William Desmond Taylor Murder

[@Modguy61]

And 99 years later William Desmond Taylor's death remains one of the greatest unsolved mysteries in Hollywood history!!

[@monilaninetynine3811]

Yep. Some mysteries aren't meant to be solved.

[@Modguy61]

@@monilaninetynine3811 Certainly not this one, lol!!!

[@noahsmith5832]

But didn’t Margaret Gibson confess to doing it?

[@Modguy61]

@@noahsmith5832 She did, but there will always be skeptics regarding any confession that's nearly impossible to prove.

[@noahsmith5832]

@@Modguy61 ahh I gotcha makes sense

[@dianamarie4351]

100 years ago today still officially unsolved

[@MbartM96]

William Desmond Taylor was born in Co. Carlow Ireland - hence he was Irish and not English. Just because we were an English colony at the time doesn't alter an individuals nationality.

[@noellambe5845]

well said.i know whare his old house is in carlow

[@Lwyse96]

MBM96, William Desmond Taylor was Anglo-Irish. Author Betty Fussell states in a Mysteries and Scandals episode on Taylor that "he had a classy English accent".

[@PetroicaRodinogaster264]

Americans always get things wrong. They are so wrapped up in their own selves they know nothing of anyone else.

[@michaelastandley8531]

It also depends whether his family were of Irish heritage or British.!

[@62M.St.]

Fascinating - and well done! Regards, The '62 Mathew St. 1-Man Band (Total Retro Rock)

[@-BigMike-]

I recommend the book 'Tinsletown' to anyone interested in this case. There was A LOT more dirt to this case that what this short video covered.

[@deninevh]

Is that like a historical fiction book or is it like a true crime novel?

[@rogerpropes7129]

You may have to spell it Tinseltown to find it.

[@-BigMike-]

@@rogerpropes7129 thanks Roger. I didn't realize I misspelled it.

[@ripperduck]

Outstanding book. Not just about Taylor's murder, but the corruption and criminality of Los Angeles and Hollywood, and how nothing has changed in over 100 years...

[@shanewilliams9122]

Bought the book on Audible. A great listen. Lots of great info.

[@chrysanthepaxinos2839]

I've read a few books on this case. Many different angles, but to me, it seems clear that it was Mary Miles Minter. She was obsessed with him, had pulled a childish scene with a revolver same or similar to the weapon that killed him and probably tried something equally childish with him, had a mother who didn't want to lose the gravy train who bribed three consecutive DA's and that actor friend for an alibi. Just my belief mind you.

[@ProudKansan08]

I read all I could too, and the sad thing was, her career was never the same after his murder, which, was fine by her, since she was tired of acting and the only reason she did it was for her mother.

[@raquelsalazar2018]

I think it was the mother charlotte Shelby or Mary miles minter.

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

A strange inclusion for this program. Taylor's killing was hardly a perfect crime. It was never solved due to corruption, police incompetence, and a contaminated crime scene. Whoever did it (which will never be known) really just got lucky.

[@caroltenge5147]

any idiot can deduce it was her Morbid domineering mother, who later paid blackmail to two district attorneys to quash the case......

[@annnee6818]

@@caroltenge5147 I dunno, can they?! Motive isn't guilt and those guns were probably a dime a dotem. This piece leaves out a bunch of other theories, there is apparently a butler theory (I don't know that one) but also that Taylor was possibly gay and wouldn't have had an affair with MMM, the drug theory, there's tons. Be careful believing a random documentary on the internet. It's perfectly possible she did it but it's not very conclusive.

[@guerrillapress77]

The old difference between perfect crime and imperfect crime investigation.

[@hanndonfield91]

@Ann nee the 38 revolver wasnt very common which is what made her more suspecful

[@WyattRyeSway]

I’m going with Charlotte Shelby

[@bambinoandmore46]

interesting podcast by Steve punt about this story. back to his house in Ireland

[@jamespfitz]

"... in the glow of the incandescent bulbs..." meaning, "with the lights on"

[@markstuckey6639]

Yes, she is verbose.

[@davidc3839]

Maybe swollen and inflamed gonads glowing in the dark

[@bobholmes65]

No kidding! 🤷‍♂️

[@monilaninetynine3811]

😁😁

[@DrMoorehen]

What of it, you arse?

[@RobertTKlaus]

I have watched a couple of these, and they make it seem his bungalow was in Hollywood, it wasn't it was at the Alvarado Court Apartments, 404-B South Alvarado Street, in the Westlake District just north of Westlake Park. They used to be in what is now the far northeast parking lot of Ross, and bordered Maryland...

