Did Lupe Vélez Really Drown In A Toilet?

Even her tragic death was not immune from slander, distortion, and gossip

A film poster depicting William Boyd and Lupe Velez in Lady of the Pavements (1929). Edited by the author. By United Artists from Wikimedia Commons (Public Domain).

Hollywood is the land of stories. Once a person steps into it, fiction blurs into reality, gossip becomes fact, and they become so entangled that it becomes difficult to separate the threads. Nonetheless, Lupe Vélez’s story stands out in this realm. A salacious urban legend about the actress, recounted by Kenneth Anger in Hollywood Babylon, is a popular tale that many still accept as the truth. Modern scholars have worked hard to uncover the real Lupe Vélez.

A conception in conflicts

On 18 July 1908, Josefina Vélez gave birth to María Guadalupe Villalobos Vélez in San Luis Potosí, Mexico. She was born into a prominent, wealthy family, but outside of their mansion, there was a tumultuous set of events: the Mexican Revolution. Her own father, Jacobo Villalobos, was a colonel in the Mexican Army.

Market at San Luis Potosí, Mexico (1904). Photographer: Charles Betts Waite. By DeGolyer Library, Southern Methodist University from Flickr (No Known Copyright Restrictions).

Lupe saw a lot of cruelty and bloodshed during the conflict. From a young age, acting was a haven for the girl; she sometimes snuck into theatres, analyzed the movements of actresses, and used these…