On the morning of Monday, December 16, 1935, film director Roland West faced the sudden discovery of the death of his business partner and on-and-off lover, actress Thelma Todd. Her body was found slumped inside her chocolate-brown Lincoln convertible in a garage on the hill above her Pacific Palisades café. Distraught and immediately thrust into the spotlight, West became a central figure in the intense police and grand jury investigations that followed.
Todd’s maid Mae Whitehead, found her employer inside her 1934 Lincoln Phaeton convertible. The car was parked inside the garage at Jewel Carmen’s residence, located roughly a block uphill from the Sidewalk Cafe. Todd was still wearing an evening gown, mink wrap, and jewelry. Whitehead later told police that Todd was slumped forward in the seat, her head tilted to one side. She also reported blood around Todd’s nose.
Investigators quickly established that West and Todd had quarreled the night before when she returned late from a party. West had locked the building’s doors, expecting her earlier. Because the garage belonged to West’s residence and the two shared a volatile, complex personal and business relationship, suspicion immediately fell on him, though he maintained his innocence during exhaustive inquiries.
 |
| Investigators carrying movie actress Thelma Todd’s body the morning after her death in 1935. |
The official coroner’s ruling eventually pointed to carbon monoxide poisoning as an accident or suicide, but the strange circumstances fueled decades of Hollywood lore and rumors of foul play. Decades later, a claim emerged that West allegedly made a deathbed confession of murder, keeping the mystery alive.
Leave a Reply