Peg Entwistle - The Actress Who Jumped to her Death from the Hollywood Sign

Peg Entwistle - The Actress Who Jumped to her 

Death from the Hollywood Sign

In the golden age of Hollywood, when the dream of stardom seemed within reach of the fortunate and the determined, the name Peg Entwistle became forever linked not with glittering success, but with poignant tragedy. Her life story remains a solemn reminder that the bright lights of Hollywood often conceal deep and silent struggles.

Born Millicent Lilian Entwistle in Port Talbot, Wales, in 1908, Peg’s early life was marked by hardship. Following the death of her mother, Peg emigrated with her father to America, settling first in New York. Tragedy struck again when her father was killed in a hit-and-run accident, leaving the young Peg and her brothers to fend for themselves under the care of relatives.

Despite these early sorrows, Peg showed talent and promise in the theater. She studied at the reputable Henry Jewett Drama School in Boston and soon found her footing on the stage. In the 1920s, she became a respected Broadway actress, appearing alongside prominent figures such as Dorothy Gish and Humphrey Bogart. Critics praised her performances, and for a time, it seemed that a long and illustrious career lay ahead.

Entwistle married actor Robert Keith in 1927, but the union quickly soured. She discovered that Keith had concealed the fact that he had a previous marriage and a child, a betrayal that led to their divorce just a few years later. Disillusioned but determined, Peg turned her attention westward toward Hollywood, hoping to make her mark in the burgeoning film industry.

Hollywood in the early 1930s, however, was fiercely competitive and often unkind. While she secured a small role in the RKO film Thirteen Women (1932), the part was significantly reduced during editing, leaving her virtually unrecognized. Facing a lack of work, growing financial insecurity, and an overwhelming sense of failure, Peg’s dreams of stardom began to crumble.

On the night of September 16, 1932, at only 24 years old, Peg Entwistle made her way to the Hollywoodland sign—an advertisement for a real estate development that had by then become a symbol of the movie industry's promises. Climbing to the top of the "H," she jumped to her death. Her body was discovered two days later, after a hiker found her shoes, purse, and a sad, final note that read, “I am afraid I am a coward. I am sorry for everything. If I had done this long ago, it would have saved a lot of pain.”

In a tragic twist of fate, a letter arrived at Peg’s residence shortly after her death, offering her a role in a play about a woman driven to suicide. It is said that she never knew of this opportunity.

Today, Peg Entwistle is remembered as the "Hollywood Sign Girl," her story standing as a somber legend of lost hopes amidst the glamour of old Hollywood. In her brief life, she embodied both the brilliance and the heartache of chasing dreams under the dazzling but merciless lights of Tinseltown.

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