Thelma Todd

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Thelma Todd 1933

Thelma Alice Todd (born July 29, 1906 in Lawrence , Massachusetts , † December 16, 1935 in Pacific Palisades , Los Angeles , California ) was an American actress . From the beginning of the sound film era until her mysterious death at the age of 29, the blonde was a well-known comedian who had her own comedy series and also took on major roles in films by Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers .

life and career

Film career

Thelma Todd was born in the small town of Lawrence in Massachusetts on the New Hampshire border to John Shaw Todd and Alice Elizabeth (née Kennedy). In contrast to her screen image as a "dumb blonde", she received good grades at school. After high school, she went to college to become a teacher . In addition, she took part in some beauty pageants, was elected Miss Massachusetts in 1925 and took part in the Miss America election the following year . She didn't win, but was discovered there by Hollywood agents for the film business. In the silent film era, she usually only played the attractive blonde in supporting roles, so that she could not stand out. Her career only picked up momentum with the start of talkies at the end of the 1920s. Producer Hal Roach signed her for his comedic shorts and she demonstrated her comedic talent alongside Harry Langdon , Charley Chase and Laurel and Hardy, among others . With the legendary comedian duo, she starred in a total of six films, including as a burning neighbor from the short film of the same name from 1929 and as a flirtatious Lady Pamela in hands up - or not , who tied up with the bandit Fra Diavolo in front of her husband James Finlayson .

From 1931 until her death, Hal Roach Thelma Todd together with ZaSu Pitts (who was replaced by Patsy Kelly in 1933 ) as a kind of "female Laurel and Hardy". While Pitts and later Kelly played the part of Stan , Todd took over the character of Oliver Hardy's character: In these slapstick films, Todd's down-to-earth person was confronted with all sorts of problems from her partner and tried to remain as charming and dignified as possible under the unfavorable circumstances. The first of this short film series was Let's Do Things . Roach loaned the now famous actress to other comedians such as Wheeler and Woolsey , Buster Keaton , Jimmy Durante , Joe E. Brown and the Marx Brothers . Occasionally Todd also played more serious roles, such as the insidious widow Iva Archer in the first film adaptation of The Maltese Falcon (1931). In the same year she played the lead role in the gangster film Corsair , also because she had a love affair with the director of the film, Roland West.

In her last film The Bohemian Forest Girl , Thelma Todd was supposed to play the role of the gypsy queen. She was found dead just a few days after the preview of the film. In order to avoid that their death under mysterious circumstances would negatively overshadow the film, Hal Roach and Stan Laurel decided to cut out most of the scenes with Todd. The plot was rewritten so that Mae Busch took on large parts of her role. As a memorial to Todd, the scene in which she sings the song Heart of a Gypsy was left in the film.

death

After Todd had made numerous films, she opened Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe nightclub in August 1934. This club not only attracted tourists and colleagues from the film business, but also a number of people from the underworld. It was rumored that they wanted to take over the club. On the morning of December 16, 1935, Thelma Todd was found lifeless behind the wheel of her car in the garage of the silent film actress Jewel Carmen (1897-1984), a former wife of Todd's partner Roland West (1885-1952). The car engine was running and there was blood on Todd. It was a carbon monoxide - poisoning diagnosed with. The night before, the actress, who had a pronounced social life, had been to a party hosted by the entertainer Stanley Lupino and his daughter Ida . She is said to have met Pat DiCicco (1908–1979), her ex-husband, with whom she was married between 1932 and 1934, there. In the early hours of the morning, Lupino's party drove her home.

There was often speculation about a murder in connection with her club, and her lover - director Roland West - was also suspected of murder. In 1952, West allegedly made a confession to actor Chester Morris on his deathbed that he was responsible for Todd's death. There was also speculation about the actress's suicide , some of her colleagues portrayed her as depressed, but other acquaintances disagreed. An accident is also possible, so West claimed, that he locked her out at night and then she could have turned on her car on the cold winter night to keep warm. However, questions remained with all theories, and her death remains a mystery.

Awards

Thelma Todd has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame .

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Thelma Todd  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ The Bohemian Girl at Lordheath
personal data
SURNAME Todd, Thelma
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Alison Loyd
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 29, 1906
PLACE OF BIRTH Lawrence , Massachusetts
DATE OF DEATH December 16, 1935
Place of death Pacific Palisades , California