Douglas Fairbanks, Lillian Gish, Hedda Hopper
Silent Screen Star Scandals – Sex, Sanity, Substance Abuse and So On
Apr 11, 2009
Before the days of censorship and codes within Hollywood, the stars of the silent silver screen created several scandals.
Continuing from A-E Silent Silver Screen Stars, the murderous, sexual, economic, political, and generally diverse scandals of the silent film era were torrid, sorrowful, and more extreme than many movie star scandals of the talking picture era.
F – Douglas Fairbanks
Douglas Elton Ullman (1883-1939) is famed for his acting and athletic ability in silent swashbucklers. Not only a screen star, he also jointly formed United Artists, but he is perhaps most remembered as the husband of silent screen sweetheart Mary Pickford.
Although wed to the daughter of wealthy industrialist Daniel J. Sully, Fairbanks and Pickford began a discrete affair soon after meeting in 1916. Finally, obtaining a divorce in 1919, Fairbanks and Pickford married in 1920. The marriage of the two stars made them the first celebrity couple of Hollywood. However, Fairbanks eventually left Pickford to marry Sylvia Ashley, who would later wed Clark Gable.
G – Lillian Gish
In an acting career stretching seventy-five years, Lillian Gish (1893-1993) was one of America’s most popular silent screen stars.
Gish never married or had children, but her romantic involvement with producer Charles Duell resulted in a tabloid scandal when he brought a lawsuit against her and made public the details of their relationship. Gish was consistently rumored to have been involved with D.W. Griffith, but she never confirmed or denied the claim.
Politically, Gish became an active member of the controversial America First Committee, which advocated anti-intervention of America in the first years of World War II.
H – Hedda Hopper
Elda Furry (1885-1966) is remembered as the famed gossip columnist Hedda Hopper, but her early career was as a silent screen actress, normally portraying socialite females.
Her acting career began to decline in the early 1930s, and her star did not rise until her gossip column entitled “Hedda Hopper’s Hollywood” debuted in the Los Angeles Times on Valentine’s Day 1938. Ironically, the column allowed no affectionate forgiveness. For many years, Hopper revealed the gossip and scandals of Hollywood, but her famed feud with rival columnist Louella Parsons became a source of gossip in itself.
I – Thomas Harper Ince
Louella Parsons is rumored to have gained her power as a gossip columnist due to her keeping silent about the circumstances of the death of silent film actor, director, producer, and writer Thomas Ince (1882-1924).
Ince, the middle son of the Ince Brothers of the silent screen era, famously died during a weekend party aboard the yacht of William Randolph Hearst. Officially, his death was reported as having been caused by a heart attack, but suspicion has persisted about the actual occurrence. It is often suggested that Hearst murdered Ince.
It is sometimes suggested that Hearst suspected Charlie Chaplin, another guest on the yacht, as the lover of Hearst’s mistress Marion Davies and Hearst accidentally killed Ince either during a struggle with Chaplin or mistaking Ince for Chaplin.
The Cat’s Meow, starring Kirsten Dunst and Cary Elwes, adapted a version of this rumored story into a modern movie.
J – Buck Jones
Charles Frederick Gebhart (1891-1942) became known as a star of early westerns, but like many movie stars, Buck Jones met with a tragic and early death.
In November 1942, Jones became one of the 492 victims of the fire which destroyed Boston nightclub, Cocoanut Grove. Casualties second only to Chicago’s Iroquois Theater fire of 1903, the fire of Cocoanut Grove remains the deadliest nightclub fire of the United States.
Legend long held that Jones died from injuries acquired while rescuing others from the blaze, but Jones was actually trapped during the fire.
Buster Keaton, Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Evelyn Nesbit, and more
Silent Screen Star Scandals continues with the murders, intrigues, and affairs of K-O Silent Silver Screen Stars.
