The Life and Death of Actress Carol Landis

Carole Landis was one of the most popular female movie stars of the 1940's but her personal life was filled with sadness and success in equal measure. Her tragic and untimely death in 1948 raised many unanswered questions and left members of her family asking if it really was down to suicide – or was her married lover, the British Actor Rex Harrison somehow involved in a suspicious covering up of vital evidence?

Carole Landis was born on January 1, 1919, in Fairchild, Wisconsin. Her real name was Frances Lillian Mary Ridste. She was the youngest of five children, and was such a beautiful child that she was nicknamed "Baby Doll" by her mother. Her father Alfred  Ridste, a machinist, was Norwegian who had married Clara Zentek, who was of Polish decent, in 1911. Clara and Alfred had five children together but the marriage didn’t last the rest of time. 

Carole and her siblings were raised by their strict mother alone and tragically two of her brothers died very young. Before Carole was born, her older brother Jerome had been accidentally scalded by boiling water in an accident at home, and had passed away On December 20, 1917 when he was just seventeen months old. Alfred abandoned the family shortly after this horrific event and moved to Montana. Carole’s niece Tammy describes the relationship between Carole and her mother Clara and the situation they were in once Alfred deserted his family:

“Carole and her mother Clara had a very special bond and she was an extraordinary and very misunderstood woman. A lot of people didn't understand Clara or the way it was back then for a single mother raising children. Her story has never been explained. Clara married Alfred at 17 and they were together for only a short time. By 1919 they had 4 children - Lawrence, Lewis, Jerome, and Dorothy. After the loss of their son Jerome, Alfred left Clara. She not only had to deal with the death of a child alone, but then her husband left her and the children. They too lost a brother and then their father. Clara then found out she was expecting another child - Frances Lillian Mary (who would become Carole). Clara had a neighbour Mr. Fenner whom she became close with and she moved in with him. Now in that generation you didn't move in with a man you were not married to. I think she was so sad and lonely and that she needed companionship. Maybe she was a little liberal even though she didn't know what that meant then. However she made a decision that she felt was best for her and the children.”

Clara married Charles Fenner but again the marriage didn't last. Carol’s step-father also abandoned her just as her real father had done. According to close family sources Carole was also sexually molested by a male relative during her early childhood, but they don’t actually say who was responsible. Carole would spend the rest of her life searching for a father figure even though her real father Alfred did make contact with her years later.

In 1923 the Clara and the children relocated to San Bernardino, California.  Clara had to work several jobs and the children were often left alone. Tammy explains:

After that relationship didn't work Clara had no choice but to find housing that she could afford and get work nearby. She worked all the time and was only able to see her children in between her jobs. Clara and the children lived in the poorest neighbourhoods. There was a mix of African-Americans and Mexicans living there, and let's just say they were the outcasts that no one else wanted in their areas. I think that was the best thing Clara did for her children. They had small living quarters which kept the family close, and they never judged people by their colour or race or religion. In Clara's eyes they were all the same and understood each other because they were all in a bad situation. The people in the neighbourhood became family and they helped out with the children. That attitude was way ahead of time. That was a fundamental experience that moulded Carole at such a young age and made her into a better adult. Clara was very strict and some think that means she wasn't a loving mother but she had to be that way to make sure her children were disciplined and kept safe.

They had chores at a very young age. Dorothy, being the oldest girl, had the biggest responsibilities when Clara wasn't home. As time went on Dorothy would ask Carole to help out. They weren't allowed to go outside and play unless Clara was home or a neighbour could be with them – with Clara’s permission. If they were caught, which they were a few times due to Carole's free spirit, they were punished! All the chores had to be done every day and Clara relied on Dorothy to make sure they got done. If Clara came home in between jobs and chores were still outstanding Dorothy would get the "switch”. Dorothy always wanted to please her mother and had to make "games" out of the chores so that Carole would help her. Clara would also try to reward her children. If she got “extra" work she would give them money for the movies or to get ice cream - that was the girl’s favourite treat! Clara would get home from work late at 1:00am and the girls would wake up to the smell of baking but they knew they had to wait until the next day to eat anything. Even though Clara was short on time she still did that for the children even though she was exhausted from working”.

In 1924 tragedy struck again when Lewis was accidentally shot and killed by a friend on July 17, 1925. He was only eleven years old. After this Clara became even more over-protective of her girls.

Tammy explained:

Clara didn't want her girls growing up. They both developed early so she made them wrap their breasts and they weren't allowed to date either. When Carole left home at the age of 16 it was really hard for Clara. I think it was a feeling of abandonment due to her husband Alfred leaving and she didn't really understand Carole's strong will spirit and determination to go out and fulfil her dreams.

Clara became strict with Dorothy especially when she fell in love. Not only did Carole elope but Dorothy also took off with her boyfriend Walter and got married at 17. After not speaking to Dorothy for a while Clara made amends when she saw how good the two were together and that Walter took good care of her daughter. 

I think Clara was a stubborn woman due to her situation in life and really didn't want her daughters to go through the same hardships. She was set in her ways and it took a while for her to let some things go and just realize her girls turned into independent women who learned from their mother.

As time passed she became a grandmother and enjoyed having grandchildren around. It was a second chance for her to love on the babies and see young children grow up. She was robbed of a lot of the joys of parenthood. She now could enjoy the time she spend with them all. 

Over the Years Clara kept busy with Carole and she was very supportive of her life and what was going on in her daughter’s career. One of my favourite stories is that Carole came home from the studio to find a house full of servicemen. Great Grandma was cooking up a storm and told Carole "They needed a little piece of home". Of course Carole was tired but she loved giving to the men who were serving our country. They had a nice meal, went swimming, and were driven back.

Clara would go out with Carole when she was famous and, enjoyed the attention, and was proud of her daughter. Carole spoiled her and wanted to take care of her because she knew how hard Clara had worked when she was a child. This was Carole's way of paying her back. They enjoyed shopping and having lunches, and Clara would eventually come and live with Carole. That was a winning situation for them both. Carole loved having many animals and when she was gone doing the U.S.O. tours Clara would be the caretaker of the house and the pets. It was a safe and comforting for Carole to know her mother was there. When Carole passed away Clara was so broken and really didn't know what to do. She and Dorothy really didn't believe she had killed herself. You can only imagine how Clara felt losing three children - and Carole was the "baby". Even though Carole had at other times written what I call "attention suicide letters" - I believe them to be only that. Clara and Dorothy did not feel this was one of those times. They couldn't prove it was foul play and there were a lot of circumstances that played a role in that”. 

Tammy goes on to say:

 “Clara was a woman of strength - she pulled herself together and did what she always did when there was a tragedy that struck her in her life. In later years there was a fire in her home that burned her badly and she then lived with Dorothy. At her nursing home she kept a photo of Carole on her nightstand and a nurse told us it was the last thing she saw before she died. Both Dorothy and Carole were hard workers too and they got that from Clara. Carole was the one who made her dreams come true and Clara lived through Carole. Clara, who in spite of the hardships she encountered showed the girls that they must take things as they come, be strong, and move forward. If they didn't have her as that strong Mother they wouldn't have been such great and amazing women themselves. Clara said of Carole "My daughter, who shared every one of her happy hours with me, struggled always with the heartbreaks alone". Clara died on August 9, 1976 at the age of 82.

