Carole Landis is known primarily as the bosomy blonde movie star who offed herself over Rex Harrison. Of all the schmucks who’ve driven ladies to leap, the idea of killing yourself over a tool like “Sexy Rexy” seems especially senseless. But in Hollywood’s Golden Years one of filmdom’s most glamorous and popular stars did indeed end her life over that Doolittle douche.
Today not many people have heard of Carole Landis, but her story is one of Hollywood’s most fascinating tales, with more twists and turns than her enviable curves.
Carole’s story begins in Midwestern Gothic luridness with a steady stream of heartbreaking details that make you periodically have to stop reading and go, “Seriously?!”, then sigh and warily dip in for more.
She was born Frances Ridste on New Year’s Day in 1919 in the aptly named burg of Fairchild, Wisconsin, to a farmer’s daughter and a “drifting railroad mechanic” who’d already abandoned the family before little Carole came along. (The “drifting railroad mechanic” wasn’t a stable family man? Quelle surprise!) Her mother was no saint either; Charles Fenner, her second husband, and the man with whom she’d been having an adulterous affair, was most likely Landis’s biological father. The youngest of five children, two of whom died in childhood, her early years were filled with poverty and sexual abuse.
Carole was such a beautiful infant she earned the nickname “Baby Doll”. According to family sources, she was sexually molested by a relative for much of her childhood. Given young Baby Doll’s shitty start in life, it’s no surprise that Carole 1) seemed much older than her years, and 2) was interested in being in show biz. Little Carole covered her walls with photos cut from magazines of movie stars like Mary Astor and Clark Gable. At age nine, little Carole ran up on stage during a local talent show and started to sing. Using make-up tricks to hide her age, she started entering beauty pageants at the tender age of twelve! (She won a pair of silk stockings and an electric heater. Who says beauty can’t buy you anything?)
In high school Landis often skipped class — “boy crazy ” was the general consensus. “I always seemed so much older than the other kids my age,” said Carole, “They seemed like tots.”
She was ahead of her classmates and ahead of her time. As a teenager she tried to form an all female football team at school, but the principal stopped her because it was “unladylike”. It’s not surprising that Carole dropped out of high school at 15 to get her whole show biz thing underway. She worked as a hula dancer in a San Francisco nightclub, she sang with a dance band, and she worked at a hamburger stand, a department store, a movie theater. She dyed her hair blonde and changed her name to “Carole Landis” after her favorite actress, Carole Lombard. She eventually saved up $100 and hightailed it to Hollywood.
Her 1937 film debut was as an extra in the original film version of A Star Is Born. Next she found herself in various horse operas and an untold number of cheesecake photos. Eventually her cheesecakery paid off big; in 1940 studio head Hal Roach cast her as a scantily-clad cave girl in the original film version of One Million B.C.. Just as it would for Raquel Welch a quarter-century later, the movie made Landis a star. Soon, just as Clara Bow had been dubbed the “It Girl” and Ann Sheridan was crowned the “Oomph Girl”, publicists gave Carole the title the “Ping Girl.”
The Ping Girl moniker was attributed to a take-off on the popular motor oil ad at the time that claimed to take the ‘ping’ out of an engine and “make it purr”.
Some claimed it was a mash-up of PIN-up Girl. Some say it alludes to Carole’s erection-generating abilities, as in “I saw her and –ping!” Miss Hard-On of 1940 may have very well been aware of this etymology; once in an interview Landis said ‘ping’ was a term in Hollywood slang, but neglected to mention for what.
Most interesting to me about the whole “Ping Girl” thing was how brilliantly Carole (or possibly her PR folks) leveraged being against the sobriquet:
“I want a fair chance to prove myself something more than 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’. This flash of genius is to be illustrated with a series of pictures out of their files, suggestive of anything but acting talent.”
Still, Landis was well aware that being pin-uppity had been her ticket to the big time:
“Leg art did the trick — naughty leg art, if you happen to look at it in that light. 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’d yell, ‘Get Landis!’ That made everybody happy except, maybe, the goody-goods and the bluenoses, and I suspect they took a second peek now and then.”
Like a lot of women, Carole had a lot of ambivalence about using her assets to get ahead. She posed for cheesecake photos by the thousands, but then resented all the attention they garnered.
“Heaven knows I want people to think I have sex appeal. But I also want to think I have something besides sex appeal.”
God knows Carole was a smart cookie in every sense of the word. She loved to read, and was a fan of Ernest Hemingway, Noel Coward, and W. Somerset Maugham. (Hemingway gifted her with a set of personally autographed books.) But it was Landis’s more physical charms that got her places, both on and off-screen. She scored a contract with Twentieth-Century Fox, and was involved with studio head Darryl Zanuck, though it’s not entirely clear to me which came first, the chicken or the egg. She was in a series of successful films, playing second fiddle to Betty Grable in I Wake Up Screaming and Moon Over Miami. But she lost a pivotal role that ended up thrusting Rita Hayworth into stardom in the soapy bullfighter pic, Blood and Sand — very likely because she ended her affair with Zanuck. In fact, her ditching Darryl got her relegated to B pictures at the studio from then on.
When World War II came along, Carole traveled more than 125,000 miles, spending more time visiting troops than any other actress.
Landis dedicated herself to the war effort, taking time off from her career to tour the country selling war bonds and entertain soldiers all over the world — Australia, Brazil, Algeria, Bermuda, Scotland, England, New Guinea, Ireland, Guam, and New Zealand! She sang and jitterbugged with the boys, spent time visiting wounded soldiers, and wrote hundreds of letters to their families. Jack Benny said, “You soon forgot she was Carole Landis, the sex symbol, the Hollywood star, because she was a real human being and had a warm heart that spilled over with kindness.”
In conjunction with her ability to make Privates’ parts go ‘ping’, this no doubt added to her pin-up popularity with servicemen.
During a two-month tour of the South Pacific, Carole contracted malaria and amoebic dysentery. She almost died, and was hospitalized for weeks, never fully recovering from her illnesses. Landis became an Air Raid Warden, a commander in the Aerial Nurses Corps, and an honorary Colonel in the American Legion. Our girl even got her pilot’s license and eventually flew for the Civilian Air Patrol! She went on to write several newspaper and magazine articles about her experiences during the war, culminating in the 1944 book (later made into a movie), Four Jills in a Jeep.
She was quite the trooper, but despite the Ping and pin-up, Carole never made it to the top. The closest she ever got to an Oscar is when, as a presenter at the 1941 ceremony, she caused a commotion when the slip fell out of her dress. (I told you she was a smart cookie.) She did make it to Broadway however, working with Jacqueline Susann in the 1945 musical fittingly titled, A Lady Says Yes. (In fact, Jacqueline and Carole said yes to Sappho; the two were lovers. In fact, the character of Jennifer North in Jacqueline Susann’s infamous 1966 novel Valley Of The Dolls was based on our Baby Doll.)
