The Hollywood sign is an American landmark that’s come to symbolize glamour and the larger-than-life entertainment business. While it was erected in 1923, it’s seen many changes over the years, including a facelift championed by Playboy founder Hugh Hefner.
While the sign symbolizes hope for many, it’s also seen its share of tragedy over the years, including a suicide from an up-and-coming starlet.
The history of the Hollywood sign The Hollywood sign in 1932 | Bettmann/Contributor
The original sign, built by the Crescent Sign Company, sat high in the hills and read “Hollywoodland.” Around 1922, real estate developers commissioned the company to assemble the structure to help advertise their new development.
The 13 wooden letters were 30 feet wide and 50 feet high and featured 4,000 lightbulbs to help illuminate the sign until it became too expensive. According to the Sherman Library, the entire project cost $23,000 and soon became the main attraction of the entertainment world.
While the sign symbolizes hope for many, it’s also seen its share of tragedy over the years, including a suicide from an up-and-coming starlet.
The history of the Hollywood sign The Hollywood sign in 1932 | Bettmann/Contributor
The original sign, built by the Crescent Sign Company, sat high in the hills and read “Hollywoodland.” Around 1922, real estate developers commissioned the company to assemble the structure to help advertise their new development.
The 13 wooden letters were 30 feet wide and 50 feet high and featured 4,000 lightbulbs to help illuminate the sign until it became too expensive. According to the Sherman Library, the entire project cost $23,000 and soon became the main attraction of the entertainment world.
- 3/29/2023
- by Julie Rhoads
- Showbiz Cheat Sheet
In Hollywood’s long and illustrious history, thousands of young starlets have arrived with big dreams and plans. Some make it, establishing successful careers that last so long we’re duped into believing they’ll be with us forever. Who didn’t believe Betty White would make it to 100? How many of us were stunned when she died 18 days before that landmark birthday? Sadly, some don’t get that many years, and stun the world when they die suddenly at the height of their fame. Then there are those who die young and tragically when their careers have just begun, and are remembered more for their manners of death than their work. In more than 100 years of Hollywood history, there have been several deaths that have made the headlines.
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One of the earliest Hollywood scandals involved the...
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One of the earliest Hollywood scandals involved the...
- 7/22/2022
- by Susan Pennington and Chris Beachum
- Gold Derby
In Hollywood’s long and illustrious history, thousands of young starlets have arrived with big dreams and plans. Some make it, establishing successful careers that last so long we’re duped into believing they’ll be with us forever. Who didn’t believe Betty White would make it to 100? How many of us were stunned when she died 18 days before that landmark birthday? Sadly, some don’t get that many years, and stun the world when they die suddenly at the height of their fame. Then there are those who die young and tragically when their careers have just begun, and are remembered more for their manners of death than their work. In more than 100 years of Hollywood history, there have been several deaths that have made the headlines.
One of the earliest Hollywood scandals involved the sudden death of a young actress. In 1921, 26-year-old Virginia Rappe died from a...
One of the earliest Hollywood scandals involved the sudden death of a young actress. In 1921, 26-year-old Virginia Rappe died from a...
- 7/21/2022
- by Susan Pennington, Chris Beachum and Misty Holland
- Gold Derby
It's only natural that a place as storied as Hollywood has its fair share of myths and urban legends, and Tinseltown has produced some real blockbusters over the years. There is the debunked rumor that one of the actors playing a Munchkin took his own life on the set of "The Wizard of Oz" and can be seen swinging from a tree in one scene; or the claim that Walt Disney is cryogenically frozen beneath the "Pirates of the Caribbean" attraction at Disneyland; or the sadly true tale of actress Peg Entwistle, who leapt to her death from the Hollywood sign.
One...
The post Did a ghoulish prank involving Drew Barrymore's dead granddad inspire Weekend at Bernie's? appeared first on /Film.
One...
The post Did a ghoulish prank involving Drew Barrymore's dead granddad inspire Weekend at Bernie's? appeared first on /Film.
