Thelma Alice Todd
(July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935)
was an American actress and businesswoman who carried the nicknames "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy". Appearing in about 120 feature films and
shorts between 1926 and 1935, she is remembered for her comedic roles opposite
ZaSu Pitts
Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...
, and in films such as
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
' ''
Monkey Business'' and ''
Horse Feathers'' and a number of
Charley Chase's short comedies. She co-starred with
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
and
Jimmy Durante
James Francis Durante ( , ; February 10, 1893 – January 29, 1980) was an American comedian, actor, singer, vaudevillian, and pianist. His distinctive gravelly speech, Lower East Side accent, comic language-butchery, jazz-influenced son ...
in ''
Speak Easily
''Speak Easily'' is a 1932 American pre-Code comedy film starring Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd, and directed by Edward Sedgwick. The studio also paired Keaton and Durante as a comedy team during this period in '' The Passionat ...
''. She also had roles in several
Wheeler and Woolsey and
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...
films, the last of which (''
The Bohemian Girl
''The Bohemian Girl'' is an Irish Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La Gitanilla''.
The best-known aria from the piece is "I Dreamt I D ...
'') featured her in a part that was cut short by her sudden death in 1935 at the age of 29.
Early life
Todd was born in
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...
,
[
] to John Shaw Todd, an upholsterer from Ireland,
[
1910 United States Federal Census
] later, a superintendent of streets,
an alderman, and Lawrence's commissioner of health and charities in 1912
and Alice Elizabeth Edwards, an immigrant from Canada. She had an older brother, William, who died in an accident in 1910.
She was a bright and successful student. Intending to become a schoolteacher, she enrolled at the Lowell Normal School (now
University of Massachusetts, Lowell) after graduating from high school in 1923.
[
] As a student, she earned money as a model, entered
beauty pageant
A beauty pageant is a competition that has traditionally focused on judging and ranking the physical attributes of the contestants. Pageants have now evolved to include inner beauty, with criteria covering judging of personality, intelligence, ...
s in her late teens, gained the attention of Elks Lodge 65, was crowned 1925 Miss Lawrence, and won the title of 1925 Miss Massachusetts.
While representing her home state, she was spotted by a
Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywoo ...
talent scout. She was offered a slot at the Paramount Players School in
Astoria, Queens
Astoria is a neighborhood in the western portion of the New York City borough of Queens. Astoria is bounded by the East River and is adjacent to three other Queens neighborhoods: Long Island City to the southwest, Sunnyside to the southeas ...
,
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, at a time when
Paramount Studios was training would-be-actors in acting, diction, athletics and manners.
Of the 16 members of her cohort, only
Charles "Buddy" Rogers also made it to Hollywood. Todd later found work, in 1929, at
Hal Roach Studios
Hal Roach Studios was an American motion picture and television production studio. Known as ''The Laugh Factory to the World'', it was founded by producer Hal Roach and business partners Dan Linthicum and I.H. Nance as the Rolin Film Company on Ju ...
.
Career
Film
During the
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, w ...
era, Todd appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. With the advent of the
talkies, she was able to expand her roles when producer
Hal Roach
Harry Eugene "Hal" Roach Sr.Randy Skretvedt, Skretvedt, Randy (2016), ''Laurel and Hardy: The Magic Behind the Movies'', Bonaventure Press. p.608. (January 14, 1892 – November 2, 1992) was an American film and television producer, director, a ...
signed her to appear with comedy stars such as
Harry Langdon,
Charley Chase, and
Laurel and Hardy
Laurel and Hardy were a British-American comedy duo act during the early Classical Hollywood era of American cinema, consisting of Englishman Stan Laurel (1890–1965) and American Oliver Hardy (1892–1957). Starting their career as a duo in t ...
.
In 1931, Roach cast Todd in her own series of 17-to-27-minute slapstick comedy shorts. Attempt to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy, Roach teamed Todd with
ZaSu Pitts
Zasu Pitts (; January 3, 1894 – June 7, 1963) was an American actress who starred in many silent dramas, including Erich von Stroheim's epic 1924 silent film ''Greed'', and comedies, transitioning successfully to mostly comedy films with the ...
for 17 shorts, from "Let's do Things" (June 1931) through "One Track Minds" (May 1933). When Pitts left in 1933, she was replaced by
Patsy Kelly, who appeared with Todd in 21 shorts, from "Beauty and the Bus" (September 1933) through "An All American Toothache" (January 1936). These shorts often cast Todd as a levelheaded working girl doing her best to remain poised and charming despite numerous problems and her ditzy sidekick's embarrassing antics.
