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A Cast of Killers
This account of the 1922 murder of film director William Desmond Taylor reveals the complete untold story--secretly solved by director King Vidor prior to his death in 1982--of one of the most famous crime mysteries in America
336 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1986
43 people are currently reading
1314 people want to read
About the author
Sidney D. Kirkpatrick
12 books15 followersBooks and book publishing have long been an important part of life in the Kirkpatrick family. My grandfather and namesake was a senior editor at McGraw-Hill for thirty-five years. My mother, Audrey Kirkpatrick, was a short story writer, and studied under Vladimir Nabokov at Cornell University. Katherine Kirkpatrick, my younger sister, is a former book editor at Macmillan and the author of five historical novels. My older sister, Jennifer Kirkpatrick was a writer and researcher for National Geographic.
I was born in Glen Cove, New York, on October 4, 1955, and grew up in Stony Brook, on the north shore of Long Island. While attending the Kent School, in Kent, Connecticut, I won writing awards for poetry and journalism. Throughout my high-school years, and during college, I wrote several hundred articles for Long Island newspapers and became a stringer for Associated Press.
At Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, I majored in Chinese language and history. After graduation in 1978, I lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, where I taught ESL, directed and produced a short television documentary, and acted in two low-budget action films.
I completed my education in 1982 with an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I worked on several short films with classmates Spike Lee and Ang Lee, and optioned my first screenplay. While attending NYU, I wrote and directed "My Father The President" which won the 1982 American Film Festival and a CINE Golden Eagle. This film has since become a perennial favorite at over 1000 schools, libraries and museums across the country, and can be seen daily at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace at 28 East 20th Street, in New York City, and a the Sagamore Hill National Historical Site in Oyster Bay, New York.
The success of "My Father The President" caught the attention of film director Harrison Engle, who hired me to associate-produce a two hour television special, "The Indomitable Theodore Roosevelt," which starred George C. Scott. This film premiered on CBS in 1984, won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle, and was nominated for an Emmy.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and continued working with Harrison Engle, with whom I produced several short films for the Television Academy Hall of Fame, which included film biographies of Milton Berle, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, and Lucille Ball.
The inspiration for my first book came in 1983, while I was collecting material at the Directors Guild of America for a film tribute to King Vidor, the legendary director of over seventy-six motion pictures. In the midst of organizing Vidor’s papers, I came across a locked strong-box containing the details of Vidor’s investigation of the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor. Biographers A. Scott Berg and Edmund Morris were instrumental in helping me to obtain a publishing contract with E.P. Dutton. "A Cast of Killers," released in 1986, was on the best-sellers list for sixteen weeks, and was hailed as “mesmerizing” by author Anne Rice in a featured review for the New York Times Book Review.
After writing “A Cast of Killers,” I worked at Paramount Studios with screenwriter Robert Towne. Another screenwriter I worked with was Larry Ferguson, with whom I developed an action and adventure screenplay, “One Deadly Summer.” This film project, based on the true story of marine scientist Richard Novak’s one man war against Medellin drug lord Carlos Lehder, was optioned for actor Harrison Ford by Cinergi Films. Later retitled “Turning The Tide,” and co-written with author Peter Abrahams, it was published by Dutton in 1991 and excerpted by Readers Digest in 1992.
Research on my third book, "Lords of Sipán," was begun in 1991 in a small village on the north coast of Peru where I traced the contents of a looted pre-Inca tomb as it entered the black market in stolen antiquities. From Peru I traced the artifacts to London, New York, Beverly Hills, and
I was born in Glen Cove, New York, on October 4, 1955, and grew up in Stony Brook, on the north shore of Long Island. While attending the Kent School, in Kent, Connecticut, I won writing awards for poetry and journalism. Throughout my high-school years, and during college, I wrote several hundred articles for Long Island newspapers and became a stringer for Associated Press.
At Hampshire College, in Amherst, Massachusetts, I majored in Chinese language and history. After graduation in 1978, I lived in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Japan, where I taught ESL, directed and produced a short television documentary, and acted in two low-budget action films.
I completed my education in 1982 with an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, where I worked on several short films with classmates Spike Lee and Ang Lee, and optioned my first screenplay. While attending NYU, I wrote and directed "My Father The President" which won the 1982 American Film Festival and a CINE Golden Eagle. This film has since become a perennial favorite at over 1000 schools, libraries and museums across the country, and can be seen daily at the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace at 28 East 20th Street, in New York City, and a the Sagamore Hill National Historical Site in Oyster Bay, New York.
The success of "My Father The President" caught the attention of film director Harrison Engle, who hired me to associate-produce a two hour television special, "The Indomitable Theodore Roosevelt," which starred George C. Scott. This film premiered on CBS in 1984, won a prestigious CINE Golden Eagle, and was nominated for an Emmy.
I moved to Los Angeles in 1982 and continued working with Harrison Engle, with whom I produced several short films for the Television Academy Hall of Fame, which included film biographies of Milton Berle, Norman Lear, Edward R. Murrow, and Lucille Ball.
The inspiration for my first book came in 1983, while I was collecting material at the Directors Guild of America for a film tribute to King Vidor, the legendary director of over seventy-six motion pictures. In the midst of organizing Vidor’s papers, I came across a locked strong-box containing the details of Vidor’s investigation of the 1922 murder of director William Desmond Taylor. Biographers A. Scott Berg and Edmund Morris were instrumental in helping me to obtain a publishing contract with E.P. Dutton. "A Cast of Killers," released in 1986, was on the best-sellers list for sixteen weeks, and was hailed as “mesmerizing” by author Anne Rice in a featured review for the New York Times Book Review.
After writing “A Cast of Killers,” I worked at Paramount Studios with screenwriter Robert Towne. Another screenwriter I worked with was Larry Ferguson, with whom I developed an action and adventure screenplay, “One Deadly Summer.” This film project, based on the true story of marine scientist Richard Novak’s one man war against Medellin drug lord Carlos Lehder, was optioned for actor Harrison Ford by Cinergi Films. Later retitled “Turning The Tide,” and co-written with author Peter Abrahams, it was published by Dutton in 1991 and excerpted by Readers Digest in 1992.
Research on my third book, "Lords of Sipán," was begun in 1991 in a small village on the north coast of Peru where I traced the contents of a looted pre-Inca tomb as it entered the black market in stolen antiquities. From Peru I traced the artifacts to London, New York, Beverly Hills, and
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July 12, 2022
King Vidor was a legendary film director largely forgotten by Hollywood at the time of his death. Sydney Kirkpatrick came to Vidor's home after his death to research a well deserved biography, but instead discovered a buried box full of virtual dynamite. In the box were notes for a planned project which was to be the director's comeback film. But the explosive nature of his findings had prompted Vidor to bury it - literally.
