Earl Felton

Earl Felton

Earl Felton was born on 16th October 1909. As a child he developed polio. He refused to use a wheelchair and learned to get around using crutches. He later confessed that his mother took him to revival meetings in search of a cure for his polio: "Dragging myself up to the pulpit was embarrassing enough. It was the crawling back down the aisle that was so humiliating."

Felton moved to Hollywood where he became a screenwriter. His first produced screenplay was Freshman Love (1936). This was followed by Bengal Tiger (1936), Bad Guy (1937), Prison Nurse (1938), The Night Hawk (1938), Orphans of the Street (1938), Society Smugglers (1939), Smuggled Cargo (1939), Calling All Marines (1939), The Lone Wolf Keeps a Date (1940), The Lone Wolf Takes a Chance (1941), World Premiere (1941), The Pittsburgh Kid (1941), Sierra Sue (1941), Sunset Serenade (1942), Heart of the Golden West (1942), My Best Gal (1944), Pardon My Past (1945), Criminal Court (1946), Angel on the Amazon (1948), The Beautiful Blonde from Bashful Bend (1949), Trapped (1949), Armored Car Robbery (1950), The Las Vegas Story (1952), The Narrow Margin (1952), The Happy Time (1952), 20000 Leagues Under the Sea (1954), The Marauders (1955), The Rawhide Years (1955), The Pride and the Passion (1957) and Killers of Kilimanjaro (1959).

In 1962 a FBI memo written by J. Edgar Hoover stated that Felton had taken part in sex orgies that involved Christine Keeler, Mandy Rice-Davies, Mariella Novotny, Douglas Fairbanks, Lord Astor, Eugene Ivanov, John Profumo and Stephen Ward.

In her autobiography, The Truth at Last (2001) Christine Keeler claimed that Felton was working for the CIA and the day after the News of the World published her story about how Eugene Ivanov had asked her to get information about nuclear weapons from John Profumo, Felton contacted her and suggested she leave the country. Keeler also claimed that Stephen Ward was providing "confidential information" to Felton.

Earl Felton committed suicide in Studio City, California, on 2nd May 1972.

Primary Sources

(1) J. Edgar Hoover, internal memo on the Profumo Scandal (June, 1963)

For information. John Profumo was British Minister of War until his recent resignation following disclosure of his relations with Christine Keeler. Stephen Ward, London osteopath, has been arrested in London charged with living on the earnings of Keeler and Marilyn Rice-Davies, prostitutes. Ward's operations reportedly part of a large vice ring involving many people including many prominent people in the U.S. and England including other Ministers of British Cabinet not yet identified. Other individuals involved include Yevgeny Ivanov, aka Eugene Ivanov, former Soviet Naval Attache, London, who patronised Keeler and who reportedly requested Keeler to obtain information from Profumo; Thomas J. Corbally, U.S. citizen engaged in business in Britain, who reportedly gave wild parties in his flat; Michael H. B. Eddowes, British attorney for Keeler, now in the U.S. representing her interests re sale of her story to publications; Horace Dibben, British citizen, in whose residence sex orgies were held is husband of Maria Novotny; Maria Novotny is prostitute who operated in NYC, was arrested on March three, one nine six one, and was victim in white slave case involving her procurer, Alan Towers. She fled to England and has participated in orgies at Ward residence. Alan Towers was in NYC for two years prior to his arrest in above white slave case. He jumped bail and is now a bureau fugitive. He is reportedly now permanently residing behind Iron Curtain. Novotny alleges Towers was a Soviet agent and that Soviets wanted information for purposes of compromise of prominent individuals; Lord Astor of England on whose Cliveden Estate sex orgies reportedly occurred: it was here that Profumo first met Keeler; Douglas Fairbanks, Jnr, movie actor; Earl Felton, American screen writer; and many others also involved.