“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, 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.”
Carole just never got a break on the romantic front. Abandoned by both her stepfather and father, she spent most of her life desperately searching for a daddy. The “boy crazy” teen grew up to be crazy when it came to men. (And I guess women; let’s not forget Ms. Susann.) In 1934, 15-year-old Landis married her 19-year-old neighbor, Irving Wheeler; the marriage was annulled a month later but after six months they remarried. But, they were divorced less than four years later when Irving named infamous director-choreographer Busby Berkeley in an alienation of affections lawsuit. Busby ended up proposing to Carole a year later, then broke it off. She went on marry “yacht broker” Willis Hunt, Jr. but ended up leaving him after 2 months. (She said he was “sarcastic”. I shudder to think what shitty behavior came under that seemingly innocuous umbrella.) While touring for the troops, she met and married Army Air Corps Captain Thomas Wallace in London, divorcing him a couple of years later. In 1945, Landis married the extraordinarily named Broadway producer W. Horace Schmidlapp, but this marriage also only lasted a few years.
“Glamour girls are suckers! You might rightly hail me, ‘Hi Sucker!’ because, as the nicks on a gun indicate how many men a killer has got, nicks on the heart of a glamour girl indicate how many men she didn’t get! There is very little I can do about it, either. Being a glamour girl doesn’t help any. I can only do what other girls do, cry my eyes out at night, hope and pray, pretend I don’t care, do the best acting job of my career for the benefit of friends and family, for the sake of my own pride.”
A psychic once warned Carole that she “must beware of emotional entanglements with men you can’t entirely possess.” If only she’d heeded that warning.
You are probably most aware of actor Rex Harrison for his roles in My Fair Lady, Cleopatra and Dr. Doolittle. He came to Hollywood in the mid-forties and was almost immediately dubbed “Sexy Rexy” due to his 
philandering ways and the apparent hotness that made the fair ladies drop like flies. Sadly, one of those ladies was our poor Baby Doll. Married at the time to his second wife, actress Lilli Palmer, Rex broke Carole’s heart when he wouldn’t get a divorce. (Of his many marriages,Harrison said, “Wives are like gilt-edged stocks. The more you have, the greater your dividends.”)
Someone commits suicide every 14 minutes; killing oneself is not uncommon. There are a lot of reasons people commit suicide, but for me it really boils down to one: a painful hopelessness that things won’t get better. Maybe that’s why it seems particularly tragic when someone with so much to give and look forward to snuffs out her life. It’s so final. But the pain of heartache and loss can be hard to bear, and it can make sad and desperate girls do sad and desperate things.
Born on New Year’s Day, Carole died on Independence Day, 1948. She was only 29. She spent her final night in this Earth with Dr. Douchebag, and the next day he was the one to discover her dead body on the bathroom floor. Harrison waited several hours before he called a doctor and the police. When the police arrived he insisted he was just friends with Carole. According to some sources, Landis left two suicide notes, one for her mother and the second for Harrison who instructed his lawyers to destroy it. (During a coroner’s inquest, Harrison denied knowing of any motive for her suicide and of the existence of a second suicide note.)
Carole was interred in Hollywood’s Forest Lawn Cemetery. The stars at her funeral included Van Johnson, Cesar Romero, Pat O’Brien, Rex Harrison, and his wife.
Whenever I’m tempted to look fondly on the parade of urbane and rakish rats that serially seduce girls on and off-the screen (I’m looking at you, Hugh Grant), Carole’s story reminds me of the often tragic consequences of their charm.
I confess, as supercilious misogynist dicks go, I do love me some Henry Higgins. But aside from the fact that he punched Frank Sinatra in the face and once remarked that The Sound of Music was “The only time I’ve ever rooted for the Nazis”, there’s little to recommend Mr. Harrison. (Sometime look up how he left wife Lilli to hang with Kay Kendall, expecting to get back with Lilli after Kay passed away from cancer. Lilli wasn’t into it.)
Landis’s official web site — run by my pal, and Carole’s great niece, Elizabeth Ann — questions the events of Landis’s death and the coroner’s ruling of suicide. The Landis family is convinced that Rex Harrison murdered her to avoid scandal surrounding the affair they’d been having. “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,” explains Elizabeth Ann. “We may never know the truth about her death but we do know that the official version just doesn’t make sense.”
As far as I’m concerned, he’s the culprit either way.
I just hope Carole Landis is somewhere, her warmth, feisty spirit, and erection-impelling ways intact. To paraphrase the classic 40s refrain, “And the Angels Ping…”
Thank you Dixie for writing such an amazing tribute to Carole! She was such a beautiful person and she had a huge heart. It is a real tragedy she never found any happiness but it’s wonderful that people are still discovering her.
You know words fail me when it comes to trying to describe how much talent and beauty she had.I think a Movie about her would be so very Interesting! And you know who would be perfect for the part, Vera Formiga , from”Bates Motel” I think it would be a sensational movie!
Such a strong willed patriotic person! An America hero over coming the tragic abuse as a child most of stayed with her for her lifetime! Rex Harrison is a Asshole! She was part of the greatest generation but they certainly had their problems!
l always wondered, How and why so many beautiful and talented women ( Carole Landis, Kay Kendall) flock to this unattractive man. Rachel Roberts was another one who had a tragic end, while still wanting Harrison to remarry her.
OMG, CL is a good bit before me and this story is new to me. It is rumored that Harrison hung out with one of the actresses in SOM. She had just turned 21. It would seem that Rex was egotistical and thought of his own pleasure, and he just wanted sex with his extramarital romps. I admit that such men have such with me, but I just scratch their itch and expect not much else. But some people , not as practical as I, fall in love. CL wanted more. Poor lady. Rex reminds me of a coworker of mine: he purports to be urbane, cordial, upright, and he even looks a bit like Rex, tall, thin. But his rudeness to me sometimes will not let me fall for, shall I say, his “act.” Interesting. Ofc, this is my speculation. This story paints Rex as some sort of user but is it a great source?? CL’s story reminds me of MM’s. Again, I am learning a lot from FB. Please feel free to comment. Please do not say TMI: it makes people look so unsophisticated.
I wrote a long reply before and it got lost!? Yes, Rex sounds like trouble.
It bothers me that Carole effectively killed her own career by dumping Zanuck. She was a leading lady confined to a bunch of mediocre B parts.
One exeption could have been her playing female lead, opposite George Montgomery, in Orchestra Wives. Ann Rutherford is outstanding in the leading female role, but it is frustrating to see Carole languishing in a gossipy supporting role in that wonderful film which features the Glenn Miller band.
Love that little gem of a fim. I had the pleasure of meeting Rutherford before she passed. She still has that beauty. It is unfortunate that Landis got mixed up with that Rex who I never cared for and I see why. Total narcissist!!! I am an expert. They are predators without a heart.
