinocchio and coming into the Fantasia period.
10:39Yeah, that about did it, you know?
10:41The genius of animation didn't want to distribute her film,
10:44but he did give Riefenstahl a tour of a studio and a sneak peek of the upcoming Fantasia.
10:49It is an alarming and disturbing bit of early Hollywood lore.
10:52Musically and dramatically, we have here a picture of the struggle between the profane and the sacred.
10:58Number 19.
10:58Jackie Coogan's parents stole his money.
11:01Having a law named after you probably sounds cool.
11:04For former child actor Jackie Coogan, the Coogan Act came about due to a painful betrayal.
11:09And if you are going to portray yourself being hysterical, you better get yourself hysterical.
11:16He rose to fame as a co-star of Charlie Chaplin
11:18before becoming one of the burgeoning American film industry's first juvenile movie stars.
11:23But the original Uncle Fester performer lost most of his fortune.
11:26I'll handle this. Remember, you took care of the gas inspector.
11:30Darling, why don't we handle this together?
11:33After his father's death, his mother and her new husband squandered the millions Coogan had made in his youth.
11:38Once he reached majority age, he sued them.
11:41He was only able to win back a portion of his earnings.
11:43And the Coogan Act was put in place to protect young performers from a similar fate.
11:48Also, under current law, all of the minor's earnings belong to the minor.
11:51No longer is a community property which is shared with the parents.
11:55Number 18.
12:10The exploits of one of Hollywood's most iconic stars have been pawed over and sensationalized
12:16in the decades since her flame burned out.
12:18Marilyn Monroe's untimely death only made the salacious details of her life more enthralling.
12:22Some of the biggest rumors concerned her alleged affairs with both President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert.
12:29Brief sexual encounters with JFK.
12:32And that after that, I think after that, some sort of relationship with RFK, Robert Kennedy.
12:41Her rendition of Happy Birthday to You at Kennedy's 45th birthday celebration was sultry enough to raise a few eyebrows.
12:47That Hollywood's biggest star had become entangled with the first family was pretty sordid stuff, especially by mid-century standards.
12:55In the early dawn hours after Marilyn was found dead, ironically, Wilson had been hired with Otage by Lawford to
13:03clear her house of information that might compromise the Kennedys.
13:06Number 17.
13:08Director William Desmond Taylor's unsolved murder.
13:11He was a successful director of the silent era, but his mysterious death ended up overshadowing his contributions to filmmaking.
13:17William Desmond Taylor was found shot to death in his bungalow apartment in 1922.
13:21Before the police and reporters arrived, Paramount Studio Manager Charles Aiden visited the crime scene upon hearing the news.
13:31It's believed that Aiden removed evidence from Taylor's apartment that morning.
13:36The list of suspects was a who's who of movie stars and industry people, many of whose lives were affected
13:42by suspicions about their involvement.
13:44Between a compromised crime scene and PR spinning by Taylor's home studio, the truth of what happened became murkier by
13:50the minute.
13:50When considering the roster of stars associated with the case, the motive for the studio interfering was quite strong.
13:58Though, this only leads to more questions.
14:01The director's shady past and suspicions concerning his sexuality allowed the press to portray his murder as a heavy-handed
14:07morality tale about the evils of Hollywood.
14:09The case remains unsolved to this day.
14:12Even the IRA and the Ku Klux Klan were suspected by some, but alas, many were named, many even confessed,
14:18but none were ever convicted.
14:20Number 16.
14:21The Hollywood Ten.
14:23In the late 1940s, the Red Scare gripped many in America.
14:27The House Un-American Activities Committee clamped down on the film industry, declaring it a hotbed of communism and communist
14:33sympathizers.
14:34I believe I have the right to be confronted with any evidence which supports this question.
14:38I should like to see what you have.
14:41Even some of the biggest movie stars were expected to answer questions before the committee, and compelled to rat out
14:46their colleagues.
14:47Those who didn't appear before the committee faced the effective end of their careers.
14:51You refuse to answer that question, is that correct?
14:54I have told you that I will offer my beliefs, my affiliations, and everything else to the American public, and
15:00they will know where I stand as they do from what I have written.
15:03Stand away from the stand.
15:04I have written for Americanism for many years, and I...
15:06Stand away from the stand.
15:08Ten writers and directors stood firm in their beliefs.