This book is based on what Kirkpatrick found in that box. It is full of mystery and murder, love and lust and, in the end, sadness at the solving of one of the most famous and sensational scandels in the history of tinsletown. It is a mesmerizing journey into the early days of Hollywood and the lengths it would go to to cover up its secrets.
In 1922 the murder of director William Desmond Taylor was so filled with scandel it ruined careers, and nearly destroyed Hollywood. If the absolute truth had been known, it might have. King Vidor had been a part of this Hollywood in its formative years and planned to make his comeback film by telling the story of it. Kirkpatrick could have turned this into a pulp type expose but instead, and to his credit, takes a respectful and nostalgic tone, both for Vidor and a time gone by. He uses Vidor's notes and findings to let this murder mystery unfold just as it did for Vidor.
For every film buff with a fascination for old Hollywood this is a book you can't put down. It is juicy but never tawdry, Vidor sifting through the misinformation of Hollywood, and the alleged corruption of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office of the period to slowly paint a picture of the truth. He eventually decided not to tell the story, because some of the players were still alive. The Taylor homicide and its aftermath is filled with names like Mabel Normand, Alan Dwan, James Kirkwood, Gloria Swanson, Claire Windsor, and Charolette Shelby and her lovely waif-like daughter Mary Miles Minter, an early rival of Mary Pickford.
Vidor's reputation and the fact he had been a part of this Hollywood way back when gave him gravitas, and would prompt many to open up and talk to Vidor in a way in which they might not have to someone else. He would even get to look at police files that would contradict nearly all of what was reported at the time, raising even more questions.
As Vidor plays detective in order to write the screenplay that he hoped would put him back on top, Kirkpatrick cast a spotlight on a man who was once a vital part of the film industry, struggling to be remembered. During his investigation Vidor would come into contact with old flame Coleen Moore, a lovely silent star with a fine career of her own. It was a happy coincidence, yet it would force Vidor to make decisions affecting the rest of his life, and does not whitewash his failings.
A Cast of Killers is a fast, fun read tinged with sadness. King Vidor somehow knew it would be. Before beginning his investigation, the legendary director likened the famous case to an old bottle of wine. If you love a good mystery, and/or Hollywood, this is one you have to read.
"I realized it was vintage stuff-the rarest vintage of all: a murder that has never been solved. One opens such a bottle at his own peril."
King Vidor, 1967
This book is based on what Kirkpatrick found in that box. It is full of mystery and murder, love and lust and, in the end, sadness at the solving of one of the most famous and sensational scandels in the history of tinsletown. It is a mesmerizing journey into the early days of Hollywood and the lengths it would go to to cover up its secrets.
In 1922 the murder of director William Desmond Taylor was so filled with scandel it ruined careers, and nearly destroyed Hollywood. If the absolute truth had been known, it might have. King Vidor had been a part of this Hollywood in its formative years and planned to make his comeback film by telling the story of it. Kirkpatrick could have turned this into a pulp type expose but instead, and to his credit, takes a respectful and nostalgic tone, both for Vidor and a time gone by. He uses Vidor's notes and findings to let this murder mystery unfold just as it did for Vidor.
For every film buff with a fascination for old Hollywood this is a book you can't put down. It is juicy but never tawdry, Vidor sifting through the misinformation of Hollywood, and the alleged corruption of the Los Angeles District Attorney's Office of the period to slowly paint a picture of the truth. He eventually decided not to tell the story, because some of the players were still alive. The Taylor homicide and its aftermath is filled with names like Mabel Normand, Alan Dwan, James Kirkwood, Gloria Swanson, Claire Windsor, and Charolette Shelby and her lovely waif-like daughter Mary Miles Minter, an early rival of Mary Pickford.
Vidor's reputation and the fact he had been a part of this Hollywood way back when gave him gravitas, and would prompt many to open up and talk to Vidor in a way in which they might not have to someone else. He would even get to look at police files that would contradict nearly all of what was reported at the time, raising even more questions.
As Vidor plays detective in order to write the screenplay that he hoped would put him back on top, Kirkpatrick cast a spotlight on a man who was once a vital part of the film industry, struggling to be remembered. During his investigation Vidor would come into contact with old flame Coleen Moore, a lovely silent star with a fine career of her own. It was a happy coincidence, yet it would force Vidor to make decisions affecting the rest of his life, and does not whitewash his failings.
A Cast of Killers is a fast, fun read tinged with sadness. King Vidor somehow knew it would be. Before beginning his investigation, the legendary director likened the famous case to an old bottle of wine. If you love a good mystery, and/or Hollywood, this is one you have to read.
"I realized it was vintage stuff-the rarest vintage of all: a murder that has never been solved. One opens such a bottle at his own peril."
King Vidor, 1967
April 10, 2017
3.5 Stars
A Cast of Killers is nonfiction but it reads more like fiction and it took me a while to get use to. A Cast of Killers is about old Hollywood director King Vidors 20 year investigation into the 1922 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. A lot of liberties were taken and I thought it was riddled with inaccuracies but Hey! so was the actual police investigation into the murder. If you've never heard of William Desmond Taylor please Google him... Now.. His murder was the first Hollywood scandal and I think set the standard for all future Hollywood scandals. Had the killer been apprehended it probably would have been the first "Trial of the Century". I personally think its one of the best unsolved murder mystery in history. It has a star studded ( for its time) cast of killers, police misconduct, multiple coverups, sex, and identity theft. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction people. 95 years after the murder this case still sparks the imagination.
I would recommend this book to readers who like Old Hollywood or readers who like a good old fashion murder mystery.
Popsugar 2017 Reading Challenge: Book That's Mentioned in Another Book.
A Cast of Killers is nonfiction but it reads more like fiction and it took me a while to get use to. A Cast of Killers is about old Hollywood director King Vidors 20 year investigation into the 1922 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. A lot of liberties were taken and I thought it was riddled with inaccuracies but Hey! so was the actual police investigation into the murder. If you've never heard of William Desmond Taylor please Google him... Now.. His murder was the first Hollywood scandal and I think set the standard for all future Hollywood scandals. Had the killer been apprehended it probably would have been the first "Trial of the Century". I personally think its one of the best unsolved murder mystery in history. It has a star studded ( for its time) cast of killers, police misconduct, multiple coverups, sex, and identity theft. Sometimes truth is stranger than fiction people. 95 years after the murder this case still sparks the imagination.
I would recommend this book to readers who like Old Hollywood or readers who like a good old fashion murder mystery.
Popsugar 2017 Reading Challenge: Book That's Mentioned in Another Book.
March 9, 2025
Esto ha pasado:
1922 - Encuentran a William Desmond Taylor —actor y director de cine— muerto en su casa, de un tiro. Aunque hay varios sospechosos, la fiscalía no llega a imputar a nadie.
