Death in Hollywood: The Lives, Loves and Deaths of Hollywood's Brightest Stars by Peter Underwood
This is a collection of stories of over 30 people who lived and died in Hollywood. Many of their deaths were sad or senseless, brought on by the pressures and excesses of Hollywood life; others were tragic, mysterious and some simply died of old age. The chapter on those who died from drugs includes Marilyn Monroe. Among the more unusual deaths which occurred in those few square miles were those of Peter Lawford, John Gilbert and Jean Harlow, whose mother, a devout Christian Scientist, refused her medical assistance until it was too late. Peter Underwood investigates some of the mysterious deaths, including the possible murder of Superman George Reeves and the mystery surrounding the death of Bette Davis' husband, Arthur Farnsworth. He also examines sudden deaths, such as those of James Dean, killed in his car a short time after Sir Alec Guinness' now famous prediction, and Ramon Novarro, the great Latin lover of the silent screen and successor to the legendary Rudolph Valentino.