Thelma Todd

Born: 1906-07-29

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Thelma Alice Todd (July 29, 1906 – December 16, 1935) was an American actress. Appearing in about 120 pictures between 1926 and 1935, she is best remembered for her comedic roles in films such as Marx Brothers' Monkey Business and Horse Feathers, a number of Charley Chase's short comedies, and co-starring with Buster Keaton and Jimmy Durante in Speak Easily. She also had roles in Wheeler and Woolsey farces, several Laurel and Hardy films, the last of which (The Bohemian Girl) featured her in a part that was truncated by her suspicious death at the age of 29. During the silent film era, Todd appeared in numerous supporting roles that made full use of her beauty but gave her little chance to act. With the advent of the talkies, Todd was given opportunity to expand her roles when producer Hal Roach signed her to appear with such comedy stars as Harry Langdon, Charley Chase, and Laurel and Hardy. In 1931, Roach cast Todd in her own series of slapstick comedy shorts, running 17 to 27 minutes each. In an attempt to create a female version of Laurel and Hardy, Roach teamed Todd with ZaSu Pitts for 17 shorts, from "Let's do Things" (June 1931) through "One Track Minds" (May 1933). When Pitts left in 1933, she was replaced by Patsy Kelly, appearing with Todd in 21 shorts, from "Beauty and the Bus" (September 1933) through "An All American Toothache" (January 1936). These Roach shorts often cast Todd as a working girl having all sorts of problems, and trying her best to remain poised and charming despite the embarrassing antics of her sidekick. Todd also appeared successfully in such dramas as the original 1931 film version of The Maltese Falcon starring Ricardo Cortez as Sam Spade, in which she played Miles Archer's treacherous widow. During her career she appeared in 119 films although many of these were short films, and was sometimes publicized as "The Ice Cream Blonde." Todd continued her short-subject series through 1935, and was featured in the full-length Laurel and Hardy comedy The Bohemian Girl. This was her last film; she died after completing all of her scenes, but most of them were re-shot. Producer Roach deleted all of Todd's dialogue and limited her appearance to one musical number.


Placeholder

Monkey Business

as Lucille Briggs
Released: 1931-09-19

Four stowaways get mixed up with gangsters while running riot on an ocean liner.

Movie page

Horse Feathers

as Connie Bailey
Released: 1932-08-19

Quincy Adams Wagstaff, the new president of Huxley U, hires bumblers Baravelli and Pinky to help...

Movie page

Another Fine Mess

as Lady Plumtree (uncredited)
Released: 1930-11-29

Two homeless vagabonds hide out in a vacant mansion and pose as the residents when prospective...

Movie page

The Devil's Brother

as Lady Pamela Rocburg
Released: 1933-05-05

Two wannabe bandits join the service of a dashing nobleman, who secretly masquerades as Fra...

Movie page

The Maltese Falcon

as Iva Archer
Released: 1931-05-23

A lovely dame with dangerous lies employs the services of a private detective, who is quickly...

Movie page

Chickens Come Home

as Mrs. Hardy
Released: 1931-02-21

Ollie is running for mayor when an old flame tries to blackmail him with a old photo.

Movie page

Counsellor at Law

as Lillian La Rue
Released: 1933-12-25

A successful lawyer struggles to deal with his wife's unfaithfulness and his own hidden past.

Movie page

Speak Easily

as Eleanor Espere
Released: 1932-08-13

A professor gets mixed up with chorus girls in a Broadway musical.

Movie page

The Bohemian Girl

as Gypsy Queen's Daughter
Released: 1936-02-14

Stan and Ollie travel with a band of 18th-century Gypsies holding a nobleman's daughter.

Movie page

This Is the Night

as Claire Mathewson
Released: 1932-04-08

When Stephen, the husband of Gerald’s mistress, Claire, discovers a pair of tickets for their...

Movie page

Her Man

as Nelly
Released: 1930-09-21

A prostitute sees a friendly sailor as a way out of Havana's grimy underworld.