15:11They refused to testify before Congress, deeming the investigation unconstitutional, and were blacklisted as a result.
15:17Though some would find work years after, many did not, and their careers and reputations never recovered.
15:24Ten of us are going to prison.
15:26Casualties of the Cold War.
15:29How many more will that be?
15:30There need be no more.
15:33That depends on you.
15:34Number 15.
15:35Lana Turner's Daughter Murdered Her Lover
15:37Considered one of the most striking actresses of the era, Lana Turner's real life was just as dramatic as the
15:43ones she lived on screen.
15:45In 1958, she became the center of a media frenzy.
15:49And when he dropped his arms went out, so that I still did not see that there was blood or
16:01a wound.
16:01Her boyfriend, the infamous mafia enforcer John Stampanato Jr., was found stabbed to death in her home.
16:07The culprit turned out to be her teenage daughter Cheryl Crane, who reportedly killed him to defend her mother.
16:13It was like a soap opera playing out in real time.
16:15He was threatening her life.
16:18And this wasn't the first episode of this?
16:19No, and there was no doubt in my mind that he was serious.
16:23Reports of Turner tearfully taking the stand were met with derision by some,
16:27and gave birth to theories that Turner killed the man herself.
16:30Crane was eventually cleared, but the episode was one of the most dramatic in Tinseltown history.
16:35For years, I thought of it as my only identity.
16:38You know, it was like, you'd say my name, Cheryl Crane, and immediately everybody'd go,
16:43Oh yes, who in 1958?
16:47It's been a part of my life ever since it happened.
16:50Number 14.
16:51Fatty Arbuckle's Hotel Party
16:53In the early 1920s, Hollywood and its stars were becoming the subject of scandal sheet stories about unchecked hedonism and
16:59immorality.
17:00The Arbuckle manslaughter trials played right into that narrative.
17:03Arbuckle was the biggest name around that they could certainly focus on.
17:09He handed them this opportunity on a platter, unfortunately,
17:12and they took it and turned it into a media circus,
17:15the likes of which had never been seen in this country before.
17:18In 1921, a young actress named Virginia Rapet was taken ill at a party in a San Francisco hotel suite
17:25rented by popular film comedian Roscoe Fatty Arbuckle.
17:28Four days later, she was dead.
17:30What happened at the party has become the stuff of true crime legend.
17:33A young girl lost her life, a movie star was implicated, and the studios had to hold their breath.
17:40What we do know is that Arbuckle was charged with her death and tried three separate times before being acquitted.
17:46While the true events of the party will probably never be known for certain,
17:50the ensuing scandal was enough to destroy his career forever.
17:54Whether or not he was guilty, whether or not people throughout history remember him as guilty or not,
18:00they will always remember him as the person who put a negative face on the Hollywood celebrity.
18:07Number 13. Alfred Hitchcock's Treatment of His Leading Lady
18:10Actresses like Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, and Eva St. Marie embodied the type of woman Alfred Hitchcock found most fascinating
18:17on screen.
18:18In Tippi Hedren, he thought he had found his own personal cool blonde muse.
18:22You don't love me.
18:25I'm just something you've caught.
18:27You think I'm some kind of animal you've trapped.
18:30That's right, you are.
18:32Hitchcock took ownership over his young protege's career.
18:35He cast her in two leading roles, but their working relationship turned hostile.
18:39There was no one that I could go to to say, this is what is happening, and it's wrong.
18:46There was nobody to go to.
18:48Hedren has made several allegations that Hitchcock was wildly inappropriate,
18:52if not downright abusive to her on the sets of The Birds and Marnie.
18:56She says her refusal to entertain his romantic overtures led him to sabotage her career.
19:01I said, do what you have to do, and out the door I went.
19:04And did he ruin your career?
19:05Yes, he did.
19:06He kept me under contract, paid me my $600 a week.
19:10Ingrid Bergman was an enormously popular star,
19:14with film roles including a beloved nun and a saint.
19:18So, when news reached America that Ingrid Bergman was pregnant with her Italian director's child,
19:23the gossip columnists descended on the story like hungry piranha.
19:26I was a danger for American womanhood.
19:29Even my voice over the radio was supposed to be dangerous.
19:33Bergman was married to someone else at the time.