In 1931, Todd starred in ''
Corsair'', a film directed by
Roland West, with whom she become romantically involved.
Todd became highly regarded as a capable film comedian, and Roach loaned her to other studios to play opposite
Wheeler & Woolsey,
Buster Keaton
Joseph Frank "Buster" Keaton (October 4, 1895 – February 1, 1966) was an American actor, comedian, and filmmaker. He is best known for his silent film work, in which his trademark was physical comedy accompanied by a stoic, deadpan expression ...
,
Joe E. Brown, and the
Marx Brothers
The Marx Brothers were an American family comedy act that was successful in vaudeville, on Broadway, and in motion pictures from 1905 to 1949. Five of the Marx Brothers' thirteen feature films were selected by the American Film Institute (AFI) ...
. She also successfully appeared in dramas, such as the original 1931 version of ''
The Maltese Falcon'' starring
Ricardo Cortez
Ricardo Cortez (born Jacob Kranze or Jacob Krantz; September 19, 1900 – April 28, 1977) was an American actor and film director. He was also credited as Jack Crane early in his acting career.
Early years
Ricardo Cortez was born Jacob K ...
as
Sam Spade
Sam Spade is a fictional character and the protagonist of Dashiell Hammett's 1930 novel '' The Maltese Falcon''. Spade also appeared in four lesser-known short stories by Hammett.
''The Maltese Falcon'', first published as a serial in the pulp ...
, where she played Miles Archer's treacherous widow. She appeared in around 120 feature films and shorts in her career.
Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935 and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy ''
The Bohemian Girl
''The Bohemian Girl'' is an Irish Romantic opera composed by Michael William Balfe with a libretto by Alfred Bunn. The plot is loosely based on a Miguel de Cervantes' tale, ''La Gitanilla''.
The best-known aria from the piece is "I Dreamt I D ...
''. It was her last role before her untimely death at age 29. Although she had completed all of her scenes, producer Roach had them re-shot, fearing negative publicity. He deleted all of Todd's dialogue, and limited her appearance to one musical number.
Sidewalk Cafe
Originally built in 1928, by architect
Mark Daniels
Mark Roy Daniels (1881 – 1952) was an architect, landscape architect, civil engineer, and city planner active in California. He was known for creating plans that incorporated existing natural features in order to preserve a sense of local char ...
, as the
Castellammare housing tract business block, in August 1934, Todd opened, in partnership with
Jewel Carmen and
Roland West, Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe,
at 17575 Pacific Coast Highway,
Castellammare, Pacific Palisades, Los Angeles. The ground floor of the building housed the restaurant. On the second floor, Todd and West lived in adjoining ocean-view apartments—with only a sliding wooden door separating their bedrooms—
and held parties in the adjacent, private nightclub named Joya (for West's ex-wife
Jewel Carmen) that took up the rest of the second floor. The third-floor, hexagonally-shaped, had a dance floor and bandstand.
It attracted a diverse clientele of Hollywood celebrities, and many tourists.
Personal life
Todd was briefly married to Pat DiCiccio, who supposedly had ties to the mob. The relationship was volatile with DiCiccio being very abusive to Todd, resulting in her filing for divorce & changing her will to only leaving him $1.
Death
On the morning of Monday, December 16, 1935, Todd was found dead, wearing a mauve and silver gown, mink wrap and expensive jewelry,
in her chocolate-colored
1934 Lincoln Phaeton convertible inside the garage of
Jewel Carmen, a former actress and former wife of Todd's lover and business partner
Roland West. Carmen's house was approximately a block from the topmost side of Todd's restaurant.
Her death was determined to have been caused by
carbon monoxide poisoning
Carbon monoxide poisoning typically occurs from breathing in carbon monoxide (CO) at excessive levels. Symptoms are often described as " flu-like" and commonly include headache, dizziness, weakness, vomiting, chest pain, and confusion. Large ...
