10 CRIMES THAT SHOOK HOLLYWOOD. Showbiz’s Darkest Chapters
Most people will probably mention either the infamous O.J. Simpson trial, where he narrowly escaped punishment for the murder of his ex-wife Nicole and her friend Ron Goldman, or the massacre orchestrated by the Manson Family at Roman Polanski’s home on 10050 Cielo Drive.
However, Hollywood’s history has many more dark chapters, where life, film, and showbiz intertwine in surprisingly tight ways. Here are the most memorable crimes that left a lasting mark on the Dream Factory.
1.The Curse of the Brando Family
It’s not easy to have a cinematic genius for a father, especially one with a rather neurotic personality. Christian Brando was the child of Marlon and Anna Kashfi. The couple married the year Christian was born but divorced a year later. For twelve years, Marlon fought for custody of his son, while Anna battled emotional instability and drug addiction. Torn between two homes, Christian was already a bundle of nerves by the age of thirteen.
The great Brando won the legal battle and then lost interest in his son. Raised by nannies and housekeepers, Christian soon dropped out of school, ran away from home, and experimented with LSD. He attempted an acting career, but without much success. Deprived of care during his childhood, he channeled all his emotions into his half-sister, Cheyenne. In 1990, Cheyenne was eight months pregnant with her partner, Dag Drollet. The couple lived at Marlon Brando’s estate on Mulholland Drive. Cheyenne complained to her brother that Drollet was abusive toward her—likely untrue, as Cheyenne had her own issues. However, Christian believed her, and during a drunken confrontation, he shot Drollet.
‘I only wanted to scare him,’ he claimed. The prosecution could not prove premeditated murder because Marlon Brando arranged for Cheyenne, the key witness, to be admitted to a psychiatric hospital. He also gave an emotional speech, taking full responsibility and admitting he had “failed as a father.” The media followed the trial with bated breath, with images of a distraught Marlon hiding his face in his hands and shedding tears appearing everywhere. If it were fiction, his performance might have earned him an Oscar nomination, but he succeeded in defending his son. Christian Brando was released after five years.
Later, Christian was embroiled in another Hollywood scandal—the murder of Bonnie Lee Bakley, for which her husband, Robert Blake, star of the TV series Baretta and the role of Perry Smith in In Cold Blood, was accused. Blake claimed his wife had an affair with Christian. Bonnie was pregnant and uncertain about the father, giving both men plausible motives. Christian was cleared of charges again and also managed to prevail in a later legal battle with his wife, Deborah, who accused him of domestic violence. He died of pneumonia in 2008.
During her brother’s trial, Cheyenne attempted suicide twice, accused Marlon Brando of molestation, and was eventually officially diagnosed with schizophrenia. Her third suicide attempt was successful. She was 25 years old and had just lost custody of Drollet’s posthumous son. Marlon Brando died in 2004 at the age of 80, still enjoying the status of an undisputed cinema legend. During his life, he fathered at least sixteen children.
2. Lana Turner and Her Role of a Lifetime
The beautiful Lana Turner met Johnny Stompanato in 1957. Their romance blossomed, but the actress quickly realized that Johnny’s strong ties to the mafia underworld—he was a bodyguard for gangster Mickey Cohen—would not bode well for her public image. She tried to end their relationship; after her split from her fourth husband, she needed peace. However, Stompanato was unwilling to let go, and the relationship continued—tumultuous, filled with violence, jealousy, breakups, and reconciliations. On April 4, 1958, yet another argument erupted, but this time things escalated dangerously when Lana’s 14-year-old daughter, Cheryl Crane, grabbed a knife and rushed to defend her mother.
Stompanato’s death was ruled a case of justifiable homicide, largely thanks to the testimony of the beautiful Lana, who had the courtroom eating out of her hand as she dramatically whispered pleas to “blame only her.” This was, without a doubt, Lana Turner’s role of a lifetime.