It seems to me homely but powerful men like Darryl Zanuck had their ways with any lovely, talented female who entered the studio premises. I.E. the “Casting Couch.” It seems like Zanuck’s name as well as other high placed studio executives seem to be linked with stars and starlets more for their power than for anything else substantive. Attractive men they were not. Users all.
I’m fascinated by Early Hollywood and have just begun to read the history of the motion picture industry, it’s warts and all.
Agreed! Too bad there was no #metoo
I’ve always been interested in Carole. Carole was my Grandpas niece
Wow Tammy! So nice to have a link to such famous beauty and sweetness.
Yeah, I don’t buy the suicide either.
I have just read about Thelma Todd, Carole Landis and Marilyn Munroe. What gives with these beautiful women? What was being a part of these men lives, full of power and arrogates, so important? What is the drawing card? Were these women egotist as well using their beauty to feel the rush?? Were they “Teasers?” Blood suckers?” If they knew their last picture of themselves would be of their suicides (yes, they are on the internet) would they have killed themselves? Marilyn’s bedroom is bare and the bed so plain. There are no pictures on the wall. The bed has no head board. So much a lived in look of a teenager instead of a starlet. Even Carole Landis’s bathroom is so plain. So IKEA. Thelma Todd is wrapped in a full length mink coat hanging out of her car. Why with everything going for them, why did they end up there? It can’t be all blamed on a father figures. Was it for a constant reassuring of their beauty for them? The sex plus the power of their man? It boggles me. As far as Carole Landis goes she looks like she was trying to get up, fighting the sedatives she took. Rex Harrison could have very easily let her die to stopped her from being in his life. Tossing a play toy. Should there be contracts for some high profile position, being it 10 years, for example, then people move on just to have their life back? The scary part is the line up of people waiting to get in to this kind of power. Yet we, the public, watch and listened to some of these messy individuals like there are family and grieve them dead or alive. And we the public, do not learn from the past or present, from all of this power taken and take the abuse given. I best hush now. It’s pretty mind numbing. 😵🙄☮ (makes me dizzy with eyes rolling.) Although I’m not a Christian but Jesus ( a real person) was the first hippy/hippie on the earth. Peace, Love and all that good stuff is in his teachings. Again, just another example of what we haven’t picked up. take care world
Wow Carol Landis had a big heart these sweet women attract very evil men !!
Just watching the film The Ghost and Mrs Muir then I started reading about the actors in it and I’ve read your peace on the tragic loss of that young beautiful actress that’s a hell of a story you’ve written there the way you worded it the use of the language the descriptions of everything is amazing and it’s tragic read and yes sounds like someone got away with murder
What a lovely compliment. Thank you, it means a lot.
Men can be such RATS just watched one of her movies she was lovely 😍
My sister used to correspond with her. I still have all the letters that Carole wrote to my sister and a picture she sent
Wow! That is amazing.
Are the letters for sale
Such a sad and tragic ending to such a gorgeous woman.
It’s 2024 and I’m not discovering Ms. Carole! Such a beautiful soul and face. May she rest in peace!
I was impressed with her beauty and charm on screen. Oddly cool that she named herself Carole. Carole Lombard is my favorite too. Now I have two Caroles to admire
I ran across her story many years ago. I was bothered by that photo of her on the bathroom floor.
It still haunts me. I admittedly haven’t dug super deep into her life story (any good books about her I should read?), the way she was dressed made me feel she was not planning suicide.
She had great shoes on. Beautiful skirt. Belt. Hair done. Immediately I felt she was just getting ready for her day.
Not sure what he did but I don’t think she killed herself. Poor woman. She sounds like she was so smart and determined.
What a stunningly and beautiful woman
Smart and Classy.
I was born, September 7, 1948, Glendale, Ca. Two months after her death, not far from where Ms Landis was interned.
Never new tht Rex Harrison was such a smuck! It seems like all the men in her life were smucks too.So sad Baby Doll was treated like a Rag Doll.
It bothers me no end that her studio gave Carole nothing but “B” movie roles when she had major Hollywood star looks and charisma.
We love Carole Landis I am a huge fan of her since my very young days ;She was one of the most beautiful woman in Holywood.i feel sad we lost her to young at age 29,God bless her soul.
– Carole was my all time favorite actress. – I dyed my hair blonde and tried to be like her. – She answered my fan letters. – I loved her dearly and will never forget seeing the newspaper with the photo of her on the floor. It broke my heart.
Carol Landis was my favorite actress to and I don’t blame her one bit for falling in love with Rex Harrison because I did too, he just had it, he was just wonderful and I don’t blame her R.I. P. You beautiful lady and I hope you two are together in heaven right now
Rex Harrison was beyond a gigolo. His pants drove him. He destroyed innocent beautiful womens lives fulfilling his own desires. The women who died of leukemia: I wonder how much Rex Harrison was a pillar for her or was he there just for publicity for him looking like his gain some compassion. As far as acting goes he was self-centered enough to pull it off. That’s not acting. He had no gift. Fellow acting men saw through him, it was the women who could not.
Carol Landis deserved better. I hope they are not together in the afterlife. Why should Ms. Landis live life again with that creep. Ms. Landis was a merely a play toy for Rex Harrison as were other women. Rex Harrison’s wife, Lili Palmer, seems to have the same personality as her husband. Lili Palmer destroyed Carol Landis suicide note, to Rex Harrison, admitting what she’d done to the police.. Lili Palmer had no business inferring. Hollywood is such a farce. So many crimes committed and brushed under the carpet for fame and but mostly for the money made off the people, the actors and actress’s. This era can be compared to slavery. No one had a say to how their lives should have been lived. Good, Bad, or Indifferent. The truth coming out of how people were made to live their life certainly knocks down Hollywood a couple of notches. The truth always comes through about wrong doings. The truth always finds it way home. Cheers for that.
Carol Landis was my favorite actress to and I don’t blame her one bit for falling in love with Rex Harrison because I did too, he just had it, he was just wonderful and I don’t blame her R.I. P. You beautiful lady and I hope you two are together in heaven right now
Tonight I watched Moon over Miami. When I saw her and saw her name Carole Landis, something clicked in my mind. I looked her up and read the story of her life and they mentioned her father Al Renstat.. not sure of the spelling, memories started flooding in. I was born in 1950 my Dad worked for Santa Fe Railway. Al worked with my Dad, Clifford Brainerd sometime between September 1950 and September 1956 when my Dad passed away. Mom showed me a beautiful picture of Carole that Al gave to My Dad. He felt close to dad because they had named me Carol. I’m sure it was a studio shot. She was in a beautiful wedding dress. I must through our old pictures. I never knew she was so famous. I remember mom told me about her death. Dad worked in Barstow, CA till they transferred him to AZ then his last transfer in 1953 to CA San Fran area. If I find the picture I will post it.
