His first flirtation with the film industry was when he served as a contractor to Hollywood studios, soundproofing production stages during the transition from silent pictures to sound. The company he owned with his brother went bankrupt when its financial backing failed in the early days of the Great Depression. Not yet 21, Todd had lost over $1 million (equivalent to about $15,304,781 in today’s funds). Todd married the former Bertha Freshman on February 14, 1927, and was the father of an infant son with no home for his family. Todd’s subsequent business career was volatile, and failed ventures left him bankrupt many times.

At age 17, Todd married Bertha Freshman in Crown Point, Indiana, on Valentine’s Day 1927. He had been interested in Freshman since age 14, but needed to develop confidence before even asking her out. In 1929, the couple’s son, Mike Todd, Jr., was born. The death of his father in 1931 was a turning point for Todd; he decided to change his name to Mike Todd on the day of his father’s death. Todd’s wife, Bertha, died of a pneumothorax (collapsed lung) on August 12, 1946, in Santa Monica, California, while undergoing surgery at St. John’s Hospital for a damaged tendon in her finger. Todd and his wife were separated at the time of her death; less than a week before Freshman’s death, he had filed for divorce.

On July 5, 1947, Todd married actress Joan Blondell. They divorced on June 8, 1950, after Blondell filed for divorce on the grounds of mental cruelty.

In 1950, Mike Todd formed Cinerama with the broadcaster Lowell Thomas (who founded Capital Cities Communications) and the inventor Fred Waller. The company was created to exploit Cinerama, a widescreen film process created by Waller that used three film projectors to create a giant composite image on a curved screen. The first Cinerama feature, This is Cinerama, was released in September 1952.

In 1952, Todd made a production of the Johann Strauss II operetta A Night in Venice, complete with floating gondolas at the then-newly constructed Jones Beach Theatre in Long Island, New York. It ran for two seasons.

Before its release, Todd left the Cinerama Company to develop a widescreen process which would eliminate some of Cinerama’s flaws. The result was the Todd-AO process, designed by the American Optical Company. The process was first used commercially for the successful film adaptation of Oklahoma! (1955). (Ironically, the producer had famously dismissed the stage musical during tryouts a decade earlier, quipping “No jokes, no legs, no chance.”) Todd soon produced the film for which he is best remembered, Michael Todd’s Around the World in 80 Days, which debuted in cinemas on October 17, 1956. Costing $6 million to produce (equivalent to approximately $56,423,501), the movie earned $16 million at the box office. In 1957, Around the World in 80 Days won the Best Picture Academy Award.

Todd’s third marriage was to the actress Elizabeth Taylor, with whom he had a tempestuous relationship. The couple exchanged vows on February 2, 1957, in Mexico, in a ceremony performed by the mayor of Acapulco. It was the third marriage for both the 24-year-old bride and her 47-year-old groom. Mario Moreno, better known as Cantinflas, was their witness. Todd and Taylor had a daughter, Elizabeth Frances (Liza) Todd, born on August 6, 1957.

On March 22, 1958, Todd’s private plane the Liz crashed near Grants, New Mexico. The plane, a twin-engine Lockheed Lodestar, suffered engine failure, while being flown overloaded in icy conditions at an altitude that was too high for only one engine working under the heavy load. The plane went out of control and crashed, killing all four on board. Five days before the crash, Todd flew on this plane to Albuquerque, 78 miles (126 km) east of the crash site, to promote a screening of Michael Todd’s Around the World in 80 Days.

In June 1977, Todd’s remains were desecrated by graverobbers. The thieves broke into his casket looking for a $100,000 diamond ring, which, according to rumor, Taylor had placed on her husband’s finger prior to his burial. The bag containing Todd’s remains was found under a tree near his burial plot. The bag and casket had been sealed in Albuquerque after Todd’s remains were identified following the 1958 crash. Todd’s remains were once more identified through dental records and were reburied in a secret location.