The Day the Laughter Stopped

Eric Stonestreet To Play Fatty Arbuckle In Barry Levinson Directed 'The Day The Laughter Stopped'

In the history of salacious Hollywood trials, none have matched the infamy of Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle's battle against charges that he raped actress Virgina Rappe at a boisterous Hollywood party (who died shortly afterward of peritonitis caused a ruptured bladder). It was essentially the first showbiz trial, one that found Arbuckle prosecuted in the press -- and later in court -- thanks to the relentless tabloid journalism of William Randolph Hearst's chain of newspapers, which painted the silent comedian as a lecher who used his girth to overpower women sexually. After three trials -- in which it became apparent that evidence was being manu...