Wow, thanks so much for that story.
Carole Landis was an exquisite & wonderfully talented actress~ her presence onscreen was always so compelling ~She was delightful! It is so very sad that a notorious scoundrel like Rex Harrison was able to cause her such pain~ In all honesty I have no doubt whatsoever that Harrison had something to do with her death~ It is also well known now that in those days ~ in Hollywood ~ avoiding scandal involving a studio’s star was a major priority ~ Stars who found themselves in a potentially career destroying situation always knew to call the STUDIO first~ ~Then police were usually called long after the studio “fixers” had come & gone & “cleaned up” ~ I’m sure someone as self serving as Harrison wasted no time doing this~ Evidence of any real foul play could’ve easily been covered up~ There are more & more instances of this coming to light concerning questionable crimes ~especially during Hollywood’s Golden Age~
We really lost a lovely actress in Carole Landis~ Her sweetness just emanated from the screen~ especially with that smile! I hope a new generation discovers her ~I think younger people would find her just enchanting ~
I do hope that one day her case is re-investigated and looked at more thoroughly, with fresh eyes & modern technology ~ Lovely Carole deserves that much
Carole Landis was an exquisite & wonderfully talented actress~ her presence onscreen was always so compelling ~She was delightful! It is so very sad that a notorious scoundrel like Rex Harrison was able to cause her such pain~ In all honesty I have no doubt whatsoever that Harrison had something to do with her death~ It is also well known now that in those days ~ in Hollywood ~ avoiding scandal involving a studio’s star was a major priority ~ Stars who found themselves in a potentially career destroying situation always knew to call the STUDIO first~ ~Then police were usually called long after the studio “fixers” had come & gone & “cleaned up” ~ I’m sure someone as self serving as Harrison wasted no time doing this~ Evidence of any real foul play could’ve easily been covered up~ There are more & more instances of this coming to light concerning questionable crimes ~especially during Hollywood’s Golden Age~
We really lost a lovely actress in Carole Landis~ Her sweetness just emanated from the screen~ especially with that smile! I hope a new generation discovers her ~I think younger people would find her just enchanting ~
I do hope that one day her case is re-investigated and looked at more thoroughly, with fresh eyes & modern technology ~ Lovely Carole deserves that much
Just watched ‘I wake up screaming ‘ Landis is terrific
I have to agree. I just adored him when I was a teenager. Of course he was more than twice my age, but he had it. Even when he played the bad guy, he was fabulous. I remember waiting with baited breath to see Midnight Lace. He was the bad guy alright, but oh my goodness.
I hear you! Loved him as Henry Higgins and Dr. Doolittle, but he was sooooo creepy in “Midnight Lace”!
How and when did she meet Rex Harrison?
Hard to say, as Rex wouldn’t have discussed it, naturally. They were both in Hollywood and could have met anywhere — at a club, party, restaurant, etc.
Carole is my favorite female film star from the 1940s, and that was the time for so many provocative and charming leading ladies – Rita, Ava, Betty, Hedy, Linda, Dorothy, Maureen, Virginia, Lauren, and Barbara Stanwyck.
If I could go back and have a date with one of them, Carole would be my uncontested first choice.
A sad story which I have read about before. It is tragic, to say the least, and I remember reading of her death when I was just a little kid. I can’t tell you why I remembered it or why it affected me but somehow it did, probably because of her youth and fame and the inexplicable act of sucide. For many years I never thought of it again until the late ’70’s when I came across a biography of the life of Rex Harrison and the Landis death was referred to from Harrison’s perspective. As a professional artist I created a portrait of Carole and contacted the person who created Carole’s website. Upon seeing the finished portrait she immediately ordered a print and published it on the site for other fans to see. It was very gratifying to hear of the responses of fans. I hope the unanswered questions regarding Carole’s death will ultimately be made known.
Carole seems to have been a really wonderful lady. I was not aware of this amazing lady until I stumbled upon one of her movies.
I found her on TCM one day, (which I hope will dedicate a day to her, she deserves it.)and she now has a place in my heart. When I read her story, it made me very sad to think that she took her own life over such a rotten human being as Rex Harrison. He wasn’t worth it; on any level. Poor Carole, so much heart, & soul to give, and no one to return it. She overcame so many challenges in her life that would have knocked down a lesser person. All the miles she logged during WWII was a testament to her big heart. It’s too bad she never found Mr. Right. I’m sure she would have been a very loving partner.
I hope that you found peace, sweet lady. Rest easy knowing that there are still people out there who love you, for being you.
Roger, what a sweet man you are! I’m sure somewhere Carole’s aware of your empathy and kindness and is the better for it. (As are you!)
A very beautiful commentary on Carol Landis, where you say it all… May she rest in peace and be remembered. God’s blessings on her, and you for your wonderful Tribute that she so deserves.
Please spell Carol with an E for her sake and mine :D
Thank you for a great tribute to a beautiful and talented actress , gone too soon. At 65 I have returned to University to study my life-long passion, film history. Your writing shows compassionate insight into the tragic life of this woman.
Deb, thank you so much for the kind words! And a big juuuuicy thanks for going into film history! We need more people like YOU! You are such an inspiration! Would you like to write a guest blog post on your favorite movie dame?
I would love to!!…as soon as I decide which one of those great “Dames” is my favorite! :)
Deb, it can be ONE of your favorites! Or one of your not-so-favorites. Or do more than one. :)
Dear Deb…loved what you wrote and that you wrote about Carol Landis…and also to Roger the poster, who gave her a beatufiful commendation/tribute;; I salute you both.
I guess I put the wrong name of Deb…when it is Dixie who wrote the story…Great story Dixie, though sad, and good luck to you Deb…you will find some to write about…maybe with the similarities and differences…People alsways like a good story…and a good writer always puts out a good story.
IMHO…it is tremendously tragic to minimize one’s own life for what one lived through that enormously damaged the faith in themself to not want to go on living.
Rachel Roberts also ended her life over Rex Harrison. Apparently, he had some kind of magic, albeit very bad magic, with the fairer sex.
Neil, it’s so upsetting to learn he worked his Sexy Rexy game on another lovely dame.
Dixie…where do I post a “guest blog”?…:)
Happen to see one of Carols movies on TCM thanks to your site I discovered what a beautiful human being that accomplishes so much in such a short time gave so much to others even though so much was taken from her god makes people every day once in a while makes very special people to show us all just how beautiful we all are capable of being Carol was one of the special ones thank you Dixie for taking care of her by making all of us aware she was here and left the earth a beautiful better place for her being on it. Peace be with you Carol Frances please take care Dixie.