- 6/3/2022
- by Lee Adams
- Slash Film
For Emmy-nominated production designer Matthew Flood Ferguson, working on Ryan Murphy’s “Hollywood” limited series was a labor of love. It’s a post-World War II ode to Tinseltown about aspiring actors and filmmakers with more at stake culturally than artistic success, which required authentic depictions of iconic locations along with fictional composites.
“For me it was a dream job because I had grown up loving the film industry and had been fascinated by it,” Ferguson said, who collaborated with art director Mark Robert Taylor and set decorator Melissa Licht. “So, with some of these locations, like the El Cabrillo [apartment complex], built by Cecil B. DeMille for out-of-state actors who came to work for him, I couldn’t help but feel extra special as we were making the show.”
Armed with volumes of historical photos as reference, Ferguson recreated such landmarks as Schwabs Pharmacy, the Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow, a Hancock Park mansion,...
“For me it was a dream job because I had grown up loving the film industry and had been fascinated by it,” Ferguson said, who collaborated with art director Mark Robert Taylor and set decorator Melissa Licht. “So, with some of these locations, like the El Cabrillo [apartment complex], built by Cecil B. DeMille for out-of-state actors who came to work for him, I couldn’t help but feel extra special as we were making the show.”
Armed with volumes of historical photos as reference, Ferguson recreated such landmarks as Schwabs Pharmacy, the Beverly Hills Hotel bungalow, a Hancock Park mansion,...
- 8/31/2020
- by Bill Desowitz
- Indiewire
Boasting a 15-year career as a set decorator, Matthew Flood Ferguson found his first major TV design job in Netflix miniseries Hollywood, on which he took a deep dive into the minutiae of Hollywood’s Golden Age.
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the starry drama is set in Post-World War II Tinseltown, following a group of actors and filmmakers who will do whatever it takes to realize their dreams. Spotlighting biases toward race, gender and sexuality that exist to this day, it considers what might have happened, had inequality in entertainment been addressed decades ago.
First working with Murphy on the 2006 film Running with Scissors, Ferguson subsequently joined the prolific creator on a number of projects, including The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, getting one of his first opportunities in production design on the upcoming Ratched. “Judy Becker, the production designer, had to leave to do another project,...
Created by Ryan Murphy and Ian Brennan, the starry drama is set in Post-World War II Tinseltown, following a group of actors and filmmakers who will do whatever it takes to realize their dreams. Spotlighting biases toward race, gender and sexuality that exist to this day, it considers what might have happened, had inequality in entertainment been addressed decades ago.
First working with Murphy on the 2006 film Running with Scissors, Ferguson subsequently joined the prolific creator on a number of projects, including The Assassination of Gianni Versace: American Crime Story, getting one of his first opportunities in production design on the upcoming Ratched. “Judy Becker, the production designer, had to leave to do another project,...
- 8/12/2020
- by Matt Grobar
- Deadline Film + TV
Every year since 2010, Ryan Murphy has had at least one of his productions competing in the Emmy race. He’s looking to continue that trend this year with his latest miniseries, “Hollywood.” While the show does feature a large ensemble of well-established actors such as Darren Criss, Patti LuPone, Dylan McDermott, Jim Parsons and Holland Taylor, there’s one performance in particular that deserves Emmy attention, and that would be newcomer Jeremy Pope.
See‘Hollywood’ Emmy interviews: Jeremy Pope, David Corenswet, Patti LuPone, Michelle Krusiec and more [Watch]
Pope plays Archie Coleman, an aspiring gay black screenwriter who’s facing prejudice during the golden age of Hollywood in the post-World War II era. In the very first episode, he sells a screenplay he wrote about British actress Peg Entwistle for $100, but since he’s black, he won’t be put under contract and needs the money. When aspiring actor Jack Castello...
See‘Hollywood’ Emmy interviews: Jeremy Pope, David Corenswet, Patti LuPone, Michelle Krusiec and more [Watch]
Pope plays Archie Coleman, an aspiring gay black screenwriter who’s facing prejudice during the golden age of Hollywood in the post-World War II era. In the very first episode, he sells a screenplay he wrote about British actress Peg Entwistle for $100, but since he’s black, he won’t be put under contract and needs the money. When aspiring actor Jack Castello...
