The Tinseltown Murder Of Thelma Todd

this week on BuzzFeed unsolved we look into the death of 20s and 30s Hollywood starlet Thelma Todd another murder in her own backyard oh that's some gravitas there it's just sad Hollywood was just silent films that a lot of silent slapstick and in a lot of murder in murder can going on behind the city was figuring itself out you know do we want to be a rosy town we want to be a murder town trying to figure it out let's do it all 20s and 30s crime you got the old 20s and 30s mustache on your face shall we jump into the case file let's do it let's get into it in 1906 Thelma Ellis Todd was born in Lawrence Massachusetts she trained to become a schoolteacher while doing some modeling on the side and in 1925 won the title of Miss Massachusetts after her win Paramount Pictures signed Todd to a one-year contract that set her Hollywood career in motion over the next decade Todd made a name for herself as a talented comedic actress playing leads and films with the Marx Brothers Laurel and Hardy and zasu Pitts horizon Hollywood however was no walk in the park one of Todd's early contracts involved a clause that specified her weight at the time of signing 122 pounds and that if she gained more than three or lost more than six pounds from that mark the contract could be terminated Hollywood's concern with her weight resulted in Todd becoming addicted to diet pills not good it's bad don't do it don't just body positivity I got it out there hey you nailed it hey love your body every day wake up smile that's right wink at yourself in the mirror grow moustache of you gotta between 1932 and 1934 Todd was married to agent Pat de Cicco a union which could hardly be described as happy when Todd filed for divorce she cited the reason as quote Grievous mental and physical suffering and Todd also found herself fighting against typical Hollywood casting couch situations even at the threat of being blacklisted she refused to entertain producers at parties and was outspoken about her experiences nevertheless Todd was known as a fun-loving party girl extremely popular in the LA social circuit carrying on multiple love affairs with men and often overheard ordering her signature drink three fingers of rye three fingers of right that's a lonely moly I drink three fingers Araya I'm on the roof fiddling sure this work context yeah that's now whiskey you know I like whiskey but I'm not drinking three fingers of rye I mean I'm not drinking three fingers around I feel like you are I'm drinking ten fingers baby every time we go out to a bar rides like a pint glass whole of whiskey yeah that's a hell of a signature drink yeah you know what that's good bourbon she was known for elevating the typical dumb blonde stereotype in her films often playing independent women rare in early Hollywood shorts at the time wary about being used in films simply for her looks Todd once said in an interview quote building on beauty seems to me the worst thing any girl can do end quote seems like a cool lady I would have liked a party with her and maybe I'm have one of her signature actually just realizing that this sucks because this episode's about her so this cool lady is uh yeah it's gonna end not well forgot forgot what we were doing her got what show we were I've recalled and no one was that you know I'll say this about this lady she was obviously a beautiful woman did not want to rest on that as evidenced by what I just said but also she was able to do things her way without getting blacklisted which is also admirable because sometimes especially back then and even now when you were a woman it would be taken out on you and it didn't happen for her so that's actually pretty goddamn cool acting was not Todd's only pursuit in 1934 Tata opened the successful restaurant Thelma Todd's sidewalk cafe on the Pacific Coast Highway her business partners in the venture were director and producer Rowland West with whom Todd had been having an on-again off-again affair for the past three years and silent film actress dual Carmen who was also role in West's wife Faye a little love triangle and then they thought let's open up a restaurant I smell a sitcom regardless of what they were doing there was it was there they were free lovin business pleasure oh you know mix them together no I would like to see you never mix those together ever again I mean that's what they were doing that's what they could do that's what you should never do in front of me you imagine going to that restaurant be like oh I'd like a cheeseburger and they'd be like we'll get that to you in a sec after we finish doing it it's wiping sweat I forgot oh sorry a little extra sauce on this Todd kept an apartment above the cafe as did the West Carmen's with only a single drawing room separating the units in a detail that will come into play later Westin Carmen also shared a house about 500 yards from the cafe on Saturday December 14th 1935 