March 5, 2024 • 8 mins
Sex scandals are as constant in Hollywood as gorgeous people, glittering clothes, and scads of money. But while the paparazzi these days use every trick to give us an inside look at the private lives of the stars, they have nothing on the stars of Hollywood’s golden age. Sex, shocking divorces, and even murder—there’s nothing new under the Hollywood sun.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Hollywood sex scandals are kind of a guilty pleasure, but
guess what, they're nothing new. Back in the nineteen fifties,
there was a massively popular leading man who was forced
to marry his agent secretary to hide the fact that
he was gay. And how about the affair between the
nineteen forties and fifties Oscar winning movie star and her
Oscar nominated director that led to marriage and then to
(00:23):
divorce after he caught her in bed with his son
who was just thirteen years old. Can't make this stuff up.
I'm Patty Steele. Sex cells, especially when it's off screen.
Next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Hollywood sex
scandals always titillate us, even if we don't want to
(00:45):
admit it. We've heard about those involving movie superstars, and
we love a peek inside that beautiful, sexy, moneyed world.
But some of those stories go beyond a little flirtation
or even a more intense liaison, have led to broken
marriages and some to crimes that destroyed careers and lives.
Let's start with the silent film comedy legend Fatty Arbuckle.
(01:09):
It was September of nineteen twenty one, Fatty had it all.
He just signed a million dollar a year deal for
three years the equivalent today of about seventeen million bucks
a year to star in eighteen silent films. A friend
planned a three day celebration for him at the Saint
Francis Hotel in beautiful San Francisco. So there are private rooms,
(01:31):
lots of food, and plenty of liquor despite prohibition, and
lots of uninvited guests begin to show up, including a
woman named Maud Delmont and a twenty five year old
named Virginia. Repe At first, Fatty tells friends he doesn't
want those women there because it might tip the cops
off to their quote unquote gin party. Maud was a
(01:51):
madam in Virginia, was a model, clothing designer, want to
be actress, and especially a party girl. So the party
heats up. Matty isn't worried about anything at this point
other than being alone with Virginia. They have a few
drinks together, and according to Maud, Fatty pulls Virginia into
a nearby room, saying I've waited for you and now
(02:12):
I've got you. Half an hour goes by and then
Maud so she hears Virginia screaming the door is locked.
She kicks at it until Fatty finally opens the door
with a big grin on his face, and Maud sees
Virginia sprawled on the bed, moaning in pain. They call
a doctor, who treats her and then leaves. Virginia stays
(02:33):
at the hotel for a few days, but she gets
worse and is finally taken to a hospital. She dies
there a few days later of a ruptured bladder. Faddy
was arrested and sat in jail without bail for three
weeks while the newspapers had a field day with him.
He finally told his side of the story, saying that
after he had a few drinks with Virginia, she became hysterical,
(02:55):
complaining she couldn't breathe. He said, she then started to
tear off her clothes, said he thought she was drunk,
and that he actually was never alone with her and
had witnesses to prove it. Fatty was charged with manslaughter
and went to trial. Now, the problem is the key
witness for the prosecution was Maud the Madam, and she
had a pretty crummy reputation, including a criminal history involving
(03:18):
fraud and extortion. Turns out she'd bring young women to
parties to entertain wealthy men, and later she'd accuse them
of rape and then blackmail them. To make the case
even worse for the prosecutor, The defense had telegrams that
Maud had sent to lawyers in San Diego and Los
Angeles that said, we have Fatty Arbuckle in a hole here,
(03:39):
chance to make some money out of him. Eventually, after
three trials, the case against Fatty was dismissed, but his
career was destroyed. Then there's Rock Hudson, gorgeous superstar of
the fifties, sixties, and seventies. He was the dreamy guy
(04:00):
in classic movies like Giant, Magnificent, Obsession, and rom coms
like Pillow Talk. By the seventies and early eighties, he
starred in hit TV shows like McMillan and Wife and Dynasty.
But his career hit a snag back in nineteen fifty
five when a gossip magazine called Confidential started sniffing around
his private life. They wanted to do a bombshell story
(04:23):
about Rock being gay, which in those days could have
destroyed his career. His agent decided something had to be
done now. Back then, to protect their moneymakers, studios and
their fixers, like agents, would arrange what were called lavender marriages.