Due to their difficult childhood, Carole formed a very close bond with her sister Dorothy. Tammy explains:

Dorothy Ridste Ross was Carole's sister but also her best friend. Dorothy was born in 1917 - two years before Carole. They had a hard childhood. My grandmother was strict and was devoted to her family and to God. She was a loving, patient and caring person. She was a good role model, always teaching her children and grandchildren that you should have your head up and stay positive in the hard times. Clara raised the children alone and was always working. She would have two jobs and also took in laundry on the side to be ironed or altered, so Dorothy was responsible for looking after baby Carole. Dorothy would have to wash the diapers and take care of the house and cook dinner. When I asked her what age she was when she did all of this she said she was about five! Dorothy raised Carole as a "second" mother! She loved her, played with her, did her hair, and would make special clothes for Carole's dolls out of old socks that had been darned too many times. Carole was the little girl that loved dressing up and wanted many things. They weren't allowed to go outside very much when they were really young. When Clara was at work they had to stay in and wait for her to come home. Then they would get some time until Clara had to leave to go to her other job. Carole was talking by an early age so she and Dorothy would make up stories. That was one of their favourite things to do. Carole loved writing too. 

Carole could always win Dorothy over. My grandmother often took off her shoes as she had a bunion on her foot. I asked her "how she got that ugly thing" and she laughed and told me that it was all Carole's fault. Clara would let the children take turns buying new shoes and Carole already had her turn so it was Dorothy's turn. Clara gave Dorothy the money and told her to go straight there with Carole and then come home. When they got the shoe store Dorothy was looking for the shoes that would be in the right price range and Carole was looking at the very expensive ones. Carole cried because she couldn't get a second pair of shoes. Dorothy found the pair she wanted and tried them on. Carole was being "moppie" so Dorothy asked  "what’s wrong?” Carole told her she had to have these shoes or she was going to die!" Being the loving sister, Dorothy bought those pretty shoes for Carole. My grandmother had to put her raggy shoes back on and wait for another turn to get shoes. Her feet grew and that's how she got her painful bunions but Dorothy just couldn't say no to baby Carole.

The sisters shared everything including boyfriends. Dorothy met my grandfather, Walter "Babe" Ross, when he first dated Carole. Dorothy and Walter eloped in 1935 and had four children - Diane Carole (named after Carole), Buck, Sharon (my mom), and Bill. Carole was very jealous of Dorothy's happy family life with Walter. She used to say that Dorothy should give her one of the kids because she had so many. Dorothy and Walt didn't like the Hollywood scene. At a party Bing Crosby patted Dorothy's bottom and Walt punched him! Dorothy was a selfless sister, mother, and grandmother. She had a spirit and unique way about her. She had everyone's interest at heart and always wanted the best. I believe that part of who Carole was and her giving heart came from my grandmother. Dorothy and Carole were like one soul. My grandmother told me Carole was like her own baby! When Carole passed away it was very painful and heart-breaking for Dorothy”. 

Dorothy did not think that Carole committed suicide and she believed that the British Actor Rex Harrison – Carole’s married lover at the time - had some sort of involvement in her death. Dorothy later became a Mormon and moved to Utah with her family. Dorothy said "Carole lived more, and learned more in her few, wonderful, generous years, than most people do in a lifetime". Dorothy died from cancer on September 19, 1997.

Carole was raised a Catholic and attended church every Sunday. Her general philosophy on life was to "Pass the good deed along” At the age of nine she had attended a talent show with her mother and her older brother Lawrence. During the show Carole impulsively ran up on to the stage and sang "That's My Weakness Now". She became obsessed with show business and told her family that one day she was going to be a famous movie star. Her favourite movie actors were Carole Lombard, Kay Francis, and Gary Cooper. She bought second hand movie magazines and covered her walls with photos of Mary Astor, Russ Columbo, and Clark Gable. 

Using make-up tricks to look older she started entering beauty pageants when she was twelve. She developed into a very attractive teenager and began winning these local beauty contests. She won a pair of silk stockings and an electric heater as prizes but her mother made her stop competing because she was too young. 

Carole was smart and popular but she hated school and found her classmates immature:  "I always seemed so much older than the other kids my age - they seemed like tots". In high school she became boy crazy and often skipped her classes. Her first boyfriend was Irving Wheeler, a nineteen year old writer. On January 14, 1934 they eloped in Yuma, Arizona. When her mother found out she had the marriage annulled. Carole then sought and got permission from her father to wed, and the couple legally remarried later that year on August 25^th. However, after living together for just a few weeks Carole realized she was not ready to be a wife and she walked out on Irving after they argued and he threatened to throw her out. 

Carole was later to say "The only thing I've found out about love is that I don't know anything about it. I wish somebody would tell me what it's really like. I've made a couple of guesses. But that business about 'women's intuition' just isn't true - not in my case, anyway."

Carole dropped out of high school and got a job at a movie theatre, a hamburger stand, and a department store to earn some money. Carole described why her waitress career was very short-lived:

"Three orders at a time had me nuts. I'd bring in the beef stew and give it to the wrong man and he'd start in on it. By that time I'd realize the error and give grab it away. The man who was supposed to get the beef stew then wouldn't take it. Before I was through the manager would be making me pay for half the orders."

Carole Landis

 In 1935 she decided to go to San Francisco to pursue a singing career but finding personal happiness was always a goal lingering in the background. Carole once said: "Although I avoided dramatics - and everything else - in school, I wanted to be a success on the stage, the screen, or the radio. So I saved my money and when I had bus fare and $16.82 over, I told my mother, Clara, I was going to leave home. She was heartbroken, but she believed in me. If you want to do something or be someone set your mind to it and never give up - no matter how rough the going becomes. I didn't have a college education, but I learned that there's no obstacle too big which can't be surmounted. I want to be as good an actress as Bette Davis, and I want to be a great singer. But more than that I wanted to be happily married and have some children. "

Carole worked as a hula dancer and landed a job singing with the Carl Ravazza orchestra. Later there would be rumours that she had worked as prostitute while in San Francisco. There is no truth to this and she always had a steady pay-check coming in when she lived there. Carole had become a successful singer but her real dream was to be a movie star. In September 1936 she quit the band and moved to Hollywood. She moved into an apartment at 1933 Bronson Avenue, in an unfashionable area of Hollywood. Her mother and estranged husband Irving soon joined her there. Carol said of her move to Hollywood:

"I had thought of going across the street to the drugstore for a malted milk, for the purpose of being discovered for movies but decided instead to take the money I'd saved and go to Hollywood. The funny thing was - I found Hollywood already had plenty of blondes."

 

Carol began working at various Hollywood movie studios, in the chorus and in bit parts. She appeared as an extra in movies like “A Star Is Born” and “A Day at the Races”. Carole met forty-one year old Busby Berkeley at an audition. They became good friends and he helped her get a contract at Warner Brothers. In the evenings she took singing lessons and continued her education.

In 1937 Carol expressed her displeasure at not being put at the front of the chorus line during rehearsals for The King and the Chorus Girl. Liked by the director, Mervyn LeRoy, and by choreographer Busby Berkeley, finally she got her way and was placed at the front. Irving Wheeler her ex-husband, was also an extra in the film and he was always hanging about the film set which added to Carole’s peronal problems.

On the 13 May 1937 Carol was chosen for the chorus of Warner Brother's Varsity Show. On her employee card the underage starlet stated she was born in Chicago on January 1, 1916, and that she was single. In July 1937 Busby Berkeley pulled more strings and got Carole a $50-per-week Warner Brothers contract. She became friends with starlet Diana Lewis (later Mrs. William Powell). Diana presented her with a little gold cross necklace, which she wore for the rest of her life. 

