
Acting
Thelma Todd
Born 1906-07-29 · Lawrence, Massachusetts, USA
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films such as Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily. She also had roles in Wheeler and Woolsey farces, several Laurel and Hardy films, the last of which (The Bohemian Girl) featured her in a part that was truncated by her suspicious death at the age of 29. During the silent film era, Todd appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. With the advent of the talkies, Todd was given opportunity to expand her roles when producer Hal Roach signed her to appear with such comedy stars as Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy. In 1931, Roach cast Todd in her own series of slapstick comedy shorts, running 17 to 27 minutes each. In an attempt to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy, Roach teamed Todd with ZaSu Pitts for 17 shorts, from "Let's do Things" (June 1931) through "One Track Minds" (May 1933). When Pitts left in 1933, she was replaced by Patsy Kelly, appearing with Todd in 21 shorts, from "Beauty and the Bus" (September 1933) through "An All American Toothache" (January 1936). These Roach shorts often cast Todd as a working girl having all sorts of problems, and trying her best to remain poised and charming despite the embarrassing antics of her sidekick. Todd also appeared successfully in such dramas as the original 1931 film version of The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade, in which she played Miles Archer's treacherous widow. During her career she appeared in 119 films although many of these were short films, and was sometimes publicized as "The Ice Cream Blonde." Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935, and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl. This was her last film; she died after completing all of her scenes, but most of them were re-shot. Producer Roach deleted all of Todd's dialogue and limited her appearance to one musical number.
Acting credits
6.9Two homeless vagabonds hide out in a vacant mansion and pose as the residents when prospective lessees arrive and try to rent it.
Another Fine Mess
1930
One way or another, the Hollywood police have been kept busy with murders on their ground. There are numerous theories about the killings of Thelma Todd, Jack Healy (Three Stooges), Elizabeth Short, alias The Black Dahlia, Bugsy Siegal and Johnny Stompano. The files of William Desmond Taylor, Raymond Navarro and Sal Mineo are also re-opened. Femmes fatales are often deadly for the man's wallet or reputation -- these ladies killed for real. From Calamity Jane, gang boss Ma Baker and New York madame Polly Adler to axe-murderess Winnie Ruth Judd and others, we look at the Black Widow Spider syndrome. Rare archival footage and many hitherto unseen interviews, film, video clip tapes, and photographs are included in this hour-long program.
Murderers, Mobsters, & Madmen: Volume 6: Hollywood Police Files
1992
6.8Two wannabe bandits join the service of a dashing nobleman, who secretly masquerades as Fra Diavolo, a notorious outlaw.
The Devil's Brother
1933
6.8Charley intervenes in a fight between Eddie and Thelma inside her small car. Cop Kennedy misinterprets things, and Charley hides in the theatre Thelma is rehearsing in. Charley replaces Eddie as Thelma's partner in an artistic dance act, and makes a fiasco of it.
Crazy Feet
1929
10.0At a ritzy beauty salon, while a mud pack is on her face, a wealthy socialite invites Thelma and Patsy, two salon attendants, to a party, mistakenly thinking they are social acquaintances whom she wants to entertain a visiting count. Just before our working-class pair arrives at the party, the hostess is called away to see to an ill dog. Thelma tries to behave in a refined way, but Patsy, with a head full of practical jokes and a bra filled with trick gadgets, turns the party on its head. The butler calls the hostess back to her home. Is Thelma and Patsy's moment in high society coming to a crashing end?
Soup and Fish
1934
6.0A lovesick fool bumbles into espionage and finds a stolen plane.
Son of a Sailor
1933
6.9Four stowaways get mixed up with gangsters while running riot on an ocean liner.
Monkey Business
1931
5.2A prostitute sees a friendly sailor as a way out of Havana's grimy underworld.