[@sirloine123]

Pretty sure the girl pictured at 17:20 is Mary Pickford not Mary Miles Minter

[@oldgringo2001]

Years ago I read a book titled *A Cast of Killers* about this mystery. It's also one of the scandals covered in *The Big Book of Scandal!*, a collection of stories presented by various cartoonists.

[@vinnieviddivicci5459]

Great book!

[@Scripts360]

Reading it right now.

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

The confident hypothesis that Mary Miles Minter is the murderer mostly stems from the forensic conclusion that one or more of WDT's arms were outstretched. The filmmakers do not give due consideration to the fact there can be multiple explanations for this. He could have been holding his arms out in a blocking/defensive "don't shoot me" gesture or to hold someone back.

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

@Louise Gross No I think that was Margaret Gibson. Her confession isn't widely believed as she wasn't connected in any way to the original investigation and there's no evidence that she even knew WDT.

[@ProudKansan08]

@@flaccidusminimus2170 and yet, I find it plausible that she could have done it.

[@krisweaver7524]

You have to consider the angle of the bullet, and then the theory makes sense, at least on paper. The bullet entered just above his left hip and traveled diagonally upward towards his right shoulder. That means the gun was pointed upwards at his waste. Either the shooter was on the ground and shot upwards towards his hip, or it was a short person who was carrying the gun at a low angle because of their height. If he had his arms straight out saying "don't shoot," that would probably mean that the gun was being pointed at him. In which case the angel wouldn't match. Just my 2 cents. Someone also needs to explain the 4 blond hairs on his jacket that seem the match.

[@smug8567]

Calm? Do "murder" and "calm" go together? Calm and murder? Murder? They never could get the blood stains off the floor, And they used Bon-Ami!

[@edritchison2307]

That a boy Luther!

[@billchambersmarquez1964]

Ahahahahahahaha!!!!! The ghost and Mr.chicken! Great movie!!!!

[@lesliecarter1986]

😂😂😂

[@cynthiamclellan6745]

Don Knotts 🏆

[@princook]

Sounds like an upstanding citizen

[@erbl6779]

no woman shoots a man for not sleeping with her. the hellhound stage mom would 've been a fool to shoot him. maybe it's another Ramon Navarro. Margaret Gibson/Patricia Palmer would not have shot Taylor from jealousy, it's absurd.

[@gfficomable]

The introduction is wrong Taylor wasn't an Englishman. He was born and raised in Carlow in Ireland in an Anglo Irish family.

[@jamespfitz]

But he claimed to be at that time.

[@christopherseton-smith7404]

@@jamespfitz The Anglo Irish could be whatever they wanted to be; shall I be part of The Ascendency today, or not?

[@maudelynn13]

That's Mary Pickford a 17:27 ... not Mary Miles Minter

[@annnee6818]

You're right. That's a pretty big booboo I'd say...😆

[@TheXmeimei]

She goes to his house, gun in hand, sticking the gun at him ... but she didn't mean to kill him! She just wanted him, to make love to her! -- The defense lawyer. I've heard of holding somebody at gun point, for money, ... first time heard this great idea, holding somebody at gun point for "love".

[@ProudKansan08]

Lol. Holding a gun on a guy to force love making is a sure way of it not happening 😳🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣🤣

[@nhmooytis7058]

My great uncle who my mom said was really handsome in his early 20s (he was 50+ when I was born) went out from Ohio to Hollywood to be in silent film. He dated both Minter and Normand and had some minor roles but came scuttling back after the WDT murder (so would have been 22 then) saying those people were perverts. After reading CAST OF KILLERS I wondered if he knew who killed him ...or even killed him himself :D

[@caroltenge5147]

cast of killers is King vidors rough screenplay of the event, likely the best reference there ever was or will be.

[@DrMoorehen]

Ends too abruptly

[@jayfbee]

Born in England? Holy fuck Batman... Since when was Carlow in England ffs. He was Irish. These guys didnt do their homework.

[@Barbidoll1]

Why would he want to be a public figure,knowing his past?

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Money, fame, etc...Times were different then...a person really could just drop out of one situation, move far away, and never be found...His dumped wife only noticed him after she saw him in a film!..She contacted him, and he sent her supportive "hush" money until he died. In short, he was a total creep, like many of his associates in the film industry!

[@flaccidusminimus2170]

2:01 - WTF isn't that Lionel Barrymore on the far right? I guess he was on the scene that day playing a cop...

[@princook]

It is possible the Mother came over to pretend that the relationship was ok with her daughter. Maybe a hug? I still think it was the Mother.

