Dorothy Kilgallen story optioned for big screen biopic
October 3rd, 2008 by Scott Marks
Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen & John Charles Daly
November 8, 1965 was the last time Dorothy Kilgallen, syndicated columnist of The Voice of Broadway, appeared as a member of the What’s My Line? panel. Twelve hours after that live Sunday night broadcast, Ms. Kilgallen was found dead on the third floor of her five-story New York townhouse.
It was her 515th stint as a regular panelist on the popular and erudite (by game show standards) quiz program and for years controversy has surrounded her death. Viewers of her last show saw a visibly disoriented Ms. Kilgallen slur, sweat and stammer her way through the thirty minute program. A career substance abuser (mostly booze), when her hairdresser arrived the next morning, he discovered the lifeless body of the chinless columnist. The cause of death was listed as a combination of alcohol and Seconal, possibly concurrent with a heart attack. Unable to determine whether or not her demise was a suicide or an accident, medical examiner James Luke added “circumstances undetermined” to the death certificate.
According to Variety, producer John Davis (Dudley Do-Right, I Robot, Fat Albert, Norbit) has optioned Good Night, Dorothy Kilgallen, a proposal for an expose book by Paul Alexander that ties the columnist’s death to her investigation of the JFK assassination. Kilgallen was an outspoken critic of the Warren Commission. A friend of JFK’s, she began a crusade to single-handedly uncover a conspiracy behind his murder. She conducted an interview with assassin’s assassin Jack Ruby that purported to contain important new information on the murder of President Kennedy. She conceived the interview as a centerpiece for her expose Murder One, Alexander’s book insists that Kilgallen died mysteriously and the notebooks containing the information she was about to publish disappeared.
While the Kennedy cover-up might have been her last bout with controversy, it wasn’t her first. Frank Sinatra refused to appear on What’s My Line due to a long standing feud with the singer that began after an antagonistic 1956 article titled The Frank Sinatra Story. Frank went out of his was to belittle the “chinless wonder” in his Vegas act and it wasn’t until years after her death that Sinatra finally agreed to appear as a WML? mystery guest. In addition to Mr. Sinatra, she also fought with Jack Paar and Arthur Godfrey. Her feud with Paar was based on his support of Fidel Castro and Kilgallen, a staunch anti-Communist, criticized him for it.
Producer John Davis will bring the project to Fox through his first-look deal. No talk yet of who they will get to play Ms. Kilgallen, but I’m rooting for Patricia Clarkson. As for the Bennett Cerf role, my vote goes to Dave Thomas! Sadly, SCTV’s What’s My Shoe Size? is no longer available on YouTube, so you’ll just have to make due with the real thing.
Tags: Arlene Francis, Bennett Cerf, Dorothy Kilgallen, dorothy kilgallon, dorothy killgallon, dorothykilgallen, Good Night Dorothy Kilgallen, jack ruby, Jerry Lewis, John Charles Daly, john davis, kenedy assassination, kennedy conspiracy, paul alexander, syndicated columnist, the voice of broadway, Video, Whats My LineShare: 
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27 Responses to “Dorothy Kilgallen story optioned for big screen biopic”
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The WML panel pays tribute to Dorothy the week after she died (fast forward to 6:36):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9O4fvQ_4n80
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Dorothy’s dad as mystery guest:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j7DJBTxVAWY
I combed YouTube for Dotty’s last show and came up empty. Glad you were able to provide some evidence.
I find it repulsive of Scott Mark to imply that Mrs. Kilgallen was in any way different on her last show which was aired on Youtube. Scott Mark wrote: ” Viewers of her last show saw a visibly disoriented Ms. Kilgallen slur, sweat and stammer her way through the thirty minute program. A career substance abuser (mostly booze), when her hairdresser arrived the next morning, he discovered the lifeless body of the chinless columnist.” Anyone who saw or, will see her last show, will notice that her voice is more mature because she was older there than in the ealier episodes which we are used to seeing but, she in NO WAY SLURRED OR SWEATED NOR DID SHE STAMMER! If anyone wants to check out her last show, they should do so to see the truth. Anyone who is interested in the real story behind her murder should go to this link: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/ For God sake, do not listen to people like Scott Mark.
Mr. Scott Mark indicated that he could not find Dorothy’s last appearance on Youtube. How strange. I had no trouble at all. Go to the following link. See for yourselves if she “slurred, stammered, or was disariented”. I rest my case. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfjkQE-l2Ho&feature=related
Enough said!
