On September 1, 1948, after a string of successful films for RKO,
Mitchum and actress Lila Leeds were arrested for possession of
marijuana. The arrest was the result of a sting operation designed to
capture other Hollywood partiers as well, but Mitchum and Leeds did not
receive the tipoff.
After serving a week at the county jail,
(he described the experience to a reporter as being "like Palm Springs,
but without the riff-raff") Mitchum spent 43 days (February 16 to March
30) at a Castaic, California, prison farm, with Life magazine
photographers right there taking photos of him mopping up in his prison
uniform. The arrest became the inspiration for the exploitation film She
Shoulda Said No! (1949), which starred Leeds. The conviction was later
overturned by the Los Angeles court and District Attorney's office on
January 31, 1951, with the following statement, after it was exposed as a
setup:
“After an exhaustive
investigation of the evidence and testimony presented at the trial, the
court orders that the verdict of guilty be set aside and that a plea of
not guilty be entered and that the information or complaint be
dismissed.”
Whether despite, or because of, his troubles with
the law and his studio, the films released immediately after his arrest
were box-office hits
On September 1, 1948, after a string of successful films for RKO,
Mitchum and actress Lila Leeds were arrested for possession of
marijuana. The arrest was the result of a sting operation designed to
capture other Hollywood partiers as well, but Mitchum and Leeds did not
receive the tipoff.
After serving a week at the county jail, (he described the experience to a reporter as being "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff") Mitchum spent 43 days (February 16 to March 30) at a Castaic, California, prison farm, with Life magazine photographers right there taking photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform. The arrest became the inspiration for the exploitation film She Shoulda Said No! (1949), which starred Leeds. The conviction was later overturned by the Los Angeles court and District Attorney's office on January 31, 1951, with the following statement, after it was exposed as a setup:
“After an exhaustive investigation of the evidence and testimony presented at the trial, the court orders that the verdict of guilty be set aside and that a plea of not guilty be entered and that the information or complaint be dismissed.”
Whether despite, or because of, his troubles with the law and his studio, the films released immediately after his arrest were box-office hits
After serving a week at the county jail, (he described the experience to a reporter as being "like Palm Springs, but without the riff-raff") Mitchum spent 43 days (February 16 to March 30) at a Castaic, California, prison farm, with Life magazine photographers right there taking photos of him mopping up in his prison uniform. The arrest became the inspiration for the exploitation film She Shoulda Said No! (1949), which starred Leeds. The conviction was later overturned by the Los Angeles court and District Attorney's office on January 31, 1951, with the following statement, after it was exposed as a setup:
“After an exhaustive investigation of the evidence and testimony presented at the trial, the court orders that the verdict of guilty be set aside and that a plea of not guilty be entered and that the information or complaint be dismissed.”
Whether despite, or because of, his troubles with the law and his studio, the films released immediately after his arrest were box-office hits
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