I loved Rachel Roberts, but she was a complicated bundle of insecurities and unhappiness, and her suicide happened 9 years after her divorce from Sexy Rexy. Yes, there are reports that she attempted to win him back shortly before she ended her life, but I think it’s unfair to say that Rachel Roberts killed herself over Rex Harrison. I think it might be more accurate to observe that certain vibrant but emotionally fragile women seem to be attracted to narcissistic pricks like Rex Harrison.
Meg, that is so very insightful, and so sadly true. Ultimately, we’re responsible for our own choices, craziness, and blindnesses. Giving up hope and life for a man is always a tragic mistake, and heartbreaking no matter how you like at it.
Tragic true story. A beautiful girl with all heart— the perfect victim for a narcissistic like Rex Harrison ! I wonder what his wife thought about it all …….. why didn’t he phone police right away.. Carole might have been saved . He was thinking only of himself 🕊🥵🥵🥵
yes, it’s so heartbreaking that she couldn’t she her life beyond Rex. Sooooo sad.
you’ve given me great insight to carole … great job
I am sure that Rex Harrison was in that house longer than his version of his whereabouts that night.. I. believe that he wanted Carole dead and let it happen to a poor vulnerable woman who needed someone at the time when she was troubled…. I read Eric Ganns book and I dont agree with his official version. Is there anything I can do to help in getting the DV D ”Cadet Girl”please let me know I went to UCLA. film archive to. Inquired about getting it but I couldn’t get it…
Thank you for such a detailed, amazing biography of Carole! I have been a fan of Miss Landis for a long time. A short, tragic life lived by a beautiful woman. Rex Harrison was such a cruel human and didn’t deserve all that fame.
You know,a movie about her life would be very very Interesting! And I think Vera Formiga, from “Bates Motel” would be excellent as Carole!
Her name is Vera Farmiga.
I love “Four Jills And A Jeep” ~ didnt know Landis had written it. She was arrestingly lovely, esoecially with natural dark hair, and I’m sorry she ever met that poisonous prick Rex. Lily Palmer’s autobio “Change Lobsters and Dance” says a lot
I am a World War II re-enactor and I have considered myself a fan of 1930s-1950s films since I was 12. Nevertheless, having been born at the end of 1966 I hadn’t heard of Carole until 2013 when I first saw Four Jills and a Jeep as part of a project that I’ve been working on which involves listing, watching, and reviewing every film ever made about the European Theater of Operations in WWII (except I’ve given up on Lithuanian films, long story). I’m telling you, I fell in love when I saw that film, and that’s saying something, because although I’m blonde myself, I’ve never usually cared for blondes. Olivia DeHavilland, Hedy Lamar, and Loretta Young are typically my type. After I watched the film the first time I looked up Carole Landis on the internet to see who this vision was, and try to figure out why I hadn’t heard of her. I was even more impressed when I learned that the film was a true story! I was literally deeply saddened to learn that she (officially) committed suicide at 29. I couldn’t believe it. She seemed to radiate class and warmth on the screen. I have now seen all of the Carole Landis films that Netflix has. Interestingly, I remember watching a couple of Topper films when I was 12 and 13 growing up in Pasadena, CA, but Carole didn’t make an impression on me then, probably because she was so old. LOL
As a re-enactor, when I put on my 1943 paratrooper uniform and attend veterans benefits and the like, with Big Band music playing and talking with the men and women that were in the prime of their lives in the 1940s, I always imagine myself living during that time and actually being the character that I portray. Since becoming a fan of Carole I often imagine myself meeting her as a soldier the way Tommy Wallace did, but just loving her for who she is, letting her have her career, and keeping her safe from the bad romances that ultimately ended her life.
Thanks for an excellent article on her life. It’s nice to learn some new things about her.
Thanks Terry! For your comment and for your your compliment, and especially for your service and heroism!!
It’s my pleasure, and I was honored to have served, but I probably should clarify: As a re-enactor I portray a paratrooper, but when I was in the Army for real, I was a radio repairer. I was just one of those that helped the real heroes get the job done. :-)
Thank you for your service
I would love to pick your brain about two WW2 movies I remember seeing as a kid I’d like to watch again!
Pick away — although I don’t generally watch war movies or Westerns so I don’t know that I can be lots of help.
That was so sad. I’ve always had an appreciation for Carole. I am now going to sell my Rex Harrison book that I have. WHAT A PRICK!! I enjoyed the way you write. It’s not what you say, as they say, it’s how you say it. We have that in common. I’ll see you on Instagram!!
JoAnn — what an incredibly sweet comment! I’m so delighted to “e-meet” you! Glad you liked the Carole piece — what dame should I profile next? xoxo
I can’t believe I memorized the entire My fair lady soundtrack. lol
Linda, I couldn’t agree more. It’s a shame how much ch time and lives are wasted. (I know how much time I personally have wasted.)
Me too, Linda! It’s my all/time favorite soundtrack. I even got to see a much-slowed-down Rex Harrison as Henry Higgins when he revived the musical on the road in the 70s. MUCH slowed down.
What a real shame about her life. I wish women were taught that men are not the most compelling goal in life. I wish parents taught their daughters that having a love affair with oneself, growing ones soul and giving to oneself, animals and others is what satisfies. Men are not the prize, only the right one can be a complement
Men likewise need to be taught that. Approximately two thirds of all suicides are men.
News to me! I’d looked her up after watching “It Happened in Flatbush.” Such a cutie! And I loved her deep, melodic voice.
Gee, awful lot of sadness packed into 29 years.
Thanks for your comment, Dennis! Whom would you like to see profiled next?
Great piece, as usual. My favorite bit: “The “drifting railroad mechanic” wasn’t a stable family man? Quelle surprise!”
This is all so sad … so many women and men to a lesser extent get used up in Hollywood . From silents to now. Always , a lawyer like Jerry Geisler there to save their bacon . Or studio fixers . I still wonder about Paul Bern , and then Harlow dying so young . The Lana scandal , although I do believe daughter did it out of fear for mother. You need an entire storage warehouse to hide Hollywood’s skeletons , not even a movie star’s walk in closet could do it … or MGM’s wardrobe department for that matter !! Thank you for article .. I don’t think people realize how she served the troops , or how often she performed on command performance.
Brenna, what a great insight. Thank you so much!!
I knew of Carole Landis from my Mom. As a kid, when I would look through her movie scrapbooks, I always stopped on the pages of Carole Landis. Something about her – not just her beauty, but a face with deep soul-searching. During my Mom’s final years and illness, we watched Carole’s movies and dug out the old scrapbooks.
The pain of hopelessness is a deep sadness for which people seek suicide. My heart is heavy and goes out to many who, I pray, have the ability to seek guidance and help – and for the loss of Carole who at 29 had a full life waiting for her.
It has been more than a pleasure to find your website, as well as the tribute and site of Carole’s niece Tammy and friend Elizabeth. Thank you for keeping this beautiful and talented young woman alive in so many ways.
