Greenwood, South Carolina, December 16, 1944

Lupe Vélez, a Mexican actress, had been linked romantically from the 1920′s to the 1940′s with many famous actors, such as Charlie Chaplin, Errol Flynn, Gary Cooper, John Gilbert and Clark Gable; boxers Jack Dempsey and Jack Johnson; and married from 1933 to 1939 to Johnny Weissmuller, best known for his role as Tarzan.

Gary Cooper and  Lupe Vélez:

Her two year relationship with Gary Cooper, beginning in 1929, was rocky. Newspapers across the country ran accounts where Vélez chased Cooper around with a knife, sometimes so badly he needed stitches. By the time Cooper ended things in 1931, at the behest of his friends and disapproving mother, he had lost 45 pounds and was in danger of having a nervous collapse. When his film studio, Paramount, offered him a vacation before his next filming, which Cooper gladly accepted. At the train station, when he was about to board, Vélez appeared, and began to fire a pistol at him.

Herald Raymond and  Lupe Vélez:

In the Summer of 1944 she began a casual relationship with Harald Ramond, and struggling Austrian actor. Their relationship took a more serious turn in September, when she discovered she was pregnant. By November, the couple had announced their engagement, but on December 11, Lupe publicly called it off. Ramond later testified that they had argued fiercely, in one late argument he told her he was only marrying her so the baby would have a name. Three days later, December 14, she was found dead, lying on her bed from an overdose of barbiturates. She had taken 75 Seconal pills and had drank a glass of brandy. A suicide note found nearby read:

“To Harald, May God forgive you and forgive me too, but I prefer to take my life away and our baby’s before I bring him with shame or killing him. - Lupe.”

and on the back:

”How could you, Harald, fake such a great love for me and our baby when all the time you didn’t want us? I see no other way out for me so goodbye and good luck to you, Love Lupe.“ 

It was said by actress Estelle Taylor that Lupe had told her she would rather kill herself than have an abortion. This was because Vélez was a Roman Caltholic, but a lot of conspiracy theories floated about, some even going so far as to claim Gary Cooper might have been the father of the baby, paying Ramond to play the father.

At the funeral Gilbert Roland, who was married to the actress Constance Bennett at the time, acted as pall bearer with her ex-husband, Johnny Weissmuller.

Lupe Vélez has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6927 Hollywood Boulevard. She was only 36 when she died.