SPOUSES WHO KILL

HUSBANDS

Arrivederci, Baby! (1966). Also known as Drop Dead, Darling!

Dead By Sunset (TVM 1995). Sociopath Brad Cunningham murders his ex-wife for revenge.

Diabolique (1955). Remade as Reflections of Murder (), House of Secrets (1993) and Diabolique ().

Dial M For Murder (1954). Ray Milland is suitably villanous as the deceitful husband in this Hitchcock thriller. Remade for television in 1981 and for the screen in 1998 with Gwyneth Paltrow as the luckless heroine and Michael Douglas in the Ray Milland role.

Divorce, Italian Style (1962). Because divorce is illegal in Italy, husband Marcello Mastroianni decides to arrange to kill his wife "justifiably".

The Fortune (1975). Walter Matthau, a formerly wealthy man about town, decides to recoup his fortunes by marrying an heiress and then doing her in.

Gaslight (1939). The first version of this thriller stars Anton Walbrook as the evil spouse. Also called Angel Street and A Strange Case of Murder. The 1944 version starring Charles Boyer and Ingrid Bergmann is far better known (also called Murder in Thornton Square). In 1960 Doris Day and Rex Harrison starred in a version called Midnight Lace, remade for television in 1980 with Robin Clarke and Mary Crosby.

Judgment Day: The John List Story (TVM 1993). Dramatization of the story of John List, a mild mannered accountant who murders his wife, three children and mother in order to save them from evil influence. On the run for 18 years he is eventually caught through the work of a forensic specialist.

Messenger of Death (1988). Investigation of the murder of the wife and children of Mormon Orville Beecham.

Murder Ordained (TVM 1987). A minister and his lover scheme to eliminate their spouses.

Rear Window (1954). Photographer James Stewart is confined to bed with a broken leg and entertains himself by watching the comings and goings of his neighbors including Raymond Burr as the mysterious Mr. Thornton. Remade in 1998 for television; notable for the performance of the disabled Christopher Reeve in the Stewart role.

Rebecca (1940). Did he or didn't he? Laurence Olivier may have murdered his faithless wife Rebecca; second wife Joan Fontaine (known only as "The second Mrs. de Winter) eventually has her suspicions. Remade for television in 1962, 1978, and 1997. The 1997 version actually shows Rebecca alive; the others are faithful to the Hitchcock version and the Daphne du Maurier novel in presenting her only as an invisible force driving the action.

Suspicion (1941). This Hitchcock thriller is based on the Francis Iles novel Before the Fact and stars Joan Fontaine as the woman who believes husband Cary Grant married her for her money and now plans to kill her.

Sorry, Wrong Number (1946). Barbara Stanwyck is the bedridden woman who overhears a murder plot in this classic thriller. Remade in 1989 with Loni Anderson. Based on Lucille Fletcher's play.

Stillwatch (1987).

Trap For a Lonely Man (), play. Filmed as One of My Wives Is Missing () and Vanishing Act (), and as Honeymoon With a Stranger (1969), in which the main character is female.

WIVES

Before He Wakes (1998)

Black Widow (

The Black Widow Murders: The Blanche Taylor Moore Story (TVM 1993).

D.A.: Murder One (1951).

Desperate Living (1977)

Diabolique (1955). Remade as Reflections of Murder (), House of Secrets (1993) and Diabolique ().

Double Indemnity (1944); remade 1973.

Drowning By Numbers (1988)

Elektra (1962) (Based on the play)

Hamlet (1921)

Love Letters (1945)

A Matter of Justice (1993)

Mortal Thoughts (1991)

Murder Ordained (TVM 1987). A minister and his lover scheme to eliminate their spouses.

Portrait in Black (1960)

The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946). Remade in

Reflections on a Crime (1994)

Separated by Murder (TVM 1994). Based on the true story of twins Betty Wilson and Peggy Lowe, accused of conspiring to murder Wilson's husband.

The Sound of Murder (1982). A little known thriller about a woman suspected of her husband's murder; when he turns up alive, she decides to eliminate him permanently.

Wife, Mother, Murderer: The Marie Hilley Story (TVM 1991)

A Woman Scorned: The Betty Broderick Story (TVM, 1992). Also called: Till Murder Do Us Part. Meredith Baxter Birney is the vengeful ex-wife who does in her husband and his new bride. Sequel: Her Final Fury: Betty Broderick, the Last Chapter (TVM 1992).