. West is quoted in a contemporaneous newspaper account
as having locked her out, which may have caused her to seek refuge and warmth in the car. Todd had a wide circle of friends and associates and a busy social life.
Police investigations revealed that she had spent the previous Saturday night (December 14) at the
Trocadero, a popular Hollywood restaurant, at a party hosted by entertainer
Stanley Lupino
Stanley Richard Lupino Hook (15 June 1893 – 10 June 1942), known professionally as Stanley Lupino, was an English actor, dancer, singer, librettist, director and short story writer. During the 1930s, Lupino appeared in a successful series of m ...
and his actress daughter
Ida. She had a brief but unpleasant exchange there with her ex-husband,
Pat DiCicco. However, her friends stated that she was in good spirits and were aware of nothing in her life that suggested a reason for her to commit suicide. She was driven home from the party in the early hours of December 15 by her chauffeur, Ernest O. Peters.
LAPD
The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD), officially known as the City of Los Angeles Police Department, is the municipal police department of Los Angeles, California. With 9,974 police officers and 3,000 civilian staff, it is the third-large ...
detectives concluded that Todd's death was accidental, the result of her either warming up the car to drive it or using the heater to keep herself warm. A coroner's inquest into the death was held on December 18, 1935. Autopsy surgeon A. P. Wagner testified that there were "no marks of violence anywhere upon or within the body" with only a "superficial contusion on the lower lip." There are informal accounts of greater signs of injury. The jury ruled that the death appeared accidental, but recommended "further investigation to be made into the case, by proper authorities."
A grand jury probe was subsequently held to determine whether Todd was murdered. After four weeks of testimony, the inquiry concluded with no evidence of foul play.
[Donati, William. ''The Life and Death of Thelma Todd''. McFarland & Company, Inc., 2012, p. 187] The case was closed by the Homicide Bureau, which declared the death "accidental with possible suicide tendencies." However, investigators found no motive for suicide, and Todd left no suicide note.
Todd's memorial service was held at Pierce Brothers Mortuary at 720 West Washington Blvd in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world ...
.
The body was cremated. After her mother's death in 1969, Todd's remains were placed in her mother's casket and buried in
Bellevue Cemetery
Bellevue Cemetery is a historic cemetery in Lawrence and Methuen, Massachusetts. Established in 1847 and owned by the city of Lawrence, it is the first and principal cemetery of the city and a notable example of a rural cemetery. In conjunc ...
in her hometown of
Lawrence, Massachusetts
Lawrence is a city located in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States, on the Merrimack River. At the 2020 census, the city had a population of 89,143. Surrounding communities include Methuen to the north, Andover to the southwest, and Nort ...
.
Legacy
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Todd has a star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
The Hollywood Walk of Fame is a historic landmark which consists of more than 2,700 five-pointed terrazzo and brass stars embedded in the sidewalks along 15 blocks of Hollywood Boulevard and three blocks of Vine Street in Hollywood, Calif ...
at 6262
Hollywood Blvd
Hollywood Boulevard is a major east–west street in Los Angeles, California. It begins in the east at Sunset Boulevard in the Los Feliz district and proceeds to the west as a major thoroughfare through Little Armenia and Thai Town, Hollywoo ...
.
Filmography
See also
*
Jewel Carmen § Death of Thelma Todd
*
List of unsolved deaths
This list of unsolved deaths includes well-known cases where:
* The cause of death could not be officially determined.
* The person's identity could not be established after they were found dead.
* The cause is known, but the manner of death (homi ...
*
Pitts and Todd
*
Patsy Kelly
* ''
White Hot: The Mysterious Murder of Thelma Todd'', 1991 TV movie
Further reading
*
*
*
*
References
External links
*
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Todd, Thelma
1906 births
1935 deaths
20th-century American actresses
Actresses from Massachusetts
Accidental deaths in California
American film actresses
American silent film actresses
Burials in Massachusetts
Deaths from carbon monoxide poisoning
Hal Roach Studios actors
People from Lawrence, Massachusetts
Unsolved deaths
University of Massachusetts Lowell alumni
American people of Canadian descent
American people of Irish descent
1935 suicides