Cheryl went through her share of teenage rebellion but eventually found her footing. She always had a loving and deeply protective relationship with her mother, as described in her autobiography, Detour: A Hollywood Tragedy – My Life With Lana Turner, My Mother (1988). She now lives in California with her partner, Jocelyn LeRoy, whom Turner treated like “another daughter.” Lana Turner passed away from throat cancer in 1995. Stompanato, meanwhile, appears as a character in two of James Ellroy’s books, The Big Nowhere and L.A. Confidential. In Curtis Hanson’s film adaptation of L.A. Confidential, his role was played by Paolo Seganti.
The case of the Black Dahlia is undoubtedly one of the most tragic chapters in Hollywood’s history, made even more so by the fact that the unfortunate young woman never received justice. Elizabeth Short was 22 years old, loved dressing in black, and often adorned her hair with flowers. Like many young women during the difficult post-war era, she dreamed of escaping poverty and mediocrity, hoping to transform from a waitress into a movie star. She did indeed achieve fame—immense and enduring to this day—though certainly not in a way she would have wished.
On the morning of January 15, 1947, Elizabeth Short’s naked and horrifically mutilated body was discovered by a woman walking with her child. At first, she thought it was a store mannequin. The killer had cut the body into two precise halves, disfigured Elizabeth’s face, and subjected her to unspeakable torture before her death. The suffering she endured is almost incomprehensible; a sane mind simply rejects such horrors, so I’ll spare you the details. To make matters worse, the murderer posed her body in a manner designed to humiliate and degrade her further.
To this day, the perpetrator remains unknown, despite countless theories and an even greater number of suspects. It’s still easier to find gruesome photos of Elizabeth Short’s mutilated body online than pictures showing her beauty, her smile, and the sparkle in her eyes. The Black Dahlia has become a symbol, one that over time everyone seems to have claimed as public property.
Her mother, Phoebe Short, learned of her daughter’s death through journalists, who tricked her under the guise of congratulating her on a beauty contest win to extract information about Elizabeth before cruelly revealing her fate. Rumors about Elizabeth’s private life spread like wildfire, often repeated by people who had never even met her. Hollywood shows no mercy—not even years later. Brian De Palma’s dismal pseudo-noir film The Black Dahlia (2006) is a direct affront to the memory of Elizabeth Short and basic human decency, though Mia Kirshner’s performance in the film is remarkable.
4. Poltergeist Doesn’t Let Go: Dominique Dunne
Do you remember the charming and slightly sulky Dana Freeling, the older daughter of Steven and Diane in Tobe Hooper’s Poltergeist from 1982? Dominique Dunne was born into a family with artistic traditions: her father was a film producer but, above all, one of America’s most famous investigative journalists. Her older brother, Griffin Dunne, remains a popular actor to this day. It’s no surprise, then, that young Dominique had big ambitions. She landed her first TV role in 1979, and Poltergeist was her first feature film, which she hoped would mark a turning point in her career.
Dominique’s relationship with John Sweeney was tumultuous from the start, largely due to John’s fiery temper and uncontrollable jealousy. It soon became clear that he wasn’t shy about using his fists. Dominique tried to break up with Sweeney several times, but he refused to accept the idea of losing what he saw as his property—like any abusive man. A few weeks after their final breakup, Sweeney lured Dominique out of her home, where she had been rehearsing lines for a new role with her co-star, David Packer. He strangled her until she lost consciousness and then voluntarily surrendered to the police. Dominique fell into a coma and never regained consciousness; her parents took her off life support five days later. To the outrage of the Dunne family and the public, Sweeney was sentenced to just six and a half years in prison, serving barely over half of that time.
Dominique Dunne’s death became part of the legend of the so-called Poltergeist curse. Over six years, four cast members passed away: Dunne, Julian Beck, Will Sampson, and 12-year-old Heather O’Rourke, who played Carol Anne in all three films. The curse was even the subject of an episode in the series E! True Hollywood Story.
