12 Old Hollywood Myths Everyone Believes That Are Completely False

Content warning: this post references suicide.

Old Hollywood is full of wild tales which often seem unbelievable but turn out to be true. Still, many commonly-accepted rumors aren’t fact at all. Here are some of the most popular Old Hollywood myths that have been debunked…

1. While a lot of awful things did happen on the set of The Wizard of Oz, the persistent myth that there’s a dead body in the background of one of the shots is not true.

The conspiracy theory is that an actor who played one of the munchkins died by suicide and their body can be seen hanging from a tree at the end of the Tin Man sequence, as Dorothy, the Scarecrow, and the Tin Man sing “We’re Off to See the Wizard.”

But the figure is actually a large bird, which you can see moving if you watch the clip closely. At the very end of the shot, you can even see the bird spread its wings.

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2. A fairly innocuous but commonly-held myth is that the rain in Singin’ in the Rain had to be mixed with milk in order for it to show up on camera, but this has been repeatedly debunked.

The truth is the lighting department just did their job well. Singin’ in the Rain co-directer Stanley Donen said, “When you’re shooting rain, it has to be backlit, or you may not see it very well. There have been a lot of stories about how we put milk in the water so you could see the rain. It’s not true. You have to put the light behind the rain so that the raindrops show.”

3. A lot of people believe that the chocolate river in Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was made out of a mixture of water, chocolate, and cream — but there was actually no chocolate in it, although a powder that was used to make chocolate ice cream was one of the ingredients.

The other ingredients were water (of course) and a whole bunch of chemicals. Michael Bollner, who played Augustus Gloop, said, “It was actually not chocolate. It was terribly cold. It was stinky water!” Julie Dawn Cole, who played Veruca Salt, did note that, “people were emptying their coffee cup dregs into it.”

4. A long-accepted piece of Old Hollywood trivia is the idea that Marilyn Monroe had six toes on one of her feet, but had the extra toe surgically removed before she became famous. The myth came from a claim by photographer Joseph Jasgur, who did a shoot with Marilyn when she was still the teenage Norma Jean, and who noticed decades later, as he was collating the photos for a book, that in one it appeared as though she had an extra toe.

But other photos from the same photoshoot — not to mention countless more, including some from Marilyn’s childhood, show that she in fact appeared to have the normal amount of five toes on both feet. Plus there is no other evidence that the myth is true.

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5. One of the most iconic James Bond deaths is the character Jill Masterton, played by Shirley Eaton, in 1964’s Goldfinger. Jill is covered in gold paint, which causes “skin asphyxiation” in the film.

For some reason, the ridiculous plotline gave rise to the myth that Shirley Eaton had been killed by the gold paint in real life.

It seems the rumor was fueled by the fact that Shirley retired from acting by the end of the ’60s. The truth was, she wanted to focus on raising her two children and on photography and sculpting. She’s still alive today.

6. There have been a number of dark stories circulated about Clark Gable, but one that seems to be just a myth is that he killed a pedestrian in a hit-and-run incident in 1933, and studio executives covered it up.

The rumor seems to have stemmed from the conflation of two separate stories. The first was that in 1933, writer-director John Huston was allegedly drunk driving when he hit and killed an actor named Tosca Roulien. Although he was absolved by a coroner’s jury, he was reportedly “traumatized” by the incident.

Clark Gable, meanwhile, was reportedly in Alaska when the incident occurred. In 1945, he did crash his car into a tree, which seems to have further fuelled the hit-and-run myth.

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7. The chariot race scene in Ben-Hur is one of the most iconic in Hollywood history, and there’s long been a myth that a stuntperson was killed while filming it and his death was left in the movie. This has been debunked.

There is no evidence that the rumor is true, and lead actor Charlton Heston maintained that no one was seriously injured while filming the scene. The stunts were all carefully managed by legendary stunt coordinator Yakima Canutt.

8. 1920s icon Clara Bow was the “original It Girl,” and many rumors spread about her allegedly scandalous private life. One that was published in the now largely discredited 1965 book Hollywood Babylon by Kenneth Anger was that Clara had orgies with the entire USC football team, including a young John Wayne.

The myth seems to have originated from the fact Clara did attend some USC football games and host after-game parties at her house. She also went on a date with the team’s captain, Morley Drury. Morley later said “nothing happened,” and that they were all “too damn innocent” for the rumors to be remotely true.

9. George Reeves became famous playing Superman in the 1950s TV series Adventures of Superman. He died by suicide in 1959, and rumors and conspiracy soon surrounded his death. One was that he believed he really possessed Superman’s powers, and had died jumping out of a multi-story building believing he would fly.

The truth is George Reeves died from a gunshot wound, which was ruled to be self-inflicted — although some still doubt the official story and believe he may have been murdered.

10. Olive Thomas was a silent movie star whose death at age 25 is widely regarded as one of Hollywood’s earliest “scandals.” The rumor was that she died by suicide over heartbreak related to her husband, Jack Pickford — depending on the version of the story, it was because she either learned that he had cheated on her, or that he had given her syphilis. Jack really did have syphilis, and Olive died after ingesting the topical medicine he used to treat it and being poisoned.

Olive’s death is likely to have been a tragic accident — and was indeed officially deemed to be. Olive and Jack had been on vacation in Paris along with their friend Owen Moore at the time of her death. Owen later said Olive did not appear suicidal and that she and Jack were getting along. On the night of her death, Olive and Jack had been partying together and returned to their hotel at about 3 a.m.

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Jack said he went to bed while Olive wrote a note to her mother that described how she was having a “nice time” and would be leaving Paris the next day. At some point, Olive drank the mercury bichloride, apparently believing it was a different kind of medication, as the label was in French. She reportedly screamed when she realized her mistake and Jack rushed her to hospital, where she died five days later.

11. In the years following Walt Disney’s 1966 death, a rumor emerged that persists to this day that his body was cryogenically frozen — there were even theories that it was stored under the Pirates of the Caribbean ride at Disneyland. There is no evidence any of this is true.

Official records show Disney’s body was cremated two days after his death. His daughter, Diane, wrote in 1972, “There is absolutely no truth that my father, Walt Disney, wished to be frozen. I doubt that my father had ever heard of cryonics.”

It’s unclear where the frozen Walt rumors started, but there’s speculation that they came from some Disney animators playing a prank.

12. The MGM Lion is one of the most well-known film company logos in Hollywood history. There have been a number of rumors about the real lion behind the logo, including that he killed three people — a trainer and two assistants — after filming his part.

The truth is there were a number of lions used at different times in MGM’s history, and not one of them killed their trainer or any assistants.

What Hollywood myths fascinate you the most? Share in the comments or in the anonymous form below!

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