From Joan Crawford's scandalous rise to fame to Clarke Gable's arch nemesis, the old Hollywood scandals that history forgot

Ah, the golden age of Hollywood: Handsome actors, glamorous starlets, museum-worthy wardrobes and infinite wealth to match. But while the glitz of the era was unparalleled, it hid a seedier side worthy of its own action-packed film – full of addiction, infidelity, allegations of abuse, mysterious deaths and so much more. From Joan Crawford's scandalous rise to fame and Judy Garland's tough childhood to Clarke Gable's arch nemesis and ugly rumors about Ronald Reagan, we rounded up the old Hollywood scandals that history forgot. Click through to read them all.

JOAN CRAWFORD'S SCANDALOUS RISE TO FAME: She may have been known for her star turns in Mildred Pierce and Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?, but before she became one of Hollywood's highest-paid actresses, Joan Crawford took whatever parts she could find – including one in a movie called The Casting Couch, a 'softcore' film that was considered pretty explicit at the time.

This wasn't, however, the only adult movie Crawford took part in. Many biographers who chronicled the prolific actress's life noted she also appeared in risqué productions such The Plumber, Velvet Lips, and She Knows Best.

THE OTHER WOMAN: Jean Harlow's fame skyrocketed when she was in her early 20's, with many labeling her one of Hollywood's biggest stars despite her young age. But the world was taken aback when she married Paul Bern (not pictured), a 40-year-old film executive at MGM, in July 1932 when she was just 23. Even stranger, the marriage was extremely short-lived: Bern was found dead in the bathroom of the couple's Beverly Hills home with a 'self-inflicted' gunshot wound to the head just two months later.

Jean was immediately suspected of killing her husband, despite being out of town at his time of death – especially after investigators discovered Bern was also still married to his 'common-law' first wife, Dorothy Millette. Harlow's only public statement on the tragedy was that she 'knew nothing,' and the official coroner report stated that Bern took his own life. Journalists and historians, however, have questioned the verdict for decades with film producer Samuel Marx, a friend and colleague of Bern, sparking renewed interest in the case in the 1990s thanks to his theory that the MGM executive's scorned wife, Dorothy, murdered him. Jean was plagued by scandal for the rest of her life, although she didn't have to suffer for long – the blonde bombshell died just five years later at age 26 from acute kidney failure.

A LIVING LEGEND'S DARK PAST: Dylan Farrow has been a vocal critic of her father, Woody Allen, for decades – claiming that she was sexually assaulted by him at age seven. Allen has repeatedly denied the accusation, despite having a murky track record. Back as 1991 – the same year Dylan claims she was abused – a then-56-year-old Allen began an intimate relationship with his 21-year-old adopted stepdaughter, Soon-Yi Previn.

The girl's mother, Allen's then-wife Mia Farrow, discovered the affair in 1992 when she found intimate photos of Previn (pictured with Allen in 2021) her husband's apartment. In late August of that year, Soon-Yi claimed Allen had never felt paternal to her and that their relationship progressed only after his relationship with Farrow had ended. They eventually wed in 1997 and since Woody never married Mia, his relationship with Soon-Yi was technically not illegal.

AN INCONCLUSIVE END: In 1981, Natalie Wood, best known as the star of West Side Story, drowned off the coast of Catalina Island. The 43-year-old's death was initially deemed an accident given that she'd been drinking the night before and couldn't swim, but the theory that something far more sinister happened has never gone away.

Many still believe that Wood was the victim of a homicide, and the hypothesis has gained so much traction that in 2013, the Los Angeles County Coroner changed her cause of death from 'accidental drowning' to 'drowning and other undetermined factors.' It was noted that she had many bruises on her arms and knees, a scratch on her neck, and a scrape on her forehead – lending credibility to the idea that she'd been assaulted before she died.

A STAR IS BORN: Most of us remember young Judy Garland as the charming and precocious Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz, but the success of the film also marked the beginning of a dark journey for the actress. In the lead-up to the release of the 1939 movie, studio bosses put her on a strict diet and plied her with barbiturates and amphetamines to regulate her weight and sleep schedule.

The drugs spurred addiction problems Garland would struggle with for the rest of her life, eventually succumbing to an accidental overdose in 1969 at just 47.

REAGAN'S BAD PRESS: Ronald Reagan enjoyed a successful Hollywood career before branching out into politics, eventually becoming the president of the United States. However, it wasn't just his political ideology that some found unsavory. In 1991, Kitty Kelly's book Nancy Reagan: The Unauthorized Biography included an accusation by actress Selene Walters that Ronald Reagan forced her to get intimate in the 1950s.

At the time, Reagan was the president of the Screen Actors Guild, which is how he and Walters ended up meeting in a nightclub. After asking for her address, he allegedly showed up uninvited at her door and reportedly forced himself on her. The actress, however, never pressed charges and Reagan denied the allegations. 'I don't think a church would be the proper place to use the word I would have to use in discussing that [book],' he said when asked about the report while walking into a 1991 religious service.

