The Tragic Actresses Destroyed By Golden Era Hollywood (Documentary)

Video Description

This full-length, in-depth documentary on Golden Era Hollywood's tragic actresses discusses women who represent countless others who were built up, used up, and discarded by a system that valued profit over people and treated human beings like corporate assets to be exploited until they stopped generating revenue. ------------------------------------------ Gain FREE access to full-length documentaries "too scandalous for YouTube" by joining our newsletter: https://www.substack.com/@oldmoneyluxury ------------------------------------------ TIMESTAMPS: 0:00 Introduction 1:15 1. Veronica Lake 14:41 2. Rita Hayworth 33:49 3. Mary Astor 54:21 4. Doris Day 1:09:33 Judy Garland 1:25:40 Jean Harlow ------------------------------------------ Veronica Lake's peek-a-boo hairstyle became so iconic during World War II that the U.S. government asked her to change it because factory workers were catching their hair in machinery trying to copy her look. Paramount Studios created her entire image, changed her name from Constance Ockelman, and made her a star opposite Alan Ladd in films like "This Gun for Hire." Then the studio system that built her destroyed her—forcing bad films, controlling her personal life, and discarding her when she aged past 30. Rita Hayworth transformed from Margarita Cansino through painful electrolysis that raised her hairline and dyed her black hair red to create the all-American pinup of "Gilda." Her image became so famous that her photo was attached to the atomic bomb dropped on Bikini Atoll, making her literally the face of destruction. But Columbia's Harry Cohn controlled every aspect of her career, loaned her out like property, and she died from Alzheimer's disease largely forgotten by Hollywood. Mary Astor's scandal rocked 1930s Hollywood when her diary detailing affairs with famous men became evidence in her custody battle. The studios managed to suppress the most damaging pages, but her career never fully recovered from the revelation that she'd kept detailed accounts of her romantic encounters. Doris Day became America's wholesome sweetheart in films like "Pillow Talk" and "Calamity Jane," projecting virginal charm while her personal life crumbled behind the scenes. Her third husband and manager Marty Melcher secretly gave her entire fortune to a con artist lawyer, leaving her broke and $500,000 in debt when she discovered the theft. Judy Garland was given amphetamines to keep her energetic and barbiturates to help her sleep starting when she was a teenager at MGM. The studio controlled her weight obsessively, putting her on severe diets while filming "The Wizard of Oz" at age 16. She struggled with addiction for the rest of her life, went through five marriages, and died of an accidental overdose at 47. Jean Harlow became the original blonde bombshell and Hollywood's first major sex symbol in films like "Red Dust" and "Dinner at Eight." MGM manufactured her platinum blonde image and "Blonde Bombshell" persona, but she died suddenly at age 26 from kidney failure. Her mother's Christian Science beliefs delayed proper medical treatment, and Hollywood lost one of its brightest stars before she turned 30. The Golden Age studio system operated like a factory, manufacturing stars through seven-year contracts that gave studios complete control over actors' careers, images, and personal lives. Studios could loan out actors to other studios without their consent, force them into unwanted films, dictate their romantic relationships, and destroy them professionally if they refused to comply.