Walter Wanger: The producer who shot a man, pled insanity, and then made the most expensive movie of all time
Jealousy can be a real kicker, and it can make you do crazy things.
For Hollywood producer Walter Wanger, it made him grab his gun and fire it several times at the man he suspected was having an affair with his wife.
You’d think that would be a career-ending move, but privilege really is a wonderful thing, isn’t it? After the whole ordeal, he managed to produce the most expensive movie ever made. Clearly, karma didn’t properly do its thing.
Let’s go back to 1940, when the 46-year-old producer married 30-year-old Little Women star Joan Bennett. Soon, they were collaborating with each other, like when Wanger produced the Fritz Lang movie Scarlet Street, in which Bennett had a leading role. Yet, within a decade, Wanger’s career was starting to become strained, and his life seemed to be falling apart. Things only headed further south for him when he started to suspect Bennett of having an affair, so there was only one thing to do – he had to start sniffing around for evidence.
After hiring a private investigator, it didn’t take long for Wanger to acquire all the evidence he needed to confirm his suspicions. Bennett was apparently getting it on with the agent Jennings Lang, who worked for the MCA talent agency. Tragically, Lang’s wife, Flora, would die only a few months after the whole scandal from a heart attack.
Whether the pair were actually having an affair is anyone’s guess, but Wanger clearly felt he’d gathered enough evidence to suggest as much. Flora, on the other hand, was adamant her husband would never stray. Wanger wasn’t so sure.
So what’s the sensible move in a situation like that? Have a quiet word with the bloke you reckon is messing about with your missus? Brush it off and keep your cool? There are plenty of ways to handle it – but naturally, Wanger chose the most ridiculous option of the lot.
He shot him.
One shot got dangerously close to Lang’s nether region, but luckily, it grazed the top of his thigh and left him injured but alive. When Wanger was arrested, he had his excuse ready – he was insane. His attempts to get out scot-free didn’t exactly work, however, and he served four months in a detention centre in Los Angeles before re-emerging, his career seemingly unaffected by the fact that he had shot at a man in a jealous rage.
As soon as he was out of jail, he was straight back to producing, with his first project being 1952’s Lady in the Iron Mask. Then he produced the classic horror film Invasion of the Body Snatchers before focusing on what would be his final project – and most expensive. He produced Cleopatra, the Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton vehicle, something that Wanger had been contemplating for a while, before his arrest. It seemed to make no difference to other Hollywood officials that this was a man who literally turned to gun violence a decade before. He still had the power to make millions.
Wanger never really faced the true consequences of his actions, while Bennett was shamed for her infidelity. Her career suffered while Wanger pummelled his money into Cleopatra, which became the most expensive movie ever made at the time with a budget of $31.1 million. It became notorious because of the amount of money spent on it, and luckily for Wanger it actually paid off, becoming one of the most successful movies of the year. Hollywood really does favour the most shameless men, letting them get away with just about anything.
