Self-nicknamed "Hot Toddy," Thelma Todd was born in Lawrence, Mass., and appeared to vivacious effect in some 115 short subjects and features before her untimely and mysterious death in 1935. Beauty contests, including the title of "Miss Massachusetts" in 1925, led the sexy blonde to work in Hal Roach comedies and contracts with Paramount Pictures and other studios. As her gift for slapstick had made her popular in silent comedies, an engaging voice helped Todd make the transition to talkies, and she scored in Follow Thru (1930), a musical with Buddy Rogers; and Monkey Business (1931) and Horse Feathers (1932), both with the Marx Brothers.

Todd also figured prominently in the Rodgers and Hart musical The Hot Heiress (1931); the Joe E. Brown comedies Broadminded (1931) and Son of a Sailor (1933); the Laurel and Hardy comic opera The Devil's Brother (1933), in which she plays a wayward aristocrat; Speak Easily (1932), generally considered Buster Keaton's best sound comedy, in which she plays the leading lady of a two-bit theatrical troupe; and Hips, Hips, Hooray (1934) and Cockeyed Cavaliers (1934), Bert Wheeler/Robert Woolsey vehicles that are, again, considered their best.

Todd died in her parked car of carbon monoxide poisoning. She had opened a restaurant called "Thelma Todd's Sidewalk Cafe" that reportedly included "shady characters" among its clientele. She had dated gangster Charles "Lucky' Luciano" and endured an acrimonious divorce from Pasquale "Pat" DiCicco. Although her death was first ruled a suicide and later an accident, there were rumors that it may have been murder. Todd's last feature-film appearance was as the Gypsy Queen in the Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl (released in 1936). Out of respect to their beautiful young friend, the comics had all but one of her scenes removed from the final print.

by Roger Fristoe