5. The Stalker of Rebecca Schaeffer
From the tragic story of Rebecca Schaeffer, at least something good came out of it: thanks to her, the legal system in California addressed the issue of stalking and introduced strict anti-stalking laws, the first of their kind in the United States.
In 1986, she landed the role of Patti Russell in the popular sitcom My Sister Sam, where she appeared for two years. She caught the public’s eye and, unfortunately, also the attention of Robert John Bardo, who became obsessed with her. He stalked her and bombarded her with letters for three years, and then went into a jealous rage after seeing his idol in an erotic scene in the movie Scenes from the Class Struggle in Beverly Hills. Inspired by the method used by the stalker and attacker of another actress, Theresa Saldano, Bardo hired a private investigator to obtain Schaeffer’s address.
He simply showed up at her door. The young actress, who was preparing for an audition for The Godfather Part III, had a brief conversation with Bardo and firmly asked him not to approach her again. Bardo left, went for breakfast, loaded a gun, returned to Rebecca’s door, and shot her in the chest. She died half an hour later. At the time, Schaeffer was in a relationship with director Brad Silberling, who later made the film Moonlight Mile in 2002, inspired by her death and the pain of his loss.
As for Bardo, he was quickly apprehended and immediately confessed. When committing the crime, he was carrying a copy of The Catcher in the Rye, though he claimed it was a coincidence, not an attempt to emulate the infamous case of Mark David Chapman, who, after shooting John Lennon, became engrossed in the book at the crime scene. He did, however, admit that the song Exit by U2 had inspired him to kill Rebecca. The prosecutor in Bardo’s case was Marcia Clark, later known for her role in the O.J. Simpson trial, and openly criticized for her incompetence. However, in this case, she succeeded, and Bardo was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
6. Natalie Wood: An Accident?
Natalie Wood had it all: fame, beauty, talent, and the world at her feet. She began acting on camera at the age of four, and by the time she was 25, she had already received three Academy Award nominations. We remember her from Rebel Without a Cause, The Searchers, West Side Story… Her marriage to actor Robert Wagner was also highly admired: they were so beautiful, so in love, so romantic. Wood claimed that she had a crush on Wagner as a child, and although they separated for a while, they got back together and had a daughter. Only Natalie’s sister, Lana Wood, had some doubts about Wagner.
Everything seemed perfect until November 1981. Natalie Wood was shooting a new film, Brainstorm, and rumors spread that there was chemistry between her and her co-star, Christopher Walken. Walken, Wood, Wagner, and Captain Dennis Davern went on a weekend yacht trip to Catalina Island off the coast of California. Wood disappeared on November 28, and her body was found the following day. The coroner ruled it as an accidental drowning and closed the case. However, not for long. New facts began to emerge—an argument between Natalie and her husband, bruises and injuries on her body, Wagner’s jealousy of Walken, and the incriminating testimony from Captain Davern. The cause of death was reclassified from “drowning” to “undetermined,” and in 2013, the evidence was reanalyzed. However, despite ten additional pages added to the autopsy report, it was still impossible to definitively determine whether Wood’s injuries occurred before her fall into the water and drowning, although it is “possible.”
The case remains a mystery, especially considering Wood’s fear of water—would she really have decided to get into a small boat and try to row to shore alone at night, wearing only a bathrobe? Or, as Captain Davern claims, did Robert Wagner know his wife had fallen overboard but failed to make an effort to save her? We may never know.
7. The Closed Doors of Bob Crane
Bob Crane’s public image was impeccable. Handsome, charming, well-groomed, charismatic, and full of charm, with undeniable comedic talent, he was the favorite of everyone who followed his adventures in the TV show Hogan’s Heroes for six seasons, from 1965 to 1971. The ladies were especially enchanted, seeing Crane as a responsible man completely devoted to his family. However, it turned out that the popular actor had two sides. He was addicted to sex, with his conquests numbering in the hundreds, all of which he carefully documented in photos and videos, often without the knowledge of his lovers.
