The Mammoth Book of Hollywood Scandals by Michelle Morgan Page B

guilty of causing the death of Ray Raymond, though he quickly announced that an appeal would be made. Meanwhile, the trial of Dorothy Mackaye began, though that too followed the route of the Kelly trial, with an added element of drama when she announced that she had reconciled with her husband on his deathbed.
    Eventually Mackaye was found guilty of concealing the facts after her husband’s death and the case against Dr Walter J. Sullivan was dropped for lack of evidence. The actress announced that she would appeal, though in the end both she and Kelly resigned themselves to their fate and lived out their sentences quietly at San Quentin Prison. In January 1929, Dorothy was released from prison. On her departure, she spoke to reporters and declared, “I’m leaving immediately for Denver to look after my baby daughter. I bear no ill will to anyone but I am determined to clear my name of the stigma that has been attached to it since the death of my husband of which I am, and Paul Kelly is, innocent.”
    Meanwhile, Kelly followed just seven months later and said, “I’m going straight to New York. I’m headed straight for the comeback trail. I’ve got a job with the New Century Play Company and I’m going to hit it hard.”
    For the next few years, both Kelly and Mackaye declined to speak about each other in the press, though by January 1931 they could hide their love no longer. The two were rumoured to be very much together and finally in February of that year they were married. Quite amazingly, Kelly then successfully adopted Valeria, Dorothy’s daughter by the man her new husband had slain just a few years before. He then concentrated on his acting career while his wife wrote a play about her experiences in prison, which became a 1933 film entitled
Ladies They Talk About
, starring Barbara Stanwyck.
    Dorothy Mackaye then decided to leave her Hollywood days behind in order to concentrate on being a mother. This seems to have been a decision she had come to back in 1927, just after the tragedy had unfolded. At the time she had announced, “I am willing to sacrifice everything for my daughter’s sake. There is no excuse whatsoever of my baby being dragged into this mess and I don’t want her ever to hear of the tragedy that has wrecked her home.”
    With the hopes of a happy life in front of them, the new family moved to a ranch in the San Fernando Valley which they named “Kellymae”. Together they lived a quiet life away from the spotlight, although the marriage that Kelly had literally fought for lasted only nine years before disaster struck. On the evening of 2 January 1940, Dorothy was driving her car towards the ranch when she encountered another vehicle coming towards her. It was a foggy night and, as she swerved to miss the oncoming vehicle, Mackaye hit the edge of the pavement and her car overturned. Passers-by ran immediately to her aid and the former actress was able to drag herself from the vehicle. She was taken home by a neighbour.
    While it seemed that initially she was going to be okay, the day after the accident she began to feel unwell and was taken to hospital, where the doctors predicted her injuries were not life-threatening. Sadly they were wrong, as internally there were problems with Dorothy’s bladder and on 5 January 1940, after speaking breezily to her husband and doctor, it ruptured and the former actress collapsed and died, leaving Paul Kelly absolutely devastated.
    After the initial period of bereavement, Paul Kelly returned to New York where he starred in several plays such as
Country Girl, Command Decision
and
Bad Girl
. He also met a former actress called Zona Mardelle and together they moved to California, where they made their home at 1448 Club View Drive, Los Angeles. It was here, on 6 November 1956, that the actor collapsed and died suddenly, shortly after returning from casting his vote in the 1956 presidential election. He was fifty-seven years old.
    The story of Paul Kelly