Betty Grable Was America's Favorite Pinup — Then the Threatening Letters Started Coming from a Shocking Source By Christine Pelisek

The first extortion letter was written on Feb. 6, 1943.

It was addressed to Betty Grable — then 26, a rising Hollywood star and already celebrated as World War II’s pinup girl.

It read: “Under threat of your life or great bodily harm, gather $25,000 in uncut diamonds and mail them in 2 envelopes.”

The would-be extortionist wanted the large sum to be sent to a Jonathan C. Wild, Esq. at the Gates Hotel in downtown Los Angeles, per the FBI.  

The note was mysteriously signed “The Leop.”

At the time of the letter, Grable was at the height of her movie career, having starred in Down Argentine Way, Tin Pan Alley and Moon Over Miami, sharing the screen with such stars as Don Ameche and Carmen Miranda.

Another letter soon followed on March 9.

This time, the extortionist asked the star, whose legs were famously insured for $1 million, to “come north on Gower Street and ½ block of Santa Monica Blvd. on March 19 at 9:40 a.m.”

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“I will be waiting leaning on the cemetery wall,” the extortionist wrote, according to the FBI. “Bring $5,000 or you will not be alive on the 20.”

This time, the letter was signed “Snow.”

The FBI took over the case because the letters were sent through the U.S. mail, making them a violation of the federal extortion statute.

Believing that the letters were written by the same person, on March 19, federal agents set a trap at the Hollywood rendezvous point at the cemetery.

Agents were disguised as gravediggers and gardeners, per the FBI. One agent even acted as a decoy and posed as Grable — carrying a dummy package of money, the United Press reported.

According to the FBI, at around 9:40 a.m., a blue sedan pulled up to the Hollywood drop spot near the cemetery and tossed a brown package out the window.

It wasn’t long before Russell Eugene Alexanderson grabbed it. After a short chase, the 18-year-old high school student from Omaha, Neb., was taken into custody, per the UP.

At a federal court hearing, Alexanderson admitted sending the letters to Grable but claimed he never planned to hurt the star, according to the UP.

“The threat of harm in the letters was never intended to be carried out at any time,” he told U.S. Commissioner David B. Head, the UP reported. “I wanted the money only to enable me to see movie stars. I had no opportunity to see them because I had to account to my mother for every dime I spent.”  

After pleading guilty, Alexanderson was sentenced to five years’ probation and released.

However, in May, he sent another threatening letter to Grable, the UP reported.

This time, he demanded $500.

He was taken into custody when he appeared at a federal probation office — the same spot he demanded Grable bring him the cash, according to the UP.

“I just couldn’t overcome the desire to try to see her again,” he said, per the UP.

“For seven years I have been in love with Miss Grable, since I first saw her in pictures,” he told Commissioner Head, per the UP. “I think if I could see her, I’d be satisfied. At any rate, I won’t write any more letters.”

This time he was sent to prison, per the FBI.

As for Grable, she went on to star in dozens more movies, including How to Marry a Millionaire alongside Marilyn Monroe. She was the highest salaried American woman in 1946 and 1947, according to the Treasury Department, per the Associated Press.

She died in 1973 of lung cancer at 56, per the AP. 

Alexanderson made the news again in 1957 when he sought and failed to get a restraining order to stop CBS from airing the TV program The FBI, Variety reported. Alexanderson had filed a $135,000 invasion of privacy suit against the network trying to stop the airing of footage of his interrogation with authorities, according to Variety.