Take a closer look at some of Hollywood's top-tier talent at the beginning of their careers.

Child Stars, Then and Now

Take a closer look at some of Hollywood&#39;s top-tier talent at the beginning of their careers.

Get a closer look at the most searched stars on IMDb right now.

These Stars Are on the Rise

Cosplayers made a big splash at San Diego Comic-Con! Check out the greatest costumes from the 2025 convention.

Cosplay at San Diego Comic-Con 2025

Stan Laurel and Thelma Todd in Another Fine Mess (1930)

Oliver Hardy, Charles K. Gerrard, Stan Laurel, and Thelma Todd in Another Fine Mess (1930)

Charles K. Gerrard, Stan Laurel, and Thelma Todd in Another Fine Mess (1930)

Charles K. Gerrard and Thelma Todd in Another Fine Mess (1930)

Thelma Todd in Unaccustomed As We Are (1929)

Sôjin Kamiyama and Thelma Todd in Careers (1929)

Noah Beery and Thelma Todd in Careers (1929)

Charley Chase and Thelma Todd in Dollar Dizzy (1930)

Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd in Hot Money (1935)

Neil Hamilton and Thelma Todd in Command Performance (1931)

Richard Barthelmess and Thelma Todd in The Noose (1928)

Walter Pidgeon and Thelma Todd in Her Private Life (1929)

Jack Oakie and Thelma Todd in Sitting Pretty (1933)

Clara Bow, Monroe Owsley, and Thelma Todd in Call Her Savage (1932)

Leo Carrillo and Thelma Todd in Deception (1932)

Jack Haley and Thelma Todd in Follow Thru (1930)

Nancy Carroll, Charles 'Buddy' Rogers, and Thelma Todd in Follow Thru (1930)

Zelma O'Neal and Thelma Todd in Follow Thru (1930)

Zasu Pitts and Thelma Todd in War Mamas (1931)

Ena Gregory, Ben Lyon, and Thelma Todd in Aloha (1931)

Nancy Carroll, Zelma O'Neal, and Thelma Todd in Follow Thru (1930)

Thelma Todd and Loretta Young in Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)

Harry Langdon and Thelma Todd in Hotter Than Hot (1929)

Buster Keaton, Jimmy Durante, and Thelma Todd in Speak Easily (1932)

Buster Keaton and Thelma Todd in Speak Easily (1932)

Chester Morris and Thelma Todd in Corsair (1931)

Carrie Daumery, Allan Lane, Zasu Pitts, Thelma Todd, and Guinn 'Big Boy' Williams in War Mamas (1931)

Ginger Rogers, Mack Gordon, Peaches Jackson, Mae Madison, Joyce Mathews, Helen Splane, and Thelma Todd in Sitting Pretty (1933)

Ginger Rogers, Peaches Jackson, Mae Madison, Joyce Mathews, Anne Nagel, Helen Splane, and Thelma Todd in Sitting Pretty (1933)

Nora Cecil, Charles Gemora, Creighton Hale, Sôjin Kamiyama, William V. Mong, and Thelma Todd in Seven Footprints to Satan (1929)

Walter Brennan, Edward Everett Horton, Sidney Bracey, Edward Brophy, E.E. Clive, Andy Devine, Leila Hyams, Grant Mitchell, Una O'Connor, Edna May Oliver, and Thelma Todd in The Poor Rich (1934)

Patsy Kelly and Thelma Todd in Soup and Fish (1934)

Esther Howard, Alf James, Dorothy Lee, Henry Sedley, Thelma Todd, Bert Wheeler, and Robert Woolsey in Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934)

Harry Langdon and Thelma Todd in The Shrimp (1930)

Gary Cooper and Thelma Todd in Nevada (1927)

Thelma Todd was born in Lawrence, Massachusetts, an industrial city near the New Hampshire state line. She was a lovely child with good academic tendencies, so much so that she decided early on to become a schoolteacher. After high school she went on to college but at her mother's insistence entered several beauty contests (apparently her mother wanted her to be more than just a "schoolmarm"). Thelma was so successful in these endeavors that she entered on the state level and won the title of "Miss Massachusetts" in 1925 and went on to the "Miss America" pageant; though she didn't win, the pageant let her be seen by talent scouts looking for fresh new faces to showcase in films. She began to appear in one- and two-reel shorts, mostly comedy, which showcased her keen comic timing and aptitude for physical comedy--unusual in such a beautiful woman.