- 6/27/2020
- by Jeffrey Kare
- Gold Derby
The incredibly famous Hollywood sign sits atop Mount Lee in the Hollywood Hills, watching over the film industry's most well-known city. The sign itself has starred in a number of movies and TV shows - like Netflix's Hollywood, where the sign played the location to actress Peg Entwistle's tragic end, which is a true story. But did you know that when the sign was built, it didn't exactly say Hollywood? Or that some very famous names helped refurbish the sign when it started falling apart in the 1970s? Read all about those fun facts and more when you scroll through the gallery ahead.
- 5/16/2020
- by Hedy Phillips
- Popsugar.com
Netflix's glam alt-history Hollywood centers on the making of a movie, first called Peg, and later, Meg. While some parts of the series are based on real Hollywood stories, this one isn't: there was no movie called Peg or Meg in real life. That being said, there are a few parts of the story that do have roots in screen history.
The part of Peg's production that's most obviously based on reality is that there was, in fact, a woman called Peg Entwistle who infamously died by suicide at the Hollywoodland sign. She was a stage actress who attempted to make the transition to the big screen in the early 1930s, but only managed to land a small part in a flop movie, Thirteen Women. In September 1932, her body was found in a ravine beneath the Hollywood sign, along with a brief suicide note, and police were able to...
The part of Peg's production that's most obviously based on reality is that there was, in fact, a woman called Peg Entwistle who infamously died by suicide at the Hollywoodland sign. She was a stage actress who attempted to make the transition to the big screen in the early 1930s, but only managed to land a small part in a flop movie, Thirteen Women. In September 1932, her body was found in a ravine beneath the Hollywood sign, along with a brief suicide note, and police were able to...
- 5/14/2020
- by Amanda Prahl
- Popsugar.com
I took me a while to truly get into the new Netflix original series Hollywood due to the shows pacing and set-up (which I’ll talk about more later) but once I understood the stylistic choices, and once the main themes of the show were discussed, I quickly become totally invested into this series! don’t think there has been a show that has explored such vital ideas and themes in such a gripping way on Netflix for a long, long time.
Hollywood is a show all about a group of people chasing their dreams in the world of theatre, as the audience track the making of a movie based on the story of Peg Entwistle – who supposedly jumped off the Hollywood sign. This harks back to the heart of the golden age of cinema in Hollywood which explains why the pacing of the show is really slow. The show...
Hollywood is a show all about a group of people chasing their dreams in the world of theatre, as the audience track the making of a movie based on the story of Peg Entwistle – who supposedly jumped off the Hollywood sign. This harks back to the heart of the golden age of cinema in Hollywood which explains why the pacing of the show is really slow. The show...
- 5/13/2020
- by Rhys Payne
- Nerdly
Ryan Murphy’s latest exploration of race and sexuality, set during the Golden Age of Hollywood, is currently streaming on Netflix. While the series is fictional, many of the characters are in fact based on real people who lived in and around the film industry during the late 1940s. Want to know more about the true stories behind “Hollywood?” Check out our photos of the 23 true life players who pop up throughout the show.
See ‘Hollywood’: Will Ryan Murphy’s revisionist history get a happy ending at the Emmys?
“Hollywood” follows several young men and women trying to achieve “the dream” of making it in Tinseltown. Jack Castello (David Corenswet) is a white serviceman just returning from the war struggling to get even a bit part. Raymond Ainsley (Daren Criss) is a half-Asian filmmaker desperate to produce more diverse films, especially if they star his African-American girlfriend Camille (Laura Harrier...
See ‘Hollywood’: Will Ryan Murphy’s revisionist history get a happy ending at the Emmys?
“Hollywood” follows several young men and women trying to achieve “the dream” of making it in Tinseltown. Jack Castello (David Corenswet) is a white serviceman just returning from the war struggling to get even a bit part. Raymond Ainsley (Daren Criss) is a half-Asian filmmaker desperate to produce more diverse films, especially if they star his African-American girlfriend Camille (Laura Harrier...
