The Golden Age of Hollywood Movies: Vol IX, Thelma Todd

Thelma Todd’s movie career spanned only 12 years (1924-36), during which she was in 55 films. She was a contract player during her entire career and never came close to achieving stardom. Although pretty, Thelma was not beautiful, nor particularly talented. And although she had high hopes for the future, she was largely stuck at a 2nd-rate studio in largely forgettable movies. And although she was able to keep a slim figure, it was only though crash dieting and the heavy use of drugs. Thelma’s battle with weight gain was never ending and she always lived in fear of being let go from the studios she worked at because she exceeded the weight limit written into her contract.

Thelma’s personal life was no better than her professional one. The one man she loved was already married and would not divorce his wife to marry her. The man she did marry was a two-bit hood, who knocked her around every time she stepped out of the subservient role that he envisioned was her proper place in the marriage. Thelma continually appeared to have made bad choices and it is unlikely, had she lived longer, that her future would have been any better than her past. She appeared to be one of those people who were doomed to misery, no matter what she tried to do.

Ordinarily, Thelma Todd’s life would not merit much consideration in a series of profiles in the golden age of Hollywood filmmaking. Her movie career was nondescript, as was her personal life. Sad to say, however, that the subject which makes her a matter of interest is her death, as she was said by some to have been murdered on the orders of none other than Lucky Luciano, perhaps the greatest gangster of his age. Unfortunately, even in this, Thelma was unable to transcend mediocrity, because her real cause of death was likely nothing more than a tragic miscalculation on her part. So turn the page and see how someone who never made the big time in motion pictures during the golden age of movie-making lived and died in Tinsel Town.