In June 1978, his co-star, Victoria Berry, went to Crane’s apartment to check why he hadn’t shown up for their scheduled lunch. She found him bludgeoned to death (police suspect a camera tripod was used), with an electric cord wrapped around his neck. Bob Crane’s private life suddenly became public property, and his fans couldn’t fathom how to reconcile the image of a conservative Republican who professed his undying love for his wife with that of the man who was making lewd sex tapes. Even more shocking was the fact that Crane’s wife knew about his photographic hobby and didn’t seem to mind. “It’s like I’d be jealous of toilet paper,” she said. It seems they were well-suited for each other.
Crane’s friend, John Carpenter (the name coincidence was incidental), was accused of the murder. However, the evidence proved insufficient to convict him, and he maintained his innocence until his death in 1998. The life and death of Bob Crane are the subject of the 2002 film Auto Focus. The film was directed by Martin Scorsese’s favorite screenwriter, Paul Schrader, and Greg Kinnear brilliantly portrayed Crane. Willem Dafoe played Carpenter.
8. The media trial of the Menendez brothers
There are people who have everything, yet it’s still not enough for them. This is a brief summary of the Menendez brothers’ case, the most media-covered trial at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s. In 1989, Lyle was 21 and Erik was 18 years old. Their father, Jose, was born in Cuba and fled when he was sixteen. In the United States, he met and married Kitty Andersen and trained as an accountant. He built his career from scratch, climbing the ranks from a second-rate bookkeeper to CEO of LIVE Entertainment. Of course, this brought with it a lot of money. The problem was that neither Lyle nor Erik wanted to wait for their inheritance. They developed their plan in great detail.
On August 20, 1989, Jose and Kitty were tired—the whole family had spent the previous day on a yacht, shark hunting. The boys said they were going out to the city, and their parents planned to watch a James Bond movie on video and go to bed early. Neighbors heard gunshots around 10 p.m., but they mistook them for fireworks. Jose was the first to die, from a single shot to the back of the head. Kitty was shot in the leg, slipped in her own blood, and fell; the next shots hit her in the arm, chest, and face. Both of them were also shot in the knee—making the murders look like mafia-related hits. Afterward, the brothers went to the movies, and then met friends at a bakery, hoping to secure an alibi by having as many witnesses as possible. They then returned home to “find” their parents’ bodies. The tearful 911 phone recording Lyle made became iconic. “Someone killed my parents! My mom and my dad!” he cried desperately.
The police immediately mishandled the case, and no one thought to check if there were gunpowder residues on either brother’s hands. There was no evidence, and the Menendezes probably would have gotten away with it if they hadn’t been so foolish. In the first six months of their orphanhood, they easily spent a million dollars, and their carefree behavior caught the police’s attention. What’s more, Erik confessed to the murders to his psychologist. Lyle tried to fix the mistake by threatening the doctor. That was an expensive error: during the later trial, the session notes were made available to the jurors because the judge decided to waive doctor-patient confidentiality, and the defense’s appeal only partially limited this decision.
The trial became a sensation, broadcast live on Court TV and followed in real time by thousands of viewers. The public’s disdain for the young Menendezes was palpable. No one believed their defense, which was based on alleged abuse and violence within the family. Nonetheless, the trial dragged on for years until the final verdict in 1996: both were sentenced to life in prison. Both got married while in prison, with Lyle marrying twice.
The case was immortalized in the TV movie Menendez: A Killing in Beverly Hills, the recent Netflix show The Menendez Brothers, and the media frenzy surrounding the trial was parodied in The Truman Show with Jim Carrey.
9. Phil Spector and Lana Clarkson. The Producer and the Actress
Lana Clarkson was a model and actress who found her niche in B-grade science fiction and fantasy films in the 1980s. She played seductive barbarians, amazonian queens, and scantily clad huntresses, often collaborating with Roger Corman, who referred to Clarkson as “the first true Xena.” The actress enjoyed a real cult following among nerds and also appeared in commercials for major brands. However, as is often the case with second-tier actresses whose main asset is their looks, the passing of time negatively impacted Clarkson’s career. After turning thirty, she began receiving fewer interesting offers and had to get creative to make ends meet.