That meant they would pay somebody off who was willing
to get married to a star who was in the
(04:43):
closet and wanted to stay there. Rock's agent persuaded his
own secretary, Phyllis Gates, to marry Rock right away. It worked,
and it kept Rock's career intact, although the pair divorced
a few years later. While there are recordings taken by
a private eye of Phyllis a using Rock of picking
up boys, he managed to keep his secret until he
(05:04):
was diagnosed with AIDS in nineteen eighty five. And finally,
there's the story of Gloria Graham. Now funny enough. While
you might not know her name, you would definitely recognize
her if you like classic flicks. She starred in movies
(05:26):
like It's a Wonderful Life, The Big Heat Oklahoma, and
The Greatest Show on Earth. And she won an Oscar
for the Bad and the Beautiful. But Gloria had a
thing for men. She couldn't get enough of them, and
it cost her her reputation. While working on a film
in nineteen forty nine, she fell for her director, Nicholas Ray,
(05:46):
who later would get an Oscar Nod for directing the
James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause. Gloria wound up pregnant.
Problem was she was already married, so she got a
fast divorce in Vegas so she could then marry Nicholas
before the baby arrived. So what happened to them? Well,
of course, the excitement petered out, as it sometimes does,
(06:08):
and the marriage ended in nineteen fifty two when Nicholas
walked in on Gloria in bed with another man, or
actually a boy named Anthony, who happened to be Nicholas's
son and who happened to be just thirteen years old
at the time. Jeez, how crazy is that? Weirdly, it
didn't end there. Right after the divorce, Gloria quickly married
(06:30):
somebody else for about five minutes, and then when young
Anthony turned twenty one, he became Gloria's fourth and final husband,
staying with her for fourteen years. That marriage way outlasted
her other marriages and certainly outlasted her career. It was
a crazy life for those early Hollywood stars. While the
(06:51):
movie studios did everything to protect them and make them
look more beautiful and larger than life. The press and
the public loved seeing them fall apart, and that's when
the studios got tired of them and abandon them. You
got to wonder why we get a thrill out of
watching these stars rise and just as much of a
thrill out of watching them fall. Do you have a
(07:14):
story you'd like me to take a deeper dive into
and share. Please DM me on Facebook at Patty Steele
or on Instagram at reel Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
(07:38):
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
(08:01):
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
Hollywood sex scandals are kind of a guilty pleasure, but
guess what, they're nothing new. Back in the nineteen fifties,
there was a massively popular leading man who was forced
to marry his agent secretary to hide the fact that
he was gay. And how about the affair between the
nineteen forties and fifties Oscar winning movie star and her
Oscar nominated director that led to marriage and then to
(00:23):
divorce after he caught her in bed with his son
who was just thirteen years old. Can't make this stuff up.
I'm Patty Steele. Sex cells, especially when it's off screen.
Next on the backstory. The backstory is back. Hollywood sex
scandals always titillate us, even if we don't want to
(00:45):
admit it. We've heard about those involving movie superstars, and
we love a peek inside that beautiful, sexy, moneyed world.
But some of those stories go beyond a little flirtation
or even a more intense liaison, have led to broken
marriages and some to crimes that destroyed careers and lives.
Let's start with the silent film comedy legend Fatty Arbuckle.
(01:09):
It was September of nineteen twenty one, Fatty had it all.
He just signed a million dollar a year deal for
three years the equivalent today of about seventeen million bucks
a year to star in eighteen silent films. A friend
planned a three day celebration for him at the Saint
Francis Hotel in beautiful San Francisco. So there are private rooms,
(01:31):
lots of food, and plenty of liquor despite prohibition, and
lots of uninvited guests begin to show up, including a
woman named Maud Delmont and a twenty five year old
named Virginia. Repe At first, Fatty tells friends he doesn't
want those women there because it might tip the cops
off to their quote unquote gin party. Maud was a
(01:51):
madam in Virginia, was a model, clothing designer, want to
be actress, and especially a party girl. So the party
heats up. Matty isn't worried about anything at this point
other than being alone with Virginia. They have a few
drinks together, and according to Maud, Fatty pulls Virginia into
a nearby room, saying I've waited for you and now
(02:12):
I've got you. Half an hour goes by and then
Maud so she hears Virginia screaming the door is locked.
She kicks at it until Fatty finally opens the door
with a big grin on his face, and Maud sees
Virginia sprawled on the bed, moaning in pain. They call
a doctor, who treats her and then leaves. Virginia stays
(02:33):
at the hotel for a few days, but she gets
worse and is finally taken to a hospital. She dies
there a few days later of a ruptured bladder. Faddy
was arrested and sat in jail without bail for three
weeks while the newspapers had a field day with him.
