Crime Library: Criminal Minds and Methods

William Randolph's Hearse

The Aftermath

Marion Davies outlived the much older Hearst by only ten years. She was not allowed to attend his funeral and was persona non grata among the surviving Hearst family members after that. Initially claiming that Hearst had left most of his estate to her, she was later forced to back down from her claims by California community property laws that favored Millicent and the five Hearst sons. Instead of fighting, Davies meekly yielded millions of dollars for the sum of only one dollar.

Orson Welles died in 1985 at the age of 70. The general consensus among film historians is that he peaked early with the making of Citizen Kane and produced little of any significance after that. For many years he was a favorite guest on talk shows and is best remembered by the present generation for his TV commercials in which he says, "Paul Masson will sell no wine before its time." Ironically, Welles and Hearst only met once, and little was said between them. It was in an elevator in a building in San Francisco where the film was apparently being premiered. Welles offered Hearst some free tickets but the tycoon declined to answer. Welles later stated that if the same person had been Charles Foster Kane instead of Hearst, he would have probably accepted the offer.

In addition to The Cat's Meow, there was another movie about Davies and her relationship with Hearst, this one made for TV. The Hearst and Davies Affair, which aired in 1985, starred Robert Mitchum as Hearst, Virginia Madsen as Davies, and Kimble Hall as Ince.

Charlie Chaplin, after another two decades of scandals, paternity suits, legal troubles, and other unfavorable publicity, finally decided he'd had enough. On June 16, 1943, at the age of 54, he settled down, married 18-year-old Oona O'Neill (daughter of the famous playwright, Eugene O'Neill), and basically dropped out of the Hollywood scene. He and Oona spent most of their long marriage together in Vevey, Switzerland, along the shore of Lake Geneva, raising the eight children they had together. He died there on Christmas Day 1977, widely heralded as an iconic figure in motion picture history.

Ince's widow, Nell, never remarried and spent many years after his death as a recluse. The pension Hearst provided for her was wiped out during the Depression and, later in her life she was either a taxi driver or a taxi dancer; the accounts can't seem to agree which one it was. More than likely it was the former, since taxi dancers were generally young and attractive, something Nell Ince wouldn't have been by that time. She died in 1971 at the age of 86.

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