- 5/8/2020
- by Zach Moore and Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
Peg Entwistle, the British actress at the center of Ryan Murphy's latest show, Hollywood, has a tragically true story that goes beyond what's mentioned in the Netflix hit. While the British actress who jumped to her death from the Hollywoodland sign is the main character in Archie's (Jeremy Pope) screenplay, aptly titled Peg, we never quite learn exactly what happened to this actress in real life.
Millicent Lillian Entwistle was born on Feb. 5, 1908. After her parents split up when she was little, Entwistle and her father moved to New York City, where she fell in love with Broadway. After seeing Peg o' My Heart, she renamed herself Peg. Her father was killed in an accident shortly after that, and Entwistle and her half brothers relocated to Ohio and then Los Angeles with family. However, Entwistle ended up back on the East Coast, in Boston and New York, shortly after...
Millicent Lillian Entwistle was born on Feb. 5, 1908. After her parents split up when she was little, Entwistle and her father moved to New York City, where she fell in love with Broadway. After seeing Peg o' My Heart, she renamed herself Peg. Her father was killed in an accident shortly after that, and Entwistle and her half brothers relocated to Ohio and then Los Angeles with family. However, Entwistle ended up back on the East Coast, in Boston and New York, shortly after...
- 5/6/2020
- by Hedy Phillips
- Popsugar.com
Ryan Murphy’s latest exploration of race and sexuality, set during the Golden Age of Hollywood, is currently streaming on Netflix. While the series is fictional, many of the characters are in fact based on real people who lived in and around the film industry during the late 1940s. Want to know more about the true stories behind “Hollywood?” Check out our photo gallery of the true life players who pop up throughout the show.
“Hollywood” follows several young men and women trying to achieve “the dream” of making it in Tinseltown. Jack Castello (David Corenswet) is a white serviceman just returning from the war struggling to get even a bit part. Raymond Ainsley (Daren Criss) is a half-Asian filmmaker desperate to produce more diverse films, especially if they star his African-American girlfriend Camille (Laura Harrier). Archie Coleman (Jeremy Pope) is a gay African-American screenwriter who feels pressured to write...
“Hollywood” follows several young men and women trying to achieve “the dream” of making it in Tinseltown. Jack Castello (David Corenswet) is a white serviceman just returning from the war struggling to get even a bit part. Raymond Ainsley (Daren Criss) is a half-Asian filmmaker desperate to produce more diverse films, especially if they star his African-American girlfriend Camille (Laura Harrier). Archie Coleman (Jeremy Pope) is a gay African-American screenwriter who feels pressured to write...
- 5/6/2020
- by Zach Moore and Zach Laws
- Gold Derby
This article contains major spoilers for Netflix’s Hollywood.
Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series is here. And as Hollywood begins tripping the light fantastic on your streaming service, we’re here to provide you with some texture, color, and insight on all the little easter eggs about the Dreamland that was. We’ve already gone further in-depth here with regard to the real historical players bouncing around Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan’s fantasy, but here we begin a nice overview of all the little nods (and perhaps come-hither stares that accompany their winks) in the show. Go here to find all our coverage, including more episodes’ easter eggs.
Hollywood Episode 1
-Ryan Murphy begins his Hollywood show where else but at the movies! We meet David Corenswet’s Jack Castello as he watches a newsreel in awe. It tells him to go west, young man, and find his start in Hollywood’s boomtown!
Ryan Murphy’s new Netflix series is here. And as Hollywood begins tripping the light fantastic on your streaming service, we’re here to provide you with some texture, color, and insight on all the little easter eggs about the Dreamland that was. We’ve already gone further in-depth here with regard to the real historical players bouncing around Murphy and co-creator Ian Brennan’s fantasy, but here we begin a nice overview of all the little nods (and perhaps come-hither stares that accompany their winks) in the show. Go here to find all our coverage, including more episodes’ easter eggs.
Hollywood Episode 1
-Ryan Murphy begins his Hollywood show where else but at the movies! We meet David Corenswet’s Jack Castello as he watches a newsreel in awe. It tells him to go west, young man, and find his start in Hollywood’s boomtown!
- 5/1/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
This article contains some Hollywood spoilers.