The precise website to see all the real facts surrounding Doroth’s death is as follows: http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/JFKkilgallen.htm
How can you look at this video and tell me that Dorothy doesn’t appear disoriented? It’s November, Arleen is wearing a heavy fur and Dorothy is sweating like a pig. Look at how shiny her face is. That’s sweat, Wayne not lanolin. Dotty’s autopsy did not suggest evidence of homicide. Believe all the conspiracy theories you want, she died because she washed down Seconal with booze.
As for the slurring, I must have confused this episode with another one of her later appearances. She was sauced on several of her final appearances. Your a good YouTube sleuth, Wayne. Find the episode from 1965 where she can’t get out the words “professor” or “Fort Lauderdale” because she was high on something.
Hmmmm, Seconal and booze-just like Marilyn Monroe. How interesting! Were you aware that Bobby Kennedy was issued a speeding ticket just blocks away from Monroe’s home the night they found her dead? How can you discount the following facts surrounding Mrs. Dorothy Kilgallen?: “(1) Kilgallen was not sleeping in her normal bedroom. Instead she was in the master bedroom, a room she had not occupied for several years.(2) Kilgallen was wearing false eyelashes. According to Sinclaire she always took her eyelashes off before she went to bed.(Women must do this to avoid infection)(3) She was found sitting up with the book, The Honey Badger, by Robert Ruark, on her lap. Sinclaire (Her Butler)claims that she had finished reading the book several weeks earlier (she had discussed the book with Sinclaire at the time). (4) Kilgallen had poor eyesight and could only read with the aid of glasses. Her glasses were not found in the bedroom where she died.(5) Kilgallen was found wearing a bolero-type blouse over a nightgown. Sinclaire claimed that this was the kind of thing “she would never wear to go to bed”.”
I am not a big “conspiracy” believer, trust me. Let me see though: Bobby Kennedy was near Monroe when she died. Ted Kennedy was near Mary Joe K. when she died. (I know, you must think that the car drove itself into the water. FIVE FEET of water, I might add. How tall was Kennedy and Mary Jo K.?)Then, there is the nasty little business with Martha Moxley. (I know, she beat herself or fell out of a tree.)Do you see a patern? Four women dead. Mary Jo K., Monroe, Moxley, and Kilgallen. Bad luck for the poor Kennedys? I think not. Another thing. Women can be bloated for reasons associated with their monthly period. She can perspire because of this too. I saw no evidence where she “slurred, or “stammered” and if you watch her walk out onto the stage, I can’t imagine you thinking that is someone who is drunk. Maybe you did not like Dorothy but, I did. In an era when women still considered it a matter of pride to be pretty, Mrs. Dorothy Kilgallen stood out. Maybe, you are a Kennedy fan. I can’t imagine why though. One more thing. Monroe was found to have the lethal dose pills inside her rectum. Experiment for you. Grow your fingernails to that of Monroe’s length. Then, try to insert pills up your own anus and see how successful you are. If 2+2 don’t =4 then, something is wrong. Good luck.
Dorothy Kilgallen pretty? On what planet? Now I know you’re insane. Martin Gabel was hotter.
Mrs. Dorothy Kilgallen was a very pretty woman on the inside which made her a very attractive woman on the outside. She took great pleasure in her appearance with a certain pride that you don’t see in women today. While she was no Racheal Welsh, she had her own style. How many women today still qualify to be called ladies? In any case, regardless of what she looked like, she didn’t deserve to be murdered. Martin Gabel “HOT”?He was a nice guy but, “hot” does not seem to apply. I guess beauty is in the eye of the beholder. “Hot” applies, in my mind, to Jean-Claude VanDamme or Mark Wahlberg. Don’t you wish you had an ass like them? lol.
I have to agree that she was no Racheal Welsh.
I am trying to act out of character by being nice. Thanks for pitching in, Matt. ;)
I looked at the clip. To paraphrase a line from “Broadcast News”: “I don’t think Nixon sweated that much”.
I’m growing out my fingernails to try the experiment suggested by Mr. Coleman. Please advise what the proper length will be and which pills in what amounts I should attempt to insert into my anus, and how far I’ll have to insert them before this is considered a proper recreation of the event. (I thought perhaps Ms. Monroe had dissolved them in water and taken them as an enema as pillheads have done since time immemorial but what do I know?)
I once shoved a Contac capsule filled with coke up my butt and went and saw “2001″ if that helps.