19:35Her infidelity, divorce, and subsequent marriage to director Roberto Rossellini
19:39cost her a great deal of goodwill both in America and in her home country of Sweden.
19:44Of course I was hurt, but I didn't think that what I had done was so much other people's business.
19:50I thought that you should look upon an actress as an actress.
19:53What she does on the screen, on the stage, that's what you pay for, and that's what you get.
19:57For the first half of the 1950s, she mostly lived in Italy with her new husband.
20:02It took her a while to end her exile and return to Hollywood.
20:06Once she did, though, she was welcomed back with open arms and an Oscar.
20:10Forgive me, ladies and gentlemen.
20:12Only God's forgiveness is important.
20:19Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds were not only movie stars, but friends.
20:23And few celebrity couples were as beloved as Reynolds and her first husband, the singer Eddie Fisher.
20:28And oh, so suddenly, you mean oh, so much to me.
20:39When Taylor's husband, Mike Todd, died tragically, she found comfort in Fisher's company.
20:44Well, apparently that blossomed into something bigger.
20:46Naturally, my father flew to Elizabeth's side, gradually making his way slowly to her front.
20:56Taylor and Fisher's affair was a shocker, and the response was swift, with the public decrying the relationship.
21:03Reynolds and Fisher filed for divorce, leaving Fisher and Taylor free to marry.
21:07Carrie Fisher likened her parents' divorce to the modern-day love triangle between Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie.
21:13You're bound to get a headache, no?
21:16Twice gave me a whopper.
21:18Number 10.
21:19The way Tallulah Bankhead lived her life.
21:21If Bankhead were around today, she'd be the celebrity we'd all be keeping up with.
21:26And how come when I climbed into this lifeboat, you were the only one in it, all dressed up like
21:29you knew you were going someplace?
21:31I was going someplace. I was going into a lifeboat.
21:34Her personal life garnered plenty of attention, especially her candidness in discussing sex and sexuality.
21:40The actress boasted many male and female partners, and apparently once accepted a film role just to bed actor Gary
21:47Cooper.
21:48Do you love me?
21:52I have loved you.
21:53Bankhead had four abortions, and was 31 when she had a hysterectomy.
21:58The MI5 also investigated her alleged entanglements with male Eaton students.
22:04Additionally, she was very open about her substance use.
22:07It's worth noting that the actress came from a distinguished political family in Alabama.
22:12Although she ruffled many feathers, she was too busy living her best life to care.
22:16When Miss Bankhead is bored, Miss Bankhead will let you know.
22:22Number 9. Clark Gable's Secret Love Child
22:25While filming the 1935 flick Call of the Wild, Gable's co-star Loretta Young became pregnant, rumoredly with his child.
22:33They went on location, one of the largest snowstorms hit, and the whole company was snowed in.
22:42So my mother and father had a very long time to get to know each other and fall in love.
22:48However, Gable was married then, and Young worried that if the studio found out, they'd force her to terminate and
22:54ruin both their careers.
22:56Young disappeared for a while and kept the baby hidden for about 19 months, eventually claiming to have adopted the
23:01child.
23:02However, the infant shared her dad's features, and Young even had her ears surgically pinned back to hide the likeness.
23:18Years later, Young's daughter-in-law, Linda Lewis, shared that a 1998 episode of Larry King Live
23:24led Young to understand that her child had been conceived during a non-consensual interaction.
23:31Number 8. Peg Entwistle, a.k.a. Hollywood Sign Girl, struggled with the pressures of Hollywood.
23:37She was always the cautionary tale.
23:39The idea that Hollywood can chew you up and spit you out and not really be fair.
23:44In September of 1932, a woman went hiking near the famous Hollywood sign.
23:49She came across a jacket, a shoe, and a purse containing a note.
23:53Sadly, she soon spotted the lifeless owner of the items,
23:56British actress Peg Entwistle further down the mountain.
24:05Initially a Broadway actress, Entwistle headed to Los Angeles after scoring roles in Romney Brent's play The Mad Hopes
24:11and later the feature Thirteen Women, the latter of which marked her posthumous film debut.
24:17Shortly after being told that RKO wouldn't be renewing her contract,
24:21Entwistle told her uncle, who she was living with, that she was going to the drugstore and then meeting some
24:25friends.
24:26Instead, she climbed the Hollywood sign and tragically ended her life.
