The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals (40 page)

However, as was often the case, his career slowed somewhat with the advent of the talkies, as a result of his thick Mexican accent. But the actor was not one to give up on his career easily, and instead of mourning the loss of his once great silent acting roles, he began appearing in films that required a heavy accent, such as in
The Pagan
and
The Student Prince
.

As though knowing that his career in films would not last for his entire life, Novarro had developed a shrewd business head and when he was at his peak in the 1920s and 1930s, he began making a series of lucrative investments. By the time his career slowed, therefore, he then had the opportunity of taking the odd small movie role when he wanted, but was also able to live comfortably off the money he had raised during the highs of his career.

As a result of this sensible approach to business, Novarro led a secure life with very few money worries, though he did suffer drink problems which often gave him unwanted headlines from the 1930s onwards. It was one of the biggest struggles of his life, and one that is said to have started due to his inability truly to accept that he was homosexual; a guilt very much brought about by his strict Catholic upbringing. His alcoholism also led to brushes with the law due to drink driving. However, in 1962 his drinking seemed to have been conquered somewhat when his lawyer announced that Novarro had solved any psychological problems he had previously suffered from. “He has not driven a car or taken a drink for several months,” the lawyer told reporters.

Unfortunately, this was not strictly true, as by 1968, Novarro was living at 3110 Laurel Canyon Boulevard, where it was noted that the bins outside his home were filled with empty bottles of vodka, whisky and gin. But despite his advancing years, and troubles with alcohol, the actor was still busy, making occasional appearances in television programmes such as
The High Chaparral, Bonanza
and
Rawhide
. He had also started to write his autobiography, on which he was still working on the ill-fated evening of 30 October 1968.

For some time, Novarro had used gay escort agencies and he was well known in the “hustling” community. So it was that on that particular afternoon, two brothers, Paul and Tommy Ferguson, took it upon themselves to call the actor on the chance he would invite them over. According to testimony, Paul telephoned the actor and introduced himself as a relative of “Larry”, Ferguson’s brother-in-law. Novarro was acquainted with him and, as a result, he spoke to Paul for a while before the actor eventually agreed that both brothers could come over to his Laurel Canyon home. Shortly afterwards, at approximately 4.30 p.m., they arrived at the house, and found Novarro already prepared for them, wearing a smart dressing gown, with his beard and moustache nicely trimmed.

The actor offered the boys cocktails and a snack of chicken gizzards and cheese crackers. He talked and sang a little, and then ordered cigarettes from a nearby drugstore. As luck would have it, Novarro’s secretary of nine years, Edward Weber, was enjoying his evening off, but just happened to be calling into the store when the order came through. Hearing his employer’s name, he then told the shopkeeper that he would deliver the cartons himself, though he later admitted to being somewhat confused by the order, as he had never known Novarro to smoke.

Weber made his way over to Laurel Canyon and knocked on the door. There he was met by the surprised actor, who obviously had no idea Weber would be visiting him that evening and was somewhat confused by his arrival. The secretary gave his boss the cigarettes and, as he did so, noted the trimmed moustache and smell of lotion, though did not comment on it. “I had the feeling that he had guests,” he later said. He was right, of course, and after bidding Weber goodbye, Novarro headed back inside the house, where the Ferguson brothers played around on his piano and smoked the cigarettes he had just bought for them.

The evening is believed to have turned more intimate as it wore on, but did not go the way Novarro – or anyone else for that matter – expected things to go. Sadly, by the time the brothers left, Ramón Novarro was dead, and one of the biggest Hollywood scandals was about to begin . . .

On the morning of 31 October, Edward Weber returned to work, let himself into the house and was greeted by a dreadful sight. It was obvious that there had been a struggle in the house: there were bloodstains splattered on the carpets, walls and ceiling; furniture was overturned and Ramón’s eyeglasses were broken on the floor. Added to that, there were cigarette butts everywhere, burns on the furniture and other debris littered all around.

