Unless you’re fanatical over Hollywood’s golden age, or, like, 110-years-old, you’ve probably never heard of Ramon Novarro, but trust me this guy was a big deal back in the 1920s. He was a silent film star who was catapulted to fame after he starred in the original 1925 version of Ben Hur and he was one of those few silent-era-megastars to actually maintain a successful career after Hollywood introduced dialogue audio. At the peak of his fame, Novarro was earning $100,000 a film (equivalent to $1.2 million today), and he was an international sex symbol known for melting a woman’s heart through a black and white screen… he was also a closeted gay man and an alcoholic. Fast forward a few decades after Novarro’s career had slowed down and we arrive at October 30, 1968, when he paid, Paul and Tom Ferguson to come over his house for little mid-century version of “Netflix and chill.” All went smoothly until the Ferguson bros got wind of $5,000 that was supposedly hidden somewhere in the house and proceeded to torture and beat Novarro until he gave up the stash. The only snag in their plan was that there was no $5,000, and they beat the poor guy to death, finishing him off by suffocating him with a lead dildo (which was gifted to him years earlier by Rudolph Valentino). The accused ended up leaving the home with only $20 and were later convicted of the crime only to be acquitted some time in the 1970s. Later on, after being locked up for another heinous crime, they finally admitted their bloody role in Novarro’s murder, but due to double-jeopardy, never had to face the full consequences.
12. Natalie Wood
At this point in the new millennium, you probably know Miss Wood by name rather than by her work, but let me bring you up to speed. Natalie Wood was a child actress who you may recognize as the little girl from the original Miracle on 34th Street, or if that doesn’t ring a bell, she was also James Dean’s love interest in Rebel Without a Cause, and Maria in West Side Story. Bottom line is, Natalie Wood was the quintessential definition of a Hollywood star. She was a Golden Globe winner, an Academy Award-nominated actress and on the night of November 28, 1981, she drowned off the coast of Santa Clarita Island.
Wood was enjoying a pleasant night out on a boat with her husband, Robert Wagner, the boat’s captain, Dennis Davern, and her good pal, Christopher Walken (yes, the Christopher Walken) when she mysteriously ended up a mile away in a dinghy dead of drowning and hypothermia. The autopsy found that she had a BAC of .14%, a couple of painkillers in her system, and bruises all over her arms and body, but all three men on the boat said they had no idea what happened. Her death was ruled an accident and to this day nobody really knows what happened that night.
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