Carole was now making a name for herself in Hollywood and her picture started appearing in magazines. Her estranged husband, Irving Wheeler, took advantage of her new fame by suing Busby Berkeley in 1937 for $250,000 due to "alienation of affection" suggesting that Carole had been unfaithful. Carol told the court, "There has been neither affection nor consortium between myself and Mr. Wheeler since September 1934." She claimed her association with Berkeley was strictly platonic. He lost the case in court and in May 1938 Carole sued Wheeler for divorce, charging mental cruelty.  In 1939 it was granted. "I didn't think anyone knew I'd ever been married. I thought Irving had forgotten our marriage, too. We lived together for three weeks and then had an argument. I've only seen him a few times since then, and one of those occasions was when he told me he wanted a divorce."

Carole was delighted when Busby Berkeley proposed to her. She was then bitterly disappointed when not long after, he broke off the engagement. His mother had heard the call girl rumours and had persuaded her son against the marriage. Carole said: "Anyone in public life gets used to unkind rumours after a time. Though all of them are very upsetting when they are published and spoken about publicly, particularly by those in the business who are, shall I say, jealous of your success. I have learned to stand up to them by ignoring them and not dignifying them with an answer."

Carole as Loana in "One Million BC"

Warner Brothers then dropped her contract so Carole worked as a model and appeared in several unsuccessful plays. Carole signed a new contract with Republic Pictures in 1939. Her first leading role was opposite John Wayne in the western “Three Texas Steers”. During this time, she had brief relationships with journalist Kenny Morgan and Pat DiCicco, ex-husband of actress Thelma Todd.

Carole's big break came when Hal Roach cast her as a beautiful cave girl in the 1940 movie “One Million B.C.” The film was a huge hit and made Carole a star. She was chosen for the part of Loana in One Million B.C. simply because she ran well, and was better at it than any of the other actresses who had screen tested. Soon after this, Carole moved into the Sunset Towers apartments on the Sunset Strip.

On 28 February 1940 Stanley Campbell, a 30-year-old chauffeur who was in prison previously on a morals charge, was sentenced to a three-year prison term for miss-using the mail. He had sent Carole a letter that upset her enough to call the police. In court he claimed that seeing magazine pictures of Carole "did something" to him.

In April 1940 Hal Roach's publicist, Frank Seltzer, dubbed Carole the "Ping Girl" of America but the PR campaign was not a success. Carole took out an ad in Variety Magazine to protest at "this mental blitzkrieg" by her press agents and proclaimed she would "not be present at my own reception - to be introduced to the press as the Ping Girl - to ping, purr, or even to coo."  Carole said: "I want a fair chance to prove myself as something more than just a curvaceous cutie. I want to get out of bathing suits and into something more substantial. Unfortunately the publicity department of my studio does not agree. They have conceived the brilliant idea of selling me to the public as "the ping girl - because she makes you purr". This flash of genius is to be illustrated with a series of pictures out of their files, suggestive of anything but acting talent."

 

On 4 July 1940 Carole married Willis Hunt, Jr., after a three-week whirlwind courtship. They eloped to Las Vegas in a chartered plane and were secretly married by a justice of the peace. Carole’s’ new husband was a Los Angeles yacht broker and a society figure. He was the former husband of Alva Consuelo “Dolly” Brewer Hunt, a socialite who later married Hal Roach, Jr., son of Carole's employer. In September 1940 Carol separated from Hunt after a vicious argument and by November she had divorced him. Her only comment on rich husbands was this: "A man should be wealthy before marriage. It may be his last chance". After they split she enjoyed romances with Franchot Tone, Charlie Chaplin, and art director Cedric Gibbons. 

Carol had not given up on the idea of finding real love and romance yet:

"Let me tell you this: Every girl in the world wants to find the right man, someone who is sympathetic and understanding and helpful and strong, and someone she can love madly. Actresses are no exception; the glamour and the tinsel, the fame and the money mean very little if there is hurt in the heart." People criticised Carole for her somewhat blasé attitude to marriage and divorce but she retorted: "Why do people attack me for getting divorced? It's legal; if there's something wrong about it, why don't they attack the laws of the land, and let me alone?"

When she wasn't making movies Carole posed for glamour photos that showed off her long legs and her natural 36 inch bust. She desperately wanted to be taken seriously as an actress and she genuinely thought that these photos would help her career at the time but she very quickly changed her mind and wrote letters to newspapers requesting they publish no more of her leg art; saying she wanted to prove herself as serious actresses. 

"It was the leg art that did the trick. Naughty leg art, if you happen to look at it in that light. You see when the boys needed someone to pose in a skin-tight white bathing suit, go sleigh riding in shorts, or climb a ladder in a skirt they would yell 'Get Landis!' and Landis was willing. That made everybody happy except, maybe, the goody-goods and the bluenoses and I suspect they took a second peek now and then. A bathing suit is a girl's best friend in Hollywood. No girl should consider herself too important for that kind of

publicity. The first time I wore a bare midriff gown, Hollywood noticed me. Hollywood didn't discover me, I discovered it. I think sex is definitely here to stay but I don't see any necessity for throwing it in people's faces. I don't think a girl has to wear dresses cut down to her tummy to exhibit what is known as feminine allure. She can exhibit it in a high neck dress but subtly. Heaven knows I want people to think I have sex appeal. But I also want to think I have something besides sex appeal."

Her acting success continued with leading roles in the films “Turnabout” and “Topper Returns”.  Carole was offered a lucrative contract with 20th Century Fox in December 1940 and co-starred with Betty Grable in “Moon over Miami” and with Cesar Romero in “Dance Hall”. She dated George Montgomery, her co-star in “Cadet Girl”, and was briefly engaged to screenwriter Gene Markey, who would later go on to marry actress Myrna Loy.

She then became good friends with the studio's president Darryl Zanuck. Rumours quickly circulated that she was Darryl F. Zanuck's mistress and that she had given in to his sexual demands. Carole again attributed this gossip to "ladies" of society who were jealous of her and said: "Don't gossip - particularly about other women. Don't make sarcastic and catty remarks. Kindness is the secret to true femininity. Carole also said: If you want to interest men, you have to have the courage to attract them. Most men, I've found, like a girl who's daring enough to get their attention - if she's demure enough to appreciate it after she gets it. As long as it's a man's world, a girl has to be daring to get ahead."

Zanuck wanted Carole to play the part of Dona Sol in 20th Century-Fox's Blood and Sand, but she "turned down" the role due to squabbles with the director Rouben Mamoulian, who really wanted Rita Hayworth for the part. To save face for Zanuck, Carole claimed the real reason for her turning down the part was because she did not want to colour her trademark blonde hair. When Carole stopped giving in to Darryl Zanuck's sexual demands her career suffered. Although she was an established Fox star, Carole was only given supporting roles in movies like “Orchestra Wives” and “Wintertime” in the early 1940’s. 

During the Second World War she devoted much of her time to entertaining the troops. In 1942 she went on a five month U.S. Overseas Tour with Kay Francis, Martha Raye, and Mitzi Mayfair. They travelled to North Africa and England where they performed hundreds of shows.

"We had a wonderful time everywhere overseas, but it was hard. For five months we never gave less than five shows a day. It was too cold to sleep nights and there wasn't water enough to take a bath. We bathed and shampooed in cold water - there was no hot. I had to do my own washing. I ate more sand and fog, than food. I was hairdresser for the gang; at that we didn't look too bad."

During World War Two Carole spent more time visiting troops than any other actress. She took time off from her career and dedicated herself to the war effort. Carole toured the country selling war bonds and entertained soldiers all over the world. The press called her "a heroine" and "pride of the yanks". She joined the Hollywood Victory Committee and worked tirelessly with the Red Cross, the Naval Aid Auxiliary, and Bundles for Blue Jackets. Carole collected cigarettes for the soldiers, taught first aid, and donated blood as often as she was allowed. She never turned down a request to help and visited more than 250 military bases across the United States. When she went to Camp Bowie for a three day appearance in 1942 she danced with 200 soldiers, sang 15 songs, and signed 1000 autographs. In September 1942 she visited the Mare Island Navy Yard where she sang for the injured men in the hospital ward. Carole became one of the soldier's favourite pin-up girls and they nicknamed her "The Blonde Bomber". When she appeared on the Command Performance radio show one soldier requested that she "just sigh" into the microphone. 

