Gossipy Kate”s Unscripted Endings tells the tragic tale of beautiful Carole Landis

She was so beautiful as a baby that her family called her “Baby Doll” or “Baby” a name she kept until she died. But her father deserted her before she was born and two of her brothers died tragically. She had enormous talent and an equally big heart…but the talent was often overlooked and her heart broken many times. The one man she thought really loved her used her and then tossed her aside crushing her dream and her spirit.

Carole was born Frances Lillian Mary Ridste in Fairchild, Wisconsin on January 2, 1919 to Alfred and Clara Ridste but both her birth date and parentage is in dispute by biographers. The family had been living in Montana  but returned to Fairchild several months before Frances was born. Alfred left them soon afterward. After Frances was born, Clara took the children back to Montana and moved in with Charles Fenner who became her second husband. Biographers believe that Fenner was really Frances’ biological father and that was the reason Alfred left.  On  January 28, 1920 Clara  told a census taker that Frances was 11 months old which would be almost two months later that her registered birth date.  But Clara’s second marriage didn’t last either and Frances was left with no father at all.                                                                                                          
                                                                

Carole at 15

Clara moved her family to San Bernardino, California in 1923 not far from where Alfred Ridste was living with his second wife. While Clara worked, the children took care of themselves, the house and often their mother. Frances was 3 years old. But tragedy struck the family a second time two years later. After losing a son, Jerry, in Montana who died when his clothes caught fire while sleeping too close to the fireplace, Clara lost another son, 11-year-old Lewis who was accidentally shot and killed by neighbor boy.

Frances was barely 15 and on the honor roll at San Bernardino High School when she went looking for love a first time. She was working at a hamburger stand after school when she met 19-year-old Irving Wheeler (aka Jack Ryan aka Jack Roberts). He told her he was a writer and he also used those three magic words “I love you”. They eloped to Yuma, Arizona on January 14, 1934. Clara had the marriage annulled and sent Frances back to school only to have Alfred sign papers to let Frances remarry Wheeler. It lasted a month and Frances went home to Clara. Unfortunately no divorce papers were ever signed.  In no time at all Frances left school and home to head for San Francisco, her first stop on the way to her dream of becoming a star.

Hula dancer Carole!

She changed her name…”Carole” for her favorite movie actress, Carole Lombard and “Landis” for baseball commissioner Kennesaw Mountain Landis (she was also a passionate sport fan). She also changed her hair color from soft brown to dazzling blonde.  Within 18 months she had worked her way up from a hula dancer at the Royal Hawaiian to popular band singer with the Carl Ravazzo Orchestra at the St. Francis Hotel. Carole was barely 17 when she left the Bay City for Los Angeles in the late summer of 1935.

Carole with Busby Berkeley

In January 1936 after only six months in Hollywood, Carole met Busby Berkeley at an audition for Warner’s “Variety Show”. Berkeley was able to get her a seven-year contract with a six month option clause with the studio.  Carole and Berkeley soon became an item in the press and her picture was appearing in the fan magazines. She was being offered roles in one film after another even thought they were mostly bit parts in “B” pictures. But behind her back the gossipmongers (made up of the Hollywood wives club and envious starlets) were shredding her reputation. One allegation that she had been a call girl in San Francisco was totally unfounded.  She also found out that another extra working on the lot was none other than “Jack Roberts” ….her not-so-ex- husband formerly known at Irving Wheeler!
                   

Carole in late 1938

Then, in 1938, the bubble burst. Wheeler sued Berkeley “for alienation of affection” and even though he lost the case, it was the end of Carole’s affair with Berkeley and also her contract with Warners. She went back to modeling, did radio and even stage plays. During a brief stint at Republic Studio she costarred with John Wayne in “Three Texas Steers”, one of the Mesquiteers series. It was Hal Roach who finally put her film career back on track when he cast her as Loanna opposite Victor Mature in “One Million B.C.”  but  her acting talent was again obscured by a beautiful body clad only in animal skins. Carole was further angered by Roach publicist Frank Seltzer labeled her “The Ping Girl”.

...with Victor Mature in "One Million B.C."

