Pete Bondurant
Veteran Member
One of the ultimate of cold cases, the murder of William Desmond Taylor has always fascinated me.
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/william_d_taylor2/1.html
http://www.trutv.com/library/crime/notorious_murders/celebrity/william_d_taylor2/1.html
On February 1, 1922, William Desmond Taylor was enjoying a rich, full life. In that silent film era, he was one of Hollywood's most successful and respected directors. He had directed such acting greats as Mary Pickford, Dustin Farnum, Wallace Reid and Mary Miles Minter. His notable films included Davy Crockett, Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn. He had recently directed The Green Temptation starring Bett Compson and Anne of the Green Gables. Both motion pictures had been well received (perhaps green was a lucky color for him) so he could look forward to directing many more movies.
The director resided in a California neighborhood called West Lake Park, at the time a fashionable area. His home was in Alvarado Court, a collection of bungalows grouped in a U-shape around an elaborately landscaped garden. Each house was built in a Spanish style with white stucco and red tiled roofs. The occupants of Alvarado Court tended to be people in the movie business. Another director, Charles Maigne, lived next door to Taylor. Acclaimed screen actors Agnes Ayres, Douglas MacLean and Edna Purviance also lived in Alvarado Court.
Shortly after, at about 8 p.m., Taylor was shot in the back inside his home. A single bullet killed him.
In the bungalow directly to the east of Taylor's, Faith MacLean, wife of actor Douglas MacLean who had appeared in films directed by Taylor, was seated at her table and enjoying the last course of her evening meal. Her husband had finished his dinner and was upstairs playing cribbage. Suddenly she was startled by a sudden, explosive noise.
Faith looked outside in the direction of the sound. A stranger, who appeared to be a man in his late 20s, came onto the lighted doorway and their eyes met in the early evening's darkness.
The man calmly turned around and went back into Taylor's house. A few minutes later he emerged and strolled out of the courtyard through the area between the MacLean and Taylor homes. Reassured by the stranger's unhurried manner, MacLean assumed she had heard a car backfire and thought no more of it — until the next morning.
At about 7:30 a.m. on February 2, Henry Peavey arrived at Taylor's home to fix the director's breakfast. He was carrying a bottle of milk of magnesia that his employer had requested. The valet bent down to pick up the morning newspaper from the doorstep. He had a key, and when he opened the door, let loose a blood-curdling scream.
The fully clothed body of William Desmond Taylor lay on his living room floor. A chair was astride one of his legs. It was later discovered that his pockets held a wallet with $78 in it, a silver cigarette case, an ivory toothpick, and a Waltham pocket watch. A two-carat diamond ring was on his finger. Above his hand he wore an item that had just come into vogue: a wristwatch.