MOVIE NEWS – Today, Mercedes McCambridge’s name is best known as the voice actor of The Exorcist’s Demon, but a family tragedy overshadowed the last decades of her life…

The history of cinematography has been enriched by many talented and committed actors, such as Charlie Chaplin or one of the most recognised actors of modern times, Joaquin Phoenix. However, many actors, no matter how impressive they were on screen, often suffered the consequences of their own actions. One such actor is Mercedes McCambridge, who, although she achieved a lot professionally, could not pay enough attention to her family, leading to a series of gruesome murders.

Born in 1916, McCambridge was an accomplished radio, film and television actress who won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for All the King’s Men (1949). Her best-known role is the voice of the demon in The Exorcist.

While McCambridge had a successful professional career, she could not influence her family similarly, particularly her beloved son, John Lawrence Fifield (later John Lawrence Markle). What led to the tragic murder of John Markle’s family in 1987, and how does this case relate to McCambridge?

The Exorcist actress and her son

Before we get into the tragic events, it’s essential to examine John Markle’s childhood and relationship with his mother, Mercedes McCambridge. John Markle was born on December 25, 1941, in California. McCambridge divorced John’s father, William Fifield, in 1946 and remarried film and television director Fletcher Markle in 1950.

John was eight years old when his mother won an Academy Award. His childhood was turbulent, as neither his biological mother nor his foster father devoted enough time to him. So a housekeeper raised him, something McCambridge never acknowledged. John earned a master’s degree from the University of California in 1968 and married Christina Mull that same year.

After earning a doctorate in economics from UCLA in 1973, he worked at various companies before settling at Stephens Inc., where he quickly became the vice president. Despite being professionally successful, John Markle always wanted his mother’s recognition, which eventually led to one of the bloodiest murders of the twentieth century.

John Markle, the embezzler

John Markle, who excelled in accounting, became the organisation’s vice president in just eight months. He lived in an old Victorian house with his wife, Christine, and their two children, Amy and Suzanne. Although he lived far from his Oscar-winning mother, John always craved her recognition.

To impress his mother, he opened an account with Stephens Inc., but his financial situation gradually deteriorated. He secretly embezzled money from work, recorded false investment losses, and deposited the profits into his mother’s account to prove how well he was doing.

However, in October 1987, a Chicago brokerage alerted Stephens Inc. to accounting discrepancies, prompting an investigation that exposed John’s embezzlement.

After he was fired on November 13, 1987, the company offered him a choice: leave McCambridge $1.2 million in debt with interest or ask her for $600,000 in cash, with the balance to be paid after her death. However, McCambridge refused. On the night of November 16, 1987, John Markle made a terrible decision after losing his only hope of correcting the biggest mistake of his life.

John’s last letter

In his suicide note, John confessed to killing his wife and daughters and called his lawyer, Richard Lawrence, before taking his own life fifteen minutes later. But the most shocking part was the blood-soaked Halloween mask that investigators say he wore while killing his family in cold blood. Investigators also found a letter he wrote to his mother, explaining how badly she had always treated him and his loved ones.

In the letter, John also stated that if his mother had offered compensation to the Stephens, he would have been able to survive and find a new job, blaming his mother entirely for the death of his family. The tragedy of John Markle and his unfortunate wife and children is a chilling story. Mercedes McCambridge lived another seventeen years. It is unknown whether she mentally reckoned with the consequences of her bankruptcy as a mother…

Source: YouTube