Scott Thorson, Liberace’s former lover and witness to Wonderland murders, dies

Scott Thorson, Liberace’s former lover and a key witness in the 1981 Wonderland massacre trial, died in Los Angeles on August 16. He was 65 and was hospitalized in a city health facility. Thorson had been suffering from cancer and heart disease.

Thorson, who later legally changed his name to Jess Marlow, filed a $113 million alimony lawsuit against Liberace in 1982, which attracted media attention. After the lawsuit was filed, Liberace continued to deny his homosexuality and stated in court depositions that Thorson had never been his lover. The case was settled in 1986; Thorson received $75,000 in cash, as well as three cars and three pet dogs, worth $20,000. Liberace died in 1987 from HIV/AIDS-related illnesses.

In 1988, Thorson published “Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace,” a memoir about his relationship with Liberace. In it, he claimed that the artist paid Thorson to undergo cosmetic surgery, including a nose job and a chin implant, that made him look like a younger version of Liberace. During their six-year relationship, Thorson performed at Liberace’s Las Vegas show, appearing as his chauffeur—a job that involved driving the artist around the stage while dressed in a rhinestone-encrusted uniform. Their relationship ended after Thorson began to abuse more drugs. He claimed that Liberace was partly to blame for his addiction, saying he began abusing drugs after being prescribed Quaaludes, amphetamine, cocaine and Demerol while recovering from cosmetic surgery he underwent at the artist’s request.

“Behind the Candelabra” was later adapted into an Emmy-winning film of the same name by HBO. Steven Soderbergh directed the film, starring Michael Douglas as Liberace and Matt Damon as Thorson.

The Liberace stint was not Thorson’s only beating during his troubled life. In 1989, Thorson was involved in the trial of Eddie Nash, a nightclub owner and drug dealer, for his alleged role in the 1981 murders of four people at a Laurel Canyon home on Wonderland Avenue. Nash was reportedly angry after residents of the home burglarized his home, shooting a bodyguard. John Holmes, a porn star and drug addict, had visited Nash’s home three times that day, arousing Nash’s suspicions. He ordered his associates to question Holmes about the identity of the thief.

Thorson later testified that he was at Nash’s house buying drugs when he saw Holmes being beaten and threatened while tied to a chair until he revealed the robbers’ identities. Two days after the Nash robbery, unidentified men entered a Wonderland townhouse armed with hammers and metal pipes.

Four of the people in the house, Ron Launius, William “Billy” Deverell and Joy Miller, who had participated in the burglary, as well as Barbara Richardson, the girlfriend of an accomplice, died from blunt force trauma injuries. Susan Launius survived the attack. Although Thorson accused Nash of orchestrating the murders in court, the nightclub owner’s trial ended in a hung jury. He was never convicted and died in 2014. After the trial, Thorson said he was placed in federal witness protection and had changed his name.

The Wonderland murders inspired a memorable sequence in Boogie Nights , in which Mark Wahlberg’s John Holmes-like porn star attempts to scam drug addict Alfred Molina by playing a character inspired by Nash. It’s also the subject of a new four-part docuseries, The Wonderland Massacre & The Secret History of Hollywood , directed by Alison Ellwood. It premieres on MGM+ on September 8. The series is adapted from The Wonderland Murders and the Secret History of Hollywood , a 2022 Audible podcast that featured Thorson and author Michael Connelly.

Thorson struggled with alcohol and drug abuse throughout his life and had numerous run-ins with the law, including being sentenced to four years in prison in 2008 after pleading guilty to drug and burglary charges.