[CityBoyDoug]

Attorney Joseph Scott, left, and Johnny Stompanato, Oct. 4, 1949, after Stompanato was charged with vagrancy. Later that year he was fatally knifed by Lana Turner's daughter.

Joseph Scott (July 16, 1867 - March 24, 1958) was a prominent British-born attorney and community leader in Los Angeles, California. His service to the community was so varied and important that he earned the nickname "Mr. Los Angeles."

Scott momentarily rose to national prominence in 1945 in the Charlie Chaplin-Joan Barry paternity suit. The 23-year-old actress and one-time Chaplin protégé, Barry, had had an affair with the actor in 1942. Barry became pregnant, and sued Chaplin for child support in 1943. Barry hired Scott to press her case in court. Scott convinced the court to rule a blood test inadmissible as evidence, even though the test seemed to indicate that Chaplin was not the father. At trial, Scott railed against the actor—who had a lengthy and public history of adulterous relationships and affairs with very young women. Among other things, Scott called Chaplin a "pestiferous, lecherous hound", "a little runt of a Svengali", a "cheap Cockney cad", "a hoary headed old buzzard" and "a master mechanic in the art of seduction".


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