As Labor Day approaches, my mind turns to Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle, who during that holiday weekend in 1921, may or may not have caused the death of 25-year-old Virginia Rappe. 99 years later, any time I pass San Francisco’s St. Francis hotel I still think about the case. 99 years later, we’re also still arguing over Arbuckle’s conviction.
There’s something about actors that makes crimes they’re involved in just a bit more fascinating than crimes that involve normies like you and me. Sometimes I wonder if I’d as readily know who Bernie Madoff is if he hadn’t snagged Kevin Bacon and Kyra Sedgwick in his scheme (and when I see a direct-to-streaming Bacon property, I do sometimes think “oh, Bernie.”)
Have there been allegations against an actor you were particularly loath to believe? (Or that you found especially easy to believe?) Are there actors you believe got an unfair shake in court because of their on-screen persona? And why do you think it’’s so fascinating when a Hollywood figure makes headlines for swiping something other than an undeserved Academy Award nod? Let’s hash out our favorite Hollywood crimes and see if we can figure out the strange intersection between acting for work and acting to avoid a prison cell. — EB
The main one for me is Woody Allen. There used to be a half-dozen of his films that I would put in my top 50 all-time favorites. My absolute favorite was Husbands and Wives. I haven't tried to watch it, or any Woody Allen movie, in the past ten years. I think I gave him the benefit of the doubt much longer than a lot of people did. But eventually I realized that there was no point in holding out hope that he was unfairly maligned, because now his works were guilty pleasures, hold the pleasure.
I'm obsessed with the Anthony Pellicano/Linda Fiorentino/Mark Rossini case and am desperately waiting for someone to write the definitive non-fiction book about it. Pellicano was released from prison last year (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/arts/anthony-pellicano-prison-release.html). Maybe he'll write a tell-all.
So in spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love and in fall, a young woman’s fancy turns to thoughts of potential rape and murder, is that it? Karina Longworth and the book Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood, have convinced me that Fatty was innocent. I like all the oldies: William Desmond Taylor, Lana Turner/Johnny Stompanato - what about the death of Ronni Chasen, or Bonnie Lee Bakely/Robert Blake? Especially when big studios were involved to cover up for the stars...those are fascinating to me. If I could choose a time in history to visit, it would be America from 1910 - 1939. Give me ALL the crime, and let Weegee photograph it. Plus, I would have had the advantage of living through a previous pandemic. Suffragettes! Talkies! Gangsters! Speakeasies! Prohibition!
This is a fairly minor “crime”, but Jared Padalecki was arrested last November for (allegedly) punching out two employees of a bar he co-owns, one of which was some level of manager. Having worked for PA’s Responsible Alcohol Management Program for 5 years, I was quick to tell my SPN fan friends that bar owners being arrested for drunk and disorderly in their own bar happens much more than you think. He wasn’t able to make the SPN convention in DC the week of his arrest, but Jensen Ackles was quick to tell us that when Jared bonded out and returned to Vancouver to film, Jensen brought him on the set in handcuffs. And the only reason the whole crew wasn’t wearing orange jumpsuits when that happened is that they couldn’t get them fast enough. 😂
I could bang on about this for hours but will just quickly drop a book rec (via AHP or Kstrina Longsworth I think) for City of Nets, in Hollywood in the 40s.
The main one for me is Woody Allen. There used to be a half-dozen of his films that I would put in my top 50 all-time favorites. My absolute favorite was Husbands and Wives. I haven't tried to watch it, or any Woody Allen movie, in the past ten years. I think I gave him the benefit of the doubt much longer than a lot of people did. But eventually I realized that there was no point in holding out hope that he was unfairly maligned, because now his works were guilty pleasures, hold the pleasure.
I'm obsessed with the Anthony Pellicano/Linda Fiorentino/Mark Rossini case and am desperately waiting for someone to write the definitive non-fiction book about it. Pellicano was released from prison last year (https://www.nytimes.com/2019/03/22/arts/anthony-pellicano-prison-release.html). Maybe he'll write a tell-all.
So in spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love and in fall, a young woman’s fancy turns to thoughts of potential rape and murder, is that it? Karina Longworth and the book Tinseltown: Murder, Morphine and Madness at the Dawn of Hollywood, have convinced me that Fatty was innocent. I like all the oldies: William Desmond Taylor, Lana Turner/Johnny Stompanato - what about the death of Ronni Chasen, or Bonnie Lee Bakely/Robert Blake? Especially when big studios were involved to cover up for the stars...those are fascinating to me. If I could choose a time in history to visit, it would be America from 1910 - 1939. Give me ALL the crime, and let Weegee photograph it. Plus, I would have had the advantage of living through a previous pandemic. Suffragettes! Talkies! Gangsters! Speakeasies! Prohibition!
This is a fairly minor “crime”, but Jared Padalecki was arrested last November for (allegedly) punching out two employees of a bar he co-owns, one of which was some level of manager. Having worked for PA’s Responsible Alcohol Management Program for 5 years, I was quick to tell my SPN fan friends that bar owners being arrested for drunk and disorderly in their own bar happens much more than you think. He wasn’t able to make the SPN convention in DC the week of his arrest, but Jensen Ackles was quick to tell us that when Jared bonded out and returned to Vancouver to film, Jensen brought him on the set in handcuffs. And the only reason the whole crew wasn’t wearing orange jumpsuits when that happened is that they couldn’t get them fast enough. 😂
I could bang on about this for hours but will just quickly drop a book rec (via AHP or Kstrina Longsworth I think) for City of Nets, in Hollywood in the 40s.
It feels weird sometimes that John Landis had a big time career after the Twilight Zone deaths.