A HIDDEN HOLLYWOOD ROMANCE: Despite allegedly never meeting – an oft-disputed claim as both women worked on a movie together in 1925 – Greta Garbo and Marlene Dietrich despised each other, and they weren't afraid to share their mutual distaste with the press.

In fact, Dietrich even went so far as to claim Garbo (pictured) wore 'dirty underwear'. But how could she know such a thing? It's long been rumored that the two embarked on a passionate affair that didn't end well – resulting in years of mutual distaste. Rumors were further fueled by Garbo's admission that she believed homosexual affairs to be 'exciting secrets'.

CHAPLIN'S YOUNG BRIDES: He was one of the funniest film stars of the early 20th century, but some have forgotten about Charlie Chaplin's love of young women. On three separate occasions, he married teenage girls who were considerably younger than him.

In 1918, he married 17-year-old actress Mildred Harris, though they soon divorced. After their marriage was dissolved, he then married 16-year-old Lita Grey. Their relationship didn't end well either. Finally, in 1943, 54-year-old Chaplin married 18-year-old Oona O'Neill. They stayed together for 34 years, having eight children before his death.

THESE WEREN'T A FEW BIRDS: Alfred Hitchcock is widely regarded as one of the best film directors of all time, but there's at least one person who likely disagrees. Actress Tippi Hedren, who stared in Hitchcock's films The Birds and Marnie, alleged in her 2016 biography Tippi: A Memoir that Hitchcock sexually assaulted her while working on the movies, in addition to engaging in abusive behavior that left her mentally, emotionally, and physically scarred.

In one instance, the director had live birds tied to his leading lady in order to get his desired scene while filming The Birds. Tippi had to take a week off to recover from the event. 'There were no laws about this kind of situation,' the actress explained in a 2012 interview. 'If this had happened today, I would be a very rich woman'.

A NOTORIOUS LOVE TRIANGLE: Elizabeth Taylor was well-known for her extravagant love affairs, but there was none more scandalous than her dalliance with Eddie Fisher. The pair were introduced by Fisher's first wife, Debbie Reynolds, but became lovers after the unexpected death of Taylor's third husband, Mike Todd.

Reynolds selflessly suggested that Fisher might comfort Taylor and it seems he truly took that suggestion to a whole new level. Fisher and Reynolds' son, Todd Fisher, later claimed that the affair 'ruined' his father's career while boosting Taylor's and Reynolds'.

CLARK GABLE'S ARCH NEMESIS: Clark Gable played a good looking gentleman in It Happened One Night and Gone with the Wind. But behind the scenes, the actor was at odds with his director, George Cukor. Gable even went so far as to allegedly have him fired from Gone With the Wind in favor of Victor Fleming.

So what caused the animosity? One theory is that Gable (pictured left) hated Cukor because he favored the female actors on set. Another more salacious theory is that the director knew one of Gable's alleged darkest secrets – that he had worked as a 'rent boy' (a man who is paid for intimate relations) at the beginning of his career.

THE BUTCHER BOY: In the early 1920s, Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle was easily one of Paramount Pictures' biggest stars and his career was going from strength to strength. In September 1921, however, all of that changed when he was booked into jail for allegedly murdering 25-year-old model Virginia Rappe, who died of a ruptured bladder following a party at Arbunkle's hotel.

Accused of assault and manslaughter, the actor (pictured with one of his wives) served as the defendant in three trials between November 1921 and April 1922 – with the first two trials ending in hung juries. His lawyers leaned on fellow actor Buster Keaton's testimony during the third trial in addition to the prevalent lack of physical evidence to get Arbunkle acquitted in April 1922. His career, on the other hand, never fully recovered from the scandal.

HOLLYWOOD'S BIGGEST NAZI SYMPATHIZER? He may have created one of the world's greatest entertainment companies, but Walt Disney made some other very questionable choices throughout his career. One in particular was his decision to meet with Nazi filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl – whose pro-Hitler film entitled Triumph of the Will was already well-known around the world.

After giving the fascist sympathizer a tour of his lot and arranging a screening of her next documentary, rumors swirled that he was racist and anti-Semitic. The gossip continues to this day, with some critics and historians still debating Disney's past.

FROM COUNTRY MUSICIAN TO MURDERER: Spade Cooley enjoyed a successful career as a country musician, big band leader, actor, and TV personality in the 1940s and '50s, but that all changed when he was found guilty of murdering his wife, Ella Mae Cooley. Ella and Spade's 15 year marriage was plagued by infidelity and mistrust, with the musician becoming increasingly annoyed by his wife's affairs.

Eventually Spade filed for divorce and custody of their children in March of 1961, but simply parting ways wasn't in the cards for the famous figure. Just a month later, Cooley made his 14-year-old daughter watch as he beat her mother to death. The Hollywood hunk claimed Ella was killed after falling in the shower, but the court saw through his lies and convinced the crooner of first-degree murder that August. He spent the rest of his life in prison.