Movie page

Unaccustomed as We Are

as Mrs. Kennedy
Released: 1929-05-04

Laurel and Hardy try to entertain a female neighbor, unbeknown to Hardy’s wife.

Movie page

Screen Snapshots (Series 22, No. 10)

as Self (archive footage)
Released: 1942-01-01

The edition of Screen Snapshots celebrates 25 years of production. It looks at the content of...

Movie page

On the Loose

as Thelma
Released: 1931-12-26

Two young women, Zasu and Thelma, complain that all of their dates take them to Coney Island....

Movie page

Call Her Savage

as Sunny De Lane
Released: 1932-11-24

A high-spirited, short-tempered, young woman hates her father and loves to rebel against him....

Movie page

Aloha

as Winifred Bradford
Released: 1931-04-26

In the South Seas, a half-caste island girl refuses to follow tradition and marry a fellow...

Movie page

Son of a Sailor

as The Baroness
Released: 1933-11-29

A lovesick fool bumbles into espionage and finds a stolen plane.

Movie page

Mary Stevens, M.D.

as Lois Cavanaugh
Released: 1933-07-22

A woman doctor decides to have a baby without benefit of marriage.

Movie page

Bottoms Up

as Judith Marlowe
Released: 1934-04-12

Promoter "Smoothie" King helps a pair of phonies con their way into a movie company. As Wanda...

Movie page

The Big Timer

as Kay Mitchell
Released: 1932-03-10

Loud-mouth hamburger flipper, Cooky, thinks he can box. His big chance comes when everyone else...

Movie page

Dollar Dizzy

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1930-10-03

Charley and Thelma are millionaires, each trying to elude suitors who are trying to marry them...

Movie page

The Gay Defender

as Ruth Ainsworth
Released: 1927-12-10

Real-life outlaw Joaquin Murietta, who (according to this film, anyway) is a latter-day Robin...

Movie page

The Noose

as Phyllis
Released: 1928-01-29

In this suspenseful silent crime drama, a hijacker proves his loyalty to his mother by killing...

Movie page

Follow Thru

as Mrs. Van Horn
Released: 1930-09-26

Lora Moore, the club champion, loses a golf match to a woman from another golf club. Then Jerry...

Movie page

Strictly Unreliable

as Miss Thelma Todd
Released: 1932-04-30

Zasu inadvertently turns Thelma's vaudeville act into a shambles.

Movie page

Lightning Strikes Twice

as Judy Nelson
Released: 1934-12-07

An actress goes up to a dude ranch for relaxation, when she falls in love with a ranch owner...

Movie page

Take the Stand

as Miss Sally Oxford
Released: 1934-08-07

A radio columnist is threatened by gangsters and later murdered during a broadcast. A detective...

Movie page

Yesterday and Today

as (archive footage)
Released: 1953-12-02

A compilation of early-day silent films that serves as a glimpse back to the formative days of...

Movie page

Palooka

as Trixie
Released: 1934-01-26

Joe Palooka is a naive young man whose father Pete was a champion boxer, but his lifestyle...

Movie page

Looser Than Loose

as Thelma, Charley's Fiancee
Released: 1930-11-15

Charley is about to get engaged to Thelma when his boss foists some clients upon him to entertain.

Movie page

Seven Footprints to Satan

as Eve
Released: 1929-01-27

A young man of society wants to make an expedition to Africa, but his fiancée asks him for help...

Movie page

Red Noses

as Miss Todd
Released: 1932-03-18

Thelma and Zasu go to a Turkish bath to try to get rid of a cold.

Movie page

After the Dance

as Mabel Kane
Released: 1935-06-25

Though he was protecting her when he accidentally killed a man, Mabel Kane (Thelma Todd) refuses...

Movie page

Alum and Eve

as Thelma
Released: 1932-09-24

When Thelma is stopped by a cop for speeding, she tries to get out of it by telling him that she...

Movie page

Her Private Life

as Mrs. Leslie
Released: 1929-08-25

A English aristocrat causes a scandal when she divorces her husband and runs off with a young...

Movie page

The Hot Heiress

as Lola
Released: 1931-03-28

Classes clash when a poor riveter and wealthy society woman fall in love with each other, much...