The story of Peg Entwistle, and the voluminous newspaper copies her death sold, is at the heart of Hollywood’s first season. The Ryan Murphy produced Netflix series even makes the tragic iconography associated with her suicide the basis of its opening credits—but with a twist. Whereas the real Peg Entwistle flung herself from the top of the H of the “Hollywoodland” sign in 1932—back before it had simply become “Hollywood”—the entire younger half of the Hollywood ensemble cast scales up the sign together as a team in the new TV show’s credits.
The meaning of the opening is clear. For even in real life, the Tinseltown press of the ‘30s almost immediately turned Entwistle’s fate into a cautionary tale about the dangers of pursuing Hollywood aspirations. But as signaled by the title sequence, Murphy’s Hollywood plans to flip...
The story of Peg Entwistle, and the voluminous newspaper copies her death sold, is at the heart of Hollywood’s first season. The Ryan Murphy produced Netflix series even makes the tragic iconography associated with her suicide the basis of its opening credits—but with a twist. Whereas the real Peg Entwistle flung herself from the top of the H of the “Hollywoodland” sign in 1932—back before it had simply become “Hollywood”—the entire younger half of the Hollywood ensemble cast scales up the sign together as a team in the new TV show’s credits.
The meaning of the opening is clear. For even in real life, the Tinseltown press of the ‘30s almost immediately turned Entwistle’s fate into a cautionary tale about the dangers of pursuing Hollywood aspirations. But as signaled by the title sequence, Murphy’s Hollywood plans to flip...
- 5/1/2020
- by David Crow
- Den of Geek
Star as a famous face at Hollywood’s most famous place in an upcoming feature film. “The Girl on the Hollywood Sign” is a docudrama about 24-year-old actress Peg Entwistle, who jumped to her death from the Hollywood sign in 1932. The film will combine archival footage with reenactments using actors. A female actor, aged 20–25, is wanted to play the lead role of Peg, a young, ambitious actress in Hollywood at the dawn of the film industry who is fighting inner demons. The film will rehearse and shoot in mid-April in Los Angeles. The chosen actor will be paid $500 per day over a guaranteed three days of shooting. Get ready for your closeup and apply directly at Backstage here! Check out Backstage’s Los Angeles audition listings!
- 3/20/2018
- backstage.com
Actress, Laura Liguori 'Love, Lust amp A Room Key' is set to star in 'Hollywood Girl', a short scripted drama based on the true story of stage and screen actress Peg Entwistle. The film, penned and directed by James Pomichter, 'Love, Lust amp A Room Key', 'SS Doomtrooper' is a dramatic imagination of the last day of the Welsh-born actresses life, who tragically committed suicide by jumping off the 'H' of the Hollywood sign in 1932, after she was cut from a movie. Liguori will star as Peg Entwistle in the film.
- 11/16/2015
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
Exclusive: Arthur Sarkissian and writer-director Tony Kaye are teaming to bring the story of Peg Entwistle to light as a movie. She is the blond-haired, blue-eyed actress who committed suicide by jumping off the ‘H’ of the Hollywood sign in 1932 after she was cut out of the David O. Selznick film Thirteen Women. She was only 24.
Sarkissian (Rush Hour) will produce the picture, and Kaye will write and plans to direct.
The Wales-born Entwistle started her career on Broadway in several plays from 1925-32 including The Wild Duck and The Uninvited Guest and in J.M. Barrie’s Alice Sit By The Fire before marrying Robert Keith. They divorced after she discovered that Keith had been married before and had a 6-year-old son she was not told about. Oddly enough, that son was Brian Keith, who later became an actor best known for the popular TV series Family Affair.
The beautiful...
Sarkissian (Rush Hour) will produce the picture, and Kaye will write and plans to direct.
The Wales-born Entwistle started her career on Broadway in several plays from 1925-32 including The Wild Duck and The Uninvited Guest and in J.M. Barrie’s Alice Sit By The Fire before marrying Robert Keith. They divorced after she discovered that Keith had been married before and had a 6-year-old son she was not told about. Oddly enough, that son was Brian Keith, who later became an actor best known for the popular TV series Family Affair.
The beautiful...
- 9/19/2014
- by Anita Busch
- Deadline
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