The Mammoth Book of Celebrity Murders (38 page)

But Novarro could never quite quench his thirst for acting and continued to accept cameo roles, eventually making his last film in 1960. With television emerging as the new entertainment medium
Novarro even managed a few fleeting scenes on some of the new programmes, although these were the death throes of his career. Thereafter he slid into practical obscurity, though he had earned and
invested so well that he was able to continue to enjoy a fabulously wealthy lifestyle.

Looking back over his career in a late 1960s interview with Dewitt Bodeen, for
Films Review
, he claimed that he didn’t like any of the talking movies in which he had appeared. Just
as before he seemed refreshingly frank and honest, without any hint of ego. Novarro forged great friendships on the strength of his normality, always being thought of as a gentleman; it was to come
as a great shock to those who loved him when they discovered the horrible details of his death.

He continued to live a lavish lifestyle, the evidence of his wealth plain to see from his cars to the luxurious Laurel Canyon home in which he lived in North Hollywood. The address alone bore
witness to Novarro’s financial credentials and in due course it would attract the men who would tragically end his life.

With Novarro’s new-found obscurity came the freedom to enjoy his life more, and enjoy it he did. He craved the company of young men and found that buying their services presented a better
solution to the fulfilment of his sexual needs. The deal was always clear cut – money in exchange for sex, no complications and no attachments, though visitors to the ageing actor’s
home always enjoyed a warm welcome and were invited to make themselves comfortable. He would supply food and drink, providing a more cultured environment in which to conduct bought-in pleasures. As
always Novarro was a true gentleman, asking for nothing other than to be treated in the same fair way that he treated those around him.

To secure the services of the young men whose company he desired, Novarro would often have to risk cruising in his car along the streets and lanes of Hollywood and Los Angeles. He was always
careful for his heavily protected private life would have suffered enormously if he had endured the ignominy of arrest. He was certainly lucky as he was never caught procuring sexual services and
managed to find many willing partners. In order to minimize the amount of kerb-crawling required to find partners, Novarro often gave out his private telephone number to those young men who he
trusted and who he thought he might want to see again. It was through this naive openness that his killers were able to secure an invitation to the old man’s home.

On the evening of 30 October 1968, the night before Halloween, 68-year-old Ramon Novarro awaited the arrival of two male acquaintances who had phoned him and asked if he would like to share an
evening with them. He knew what they meant and it was the kind of invitation he liked to extend. Dressed in a red and blue robe, looking every inch the tanned older movie star, he sat in excited
anticipation.

The two men who had arranged the visit, brothers Paul and Tom Ferguson, both hustlers and both used to taking money off men in exchange for sexual favours, had a different agenda that evening.
They were aware of Novarro’s wealth and were intent on taking more than the fee for sex, having been told, wrongly, that Novarro was known to keep a large stash of cash at his house and it
was this they were after. Their victim was a closet gay, he was old and frail and neither of the young men envisaged anything other than an easy night’s work. If they were successful it would
be unlikely that the rich old man would want to involve the police as the lost money would be small in comparison to the man’s wealth and the potential publicity of a police investigation
would be hugely damaging.

When Novarro opened the door to his Laurel Canyon home he was pleased to see the strong-looking young men. He greeted his guests warmly, welcoming 22-year-old Paul and his 17-year-old brother
Tom into his home.

Despite his occasional sexual urges, Novarro often simply sought company; he was in effect a lonely old man. Having never married he had no children or family to share his twilight years. His
contemporaries in the field of acting had either passed away or were too frail to socialize; he was therefore left to his own devices.

Once his guests were ensconced in the living room he poured drinks and indulged them in easy conversation. Moving to the piano Novarro played them a song, one he had written himself; to his
delight the younger of the two brothers showed great interest and asked if he could try to play it. Novarro spent time showing the young man how to play the notes and for a while was happy to
pretend that he wasn’t paying for the two men’s company. After a while he showed them a photograph of himself dressed in a toga, one of the publicity photos for the
Ben Hur
movie. The photograph prompted more casual conversation with Paul joking that the man in the photo didn’t look like Novarro, who was by now keen to impress his young friends even more.
Somewhat out of character and possibly intent on showing his young guests that he still enjoyed some clout in Hollywood, he phoned a film publicist and instructed him that he wanted to arrange a
meeting for someone who he thought had star potential – one of the boys.

