The Life and Death of Thelma Todd, with author William Donati

Name: The Life and Death of Thelma Todd, with author William Donati
Start: July 18, 2012
End: July 18, 2012
Location: Friends of the Lawrence Public Library, Friends of the Lawrence Heritage State Park, The Lawrence History Center

Improve listing Presented by Friends of the Lawrence Public Library, Friends of the Lawrence Heritage State Park, The Lawrence History Center

http://www.lawrencehistory.org/node/20354. Thelma Todd

American film favorite and Lawrence, MA native, Thelma Todd was much more than the beautiful blonde of the 1930s who played opposite Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy and the Marx Brothers. Todd’s tragic death transformed her into an icon of Hollywood mystery: The photograph of the 29-year-old actress slumped in her luxurious Lincoln Phaeton shocked fans in 1935. How did she die? Was it murder, suicide, or an accident?

This definitive biography covers a fascinating era in Hollywood history. In the course of his exhaustive research, the author interviewed Todd’s cousins Bill and Edna Todd, as well as such friends and coworkers as Ida Lupino, Lina Basquette, Anita Garvin, Dorothy Granger, William Bakewell and Greg Blackton. Also examined is Hollywood’s first major sex scandal of 1913, involving Jewel Carmen, the future spouse of director Roland West--the man Thelma Todd loved.

Books will be available for purchase.

For further information contact:

Maureen Nimmo, Director Lawrence Public Library at 978-682-3621 or mnimmo@cityoflawrence.com.