[@jimmyl324]

King Vidor found out Taylor was gay.

[@annnee6818]

This isn't terribly thoroughly researched is it?

[@JosephKulik2016]

For one thing, just because Palmer confessed to killing Taylor before she died does not mean that she did in fact kill him. Cops are not allowed to accept any confession unless there is corroborating "hard evidence" and I don't see that here. For all we know, Palmer knew she was dying and just threw that "confession" out there for her last chance in the public spotlight, so that as a once famous actress she wouldn't die as an unknown nobody. ... [e-mail]

[@thebaby2436]

A man who abandons his wife and child is no "gentleman".

[@markcadieux3445]

Maybe his wife was no lady.

[@curbozerboomer1773]

Good point!...and it shows, just how gullible many women are, when it comes to certain types of men, like he was!...MMM was just 17 when she became so infatuated with this guy, like a more modern teen would swoon for some Rock Star!

[@spencerfrankclayton4348]

4:45 I thought they said that his body was found on February 2nd, 1922. But then here they say that December 1921 was only "a month" before the murder.

[@dionlindsay2]

So it could have been a month and 3 days. Near enough for me :-)

[@ProudKansan08]

Probably because it was February 1st, so it wasn’t two months yet. I caught that, too, but then realized he was murdered February 1st.

[@anglovetree3308]

The young girl seen him with the other actress, out of jealousy she shot him.

[@aidie2311]

So who killed him? Mary or Patricia? I hate it when video not complete. Just about to get to know who Patricia was, video ended....😡

[@janwilliams6539]

AiDie I think Charlotte Shelby, Mary’s mother, killed him.

[@MultiSirens]

Yes how annoying is that move! Grr

[@ProudKansan08]

That’s why it’s still an unsolved murder. It could be anybody, and no one will ever know. I don’t know who to think. I read all the books I could find on the subject back in the 1990’s and I vacillate on who I think it is, so I gave up. All the suspects seemed total psychos and would get away with lying. 😕

[@barbarabarber3167]

I wonder who made the movie of the murderer at 22:18 leaving the Taylor residence. Or when that film was made? Also, if it were MMM or Shelby how would that explain the Taylor cigarette butts stolen from his house, smoked and left in the alley, and what about the people who saw someone standing around in the alley smoking that night?

[@Modguy61]

True, so many details left out.

[@ProudKansan08]

See, that’s another wrench thrown into the mix. But women smoked back then, Charlotte looked like a tallish or stalky woman, so it could have been her. For all we know, Mary Miles Minter smoked, too, but supposedly, she was short, but also the right height for the bullet trajectory. It’s all so maddening 😡😊. I think a medium/psychic should try to get in touch with him and asked who murdered him. It’s going to be a hundred years, I’m sure there’s not any conflicts of interest involved anymore.

[@jimclark6256]

Why didn't the police arrest everyone who tampered with the crime scene?

[@rift_right3259]

Bc it would be unfair to arrest anyone without any proofs

[@ProudKansan08]

Because it was one of those, “I got powerful friends in high places and if if you mess with me, I’ll see you demoted to keystone cop again.” Besides, that’s what the studio heads did and I assume still do. They get their fixers to hide or spin bad stuff happening with their stars. Case in point, George Reeves. He was probably murdered.but someone named Mannix or something like that, an infamous fixer, fixed it so it looked like suicide. There’s many suspicious deaths involving the rich, famous and movie stars that the fixers come in and spin.

[@portiamatthews9654]

This whole story about the death of William Desmond Taylor and who may have been responsible for his death has been very interesting. I've heard that his valet was a suspect but was dismissed. Even heard he was a homosexual in the interview by Connie Chung and a former Detective Cahill. Again, all fascinating but everything doesn't all fit from what was known during the investigation of the murder. One thing that never changed was the eye witness account as soon as she heard what she said was a gun shot. The entry of the bullet and why was he actually murdered nearly one hundred years later.

[@car54whereru83]

The end was cut off. Did Patricia Palmer kill him?

[@songbirdy]

The case is still unsolved to this day.

[@abantochristian4904]

sad to say that our classic director like taylor experience this kind of death.

[@philfluther2713]

16:40 What if the victim was showing his visitor the door?

[@spencerfrankclayton4348]

0:04 The best, Charlie Chaplin. ❤❤ And that's Mabel Normand arguing with him.

[@mariacardenas4665]

I Remember This Story

[@jonnelson6446]

So who is the mystery woman whose name is suddenly cut off at the end?

[@richardl772]

Margaret Gibson aka Patricia Palmer and the motive was blackmail.

