When Douglas tried to press charges, MGM turned to their fixer, Eddie Mannix. One of the original method actors, alongside Marlon Brando and James Dean, Clift chose his movie roles carefully, giving Oscar-nominated performances in the films From Here to Eternity, A Place in the Sun, and The Search. She was said to have slept with men and women, taken part in an orgy with the USC football team, and even performed bestiality. Guinness allegedly warned Dean that “If you get in that car, you will be found dead in it by this time next week.” Guinness’ prediction proved horrifyingly accurate when Dean died seven days later. The cause of death was reported as a ruptured spleen, but due to the scathing testimony from Rappe’s witness and party attendant Maude Delmont who “. Robin Bain's highly provocative new film, Girl Lost: A Hollywood Story, takes an unyieldingly candid look at the dark underbelly of "La La Land". When she was arrested for corrupting the morals of America’s youth with her play Sex, Mae West was sentenced to ten days in prison, with the option of paying a fine instead of serving time. The play wasn’t even allowed to be performed in New York due to widespread protests. Therefore, the term “lavender wedding” came into being—a sham wedding with a partner which would serve purely to avoid suspicious talk. Sadly, He Wasn’t Faster Than a Speeding Bullet, One persistent fact which people point to in the mystery of George Reeves’ death is that he died shortly after an affair with the wife of known Hollywood “fixer” Eddie Mannix, Harry Cohn was one of the big-time producers in Old Hollywood, actually serving as the inspiration for the movie mogul character Jack Woltz in, By the time filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl arrived in the United States in 1938, Nazi Germany had already launched its horrific assault on the Jewish population. Charles Laughton was an English actor best known for his roles in The Hunchback of Notre Dame and his Academy Award-winning performance as Henry VIII in The Private Life of Henry VIII. Thelma Todd was a very talented comedic actress who worked alongside Laurel and Hardy, Buster Keaton, and the Marx Brothers, to name a few. He was a unique performer that starred in several first rate Goldwyn films and others such as The Court Jester, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, Hans Christian Andersen, The … Factinate is a fact website that is dedicated to finding and sharing fun facts about science, history, animals, films, people, and much more. The darkest moment in the sign’s history occurred on September 16, 1932m when 24-year-old struggling actress Peg Entwistle climbed on the “H” and jumped to her death. Please submit feedback to contribute@factinate.com. One of the producers, Mervyn LeRoy, even claimed that “they had orgies in the hotel and we had to have police on about every floor.” Police were called several times to the hotel they were staying at, including an incident where one of the actors allegedly got stuck in a toilet. As for Mannix, he ended up getting a humorous portrayal in the film Hail Caesar!, which conveniently overlooked Mannix’s real-life involvement in destroying who knows how many people’s lives. Already into his second marriage, and before he himself went overseas, Huston began a fervent affair with Marietta Fitzgerald in New York while her husband was abroad. For decades, she was made to deny rumors that her adopted daughter, Judy, was the result of an affair with Gable, but this was later admitted in a 2000 memoir that was published after her death. And although some of the set stories are relatively harmless, it’s important to remember this film was made during the dark days of the all-powerful Old Hollywood system, before political correctness and legitimate workplace practices had been put into place. Hedy was married to munitions dealer and prominent fascist Friedrich Mandl, who reportedly threw huge parties where guests including figures like Italian dictator Benito Mussolini and German dictator Adolf Hitler attended. “Hitler knew she was Jewish,” she said. One of the most famous examples of a famous Hollywood figure engaging in a lavender marriage to protect himself was Rock Hudson. Before she became one of the top leading ladies of her time, Joan Crawford allegedly performed in at least one pornographic film (and she may have been underage at the time). The homicide was ruled to have been justified, proving once again that being in the Mafia doesn’t pay off in a court of law. The three adults, including Mansfield, were instantly killed, while the sleeping children in the rear of the car suffered only minor injuries. However, that all changed in 1919 when an accident on the set of The Valley of the Giant caused Reid to live with such pain that he eventually became addicted to morphine. Olivia Benson on, John Huston was a legendary filmmaker who wrote and directed some of the most acclaimed and influential American films of all time, including, Old Hollywood, like the rest of Western civilization at the time, was very cruel towards people who identified as LGBTQ—well, at least, slightly crueler than in the 21st. He also wanted to be with Hedy – she was beautiful.” The Nazi dictator also reportedly even gave Lamarr a cigarette case with a diamond swastika on it. This forced Sinatra to eat so much cheesecake that he had a furious breakdown where he threw his plate into the air while screaming at a presumably snickering Brando. Riefenstahl’s own documentary. However, rumor has it that his private life in reality was just as twisted. When she (big surprise) didn’t take kindly to this kind of treatment, Hitchcock sabotaged her career behind the scenes. Rumors abounded that Mansfield had been decapitated by the crash, but these reports were only slightly exaggerated from the severe head trauma which had been cited as the cause of death. In his book Full Service, Scotty Bowers claimed Laughton had a scat fetish. The allegations against Harvey Weinstein are horrific. While this wasn’t exactly a full-blown scandal back in the day, it was considered extreme even for the time.