He finally told his side of the story, saying that
after he had a few drinks with Virginia, she became hysterical,
(02:55):
complaining she couldn't breathe. He said, she then started to
tear off her clothes, said he thought she was drunk,
and that he actually was never alone with her and
had witnesses to prove it. Fatty was charged with manslaughter
and went to trial. Now, the problem is the key
witness for the prosecution was Maud the Madam, and she
had a pretty crummy reputation, including a criminal history involving
(03:18):
fraud and extortion. Turns out she'd bring young women to
parties to entertain wealthy men, and later she'd accuse them
of rape and then blackmail them. To make the case
even worse for the prosecutor, The defense had telegrams that
Maud had sent to lawyers in San Diego and Los
Angeles that said, we have Fatty Arbuckle in a hole here,
(03:39):
chance to make some money out of him. Eventually, after
three trials, the case against Fatty was dismissed, but his
career was destroyed. Then there's Rock Hudson, gorgeous superstar of
the fifties, sixties, and seventies. He was the dreamy guy
(04:00):
in classic movies like Giant, Magnificent, Obsession, and rom coms
like Pillow Talk. By the seventies and early eighties, he
starred in hit TV shows like McMillan and Wife and Dynasty.
But his career hit a snag back in nineteen fifty
five when a gossip magazine called Confidential started sniffing around
his private life. They wanted to do a bombshell story
(04:23):
about Rock being gay, which in those days could have
destroyed his career. His agent decided something had to be
done now. Back then, to protect their moneymakers, studios and
their fixers, like agents, would arrange what were called lavender marriages.
That meant they would pay somebody off who was willing
to get married to a star who was in the
(04:43):
closet and wanted to stay there. Rock's agent persuaded his
own secretary, Phyllis Gates, to marry Rock right away. It worked,
and it kept Rock's career intact, although the pair divorced
a few years later. While there are recordings taken by
a private eye of Phyllis a using Rock of picking
up boys, he managed to keep his secret until he
(05:04):
was diagnosed with AIDS in nineteen eighty five. And finally,
there's the story of Gloria Graham. Now funny enough. While
you might not know her name, you would definitely recognize
her if you like classic flicks. She starred in movies
(05:26):
like It's a Wonderful Life, The Big Heat Oklahoma, and
The Greatest Show on Earth. And she won an Oscar
for the Bad and the Beautiful. But Gloria had a
thing for men. She couldn't get enough of them, and
it cost her her reputation. While working on a film
in nineteen forty nine, she fell for her director, Nicholas Ray,
(05:46):
who later would get an Oscar Nod for directing the
James Dean classic Rebel Without a Cause. Gloria wound up pregnant.
Problem was she was already married, so she got a
fast divorce in Vegas so she could then marry Nicholas
before the baby arrived. So what happened to them? Well,
of course, the excitement petered out, as it sometimes does,
(06:08):
and the marriage ended in nineteen fifty two when Nicholas
walked in on Gloria in bed with another man, or
actually a boy named Anthony, who happened to be Nicholas's
son and who happened to be just thirteen years old
at the time. Jeez, how crazy is that? Weirdly, it
didn't end there. Right after the divorce, Gloria quickly married
(06:30):
somebody else for about five minutes, and then when young
Anthony turned twenty one, he became Gloria's fourth and final husband,
staying with her for fourteen years. That marriage way outlasted
her other marriages and certainly outlasted her career. It was
a crazy life for those early Hollywood stars. While the
(06:51):
movie studios did everything to protect them and make them
look more beautiful and larger than life. The press and
the public loved seeing them fall apart, and that's when
the studios got tired of them and abandon them. You
got to wonder why we get a thrill out of
watching these stars rise and just as much of a
thrill out of watching them fall. Do you have a
(07:14):
story you'd like me to take a deeper dive into
and share. Please DM me on Facebook at Patty Steele
or on Instagram at reel Patty Steele. I'm Patty Steele.
(07:38):
The Backstories a production of iHeartMedia, Premiere Networks, the Elvis
Durand Group, and Steel Trap Productions. Our producer is Doug Fraser.
Our writer Jake Kushner. We have new episodes every Tuesday
and Friday. Feel free to reach out to me with
comments and even story suggestions on Instagram at real Patty
Steele and on Facebook at Patty Steele. Thanks for listening
(08:01):
to the Backstory with Patty Steele. The pieces of history
you didn't know you needed to know.
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