Max Linder and his wife died in a Paris hotel in 1925, a letter said "He will kill me," and his brother won custody of his daughter and her fortune

Max Linder married Helene "Ninette" Peters on 2 August 1923. She was 17, and he was arrested in Nice for kidnapping a minor. In 1924 the two were found unconscious in a Vienna hotel, explained as an accidental overdose. In late October 1925, after a screening of Quo Vadis in Paris, they reportedly drank Veronal, injected morphine and slashed their wrists. Ninette died first and Linder after midnight on 1 November. The New York Times reported on 2 November 1925 that she had written to her mother, "He will kill me." His daughter Maud's memoir says he said he planned to kill his wife so no other man would have her. Wikipedia reports that Linder's elder brother won custody of the 16-month-old Maud to gain her fortune, and that her maternal grandmother later fought back and took over^†. Maud Linder made the 1983 documentary The Man in the Silk Hat, and the compilation Laugh with Max Linder was released in cinemas. She won the Prix Henri Langlois in 2008.