As the drinks continued to flow Paul and Novarro moved to the bedroom where the two men engaged in a sex act. With Novarro naked on the bed and young Tom still downstairs, Paul dressed quickly
and turned his attention back to his client – his mood had changed in an instant, the tender affections of the well-built young man now replaced by a sudden cold stare. As Paul stood above
the old man he demanded the $5,000 that he had heard were kept in the house.

Novarro, shocked and frightened at the sudden change of behaviour of his guest, was at pains to point out that he never kept that type of money in the house. He reassured Paul that his
information was incorrect, adding that he would be happy to pay more than normal for the services.

The exact sequence of events is not known, nor at what point the two men decided to take matters much further. Paul’s anger was rising, he wanted the money and he wanted it now. When Tom
arrived upstairs he too joined in the demand for the cash, pushing and shoving the naked Novarro, who lay squirming on the bed. When Novarro still didn’t provide the cash the two men began to
pummel the old man with their fists, at one point knocking him off the bed and onto the floor. With blood now running from his face, Novarro was yanked to his feet only to be slapped back down
again.

The Ferguson brothers seemed to be warming to their theme, although whether they still thought there was money in the house is not clear. They were now intent on delivering as much pain as
possible to the old man. When the punishment beating resulted in Novarro losing consciousness, Tom retreated downstairs while Paul yanked the naked old man into the bathroom, where he splashed him
with cold water in a bid to keep him awake.

For some reason Tom decided to use Novarro’s telephone. He phoned a girlfriend up in Chicago, one who he had recently beaten up, and tried to mollify her. During the conversation he
explained where he was and what he and his brother were trying to do, at one point breaking off the conversation to see what progress his brother was achieving. Later, the girl told police that she
could hear the elderly man screaming.

When Tom arrived back in the bedroom, Novarro lay bleeding on the floor, his brother standing above him. Looking in the old man’s closet Tom found a cane, like a ceremonial baton, along
with a pair of gloves. Putting the gloves on he danced around the floor twirling the baton, threatening the old man with even worse humiliations if he did not hand over the cash. With the last of
his strength Novarro pleaded with his tormentors, continuing to deny that he had the cash. The brothers though were in no mood to be denied and what had been a severe beating now escalated into
torture. Holding the man down the two men used the cane to inflict more pain and suffering, hitting him in the genitals and about the head, drawing even more blood. To stop the old man from
protecting himself they then bound him with electric cord before resuming their gruesome task. They continued to hit him with the baton until he drifted off into unconsciousness again. In a fit of
anger of madman proportions, Tom knelt beside the dying Novarro and scratched his face, leaving a trail of tramlines etched on the old man’s already contorted features.

With Novarro now incapable of talking even if he wanted to, the two young men started a systematic search of the house. When drawers and cupboards did not reveal the hidden stash, they pulled
each and every painting off the walls, trying to locate a hidden safe or some other secret storage place. Everything was thrown on the floor; Novarro’s collection of photographs remembering
his glory days were discarded without a second glance. Meanwhile, unbeknown to the two men, what had been a tortuous beating had now escalated into murder. Novarro, left unattended in the upstairs
bedroom, had choked to death on his own blood.

When the Ferguson brothers became aware of the results of their handiwork, panic set in. Still fogged by booze the two men decided to try and leave a few false clues for the police, who, when
they discovered what had gone on, would arrive by the car load. In a bid to make the attack look like the work of a woman one of the brothers scrawled a message across a mirror: “US GIRLS ARE
BETTER THAN FAGITS”, a weak attempt to put the police off their trail. Novarro was gay, a fact that would surely emerge and the crime had been so violent that the thought of a woman carrying
out the attack was beyond comprehension. Without the money and with a murder under their belts they now fled the house, hoping that they had not left any clues which might lead the police to
them.