1967- King Vidor —director de cine, también— decide rodar una película sobre el caso. Se documenta, investiga. Lo que descubre hace que abandone el proyecto.
1986 - El periodista Sidney D. Kirkpatrick publica A Cast of Killers, una novela en la que reconstruye la investigación de Vidor basándose en las notas que este dejó a su muerte y en los testimonios de los implicados que todavía siguen con vida.
2019 - Me leo la novela. Me gusta. Con reparos.
De todas las películas que se rodaron en la etapa del cine mudo apenas se conserva un 20 % (siendo generosos). Más allá de Chaplin, el público no especializado sabe poco de ese mundo. La mayoría de los jóvenes cinéfilos del siglo XXI no han visto nada más antiguo que Psicosis.
Como ventana (o agujerito) a esa etapa del cine el libro resulta interesante y valioso.
Conviene leerlo con internet al lado. Da unas ganas terribles de ver fotos de toda la gente que nombran. Eso sí, no busquen información del caso o corren el riesgo de que les destripen el final.
Como novela no es especialmente buena. Los personajes a los que Vidor va interrogando (algunos de ellos verdaderos mitos de la pantalla) apenas están caracterizados. Los diálogos son meramente funcionales, informativos, planos. Las escenas que tienen que ver con la situación personal de Vidor en el momento de la investigación (crisis de pareja) caen del lado de lo irrelevante.
Más que a una novela se parece al guión de uno de esos documentales llenos de entrevistas a cámara. Se podría haber escrito en forma de reportaje periodístico y no nos habríamos perdido gran cosa. Aunque tampoco habríamos ganado gran cosa. Esto no deja de ser una especie de piropo: Un reparto de asesinos es lo más cerca que una novela puede estar de un reportaje periodístico sin que nos perdamos lo bueno del reportaje periodístico.
1922 - Encuentran a William Desmond Taylor —actor y director de cine— muerto en su casa, de un tiro. Aunque hay varios sospechosos, la fiscalía no llega a imputar a nadie.
1967- King Vidor —director de cine, también— decide rodar una película sobre el caso. Se documenta, investiga. Lo que descubre hace que abandone el proyecto.
1986 - El periodista Sidney D. Kirkpatrick publica A Cast of Killers, una novela en la que reconstruye la investigación de Vidor basándose en las notas que este dejó a su muerte y en los testimonios de los implicados que todavía siguen con vida.
2019 - Me leo la novela. Me gusta. Con reparos.
De todas las películas que se rodaron en la etapa del cine mudo apenas se conserva un 20 % (siendo generosos). Más allá de Chaplin, el público no especializado sabe poco de ese mundo. La mayoría de los jóvenes cinéfilos del siglo XXI no han visto nada más antiguo que Psicosis.
Como ventana (o agujerito) a esa etapa del cine el libro resulta interesante y valioso.
Conviene leerlo con internet al lado. Da unas ganas terribles de ver fotos de toda la gente que nombran. Eso sí, no busquen información del caso o corren el riesgo de que les destripen el final.
Como novela no es especialmente buena. Los personajes a los que Vidor va interrogando (algunos de ellos verdaderos mitos de la pantalla) apenas están caracterizados. Los diálogos son meramente funcionales, informativos, planos. Las escenas que tienen que ver con la situación personal de Vidor en el momento de la investigación (crisis de pareja) caen del lado de lo irrelevante.
Más que a una novela se parece al guión de uno de esos documentales llenos de entrevistas a cámara. Se podría haber escrito en forma de reportaje periodístico y no nos habríamos perdido gran cosa. Aunque tampoco habríamos ganado gran cosa. Esto no deja de ser una especie de piropo: Un reparto de asesinos es lo más cerca que una novela puede estar de un reportaje periodístico sin que nos perdamos lo bueno del reportaje periodístico.
December 1, 2008
One of the best books written about Hollywood. A true "Sunset Boulevard" kind of story, which also reads like a thriller about Hollywood in the twenties. Kirkpatrick's own inquiry is extremely believable and it's hard not to think that he did actually find the solution to one of the most notorious mysteries of Tinseltown. The true characters of this delicious read are bigger than life and riveting. It's also a perfect painting of the true face of the Dream Factory in the silent era.
April 22, 2020
I love true crime. I love old Hollywood. These two together is a dream combination that will draw me like a moth is drawn to a flame.
In 1922, director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his bungalow. Wild reports (some false, some not) started to spread: a mysterious "doctor" who declared the cause of death as natural, studio people burning papers in Taylor's fireplace, actress Mabel Normand (whose alleged cocaine addiction Taylor had allegedly been trying to cure) rummaging through his things, lingerie monogrammed M.M.M, an affair with a young actress etc. It was also discovered that Taylor was actually William Deane-Tanner and had deserted his wife and child a few years prior. The murder was never solved.
In 1967, director King Vidor starts his own investigation, and although he claimed to have solved the murder, he didn't want to reveal his findings.
This is where Kirkpatrick's approach loses me. In 1982, Kirkpatrick gained access to Vidor's papers and compiled them into a murder mystery that is true crime but reads like a novel. The frame story inevitably leads to details about Vidor's personal life, which in turn made me lose my interest. I may be boring, but I just want my facts without any gimmicks. In the end, Vidor's and Kirkpatrick's conclusion is, although plausible, just another theory to a mystery that will most likely remain unsolved.
For those in need of a true deep dive into the case, taylorology.com is an exhaustive resource of different theories, original documents, photos etc.
In 1922, director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his bungalow. Wild reports (some false, some not) started to spread: a mysterious "doctor" who declared the cause of death as natural, studio people burning papers in Taylor's fireplace, actress Mabel Normand (whose alleged cocaine addiction Taylor had allegedly been trying to cure) rummaging through his things, lingerie monogrammed M.M.M, an affair with a young actress etc. It was also discovered that Taylor was actually William Deane-Tanner and had deserted his wife and child a few years prior. The murder was never solved.
In 1967, director King Vidor starts his own investigation, and although he claimed to have solved the murder, he didn't want to reveal his findings.
This is where Kirkpatrick's approach loses me. In 1982, Kirkpatrick gained access to Vidor's papers and compiled them into a murder mystery that is true crime but reads like a novel. The frame story inevitably leads to details about Vidor's personal life, which in turn made me lose my interest. I may be boring, but I just want my facts without any gimmicks. In the end, Vidor's and Kirkpatrick's conclusion is, although plausible, just another theory to a mystery that will most likely remain unsolved.
For those in need of a true deep dive into the case, taylorology.com is an exhaustive resource of different theories, original documents, photos etc.