On entertaining the troops during World War Two Carole said: "It's not only a duty, it's a lark. Even if your clothes are wrinkled, your face is chapped to the ears and you're deaf from flying in bombers, it's like home when you come down in the midst of Americans. It's living such as I have never known back here."

Carole wrote about her wartime experiences in her 1944 book “Four Jills in a Jeep” but even she needed some professional help and advice:

"The studio gave me two ghost writers but they messed it all up. I finally decided to talk it to a steno typist - naturally with some Scotch and soda under my belt. Yes, it was very droll. I'd go out to the kitchen and sneak a drink, and come back again with a lot of new inspirations. I had too many swear words, like Hell, damn and Christ in it. Edwin Seaver, the writer whom I know, went over it and he said, "I think this part stinks", or "that part stinks" and I cut a lot out. But I sweated it out and I wrote it."

Carole was a hostess at the Hollywood Canteen and she invited soldiers to her beach house every weekend. In June 1944 she began another U.S.O. tour with Jack Benny, singer Martha Tilton, harmonica player Larry Adler, and pianist June Bruner. During their camp shows Carole sang and jitterbugged with the boys. She spent much of her time visiting wounded soldiers and she wrote hundreds of letters to their families. 

Jack Benny said "You soon forgot she was Carole Landis, the sex symbol, the Hollywood star, the sweater girl, because she was a real human being and had a warm heart that spilled over with kindness". 

During their two month tour of the South Pacific Carole almost died when she contracted malaria and dysentery. She was hospitalized for a few weeks, lost 15 pounds, and suffered stomach problems for the rest of her life due to these illnesses. An enlisted soldier hacked his way through 18 miles of jungle just to give her a bouquet of flowers to cheer her up. Carole became an Air Raid Warden, a commander in the Aerial Nurses Corps, and an honorary Colonel in the American Legion. She auctioned off her favourite opal ring to raise money and she donated several movie projectors to bases overseas. Carole travelled more than 125,000 miles during the war. She performed for soldiers in Australia, Brazil, Algeria, Bermuda, Scotland, England, New Guinea, Ireland, Guam, and New Zealand. Carole said "Whatever we do for soldiers can't be enough in return for what they do for us. They are wonderful!"

Sometimes she was refused permission to entertain the troops somewhere because of the danger. "The boys were counting on us to come and perform for them, and we could not go. It broke my heart. Once I sent cables to the commanding officer, asking special permission to make trips to Hollandia and Biak, because I knew the fellows were waiting for us. Permission was refused by headquarters." One time when performing in in Algiers, she was very close to enemy bombing. 

Carol would write and deliver moral boosting speeches to the troops which underlined how she and the rest of the world felt about defeating the Nazi regime. UNITED WE STAND was a speech written by Carole in 1944:

Hitler wasn't guessing when he incorporated into his psychological warfare the strategy of "divide and conquer." It worked in Norway and it worked in France, and because there is no immunity to Fascism, it's trying hard right here in the United States. There is one antidote. We've got to remember that we're all in this together - The British, the Russians, the Chinese, the French, the Polish, the Yugoslavs, the Jews, the Irish, the Mexicans, the English and the Americans. Indians, whites, Negroes, Soldiers, Sailors, Marines, Coast Guardsmen, boys in the AAF, Merchant Marine or civilians. Yes, civilians too. All the names from Pearl Harbour onwards are written on our memories and on our hearts and in your steel and your blood and your courage. The exploits at home aren't of this kind, but believe me, boys, they do exist. In two and a half short years, the country has rolled up its sleeves, and our production record can be heard in the planes that roar over Germany; our War Bond record is built into every tank and destroyer, and the blood banks of the Red Cross are only one of the "musts" on the daily lists of the men and women on the home front. None of us here can give as much as you. We all know it. That's why there is such a determination to give all we can, in time, spirit, money, and work. We believe in you. We know you're good, but you've got to believe in us, too, because the home front is also a fighting front and because this belief, this unity, brings the day of Victory right up there in plain sight. Unity is the one thing Hitler and his cohorts cannot cope with!”

Carole Landis thought that movies were an important part of the War Effort and helped greatly with morale: "Movies are a tremendous power for the good. In wartime they helped stave off countless cases of homesickness, they entertained our men and kept them informed about people and things back home. Ask any veteran how important those nightly movies in the jungle rain were to him and his buddies. I know because I sat though many myself." 

Carole and Tommy Wallace on their Wedding Day

On January 5, 1943 Carole had a whirlwind wartime romance and married Major Tommy Wallace in London, England. He was a twenty-five year old Air Force pilot from Pasadena USA. Tommy had been part of the English Royal Air Force's American "Eagle Squadron".  She had first met him on November 13, 1942 when she was entertaining soldiers in England. Carole said "Something hit me right in the heart. I only looked at him for a minute, but I saw his wonderful dimples, his tremendously expressive eyes, and his curly hair." He proposed on their first date but she waited several weeks before agreeing to marry him. Tommy couldn't get her an engagement ring so he gave her his signet ring. She had wanted to get married on January 1, her 24th birthday but it was just not possible.

 She told the press: "I only hope it's true that to marry for the third time is the charm.  I like the things marriage stands for. I'm just praying I can wait long enough to be sure it's love. I don't want to be guessing all my life."

 The wedding was almost cancelled when she suffered an appendicitis attack in December 1942. She recovered in time for the ceremony and the doctor who removed her appendix ended up giving her away.  While getting ready at the Savoy hotel Carole said she was "nervous". This was her third marriage and her friend Kay Francis tried in vain to convince Carole to postpone the wedding, saying she had known Wallace for only a short time. The Catholic Church granted her a church wedding since her previous marriages were all civil ceremonies.

Carole wore a cream coloured satin dress designed by Norman Hartnell, a strand of pearls, and orange blossoms in her hair. Her bouquet was made of white carnations and orchids. The ceremony took place at 2:00pm at the Church of Our Lady Of Assumption on Warrick Street. Tommy was a Presbyterian but he agreed to have a Catholic ceremony. He told reporters "I am probably the luckiest man in the world". Tommy's friend Gus Daymond was his best man and Mitzi Mayfair was the maid of honour. Mitzi had collected ration coupons so Carole could buy her dress and shoes.

The ceremony was performed by Father Waterkeyn and Father Harris. Hundreds of English fans and photographers waited outside the church to see the glamourous bride and dashing groom. Carole said "I want to have a wonderful marriage and children whom I may love and make a fuss over long after the movies are gone." 

 When “Four Jills in a Jeep” was made into a movie Carole actually ended up playing herself but the film was not a success.  She had written about their romance in her book and her wedding to Tommy was recreated in the film. The large wedding cake in the film was actually made of cardboard with a small white cake inside. 

They had no honeymoon because Carole went to North Africa three days after the wedding to perform for the troops. Tommy was stationed overseas so they spent very little time together. She wrote to him every day and kept six photos of him in her bedroom. They finally took a honeymoon trip to New York City in September 1943. 

Carole and Tommy Wallace

Tommy hated her Hollywood lifestyle and wanted Carole to give up her acting career to become a full-time housewife. Carole was also very disappointed that they didn't have children yet.  On 17 March 1944 she and Tommy pose for photos in the kitchen during their reunion in California and said that rumours of a marital rift were nothing but "malicious gossip." Wallace was on an assignment to the West Coast Air Force Training Centre. 

