Episode 1: Private Worlds

Already a divorced mom while still in her teens, Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel) becomes a movie actress out of financial necessity, but she struggles to define herself as a star. Her life takes a turn when she falls in love with Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm)--an independent producer and champion of progressive politics who wants to change Hollywood from within. Also featuring, Griffin Dunne as Jennings Lang, Mara Wilson as Constance Bennett, and Adam Mortimer, as Richard Bennett. Listen and subscribe at http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime or wherever you get your podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac Apple Podcasts: http://listen.vanityfair.com/loveisacrime Spotify: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-spotify Stitcher: http://listen.vanityfair.com/liac-google For a transcript of this episode, please follow this link. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Om Podcasten

It’s one of the wildest scandals in Hollywood history: In 1951, major Hollywood producer Walter Wanger (Jon Hamm) went to prison for shooting an agent who he suspected was having an affair with Joan Bennett (Zooey Deschanel), Wanger’s actress wife. When the dust settled, Wanger was accepted back into Hollywood’s inner circle with open arms, while a puritan panic virtually ended Bennett’s career in movies and her family would never be the same. How did Joan — the youngest member of one of America’s most famous acting families, and one of the key femme fatales of 1940s film noir — end up a real-life fallen woman, paying a public price for her husband’s crimes? In this limited podcast series, Joan and Walter’s granddaughter/filmmaker Vanessa Hope, and film historian/podcaster Karina Longworth (You Must Remember This), tell the untold story of the Bennett/Wanger romance and professional partnership — a film noir played out in real life.