Wow Bailey, thank you so much! You made my day! I would never have known Carole Landis was so well-loved and remembered had I not written this post. It’s been truly eye-opening. Tell me, are there any others you’d like to see profiled? xo
I guess I would have to say actress Loretta Young who was date raped by Clark Gable. She never told anyone, including the child who was born, until many years later. When she became pregnant, she apparently was afraid that the studio would demand that she have an abortion.
Whoever you are profiling, though, I will definitely enjoy the reading and keep track of your site!
Loretta and Clark’s relationship was consensual. In fact, he would visit his daughter, Judy, from time to time. Judy and everyone was told she was adopted. But she look d so much like Loretta few were fooled. (Plus poor Judy had Clark’s ears)
Dear Dixie,
Thank you for the info and tribute to Carol Landis. I’ve been a film noir buff for many years and learned about her after watching “I Wake Up Screming” and have developed a fascination regarding her life. She reminds me of a Marilyn Monroe type character. It’s even more tragic how Hollywood and men treated these gems. And I totally agree…dying over a douche bag like Harrison. She had it all.
Take cre
Al, thanks for your comment. I bet Carole would be really happy to know she still has all these fans over 70 years later, xo
Thanks for you’re story about this poor actress.i love old movies.its sad.the life’s some of the Wemon had., The money .the fame and All Alone.ti suffer.
Thanks for writing a tribute to Carole Landis..I’m so sad her end came like that. A candle lit so brightly then gone for good. I always wondered about how she was found. By the sink curled up..& very nicely dressed up.. What’s with that?
That poor angel.
I’m interested to know if there’s any info out there about Carole Landis having been under the care of Dr. Fred Pobirs? My mother was under Pobirs “care” for many years; so were Judy Garland and Marilyn Monroe. My mother suffered a similar, tragic fate to all three of those women. My grandfather was a well-known producer and studio head. Thanks in advance.
I read he the doctor who recommended electric shock therapy for garland
I’m sorry I clicked on this website’s url. Your incredible insensitivity to a woman’s difficult and challenging childhood is appalling.
Hardly edgy and cool. Being crass and disrespectful is childish.
You said it, Dixie!
Bless Carole Landis on her 100th birthday today.
Thanks, Jon! Who would you like to see profiled next?
Thank you for featuring actress Carole Landis. I decided to look her up after seeing her in the Turner Classic Movie, Turnabout. I’m also writing partly because a coworker lost her young daughter also to suicide. It is so so tragic and difficult to understand- as humans we try but can’t; really. We can only imagine the pain for the person and the Moms, Dads and sisters/brothers they leave behind.
It is worthwhile to point out the importance in this day and age of teaching self esteem, self love at as early an age. Now, more, we see the importance of teaching kids the “wrongness” of sexual abuse. It bears emphasizing that we as humans gravitate towards wanting to watch beautiful people entertain us. And we need to see this for what beauty is and is not. Being beautiful is lucky and good but should not be the reason why we like something or someone, and we need to be aware of that tendency in ourselves. Be a cheerleader, a model, but remember not to let strictly looks, define us, right? I love watching classic movies, and seeing into times when my parents had been young, but I think that maybe people and the industry was more superficial. We women need to keep evolving and then be less subject to the “Rex’s” of the world. And we’re moving towards that thankfully, and yet we still need to concentrate on that. Still, we need to keep open to learning anything we can do to understand and reach out to those who are so hurting and isolated.
What a beautiful sentiment, Lisa. You are clearly a light in the world!
Well, she was fantastic in Turnabout. That is also what led me to this page. Another tragic Hollywood casualty for sure.
I just discovered Carole Landis for the first time today. I’m watching her on TCM. They are having a marathon of her movies as a Birthday tribute. She is one of the most beautiful Women I have ever seen. This was a great article by you. I agree with you that Rex Harrison is/was a piece of Shit .
Thanks so much for commenting! I’d love to get more insights from you and other fans. Who would you like to see profiled next?
How about Thelma Dodd? She also had a sad (unsolved) end. Every day I pass by a structure on Pacific Coast Highway in Malibu which used to be a nightclub that she partly owned and where she was found dead from asphyxiation in her car which was still running in the garage. I think it was ruled to be a suicide but there were too many discrepancies. I don’t know all the details but it’s a very interesting story.
I knew her name but didnt know much about her. TCM just showed a bunch of her films since 1/1/2019 is her 100th birthday. What a shame she died so young.
Thanks for commenting, Darlene! Of course I totally agree with you! Who would you like to see profiled next?
Dear Dixie
Thank you for your good heart about a lovely lady I just “met” in film. It is her birthday, it seems. Attractive, but more- a true soul of loving others and giving her heart to the soldiers, writing them letters- Now I love her forever, and respect her. Surrounded by movie-world people, she would of course run into lots of rats looking only at her physical appearance,- heartless ones she couldn’t seem to apply those smarts to! (charming can be pretty low…)
I hope her true heart is happy now and forever, for being True Blue, and I hope she enjoyed lots of stuff here as well. Going back to heaven early isn’t all bad perhaps, we are the losers not her! (-taking the hopeful view- she never had to grow old, losing health and beauty- maybe she was “too good for this world”)
I see your piece is years old, so I’m glad it is still wise-ing us up on a jewel of goodness, showing us that a beauty of heart can be in a dreamy body, doing good works for others. Guys and gals both lose their sense over romance a lot! I could kill anyone who molests a child, too bad “God” doesn’t.
I like your writing a lot- your gritty realism does not hide your good heart and good wishes- ignore that jerk who does’t get it.
I would read anything you write on famous people’s Real lives, since you seem to be able to cut through to the real facts, as you did with Loretta and Clark.
Thanks for expanding and deepening my heart a little with your loving view of a beautiful lady.
Phil
Phil, I am so touched by your sweet comments! You positively MADE my day, and my new year! Thank you!! Who would you like to see profiled next?
It is hardly difficult to figure out…you’re mean. Plain and simple. I guess you think you are being clever with your article but nooooo, it’s mean! It seemed Carol wanted to escape the “Ping,” but you continue to highlight it throughout the article.
Hey Ann, when you grow up you’ll understand that “Ping” is a marketable commodity that not too many people are lucky enough to own. Carole had it and used it, Marilyn had it, Rita Hayworth had it, Jean Russell had it, Ava Gardner had it and a multitude of other beautiful buxom women who were not apologizing for their sex appeal. I truly doubt you’ve figured anything out. Plain and simple.
Marina, I love your passion! You clearly have “ping” and then some!
Ann, I’m not clear how I’m being mean. I have only love and sympathy for Carole Landis, and have received nothing but good comments from other readers, Carole fans and even members of Carole’s family. You’ll be happy to know you’ve read something into the article that’s not there and can heave a sigh of relief that no one was being mean to Carole.
