Michael Todd Jr., son of the legendary producer of “Around the World in 80 Days,” who worked on the first Cinerama movie and produced the only feature film shot in Smell-o-Vision, has died. He was 72.
Mr. Todd died of lung cancer Sunday in his home in County Carlow, Ireland.
After his flamboyant father died in a plane crash in 1958, Mr. Todd took the reins of his movie production company.
Then 28, he inherited half of his father’s multimillion-dollar estate, which he shared with his 26-year-old stepmother, Elizabeth Taylor, who had married Michael Todd Sr. 13 months before his death.
Although Mr. Todd never rivaled his father’s success as a producer, he made history with “Scent of Mystery” (1960), about a vacationing Englishman who discovers a plot to kill a young American tourist in Spain.
The movie, which starred Denholm Elliott and Peter Lorre, tapped an invention created by a Swiss professor who discovered how to reproduce odors in movie theaters. It consisted of plastic tubes hidden under the theater seats, through which could be pumped garlic, pipe smoke and other scents.
Advertisements for “Scent of Mystery” played up the revolutionary process’ place in film history, proclaiming, “First They Moved (1895)! Then They Talked (1927)! Now They Smell!”
Unfortunately, most critics turned their noses up at the process, as well as the movie.
Earlier he had worked with his father on “This Is Cinerama,” on which Michael Sr. was producer. The film was a travelogue that demonstrated Cinerama’s 3-D effect.
He is survived by his second wife, Susan; his eight children, and a half-sister.
