If you haven’t read the earlier installments of this series, go to The Mad Love of Mrs. Mort, Part 1

Part 8: Dorothy’s Acting Career

The remaining testimony during the trial of Dorothy Mort for the murder of Claude Tozer contained two more highlights. The first was Dr. Emma Buckley’s appearance on the stand.

Dr. Buckley said she tended to Mrs. Mort when she was brought to the hospital. She described the disjointed, circular conversations Mrs. Mort had with her, including her plans to marry Claude Tozer’s brother and travel around the world so she could have her baby in another country to avoid a scandal.

Later the same day, Dr. Buckley asked Dorothy again about her planned trip. “We’re not going for a trip round the world now because I am dead,” Dorothy told her. When asked how she knew she was dead, Mrs. Mort described her coffin.

“Bearing in mind the facts of the case, the hereditary taint in her blood, and her emotional neurotic temperament, would you say that a calamity in love would be likely to unhinge her brain?” Mr. Mack asked Dr. Buckley.

“Yes.”

“You know the condition of Dr. Tozer; how he was found, and how she is alleged to have lain in his arms for a couple of hours after he wan dead. What would that indicate?”

Dr. Buckley considered. “I should certainly say it would indicate that she was not sane. No sane woman could do a thing like that. My opinion is that she must have been in a very unstable state of mind for some time before the shooting.”

When the hearing resumed Friday morning, the first witness was Arthur Shirley, a motion picture producer. In their letters, Dorothy Mort and Claude Tozer referred to him as an American producer, but he was an Australian and a very successful one.

Mrs. Mort called on him in mid-September and asked him to place her in a picture he was producing.

Can you imagine calmly approaching Martin Scorsese and informing him that you’d really like to be cast in his next picture, please. This likely indicates Mrs. Mort was privileged and able to ask for—and receive—favors from the powerful that would be out of reach for most people.

Arthur Shirley hesitated. Mrs. Mort had no talent for acting. On top of that, she struck him as “not being rational.” He brushed her off but Mrs. Mort returned repeatedly to request he put her in his movies. Each time he saw her, Shirley thought she seemed more fragile.

In late November, Dorothy confided in the producer that she was very worried and spent many sleepless nights. “She referred to a great sorrow in her life, and remarked that her life was not of very much use as things were,” the producer recalled. “This was the reason she was so anxious to go into the picture show business. She imagined it might help her forget her misery.”

As odd as this reasoning was, it was effective. Shirley decided some compassion was in order. He told her to come to the studio at 8:30 the next morning. He would give her a job.

Dorothy arrived late for her first day of work and she was noticeably rattled. Arthur Shirley took her into his office and demanded to know what was wrong.

“I was followed all the way from home by two men,” Mrs. Mort told him. She whispered fearfully that they were still outside.

The producer walked her to the entrance of the studio. “Show me where.”

Mrs. Mort pointed in the direction of a bench. “The two men sitting over there. They are looking at me and talking about me now. They’re here to kill me.”

It was evident to Shirley that Dorothy was serious but no men were sitting on the bench, plotting to murder Mrs. Mort. Throughout the day, her visual and auditory hallucinations continued unabated. It was difficult to follow her conversations and she frequently talked of her desire to commit suicide. All in all, it could not be classified as a successful first day at a new job. When Dorothy finally regained her composure Shirley sent her home. “I did not see her again,” the producer concluded.

Testimony ended and it was time for Dorothy’s defense. And what a defense it was! Go to Part 9: Mr. Mack’s Epic Summation!

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