The secretary was in great shock and deeply worried about what had gone on and where his employer was. He looked around the house, calling out Novarro’s name as he did so, but it was not until he entered the actor’s bedroom that he was met by a sight he would remember for the rest of his life. There was the body of the 1920s film star, lying face up on the bed, completely nude. His wrists and ankles were tied with cord and it was evident that his body had taken a severe and brutal beating. “It all indicated a fight or struggle had taken place,” Detective Sergeant Robert T. Smith later testified.

Police were quickly called and an investigation began. Meanwhile, reporters got wind that something serious had happened at the Laurel Canyon home and rushed to find out as much as they could. Gathered outside, the world’s press waited for an explanation as to how or why the beloved actor had been so brutally taken away, until finally the police gathered them together and read out a statement. The hungry reporters took out their notebooks, poised to write down every ounce of information, but the comments handed over by the police somehow ended in more questions than answers.

The officers confirmed that Ramón Novarro was dead – it would appear murdered – but stated that they could find absolutely no motive for the killing. Yes, there had been a great struggle – the state of the house was testament to that – but on closer inspection it did not appear that any of the actor’s possessions were missing. Still, they were unwilling to rule out any lines of enquiry at this stage, including the possibility that it could very well have been a robbery gone wrong.

At this point the police really did not know much at all, though they did reveal that they had found bloodied clothes – believed to have been those of the killer – on a nearby fence. The reporters noted it all down but when no more answers were forthcoming, they were left with the possibility that the killing could have been as a result of not one but several motives, and it was all a confusing mystery.

However, while the police had been able to reveal certain aspects of the case, there was one thing that they chose to keep secret from the media: they had found the possible murder weapon. The actor’s walking stick had been located near to the body, only it was not in one piece; it had been broken in two. Could it have broken while the killer was bludgeoning the actor to death? They believed so, but knowing the murderers would most certainly be keeping track of the case, the police decided they needed to keep this information to themselves until the moment was right to release it.

An autopsy was performed on the body of Ramón Novarro, which showed that his death was attributed to “suffocation due to massive bleeding due to fracture of the nose and laceration of the lips and mouth”. Still, while the police now had a reason why his body had finally given up, they were no further forward in finding out how or why it happened. Extra detectives were assigned to the case while the body of the once-great Novarro lay in state, mourned by everyone from waiters who had served him in restaurants to a housewife forever grateful for a fan letter he had written some thirty years before. The outpouring of grief was immense, and his death was commemorated around the world by everyone who remembered his glory days in silent movies.

Just a week later, the world was surprised to learn that two brothers, twenty-two-year-old Paul and seventeen-year-old Tommy Ferguson were arrested and booked on suspicion of murder. Their names were released to the press and Paul apparently responded to the development by – quite disturbingly – trying to gouge out his eyes with nothing but his own fingernails. This dramatic episode did not gain the man any sympathy but did make headlines, and newspapers around the country were left wondering what evidence the police must have to be so sure the brothers had performed the crime in the first place.

Officers refused to comment on the case, but the arrival of Tommy Ferguson’s girlfriend Brenda Lee Metcalf put the rumour mill into overdrive, and it was soon discovered that she might just be the missing link between the death and the subsequent arrests. Shortly after, the brothers were indicted for the murder of the aging star, and by January 1969 it was revealed that they had initially been investigated by the police after conducting a routine check of Novarro’s phone records. There had been one number that particularly intrigued them as it had been called on the very evening of the murder for a staggering forty-eight minutes. An investigation was immediately conducted and, after finding that it belonged to Brenda Metcalf, police were quick to get in touch.

What they discovered was truly horrifying. Miss Metcalf confirmed that she had indeed received a phone call from the house that evening, and it had been from her boyfriend, Tommy Ferguson. She went on to explain that he had freely admitted he was with the actor, and that she then asked him what he was doing there.