24:31She was subsequently nicknamed the Hollywood Sign Girl by tabloids.
24:35Some say that Lana Del Rey's song, Lust for Life, whose lyrics begin,
24:39Climb up the age of the Hollywood sign.
24:44Is a direct reference to Peg Entwistle.
24:46Number 7. J. Edgar Hoover kept tabs on celebrities.
24:49Having the top job in the FBI comes with significant power and responsibility.
24:55Mr. Hoover apparently prioritized keeping tabs on anyone he deemed might hold quote-unquote un-American, aka communist, values.
25:03If you hung modern art on your walls, had a multiracial social circle, or signed petitions against nuclear weapons,
25:10you might just have been a communist.
25:12Sure, it's the FBI's job to protect their country, but not all of Hoover's intentions were supposedly rooted in patriotism.
25:19Apparently, he kept personal files on high-profile individuals to use as blackmail.
25:25What he was eager to do was let the person in the power position know he knew what they were
25:31doing wrong.
25:32In some cases, he allegedly even deliberately leaked information.
25:36Some notable subjects include Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Walt Disney, and Marlena Dietrich.
25:41It wasn't just Hollywood A-listers he tracked, either, leading some to believe this fodder helped him hold on to
25:47his job for so long.
25:49The files were destroyed very quickly after his passing.
25:53Saying at least 25 binders and 35 boxes were put in the basement, monitored by employee Annie Fields.
26:01No one knows what became of them.
26:04Number 6. Fatal working conditions.
26:06As you may have guessed, health and safety were not exactly top priorities back in the day.
26:15The movie-making world of 1925 to 1930 was reportedly linked to almost 11,000 injuries, 55 of which were
26:23fatal in California.
26:25Howard Hughes, director of the 1930 flick Hell's Angels, wanted the film's aerial shots to be both believable and spectacular,
26:32and paid a great deal to pull it off.
26:35And no, we don't just mean the millions of dollars it cost.
26:39God damn it.
26:41Why the hell do they look so slow? This isn't what it was like up there. They look like a
26:44bunch of goddamn models.
26:46Hughes, an aviation enthusiast and record-breaking pilot, decided to perform one of the film's most dangerous stunts himself.
26:52This resulted in a fractured skull, and he had to undergo surgery.
26:57However, a mechanic and three stunt pilots paid the ultimate price for Hughes' vision.
27:02You may be directing this movie, Howard, but what you're asking, we can't do it.
27:05Don't tell me I can't do it. Don't tell me it can't be done.
27:08The gyro forces are too much here.
27:10You send these planes into simultaneous barrel rolls, and they won't make it, Howard.
27:13It's the goddamn climax of the picture, Frank, all right? You make it work.
27:16Number 5. William Randolph Hearst's yacht party ends in tragedy.
27:19In 1924, prolific Hollywood silent filmmaker Thomas H. Ince died after attending William Randolph Hearst's yacht party.
27:28Rumors began to swirl around the mysterious circumstances of his untimely demise.
27:33We know he's dead. That's the one fact that we know.
27:36But since there's so many different stories, I mean, it's pretty much like the movie Clue.
27:40One account suggests that Hearst believed his partner, Marion Davies,
27:44was also involved with the silent movie legend, Charlie Chaplin.
27:47Side note, she had also reportedly been linked to Ince.
27:51In Jealousy, Hearst intended to shoot Chaplin, but got the wrong guy.
27:55Ince did a slow-mo, no, he makes money for Hollywood.
28:04And someone got shot, and it was Ince.
28:08We're sure that story sold many papers, but it's probably untrue.
28:13The more likely story is that Ince suffered from ill health,
28:16and perhaps this night of raucous partying was too much for his weak heart to bear.
28:21Thomas Hintz didn't die of natural causes.
28:24Wait, no, yeah, he did not.
28:26Thomas Hintz did not die of murder.
28:31He died of natural causes.
28:33Nice try.
28:37According to LAPD reports, on June 16th, 1959, the Superman actor suffered a fatal gun wound.
28:45The official report stated that it was self-inflicted.
28:48After hanging up his superhero cape,
28:50Reeves apparently struggled personally while looking for work.
28:53But George, that's all you were good for.
28:55Ten-year-olds and shut-ins.
28:58That was the best you were ever going to be.
29:01I knew that.
29:03Why didn't you?