She had been making shorts for Hal Roach when she was signed to Paramount Pictures. Her first role--at age 21--was as Lorraine Lane in 1927's Fascinating Youth (1926), a romantic comedy that was Paramount's showcase vehicle for its new stars. Thelma received minor billing in another film that year, God Gave Me Twenty Cents (1926). The next year she starred with Gary Cooper and William Powell in the western Nevada (1927). That year also saw her in three more films, with The Gay Defender (1927) being the most notable. It starred Richard Dix as a man falsely accused of murder.

As the 1920s closed, Thelma began to get parts in more and more films. In 1928 and 1929 alone she was featured in 20 pictures, and not just comedies--she also did dramas and gothic horror films. Unlike many silent-era stars whose voices didn't fit their image or screen persona, Thelma's did. She had a bright, breezy, clear voice with a pleasant trace of a somewhat-aristocratic but unsnobbish New England accent and easily made the transition to sound films. In 1930 she added 14 more pictures to her resume, with Dollar Dizzy (1930) and Follow Thru (1930) being the most notable. The latter was a musical with Thelma playing a rival to Nancy Carroll for the affections of Buddy Rogers. It was a box-office hit, as was the stage production on which it was based. The following year Thelma appeared in 14 more films, among them Let's Do Things (1931), Speak Easily (1932), The Old Bull (1932), and On the Loose (1931). Her most successful film that year, however, was the Marx Brothers farce Monkey Business (1931). While critics gave the film mixed reviews, the public loved it. In 1932 Thelma appeared in another Marx Brothers film directed by Norman Z. McLeod, Horse Feathers (1932). She also starred in This Is the Night (1932), a profitable film which featured Cary Grant in his first major role. In 1934 Thelma made 16 features, but her career would soon soon come to a grinding halt. In 1935 she appeared in such films as Twin Triplets (1935) and The Misses Stooge (1935), showcasing her considerable comic talents. She also proved to be a savvy businesswoman with the opening of "Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Café", a nightclub/restaurant that catered to show-business people. Unfortunately, it also attracted some shady underworld types as well, and there were rumors that they were trying to take over her club and use it as a gambling establishment to fleece the wealthy Hollywood crowd. According to these tales, Thelma and her boyfriend, director Roland West, wouldn't sell their establishment once they found out what the gangsters had in mind, which incurred the enmity of the wrong people with whom to have differences of opinion. Whether or not the stories were true, on December 16, 1935, 29-year-old Thelma was found dead in her car in her garage in Los Angeles. Her death was ruled suicide-by-carbon-monoxide-poisoning. At the time, as today, many felt that her death was actually a murder connected to the goings-on at her club, a theory that was lent credence by the fact that no one who knew her had ever seen her depressed or morose enough to worry about her committing suicide. Another factor that aroused suspicion was that her death was given a cursory investigation by the--at the time--notoriously corrupt Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office and the case was quickly and unceremoniously closed. Her death has remained controversial to this day.

Three films she made before her death weren't released until the following year: Hot Money (1936), An All American Toothache (1936), and The Bohemian Girl (1936). The latter saw her quite substantial role cut down so much that she was barely glimpsed in the picture. Thelma had made an amazing 115 films in such a short career, and her beauty and talent would no doubt have taken her right to the top if not for her untimely demise.

Photos

Thelma Todd

More from this person

More to explore

Recently viewed