One thing hadn’t changed…the men in her life were still unreliable
and some downright dangerous. In late 1939, Carole began dating Pat DiCicco, ex-husband of Thelma Todd and reputed to have arranged Todd’s murder. He was also involved (with his cousin Albert “Cubby” Broccoli and actor Wallace Beery) in the beating death of comedian Ted Healy outside the Trocadero restaurant. When Carole suddenly spent a week in the hospital to have “plastic surgery on her nose” insiders suspected that DiCicco had beaten her up. When she returned home and broke it off with him, they were sure of it.
                                 

A pin-up picture!

In July, 1940 Carole married Willis Hunt, Jr., a yacht salesman, but it was another abusive union and lasted only 4 months. By the winter of 1941 she had signed with 20th Century Fox. That contract had one non-negotiable and unwritten clause…. sleeping with head honcho Darryl Zanuck.  Zanuck was famous for his daily 4-4:30 p.m. teatime trysts and for sleeping with every actress he hired. Carole was no exception….it was tryst or toast. That included Betty Grable, Linda Darnell, Gene Tierney, Loretta Young and even sweet Grace Kelly. THose who decline didn't work for Fox.
                                   

Carole with Kay Francis at her London wedding.	...with some of the boys at Fort Ord

After 1941 Carole was spending much of her time touring army bases around the country and overseas. Darryl couldn’t control that. She spent more time with the troops than any other Hollywood star but it almost cost her life…. amoebic dysentery, malaria and a near-fatal pneumonia. She would later write a book about it titled “Four Jills in a Jeep” recounting her experiences along with actress Kay Francis, dancer Mitzi Mayfair, and comedian Martha Raye. It was later made into a movie. In 1943 she married Air Force Captain Thomas Wallace in England but by the end of 1944 that marriage collapsed, too. You see, Wallace loved being married to a movie star but didn’t want to live like one.

"Command Performance" 1943 with Jimmy Cash and Bob Hope

Meanwhile, Zanuck was showing his displeasure at being denied Carole’s company and cast her in one low budget picture after another. In defiance, Carole took off for New York to star in the Broadway musical “A Lady Says Yes”. She also began a brief and very unlikely affair with her bisexual co-star Jacqueline Susann, author of “Valley of the Dolls” still looking for love anywhere she could find it.  In 1945 she married Broadway producer W. Horace Schmidlapp. The marriage was bi-coastal and the couple  were spending very little time together. Horace seemed to like it that way but once again Carole was left unloved and lonely.

....out with Horace

In early 1947 with Horace in New York, Carole met Rex Harrison on the set of “Out of the Blue”. Within days, they were spending every spare moment together. Carole was in love again but Rex was just looking for another conquest. He was still very much married to actress Lilli Palmer who spent their marriage looking the other way. When Carole went to London to do “The Silk Noose” and “The Brass Monkey” for Eagle-Lion Productions Rex made sure he was able to follow her. He just took Lilli and their small son with him and the affair continued on both sides of the ocean until 1948. When Carole filed for divorce from Horace, Walter Winchell announced that “Carole Landis’ next and fifth husband will be Rex Harrison”. Rex knew that would never happen even though he admitted to friends he loved Carole. By July 4th, 1948 Carole knew that, too.

...out with Rex in London

Carole had planned a pool party for that Sunday afternoon with an intimate dinner with Rex. He told his friends later that, after dinner,  he told Carole the affair was over. It must have been too much for her damaged heart to endure. When Rex left, she took all of her personal files and mementos, sorted them into two bags with a note on one for Rex. One bag was found in the house, the other in the driveway of the house where Rex was staying with friends. The following morning, while Carole’s maid was making breakfast in the kitchen, Harrison burst into the house. He asked the maid to go up and check on Carole. “I think she is dead”.

July 5th, 1948

They found Carole sprawled on the bathroom floor. An empty pill bottle lay nearby. Harrison, who claimed he felt a slight pulse, fled the house, ostensibly to call the doctor or police. He did neither until a full hour later when he returned. But they had already been called. The coroner determined Carole had been dead 12 hours. Since notes were found (one to Rex and one to her mother) a brief inquest declared the death a suicide. The note to Rex was never disclosed and was among the articles later burned by Harrison and his wife. But Hollywood, the press and Carole’s fans would hold Rex Harrison responsible and he didn’t work there for another 2 decades.
               

Carole was laid to rest in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale,California. Her grave lies near a widely traveled road there. Jimmy Fidler would say of her eight years later….  “The girl who was admired by millions vainly searched for the love of one man”. Perhaps she is still waiting…somewhere.