THELMA TODD

Thelma Todd (nicknamed "The Ice Cream Blonde" and "Hot Toddy") was a beautiful actress, often in comedies, from 1926 to 1935. She was a Miss America contestant who started making movies in the mid-1920s, and when sound movies started and it was discovered that she had a pleasant voice, she started appearing in dozens of movies, mostly romantic comedies; she appeared in two Marx Bros. movies, and opened a Hollywood restaurant. Some of her movies include: Monkey Business, Counsellor at Law, Horse Feathers, Love Business, and Chickens Come Home. After having appeared in over 100 movies, she died in her garage from carbon monoxide poisoning on December 16th, 1935. Though her death was ruled a suicide by police, rumors have persisted that her ex-husband had a hand in her death. Noted expert Richard Bann tells us that Hal Roach explained this to him in person saying that "Roland West evidently meant only to punish Thelma, and locked the garage so she couldn't leave, and that the carbon monoxide killed her". Of course it makes a more commercial story to sensationalize her death as murder instigated by the mob.