Top 20 Biggest Old Hollywood Scandals

In 1938, Adolf Hitler’s grand and horrifying plan for fascist Germany was in full swing. Propaganda films were integral to getting the regime’s message across, with the most famous ones being made by the documentarian Leni Riefenstahl. When Riefenstahl arrived in Hollywood with orders to get her newest documentary, “Olympia,” distributed in the U.S., she was met with closed gates at most of the major studios. However, she was greeted with open arms by none other than Walt Disney himself. The genius of animation didn’t want to distribute her film, but he did give Riefenstahl a tour of his studio and a sneak peak of the upcoming “Fantasia.” It’s an alarming and disturbing bit of early Hollywood lore.

Having a law named after you probably sounds cool. For former child actor Jackie Coogan, the Coogan Act came about due to a painful betrayal. He rose to fame as a co-star of Charlie Chaplin before becoming one of the burgeoning American film industry’s first juvenile movie stars. But the original Uncle Fester performer lost most of his fortune. After his father’s death, his mother and her new husband squandered the millions Coogan made in his youth. Once he reached majority age, he sued them. He was only able to win back a portion of his earnings, and the Coogan Act was put in place to protect young performers from a similar fate.

The exploits of one of Hollywood’s most iconic stars have been pawed over and sensationalized in the decades since her flame burned out. Marilyn Monroe’s untimely death only made the salacious details of her life more enthralling. Some of the biggest rumors concerned her alleged affairs with both President John F. Kennedy and his brother, Robert. Her rendition of “Happy Birthday to You” at Kennedy’s 45th birthday celebration was sultry enough to raise a few eyebrows. That Hollywood’s biggest star had become entangled with the first family was pretty sordid stuff, especially by midcentury standards.

He was a successful director of the silent era, but his mysterious death ended up overshadowing his contributions to filmmaking. William Desmond Taylor was found shot to death in his bungalow apartment in 1922. The list of suspects was a who’s who of movie stars and industry people, many of whose lives were affected by suspicions about their involvement. Between a compromised crime scene and PR spinning by Taylor’s home studio, the truth of what happened became murkier by the minute. The director’s shady past and suspicions concerning his sexuality allowed the press to portray his murder as a heavy-handed morality tale about the evils of Hollywood. The case remains unsolved to this day.

In the late 1940s, the Red Scare gripped many in America. The House Un-American Activities Committee clamped down on the film industry, declaring it a hotbed of Communism and Communist sympathizers. Even some of the biggest movie stars were expected to answer questions before the committee, and compelled to rat out their colleagues. Those who didn’t appear before the committee faced the effective end of their careers. Ten writers and directors stood firm in their beliefs. They refused to testify before Congress, deeming the investigation unconstitutional, and were blacklisted as a result. Though some would find work years after, many did not, and their careers and reputations never recovered.

Considered one of the most striking actresses of the era, Lana Turner’s real life was just as dramatic as the ones she lived on screen. In 1958, she became the center of a media frenzy. Her boyfriend, the infamous mafia enforcer John Stompanato Jr., was found stabbed to death in her home. The culprit turned out to be her teenage daughter, Cheryl Crane, who reportedly killed him to defend her mother. It was like a soap opera playing out in real time. Reports of Turner tearfully taking the stand were met with derision by some and gave birth to theories that Turner killed the man herself. Crane was eventually cleared, but the episode was one of the most dramatic in Tinseltown history.

In the early 1920s, Hollywood and its stars were becoming the subject of scandal sheet stories about unchecked hedonism and immorality. The Arbuckle manslaughter trials played right into that narrative. In 1921, a young actress named Virginia Rappe was taken ill at a party in a San Francisco hotel suite rented by popular film comedian Roscoe “Fatty” Arbuckle. Four days later, she was dead. What happened at the party has become the stuff of true crime legend. What we do know is that Arbuckle was charged with her death and tried three separate times before being acquitted. While the true events of the party will probably never be known for certain, the ensuing scandal was enough to destroy his career forever.