June 3, 2015
Although slow to start, once you get about 50-75 pages in, it really picks up and becomes darn near impossible to put down. It reads like an old noir mystery - and the author imagines it in a way that the reader can very much picture it as a movie in their mind. We follow King Vidor as he unearths the facts of the old 1922 William Desmond Taylor murder and we wind the paths of all the multiple leads: was it young actress Mary Miles Minter or possibly the other silent-era star whose career was lost over the case, Mabel Normand? Was it Taylor's assistant or another former employee who had robbed him just weeks before the murder? We are kept guessing throughout, but Vidor does name a killer, with motive and all, in the end. While I found the last few chapters to be a bit over-the-top, overall, it was a really great read. 4.5 stars
January 21, 2011
I found this wonderful gem in pristine condition in a used bookstore. I absolutely hung on every word of how the story unfolded. For anyone who loves old hollywood and mystery "A Cast of Killers" is an absolute must read!!!! I had heard of the William Desmond Taylor murder when I was a boy and always wanted to learn more about it. This book is as close as I believe any one has ever come to learning much of what was kept hidden from the public.
Great book!
Great book!
December 26, 2014
A first rate whodunit about the murder if William Desmond Taylor. Aging director King Vidor searches for answers to the 50 year old mystery and what he finds is a studio cover up, a LAPD deliberate stonewall, love affairs, homosexuality and stars and starlets whose careers were destroyed . Kirkpatrick keeps us guessing and the ending is bittersweet but meanwhile we get a glimpse of Tinsel Town in the '20's-'60's and the power of the studio system. A must read!! 4 stars.
October 17, 2018
“...they realized they had a ‘rug show’ on their hands, the kind of film with too many interiors...”
August 12, 2016
A Cast of Killers is a fascinating account of the murder of William Desmond Taylor and a sleuthing director King Vidor on the trail of who murdered him. Vidor wants to make a film about the Hollywood scandal which turned up no results and left an open case for the police. Along with Colleen Moore, lover and business partner, Vidor researches a case filled with contradictions and cover-ups.
This book's print is rather large, and it makes the 300 pages go back rapidly with aid from the intriguing story. It is also highly suspenseful and entertaining. Even if the reader has no idea who William Desmond Taylor, Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter, or King Vidor are, he or she will still most likely enjoy the book.
The afterward is outdated by now because the book was published in 1986. All of the Hollywood names mentioned are no longer living, and it is doubtful that any of the others are alive anymore.
Even under the assumption that the story is true, one finds it hard to believe because of the format of this book. It reads like a fiction mystery novel or an episode of the popular television show Law and Order. However, this book is hardly credible. The "facts" in it are said to be from private papers King Vidor had together that were set aside for his film project. These documents consist of transcripts illegally obtained from the police and interviews from witnesses or friends to witnesses that are now deceased. None of these documents are properly cited; there is a lack of a bibliography or an appendix. The only citation states that the information was received from Vidor's son who made his father's notes available to the author. The claims the author makes about this book being the "true story of Hollywood's most scandalous murder" seem strange considering how much effort Vidor put into attempting to prove his theory. Kirpatrick seems to have made no such effort.
Other questions come to mind when regarding the validity of this book. How did Kirpatrick come across the information that Vidor knew who killed Taylor and why were the findings so easily given to him after Vidor decided NOT to publish the information in fear of hurting people? And if the book were published because the author felt that no one alive who remembered or was attributed to the case would be negatively affected, why then did the police department not confirm the accusations in the book as being valid and close the case?
This book is controversial, even today. If it were less sloppy, it could have been a major breakthrough in the case of William Desmond Taylor. As it is, A Cast of Killers is a highly entertaining and enjoyable work of fiction. Taken literally, it is only comparable to such trash as Hollywood Babylon.
This book's print is rather large, and it makes the 300 pages go back rapidly with aid from the intriguing story. It is also highly suspenseful and entertaining. Even if the reader has no idea who William Desmond Taylor, Mabel Normand, Mary Miles Minter, or King Vidor are, he or she will still most likely enjoy the book.
The afterward is outdated by now because the book was published in 1986. All of the Hollywood names mentioned are no longer living, and it is doubtful that any of the others are alive anymore.
Even under the assumption that the story is true, one finds it hard to believe because of the format of this book. It reads like a fiction mystery novel or an episode of the popular television show Law and Order. However, this book is hardly credible. The "facts" in it are said to be from private papers King Vidor had together that were set aside for his film project. These documents consist of transcripts illegally obtained from the police and interviews from witnesses or friends to witnesses that are now deceased. None of these documents are properly cited; there is a lack of a bibliography or an appendix. The only citation states that the information was received from Vidor's son who made his father's notes available to the author. The claims the author makes about this book being the "true story of Hollywood's most scandalous murder" seem strange considering how much effort Vidor put into attempting to prove his theory. Kirpatrick seems to have made no such effort.
Other questions come to mind when regarding the validity of this book. How did Kirpatrick come across the information that Vidor knew who killed Taylor and why were the findings so easily given to him after Vidor decided NOT to publish the information in fear of hurting people? And if the book were published because the author felt that no one alive who remembered or was attributed to the case would be negatively affected, why then did the police department not confirm the accusations in the book as being valid and close the case?
This book is controversial, even today. If it were less sloppy, it could have been a major breakthrough in the case of William Desmond Taylor. As it is, A Cast of Killers is a highly entertaining and enjoyable work of fiction. Taken literally, it is only comparable to such trash as Hollywood Babylon.
November 21, 2009
A CAST OF KILLERS is a compelling look back into the 1922 unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor. The author tells the story through the eyes of director King Vidor, using his actual research of the murder during the years sixty-six and sixty-seven.
Once I picked this up, I could not put it back down, or rather, I didn't want to put it down for a second. Sydney D. Kirkpatrick knows how to grab ahold of a reader and keep them locked into the book until the very end. To make sure nothing spoiled the book for me, I didn't look anything up online (as I'm apt to do) until after I had read the last sentence. This proved to be for the best. Unfortunately, this is not the definitive answer to an unsolved crime, but just Vidor's (and I assume the author's) theory in a case that will likely never be truly solved. Also, the newsletter called Taylorology, which specializes in the murder, found 175 errors and contradictions in the 1986 edition of the book (the one I read). According to their website, most of those errors were corrected in the Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
Still, I found the book to be absolutely riveting and was a good starting place to learn the basics of a crime I had never heard of before. A CAST OF KILLERS is written like a novel, therefore it's a fast read and very entertaining. I take the theory used in it with a grain of salt, but all-in-all, it was a worthwhile read.
Once I picked this up, I could not put it back down, or rather, I didn't want to put it down for a second. Sydney D. Kirkpatrick knows how to grab ahold of a reader and keep them locked into the book until the very end. To make sure nothing spoiled the book for me, I didn't look anything up online (as I'm apt to do) until after I had read the last sentence. This proved to be for the best. Unfortunately, this is not the definitive answer to an unsolved crime, but just Vidor's (and I assume the author's) theory in a case that will likely never be truly solved. Also, the newsletter called Taylorology, which specializes in the murder, found 175 errors and contradictions in the 1986 edition of the book (the one I read). According to their website, most of those errors were corrected in the Twentieth Anniversary Edition.
