Peg Entwistle facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Peg Entwistle
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Entwistle from Just to Remind You theatrical production (1929)
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| Born |
Millicent Lilian Entwistle
5 February 1908 |
| Died | 16 September 1932 (aged 24) Hollywood, California, US
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| Cause of death | by jumping off the Hollywoodland Sign |
| Resting place | Oak Hill Cemetery, Glendale, Ohio, US |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1925–1932 |
| Spouse(s) |
Robert Keith
(m. 1927; div. 1929) |
Millicent Lilian "Peg" Entwistle (born February 5, 1908 – died September 16, 1932) was an actress from Britain. She performed on both the stage and in films. Her acting career began in 1925. She appeared in many plays on Broadway, which is a famous theater district in New York City. She only acted in one movie, Thirteen Women, which came out after she passed away.
Peg Entwistle became well-known because of how she died. In September 1932, at 24 years old, she jumped from the "H" on the famous Hollywoodland sign.
Contents
Early Life and Family
Peg Entwistle was born Millicent Lilian Entwistle in Port Talbot, Glamorgan, Wales. Her parents, Emily Entwistle and Robert Symes Entwistle, were English. Her father was also an actor. She spent her early childhood in West Kensington, London.
It is often said that her mother died when Peg was very young. However, there is no official proof of this.
Peg Entwistle came to America, sailing from Liverpool in 1916. She settled in New York City. But, family records show that Peg and her father were in Cincinnati, Ohio, and New York City earlier, in 1913. This is also supported by theater records and The New York Times. Her father, Robert S. Entwistle, was listed in plays during 1913.
In December 1922, her father, Robert Entwistle, passed away in New York City. Peg and her two younger half-brothers were then cared for by their uncle. Her uncle had come to New York with them and managed the Broadway actor Walter Hampden.
Becoming a Broadway Star
By 1925, Entwistle was studying acting in Boston. She was part of the Henry Jewett Players, a group that was becoming famous. Walter Hampden gave Peg a small, uncredited role in his Broadway play Hamlet. She helped carry the King's robe and brought in a prop poison cup.
At 17, Entwistle played Hedvig in a 1925 play called The Wild Duck by Henrik Ibsen. After seeing her, the famous actress Bette Davis told her mother, "I want to be exactly like Peg Entwistle." Years later, Bette Davis said that Peg Entwistle was her inspiration to become an actress.
By 1926, Entwistle joined the New York Theatre Guild. Her first credited Broadway role was in June 1926. She played Martha in The Man from Toronto. This play ran for 28 performances. Between 1926 and 1932, Entwistle acted in ten Broadway plays with the Theatre Guild. She worked with well-known actors like George M. Cohan and William Gillette. Her longest-running play was the 1927 hit Tommy. She starred with Sidney Toler in this play, which ran for 232 performances. It became the play she was most remembered for.
A play called The Uninvited Guest closed after only seven performances in September 1927. However, a critic from The New York Times, J. Brooks Atkinson, wrote that "Peg Entwistle gave a performance considerably better than the play warranted."
She also went on tour with the Theatre Guild. She played different characters each week. This helped her get some attention. Articles about her appeared in The New York Times in 1927 and the Oakland Tribune in 1929.
Peg Entwistle was often cast as a funny, kind, and attractive young woman. She also played a part in a suspense play called Sherlock Holmes and the Strange Case of Miss Faulkner.
Moving to Hollywood
By May 1932, during the Great Depression, Entwistle was in Los Angeles. She had a role in the play The Mad Hopes, starring Billie Burke. This play ran from May 23 to June 4 at the Belasco Theatre in Los Angeles.
After The Mad Hopes finished, Entwistle got her first and only movie role. It was with Radio Pictures. The movie was called Thirteen Women. It starred Myrna Loy and Irene Dunne. It was a thriller produced by David O. Selznick. Entwistle had a small supporting role as Hazel Cousins. The movie first showed on October 14, 1932, which was a month after she died. It was not a big success with critics or audiences. When it was re-released in 1935, 14 minutes were cut from the film. In 2008, Variety magazine called Thirteen Women one of the first movies with many female characters working together.
Personal Life
In April 1927, Entwistle married actor Robert Keith. They were married in New York City. She was granted a divorce in May 1929. She said her husband had not told her he was married before. She also said he had a six-year-old son, Brian Keith, who later became an actor.
Her Death
On September 18, 1932, a woman was hiking near the Hollywoodland sign. She found a woman's shoe, purse, and jacket. She reported her findings to the Los Angeles police.
Later, a detective and two police officers found a body in a ravine below the sign. Peg Entwistle was identified by her uncle. She had been living with him in the Beachwood Canyon area. Her uncle said that on Friday, September 16, she told him she was going for a walk to a drugstore and to see some friends. The police believed that instead, she went to the nearby southern slope of Mount Lee. She climbed a workman's ladder to the top of the "H" on the Hollywoodland sign and jumped.
The cause of her death was listed as "multiple fractures of the pelvis."
Peg Entwistle's death received a lot of attention. Her funeral was held in Hollywood on September 20. Her body was cremated. Her ashes were later sent to Glendale, Ohio. They were buried next to her father in Oak Hill Cemetery on January 5, 1933.
In 2014, about 100 people gathered to remember Entwistle's death. They watched Thirteen Women on an outdoor screen in Hollywood.
Filmography
- Thirteen Women (1932) - Hazel Clay Cousins
See also
In Spanish: Peg Entwistle para niños
