Hacks Season 3: The True Story Of Actor & Comedian Fatty Arbuckle Explained

Summary Hacks S3 EP7 brings Fatty Arbuckle to life, diving into Hollywood's scandalous past with comedy & drama.

Hollywood had dreams of a Fatty Arbuckle biopic, but failed to capture his iconic legacy on screen.

Despite his immense impact, Fatty Arbuckle's turbulent life and career remain largely unrecognized today.

Hacks season 3, episode 7 "The Deborah Vance Christmas Spectacular" shines a spotlight on one of Hollywood's earliest and biggest movie stars. The highly anticipated third season of the HBO original comedy series premiered on May 2, 2024, and is scheduled to conclude on May 30. Hacks stars Jean Smart as Deborah Vance, a fictitious comedy legend based in Las Vegas, and her twenty-something comedy writer protégé Ava Daniels (Hannah Einbinder). The series also features performances from Paul W. Downs as Jimmy, Megan Stalter as Kayla, Christopher McDonald as Marty, and Kaitlin Olson as DJ Vance, Deborah's daughter.

The critically acclaimed series, which was created by Lucia Aniello, Paul W. Downs, and Jen Statsky, has been nominated for 32 Emmy Awards and won 6, including Outstanding Lead Actress In a Comedy Series. Hacks season 3, episode 7 features a subplot involving both Jimmy and Kayla and a guest appearance from Christopher Lloyd as Larry Arbuckle. Jimmy and Kayla visit the grandson of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle and are tasked with reading his greatest life's work, a lengthy screenplay about his grandfather. As Jimmy discovers by the end of the episode, Larry actually wrote a great script, giving Jimmy his first opportunity to produce a feature film out of it.

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Fatty Arbuckle Was A Huge Hollywood Movie Star In The 1920s

Arbuckle was one of Hollywood's original movie stars

The man named "Fatty" who is mentioned throughout Hacks season 3, episode 7 is an actual person named Roscoe Arbuckle. Arbuckle was an American silent film actor, director, and screenwriter who was active between the years of 1904 and 1933. Arbuckle was one of the most popular silent film stars of the 1910s and 1920s, starring in motion pictures such as Good Night, Nurse!, The Butcher Boy, and Coney Island. Most of his early films were short in length, averaging about 25–30 minutes each. Arbuckle starred in and directed dozens of films throughout the 1910s before focusing more on directing during the 1920s.

Arbuckle's talents as a screen comedian were remarkable, especially considering his impressive physical acting capabilities and uncanny athleticism given his stature. At one point, Arbuckle was the highest-paid actor in Hollywood, earning $1 million per year on a 1920 contract with Paramount Pictures. Arbuckle was responsible for mentoring other prominent silent film stars such as Monty Banks, Bob Hope, and the prolific Charlie Chaplin. He is also credited with getting Buster Keaton into the movie business and has had an enormous and indelible impact on the American film industry since its inception.

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Fatty Arbuckle Was The Defendant In One Of Hollywood's Biggest Murder Scandals

The case of Rappe's death went to trial three times

Despite being one of Hollywood's earliest star actors and directors, Arbuckle was also the defendant in a massively contentious murder scandal. In September 1921, Arbuckle traveled to San Francisco with some friends where he met an aspiring actress named Virginia Rappe. After Arbuckle invited Rappe and several other women to his hotel room, Rappe suddenly fell ill that night and was hospitalized two days later. Rappe died after spending two days in the hospital from a ruptured bladder on September 9, 1921. On September 10, Arbuckle was arrested on charges of murder and was accused of rape by Rappe's friend, Bambina Maude Delmont.

The case of Rappe's death went to trial three separate times. Some members of the first jury were not able to serve without bias, which resulted in a second trial the following year. The second trial resulted in a hung jury, with 10 of the 12 votes in favor of convicting Arbuckle for Rappe's death. By the time the third trial began in March 1922, Arbuckle's reputation had taken a major hit, and many of his films were banned from screening in theaters. It was alleged that Arbuckle's weight ruptured Rappe's bladder while he was on top of her. The third trial resulted in a unanimous not guilty decision but Arbuckle had to pay over $700,000 in legal fees.

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Fatty Arbuckle Died In 1933 At Age 46 (But Didn't Have Any Children)

Larry in Hacks isn't based on a real Arbuckle grandchild

Fatty Arbuckle's onscreen career virtually ended after the murder scandal, appearing in only a handful of projects until his death in 1933. He was able to direct dozens of films throughout the 1920s and early 1930s, but his reputation never fully recovered to the pre-trial heights. He directed under the pseudonym William Goodrich but was said to have been completely ruined by the scandal. His wife Minta Durfee filed for divorce in 1923. Arbuckle was remarried in 1925 to Doris Deane, a notable comedy actress. He and Deane divorced in 1929, and Arbuckle married for a third time in 1932 to Addie McPhail, another actress.

Despite his three marriages with three separate women, Fatty Arbuckle never had any children, so Larry in Hacks isn't based on a real Arbuckle grandchild. After attempting to make a comeback by signing a new contract with Warner Bros. in 1932, Arbuckle died from a heart attack during his sleep in the early hours of June 29, 1933. He had just completed filming on his last film In the Dough on June 28 and had signed another contract with Warner Bros. to star in a feature-length movie. Arbuckle was 46.

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Hollywood Really Has Tried To Make Fatty Arbuckle Biopics Before Hacks Season 3's Story

There have been several attempts but none have come to fruition

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Even with all of the negative spin on Fatty Arbuckle's name following the infamous scandal, Hollywood has unsuccessfully tried to make his biopic multiple times. Legendary comedian and actor Chris Farley had said it was a dream of his to play Fatty Arbuckle in a feature film before his death in 1997. Farley and renowned screenwriter David Mamet had reportedly been working on a screenplay that would star Farley as Arbuckle in his first-ever dramatic onscreen role. Vince Vaughn was reportedly set to co-star in the Farley-led film, which likely would have chronicled the murder scandal but never came to fruition.

Director Kevin Connor was also developing a film based on Arbuckle's life back in 2007, but the project was ultimately abandoned. Even though Arbuckle's impact on Hollywood is virtually unrecognized today, it has been inevitably felt for over a century. There have been several nods to Arbuckle over the years, particularly in HBO comedy series such as Curb Your Enthusiasm as Hacks, both slice-of-life showbiz comedies. The character Orville Pickwick in Damien Chazelle's Babylon is also based on Arbuckle. Perhaps one day a Fatty Arbuckle biopic will be made that will highlight the full spectrum of his monumental life and career.

Source: Smithsonian, History, The New Yorker

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