Still, I found the book to be absolutely riveting and was a good starting place to learn the basics of a crime I had never heard of before. A CAST OF KILLERS is written like a novel, therefore it's a fast read and very entertaining. I take the theory used in it with a grain of salt, but all-in-all, it was a worthwhile read.
December 30, 2007
What a fun book trying to uncover the murder of a 1920's starlet. It's full of golden age movie stars, coverups and discoveries about people who'd never expect. A great, fun read.
July 22, 2009
For a reader who is a movie buff, WOW. A GREAT story and fascinating to watch it unfold. READ THIS
July 6, 2014
William Desmond Taylor was an A-list Hollywood film director of the silent era. On February 1, 1922, the dapper Irish-American was found shot in the back in his bungalow in the Westlake Park area of downtown Los Angeles. He was 49 years old. There was no sign of a struggle.
When the police arrived 30 minutes later, the house was already swarming with movie studio people. At first, police believed Taylor suffered a perforated ulcer and died from interior bleeding. But when the body was moved, it was clear he'd been shot. Another 30 minutes had elapsed, during which time many items had been removed from the house and most of the physical evidence (such as carpet footprints and fignerprints) compromised.
No one was ever charged with the crime. Suspects included Edward Sands, Taylor's former valet and cook who had embezzled money, stole jewelry and an automobile, and disappeared in 1921; Mabel Normand, a fading silent screen star (then just 29) who was a drug user and who had been romantically linked to Taylor; Mary Miles Minter, a fading 19-year-old silent screen star who was also romantically linked to Taylor; and Charlotte Shelby, the 52-year-old mother of Mary Miles Minter, who was a domineering and cruel stage-mother and who tightly controlled her daughter's finances and private life.
Enter biographer Sidney Kirkpatrick. He started out in 1982 as a documentary filmmaker, and made a film about Franklin D. Roosevelt's daughter, Ethel. A Cast of Killers was his first biographical work, published in 1986. An unrevised "anniversary edition" (which I read) was released in 2007. Kirkpatrick started out by trying to write a biography of the celebrated film director King Vidor, who directed the Oscar-winning The Big Parade (1925), The Champ (1931), Stella Dallas (1937), Northwest Passage (1940), Duel in the Sun (1946), The Fountainhead (1949), and War and Peace (1956). He also directed the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz (1939), including the song "Over the Rainbow". He was five times nominated for Best Director.
In his research into Vidor, Kirkpatrick came across research, notes, and documents which Vidor had collected in 1967 in preparation for making a motion picture about Taylor's murder. The documents included interviews with a number of police officers, eyewitnesses, reporters, and movie stars who were directly involved with the case.
Vidor never published his findings. Kirkpatrick, however, decided to focus his book not on Vidor himself but on Vidor's investigation. To make it more riveting, he decided to write the book as if it were a novel, complete with dialogue between characters, internal monologues, and third-person omniscient narration. Kirkpatrick is right up front in advising the reader that all the dialogue is made up, but he argues that it is based on the not-quite-verbatim notes taken by Vidor as he interviewed people. Kirkpatrick also notes up front that some of the behaviors and actions taken by the people in the book (such as Vidor himself, actress Colleen Moore, and others) is based on "what must have happened". For example, Vidor retained a receipt from a florist shop in New York City, in which he purchased a bouquet of violets. He met Colleen Moore, an old flame, later that same day. Kirkpatrick then assumes that the violets were for her. (Moore apparently confirmed receiving them.)
The breezy, novelistic style of the biography can be very off-putting. If you, as I did, pick up this book expecting a dispassionate discussion of the facts and theories surrounding the William Desmond Taylor murder, you'll be dissatisfied by the tone of the work. You have to trust Kirkpatrick a whole lot in order to believe that he's recreated the scene and dialogue accurately. While there is little reason not to trust him, there's also little reason to do so. Right away, Kirkpatrick relates the story of how he found Vidor's notes -- in a locked strongbox, hidden behind a water heater in the basement of Vidor's home office bungalow. It just sounds too surreal, too Hollywood! But as a reader, you want to give Kirkpatrick the benefit of the doubt. It's just a difficult swallow, made all the more so by what comes later in the book.
Kirkpatrick's work is limited by the fact that it is NOT an investigation into the death of William Desmond Taylor. Rather, it is a retelling of King Vidor's investigation into that death, and as such is very strongly limited by Vidor's own investigative skills, Vidor's own biases and assumptions, Vidor's refusal to question some conclusions, and the data which Vidor (or Kirkpatrick, even) chose to leave out or not investigate.
Some blatantly obvious questions that any first-season C.S.I. viewer could ask are therefore left unanswered. For example: Three blonde hairs are found on Taylor's jacket at the crime scene. These hairs are assumed to be female, and the police conclude (based on information not revealed in Kirkpatrick's book) they were left by Mary Miles Minter. If this were 2014, one would assume that DNA testing confirmed this link. But this is 1922, and blood testing isn't even common. Just how were the hairs linked to Minter? I dunno, but Vidor (and thus Kirkpatrick) proceed as if the police conclusion is rational, justified, and warranted.
In another section of the book, Vidor investigates the alleged discovery of a frilly pink negligee at Taylor's home. The nightie is monogrammed "MMM" -- ostensibly, "Mary Miles Minter". Some newspaper accounts mention the nightie, but others do not. Vidor comes to question whether the nightie even existed; if it did, was it there before the murder, or planted afterward (but before the police realized a murder had been committed)? Amazingly, Vidor (or Kirkpatrick) never seems to ask just how the studio could have manufactured such a piece of evidence in the minutes they had between learning of Taylor's death from his valet (Henry Peavey) and the arrival of the police.
Kirkpatrick and Vidor both admit there is little evidence to do on in the Taylor case. This creates an endless confusion of claim and counter-claim, suggestion, allegation, and outright, self-serving lies. It's much more akin to an Agatha Christie novel than a biography, or a discussion of a man's private investigation into the death of a colleague.
There are some astounding claims made in A Cast of Killers, some of which focus directly on William Desmond Taylor and directly on the motive for the crime. But, as Vidor (and Kirkpatrick) note, there's nothing but speculation here.
And no, I won't give away these astounding revelations or the whodunnit.
I will say, however, that the book is relatively well-written, and a straightforward account of Vidor's investigation into Taylor's death. Some sections of the book verge on fiction, and smell like fiction (particuarly, to my mind, Vidor's encounter with an aged Mary Miles Minter), but those are the risks one takes when pursuing an "Edmund Morris" style biography.
