Television has seen its fair share of shocking death scenes — but no one expects the kind that executive producer David E. Kelley wrote into an episode of one of NBC’s best shows of all time, legal drama “L.A. Law,” back in 1991. Kelley — who went on to be responsible for some hit shows from the 1990s that nobody talks about today — co-wrote the Season 5 episode, “Good to the Last Drop,” which became famous for a scene where Diana Muldaur’s Rosalind Shays accidentally falls to her death down an empty elevator shaft.
Muldaur only appeared on “L.A. Law” for two seasons, specifically when Kelley, who served as an executive producer and writer on Seasons 4 and 5 of the NBC series, was working on the show. But during her stint, Shays was the show’s main antagonist. She was a manipulative partner who joined a few episodes into Season 4 and maintained a ruthless presence, so the jarring and unexpected nature of her death sent a shockwave through audiences.
The death of Rosalind Shays created an L.A. Law rumor
Rosalind Shays dying on “L.A. Law” was a focal point for audiences and fans, especially those who crafted a theory around the character’s shocking ill-fated end. Shays was saying goodbye to Leland McKenzie (Richard Dysart), one of the senior partners on the series, when she fell down the elevator shaft — which led to folks speculating that he was responsible for her death.
“Yes, there are rumors. They’ve been circling around and any number of people have asked me that,” Dysart told the Nova Law Review in 2000. “I said to the director of the episode when we came to film the elevator scene, I said, ‘Please, show both my hands at all times.’ Well, of course we couldn’t do that. I wasn’t serious about that anyway. But I did feel the obligation.”
Dysart has denied the murder accusation against his character, and if you watch the scene, it’s pretty clear McKenzie never touches Shays ahead of her death. But because the pair were not only co-workers but lovers and rivals, there was always going to be some suspicion that McKenzie had a hand in the character’s death — despite David E. Kelley technically being the man responsible.
