On this date in 1933, silent movie comedian Fatty Arbuckle died at age 46. When he was accused of the rape and murder in 1921 of actress Virginia Rappe, his career was ruined. The first two trials ended in mistrials. The prosecution had no evidence aside from the word of a so-called witness that the district attorney wouldn’t allow to testify! So what does that tell you? In the third trial, Arbuckle was acquitted in six minutes and several members of the jury wrote him notes of apology. But despite his acquittal, the tide of public opinion had turned against him. He eventually turned to directing using a pseudonym. He returned to the screen in 1931 in six two-reel short films. On June 29, 1933, he signed a contract with Warner Brothers to make a full-length feature film. He claimed it was the best day of his life. Unfortunately, he died that night of a heart attack.
Incidentally, he made tons of shorts with Mabel Normand whose own career was ruined after the murder of William Desmond Taylor.
I love Mabel Normand - she was originally from Staten Island, the one borough I do not have a family connection to…I think that if they ever did a biopic of her Julia Louis-Dreyfus would be perfect playing Mabel.
And as you know I am much interested in the Arbuckle trial…so I enjoyed this post (well, I enjoy all of your posts actually!)
Comment by Lidian — June 29, 2008 @ 5:24 pm
Ohh, thanks for the information. I had heard of the trial and subsequent aquittal.
Comment by Brandy — June 29, 2008 @ 5:49 pm
Just having a finger pointed at you can ruin your career. I remember reading about his trials and early passing.
Comment by Dru — June 30, 2008 @ 8:30 am