For those who care, more traditional investigations into the William Desmond Taylor murder are available. They include Robert Giroux's 1990 book A Deed of Death: The Story Behind the Unsolved Murder of William Desmond Taylor and Charles Higham's 2004 work Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery
Both the Kirkpatrick book and Giroux book are reviewed for accuracy in Bruce Long's 1991 work, William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier. Long, a staff member at Arizona State University, was a Taylor researcher who published a newsletter called Taylorology. Long transcribed hundreds of primary- and secondary-source documents (including newspaper accounts, police interviews, and unpublished autobiographies and memoirs), and his work is considered a "must" for anyone really interested in reading every single thing written about William Desmond Taylor in the 1910s and 1920s. The first two years of Long's research is compiled in William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier. Long's book also documents nearly 200 factual and timeline errors in Vidor's/Kirkpatrick's research, as well as about 85 errors in Giroux's book.
When the police arrived 30 minutes later, the house was already swarming with movie studio people. At first, police believed Taylor suffered a perforated ulcer and died from interior bleeding. But when the body was moved, it was clear he'd been shot. Another 30 minutes had elapsed, during which time many items had been removed from the house and most of the physical evidence (such as carpet footprints and fignerprints) compromised.
No one was ever charged with the crime. Suspects included Edward Sands, Taylor's former valet and cook who had embezzled money, stole jewelry and an automobile, and disappeared in 1921; Mabel Normand, a fading silent screen star (then just 29) who was a drug user and who had been romantically linked to Taylor; Mary Miles Minter, a fading 19-year-old silent screen star who was also romantically linked to Taylor; and Charlotte Shelby, the 52-year-old mother of Mary Miles Minter, who was a domineering and cruel stage-mother and who tightly controlled her daughter's finances and private life.
Enter biographer Sidney Kirkpatrick. He started out in 1982 as a documentary filmmaker, and made a film about Franklin D. Roosevelt's daughter, Ethel. A Cast of Killers was his first biographical work, published in 1986. An unrevised "anniversary edition" (which I read) was released in 2007. Kirkpatrick started out by trying to write a biography of the celebrated film director King Vidor, who directed the Oscar-winning The Big Parade (1925), The Champ (1931), Stella Dallas (1937), Northwest Passage (1940), Duel in the Sun (1946), The Fountainhead (1949), and War and Peace (1956). He also directed the Kansas scenes in The Wizard of Oz (1939), including the song "Over the Rainbow". He was five times nominated for Best Director.
In his research into Vidor, Kirkpatrick came across research, notes, and documents which Vidor had collected in 1967 in preparation for making a motion picture about Taylor's murder. The documents included interviews with a number of police officers, eyewitnesses, reporters, and movie stars who were directly involved with the case.
Vidor never published his findings. Kirkpatrick, however, decided to focus his book not on Vidor himself but on Vidor's investigation. To make it more riveting, he decided to write the book as if it were a novel, complete with dialogue between characters, internal monologues, and third-person omniscient narration. Kirkpatrick is right up front in advising the reader that all the dialogue is made up, but he argues that it is based on the not-quite-verbatim notes taken by Vidor as he interviewed people. Kirkpatrick also notes up front that some of the behaviors and actions taken by the people in the book (such as Vidor himself, actress Colleen Moore, and others) is based on "what must have happened". For example, Vidor retained a receipt from a florist shop in New York City, in which he purchased a bouquet of violets. He met Colleen Moore, an old flame, later that same day. Kirkpatrick then assumes that the violets were for her. (Moore apparently confirmed receiving them.)
The breezy, novelistic style of the biography can be very off-putting. If you, as I did, pick up this book expecting a dispassionate discussion of the facts and theories surrounding the William Desmond Taylor murder, you'll be dissatisfied by the tone of the work. You have to trust Kirkpatrick a whole lot in order to believe that he's recreated the scene and dialogue accurately. While there is little reason not to trust him, there's also little reason to do so. Right away, Kirkpatrick relates the story of how he found Vidor's notes -- in a locked strongbox, hidden behind a water heater in the basement of Vidor's home office bungalow. It just sounds too surreal, too Hollywood! But as a reader, you want to give Kirkpatrick the benefit of the doubt. It's just a difficult swallow, made all the more so by what comes later in the book.
Kirkpatrick's work is limited by the fact that it is NOT an investigation into the death of William Desmond Taylor. Rather, it is a retelling of King Vidor's investigation into that death, and as such is very strongly limited by Vidor's own investigative skills, Vidor's own biases and assumptions, Vidor's refusal to question some conclusions, and the data which Vidor (or Kirkpatrick, even) chose to leave out or not investigate.
Some blatantly obvious questions that any first-season C.S.I. viewer could ask are therefore left unanswered. For example: Three blonde hairs are found on Taylor's jacket at the crime scene. These hairs are assumed to be female, and the police conclude (based on information not revealed in Kirkpatrick's book) they were left by Mary Miles Minter. If this were 2014, one would assume that DNA testing confirmed this link. But this is 1922, and blood testing isn't even common. Just how were the hairs linked to Minter? I dunno, but Vidor (and thus Kirkpatrick) proceed as if the police conclusion is rational, justified, and warranted.
In another section of the book, Vidor investigates the alleged discovery of a frilly pink negligee at Taylor's home. The nightie is monogrammed "MMM" -- ostensibly, "Mary Miles Minter". Some newspaper accounts mention the nightie, but others do not. Vidor comes to question whether the nightie even existed; if it did, was it there before the murder, or planted afterward (but before the police realized a murder had been committed)? Amazingly, Vidor (or Kirkpatrick) never seems to ask just how the studio could have manufactured such a piece of evidence in the minutes they had between learning of Taylor's death from his valet (Henry Peavey) and the arrival of the police.
Kirkpatrick and Vidor both admit there is little evidence to do on in the Taylor case. This creates an endless confusion of claim and counter-claim, suggestion, allegation, and outright, self-serving lies. It's much more akin to an Agatha Christie novel than a biography, or a discussion of a man's private investigation into the death of a colleague.
There are some astounding claims made in A Cast of Killers, some of which focus directly on William Desmond Taylor and directly on the motive for the crime. But, as Vidor (and Kirkpatrick) note, there's nothing but speculation here.
And no, I won't give away these astounding revelations or the whodunnit.
I will say, however, that the book is relatively well-written, and a straightforward account of Vidor's investigation into Taylor's death. Some sections of the book verge on fiction, and smell like fiction (particuarly, to my mind, Vidor's encounter with an aged Mary Miles Minter), but those are the risks one takes when pursuing an "Edmund Morris" style biography.