Actresses like Grace Kelly, Kim Novak, and Eva Marie Saint embodied the type of woman Alfred Hitchcock found most fascinating on screen. In Tippi Hedren, he thought he had found his own personal cool blonde muse. Hitchcock took ownership over his young protégé’s career. He cast her in two leading roles, but their working relationship turned hostile. Hedren has made several allegations that Hitchcock was wildly inappropriate, if not downright abusive to her on the sets of “The Birds” and “Marnie.” She says her refusal to entertain his romantic overtures led him to sabotage her career.

Ingrid Bergman was an enormously popular star, with film roles including a beloved nun and a saint. So when news reached America that Ingrid Bergman was pregnant with her Italian director’s child, the gossip columnists descended on the story like hungry piranha. Bergman was married to someone else at the time. Her infidelity, divorce, and subsequent marriage to director Roberto Rossellini cost her a great deal of goodwill both in America and in her home country of Sweden. For the first half of the 1950s, she mostly lived in Italy with her new husband. It took her a while to end her exile and return to Hollywood. Once she did, though, she was welcomed back with open arms and an Oscar.

Elizabeth Taylor and Debbie Reynolds were not only movie stars but friends. And few celebrity couples were as beloved as Reynolds and her first husband, the singer Eddie Fisher. When Taylor’s husband, Mike Todd, died tragically, she found comfort in Fisher’s company. Well, apparently, that blossomed into something bigger. Taylor and Fisher’s affair was a shocker, and the response was swift, with the public decrying the relationship. Reynolds and Fisher filed for divorce, leaving Fisher and Taylor free to marry. Carrie Fisher likened her parents’ divorce to the modern day love triangle between Brad Pitt, Jennifer Aniston, and Angelina Jolie.

If Bankhead was around today, she’d be the celebrity we’d all be “keeping up with.” Her personal life garnered plenty of attention, especially her candidness in discussing sex and sexuality. The actress boasted many male and female partners and apparently once accepted a film role just to bed actor Gary Cooper. Bankhead had four abortions and was 31 when she had a hysterectomy. The MI5 also investigated her alleged entanglements with male Eton students. Additionally, she was very open about her substance use. It’s worth noting that the actress came from a distinguished political family in Alabama. Although she ruffled many feathers, she was too busy living her best life to care.

While filming the 1935 flick “Call of the Wild,” Gable’s co-star Loretta Young became pregnant, rumoredly with his child. However, Gable was married then, and Young worried that if the studio found out, they’d force her to terminate and ruin both their careers. Young disappeared for a while and kept the baby hidden for about 19 months, eventually claiming to have adopted the child. However, the infant shared her dad’s features, and Young even had her ears surgically pinned back to hide the likeness. Years later, Young’s daughter-in-law Linda Lewis shared that a 1998 episode of “Larry King Live” led Young to understand that her child had been conceived during a non-consensual interaction.

In September of 1932, a woman went hiking near the famous Hollywood sign. She came across a jacket, a shoe and a purse containing a note. Sadly she soon spotted the lifeless owner of the items, British actress Peg Entwistle, further down the mountain. Initially a Broadway actress, Entwistle headed to Los Angeles after scoring roles in Romney Brent’s play “The Mad Hopes” and later the feature, “Thirteen Women” — the latter marked her (posthumous) film debut. Shortly after being told that RKO wouldn’t be renewing her contract, Entwistle told her uncle, who she was living with, that she was going to the drugstore and then meeting some friends. Instead, she climbed the Hollywood sign and tragically ended her life. She was subsequently nicknamed the “Hollywood Sign Girl” by tabloids.

Having the top job in the FBI comes with significant power and responsibility. Mr. Hoover apparently prioritized keeping tabs on anyone he deemed might hold “un-American,” a.k.a Communist values. Sure, it’s the FBI’s job to protect their country, but not all of Hoover’s intentions were supposedly rooted in patriotism. Apparently, he kept personal files on high-profile individuals to use as blackmail. In some cases, he allegedly even deliberately leaked information. Some notable subjects include Charlie Chaplin, Marilyn Monroe, Walt Disney, and Marlene Dietrich. It wasn’t just Hollywood A-Listers he tracked either, leading some to believe this fodder helped him hold onto his job for so long. The files were destroyed very quickly after his passing.