Carole stated: "It is a great disappointment to me that I'm not expecting along with several other of my married friends. Both my husband and I feel that it is time to forget about the superficial things in life. It is the natural, wholesome way of living - having children and establishing a home - that counts. Having a child makes a soldier realize that he has something very real to fight for. With a home and a family waiting for him, he has an incentive to give everything he has. When the war is over, we intend to buy a large ranch in Nevada. Lots of space, several children, simple living is our dream. Although my career is secondary, it will be necessary for me, and a lot of other wives, to help financially until my husband gets back into civilian life."

Carole was hospitalized again in May 1944 and there were rumours that she had made a suicide attempt when her war time marriage had finally fallen apart. Tommy Wallace and Carole Landis were officially separated in October 1944 and were divorced the following year in Reno. She admitted publicly that the marriage would probably not have taken place had they waited and got to know one another better. Wallace said that he had “had his fill of being the guy Carole Landis married." Tommy married his second wife Joanne in 1946. They moved to England and had two sons. He served in the Air Force during the Korean War and later worked for Goodyear. Tragically in 1968 Tommy was killed in an accidental shooting.  Carole always considered Tommy the great love of her life. In an interview she said "No woman ever loved a man more than I loved Tommy Wallace. And Tommy loved me, too. All my life, above all the rest, I want to remember that."

 

By the end of 1944 Carole’s career was in trouble too.  She was only being cast in low budget movies like “Having Wonderful Crime” and “Behind Green Lights”. In January 1945 Carole starred on Broadway in the musical “A Lady Says Yes” and became friendly with one of her female co-star, a young actress called Jacqueline Susann.  A Lady Says Yes was not a success and it closed after ten weeks with only eighty-seven performances at the Broadhurst Theater. The play itself was panned, but Landis got some good reviews. Carole and future author Jacqueline Susann developed an intimate relationship. Carole gave Susann fresh flowers, jewellery, and a mink coat from her personal wardrobe. Their brief encounter would later be immortalized in Susann’s two popular novels, Valley of the Dolls and Once Is Not Enough.

Never giving up on that dream of having a happily family life, Carole also had a fourth go at a getting wed. On 8 December 1945 she married millionaire producer W. Horace Schmidlapp,  or “Poppie”, as she called him. The two had originally been introduced by Jacqueline Susann.  A Cuban honeymoon followed the ceremony .Carole divided her time between Hollywood and New York City where Horace lived. Carole wanted desperately to become a mother. Unfortunately she suffered from endometriosis and would never be able to get pregnant. 

On her failure to stay married she said: "Ever since I was a very small child, I wanted marriage and children more than I wanted anything else, including a career. Because I wanted marriage and children so badly, I constantly sought for love, I was too eager for it. I read into people things that weren't there, so that the minute a personable fellow, with whom I felt the least 'sympatica' showed me interest; I just went overboard for it."

On moving to New York City with Horace she said: "We're going to call New York home. My husband's business keeps him in New York most of the time so we decided we could hardly make Hollywood as a permanent home." She was still focused on having a family: "We're really eager for that family of three children. I think Horace prefers boys but I'll be satisfied with either boys or girls, although I think an arrangement of two boys and a girl would be nice. I find I'm terribly anxious to start living in a real home of my own and once my children arrive, they and my husband will be the most important things in my life. My motion picture career will be of secondary importance."

Carole and Horace bought a thirteen room mansion in Pacific Palisades in Bel Air. When children were still not forthcoming, she considered adopting a baby but her marriage to Horace was already on the rocks by then. 

One bright spot in her acting career at this time was the 1946 film A Scandal in Paris. It was a big hit and her performance got rave reviews. However, in October 1946 she lost her contract with 20th Century Fox and it is possible that she made another suicide attempt as a direct result of this. She was hospitalized at St. John's in Santa Monica for ten days but the press reported this was due to "an acute abdominal condition, brought on by her previous bouts of dysentery”. When fellow actress Lupe Velez had committed suicide in 1944 Landis had been quoted as saying: "I know just how Lupe Velez felt. You go just so far, and then what have you got to face? There's always the fear of being washed up. You begin to worry. You get bitter and disillusioned. You fear the future because there's only one way to go and that's down." 

 

In July 1947 Carole met married British actor Rex Harrison on a weekend trip to Palm Springs. They were "introduced" at the Racquet Club and soon fell in love. Although Landis and her husband Horace Schmidlapp were still residing together, they were by all accounts living separate lives.  Harrison was still married to actress Lilli Palmer when he began his affair with Landis. Lilli Palmer noticed her husband spent a lot of time away from home, but his explanations were always plausible.

That autumn, with no Hollywood film commitments coming her way, Carole Landis went to England for six months to make the movies The Silk Noose and Brass Monkey. Carol liked England a lot and the English film fans also adored her for the support she had given to the troops during the war. "This is a wonderful country” she wrote in a letter to her mother Clara. “The people are wonderful, too and they like me for myself”. 

When Rex Harrison heard she would be gone for so long, he got himself a film commitment in England so that they could continue to see each other. Despite the fact that Lilli Palmer and their three-year-old son accompanied him to England, Harrison and Landis managed to secretly spend most weekends together in Plymouth and the relationship became much more serious.

Horace Schmidlapp went to Europe for a three-month stay during this period but he saw his wife for just three days during this time and did not return any of her phone calls. After filming in England had ended, Carole Landis did not go home to her husband. She flew to Paris to visit her friend the actress Dorothy Dandridge and they stayed with Dorothy's husband, brother- and sister-in-law. Egypt's King Farouk - an acquaintance of the Dandridge’s - then flew the entire entourage to Egypt.

Upon his return to the USA, Rex Harrison was asked by the press about his relationship with Landis. His response was candid: "Of course I am fond of Miss Landis. We are great friends and that is all. She is also a good friend of my wife."

When Carole eventually returned to California in March 1948, she immediately began divorce proceedings against Schmidlapp on the grounds of cruelty.  He returned to the States around the same time but did not bother to tell Carole. Gossip columnists were hinting heavily at her affair with Harrison, printing reports asking: "Which actors with initials beginning with "H" and "L" are currently co-starring in their own productions?" Rex Harrison still refused to divorce his wife. When Landis was asked about this she replied "Oh, I'd love to marry him but you know how those things are."

In March 1948 the Journalist Walter Winchell wrote in his column that "Carole Landis' next and fifth husband - when she becomes available - will be Rex Harrison." Reporters had a field day; Zanuck who had Harrison under contract, was furious and wanted to avoid scandal at any cost. Everyone involved at the time denied everything, and slowly the furore died down. In May 1948 Rex Harrison supposedly told his wife Lilli Palmer the real truth about his relationship with Carole, and Palmer's reaction was to immediately packed her things and depart for New York, but after what was to follow she still remained married to him and some say she also knew the real truth about the events of the 4th and 5th of July 1948.

On the 1^st July 1948 Carole Landis went to Hollywood Star Records on Sunset Boulevard to record a "talking picture" for her fans. The proprietor found her in good spirits and said that Carole had promised to come back within a month to make a second recording. Carole then drove to Rodeo Drive to do some shopping and mailed some back letters to her fans.

At Midday on July 4^th 1948 Carole threw a small private "Independence Day" pool party at her house and invited about a dozen of her close friends. She went swimming and appeared to be in good spirits despite being in financial trouble and being forced to to sell her home at Pacific Palisades as a direct result. She told her guests “I've never been so happy in all my life. The sun is shining. It's a wonderful day!" The party ended at approximately 5:00 p.m. because she was having a private dinner with Rex Harrison in the evening. This was the seventh night in a row that they had taken dinner together. Rex Harrison was still married and he and Carole had been having an affair for more than a year at this point. 