For those who care, more traditional investigations into the William Desmond Taylor murder are available. They include Robert Giroux's 1990 book A Deed of Death: The Story Behind the Unsolved Murder of William Desmond Taylor and Charles Higham's 2004 work Murder in Hollywood: Solving a Silent Screen Mystery
Both the Kirkpatrick book and Giroux book are reviewed for accuracy in Bruce Long's 1991 work, William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier. Long, a staff member at Arizona State University, was a Taylor researcher who published a newsletter called Taylorology. Long transcribed hundreds of primary- and secondary-source documents (including newspaper accounts, police interviews, and unpublished autobiographies and memoirs), and his work is considered a "must" for anyone really interested in reading every single thing written about William Desmond Taylor in the 1910s and 1920s. The first two years of Long's research is compiled in William Desmond Taylor: A Dossier. Long's book also documents nearly 200 factual and timeline errors in Vidor's/Kirkpatrick's research, as well as about 85 errors in Giroux's book.
November 22, 2022
‘A Cast of Killers’ is one of the best “true crime” stories I’ve ever read.
Ok, I’m pretty sure I’ve read only one other “true crime” story, ‘In Cold Blood.’ I’m not exactly a fan of the genre. But man, is ‘A Cast of Killers’ good.
The book, based on its subject’s own notes and records, follows iconic Hollywood director King Vidor (The Champ, War and Peace, Duel in The Sun) as he investigates the 1921 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. Vidor, who conducted this investigation in 1967 to prepare a screenplay based on the murder, had entree into Taylor’s world. He and Taylor shared many friends, and they were willing to open up to Vidor when they may have been recalcitrant with others.
Man, that paragraph makes the book sound boring. It isn’t! Sex! Drugs! Murder! Extortion! Old Hollywood Glamour! This book has it all. Taylor’s life was fascinating, as were the lives of his friends and associates. Old Hollywood, which was the same agglomeration of carnies, opportunities, and sharp-eyed businesspeople that it defines contemporary Hollywood, is a fascinating backdrop for this mystery. The book’s players include people like Mabel Normand, Tony Moreno, and even Edna Purviance: all familiar names to silent film buffs. The mystery, well, I didn’t know where it was heading, almost to the very end.
This is a gripping, fascinating, entertaining book. I loved it. I may have to read more true crime.
Ok, I’m pretty sure I’ve read only one other “true crime” story, ‘In Cold Blood.’ I’m not exactly a fan of the genre. But man, is ‘A Cast of Killers’ good.
The book, based on its subject’s own notes and records, follows iconic Hollywood director King Vidor (The Champ, War and Peace, Duel in The Sun) as he investigates the 1921 murder of silent film director William Desmond Taylor. Vidor, who conducted this investigation in 1967 to prepare a screenplay based on the murder, had entree into Taylor’s world. He and Taylor shared many friends, and they were willing to open up to Vidor when they may have been recalcitrant with others.
Man, that paragraph makes the book sound boring. It isn’t! Sex! Drugs! Murder! Extortion! Old Hollywood Glamour! This book has it all. Taylor’s life was fascinating, as were the lives of his friends and associates. Old Hollywood, which was the same agglomeration of carnies, opportunities, and sharp-eyed businesspeople that it defines contemporary Hollywood, is a fascinating backdrop for this mystery. The book’s players include people like Mabel Normand, Tony Moreno, and even Edna Purviance: all familiar names to silent film buffs. The mystery, well, I didn’t know where it was heading, almost to the very end.
This is a gripping, fascinating, entertaining book. I loved it. I may have to read more true crime.
December 19, 2020
What can be better than snuggling up in your favorite easy chair in front of the fireplace on a cold winter’s evening with a riveting true crime story set in the early days of Hollywood? Not much, in my opinion, as I recently set aside all of the distractions of the day and immersed myself in A Cast of Killers until the wee hours of the morning.
Not being a literary critic or an English major, I generally judge a book by whether or not it can hold my interest, and A Cast of Killers passed with flying colors. An added bonus was that it was set in an era and place—old Hollywood—in which I have a great deal of interest. (Turner Classic Movies anyone?) A Cast of Killers is one of the best books that I have read in recent memory.
Oh Redford Theatre—where are you when we need you?
Not being a literary critic or an English major, I generally judge a book by whether or not it can hold my interest, and A Cast of Killers passed with flying colors. An added bonus was that it was set in an era and place—old Hollywood—in which I have a great deal of interest. (Turner Classic Movies anyone?) A Cast of Killers is one of the best books that I have read in recent memory.
Oh Redford Theatre—where are you when we need you?
February 16, 2025
This book was referenced in something I was listening to(I think it was Heart Starts Pounding podcast who, by the way, did a fantastic episode about this case) and since old Hollywood & true crime are both right up my alley, I wanted to give this a shot.
It’s chock FULL of silent film stars & the mystery of who killed Taylor is super intriguing, but the writing didn’t always flow well for me. There are people who have called out numerous issues with the “facts” presented so definitely take this with a grain of salt but I found it extremely interesting.
It’s chock FULL of silent film stars & the mystery of who killed Taylor is super intriguing, but the writing didn’t always flow well for me. There are people who have called out numerous issues with the “facts” presented so definitely take this with a grain of salt but I found it extremely interesting.
September 19, 2021
This is one of the absolute best books and true crime I’ve read in awhile! I stumbled upon it in a thrift store and what a treasure!! It’s not gory or disturbing like other true crime can be, but rather an absolutely fascinating story of murder, corruption, and scandal in Hollywood/Los Angeles. As an Angeleno, it was also super fun to read about the history of LA and the neighborhoods and streets and locations still familiar today… an absolutely wild story!
December 3, 2021
Det började med ett reportage i Saxons veckotidning 1985. Bilden på den mördade regissören William Desmond Taylor struck a chord with me, det är det minsta man kan säga. Han var skrämmande lik personen jag gick och spanade på - och senare skulle ha ett förhållande med. Kan fortfarande känna ett oj inför vissa foton. Skumt, men sant. 👀
Forts. följer -
Forts. följer -
August 13, 2015
Very interesting true crime novel about an early Hollywood scandal. In 1922 the director William Desmond Taylor was found murdered, with various Hollywood players implicated in his death. Despite much rumour and speculation the crime was never solved.
Forty years later, in the 1960's, the legendary director King Vidor decided to investigate what really happened to his friend. Written by Sidney Kirkpatrick, the novel recounts Vidor's investigation and involves many people from 1920's Hollywood, both alive and dead at the time he did his sleuthing. Kirkpatrick had extensive access to King Vidor's files on the murder. The murder is still technically unsolved. This book is one version of what may have happened.
A Cast of Killers gives an insight into the film industry both in the 1920's and the 1960's, as well as police corruption in Los Angeles during the former.
Prior knowledge of at least some of the actors, actresses, directors etc of the 20's is a must (an excellent documentary series called "Hollywood" is available on Youtube. It is about the early film industry in the U.S. It was made in the 70's so many of the people named in this book were still alive and interviewed). If you have an interest in early Hollywood it is a fascinating read. A well written book with a compelling story.