Lana met producer Phil Spector on February 3, 2003. By then, his star had already faded, but in the 1960s and 70s, he was truly someone. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his contribution to music and was behind many successes of The Beatles, The Ramones, and the girl group The Ronettes. He still had many contacts from his past. Perhaps Clarkson was hoping for his help in saving her declining career? In any case, she agreed to visit him at his private residence, where they traveled by limousine. The driver stayed outside, and the couple went inside. An hour later, the driver heard a gunshot, and Spector emerged onto the patio with a gun in hand, saying, “I think I killed her.”
The producer insisted that Lana’s death was a tragic accident, claiming that she playfully kissed the barrel of the gun, which unfortunately fired. However, Spector had previously pointed a gun at various women, usually when they rejected his advances. In 2009, a jury convicted him of second-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison. He may apply for parole after serving 19 years.
10. The DeFeo family. It’s not houses that give birth to evil
On November 13, 1974, Ronald DeFeo, Jr., known as Butch, entered Henry’s bar in Amityville, Long Island, New York, and told those gathered that he needed help because “someone probably shot his parents.” A group of volunteers went to the scene and indeed, both Ronald Sr. and his wife Louise were found dead. The police, who were called to the scene, quickly determined that the same fate had befallen all the family members, including the children: 18-year-old Dawn, 13-year-old Allison, 12-year-old Marc, and 9-year-old John Matthew. Butch DeFeo was taken to the police station—initially for his own safety, as he insisted that a mafia hitman had killed his family, even naming a suspect. However, the police soon noticed contradictions and gaps in DeFeo’s testimony. He confessed the next day.
The defense argued that DeFeo committed the murders because he heard whispers in his head from his family members conspiring to kill him. The prosecution’s expert, however, claimed that Butch, despite being a heroin and LSD addict and a sociopath, was fully aware of the consequences of his actions when he committed them. In 1975, he was sentenced to life in prison with the possibility of parole after 25 years. However, all of DeFeo’s parole applications have been rejected. This is where the case should have ended, but it was only just beginning.
Firstly, DeFeo suddenly changed his mind about his guilt and began giving interviews, each time changing his version of events but stubbornly implicating his sister Dawn, who he claimed was the mastermind behind the whole plot. He stated that he had a witness to prove it, but the witness could not be located. Rumors about an incestuous relationship between Butch and his sister surfaced. However, the real bombshell was Jay Hanson’s book The Amityville Horror, which inspired a whole series of films made between 1979 and 2013. The book focuses on the experiences of the Lutz family, who moved into the house at 112 Ocean Avenue thirteen months after the murders and left just a month later, claiming they were being tormented by mysterious paranormal phenomena.
The book was promoted on the wave of the popularity of The Exorcist, with the catchy tagline “more terrifying because it’s true.” This, of course, led both rational and less rational detectives and parapsychologists to examine the content closely. It quickly became clear that the “true story” was full of holes and inaccuracies. Demonologists and vampire researchers, Stephen Kaplan, Hans Holzer, and the famous Warren couple, became involved. The Warrens and Holzer agreed that the house might be inhabited by evil spirits due to its dark history. However, other researchers opposed this theory, and the ongoing disputes between the two sides became a traditional element of the still-continuing “Amityville case.” George Lutz, who died in 2006, ran a website documenting the “true face of the case,” trademarked Amityville Horror, and persistently fought with the creators of the latest film versions of the story, accusing them of defamation and distorting the facts. Until his death, he insisted that the haunting story was true.
The Lutz family’s successors had better luck: Barbara and John Cromarty lived at 112 Ocean Avenue for ten peaceful years. The strangest thing that happened to them?
“Tourists,” said John.
Karolina Chymkowska