Whitley Heights 101

6636 Emmet Terrace

6636 Emmet Terrace is a 3 bedroom, 2 bathroom home with 2,000 square feet and sits on a downslope on Emmet Terrace in Whitley Heights. The 2-story Mediterranean home was built in 1925 by architect Henry Auerbach. The house is accessed on Emmet Terrace which has a one-car garage attached to the garage next door and a front gate shown below.

Between 1936 and 1938, actor Paul McVey moved into 6636 Emmet Terrace. McVey started his acting career in 1929 with minor roles (many unaccredited) , including several Charlie Chan films. He is best known for his role as Sam Grafton in the 1953 movie, Shane, starring Alan Ladd and Jean Arthur. McVey was credited for a total of 171 films until his last appearance in 1958 as a banker in The Last Hurrah. (Guess it was his last hurrah!) In 1933, McVey was 38 years old when he decided to marry 34 year old Beryl Kellar, novelist and screenwriter.

Beryl was a petite woman who weighed only 100 pounds and McVey was twice her size, weighing over 200 pounds. Beryl had a temper and would often get into altercations with her husband. McVey could not take the abuse any longer and filed for divorce in 1935 and moved to this Whitley Heights home. He had to file a restraining order as she would put her hands on him. During the court hearing, Beryl asked the judge, “Can you imagine me pummeling anything with that fist except a pillow?” Beryl filed a cross-complaint in response to the divorce and restraining order that McVey had filed. In her cross-complaint, Beryl indicated that McVey threw her physically out of their apartment partially disrobed. The two eventually divorced and parted ways.

In the 1950s and 1960s, a secretary for the motion picture industry moved into 6636 Emmet Terrace. She was divorced and worked for the movie industry and must have earned well as Ms. Dolores O’Reilly was able to afford to live in a Hollywood home. She also lived in Hollywood Hills and Beachwood Canyon prior to moving to Whitley Heights. The 51 year old divorced woman moved here with her 20 year old son, Daniel. Daniel met a 41 year old dancer named Ronnie Quillan and they decided to “tie the knot” in Tijuana on July 15, 1957.

However, Daniel quickly discovered that Ronnie was nothing but trouble so he filed for a quick annulment of the marriage and a restraining order due to Ronnie’s violent temper. As the same time Daniel was in front of a judge about the restraining order, Ronnie was in the same courthouse in front of another judge pleading guilty to “malicious mischief” because she broke a window at Ms. O’Reilly’s Whitley Heights home in March of 1957. Known as “The Redhead Too Old for the Newsboy” by media, she was placed on probation for a year so she could pay restitution to Mrs. O’Reilly on her broken window.

Apparently, there was a dispute between Ronnie and Mrs. O’Reilly about a television set. After Daniel decided that their marriage was not going to work, Ronnie went berserk and demanded the tv set back, but Mrs. O’Reilly indicated she did not possess it. At 5:45 a.m. Ronnie appeared at 6636 Emmet Terrace in a taxi and banged on the front door for half an hour, giving up after O’Reilly did not answer. Ronnie returned at 10 a.m. armed with a 6×4 wooden plank, smashed the front gate open, then a small window and a larger window. As she was trying to climb into the home from the broken window, the police showed up and arrested her.

The following day as Ronnie is appearing in court to plead guilty of criminal mischief, her 20 year old husband, Daniel O’Reilly is in the same courthouse trying to get the marriage annulled. Luckily, the judge considered the Tijuana marriage illegal and Daniel was free from Hollywood’s “party girl”. Ronnie was previously married to television writer, Joseph Quillan whom she wed in 1939. Joe was best known for his screenwriting on the tv show, “Our Miss Brooks” from 1952-1956. The marriage only lasted a few years and Ronnie then rented multiple apartments in Los Angeles. While living at 136 McCarthy Drive, in Beverly Hills, in February of 1944, Ronnie called the police indicating someone stole her furs and jewelry which were worth $10,000. Three men were shot at by police exiting her apartment and one of them got shot in the head. The other two men got away. A few days later, police arrested Rudolph Furtado, who had stored the stolen property at a friend’s house in the valley. It turns out that Ronnie knew him from the Hollywood nightclubs. The men ended up going to trial and Ronnie’s nylons became the spectacle of the courthouse.

Ronnie was known around town as “The Hollywood Madam” as she was a nightclub dancer and been known to escort wealthy men to help pay the bills. One evening on August 11, 1946, the then 28 year old dancer said good evening to an escort at 3 a.m. at her 6700 5th Street apartment. Whether David Bruce wanted something more or not, Bruce’s glasses were broken, but it was Ronnie who filed a complaint with the police and Bruce was arrested. It became known that 3 months earlier, Bruce’s wife had asked him for a divorce because she found out about a woman named Veronica Ainsley whom he was buying lavish gifts and trips to San Francisco. (Ronnie went by the stage name of Ronnie Ainsley). Then in December of 1946, someone broke into her apartment on 5th Street and stole her furs and jewelry for the second time. This time, the burglars got away with the goods.

On October 10, 1949, she was with 29 year old French singer, Rolland Gerbeau, at her apartment at 308 Reeves Drive in Beverly Hills when an altercation took place and both Ronnie and Gerbeau were arrested. When the police arrived at the apartment, they found the duo “hacking at each other” with razor blades; Gerbeau ended up with an 8 inch gash on his face. However, it was Ronnie whose arms and legs were badly slashed and she had almost lost her right ear. Apparently, they got into a fight because Ronnie refused to give him $500 for an immigration bond.

