10 hit movies you didn’t know were based on real stories
‘Chicago’
The Oscar-winning musical about two fame-hungry death row inmates in 1920s Chicago is rooted in a couple of true crime tales from the Jazz Age that have been given the stage and screen treatment several times over the past 100 years. Roxie Hart (Renée Zellweger) is based on real-life murder suspect Beulah Annan, known as “Chicago’s Jazz Killer,” a married woman who allegedly shot her boyfriend, Harry Kalstedt, and watched him die as she played a foxtrot record on repeat while drinking cocktails for about four hours.
Beulah’s husband, Albert, stood by her side throughout the trial and made sure she had the best representation, but she dumped him the day after her acquittal. Velma Kelly (Catherine Zeta-Jones) was inspired by Belva Gaertner, a woman who allegedly shot and killed her married lover after a night of drinking at Chicago’s bars and jazz houses. She was also acquitted.