Todd attended a party thrown into her honor at Cafe Trocadero a popular nightclub on Hollywood's Sunset Strip attendees said Todd seemed to be having a great time at the party sipping brandy and champagne and at one point betting some friends a free dinner that they wouldn't visit her restaurants the next day I love free food I don't taste very free every time yeah and that's the best I need free food often well never mind I don't want to get into it I love free food Roland West had asked Todd to be home by 2:00 a.m. and at 1:50 a.m. Todd asked famous beater manager Sid Grauman to call West and inform him she'd be leaving soon regardless Todd stayed at the party until around 3:15 a.m. Todd's chauffeur Ernest Peters dropped the starlet off at the roadside cafe sometime between 3:00 a.m. and 4:00 20 a.m. Sunday the friends Todd had bet wouldn't show up came to collect their free dinners though no one had seen Todd at the restaurant the friends nevertheless enjoyed a comped meal the next day December 16th Todd's Maine may Whitehead began her morning routine which included getting Todd's Lincoln Phaeton ready from Roland West's home and bringing it down to Todd at the apartment above the cafe when Whitehead opened the garage she found the body of belitung slumped over the steering wheel with a broken nose and two cracked ribs Todd's obituary in the LA Times described the scene in graphic detail coagulated blood mark the screen comedians features and stained her mob and silver evening gown and her expensive mink coat when she was found her blonde locks pathetically awry in the front seat of her automobile in the garage of Roland West oh yeah yeah this is a bummer I'm she seemed like I was having fun with her in her honor maybe we could try and figure out what happened to her I mean you do a fun little screaming little marathon or we could try and figure out what happened to her that's what we're here to do that's where Laura were behind the desk that's right with more than a day unaccounted for between when she was last seen alive and first seen dead it's time to dive into theories about what happened to Delma Todd our first theory is the official grand jury verdict of her death that Valmet on didin of accidental carbon monoxide poisoning it was a cold evening in the middle of December her apartment was near the ocean and Todd was wearing a lightweight gown though she also had a mink coat it's assumed that upon arriving home early Sunday morning Todd was locked out of the building her apartment was in and went to the garage of West's house where she got into and turned on the car to stay warm making the fatal mistake of leaving the engine running with the garage door shut I mean we're going to get to the obvious yes which is that generally carbon monoxide poisoning doesn't result in broken nails you know yeah yeah you know that is a good point perhaps you're not the idiot I figure you may be you do have a detective brain I do a very observant big brain big head big hair yeah all three in tandem you're the triad of detectives my brain is large as many synapses I could already hear people typing away and making that into a gift the County autopsy surgeon dr. AF Wagner fixed Todd's time of death about 5:00 a.m. Sunday morning the New York Times quoted dr. Wagner as saying quote autopsy showed monoxide poison to the extent of 70% of total saturation in her blood there may have been other contributing causes but that definitely was the major factor end quote it's interesting dr. Wagner mentions how there may have been other contributing causes as there are some notable details that may point away from an accident for instance while it's possible Todd's nose could have broken as she slumped unconscious onto the steering wheel it is harder to say how Todd sustained two cracked ribs trying to entertain the idea that she could have somehow done that herself it seems tricky maybe she could have fallen outside somewhere and then was like oh no my mind injured let me take a seat in the car oh it's chilly I'll turn the car on I mean was she potentially inebriation at this point yeah it seems far-fetched however I try to figure it it doesn't work I'm not sold now by Ann Hill Todd was also known for her interest in cars and there was apparently a media campaign informing the public about carbon monoxide poisoning it seems highly likely Todd would have known the dangers of running a car in a closed garage there's also the question of how Todd wound up in the garage in the first place Todd would have had to trek up the hill from her apartment to roll in West's garage her shoes however were not consistent with having walked 500 yards on uneven ground in the damp night additionally when her body was found her hair was still neatly styled for the party at the Trocadero not as tousled as one would expect after walking through the reportedly windy evening air this is what I meant about her not maybe