Then in December of 1950, Ronnie got arrested for slashing Mocambo nightclub singer, Billy Daniels, in the face. Daniels had become a $5,000 per night, singing sensation and was known for recording, “That Old Black Magic”. 31 year old Ronnie was arrested for assault with a deadly weapon. Daniels was not free from scandal himself, as the African American singer was publicized for recently marrying a “white debutante” from New York. Daniels recently arrived in Hollywood to sing at the Mocambo and Ronnie had been harassing him with letters, telegrams, and phone calls. She was also trying to extort $5,000 from him as she claimed he attacked and drugged her at her apartment at 1712 Nichols Canyon Drive. Daniels claimed he went over to her apartment and her maid was giving him drinks while Ronnie was “popping” pills. She became erratic and pulled out a knife, slashing him in the face; she them attempted to throw a lamp at him but missed. After doctors examined her, they found no evidence that she had been attacked by Daniels and was also charged with extortion. Daniels decided NOT to press charges to spare his 22 year old wife further embarrassment and publicity. His wife, socialite, Martha Braun, divorced him citing mental cruelty. Daniels and Braun are pictured below at the LAX airport in 1950.

In November of 1955, Ronnie accused a nurse of stealing her pills from under her pillow while she was sleeping on them at her apartment, 1245 N. Vine Street. The 23 year old nurse was found with a new car and wad of cash and ultimately arrested. Ronnie, who was then using alias of Ronny Blair and Mary Wolfe, was identified which triggered the IRS to slap a lien on her for owing back taxes. Then in April of 1956, Ronnie was arrested again at the age of 39 for suspicion of offering an undercover police officer sex in front of her apartment at 7292 Fountain Avenue. She said she need $10 to pay a doctor, who was making a housecall. After spending 30 days in jail for prostitution, she went to a drug treatment facility, which did not help.

Ronnie was actually best known for Confidential Magazine’s chief witness in their own scandal. During the trial, she went on the witness stand and claimed she was having an affair with Desi Arnaz, just as Time Magazine declared Desi Arnaz and Lucille Ball to be “America’s perfect couple”. Ronnie Quillan (called by the press “the Soiled Dove”) testified that Confidential paid her $1500 to tell her story about meeting Desi Arnaz in a Palm Springs cocktail lounge and then sharing time together in Desi’s hotel room. The relevance of Quillan’s testimony escaped almost all courtroom observers, since Quillan failed to identify anything in Confidential’s 1954 story about Arnaz that might be false, and therefore libelous. Apparently, the prosecution believed that the mere fact that Confidential bought stories from a prostitute would make the jury more likely to convict.

Ronnie was yet again arrested in 1957 for possessing a stolen gun. She was observed walking down Hollywood Boulevard wearing pajamas and a coat, carrying a stuffed dog and the pistol. A cab driver picked her up at 6 a.m. in front of the Roosevelt Hotel. She told the cab driver that she wanted to go to a pawn shop; the cab driver took one look at the gun and took her to the police. That same year, she was allegedly beaten by then, ex-husband, Daniel O’Reilly, who took $100 and 3 bottles of Whiskey from her. A few months later, Ronnie got arrested again for public intoxication while swaggering down Hollywood Blvd. This all triggered her 1958 suicide attempt at 1737 N. Sycamore-her landlady found her on her apartment floor semi-unconscious. In 1962, she died of what sounds like massive internal bleeding after stumbling into a doctor’s office, claiming she had been beaten and knew who had beaten her. She died before she could say more, and the crime remains unsolved. Tragic.

Another tragic story-actress Monica Keena resided at 6636 Emmet Terrace from 2008-2012. Born in 1979, Keena made her acting debut in the 1995 film, While You Were Sleeping, starring Sandra Bullock and Bill Pullman. Keena went on to star in minor roles in The Devil’s Advocate (1997), All I Wanna Do (1998), Orange County (2002), Freddy vs. Jason (2003), and Brooklyn Rules (2007), steadily working every year. In 2009, she went in to film, Night of the Demons where she met steady boyfriend, Edward Furlong.

Pardon the pun, but Furlong was battling his own demons. Furlong found childhood fame as he starred in Terminator 2: Judgement Day in 1991 at the age of 13. He had a promising career, winning several Young Artists Awards for Terminator 2 and American History X. He became addicted to cocaine and meth in his 20s and 30s which led to overdosing several times. Their relationship grew toxic and Keena had to get a restraining order against him due to domestic violence. Between 2012-13, Furlong had been arrested three times for domestic battery against Keena. He also has a son from a previous marriage, but was only allowed supervised visits due to his son testing positive after spending time with Furlong in November of 2012.

Unfortunately for Keena, her acting career dwindled as she is rumored to also engage in drugs and alcohol. Their on-again and off-again relationship has been a struggle. An article in Independent TV dated July 13, 2022, interviewed Furlong who stated he had been sober for four years and even got a new set of teeth. Keena, in August of 2021 was at a convention and appeared to be “under the influence”. As drug addiction is a struggle and the two are rumored to be “on-again”, it is unclear if Furlong has maintained his sobriety, especially if the two have abused drugs together in the past. Another tragedy.

Now back to 6636 Emmet Terrace: The 3/2, 2,000 square foot home, has two stories and sits on a downslope off of Emmet Terrace. The main living area (living room, kitchen, and dining room) is on the top floor.

Like many Whitley Heights residence who are on a downslope, the bedrooms are on the ground level floor. The master bedroom (pictured below), has an office and porch that are adjacent.