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| Actress Madge Meredith |
'She's too cute to be criminal!' said Humphrey Bogart of forties star Madge Meredith whose life story was more dramatic than any of the films in which she appeared.
Madge, who died at the end of 2016, was convicted of kidnapping her manager and given a three year jail sentence in 1946. Astonishingly she returned to films when her sentence was complete.This unlikely story was revealed in an obituary in The Times newspaper this week, of the actress born Marjorie May Massow in Iowa in 1921.
As a young child she suffered from a stammer but this did not deter her from going on the stage.
She studied acting in New York before making her way to Hollywood. She took a waitressing job with 20th Century Fox and waited to be discovered.
Along came Oscar-winning star Jennifer Jones who agreed that the waitress had potential and recommended her for a screen test. Soon 20th Century Fox had signed her up and cast her in supporting roles in several films including Otto Preminger's In the Meantime Darling released in 1944. When they eventually let her go, Madge got her own manager, a Greek called Nicholas Gianaclis.
All went well until Gianaclis lent Madge some money towards the purchase of a house in the Hollywood Hills. This led to arguments over ownership which ended up in court. The judge ruled in the actress's favour. Fighting back, her manager went to the police and alleged that Madge had tricked him into following her car to a quiet place in the hills, where she had arranged for him and his companion to be kidnapped at gunpoint. They were beaten up and taken to a different location from where they escaped.
After a four-week trial Madge and three men were convicted of various offences, but there were doubts over the conviction. When the conduct of the trial was questioned the California /State governor ordered her release saying: 'This is a bizarre case, perhaps more fantastic than any moving picture in which the defendant acted.'
She was released on her 30th birthday when, as the Los Angeles Times reported, 'She ran from the main entrance and refused to look back as the big chain-link gates, topped with barbed wire, clanged shut on the past.'
Between her arrest an release she had spent just over three years in prison. Madge resumed her acting career but effectively had to start over again. When she finished filming she worked in television into the 1960s, then married and worked as an estate agent in Hawaii.
At the time of her conviction Madge said: 'I know in my heart I am innocent of any crime. Some day, someone will believe the truth about what I say.'
Among her supporters was Humphrey Bogart who was known for his outspoken views on social issues...
NB If Humphrey said she was too cute to be criminal, who are we to argue? ;)