[@CandyGirl44]

It would be sweet justice if it had been someone on behalf of the wife and child he deserted! But the theory of MMM is intriguing and quite plausible.

[@ProudKansan08]

I wondered that, too, when I was reading up on that, but then I got to thinking, wasn’t he still worth more to them alive, a,I guess more money for his daughter to inherit than kill him then and the money wouldn’t last very long? But, that’s the way I think.

[@rogerpropes7129]

This leaves out the part of the story that the black butler was assumed to be gay because he had picked up boys in a nearby park, leading to another hypothesis that he was actually procuring boys for Taylor. (Taylor's mouth has a tell-tale feminine look.) Thus he would have spurned MMM as a lover.

[@TariAkpodiete]

Roger Propes > his mouth was feminine? Seriously?

[@jamespfitz]

Tell-tale? What tale does a "feminine face" tell, pray tell?

[@rogerpropes7129]

@@jamespfitz The studio heads were there not to remove evidence but to plant evidence that Taylor was not homosexual, which was strictly taboo, that he was having an affair with MMM, which he was not. They wanted to ruin her career too because her contract was too expensive. A lot of new facts have come out in recent years, including a theory that many years later an actress name Ruth confessed on her deathbed that she shot him. Taylor abandoned his wife and daughter, and the handsome valet Sands was probably his lover, he committed suicide soon after the murder. Anyway once you know that he was almost certainly homosexual you can see it in his face.

[@airmark02]

@@rogerpropes7129 What do we need to see in a heterosexual mans face ? I want to know the difference. Please be specific & detailed if possible..? ~ thank you

[@rogerpropes7129]

​@@airmark02 video.search.yahoo.com/search/video?fr=mcafee&p=steve+reeves#id=13&vid=cfbe15df1d75b14550cdcaa768dc83ac&action=view images.search.yahoo.com/search/images?p=verastagui&fr=mcafee&imgurl=http%3A%2F%2Ftmsimg.com%2Fassets%2Fv9%2FAllPhotos%2F232044%2F232044_

[@MultiSirens]

Wow would say what a kettle of fish but then it’s more like a kettle of snakes! Lol good doc!

[@romekamyles]

I love mysteries such as this 😨😨😨👊

[@luizgiao652]

2/2/22 NUMBERS

[@spencerfrankclayton4348]

17:23 That's Mary Pickford.

[@MsJulian214]

Interesting ty .

[@patrickoneill8047]

Oh they didn't have led lights in 1922. "Incandescent........ Bulbs.....

[@baddiebaddie7046]

So, at the time of his death, he still had a slave???

[@SnagglePussDaCat]

#troller wtf are you talking about? stop stirring sh*t for literally no reason, what a stupid utterly moronic and purposefully incendiary statement to make... man servant/house man/chauffer/housekeeper. was sla ve r y a thing in 1922? In California? what's the 13th Amendment? WHat year was it ratified? My f**ing GOD, what is wrong with you?

[@rachelraquel758]

He had a valet, who was paid, like a lot of celebrities do.

[@celladora31]

Mabel's chauffeur.

[@spencerfrankclayton4348]

0:03 Charlie Chaplin and Mabel Normand in 1914.

[@pygiana16]

Er-ee-oo-dite!

[@annnee6818]

Made me laugh too😁

[@loisreese2692]

Gotta love it it when someone tries to use a "big" word in an attempt to sound intelligent, then thoroughly blows the pronunciation, thereby demonstrating their incredible ignorance! 😂😂😂

[@janstaz]

Poor guy.didnt stand a chance.

[@gforceeatingcorrect]

He was Gay ,his chauffer/butler probably had a liason..................

[@johnmamo653]

He gave me AIDS

[@ohslimgoody]

I think the got away with murder man should do this. This wasn't thought out well at all.

[@chocolatetye797]

She lived a hard life, she looks old ...before time...

[@SleutherStrode]

of the time you muppet

[@waderaney7]

A good documentary

[@cheeselewoo4825]

A bit of an all around man? Obviously John Christin doesn't know the word factotum :-)

[@Tomlinsky]

Well educated. Earorudaite...

[@Beck-Stein]

It was Red Aurbach.

[@abantochristian4904]

well known

[@seithroil]

The amount of people on views are going to jump up here because of Buzzfeed

[@hollygolightly3333]

Ugh Buzzfeed. I just can’t watch those. I want to, but the stupid jokes in between every single bit of info. Lame!

[@jamespfitz]

BuzzFeed is a cesspool

[@midwestslotdiva]

2222

[@johnmamo653]

God bless Trump and John Gotti