29:04However, many believed there was foul play,
29:07and some pointed fingers at his fiancée, Lenore Lemon.
29:10Lemon and her guests reportedly waited 45 minutes
29:14before calling the cops after hearing the gunshot.
29:16Actor Fred Crane supposedly stated that Lemon returned to the room,
29:20saying, quote,
29:22Another theory is that Hollywood bigwig Eddie Mannix ordered a hit on Reeves,
29:26who allegedly had an affair with his wife, Tony Lanier.
29:29But with no fingerprints on the weapon, this mystery remains unsolved.
29:35You have anything to tell me?
29:36About what?
29:39Anything I need to have a story ready for.
29:42Number 3. Charlie Chaplin
29:44Chaplin was married four times, and two of his brides were minors.
29:48His second wife, Lolita McMurray, a.k.a. Lita Gray,
29:52was in her mid-teens when they started dating.
29:55He was very taken with me.
29:56He had his cameraman photograph me
30:00in the position of the famous painting, The Age of Innocence.
30:04He thought that I resembled that little girl in the oil painting.
30:08They quickly married in 1924 to avoid a scandal
30:11and keep Chaplin out of prison after she became pregnant.
30:14In 1927, during their divorce proceedings,
30:17Gray claimed that Chaplin had tried to force her into an abortion.
30:21She also described the, quote,
30:23revolting, degrading, and offensive way he treated her.
30:26I think Charlie's real love was his character that he created, really.
30:32And anything that appeared to threaten that
30:35would bring out the worst in the man.
30:38Gray was awarded the then-unusually-large divorce settlement
30:41of $825,000, and Chaplin's career never really recovered.
30:46This wasn't his only scandal, either.
30:49In the early 1950s, the actor moved to Switzerland
30:52after the U.S. denied him re-entry over his political beliefs.
30:55I would like to have told them
30:56that the sooner I was rid of that hate-beleaguered atmosphere,
30:59the better that I was fed up of America's insults and moral papacity.
31:03Number two, MGM's treatment of Judy Garland.
31:06Judy Garland appeared in dozens of movies for MGM.
31:09Back then, child labor laws were not really adhered to.
31:13Instead, the studio forced her to take pet pills
31:16to keep her energized during long shoots.
31:19These were also used to control her weight.
31:21I'm honestly very hungry.
31:26Those will take the edge off.
31:28No, I gotta sleep tonight.
31:31Halpert will give you something for that later.
31:33While filming The Wizard of Oz,
31:35various studio executives would body shame the actress,
31:38driving her further toward a reliance on these substances.
31:41Garland won a special Academy Award for her performance as Dorothy Gale
31:45and was launched into stardom,
31:47becoming her generation's girl next door.
31:49But at what cost?
31:51Supposedly, this was the catalyst for the substance use disorder
31:55that would tragically take her life.
31:56Maybe everybody wanted a piece of Judy.
31:59Maybe it's just Judy herself.
32:02When you have someone with that much talent,
32:05the exploitation of it becomes part of the adulation.
32:11Before we continue, be sure to subscribe to our channel
32:13and ring the bell to get notified about our latest videos.
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32:23and switch on notifications.
32:26Number one.
32:28Multiple stars were coerced into terminating pregnancies.
32:31Back in the day, it was almost like an unspoken rule
32:34that the birth of a child meant the death of a career.
32:37At the end, having a child without a father
32:39would present a public relations problem for the studio.
32:41The aquatic pictures do very nicely for us.
32:43Ava Gardner, who terminated two pregnancies,
32:46wrote in her 1990 autobiography,
32:49MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies.
32:53This procedure was not yet legal to the average American woman,
32:57yet film studios readily used them to control their female stars.
33:01Or, as one unnamed source put it,
33:04Abortions were our birth control.
33:06Apparently, in some cases,
33:08they also added clauses giving them the right to decide
33:10when or even whether their stars could marry.
33:13You see, so it really was a wicked, wicked contract.
33:16Betty Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland,
33:19Dorothy Dandridge, and more were all victims of the studio's rules.
33:22And I had two marriages.
33:23It just cost the studio a lot of money to bust them up.
33:26Well, we had to have those annulled.
33:27One was to a minor mob figure.
33:29Vince was not minor.
33:30What do you make of these stories?
33:31Let us know in the comments.
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