“He’s trying to get me into pictures,” he replied, before oddly changing his mind and declaring he had made a mistake, that it was Paul who would be in pictures, not himself. According to Metcalf, Ferguson left her hanging on the telephone several times while he went off to talk to his brother, get cigarettes and drink beer. Then some way into the call he apparently announced that they knew there was $5,000 in the house and intended to tie the actor up to find out where it was.

Metcalf was said to be horrified. “Don’t do it,” she begged, “you’ll get yourself into trouble.” Then, quite disturbingly, the young woman told the police that at one point near the end of the call she heard screaming coming from somewhere within the house. When she asked Tommy what was happening, he replied, “Paul is probably just trying to scare him or hit him with something.” He then told the woman that he had to go to see what was happening, as he did not want Paul to really hurt Ramón Novarro.

After the body had been found, Metcalf received one more phone call from Tommy Ferguson, this time asking if she had heard of Novarro’s death and then telling her that, on the night in question, he had bent down over the actor and could tell immediately that he had died. Metcalf was horrified to think that her boyfriend was in some way associated with the murder but decided not to say anything to the police about the calls she had received. Her decision may have had something to do with the fact that Tommy had told her that he and his brother were planning to travel back to Chicago, rather than stay in California and risk arrest. Whatever her reasons, the woman did not expect to speak to the police at all until they tracked her down, and she subsequently opened up and confessed everything she knew.

The phone-call mystery was for the most part solved, but something else bothered officers deeply. When Novarro’s body was found, they had discovered bizarre messages on the mirror, marks on the actor’s neck and the word “Larry” scrawled on to the sheet next to his body. Nobody had any idea who the mysterious Larry was, but it was a big clue in the hunt for the killer and police were desperate to find him. After the phone-call information had implicated the Ferguson brothers, they began investigating any links they had to anyone called Larry, and quickly discovered that Paul Ferguson’s estranged wife, Mary, had a brother with the very same name.

As the brothers were not particularly great fans of Larry and were aware that Novarro had known the man prior to the murder, police believed that the brothers scrawled the brother-in-law’s name in an attempt to divert any suspicion away from themselves and on to the innocent man. It was also noted that the name had been written several times on a notepad next to the bed, and a pen had been placed in the dead man’s hand to try and make it look as though he was attempting to leave a clue. However, the fact that his hands were tied tightly behind his back was a sure sign that the dying actor had not been the person to scrawl any of the words.

When the case went to court in 1969, it made headlines around the world. Because of his criminal past, Tommy Ferguson was put on trial as an adult despite his young age, though it was made clear that he would be spared the death sentence if found guilty. Elder brother Paul Ferguson’s future did not look so bright, however, when Deputy District Attorney James M. Ideman indicated that he would certainly be seeking a death sentence for his part in the slaying.

The trial began with jurors being told that Ramón Novarro was killed with his own cane, after “wining and dining” the brothers at his home. Ideman described how the two men had tortured the aging actor in a bid to find out where he hid his money, reviving him in the shower when he began to pass out from his injuries. He went on to tell the court that the brothers later laid Novarro on the bed and tied his hands behind him with an electric extension, while they resumed the beatings in their quest for cash.

The emphasis was very much on the money aspect of the case – the idea that the Ferguson brothers thought the actor kept large amounts of cash around the house. But why the men presumed there was a lot of money in Novarro’s possession was a mystery, particularly as they had only just met him that night and did not seem to know anything much about his life or career until that point. Had they been told by a third party that Novarro was wealthy and, if so, who? Did they go round to the house knowing for sure that there was money somewhere, or did they just presume that to be the case after he had told them of his fame in the days of silent movies?

Nobody seemed to have the answers to these questions, but one thing was clear – Ramón Novarro did not seem to be a man who kept bundles of cash lying around the house. Indeed, his secretary Edward Weber recalled that at the time of his death, the only money he knew the actor to have on his person was $45 in his wallet – and that was only because he had received payment from a cheque he had received a few days before.