Just like the present day Hollywood, classic Hollywood had no dearth of scandals. Here are some of them that will leave you all stunned.
The death of Virginia Rappe
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Virginia Rappe was an American model and a silent film actress who got more famous for her death rather than her career. Her death in 1921 turned out to be one of the biggest classic Hollywood scandals. As sensationalized by the then media, Rappe supposedly suffered a trauma while she was in the party at Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle’s suite number 1219 (at the St. Francis Hotel in San Francisco) on Labor Day (September 5, 1921). Later, on September 9, 1921, she died of a ruptured bladder and secondary peritonitis.
The death of Thomas Ince
An unsolved death mystery till date, the death of Thomas Ince is yet another major scandal of the classic Hollywood.He was an actor, a filmmaker and an American silent film producer who met an untimely death when he was at thepeak of his career.It was November 16, 1925, when he was on William Randolph Hearst’s yacht and then he died off a heart attack at his estate.
To go by the rumors associated, Hearst’s wrath caused Thomas Ince’s death. Jealous Hearst shot him, as he either caught Thomas with his mistress or Hearst mistook him for Chaplin, the one Hearst believed his mistress is involved with.
Elizabeth Taylor and her many lovers
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Elizabeth Taylor, a British-American actress, businesswoman and a humanitarian used to be one of the most popular stars of classic Hollywood cinema in the 1950s. However, besides her career, her love life enabled her to be in limelight almost all the time. She got popular as a woman with eight marriages. With her third husband dying in a plane crash, she began an affair with his good friend. Later, she left him for Richard Burton, which turned out as a big scandal of that time.
The murder of William Desmond Taylor
William Desmond Taylor, a prolific actor and director who people remember till date for his mysterious death in 1922.He was found dead in his bungalow and doctor blamed stomach hemorrhage responsible for his death. However, gunshot wound later surfaced asthe real reason of his demise. Quite a many rumors made rounds ranging from robbery, a murder planned by competitors, rejected lovers and more. As no one was charged for the crime, his murder became a yet another classic Hollywood scandal.
Charlie Chaplin and his obsession for young girls
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On screen life of Charlie Chaplin was an exact opposite of his off careen life. His innocent persona on screen made it hard to believe for many that he had a taste and a certain obsession for younger women. After marrying a 16-year-old girl when he was 29,he divorced her and married another 16-year-old girl after she got pregnant. He again married a young woman and then again to a teenager in his 50s.
Errol Flynn
Reputed as a playboy and a womanizer from the very start, Errol Flynn proved his reputation right when he was at the peak of his career. He met a 17-year-old girl and an aspiring actress at a party, who later accused him of seducing her. The complaint was filed against him and the overall incidence became one of the biggest scandals of the classic Hollywood.