Forty years later, in the 1960's, the legendary director King Vidor decided to investigate what really happened to his friend. Written by Sidney Kirkpatrick, the novel recounts Vidor's investigation and involves many people from 1920's Hollywood, both alive and dead at the time he did his sleuthing. Kirkpatrick had extensive access to King Vidor's files on the murder. The murder is still technically unsolved. This book is one version of what may have happened.
A Cast of Killers gives an insight into the film industry both in the 1920's and the 1960's, as well as police corruption in Los Angeles during the former.
Prior knowledge of at least some of the actors, actresses, directors etc of the 20's is a must (an excellent documentary series called "Hollywood" is available on Youtube. It is about the early film industry in the U.S. It was made in the 70's so many of the people named in this book were still alive and interviewed). If you have an interest in early Hollywood it is a fascinating read. A well written book with a compelling story.
August 31, 2020
I read this when it first was published in 1986 and re-read it as I selected it for my library's Mystery Book Discussion in September. I was eighteen in 1986 but already my "old soul" reputation was set as I loved old movies, including silents and musicals. This is a true crime murder mystery and it's actually several stories in one: the life of King Vidor, the great director, early Hollywood and Los Angeles, and the murder of a prominent silent film director. Kirkpatrick was Vidor's biographer who instead decided to tell the story of King Vidor's investigation and solution of the then 45 year old crime. It's fascinating stuff. A who's who of great silent film stars who are unfortunately long forgotten in our 21st century by the average Joe, this is a treat for true crime buffs and fans of old Hollywood.
July 21, 2012
A fascinating look at the death of William Desmond Taylor, silent Hollywood film director, who was murdered one night by a mysterious assailant. The suspects included everyone from two silent film starlets, an overbearing stage mother, to drug dealers, studio heads and Taylor's own brother.
Making it even more fascinating is that King Vidor, a great director in his own right, undertook his own investigation of the case in his twilight years, laying bare just how corrupt and strange the Los Angeles of the Roaring '20s really was.
Kirkpatrick's voice is so convincing, his pacing so well-handled, you forget you are reading a true crime book written decades after the events in question. Definitely a must-read for any fan of true crime or Hollywood history.
Making it even more fascinating is that King Vidor, a great director in his own right, undertook his own investigation of the case in his twilight years, laying bare just how corrupt and strange the Los Angeles of the Roaring '20s really was.
Kirkpatrick's voice is so convincing, his pacing so well-handled, you forget you are reading a true crime book written decades after the events in question. Definitely a must-read for any fan of true crime or Hollywood history.
September 10, 2012
Based on several true stories. King Vidor was a famous Hollywood movie director. He directed Gary Cooper in The Fountainhead. He also directed War and Peace with a large cast including Audrey Hepburn. Kirkpatrick sets out to write a posthumous biography of the director who appears to be a biographer's dream. He kept a detailed diary and calendar of his every day appointments and thoughts for years.
But Kirkpatrick discovers a surprising blank in the Vidor record. A period of about 18 months is completely missing.
Some minor detective work uncovers some missing documents and Kirkpatrick learns that Vidor set about to solve a decades old Hollywood murder involving Movie people.
Who committed the murder? How did Vidor solve the murder? and why did he bury the evidence?
But Kirkpatrick discovers a surprising blank in the Vidor record. A period of about 18 months is completely missing.
Some minor detective work uncovers some missing documents and Kirkpatrick learns that Vidor set about to solve a decades old Hollywood murder involving Movie people.
Who committed the murder? How did Vidor solve the murder? and why did he bury the evidence?
September 21, 2016
On February 1st, 1922, noted American film director William Desmond Talor was murdered in his Hollywood home. The mystery was never solved. In the late 1960's, the great film director King Vidor decided to finally solve this murder. He did so, also discovering why the murder went unsolved.King Vidor never made a film of his findings, deciding to wait until those involved died. Vidor passed away without ever disclosing his findings. The author of this book, with permission of the Vidor family, has finally released the story of why William Desmond Taylor was killed,and who did it. This is a must read for those who love the silent movie era in Hollywood,and for those who seek answers for unsolved murders.
August 23, 2014
As many have said, this is as good a thriller/ whodunit as you'll read anywhere....but it's true! In what would make a great film, legendary filmmaker King Vidor tried to solve the murder of William Desmond Taylor, one of the top filmmakers in early Hollywood. We see the evidence through Vidor's eyes as he tracks down leads and clues, and by books end we know who the killer is. I won't spoil it, but having read other books on the subject who reached different conclusions, I would say Vidor got it right. If you love old Hollywood, you'll love this. Plenty of cameos too, even Gloria Swanson shows up appropriately.
June 6, 2012
The unsolved murder of William Desmond Taylor is one of the most fascinating stories from Hollywood's history. Unfortunately, A Cast of Killers does it little justice. It's easily the worst of the books I've read about the murder. It's very sloppy. Photos are mismarked, the research is poor. It reads more like a sensationalized version of events from a trashy gossip magazine. It also settles on one of the least likely solutions to the case and presents it as fact with very little evidence. Read "A Deed of Death" instead.
April 21, 2015
At first, I thought that this was a "Dan Brown-ish" made up thriller. After reading the end notes, I am not sure. Instead of just presenting the murder and clues, we are instead lead through the murder investigation by a long-dead movie director - - including what this director, King Vidor, was thinking. And, if these were indeed his thoughts, what a pedestrian man he was! It's hard to believe that a man who directed such great movies was such a dolt. In short, a twisted and plodding retelling (and maybe solution in the final chapters) of an unsolved murder mystery from the 1920s Hollywood.
August 2, 2012
As a fan of old movies and Hollywood in its heyday, this is a fascinating look at the seamier side of Tinseltown in its infancy. A true unsolved murder mystery, with many of the important celebrities of the time involved or linked in some way. Don't know if you would call it a 'fun read', but it was definitely as good, or better, than fiction.
April 29, 2023
Who killed director William Desmond Taylor ? Sssh! Aimee Semple McPherson. This non-fiction book, with a few strands of truth, is fanciful and harmless. He doesnt draw attention to Taylor's same-sex romances amid the power & glories of once upon a time---. A few years ago, an actress on her deathbed, Margaret Gibson, said she dunit. Google Taylorology, if curious.
September 25, 2016
A book about an investigation into a murder that happened 45 years previous-doesn't sound like much, but holy crap-it was good! Totally engrossing from the very beginning-twists and turns aplenty, a cast of colorful characters, all combine to show a frightening picture of corruption, cruelty, and sex scandals in 1920's Hollywood. A must read for any mystery fan and/or fan of classic Hollywood.
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