As you may have guessed, health and safety weren’t exactly top priorities back in the day. The movie-making world of 1925 to 1930 was reportedly linked to almost 11,000 injuries, 55 of which were fatal, in California. Howard Hughes, director of the 1930 flick, “Hell’s Angels,” wanted the film’s aerial shots to be both believable and spectacular and paid a great deal to pull it off. And no, we don’t just mean the millions of dollars it cost. Hughes, an aviation enthusiast and a record-breaking pilot, decided to perform one of the film’s most dangerous stunts himself. This resulted in a fractured skull, and he had to undergo surgery. However, a mechanic and three stunt pilots paid the ultimate price for Hughes’ vision.

In 1924, prolific Hollywood silent filmmaker Thomas H. Ince died after attending William Randolph Hearst’s yacht party. Rumors began to swirl around the mysterious circumstances of his untimely demise. One account suggests that Hearst believed his partner, Marion Davies, was also involved with the silent movie legend Charlie Chaplin. Side note: she had also reportedly been linked to Ince. In jealousy, Hearst intended to shoot Chaplin but got the wrong guy. We’re sure that story sold many papers, but it’s probably untrue. The more likely story is that Ince suffered from ill health, and perhaps this night of raucous partying was too much for his weak heart to bear.

According to LAPD reports, on June 16, 1959, the “Superman” actor suffered a fatal gun wound. The official report stated that it was self-inflicted. After hanging up his superhero cape, Reeves apparently struggled personally while looking for work. However, many believed there was foul play, and some pointed fingers at his fiancee, Leonore Lemmon. Lemmon and her guests reportedly waited 45 minutes before calling the cops after hearing the gunshot. Actor Fred Crane supposedly stated that Lemmon returned to the room, saying, “Tell them I was down here.” Another theory is that Hollywood bigwig Eddie Mannix ordered a hit on Reeves, who allegedly had an affair with his wife, Toni Lanier. But with no fingerprints on the weapon, this mystery remains unsolved.

Chaplin was married four times, and two of his brides were minors. His second wife, Lillita MacMurray, a.k.a Lita Grey, was in her mid-teens when they started dating. They quickly married in 1924 to avoid a scandal and keep Chaplin out of prison after she became pregnant. In 1927, during their divorce proceedings, Grey claimed that Chaplin had tried to force her into an abortion. She also described the “revolting, degrading, and offensive” way he treated her. Grey was awarded the then unusually large divorce settlement of $825,000, and Chaplin’s career never really recovered. This wasn’t his only scandal, either. In the early 1950s, the actor moved to Switzerland after the U.S. denied him re-entry over his political beliefs.

Judy Garland appeared in dozens of movies for MGM. Back then, child labor laws weren’t really adhered to. Instead, the studio forced her to take “pep pills” to keep her energized during long shoots; these were also used to control her weight. While filming “The Wizard of Oz,” various studio executives would body shame the actress, driving her further toward a reliance on these substances. Garland won a special Academy Award for her performance as Dorothy Gale and was launched into stardom, becoming her generation’s “girl next door.” But at what cost? Supposedly this was the catalyst for the substance use disorder that would tragically take her life.

Back in the day, it was almost like an unspoken rule that the birth of a child meant the death of a career. Ava Gardner, who terminated two pregnancies, wrote in her 1990 autobiography, “MGM had all sorts of penalty clauses about their stars having babies.” This procedure was not yet legal to the average American woman, yet film studios readily used them to control their female stars. Or, as one unnamed source put it, “Abortions were our birth control.” Apparently, in some cases they also added clauses giving them the right to decide when or even whether their stars could marry. Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy Garland, Dorothy Dandridge, and more were all victims of the studios’ rules.