At approximately 5pm Carole put on a plaid skirt, a white blouse, and gold sandals. She was also wearing her favourite gold cross and a St. Christopher medal. Before dinner Carole and Rex Harrison had a Scotch and Soda. They dined on cold roast chicken, a tossed salad, and a lemon chiffon pie that Carole had baked herself. She played "Warm Kiss, Cold Heart" on her phonograph. Rex Harrison later claimed they had a pleasant evening discussing Carole's career. Harrison said that he had bought along a play he was contemplating doing - a play which would take him away from Hollywood and from Carole for a long period of time. They may well have argued about this situation but there is no hard evidence to prove what was said.

At 9:00pm on 4^th July 1948, Rex Harrison left Carole's house. He was the very last person to see her alive. Harrison then went to visit his best friends Roland and Nan Culver who lived a few blocks away from Carole. Carole collected all of the photos and mementos from her relationship with Harrison and put them in a suitcase. She then drove to the Culver's house and left the suitcase on their driveway. Harrison and the Culvers later said that Carole only did this so that the love letters would not be found at her house after her death and would not embarrass Harrison further. The next day Nan Culver found the suitcase and gave it to Rex Harrison. He later burned everything that was inside it.

Note left for her Mother

At Midnight, Carole returned home and had a few more drinks. Her autopsy would later show that her blood alcohol level was only .12 which meant that she was not drunk.  She tried to call her friend Marguerite Haymes who had given her singing lessons in New York, but Marguerite was not home. Haymes got Carole's message when she returned home, but decided that it was far too late to call her friend back.  Carole wrote a heart-breaking note to her beloved mother on her personal stationary. She folded the note to her mother and put it on her dresser. "Dearest Mommie - I'm sorry, really sorry, to put you through this but there is no way to avoid it - I love you darling you have been the most wonderful mom ever - and that applies to all our family. I love each and every one of them dearly - Everything goes to you - Look in the files and there is a will which decrees everything - Good bye, my angel - Pray for me - Your Baby". Carole may have also written a short farewell letter to Harrison and left a memo for her maid about taking the cat to the Vets. Later there would be questions asked over the existence of these notes because the one to Harrison was never found.

At 2:00am Carole went into her upstairs bathroom and took an envelope filled with Secanol out of her cabinet. She was not a chronic user of Secanol. Her doctor had given her a prescription when she was hospitalized in October 1946 but it appeared that this was the first time she had taken any of the pills. There was writing on the envelope that said "Red - quick - 2 hours. Yellow, about 5, Can take 2. Use for severe pain". Carole swallowed approximately forty Secanol tablets. She left the envelope and a glass of water on the bathroom counter. Then Carole went into her bedroom and lay down on the bed for several minutes. An hour later at 3:00am she walked back into the bathroom where she collapsed and later died on the bathroom floor, lying on a carpet next to an open cabinet. Her arms were bent as if she had been trying to raise herself up. Carole's head was resting on a jewellery box and her left hand was holding a satin bookmark with the Lord's Prayer on it. She had ingested five times the amount of Secanol needed to cause death. 

Rex Harrison telephoned Carole’s house around 11:00am the following morning. The maid, Fannie May Bolden, answered and reported that Carole was not up yet. Harrison phoned again some minutes later to tell the maid he would be a little late for lunch. Harrison called a third time, around 2:30 pm and Mrs. Bolden told him Carole was still not up, and there was no response to her knock on the bedroom door. Harrison then said he was coming over.

Mrs. Bolden first realized Harrison was in the house when she looked up from some work she was doing and saw him standing just outside the lounge doorway. He had entered through the back entrance. He looked awkward and stiff, not like his usual self. His voice was dry, not like the sharp bark with which he ordinarily addressed her. He asked Mrs. Bolden if she had been up to Carole's room and she replied “No”. Rex Harrison then told Fannie “I think she's dead".

 

Carole Landis' dead body and the Police Investigation

Harrison entered the room, discovered Carole’s body and found the letter she had written to her mother. He apparently said, "Oh no, my darling. Why did you do it?" He searched the room for Carole's address book so he could get her doctor's phone number but failed to find it. He then left the house through the back door. Mrs. Bolden attracted the attention of a neighbour who was swimming in his pool. This neighbour was the person who first called the police and the coroner's office. 

Rex Harrison returned home and finally contacted the doctor's assistant. Harrison then called Roland Culver's house and got through

to Culver's wife, Nan. She told him to call the authorities. Harrison then telephoned St. John's Hospital, Santa Monica. The hospital noted the call and told him to call the police. The call to the police was logged at 4:10 p.m. More than an hour had elapsed since Harrison had first found the body and Harrison did not identify himself when calling the police.

Captain Emmett Jones, Lieutenant John Layman and Lieutenant H.W. Brittingham went to Carole’s house. The place was crawling with news reporters, alerted by a tip-off and they were all speculating that Carole was having serious money and health problems, on top of her relationship issues. Nan Culver was there with an actress friend Judith Fellows. Florence Wasson, Carole's close friend, was also present. When the police arrived they took photographs of Carole's body and the bedroom. It was estimated that she had been dead for around 10 to 12 hours.

At 4:00pm Dorothy Ross, Carole's sister in Long Beach, was told what had happened by Florence Wasson. Rex Harrison was questioned by the police further. They found the note that Carole had left for her mother but there were conflicting reports about a second note. Florence Wasson claimed that the note was actually the memo that Carole wrote about taking her cat to the vet. Lili Palmer later told a friend that a police officer had found the note Carole had written to Rex Harrison in the bathroom. She said that this officer had visited Harrison and offered to sell it back to him or destroy it for $500 and that Harrison had then paid the officer to get rid of it. Years later, a retired Los Angeles policeman says he recalled seeing the second note – which was a three-line lover's farewell to Rex Harrison – at Carole’s house but that he had no idea what became of it.

At 7:00pm on 5^th July Carole's mother Clara and her sister Dorothy Ross arrived at the house. Carole’s distraught mother was heard screaming "Oh my baby, I want to see my baby. Why didn't somebody call me?" and then she collapsed, overcome with shock and emotion. Carole's body was taken to Bogg's and Mashmeyer's funeral home. Rumours were now circulating that she had been pregnant with Rex Harrison's love child but her autopsy confirms that this was not true due to the endometriosis. The official cause of her death was stated as "barbiturate poisoning due to ingestion of overdose of Secanol".

 

No will was ever found in Carole’s personal files. The will on file with her lawyer was made in 1944. Her third husband, Thomas Wallace, was to have received what was left after a $50,000 trust fund for her mother. The divorce excluded Wallace as a beneficiary. Her mother received everything. The house was in escrow for $67,000 and there was a $23,000 mortgage against it. Outstanding bills came to approximately $25,000. Horace Schmidlapp agreed to pay $30,000, which was settled on Carole as a condition of their divorce.

On 6^th July Lilli Palmer & Harrison returned to California from New York. Palmer told reporters, "I love Rex. I love him very much. We are very happy." Harrison said he would gladly answer any questions regarding Carole’s death. He was quoted as saying "Miss Landis and I were just friends. She was not in love with me. She never ever told me she loved me." 

On 7th July 1948 unemployed actor and set designer Robert Love leapt to his death from a Hollywood office building after telling a friend he admired Carole for "her courage" in committing suicide. Actor Daniel Harris said Love was especially upset by her suicide. Both men knew her slightly and were deeply touched by her kindness. The two men were visiting a fifth-floor doctor's office, when Love ran to an open window and shouted, "Here I go," before leaping out to his death.