Dixie, I just seen a TCM 1942 movie with Carole Landis,”A wonderful Crime”. First time I actually saw her. What a tragedy! Such a beautiful woman. She could act too. And a great human being with her war effort. I was curious. What was her cause of death? And why would Rex’s wife attend her funeral? Did she have children?
Hi Dixie,
I really enjoyed reading your post about Carole Landis, she was another tragic beauty like Marilyn Monroe used and abused by men then tossed dumped after they took what hey needed from her. I agree with your philosophy on what makes a “Dame”. I’ve always thought of myself as one. No need for faux modesty, always know your worth and use it to your best advantage. My definition of a dame is one part chutzpah, one part feminine wile and one part self assuredness. I recently had a successful gentleman who rented my Palm Springs house ask me how I accumulated my high-end properties, I leaned over and whispered “balls”. He looked at me as though I had just kicked him in his. Most men still don’t understand that a successful woman is twice the man he is. I’ll be 62 this August but I feel sexier, happier and more interesting and vibrant now than I did at 30. It could also be because I’ve been enjoying the last ten years with the love of my life who happens to be 24 years younger. After an abusive marriage, I was able to raise two gorgeous, intelligent worldly sons who love and respect women, I took care of a mother who had a debilitating stroke, a father with severe mental damage and for the last nine years, a younger sister with MS whose husband left her for another woman. I have many female friends yet few qualify as dames. Most are not in complete control of their lives and many live with disinterested zombies instead of adoring lovers.because they don’t truly believe they’re worthy of being adored. A dame knows she’s worthy and demands adoration and respect. As you said, we know more, weigh more (and don’t give a shit), and have come to realize that you get out of life what you settle for. Dames don’t settle for BS.
Some dames are knockout drops CL was a KO champion but so very vulnerable
I only recently discovered Carol Landis through her delightful film A Gentleman at Heart – a wonderfully funny comedy. I was shocked to read that she died so young. Your article is interesting but there doesn’t seem to be much of a mystery about her death – she had attempted suicide several times before and was clearly a susceptible person, probably struggling with depression, and she wrote a suicide note to her mother, which makes it quite difficult to pass it off as murder.
Louise, I don’t think it was murder. I just think she was heartbroken.
Louise I completely agree. She was wonderful AND I suspect her choices and the realization to enter an impossible relationship was the last straw in her battle with depression and I think self esteem.
Thank you so much for this rather intersting, but so true tribute to my cousin. It’s so heart warming that Carole is still remembered today. I remember my mother and aunt speaking of her and the times my mother visited hers. I was much to young to remember what was said, and maybe good reason. I was born 6 yrs after her passing, so I missed all the hoopla. It’s a great place we live in today to be able to relive some of those times through her movies. I agree with the fact that she did not commit suicide for reasons only her family can undetstand. Thank you agsin.
Mileyrn@yahoo.com
Barbara Zuber Null
You’re writing lacks credibility with your use of nasty nicknames and your own spin on someone’s character. It makes you sound like a Louella Parsons or a Hedda Hopper Gossipy and silly. You don’t know what Ms Landis or Mr Harrison were either feeling or thinking.If Mr Harrison lived his life treating women badly its awful and disappointing. Im a big fan of his Henry Higgins if he exhibited this behavior its shameful. For Ms Landis who was a very talented lovely actress it is so sad that she allowed herself to be treated that way and that she wasnt strong enough to walk away and get help. She had a full life to live and its a shame she didn’t choose life. Stick to the facts when writing. Don’t throw around nicknames and judgments like trump
PS: I just watched One Million BC. So I found this article looking her up. She sounded so wonderful. I enjoyed the nicknames and what the hell does any of this have to do with politics… Not a question.
I loved your article on CAROLE LANDIS, your quite apt descriptions on Rex Puke abs, mostly ~ your bio. I’m in Philadelphia, PA ~ single, childless, with 1 lovely kitty [2 or more just LABELS me a spinster!!!] and a disability that has me hoping for a different type of “crisis” that will give the pain reliever MURDERERS [like hypocrite, Samantha B.] the KARMA that only the truly IGNORANT deserve.
This is some CRAZY world we live in today! Carole took THE WRONG WAY OUT ~ but, she could have been just another grabbed “PING” blocker! OY!
BE HAPPY ~ with love & SHALOM ?
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Fabulous read! Love your writing style. Thank you for this great piece.
Wow, thank you so much! Your kind words made me whole day! xox
“It is amazing how complete is the delusion that beauty is goodness.”
– Leo Tolstoy
Rex Harrison is one low life sleezebag!
Love this article.
PS: I just watched One Million BC. So I found this article looking her up. She sounded so wonderful.
I totally believe she was murdered by Rex . I have read the description of what happened & it totally makes sense that he murdered her to keep his affair quiet. It’s so unfair that he was able to persuade the coroner & the Police to believe his lies of what happened that night, but I hope there is some comfort in the fact that I’m sure many people & fans believe he was guilty of this crime.
I totally believe she was murdered by Rex . I have read the description of what happened & it totally makes sense that he murdered her to keep his affair quiet. It’s so unfair that he was able to persuade the coroner & the Police to believe his lies of what happened that night, but I hope there is some comfort in the fact that I’m sure many people & fans believe he was guilty of this crime.
I can’t believe Rex Harrison didn’t report Carole’s apparent overdose for hours. Someone you were supposed to love and you leave her laying there without getting help. All of the traveling she did entertaining the troops during the war was a testament to the kind of person she was. Too bad that she couldn’t find happiness.
How dreadful.
Carole was a smart lady who cared about others. Why else would she travel the world over to entertain troops during a major war?
I learned elsewhere she was a gutsy lady who learned to fly airplanes.
I fear her childhood years of being abandoned by men caused her to overly seek affection from men. I wonder if she left men because she feared they were about to leave her so she preferred to the one doing the leaving to avoid the painful memories.
She was beautiful, talented, brave, and cared about others. It is a shame she didn’t learn to care more about herself. It would have been nice to have her stay with us a few more decades. I’m sure some other agency would have realized her for the person she was and who knows what fame would awaited her.
Alas, there was just too much pain in her life for her to bear. Mothers, please teach your daughters they must learn to make their own happiness, other people cannot do that for you.
Hello Dixie, loved your writing! I’m 65, lived in NY for many years, and love classic Hollywood.
Rex Harrison was a shit! I dated many shits and can relate to Carol Landis. But at 29 to end your life, no. I did feel it but didn’t do it.
Please keep up your writing.
Sek
Fantastic article. Enjoyed every word. Thanks for sharing with us.
Thanks for the Carole Landis profile . Shame didn’t know she died so young . Especially over a guy or the other way around. I’m a big turner classic movie fan , especially Eddie muller’s film Noirs. Like most of the actresses and actors of 1930’s and 1940’s and early 50’s . Thanks
I was only 8 years old when Carole died and didn’t become aware of her until years later, but in all I’ve seen and read about her it is clear that she was one of the most fascinating, charismatic, and beautiful ladies ever in films. Her tragic life would make an interesting film.
