7 Actors And Actresses Who Died In Strange Circumstances
Cinema was born at the end of the 19th century, but it still took a few years to become the mass spectacle that we know today. Soon an incipient star system began to revolve around him, that is, a myriad of actors and actresses who reflected the dreams of the spectators on the screen.
Also since the beginning of cinema there have been real scandals, often caused by deaths in strange circumstances.. Many of them have not yet been able to be clarified, despite the fact that a century has passed since some of these disappearances. In this article we invite you to explore the tragic end of 7 actors and actresses who died in strange circumstances that are still unresolved.
Movie stars who died in strange circumstances that have not been clarified
From the times of silent cinema to the current era. The history of cinema is full of actors and actresses who died strangely and whose deaths still remain a mystery. If you want to meet 7 of these characters, keep reading.
1. Olive Thomas (1894-1920), the first Hollywood scandal
Undisputed star of silent cinema, Olive Thomas embodied the image of the crazy flapper of the 1920s. From a modest family, after working in erotic shows she managed to carve out a niche for herself in the cinema, and became, overnight, a true star.
His dissipated life and his scandals with drugs and speed (he even ran over a child when he was driving recklessly and, probably, under the influence of alcohol) raised blisters in American society. But the biggest scandal came with her death: in September 1920, Olive died in Paris, as a result of an overdose of mercury chloride. How the mercury got into his body is something that, a hundred years later, remains a mystery. Suicide? Murder by her husband? Be that as it may, the star died at just twenty-six years old and just when her career was beginning to take off..
2. Virginia Rappe (1891-121), the second victim of the “new Babylon”
Just one year after the controversial death of Olive Thomas, a very young aspiring actress, Virginia Rappe, also died surrounded by an aura of mystery and scandal. It all started at a famous party organized by actor Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle at the St. Francis Hotel (San Francisco), which brought together the cream of Hollywood in the 1920s. At that time, the star system was already becoming known. as “new Babylon”, since the chaos was continuous. Arbuckle’s party promised to follow in this wake.
Four days after the celebration, Virginia died due to, officially, peritonitis. It seems that Rappe suffered from cystitis, in addition to a supposed venereal disease, which could have been the trigger for the fatal peritonitis. The case could have stayed here, but one of the party attendees accused the host of having brutally raped the young woman, which could have caused her death..
According to the tabloid press, Arbuckle raped her with a bottle, causing her irreparable injuries. At the trial, the actor was declared innocent, but his career could not continue after the event. Virginia’s death caused safety laws to be reviewed, especially towards women, in golden Hollywood.
3. Thomas Ince (1880-1924), the mystery of the Oneida
Thomas Ince was a versatile artist; In addition to being an actor, he was a director and screenwriter. In November 1924 he was aboard the yacht Oneida, whose owner was the famous millionaire William Randolph Hearst (1863-1951). Among the illustrious attendees of the cruise were other actors and directors of the stature of Charles Chaplin (1889-1977), as well as the journalist Louella Parsons (1881-1972), the voice of the sensationalist chronicle of the “new Babylon.”
During the voyage, Thomas Ince died suddenly; The official cause of death was a heart attack. However, the actor’s death would have loud echoes in the press. And he soon began to spread the word that there was a shooting fight involved. Apparently, Randolph Hearst wanted to shoot Chaplin, jealous of his relationship with actress Marion Davis, who by the way was also traveling on the yacht, and accidentally killed Ince.. The truth was never known, and it was said that Hearst used her money and his power to silence the witnesses… and the doctor who performed the “autopsy.”
Young Elisabeth Short was twenty-two years old and wanted to be an actress. To do this she moved to Los Angeles, but what she did not know was that, instead of walking towards fame, she was walking towards her death. On January 15, 1947, a mother was walking with her daughter through Leimert Park, and she soon sighted what she, according to her testimony, mistook for the pieces of an abandoned mannequin.
Later, as he approached, he realized that it was the mutilated body of a woman who, mysteriously, did not have a drop of blood. To make the case more disturbing, his killer had carved a horrendous smile on the corpse’s face with a knife, the well-known “Glasgow smile.”.
The body was that of poor Elisabeth. The crime appeared in all the media, and the police received an avalanche of calls and messages with alleged clues. But the sad truth is that more than seven decades have passed and the terrible death of Elisabeth Short remains unsolved.
5. Marilyn Monroe (1926-1962), the great enigma of the 20th century
It is probably one of the best-known deaths in strange circumstances: that of the actress Marilyn Monroe, an icon par excellence not of cinema, but of the 20th century in general. In the early morning of August 5, 1962, the Los Angeles police received a call from Marilyn’s psychiatrist, telling them that the actress was dead. Apparently, she had died due to an overdose of sleeping pills.
However, things were not so simple. Some years later, in 1985, Anthony Summers published his famous work Goddess: The secret lives of Marilyn Monroe (see bibliography), where another theory was proposed: that of murder. Summers picked up the strange call that Sydney Guilaroff, the actress’s stylist, received the night before her death, on August 4. Apparently, Marilyn told Guilaroff that she had argued with Robert F. Kennedy (with whom she had an affair), the president’s brother, and that she felt scared..
It was exactly the same thing that he described in a letter to his friend Truman Capote (1924-1984), according to the latest evidence that was discovered in 2015. So, was Marilyn Monroe murdered? Was it really a suicide? Or maybe it was an accidental overdose? The mystery remains open.
6. Natalie Wood (1938-1981), a second yacht mystery
Behind her sweet and smiling face hid a depressive and unstable woman, according to the report in which her daughter, Natasha Wagner Gregson, participated (see bibliography). However, when she died under strange circumstances, it was not thought to be suicide, but rather an accident.
On November 29, 1981, actress Natalie Wood, her husband Richard Wagner and actor Christopher Walken were aboard the yacht Splendor, owned by the actress and named in honor of Splendor in the Grass, from 1961, one of her greatest cinematic successes. According to Wagner’s testimony, he and Walken had argued heavily about Wood’s future. When Wagner went to the cabin, she was not there, and one of the boats had disappeared..
A few hours later they found his body floating adrift. She had died by drowning. According to the official version, she had gone out to moor the boat, which she was hitting very annoyingly on the hull of the yacht, she lost her balance, hit herself and fell, not into the boat, but into the water. However, the case always showed certain unclear links. In 2011 it was reopened following accusations that the actress’s sister and the yacht’s skipper made about Wagner, whom they accused of being involved. Nothing was clarified, and the matter was closed again, this time with the label of “unclear circumstances.”
7. David Carradine (1936-2009), sex and death
On June 3, 2009, the body of David Carradine (1936-2009), the famous protagonist of Kung Fu, was found completely naked in his Bangkok hotel room where he was staying. Carradine was hanging from a rope and, according to the autopsy performed on the body, he had died of “accidental asphyxiation.”
Did the actor commit suicide? Everything points to something much more morbid: that he died while playing high-risk erotic games. His fourth wife, Marina Anderson, stated that Carradine enjoyed certain “sexual fetishes” in company, so it was very unlikely that he would be alone in the room.. Now, who was that someone? Currently there is no news and, most likely, there never will be.
