In the heyday of film noir (the 1940s and 1950s), Hollywood created menacing and darkly urban settings and focused on a criminal class of characters, usually including a femme fatale. It was all very ...

Barbara Graham arrives at San Quentin State Prison in June 1955. She would be executed the following day. (Bettmann Archive) Near the end of his life, the prosecutor who sent 32-year-old Barbara ...