The Mysterious Death of Carol Wayne
This is my first thread started in this forum, and I’m not sure if this case has been discussed before, so please bear with me…
Carol Wayne (September 6, 1942 – January 13, 1985) was a television actress most active in the 1960’s and 1970’s. She is perhaps best remembered for her re-occurring role as “The Matinee Lady” on “The Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson. She was also a frequent guest on The Red Skelton Show, and had many appearances on other popular shows of the time.
Carol had spent many years perfecting the role of the “Ditzy Blonde Bombshell”, and perhaps no one played the part better. She was so good at it that she seldom had an opportunity to play anything else.
The success of the Tonight Show, helped lead to her ultimate professional downfall. Johnny Carson began to push for a reduction in the shows run time from 90 minutes to 60, and while this was good news for the network, as it led to the creation of “Late Night With David Letterman” it led to her spot in the show being reduced drastically.
She was married several times, first to Rock and Roll photographer Barry Feinstein then later to TV and film producer Burt Sugarman.
Following the cuts in the Tonight Show she was having severe financial problems, and reportedly had fallen into drug and alcohol abuse. Toward the end of her life she had resorted to being an escort for rich men.
(excerpt from wiki: )
In January 1985, Wayne and her companion Edward Durston were vacationing at the Las Hadas Resort in Manzanillo, Colima, Mexico. After an argument with Durston, Wayne reportedly left to take a walk on the beach. Three days later a local fisherman found Wayne's body in the shallow bay.
Authorities later discovered Durston had checked out of the resort the day the couple argued. He had left Wayne's luggage at the airport. Later, an autopsy performed in Mexico revealed no signs of drugs or alcohol in Wayne's body. Her death was eventually ruled as "accidental".
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Carol was deathly afraid of water, and would not have gone swimming. The water she was found in was only 4 feet deep.
Excerpt from Carol Wayne website http://www.tvparty.com/wayne.html )
According to published reports, Carol Wayne was on vacation in Santiago Bay, Mexico with Los Angeles car salesman Edward Durston on January 10, 1985 when (it has been reported) the couple had a argument about where they were going to stay that evening (they were scheduled to fly back to Los Angeles the next morning).
Durston checked into a hotel and Wayne reportedly left to walk down the beach (to cool off?). That was the last time anyone saw her alive. Local fisherman Abel de Dios found her limp body floating in the shallow bay waters three days later.
Mexican authorities wondered how Carol Wayne came to drown in waters four feet deep, fully clothed. There were no cuts or abrasions, so a fall from the nearby rocks was ruled out. The coroner stated that death occurred 3 - 4 days earlier and the body tested negative for drugs and alcohol.
Suspicions were raised: Carol Wayne had to be identified by workers at the Las Hadas resort where the couple had been staying earlier in the week. When locals went to look for Wayne's traveling companion, they discovered that Edward Durston checked out three days earlier - leaving Wayne's luggage at the airport with a message that she would pick up her bags in the morning.
As an aside, many readers may remember the (alleged) LSD related death of Art Linkletter's daughter Diane. She jumped (or fell) from a sixth floor apartment building in 1969.
Art Linkletter basically ended his successful television career when he started crusading against drugs with a fervor that made it hard for middle America to find the afternoon talk show host funny anymore.
Not that it necessarily means anything, but Diane Linkletter's companion the night she was killed was Edward Durston.
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