The following day, Halloween, Novarro’s butler made the grim discovery and called the police who arrived in large numbers, scouring the grounds, taking statements and trying to protect the
murder scene. A breakthrough came surprisingly early on when, in an attempt to piece together Novarro’s movements on the night and in the days prior to his murder, the police checked the
actor’s phone records. One call stood out, an outgoing call from Novarro’s number, not only on the night of the murder, but surprisingly close to the time of death. When the police
called the number a young woman answered the phone and explained how her boyfriend had called from the old man’s address. Chillingly she recalled the man’s screams as he suffered at the
hands of her ex-boyfriend and his older brother.

The Ferguson brothers were soon arrested and charged with Ramon Novarro’s murder. Their prints were found at the Laurel Canyon address and with the ex-girlfriend’s statement, the
prosecution’s case looked watertight; the only question which remained was why they had carried out such a brutal attack.

The press and media lost no time in reporting the crime and were just as quick at speculating on the circumstances surrounding the Hollywood actor’s demise. Gradually the facts emerged as
Novarro’s homosexuality became public knowledge and his preoccupation with male prostitutes hit the headlines. At the height of his obscurity Novarro’s name was once more heading the
bill, though this time for all the wrong reasons. His highly cultivated image was trashed as the press and media dismantled his glossy, ladies’ man Hollywood charade. And in an era of
non-tolerance towards the gay community, the defence were determined to use Novarro’s sexuality as a weapon against him.

As soon as it dawned on the two killers that serious repercussions would result from their actions, they immediately colluded to foil the courts. Paul Ferguson persuaded his younger brother to
make a statement to the effect that he had killed Novarro. Their logic was simple yet flawed – Paul believed that the courts would not pursue his younger brother in the way they might him as
the boy was still only 17. The prosecution were, however, ahead of the game and convinced the Judge that young Tom should be tried as an adult; he too would face a murder charge standing along side
his brother. When Tom discovered his fate he immediately retracted his statement and blamed his brother for the murder, the two young men now fighting each other as well as a waiting jury.

The defence team had agreed to enter a guilty plea, hoping to persuade the jury that the old man had somehow asked for the beating. It was not uncommon at that time for crimes of violence
against non-prominent homosexuals to be left unreported, nor was it uncommon for an aquittal to be won purely on the grounds that the victim had made a pass at them. In essence this was the bedrock
of the brothers’ defence – even the lawyer representing them referred to Novarro as “an old queer”. The derogatory remarks continued when the brothers’ mother
confirmed that Tom had written to her, claiming Novarro had tried to molest him, calling him “an old faggot”.

The trial also exposed the sad existence of Paul and Tom Ferguson, both brought up in extreme poverty and forced at an early age to start menial jobs, both progressing rapidly to stealing and
hustling to earn extra cash. The compassion which these descriptions might otherwise have created was lost the moment the prosecution described the barbarity of the murder, alleging the accused had
tortured the old man with a prolonged beating and had then left him to choke on his own blood.

It did not take the jury long to reach their verdict: both men guilty of first-degree murder and each sentenced to life in prison. The newspapers and media reported the outcome with relish; not
only had they scooped a murder story, they had uncovered a long-standing Hollywood scandal. Novarro had at least enjoyed his privacy while alive, but in death, every detail of his gay existence was
scrutinized, examined and reported, overshadowing his original fame and forever changing the reason why people would remember him.

The Ferguson brothers served their sentences and were released early on the grounds of good behaviour. Tom, the younger one, disappeared, blending into American society, never to be heard of
again. Paul though did not disappear – he moved to the Missouri area and enjoyed basking in his notoriety as a hardened ex-con who had survived the extremes of life in one of America’s
toughest jails – San Quentin. On his release Paul Ferguson made a successful attempt at getting into the construction business, making himself a lot of money on the way. In 1989, during one
of his many drunken nights, he crashed his car into a ditch. Approaching a darkened house looking for help, he discovered instead a lone woman who later claimed that Ferguson had raped her. With
his previous record the Judge handed down a 60-year term which on appeal was reduced to 30. Paul Ferguson is just seven years into his latest stretch.