Her Man
1930
9.0Playboy Teddy Ward wants to marry Jeannie King, an artist, but his father wants him to marry Loris Lane, but tells Teddy he can marry whom he pleases if he will make the Mountain Inn a profitable operation. Teddy agrees, and with the support of his friends arranges an ice-boat race with a $10,000 prize to the winner. A problem arises when his father refuses to pay such an amount. Teddy thinks one of his friends will win the race and refuse the prize, but champion racer "Duke" Slade shows up and Teddy knows he will take the money. Some movie stars show up and, while using their own names, are definitely not playing "Self" in this fictional film.
Fascinating Youth
1926
6.9Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help his school win the big football game against rival Darwin U.
Horse Feathers
1932
5.8Two yokels try to crash royal society by posing as the King's physicians.
Cockeyed Cavaliers
1934
5.8A high-spirited and short-tempered Texan woman storms her way through life until her luck runs out, forcing her to learn the error of her ways.
Call Her Savage
1932
5.4When Stephen, the husband of Gerald’s mistress, Claire, discovers a pair of tickets for their planned trip to Venice, Gerald must invent a wife to cover their tracks. He is then forced to hire a woman to play “his wife” when Stephen insists he and Claire accompany them to Venice.
This Is the Night
1932
6.2Stan and Ollie travel with a band of 18th-century Gypsies holding a nobleman's daughter.
The Bohemian Girl
1936
10.0In French Indochina, a magistrate is assigned to investigate the murder of his boss. Unknown to him, the boss had a policy of requiring the wives of his subordinates to sleep with him if they wanted their husbands to get promoted. What he also didn't know was that his wife was in the boss' office when he was killed. Complications ensue.
Careers
1929
7.0A heat wave sends the residents of a New York City tenement to their fire escapes for whatever breeze is stirring. The tenants are a cross section of melting-pot culture: Irish, Jewish, German, and Italian dialetcs create a rich aural mix on the sound track. As small talk is exchanged among the residents of different floors, an off-camera hurdy-gurdy supplies an often ironic counter-point to the action
Hurdy Gurdy
1929
8.0Thelma and Patsy get jobs demonstrating washing machines in a department store window. However, on their first day on the job, they accidentally get locked in the store overnight.
Babes in the Goods
1934
6.3A plucky stewardess risks her life marrying a daredevil pilot.
Air Hostess
1933
6.4A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly caught up in the mystery and intrigue of a statuette known as the Maltese Falcon.
The Maltese Falcon
1931
7.0A compilation of early-day silent films that serves as a glimpse back to the formative days of the movie industry as a salute to Hollywood's Golden Year, so proclaimed by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce as 1953.
Yesterday and Today
1953
6.6Ollie is running for mayor when an old flame tries to blackmail him with a old photo.
Chickens Come Home
1931
7.6Lora Moore, the club champion, loses a golf match to a woman from another golf club. Then Jerry Downs, a handsome golf pro, and his goofy friend, Jack Martin, show up. Lora takes him on as her golf teacher to work on her putt. She falls for him, but so do several other women. Meanwhile Angie Howard, Lora's friend, chases after Jack. A lot of silliness ensues.
Follow Thru
1930
NRThe edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of edition #1, then a tribute to movie people who have died in those 25 years. Finally there are tributes to the Screen Snapshots series by Cecil De Mille, Walt Disney, Louella Parsons and Rosalind Russell.
Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)
1942
6.8HOLLYWOOD. Tinseltown. Land of the stars. A city where an actor can reach the greatest heights overnight - and descend just as rapidly. What goes up must come down, and Hollywood's failing stars leave a legacy of sadness, pain and disappointment in their wake. Here, in graphic detail, are the shocking stories behind the deaths of the silver screen's most beloved celebrities, as well as it's lesser known players. Packed with stunning newsreel footage, and previously unrevealed facts, DEATH IN HOLLYWOOD documents many a celebrity's morbid demise due to suicide, drug and alcohol abuse, disease, and even murder. From the outrageous to the tragic, DEATH IN HOLLYWOOD leaves no tombstone unturned in it's quest to dig up the truth about Hollywood's dearly departed.
Death In Hollywood
1990