taking a tumble because she had heels on the hill that she would have to walk up to get to the garage was substantial yeah no dirt on her shoes nothing on her down that would suggest a fall her hair stairs still styled it was a windy night seems much more consistent that she was placed in the car she goes to getting there herself yes especially in a drunken stupor I know also though you know sometimes there you know the hair back then very firm firm yes yes firm and look I've when I've been drunk at the end of a night I've done some funny things to get into like my bedroom if I forgot my key but even still don't think I would be capable of doing that while still looking intact for the moment you make strange decision I one night I was very cold I slept in my trunk one night I was very cold and I slept outside the front door like a little dog like a little dog it was pretty funny because I couldn't get in well we've slept places and I'll tell you what my hair was very tousled West himself seemed to think Todd's actions were a bit suspicious apparently although Todd had been locked out of her apartment before she had never walked to the garage or attempted to sleep in her car West testified that Todd was fully aware she could have woken him up to gain entry even citing an example of one case when Todd had broken a window to gain his attention maybe I could see this if you had messed up while drunk once before you don't want to do it again yeah like oh what a racket I made last time Roland was awful sore about it yeah no no window breaking this time I'll go in the garage instead cozy up in a car something that young Shane Maday even did yeah I did not turn on the engine I did not nor did you have broken ribs as far as I know no broken ribs never broken a bone big bones hard to break no unless he's bluffing well we don't know you know rip you oh yeah you guys better look into this look over there maybe what about that guy I don't know I've never been accused of murder before yet perhaps no one was more confounded to hear Todd had died early Sunday morning than one mrs. Martha Ford Ford was throwing a party at her home in Laurel Canyon and reported to police that she received a phone call from Todd on Sunday afternoon saying she was on her way with a surprise guess Ford even claimed Todd told her quote I went to a party last night and I'm still in my evening clothes do you mind end quote Ford put the call around 4:00 p.m. around 11 hours after the coroner paid the time of Todd's for told the New York Times quote I've known Todd for years and I couldn't be mistaken and quote and that she was quote positive beyond all question and quote that it was Todd on the phone okay okay all right plot thickens yes thick something that didn't occur to me is that the coroner or the LAPD come on dirty could be dirty yeah or I've seen LA Confidential inks in Chinatown she could be lying telling a little fib well I got more details on her show but back then people were known to throw themselves into controversy just for the notoriety for that simplicity yes for the ink mm-hmm as somebody who's throwing parties in the hills maybe she wants to get her name out there a little bit more I like that nowadays they just they're like let's steer clear the murder stuff like Tom Hiddleston old date Taylor Swift for a week and they look like a couple of [ __ ] on a beach wearing shirts that's all they gotta do nobody's got to murder each other to get in the papers you know know if Tom Hiddleston did murder somebody he would be in the papers can you imagine okay now I mean there's a darkness in him I don't think he's a murderer for the record though a police officer testified that no phone records showed any calls had been made from Todd's property on Sunday it's easy to imagine Todd could have used a different phone still Ford's insistence on having spoken to Todd is not the only wrinkle in the timeline Todd's autopsy found peas and carrots in the starlet's stomach neither of which had been served at the Trocadero party the peas had just started to digest at the time of her death which could suggest Todd had been picked up again after being dropped off by Peters taken to eat somewhere else and then taken back to West garage I cannot imagine your last meal being peas and carrots yeah that's rough that's like a bunny right after a night of partying yeah no one's lying up eating peas and carrots it stinks is being blasted laughs I'm isn't peas and carrots stabbed with all of these factors surrounding the possibility of Todd's death being an accident nothing is more confounding than the contents of her purse found next to her in the car her bag contained lipstick his cigarette case some handkerchiefs and a coin purse which itself contained the key to the side door of her apartment building why is that confounding that's a she in the garage because somebody [ __ ] killed her that's oh no somebody killed they were trying