Silent Film Star Fatty Arbuckle Arrested for Murder

Fatty Arbuckle, a prominent figure in the silent film era, has been apprehended in San Francisco on charges of rape and murder involving Virginia Rappe, a promising young actress.

Despite being acquitted by a jury later on, the scandal effectively put an end to Arbuckle's flourishing career.

Born on March 24, 1887, in Smith Center, Kansas, Roscoe Conkling Arbuckle started his professional journey as a vaudeville performer.

In 1913, he began appearing in Mack Sennett's Keystone Cops comedies, where his comedic pratfalls and pie-throwing antics gained him recognition.

Arbuckle soon established his own production company in 1917, taking up the roles of writer and director.

Many of his films featured his close friend and fellow comedian, Buster Keaton.

Paramount Pictures offered Arbuckle an unprecedented $1 million per year contract in 1919, signifying his immense popularity.

In early September 1921, Arbuckle traveled to San Francisco for a brief vacation with two male companions, booking accommodations at the St. Francis Hotel.

During their stay, they organized a party in their suite, which took a tragic turn when Virginia Rappe, one of the guests who had been drinking, fell ill. Several days later, Rappe, a woman in her twenties, succumbed to peritonitis resulting from a ruptured bladder.

Maude Delmont, another attendee at the gathering, accused Arbuckle of raping Rappe and causing her bladder injury.

Arbuckle's arrest by the San Francisco police on September 11 triggered an enormous scandal.

Despite maintaining his innocence, the press and public vilified him.

Unaccustomed to such Hollywood scandals, audiences boycotted his films.

The politically ambitious district attorney of San Francisco was determined to prosecute Arbuckle, even though Delmont herself had a dubious criminal record.

Later, multiple witnesses would come forward and claim that the prosecution had coerced them into providing false testimony.

After two unsuccessful trials, Arbuckle was finally found not guilty in his third trial, with the jury even issuing an apology.

However, despite this favorable outcome, the U.S. film industry imposed a temporary ban on him.

In an attempt to revive his career, Arbuckle directed several films under the pseudonym William B. Goodrich.

Nevertheless, he never fully recovered from the blow to his reputation and battled with alcoholism