'50s film producer shot movie star wife's agent after being 'gripped by a jealous rage': book
Walter Wanger, who suspected that his movie star wife was having an affair, had enough.
On Dec. 13, 1951, the once hotshot film producer, who had fallen on hard times, grabbed his gun, determined to teach Joan Bennett and her Hollywood agent, Jennings Lang, a lesson. Wanger headed to MCA, Lang’s agency, where he saw his spouse’s Cadillac convertible parked outside.
Hours later, after the sun had set, the couple arrived in Lang’s car. Wanger, who was "gripped by a jealous rage," leaped out of his vehicle and confronted the pair. Following a war of words, Wanger shot Lang twice. One bullet grazed the agent’s thigh, while the other struck him in the groin.
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The shooting that rocked Hollywood during its golden era is featured in a new book, "Beverly Hills Noir: Crime, Sin, & Scandal in 90210," by author and longtime People magazine contributor Scott Huver. It explores some of the most outrageous incidents to occur in the star-studded city.
"When [Wanger] made the decision to physically confront his wife and her agent, he was in a bad place financially and emotionally," Huver told Fox News Digital.
"He was on top of the world in Hollywood," Huver shared. "He was a very influential, respected producer. And when things started to go badly, his whole self-image was beginning to crumble.
"He’d certainly made insinuations that he was willing to take some kind of action when he realized that his wife was involved with her representative. But I think what pushed him over the edge was the actual receiving of the reports from the private detective that confirmed all his suspicions."
"Once he knew, it just gnawed at him," Huver continued. "It was a compulsion. He had to get in their faces. Look at how sloppily he did it — he did it outside the talent agency in the parking lot, which happened to be directly across the street from the Beverly Hills City Hall and police station. It wasn’t some stealth operation. It was the act of a desperate man."
At the time, Wanger had declared bankruptcy, although creditors didn’t believe him, The Hollywood Reporter revealed. Huver pointed out that Wanger became dependent on Bennett to pay their bills.
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Meanwhile, he hired a private eye to follow her, who later shared that she and Lang were spending time together in New Orleans, in the Caribbean and in the Beverly Hills apartment of agent Jay Kanter, one of Wanger’s friends.
"Joan Bennett and Jennings Lang grew close when Walter Wanger’s fortune hit the skids," Huver explained. "She became the breadwinner when they were in danger of losing their house… which was initially her house built on her fortune from making movies. So, as she was trying to support their family, their children, she became more and more reliant on Jennings Lang, who was truly a terrific agent… and he was a great-looking guy.
"They became so enmeshed that, yes, there was a heat between them, but I think she became pretty dependent on [Lang] emotionally when her husband wasn’t there for her as he was dealing with his own struggles in the business."
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Wanger and Bennett married in 1940. While he was a well-known womanizer, she yearned for a conventional home life.
"He was a powerful man in Hollywood, and he expected that everything was going to be his way," Huver explained. "Now, he had previously been married, and in that marriage, it was reportedly an open marriage, and neither he nor his wife had any issues with any relationships that happened outside.
"But Joan was pretty insistent on a traditional marriage, even though she’d been married a couple of times… She wanted a traditional family. She wanted stability."
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Wanger and Bennett seemingly had a "picture-perfect marriage" and were a Hollywood power couple, Huver pointed out. But when Wanger began to lose his grip on his star status and finances, it "pushed him to the brink."
"They used the defense of a bluish flash going off in his brain that pushed him to this," said Huver. "And… in a way, that’s… what happened. He finally just snapped… And even though what was good for him wasn’t good for her on paper, he just decided that he could no longer tolerate it."
While Bennett had sought comfort in Lang, Huver said he wouldn’t call the relationship "a full-on love affair."
"It seemed to be something they were both invested in," he explained. "It went on for quite some time. But as soon as the jig was up, they didn’t try to resume it. They didn’t spend time together after that. There [weren’t] any love letters that anybody knows about being passed back and forth."
Police were just "steps away" when a bleeding Lang was raced to the hospital. Bennett, who was "wide-eyed with horror," quickly regained her composure and got to business.
"She made sure that Jennings… was going to be taken care of, and then showed up at the police station to face… whatever music she needed to face," said Huver. "The police chief of Beverly Hills was a very tough character, and she went toe-to-toe with him and held her own. She both impressed him and earned his grudging respect."
"Then she faced the press," said Huver. "She knew that to hide from it and try to dodge it was not going to be an effective strategy. She was going to be hunted and stalked. So, she welcomed the press into her own home to have a press conference. While kind of dismissing the idea that Walter had any reason to act, she also told the public she hoped they wouldn’t think badly of Hollywood people because of this incident."
"That’s how the old Hollywood system worked, trying to put the best face forward, put the best spin on it, don’t alienate the ticket-buying public," said Huver. "It was… a masterclass. And she handled it shockingly well."
Lang survived. Wanger was put on trial for assault with a deadly weapon, The Hollywood Reporter shared. According to the outlet, Wanger pleaded temporary insanity as he was helped by "super lawyer Jerry Giesler and a coterie of Hollywood A-listers."
Wanger was sentenced to four months in jail, The New York Times reported.
Huver said that Bennett’s relationship with Lang ended in a flash. As Lang recovered, the pair "went about repairing the damage they’d done to their families."
After Wanger was released, he experienced a brief Hollywood comeback.
"He was determined to make these socially minded prison movies like ‘I Want to Live!,’ which got Susan Hayward an Oscar. It really put him right back on top again," said Huver.
Wanger’s career was undone by his last film, which was also his biggest ever — 1963’s "Cleopatra." It nearly bankrupted 20th Century Fox.
"At the core of that film’s failure was an adulterous affair behind the scenes with Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton that turned the public off," said Huver.
Lang also thrived after the shooting. Huver said his agency bought Universal Studios, where he became an executive.
"He saw the invention of TV movies, essentially," said Huver. "He [also] worked on the big disaster movies of the ‘70s… which were huge sensations."
Bennett, once a sought-after siren, was blackballed by Hollywood.
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"Within a short time, it was painfully clear that I was a professional outcast in Hollywood, one of the ‘untouchables,’" she wrote, as quoted by Vanity Fair. "I was excommunicated. Evidence lies in the fact that before Dec. 13, 1951, I’d made 65 movies in 23 years. In the decade that followed, I made five."
According to the outlet, Bennett was forced to sell her home. When she expressed a desire to get a divorce and relocate to New York to pursue a career in theater, Wanger threatened a custody battle, the outlet reported. Their divorce was finalized in 1965.
"She stayed in the marriage for some time, even though it eventually became quite loveless," said Huver. "She did come back with a couple of cool horror projects later in her career. She was on the TV soap opera 'Dark Shadows,' which is [still] a huge cult hit."
Wanger passed away in 1968. Bennett died in 1990, followed by Lang in 1996.
"Given that this blew up all of their lives in 1951, they managed to keep things together well enough to enjoy life later on," said Huver.