On July 8, 1948 Coroner Ben Brown held an informal inquest to find out what the motive was for Carole's suicide. Deputy Coroner Ira Nance said that the informal hearing had been called because of reports of a second note. The case had been determined a suicide, but it was desired to determine the motive or reason. Crowds of movie fans mobbed Harrison as he sped in and out of the hearing room. Newsreel cameramen, newsmen, and photographers were there, even network radio announcers set up shop to report.

Rex Harrison arrived at the hearing with his boss Darryl F. Zanuck. Harrison looked pale and nervous, constantly wetting his lips. He gave testimony in the form of a deposition, read by Nance. Harrison reported he last saw Miss Landis on Sunday evening when he left her home at approximately 9:30 pm. He said they had one Scotch and soda before dinner, and she was not intoxicated. After his deposition was read, he answered some questions.

Harrison fidgeted as he denied he had a note or a clue as to why she killed herself. "We talked about scripts of a new play I had and the possibilities of her playing in it. We also discussed her project of returning to England. I told her I might be able to help."

Harrison said he knew she was having "financial embarrassments," but he did not think this depressed her. He said that he also knew she had been suffering from a stomach infection, but this did not seem to depress her, either. At no point did he mention them arguing or breaking off their relationship.

Carole's maid Fannie Mae Bolden and her best friend Florence Wasson also testified at the hearing. Mrs. Bolden testified that a personal friend of Miss Landis, Florence Wasson, arrived and "told me there was a note which instructed me not to tell anyone about the death and to take the cat to the veterinary to have its leg fixed."

Florence Wasson testified that she saw two notes in the bedroom. She said that one note referred to the cat and may have been just a memo. She had seen a note and told the maid about it, but she could not remember who wrote it. “The place was so crowded and then someone handed me a paper. The most salient thing in it was about the cat. I saw no signature on the paper. I handed it back to whoever it was and I don't know where it is. I didn't recognize the handwriting."

Nance adjourned the hearing without making any findings. When it was over Coroner Brown told the press "I've gone as far as I can. I have gone to the limits of my authority. The testimony itself revealed no criminal action, and I cannot go further". Chief Autopsy Surgeon Frederick Newbarr added, "This is just a garden variety suicide."

Carole's family refused to believe that she had taken her own life on purpose. They thought that Rex Harrison was in some way responsible for her death and that he and Zannuck had paid the police to cover it up. Her family even hired a private investigator but they were unable to prove that Harrison had done anything illegal.

After a brief investigation by the police Landis’ death was officially ruled as suicide. Although Rex Harrison was never charged with any crime many people believe that he lied to the police about exactly what really happened that night, and that the REAL truth may never be known.  

Carol Landis’ Neice Tammy states:

The official story is that Aunt Carole committed suicide because her married boyfriend Rex Harrison would not marry her. I want you to know that my family has never believed that. We are 100% convinced that Rex Harrison is to blame for her death. My grandmother Dorothy begged the police to investigate more but they refused. Desperate to find answers she hired a private detective. All he could tell her was that people were paid off and evidence was destroyed. The only person brave enough to come forward was Carole's secretary Nan Stuart who said that she knew there was a cover-up, but no one in the Police wanted to listen to her story. 

We know strange footprints were found outside the house, and that the lights in the bathroom were suspiciously turned off. Then there was a mysterious note which was never really explained. There are many theories about what may have happened the night she died. Maybe Rex put secanol in Carole's food or drink to sedate her without her knowing about it. He certainly knew about her past "suicide attempts" and perhaps he thought no one would find it odd if she died in this way. He had been in the house a lot so he knew exactly where the pills were. Another possibility is that Carole did threaten to kill herself as a dramatic gesture...something she had done in the past to get attention. She may have taken the pills and then called Rex to come and save her. He could have come back in the middle of the night and found her unconscious but alive - but instead of calling a doctor he may have decided to just let her die as it would have been far more convenient for him.

If she was really depressed then why would my Aunt throw a 4th of July party for her best friends? I know that she wasn't broke - she had work coming up and she was getting cash from the sale of her house. She was smart enough to know that she shouldn't keep spending if she didn't have the money. Also when she had a party she really knew how to do it right! She would put out a "feast to feed a village" and she would be dressed up and would be the best hostess and would have wanted everyone to enjoy themselves and have fun.

She was in a bubbly and radiant mood that 4th of July weekend. Not one friend said that she was depressed. She said she had "never been happier". If she had stayed in the house, secluded herself away from friends, and put on a fake smile it would be a very different story. She was a great actress but by no means could you pull it off that well. Her close friends would have known and at some point she would have shown her true emotions to someone. That night she was set on telling Rex that he need to keep his word to leave his wife or that they were finished. She wanted to have a normal relationship - marriage and children. I think that's what he promised her. I believe my Aunt actually intended to end their relationship that night – not the other way around. 

The interesting thing is that from my training with suicide counselling I have learned this - someone who really wants to take their life never tells anyone about it. Yes, some leave a note explaining why but they don't reach out to anyone whilst they are actually doing it. Carole just wasn't in the mind frame of someone who was going to kill herself. We know she made a phone call to her close friend Marguerite around midnight. If she was taking pills at that time and really wanted to die she wouldn't have made that call. It wasn't one of her "attention grabbing" calls due to the fact that she didn't phone anyone else. Maybe she did call Rex and she thought he was coming to the house to save her but he didn't. The fact that he was the last to see her and the first to find her body is the key! There are many unanswered questions but all the facts we know about that night make him look very guilty. Aunt Carole's death has haunted my family for 62 years and knowing Rex Harrison never paid for what he did only makes it worse. We may never know the truth about her death but we do know that the official version just doesn't make sense.”

Before you believe Carole Landis committed suicide and dismiss the claims of her family as just a conspiracy theory invented by grieving relatives to place blame - consider the following facts: 

Carole was apparently very happy and in good spirits before her death. She had a lot of plans for her future and had told her sister Dorothy that she was going back to church. She told her "I have no intention of ending my career in a rooming house, with full scrapbooks and an empty stomach."

Carole may not have been as obsessed with Rex Harrison as the press made out. She had broken up with him several times before the 4th of July. That spring she had dated another actor and almost reconciled with her ex-husband Horace Schmidlapp. It is quite possible that they had argued on the evening of her death, but there is also evidence to suggest that Carole may have ended the relationship with Harrison that night – and not the other way around. Even the dumping of the suitcase full of love letters, could have been Carole’s way of ending the affair for good and trying to move on.

Carole's other suicide attempts were never really serious – they had always been seen as cries for help, and she always made sure she was saved. The "suicide note" left at the scene was undated so it could possibly have been written at any time – and perhaps came from one of her previous suicide attempts

Rex Harrison was married and he really did not want to get a divorce. He was afraid that his relationship with Carole would affect his image and damage his career and he and the studio would do anything to protect this. He could have secretly spiked her drinks or her food with sedatives after an argument and he or an accomplice could have returned to her house in the early hours of the morning and discovered the suicide attempt and decided not to get medical help for Carole.

Rex was the last person to see Carole alive and the first one to see her dead. After finding her he left the house and waited for hours before calling the police, and then he came to Carole's house that morning and told the maid that he thought she was dead before they found Carole’s body. Was this just worried intuition or did he secretly already know what had happened? 

Rex Harrison later claimed he felt a weak pulse when he first found Carole's body. The autopsy said she died around 4am, so this only could be true if Harrison was in her house much earlier than he said he was. The fact that he entered her house, undetected by the back door when he arrived later that day, indicated that he could have known how to gain access to the house in this way in the middle of the night too. 