Why the anger towards Rex Harrison? He was a man in Hollywood in the 1940s. He was little more than a character himself.
There is a lack honesty by the high moral commentary lifers here: sexual abuse. Maybe most of you have autism like asbergers and things like that. But I don’t think so. Before you throw dirt on someone’s morals, throw some dirt on yourself in what some adult did to you as a child. Or the gossip police will get you. If you read and listen to her words, you will find the answer.
She says that all the “fame and glamour don’t mean anything, if you have hurt in your heart.” She achieved game but the memory of sexual abuse remains. That’s what killed her unless Rex Harrison dressed her up and did her hair? I like how she lived. Friendly and daring.
Classic Hollywood had many great actors and actresses that have left us magnificent works of their art. Carole Landis in my opinion was upthere with lana turner Betty Grable and carole Lombard. Carole Landis was a great actress that applied herself to whatever role she was playing in a movie. What a brilliant beautiful and talented actress that could sing dance and present herself well i especially liked her
atheticism. She had one of the biggest hearts in Hollywood giving of her time and travels during wwii too our troops that received a piece of America when she performed. I wasn’t born until way after she died but I feel a sense of loss for all of humanity. I know rex is getting allot of the blame for her loss but the more I study Carole Francis landis name I given her rex is only part of the reason not the whole part. Personally I feel she felt maybe a failure in marriage four marriages before 30, a failure as a woman not able to get pregnant if so she would have never committed suicide failure as an actress that she loved larger than life not getting or offered parts in class A movies that she was well qualified maybe the fear of in her mind getting old. Financial problems with her house in pacific palisades. All these issues plus more i am not aware of pushed her over the brink. It still in my opinion doesn’t justify the reason whatever it was. Cause her death hurt so many family friends of hers and the multitude of fans she made back then and fans that where not even born during her reign. I have grown fond of this women maybe even love her eventhough she has been gone from this earth for 72 years. I wished she would have found love marriage a house with children she desperately wanted for her life when she was here. Carole landis life was complicated at the end and I guess she felt she only had one way out. I wished she would have talked with Clara her mom Dorothy her sister or good friend Cesar Romero before hurting herself and crushing the hearts that remain on earth. But hher decision was selfishly made that faithful night of 4 July 48 or early morning on 5 July 48. Rest in Peace my darling Carole Francis Landis. She’ll always be my pin up girl until the day I die.
I have a question for the author. I was watching Carole Landis in a film tonight and looked up and read the Wikipedia about her. In the section outlining Landis’ personal life they say she was married to each husband for extremely short periods of time. Wikipedia says her mother stepped in and annulled marriage #1, but Landis got her father to relent and allow her to remarry #1. They say she stayed 3 weeks. On marriage #2 they say she left after 2 months. Marriages #3 & 4 lasted for just over 2 years each. Why did she leave the first two husbands in such a short amount of time? I’m just curious.
I’m just guessing, but I think a lot of the Hollywood people would get married, rather than just go to bed with each other. But they also had affairs and others in between marriages. For someone to be married that many times before turning 29 is unusual. What do you think about the 2 quickie marriages early on?
Dixie,
That was a real interesting article.
You have a very entertaining writing style.
The information surrounding death of Carole Landis has always seemed to me a rather odd.
Ah well, we have some of her captured forever within that alternate universe known as You Tube.
We need a movie or streaming series about Carole’s life.
Thanks for this wonderful retrospective on a smart, beautiful and compassionate artist who accomplished a lot in her short life.
I think if you find someone dying on the bathroom floor from a suicide attempt you don’t wait for hours in the hope that she will expire, you call for immediate medical assistance. This tells me a lot about how heartless and cruel the man was.
Thank you for your kind comment. I know Carole would appreciate it — I sure do!
Aside from the stellar bio, you write really well. I had never heard of Carole. At a FB movie-lovers page, someone posted about her. Thanks for filling in all of the blanks. I’m posting this article link to that page. Character/supporting actor and actresses of classic film. I know everyone will enjoy reading this.
She is a stunning human being. Not just because of her looks, but her intelligence and her humanity as well.
I live what you said about Carole. And I’m so grateful and beaming about your kinds words about me. Thank you!!
I want to know who wrote the article? It’s inconceivable that the writer doesn’t get credit! I like the gritty style and no holds barred but then I imagine some were!
Thank you, Alice. I wrote this article and just about all the posts here in Dametown. My name is “Dixie” Laite and I’m the Nayor here in Dametown. You can learn more about me in the About page, I think. Anyway, thank you very much for your feedback. And please let me know what dame you’d like to see profiled.
Carole is my favorite female film star from the 1940s, and that was the time for so many provocative and charming leading ladies – Rita, Ava, Betty, Hedy, Linda, Dorothy, Maureen, Virginia, Lauren, and Barbara Stanwyck.
If I could go back and have a date with one of them, Carole would be my uncontested first choice.
There where lots of male stars who had lots of affairs Clark Gable Rex Harrison Frank Sinatra most whete covered up Buy Hollywood I think there is more to the Rex Harrisons story I think it was a cover up Same as Marilyn Monroe
thanks for the article! I remember looking at the photo of Carole Landis on her bathroom floor. Her great looks and perfect figure made it so she could write her own ticket anywhere…or so it seemed. The idea that she was murdered instead of a suicide gave me pause. Of course! That actually makes a lot more sense. I think it is logical that Marilyn was murdered also.
I am an Old Hollywood buff, have been for many years. I truly enjoy reading about actress’s and actors lives on and off the “Screen”. Just read about Carole Landis. She obviously was beautiful not only on the outside but on the inside as well. In my opinion she was a survivor and believed in herself.
I am 99% sure she didn’t commit suicide. The fact that Rex didn’t call the police for several hours after she died is
a definite give away.
As far as Sexy Rexy, why she or any woman would get involved with him is beyond me.. Not only was he nothing to look at, was clearly an insensitive, self absorbed b*****d. And I don’t know who told him he could act because he was a lousy actor!
Thank you for the beautiful article about Carole Landis- and for the references to the excellent noir drama, “I Wake Up Screaming!” My favorite moment in that film came when she was working as a waitress, and one of her customers leered at her and said, “The rest of what I ant isn’t on the menu,” and Ms. Landis’ character responded, “You couldn’t afford it even if it was!” That seemed like the perfect feminist response. There was a reference to her losing a part in “Blood and Sand” to Rita Hayworth. I thought you all would like to know that she was offered the lead to “Gilda” before Ms. Hayworth, but the director wanted her to dye her hair red for that part, and she was afraid that would hurt her image. It’s certainly sad that she thought people wouldn’t accept her as anything but a blonde, but I guess that’s what the old studio system did to actresses like Ms. Landis.