Movie page

The Pajama Party

as Thelma
Released: 1931-10-03

After running their car off the road, a society matron insists that the girls spend the evening...

Movie page

Show Business

as Thelma
Released: 1932-08-20

The girls and their pet monkey create havoc on board a train carrying a traveling Broadway troupe.

Movie page

Corsair

as Alison Corning
Released: 1931-11-28

A stock market broker plans to liven up his boring life by taking up piracy on the high seas.

Movie page

You Made Me Love You

as Pamela Berne
Released: 1933-10-01

A rich American businessman in London makes believe he's lost all his money so that his daughter...

Movie page

Slightly Static

as Thelma
Released: 1935-09-07

Thelma and Patsy get jobs at a radio station.

Movie page

God Gave Me Twenty Cents

as Dance-Hall Girl (uncredited)
Released: 1926-11-20

The story concerns the misadventures of sailor Steve Doren, who tries his best to support his...

Movie page

War Mamas

as Thelma
Released: 1931-11-14

During WW1, the girls become spies when they spend the evening with two German officers.

Movie page

Broadminded

as Gertie Gardner
Released: 1931-08-01

Jack's father lowers the boom when his irresponsible rich-kid ends up in jail after a night of...

Movie page

The Head Guy

as The Star
Released: 1930-01-11

Harry is made the temporary stationmaster in a small town.

Movie page

One Track Minds

as uncredited
Released: 1933-05-20

Thelma wins a screen test with a Hollywood studio, but trouble ensues on the train trip out there.

Movie page

Asleep in the Feet

as Thelma
Released: 1933-01-21

The girls moonlight as taxi dancers in order to earn some extra money.

Movie page

The Poor Rich

as Gwendolyn Fetherstone
Released: 1934-02-25

Albert Stuyvesant Spottiswood and his cousin Harriet Winthrop Spottiswood arrive separately at...

Movie page

Maid in Hollywood

as Thelma
Released: 1934-05-19

Thelma, who came to Hollywood from Joplin to be a star, is ready to go home. She and her pal...

Movie page

Klondike

as Klondike
Released: 1932-08-29

Dr. Robert Cromwell performs a delicate operation, that has never been done before, and the...

Movie page

Vamping Venus

as Madame Vanezlos the Dancer / Venus
Released: 1928-05-13

A present-day stereotypically-Irish American politician is vaulted into ancient Greece after...

Movie page

Whispering Whoopee

as Miss Todd
Released: 1930-03-08

Charlie hires three "party girls" to help him land a business deal.

Movie page

Let's Do Things

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1931-06-06

Zasu & Thelma go out with two idiots to a nightclub.

Movie page

Sealskins

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1932-02-06

In their first comedy two-reeler of 1932, vivacious Thelma Todd and fluttery ZaSu Pitts learn...

Movie page

Command Performance

as Lydia
Released: 1931-01-19

Prince Alexis of Kordovia refuses to do his duty under threat of war. Recently arrested actor...

Movie page

Beauty and the Bus

as Thelma
Released: 1933-09-16

The girls win a car in a raffle.

Movie page

Nevada

as Hettie Ide
Released: 1927-08-01

A once notorious gunfighter takes a respectable job on a ranch. "Nevada" is charged with...

Movie page

The Old Bull

as Thelma
Released: 1932-06-04

Thelma and Zazu are on a leisurely excursion in a borrowed car. Thelma lets Zazu drive. When she...

Movie page

Hips, Hips, Hooray!

as Miss Amelia Frisby
Released: 1934-02-02

Hips, Hips, Hooray! is a 1934 slapstick comedy film starring Bert Wheeler, Robert Woolsey, Ruth...

Movie page

The Pip from Pittsburg

as Thelma
Released: 1931-03-21

Charley agrees to go on a blind date to help out his roommate. But because his last such date...

Movie page

Fireman, Save My Child

as (uncredited)
Released: 1927-08-01

Two firemen must put up with a variety of travails in their job, especially their chief's...