to list reasons why somebody maybe did it somebody spoiler alert somebody murdered her yeah she has it she has a key to get into her and they got away with it have you ever been so drunk you didn't remember you had your key on you I haven't no that hasn't happened to me no yeah yeah I think she was murdered yeah I think so too with all of these complicating factors it makes sense that the coroner's jury verdict read quote the death of the deceased appears to have been accidental but we recommend further investigation to be made in this case by the proper authorities end quote and while we may not be be proper authorities further investigation is exactly what we're going to do good we'll do what they couldn't here's how it works though you're a powerful man in Hollywood you're a piece of [ __ ] you got an axe to grind with young starlet yeah yeah wiper off the map you pay off the people who it should be doing the investigating swept under the rug so do you think this coroner got some heat maybe I don't know but I'm sure he got a little grease on his palm for this one you got some salad yeah got a couple leaves for a salad yeah a couple of queens in that fat pocket is I could see that yeah well the bones in his graveyard yeah our next theory is bet Dalma Todd intentionally killed herself in the garage of her lover in addition to her having the key to her apartment building with her when she died her chauffeur said Todd was unusually quiet as he drove her home that night he reported that she did not ask him to escort her to her door as she usually did one source also claimed Todd had received an upsetting message from an anonymous person on the night of the party with her interest in cars Todd would likely have known running a car in her garage would result in her death this theory is however admittedly thin and her actions had not aligned with self-destructive behavior around the time of her death her restaurant was a hot new success she had recently signed a new film contract and the trunk of her car was full of Christmas presents for family and friends the host of the party at the Trocadero also said that Todd told her she was newly involved with a man in San Francisco I know I listed a bunch of reasons why she would not commit suicide there I will say this though that doesn't mean anything usually you don't know what's on going on inside someone's head unless you actually talk to them which should be a lesson to everybody out there me I don't like talking to people I care about that's my personal weight you never talked to me yeah do you care about me clearly that's crazy because I don't care about you Oh our third theory is of course that thalma Todd was murdered it's unlikely she was killed by a stranger who wanted to rob her as none of the jewelry she had been wearing was missing though there are some particular suspects we want to bring up the first is Roland West her lover in whose garage Todd's body was found West was said to be a jealous man and Todd and West opened their popular cafe so they could spend more time together if Todd had actually begun dating a new man in San Francisco West may have been hypocritically upset on his deathbed West actually admitted to being responsible for Todd's death and accidentally locking her in the garage his recounting of the events which occurred that night however was full of inconsistencies and contradictions yeah it's it's an odd thing to admit there's a bunch of inconsistencies the ocean is down the hill you could dispose of it that way but I guess he's not thinking straight it's not disclosing the ocean better than time tide just kicks it all back up rather than leaving her in the garage in your own garage well clearly that seemed to work I mean Farrah nobody-nobody got the cuffs slapped on him so it's a weird thing to admit definitely not worthwhile hangover but somehow I still don't buy I don't know what him locking her in the garage wouldn't necessarily well she's knocked her if he knocked her out and they locked her in the garage yeah it seems like a weird way to do it though to be quite honest another suspect is dual Carmen Rowland West's wife while a jealous wife might sound like an obvious suspect into her husband's mistresses death it is said she did not resent her husband's affair instead the Chicago Tribune claimed Carmen threatened to kill Todd for squandering money at the restaurant in which she her husband and Todd were business partners beyond a potential motive however there was no physical evidence Carmen was involved in Todd's death so Jul Carmen's beef with Thelma Todd wasn't over the affair necessarily as much as it was over money from the business yeah but what's murder gonna fix you know nothing right obviously my guess I could have been like a fit of rage pissed at you yeah for skimming a little off the top hmm seems a little of circumstantial no real evidence just a motive yeah not enough to it there you