Harrison had lied to everyone about his love affair with Carole saying they were just friends. A trusted source later said that Lili Palmer also lied and knew what had happened between Rex and Carole and had helped Harrison to cover it up. 

For years after Carol Landis died, newspapers reported there were new clues in the case but the police continued to ignore every bit of new evidence – and then Carole's police file mysteriously disappeared. 

Rex Harrison was considered to be a very selfish and narcissistic person in private. He may have been a great actor but many other people in the Film Industry found him rude, abrasive and very difficult to get along with. He had a penchant for bedding much younger women, he married 6 times and had numerous affairs. He was a notorious womanizer, who had a reputation for treating women very badly - and one of his future wives would also commit suicide as a direct result of his actions. His only "true love" was said to be Kay Kendal.

Whether you believe in a cover up or the official suicide verdict, the facts were that a very talented young Actress died in the prime of her life and that there were elements of doubt and things that were omitted from Harrison's account.

On Saturday, July 10, Carole was buried at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale, California. The service was held at 12:30pm at Forest Lawn's Church of the Recessional. The small church was filled with flowers including a cross made of white gardenias - Carole's favourite flower - and a large bouquet of roses from her former boss Darryl Zanuck. Dorothy Ross, Carole's sister, greeted mourners as they entered the church while her ten year old niece, Diane Carole, knelt by the coffin and cried. Clara Ridste, Carole's mother, was inconsolable. She sobbed throughout the funeral and was heard saying "Oh my baby, I'll pray for you, everyday". When she saw Carole in the coffin she was so overcome by grief that she fainted in the church.

Carole's estranged husband Horace Schmidlapp, her brother Lawrence Ridste, and her father Alfred Ridste were also there. Alfred had a strained relationship with Carole and had not seen her in six years. Her close friends Cesar Romero and Pat O'Brien were pallbearers and both cried during the funeral. The other pallbearers were actor Willard Parker, director Eddie Sutherland, and golf professional Lou Wasson. Dick Haymes was supposed to be a pallbearer but he was delayed in Chicago. Dozens of Carole's friends attended the funeral including Van Johnson, Florence Wasson, and director Eddie Sutherland. Rex Harrison and his wife Lilli Palmer arrived at the cemetery with two bodyguards. Lilli wore a dark blue dress because she felt it was inappropriate to wear black to the funeral of her husband's mistress. The couple refused to look at Carole in her coffin and left the service early. 

Carole had been raised a Catholic but she was denied a Catholic burial because she had committed suicide. The service was conducted by Bishop Fred L. Pyman of the Evangelical Orthodox Church in Santa Monica. In his eulogy Bishop Pyman said:

 "All the world's a stage, and all the men and women in it players. People in show business have a peculiar philosophy, whether they be Catholic's, Protestants, or Jews, but Shakespeare was correct in writing these lines. Some of us make out entrances best. Some make out exits best. Some overplay, fluff their lines. But this beloved star made her entrances perfectly. She did not overplay. Fellow troupers, you don't have to call a second time for people like our beloved friend. From the doors of Hell, deliver her soul. May she rest in peace.”

 During the service Fred L. Scott sang "The Lord's Prayer" and "In The Garden". Carole's mahogany coffin was lined with peach silk cushions. She was buried wearing her favourite blue beaded dress. Carole had worn the dress while entertaining the troops during World War 2. She was also wearing her signature gold cross necklace and a religious medal. Carole had requested gardenias in her will but instead two blue orchids were pinned to her dress. A rosary and a bouquet of roses were placed in her hands. The roses had been sent by one of Carole's childhood friends. Her make-up was done by her long time make-up artist Ben Nye. Thousands of fans came to the cemetery to watch the funeral. Many of them tried to get autographs from the celebrities who were there. Cesar Romero held onto Carole's mother to shield her from the emotional crowd. When the service was over the fans descended on Carole's grave and took all the flowers. Bishop Pyman said it was one of the most revolting thing he had ever seen.

The epitaph on Carole's tombstone was written by her sister Dorothy. It said "TO OUR BELOVED CAROLE WHOSE LOVE, GRACIOUSNESS AND KINDNESS TOUCHED US ALL - WHO WILL ALWAYS BE WITH US IN THE BEAUTIES IN THIS EARTH UNTIL WE MEET AGAIN". 

There are numerous Forest Lawn memorial parks in California. Carole is buried at the Forest Lawn in Glendale. It is located at 1712 S. Glendale Avenue. Although Forest Lawn discourages celebrity grave hunters many of her fans still bring flowers to her grave on a regular basis. Carole's grave is in the Everlasting Love section. She is buried in plot 814. Broadway actor Robert J. Montgomery is buried in the grave next to her. 

Cesar Romero was Carole's best friend and one of her favourite leading man. She met him when they co-starred in the musical Dance Hall, the first of four movies they made together. Carole described Cesar as a gentleman with perfect manners. He escorted her to many Hollywood events and they often went out dancing together. Although gossip columnists claimed they were dating, Cesar was gay so there was no truth in this. It's rumoured he once offered to marry Carole but she refused. Cesar was asked to be one of the pallbearers at her funeral.

In 1941 Carole told a magazine "Cesar Romero, besides being the greatest dance partner I've ever danced with, is the most soothing person. When you're with him you can completely relax and be at ease. You don't have to worry about making conversation - you can be absolutely natural. He is so sympathetic. He is one of those fellows everybody likes; he never puts on airs, he is sensible, understanding, kindly, and truly chivalrous. He is just an all-round good guy. I demand a sense of humour from in any man in my life. Cesar Romero, has a wonderful sense of humour, plus a wonderful quality of humility. He makes fun of his face and calls himself "Cowface". He doesn't think he is the great Adonis, as so many actors do."

Cesar wrote this about Carole after she died:

"My dear Carole, I have been asked by some of your fans to write something about you in the way of a tribute so that it may be published in the club journal. I confess this is a job I have never had to do before and I don't know just how to start, so don't be too angry if I don't do you justice. You left the stage of life way too soon my dear and your friends and fans miss you very much. Personally I am very happy and proud to have been one of your friends and to have had the honour of working with you in four pictures. There was never a dull day on the set with you. Your lovely face, the warmth of your personality, your vitality and delightful sense of humour were something I always looked forward to and which made the average working day truly a pleasure. I remember the fun we had when we made "Dance Hall" together and what a wonderful sport you were on the nights that we had to work until five o'clock in the morning. You never complained about a thing, but took it in your stride as part of your job and loved every minute of it. I'm afraid that couldn't be said about all our fair ladies of the screen. You were a good actress Carole and you owe it only to yourself. You worked hard, studied and learned a great deal in a very short time. What is more important, you were a good daughter, sister and aunt. You loved your family and never shirked your duty toward them. You helped them in every way possible and brought them much happiness. Of that you can be extremely proud. I think that I can say in all honesty that you did more than your share in life. Your record during the war will always stand as a monument to your memory. The boys that you entertained overseas will never forget and neither will their families. You brought them cheer and a touch of home when they really needed it most. That was a tough job, as I know only too well, but as usual you sailed through it with flying colours - a trooper if there ever was one. You were a fine girl Carole, and you made every moment of your life count. I only wish that life had treated you as kindly as you treated it. As I said before, I'm proud to have been your friend. Sleep well my Carole Landis was a talented actress who was never given the chance to become a superstar. She was a beautiful woman who spent her life searching for true love. Her efforts to entertain the troops earned her the respect of the soldiers and her kindness made her one of the most beloved stars in Hollywood.