Movie page

Catch-As Catch-Can

as Thelma
Released: 1931-08-22

Zasu falls for a wrestler, drags Thelma to his next fight.

Movie page

The Tin Man

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1935-03-30

Thelma and Patsy find themselves in a spooky house inhabited by a nut who is a mechanical genius...

Movie page

Cockeyed Cavaliers

as Lady Genevieve
Released: 1934-06-29

Two yokels try to crash royal society by posing as the King's physicians.

Movie page

Trial Marriage

as Grace Logan
Released: 1929-03-10

Constance Bannister enters into a trial marriage contract with Dr. Thorvald Ware and finds...

Movie page

Maids a la Mode

as Miss Todd
Released: 1933-03-04

Instead of delivering some fancy dresses to a customer, the girls wear them to a party.

Movie page

The Bachelor Girl

as Gladys
Released: 1929-05-20

Joyce (Jacqueline Logan), a beautiful and efficient secretary, does her best to take in hand and...

Movie page

No Limit

as Betty Royce
Released: 1931-01-15

Theater usherette Bunny O'Day (Clara Bow) inadvertently becomes hostess of a private gambling...

Movie page

Deception

as Lola Del Mont
Released: 1932-11-04

Modest programmer denotes a young man's rise to fame in wrestling matches he doesn't realize...

Movie page

House of Horror

as Thelma
Released: 1929-04-28

House of Horror is a 1929 American comedy-horror mystery film directed by Benjamin Christensen....

Movie page

The King

as The Queen
Released: 1930-06-14

The king is a juvenile dolt who tries the patience of the shrewish queen. While she's in the...

Movie page

High C's

as Antoinette
Released: 1930-12-27

The comic and musical adventures of Charley Chase as he fights in the great war.

Movie page

Heart to Heart

as Ruby Boyd
Released: 1928-07-22

Princess Delatorre, young and beautiful widow of an Italian scion of royalty, returns with her...

Movie page

Treasure Blues

as Thelma
Released: 1935-01-26

Thelma and Patsy follow a map looking for treasure.

Movie page

Done in Oil

as Thelma Todd aka Mlle. La Todd
Released: 1934-11-10

Thelma tries to pass herself off as a famous French painter.

Movie page

The Soilers

as Thelma
Released: 1932-10-29

Zasu and Thelma are working their way through college by selling magazine subscriptions. Finding...

Movie page

Hurdy Gurdy

as Blondie
Released: 1929-05-10

A heat wave sends the residents of a New York City tenement to their fire escapes for whatever...

Movie page

Snappy Sneezer

as Mary White
Released: 1929-07-29

Charley falls in love with Mary, but his attack of hay fever alienates her father.

Movie page

Air Fright

as Thelma
Released: 1933-12-23

The girls are stewardesses on an experimental flight.

Movie page

Cheating Blondes

as Anne Merrick / Elaine Manners
Released: 1933-05-01

A reporter sets out to prove that his girlfriend was framed and sent to prison.

Movie page

Bum Voyage

as Thelma
Released: 1934-12-15

The girls find a pair of steamship tickets, not knowing that the cabin the tickets are for is...

Movie page

The Shield of Honor

as Rose aka Flora Fisher
Released: 1927-12-10

Can Jack MacDowell, the first flying policeman on the force, save his dad from stop-at-nothing...

Movie page

Backs to Nature

as Thelma
Released: 1933-11-14

The girls are going on a camping trip.

Movie page

Two for Tonight

as Lilly
Released: 1935-09-12

A songwriter has to come up with a full-length theatrical piece within a few days.

Movie page

Careers

as Hortense
Released: 1929-06-02

In French Indochina, a magistrate is assigned to investigate the murder of his boss. Unknown to...

Movie page

Air Hostess

as Mrs. Sylvia C. Carleton
Released: 1933-01-15

A plucky stewardess risks her life marrying a daredevil pilot.

Movie page

Top Flat

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1935-12-21

When Patsy criticises her poetry, Thelma ups and leaves for a better standard of living.