could make the argument that after Todd us out of the picture Joel Carmen and now Roland West have full ownership of the cafe though it is called helmet odds Rhodes that cap yeah also I did that's more work for you you know yeah what's that yeah you know what I'm not buying it the third suspect any potential murder is Todd's ex-husband pat de Cicco a self-described quote agent with underworld connections end quote Jesus who describes himself as an agent with underworld connections I do generally when have you ever slipped that into a cache all my business card agent with underworld connections Shaima day agent with underworld connections nice to meet you let's talk about this Prius I'm trying to say de Cicco was said to have a violent temper and his second wife heiress Gloria Vanderbilt described him as a brute with a bad temper who would physically abuse her when he was drunk not a surprise that de Cicco shows up here and not a surprise that he was a human garbage pile yeah flaming I mean if he you know picked up a young starlet as his wife knowing the system probably not a nice I can't think of a colder take than a guy who puts hands on women not a good dude I called him a pile of garbage I know as I'm saying it's like it's very obvious hot take take there I don't leave those guys a good guy the night before her debt at the Trocadero todd ran into de Cicco many eyewitnesses said their interaction seemed heated when summoned for the grand jury DiCicco testified that he hadn't heard about Todd's death in Todd's will dated from when they were still married de Cicco was left one dollar brutal it's kind of like at that point don't leave anything all but a sick burn is a sick burn I'm a fourth suspect one that was especially popular at the time is that mobster Lucky Luciano had put a hit out on Todd earlier in 1935 Todd received a string of eight letters threatening her life if she didn't pay $10,000 signed by the quote Ace of Hearts end quote don't blackmail people I'm one it's illegal and if you're gonna do it get a better suit in heaven like Artie's heart is threatening no it's not after a suspect was arrested in August 1935 however the letters stopped nevertheless Todd who was found dead four months later was convinced the whole ordeal was mob-related many speculated Luciano had wanted to set up a high ticket casino on the third floor of her restaurant but Todd refused resulting in her murder this theory supposes that after she was dropped off at the cafe someone with ties to Luciano picked her up again took her out to eat killed her and put her in West garage afterwards which could explain the p's found in her stomach and her two cracked ribs while it appears Luciano left Los Angeles abruptly shortly after Todd's death never to return it should be noted that this entire theory is merely speculation in reality there is no evidence that Todd and Luciano ever actually it lucky he's shown up here before yes he is showing up in a couple cases yeah the only the Bugsy Seigel case yes oh this guy got around I guess if you're a a mob man in early Los Angeles yeah your fingers are in a bunch that people finger you for a lot of different things huh it's a verb it is that means what I what does it does mean what you said it means lots of lots of different pots was that you putting fingers and pies or pots no no gone at age 29 Thelma Todd was in the midst of a successful Hollywood career and tragically cut short while her death was officially ruled an accident there are enough suspicious incongruencies in her final hours to keep her story alive these more than 80 years later whether accident suicide or murder what actually happened to the starlet that night after leaving the Sunset Strip remains unsolved out of all these theories which one do you think is the most likely I'm gonna go with it I mean honestly it seems like to me she was possibly assaulted and then placed in the car maybe not very conscious car was turned on that was that I too believe it was murder and if I had to say who it was probably ex-husband but you know I can't say that seems pretty cut and dry tough to end a sad episode huh who was an untimely end to an otherwise very cool lady yeah and I guess we'll just leave it at that all righty see you next week [Music]

Channel: BuzzFeed Unsolved Network

Views: 4,964,858

Rating: 4.9669876 out of 5

Keywords: PL-Unsolved, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime, PL-UnsolvedTrueCrime-S6, The Tinseltown Murder Of Thelma Todd, buzzfeed, buzzfeed ryan, buzzfeed shane, buzzfeed unsolved, buzzfeed unsolved network, buzzfeed unsolved true crime, buzzfeedunsolvednetwork, cold case, crime, investigation, mystery, old hollywood mystery, ryan bergara, shane madej, thelma todd actress, thelma todd mystery, theories, true crime, unsolved, unsolved mysteries, unsolved mystery, unsolved network

Id: ukNXdJTtU4g

Length: 25min 11sec (1511 seconds)

Published: Fri Mar 27 2020