Mabel Normand

Mabel Normand

Mabel Normand (November 9, 1893 – February 23, 1930) was a silent movie actress, the leading comedienne of Hollywood’s Early Age. She was also a talented screenwriter, director and producer with her own production company, the Mabel Normand Feature Film Company.

Mabel had strong feelings for William Desmond Taylor, possibly romantic feelings, which he did not return. Instead, he was content to act as her mentor within a close friendship.

Mabel visited Taylor on the evening he was murdered and was one of the last people to see him alive.

Poor health blighted the latter part of Mabel’s career. Some rumours state that she was a drug addict, but hard facts on that matter are hard to find. She suffered from tuberculous and that terrible disease claimed her life in 1930, at the age of thirty-six.

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Did any of the events in January 1922 surrounding comedienne Mabel Normand lead to the murder of movie director William Desmond Taylor?

At that time, Mabel and Taylor were very close friends. She appeared keen to take their relationship a stage further, but at that stage of his life Taylor was not interested in forming romantic relationships with women. Nevertheless, Taylor’s apartment was festooned with pictures of Mabel and he carried a photograph of her in his pocket watch. 

Mabel and Taylor enjoyed a strong friendship. She was keen to learn about literature and philosophy, and he was keen to teach her. Their bond might have provoked jealousy in Mary Miles Minter, who was obsessed with Taylor, and her mother Charlotte Shelby who, apparently, also had strong feelings for him. The bond might also have annoyed someone who had feelings for Mabel. 

From the start, the police considered that jealousy was the motive for the murder, so this is a line worth pursuing.

In late January 1922, the newspapers were carrying advertisements for Oh, Mabel Behave, a silent comedy that starred Mabel along with Owen Moore and Mack Sennett. Owen Moore was the first husband of America’s Sweetheart, Mary Pickford. That marriage floundered when Moore turned to drink and violence.

Mabel had shared a relationship with Sennett. That relationship came to a close in 1918 when he mistreated her. It’s possible that Sennett didn’t view that break-up as the close of their relationship, and that he hoped to win Mabel back.

Despite the 1922 advertisements, it’s likely that Oh, Mabel Behave was filmed around five years earlier because by 1922 the production company, Triangle Film Corporation, was defunct.

It’s unlikely that Owen Moore had anything to do with the murder of William Desmond Taylor. But Sennett was noted for his aggression, and due to his past relationship with Mabel he should be considered as a suspect.