Recent sex scandals involving nude photos and the questionable behaviour of stars like James Franco and Arnold Schwarzenegger have led some people to believe that the Golden Age of Hollywood is well and truly dead and all that’s left is a town twisted, depraved and ready to explode into sexual debauchery at any minute. The truth, however, is quite different. The following three sex scandals rocked Hollywood – and the world – long before the Lindsey Lohan stories of today. They prove that today’s stars are small potatoes when compared to Hollywood Royalty.

Fatty Arbuckle Killed a Girl

Starting around 1914, you simply couldn’t find a bigger star than Roscoe ‘Fatty’ Arbuckle. Known primarily for his hulking figure and talent for physical comedy, Arbuckle was almost universally loved and enjoyed a career that brought him fame, fortune and women in spite of the fact that he was hardly what you’d call Hollywood Hot. Like any star, Arbuckle could be a bit full of himself and, in 1921, he found himself under the spotlight after a woman was found dead.

Virginia Rappe was a young, beautiful girl trying to find a break into show business. She had managed to become a Sennett Bathing Beauty and was the 1920s equivalent of today’s crop of women who are famous for their looks and ability to be at all the right parties. She and another friend met up with Arbuckle and another man in a hotel room to have some bootlegged booze and a good time. The next morning, Rappe was dead and Arbuckle was accused of rape and murder.

Needless to say, the press had a field day and people today who know of the story swear that Fatty killed Rappe by accident during sex. It’s true that Rappe and Fatty partied together and that the young starlet died the next day as the result of peritonitis, allegedly the result of a ruptured bladder. Eventually Arbuckle was found guilty of manslaughter and while his career did suffer, today he’s remembered as a Hollywood icon.

Charlie Chaplin Had a Thing for Young Girls

Hollywood has always been a Mecca for young women looking to find their big break. This has been true since even the earliest days of Hollywood and where there are young starlets desperate for a chance, there are men happy to make promises … for a price.

Charlie Chaplin is seen today as that loveable scamp and the pioneer of comedic theatrics still in use today. But in the 1920s, Chaplin was also getting physical with every woman he could find – the younger the better. A recent biography of this Hollywood legend found that he had bedded more than 2,000 women, most of them markedly younger than himself. At the peak of his sexual scandals, he was involved with a 15 year old co-star, Lita Grey. At the end of filming, Grey became pregnant with Chaplin’s child and a hasty Mexican wedding was arranged. After wedding his child bride, Chaplin reportedly headed out to do a bit of fishing with little regard for his new wife, whom he referred to as a ‘little whore’.

Chaplin was plagued by a variety of scandals throughout the rest of his life and, over time, his disparaging treatment of the women in his life because well known around Hollywood, but the public remained in the dark. Today Chaplin is revered as true Hollywood Royalty but his crimes against women – and girls – would have easily landed him on TMZ today.

Errol Flynn Was a Rapist

Errol Flynn is well known for his role as a number of swashbucklers and was often the matinee idol choice of both men and women. But what few fans today know is that in 1942 Flynn was accused of rape and his defense was little more than a shrug and a smile.

In 1942, two under-age girls charged the Hollywood hunk with statutory rape. Flynn was arrested and charged formally the following year and eventually stood trial. When asked about the accusations, Flynn replied by attacking the girls’ character. Ultimately, he was acquitted on both charges. Flynn’s acting career was impacted but he is still revered and, ultimately, the public came to see the rape charges as nothing more than Hollywood as usual. In fact, the trial cemented his reputation as a ladies’ man. So much so that Americans coined a new phrase to embody just so easily he could get into a woman’s pants – “in like Flynn’.