Tragically on July 5, 1948 Carole was found dead in her Pacific Palisades home. She had committed suicide at the young age of twenty-nine. Carole spent her last night alive with her married lover Rex Harrison. Here is a look at her sad final hours -
SUNDAY, JULY 4
12:00 PM - Carole hosts a pool party for a dozen friends including Rex Harrison. She goes swimming and appears to be in good spirits. Carole tells her friends they have to leave early because she is having a private dinner with Rex Harrison. This is the seventh night in a row that they have dinner together. Rex Harrison is married to actress Lili Palmer and has a four year old son. Carole has been having an affair with him for over a year. Because of the affair she filed for divorce from her husband Horace Schmidlapp and put her Pacific Palisades home up for sale.
5:00 PM - Carole puts on a plaid skirt, a white blouse, and gold sandals. She is also wearing her favorite gold cross and a St. Christopher medal. Before dinner Carole and Rex Harrison drink a Scotch and Soda. They dine on cold roast chicken and a tossed salad. For dessert they have lemon chiffon pie that Carole had baked herself. She plays "Warm Kiss, Cold Heart" on her phonograph. Carole desperately wants to marry Rex Harrison but he breaks her heart by ending their relationship.
9:00 PM - Rex Harrison leaves Carole's house. He is the last person to see her alive. Rex Harrison goes to visit his best friends Roland and Nan Culver who live a few blocks away. Carole collects all of the photos and mementos from their relationship and puts them in a suitcase. She drives to the Culver's house and leaves the suitcase in his driveway. The next day Nan Culver finds the suitcase and gives it to Rex Harrison. He burns everything that is in it.
MONDAY, JULY 5
12:00 AM - Carole returns home and has a few drinks. Her autopsy would later show that her blood alcohol level was .12 which meant she was not drunk. She tries to call several friends including Marguerite Haymes but no one is home. Then she writes two notes on her personal stationary. She writes a four line lovers farewell to Rex Harrison. Carole also writes a heartbreaking final note to her mother. She folds the note to her mother and puts it on her dresser.
"Dearest Mommie - I'm sorry, really sorry, to put you through this but there is no way to avoid it - I love you darling you have been the most wonderful mom ever And that applies to all our family. I love each and every one of them dearly - Everything goes to you - Look in the files and there is a will which decrees everything - Good bye, my angel - Pray for me - Your Baby".
2:00 AM - Carole goes into her upstairs bathroom and takes an envelope filled with Secanol out of her cabinet. She was not a chronic user of Secanol. Her doctor had given her a prescription when she was hospitalized in October 1946. There is writing on the envelope that says "Red - quick - 2 hours. Yellow, about 5, Can take 2. Use for severe pain". Carole swallows approximately forty Secanol tablets. She leaves the envelope and a glass of water on the bathroom counter. Then Carole goes into her bedroom and lays down on the bed.
3:00 AM - She walks back into the bathroom where she collapses. Carole will die on the bathroom floor. Her arms are bent as if she had been trying to raise herself up. Carole's head is resting on a jewelry box. In her left hand she is holding a satin bookmark with the Lord's Prayer on it. She had taken five times the amount of Secanol needed to cause death. This was the third time Carole had attempted suicide but in the past she had always been rescued.
11:00 AM - Rex Harrison calls Carole several times but her maid, Fannie Mae Bolden, tells him she is not awake yet. He goes to the house and tells Fannie he thinks Carole is dead. They go to the upstairs bathroom where they discover Carole's body. Harrison says "Oh, no, my darling, why did you do it?". He will later claim that he felt Carole's wrist and there was a slight pulse. Instead of calling for an ambulance he leaves the house. Fannie goes to a neighbors house where she calls the police and Florence Wasson, Carole's best friend.
4:00 PM - Florence Wasson calls Dorothy Ross, Carole's sister, in Long Beach to tell her what happened. The police arrive and take photographs of Carole's body. Rex Harrison returns to the house and is questioned by the police. They find the note that Carole left for her mother but there are conflicting reports about the second note. Florence Wasson claims that it was actually a memo that Carole wrote about taking her cat to the vet. Lili Palmer later admits that a police officer found the note Carole wrote to Rex Harrison in the bathroom. Rex Harrison pays the officer five hundred dollars to give him the note and destroys it.
7:00 PM - Carole's mother, Clara Ridste, and her sister, arrive at the house. Her mother says "Oh my baby, I want to see my baby. Why didn't somebody call me?" and then collapses. Carole's body is taken to Bogg's and Mashmeyer's funeral home. Rumors circulate that Carole was pregnant with Rex Harrison's love child. Her autopsy confirms she was not pregnant and that she was unable to have children because she suffered from endometriosis. The official cause of her death is "barbituate poisoning due to ingestion of overdose of Secanol". Her funeral is scheduled for Saturday, July 10, at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in Glendale.
* On Thursday, July 8 Coroner Ben Brown held an informal inquest to find out what the motive was for Carole's suicide. Rex Harrison arrived at the hearing with his boss Darryl F. Zanuck. When Rex Harrison was asked why Carole had taken her life he said. "I'm sorry, but I can't give you any explanation for it at all. We talked about scripts of a new play I had and the possibilities of her playing in it. We also discussed her project of returning to England. I told her I might be able to help." He claimed that Carole was having financial problems and suffered from an amoebic infection. Carole's maid Fannie Mae Bolden and her best friend Florence Wasson also testified at the hearing. When it was over Coroner Brown told the press "I've gone as far as I can. I have gone to the limits of my authority. The testimony itself revealed no criminal action, and I cannot go further". Carole's family never believed that she took her own life. They thought that Rex Harrison was responsible for her death and that he paid the police to cover it up. Her family hired a private investigator but they were unable to prove Rex Harrison did anything illegal.
What Carole Said . . .
About marrying Rex Harrison: "Oh, I'd love to marry him but you know how those things are."
About Lupe Velez's 1944 suicide: "I know just how Lupe Velez felt. You go just so far, and then what have you got to face? There's always the fear of being washed up. You begin to worry. You get bitter and disillusioned. You fear the future because there's only one way to go and that's down.".
