William Desmond Taylor

William Desmond Taylor (born William Cunningham Deane-Tanner April 26, 1872 in Carlow, Ireland ? February 1, 1922 in Los Angeles) was a successful US film director and a popular figure in the growing Hollywood film colony of the 1910s and early 20s. He was the victim of a murder that remains officially unsolved.

Suspects and associates

Edward Sands had prior convictions for embezzlement, forgery and desertion from the US military. Born in Ohio, he spoke with a false cockney accent and had worked as Taylor's valet until seven months before the murder. While Taylor had been in Europe the summer before, Sands had forged Taylor's checks and wrecked his car. Later he burglarized the bungalow, leaving footprints on Taylor's bed. He is said to have quit a job in northern California the day Taylor was murdered and was never found.

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Henry Peavey was Taylor?s African American valet, known for wearing flashy golf costumes (although he didn't own any golf clubs). He discovered the body. Peavy was illiterate and his prior history before working for Taylor included arrests for vagrancy and public indecency involving underaged boys. Taylor had put up bail for him and was due to appear in court on his behalf. Initially suspected of the crime, he was cleared by police. Before his death in 1937 a magazine published an interview in which he stated the murder had been committed by ?a well known actress and her mother. " Another rival magazine published his comment as ?a well known actress," with neither magazine qualifying the statement. He was said to have died in an insane asylum.

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Mabel Normand was a popular comedic actor and a close friend and associate of Taylor, who had a public anti-drug stance and was alleged to have been deeply concerned by Normand?s cocaine addiction. She was the last person known to have seen him alive, having left his home in a happy mood at 7:45 pm on the evening of the murder. Normand was rejected by her fans after her reputation was tarnished through association with murder and revelations of her drug use. A few years later she attempted a comeback in films but the public was uninterested. Tuberculosis and the lingering effects of her prior drug addiction killed her in 1930.

Related Topics:
Mabel Normand - Cocaine - Tuberculosis - 1930

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Faith McLean was the wife of actor Douglas McLean and the couple were neighbours. At 8pm she heard a loud noise which startled her. Going to her front door to investigate she came face to face with a young man who was emerging from Taylor?s home. McLean described how he paused for a moment before turned and walked back through the door as if he had forgotten something, re-emerged, flashed a smile and disappeared. His casual manner caused no suspicion for McLean, who decided she?d heard a car backfire. She also said this person may have been a woman disguised as a man.

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Charles Eyton was the General Manager of Paramount Studios. After Taylor?s death several people said he had organised a party of employees to enter Taylor?s home and remove incriminating items before police were notified of the death. Director King Vidor later recalled a conversation with art director George Hopkins who said he helped remove items linking Taylor sexually to several Hollywood actresses along with a number of underage males Peavey had procured for him.

Related Topics:
Charles Eyton - Paramount Studios - King Vidor - George Hopkins

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Mary Miles Minter was a popular actor and teen screen idol who had been guided through her career by Taylor. Letters found in Taylor?s home suggested the possibility of an intimate relationship between the 50 year old Taylor and 22 year old Minter that had started when she was below the age of consent. Minter was vilified in the press after Taylor?s murder. The suggestive letters were at odds with her screen image of a modest young girl. Rejected first by her fans, then by the Hollywood Studios, she left films entirely. Never comfortable with her career as an actress, she proclaimed her love for Taylor throughout the rest of her long life, dying in utter obscurity in 1984.

Related Topics:
Mary Miles Minter - 1984

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Charlotte Shelby was Minter?s mother. She was described as having an obsessive hold over her daughter and a vested interest in her career. Writer Adela Rogers St. John speculated that Shelby was torn by feelings of maternal protection for her daughter and her own attraction for Taylor. Others, including Minter's sister, accused Shelby of wanton greed and manipulation but she and her mother were bitterly divided by financial disputes and lawsuits. Shelby reportedly owned a pistol and bullets very similar to the kind which killed Taylor and after this later became public, had thrown the pistol into a bayou in Louisiana. She knew the Los Angeles district attorney socially and spent years outside the United States in an effort to avoid official inquiries and press coverage related to the murder.

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