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Peg Entwistle - Another Untimely Passing
posted by QuitePleasantSTAFFMOD on January 29, 2020 at 9:54 PM
Peg Entwistle (1908–1932) (Age 24)
Another tragic passing of a promising star given little chance by Hollywood, but who, ironically, places Hollywood on the map during the pre-Code Talkie era....
Highly regarded Welsh stage actress who left Broadway for Hollywood during the Great Depression, when stage roles became few and far between.
Appears as Hazel Clay Cousins in the RKO Radio Pictures film Thirteen Women (1932), starring Irene Dunne, Myrna Loy, Ricardo Cortez, Florence Eldridge and Peg Entwistle.
Thirteen Women had many scenes deleted after top brass decided that it ran too long for a downtrodden film. A great deal of Peg's scenes were thereby deleted.
Passes two days after the release of her only film, Thirteen Women.
Cause of death - a leap from the letter "H" in the famous "Hollywoodland" sign in the hills above the entertainment capital of the American film industry.
Told her uncle that she was going for a walk, and hiked onto the hillside, neatly folds her coat beneath her purse containing her suicide note, and climbs a workman's ladder to the top of the Letter "H."
Her Gardenia-scented perfume is said to remain a fragrance noticeable behind the "Hollywood" Sign.
An urban legend says that, in a cruel twist of irony, her uncle received a letter from the Beverly Hills Playhouse, two days after her death. She was offered the lead role in a play about a woman driven to suicide. However, despite being a popular story, no actual evidence of such an event exists.
Ex-stepmother of Brian Keith.
Reply by genplant29
on January 29, 2020 at 10:59 PM
Ah, I definitely am familiar with Peg's name. I saw Thirteen Women a couple or few times in years past (never in the last ten years, I don't believe), and have a number of times read/heard her name in accounts of Hollywood history, but unfortunately didn't take note, either time I watched her mentioned one movie, of the significance of Peg's name - that she was the poor soul who has the unfortunate "claim to fame" of having been the young suicide jumper from the Hollywoodland sign.
So tragic that such a young person with so much promise would feel that giving up and ending it all would be the best thing to do. At least her name is still remembered to this day.
RIP, Peg.
Thanks for putting her in the spotlight here, Quite. Great post!
By the way, here's a thread I created about ill-fated former child star Bobby Driscoll (died age 31) a couple years ago.
Reply by QuitePleasant
on January 29, 2020 at 11:33 PM
Thank you.
Yes, that is very nice a tribute to Bobby Driscoll, Gen.
Remember his name, as well as recognizing some of his acting performances.