Lillian Hamilton began her career as a dancer with the Ruth St.Denis studio. At the time of her murder on November 8 1959, she worked as an actress and editor at General Film Laboratories in Hollywood. She was then known as Lillian Hamilton Lenorak and was in a relationship with the physicist Dr. Frank Back, designer of the Zoomar lens for television. A previous liaison with the film director John Farrow had resulted in a son, John Lenorak (later calling himself John Lenorak Farrow). Following a quarrel between Lillian and Back en route to Los Angeles on November 7, Lillian got out of Back's car in front of the El Mirador Hotel. She was found bludgeoned to death six hours later by a passing motorist. Her killer was later identified as Tord Ove Zeppenfield, a 21 year old motel owner who confessed to abducting her at gunpoint before killing her with the butt of his rifle. Lillian Hamilton was just 42 years old.