Movie page

Rough Seas

as Antoinette
Released: 1931-04-24

On his way home following World War I, Charley smuggles his French sweetheart aboard ship and...

Movie page

Crazy Feet

as Dancer
Released: 1929-09-07

Charley intervenes in a fight between Eddie and Thelma inside her small car. Cop Kennedy...

Movie page

Sitting Pretty

as Gloria Duval
Released: 1933-11-23

Jack Oakie and Jack Haley are songwriters are enroute from New York to Hollywood to make their...

Movie page

Twin Triplets

as Thelma
Released: 1935-10-12

Thelma and Patsy are reporters who investigate a hospital.

Movie page

Hotter Than Hot

as uncredited
Released: 1929-08-17

Harry is trapped with a blonde in a burning building.

Movie page

The Haunted House

as The Nurse
Released: 1928-11-04

Four heirs to a family fortune are summoned to appear at the family estate for the reading of...

Movie page

The Real McCoy

as Thelma
Released: 1930-02-01

Charley poses as a hillbilly in his pursuit of a country girl.

Movie page

Love Fever

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1931-04-11

An actress is rehearsing a death scene in her apartment, but her neighbors all think it's the...

Movie page

Fascinating Youth

as Lorraine Lane
Released: 1926-03-17

Playboy Teddy Ward wants to marry Jeannie King, an artist, but his father wants him to marry...

Movie page

Sky Boy

as uncredited
Released: 1929-10-05

Harry lands on an iceberg with his rival.

Movie page

Stepping Out

as Charley's Wife
Released: 1929-11-02

Charley goes out for an evening on the town without his wife.

Movie page

Sneak Easily

as Miss Thelma Todd - Attorney for the Defense
Released: 1932-12-10

Juror Zasu accidentally swallows a piece of evidence which just happens to be a time bomb.

Movie page

The Nickel Nurser

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1932-03-12

Charley is an efficiency expert trying to teach a millionaire's daughter the value of money.

Movie page

Sing Sister Sing

as Thelma
Released: 1935-03-02

At a residence hotel, Patsy is moving in with Thelma. Thelma has prepared some rules, including...

Movie page

Babes in the Goods

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1934-02-10

Thelma and Patsy get jobs demonstrating washing machines in a department store window. However,...

Movie page

Soup and Fish

as Miss Thelma Todd
Released: 1934-03-30

At a ritzy beauty salon, while a mud pack is on her face, a wealthy socialite invites Thelma and...

Movie page

Naughty Baby

as Bonnie Le Vonne
Released: 1928-12-16

A cloak room girl (Alice White) falls for a rich boy who may not actually be rich.

Movie page

The Shrimp

as Jim's Girlfriend
Released: 1930-05-03

A timid man undergoes a personality change, and turns the tables on the people who've bullied him.

Movie page

The Crash

as Daisy McQueen
Released: 1928-10-07

The Crash (1928)

Movie page

The Bargain of the Century

as Thelma
Released: 1933-04-08

Comedy short with ZaSuPitts and Thelma Todd. After accidentally getting a policeman friend...

Movie page

Rubber Heels

as Princess Aline
Released: 1927-06-11

A European royal couple come to New York to sell some of the royal family's crown jewels. A gang...

Movie page

All Teed Up

as Thelma
Released: 1930-04-16

Thelma invites Charley to play golf at her father's exclusive country club.

Movie page

The Fighting Parson

as The Blonde Dance Hall Girl
Released: 1930-02-06

Harry is mistaken for "The Fighting Parson" in a tough western town.

Movie page

Three Chumps Ahead

as Thelma Todd
Released: 1934-07-14

Thelma rushes into the apartment she shares with Patsy, excited because she's fallen in love...

Movie page

Hal Roach Presents Harry Langdon

as The Woman
Released: 1929-04-01

Hal Roach produced this short to introduce Harry Langdon to his comic line-up.

Movie page

Buzzfeed Unsolved: True Crime

as Self (archive footage)
First aired: 2016-02-04

Hosts Ryan & Shane discuss mysteries surrounding notorious unsolved crimes.

TV Show page