Was Dorothy killed off in a JFK conspiracy? Why not ask Kilgallen herself? She has a MySpace account:
http://profile.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewprofile&friendID=211102622
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The clip of Kilgallen slurring the words “Fort Lah-herdale” while on pills isn’t available on YouTube anymore.
However, here’s a clip with Jack Paar as the mystery guest from 1960. Kilgallen and Paar were in the middle of a tiff over Fidel Castro and Paar’s responses to Kilgallen are “icy” at best.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GscbqF9tP50
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For God sake, do not listen to people like Scott Mark.
Now they tell me…
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Was this the guy who killed Kilgallen?:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52dnGoLSPXs
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Martin Gabel was hotter? Hotter than Cesar Romero?
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Racheal Welsh went with Bib Hape on his SUO tour of VietCong in 1967. She also sturred in the 1972 film “Kinsus Citty Bumber”!
I think it would take a Contac filled with coke to get you to go see that movie in the first place.
Rob:
I almost peed my pants looking through all of Dotty’s dead friends on MySpace. I think Luis Castenada killed her by flapping her to death with his ears. As for Martin Gabel, he was so tiny that he could blow Cesar Romero standing up. And for God’s sake, Gary Coleman is right. Don’t listen to me. I’m always putting my chin in other people’s business.
Matt:
How right you are. Actually, it was not I who was looking for a Contac high, but a buddy who went to see “2001″ at the CineramaDome. He said it worked, but I’m allergic to over the counter meds and couldn’t insert the rolled up dollar bill in my keester. As you know, my backdoor is strictly for outgoing messages.
I believe that it is probably more true that Scott Mark was slurring, and stammering, etc. when he watched the show. Also Scotty Frank Sinatra did not refuse to be on WML he was never invited until after Miss kilgallens death. His daughter Nancy did appear on the show with Miss Kilgallen.
Frank was never invited to do the show? They invited every celeb to me a mystery guest save the Chairman of the Board. Are you insane? Everybody wanted a piece of Frank and that goes triple for those ratings whores Goodson and Todman. Frank waited until he was certain that the old broad was dead before setting foot on that show. Here is a link to the Sinatra Family Forum where they discuss Frank’s appearance. Nancy adds a comment to the thread and never once stops to correct the posters who know that Frank snubbed the show because of his hatred of Kilgallen. Have another drink, K.J. and crawl back into bed with Jack Ruby.
http://www.sinatrafamily.com/forum/showthread.php?t=27795
After Kilgallen published the story you referred to in your article that pissed Sinatra off, Frank sent Dorothy a unique gift to her newspaper office: a tombstone with her name on it.
When Dorothy died, Frank was given the news over dinner with friends (plenty of witnesses to his reaction.
“Too bad.” Wait a beat. “Well, I guess this means I’ll have to change my act!”
Marvelous!
Sad news: After many, many, many black & white overnights, the Game Show Network pulled the plug on its two last remaining B&Ws: “To Tell The Truth” and “What’s My Line?”.
The original “Password” isn’t a bad substitute (color episodes only) but do we really need another slot showing “Family Feud” with Richard Karn?
Now I know my Tivo stopped recording episodes of “What’s My Line?” - I so hoped to get Kilgallen slurring “Fort Lahh-urr-dale”.
I was dogsitting for a friend last week who had GSN and I noticed that they had yanked the two shows. It was so good seeing Giselle Mackenzie and Charles Laughton as mystery guests. Well, at least we have Jerry and Audrey Meadows to look forward to on “Password.”
What I typed in April, 2009: “I so hoped to get Kilgallen slurring “Fort Lahh-urr-dale”.
Zoom ahead to the 1:45 mark:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YW8qFj1G5j0
I love this calm and composed mental patient, but it’s no “Po-fessor” or “Fohr Lawh-duh-dale.”
Dumbest, most peurile, and “bitchy” thread I’ve ever read on any forum. Sounds more like a cat fight in some gay bar on Christopher Street than a forum for dissemination of information.
What’s wrong with you people? Who cares if she wasn’t Raquel Welsh? The woman was a gifted journalist, a writer, and, in view of all the witnesses and investigators who also met untimely demises, there is no doubt she was murdered. Not on my part, anyway.
Regarding the “assassination,” if you don’t think it was a conspiracy you haven’t read Joan Mellen’s “A Farewell to Justice.” Period.
“Dumbest, most peurile (sic), and “bitchy” thread I’ve ever read on any forum.”
God knows, I try! Call it artificial dissemination.
And speaking of dumb, it’s Raquel Welch, nitz.