Tim Burton has created strange and wonderful worlds that children and adults alike can get lost in. Though Burton has directed a bit of everything, from Pee-wee's Big Adventure to Planet of the Apes to Dumbo, one common characteristic in Burton films is that the same actors - such as Winona Ryder, Johnny Depp, and Helena Bonham Carter, to name a few -Â show up again and again.
However, a surprising number of these actors also have their dark side. While some scandals can be more easily forgotten, like Ryder's 2001 shoplifting incident, others are much more despicable. Below, we'll look at the controversies, allegations, and crimes of the most famous actors to appear in Tim Burton films.
Paul Reubens's persona as the lovable Pee-wee Herman was tarnished in 1991 when he was arrested for masturbating in an adult movie theater.
Reubens's lawyers tried to keep the story out of the papers since they knew it would ruin his career, but the arrest quickly became a media sensation. Reubens portrayed the Penguin's father in Batman Returns the following year.
Winona Ryder was arrested for shoplifting $5,560 worth of merchandise at Saks Fifth Avenue in Beverly Hills on December 12, 2001. Store clerks saw Ryder cutting off security tags, but she later told them she was preparing for a film role that required her to shoplift.
She was eventually found guilty on two counts of grand theft and vandalism.
Jeffrey Jones made his career on being the likable dad character in multiple films, but that changed in 2003 when he pleaded no contest to hiring a teenage boy to pose for nude photos.
At the time of his arrest, Jones reportedly told authorities he was sorry and said, "Such an event has never happened before and it will never happen again." Jones managed to avoid prison but had to register as a sex offender.
Johnny Depp was first arrested in 1989 for assaulting a hotel security guard after guests complained about a noisy party he was hosting. A decade later, he assaulted a photographer in London and was again arrested.
In December 2018, Depp's ex-wife Amber Heard wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post detailing her experiences with domestic violence, though she didn't specifically name Depp. He would later go on to sue Heard for $50 million claiming defamation of character.
Photo: Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street / Paramount Pictures
In 2015, Emma Thompson revealed her marriage to her first husband, Kenneth Branagh, ended when she discovered he was having an affair with Helena Bonham Carter. Thompson stated that it was also the reason she was so convincing in her Love Actually role.
Thompson later said that the whole thing was "all blood under the bridge." Carter would later begin a 13-year relationship with Tim Burton.
Natalie Wood was found floating off the shore of Catalina Island on November 29, 1981, and Christopher Walken was one of the last people to see her alive. Walken was a guest on Natalie Wood and Robert Wagner's yacht, but reports indicate he was sleeping during the time of the drowning.
Endless speculation over the years has posited if Wood's drowning was accidental or foul play, and Walken has spoken little about the event in the past four decades.
