British-born actress Peg Entwistle, who starred in just one movie, rose to fame after taking her own life at the age of 24. She was raised in London and immigrated to America at the age of five, settling in New York City. Her father is an actor. She made the decision to pursue acting at a young age, and by the time she was nine, she was entertaining her family and friends by performing the scripts. Her good times were short-lived because she lost her stepmother at the age of fifteen and her father at the age of sixteen. She had lost her mother at a young age. Charles Harold Entwistle, her uncle, then assumed control. She stayed in the east, intending to make a career in show business, while her half-brothers followed him to Los Angeles. She eventually appeared in 10 Broadway shows, where she gained recognition for her work. She moved to Hollywood in 1932, at the height of the Great Depression, with a dream in her eyes. But at the age of 24, she committed suicide because she was unable to launch her career and was without money or a job.
Young Adulthood & Childhood
Peg Entwistle was born Millicent Lilian Entwistle on February 5, 1908, in the Port Talbot, Wales, home of her maternal grandparents. When she was born, her parents, Emily Entwistle née Stevenson and Robert Symes Entwistle, were visiting Emily’s parents.
The family soon returned to their London home in West Kensington once the mother and the newborn were healthy enough to travel. Peg was raised in this situation in a theatrical setting.
Robert worked in minor roles in London to support himself. He simultaneously designed sets and made enough money to support his wife and child comfortably. Peg was the sole child of her parents. Later, as a result of her father’s second marriage to Lauretta Ross, she was blessed with two half brothers, Robert and Milton.
Peg lost her mother in 1910. Many biographers claim that Emily passed away in the same year. However, there is evidence that her parents divorced and that her father was awarded sole custody of her. Then, with the assistance of his sisters Rosina and Lilian, he raised her.
During this time, Peg’s uncle Charles Harold Entwistle, a performer himself, had a significant impact on her life. She referred to her Uncle Charlie as “Mister E” and loved him dearly. Later, he had a significant impact on her desire to pursue an acting career.
When her father and uncle were chosen to perform for King George V and Queen Mary at his coronation in 1911, Peg got her first taste of the stage. She sat in a stroller and watched them perform “Julius Caesar” by William Shakespeare.
Charles relocated to the USA following the coronation. Robert continued to live in London while parenting Little Peg and working as an actor in and around the city. He worked in his father’s stationery store where he learned to build gift boxes when he was out of work as an actor.
When Charles and his American wife Jane, nee Ross, left England in 1913, they offered Robert a role in Charles Frohman’s Broadway show. After accepting the opportunity, Robert brought his daughter to the United States; by September, they had arrived in New York, where she acquired the moniker Babs.
Her father wed Lauretta Ross, the younger sister of her aunt Jane, on July 29, 1914. Peg sat in the pew and saw the wedding, like her stepmother right away. She resided with the Ross family while her parents were away on their honeymoon, ultimately relocating to New York with them.
Peg and her parents traveled back to England in 1916 for a family reunion; they arrived in London on January 30 and stayed for 1.5 months. They had been joined by Uncle Charles and Aunt Jane as well.
On the souvenir menu provided by the restaurant’s management, family members were requested to sign their names at the family reunion meal that was held on February 26, 1916, just outside of London, at an Italian-style restaurant. Peg, who is eight years old, also scribbled her name and signed it Babs.
Peg, her father, stepmother, Uncle Charles, and Aunt Jane boarded the “Philadelphia” shortly after the family supper and sailed for the United States, arriving in New York on March 19. Many biographers mistakenly assume it to be her first voyage to the USA because the documents of her earlier trips were lost.
Early in 1917, a nine-year-old girl made the decision to follow her father’s career path and pursue acting. The family moved to West 88 Street at some point during this time, which delighted the aspiring actress. She now started pleading with her parents to take her to the shows.
She also started to persuade her father to give her his scripts when she was nine years old, which she would memorize and then read in front of audiences. She loved being a star and loved casting others into roles, but she also loved being a director.
Peg began attending the St. Agnes Academy, a parish school for girls, in 1918 when she was ten years old. She joined the American Junior Red Cross that same year as well when she was given simple tasks like collecting money and organizing gift baskets for refugees from European wars.
The end of 1918 saw her father’s theatrical career come to an end. He then launched a stationery store in Manhattan and began employing the handmade gift boxes he had learned to make while working in his father’s business. Peg persisted in being engaged in theater, nevertheless, because it was her universe.
After the First World War ended in 1919, Peg was no longer obliged to participate in Junior Red Cross. Now she focused on the thing she enjoyed doing the most. She watched theaters while she wasn’t studying or going to class.
Robert may have relocated his family to the Upper East Side, near Central Park, in 1920. The same year, Peg, then 12 years old, had her stage debut as Peter Pan in a school play. She then started focusing more on her acting profession.
She began spending extended periods of time in front of the mirror imitating famous performers she had met through her uncle. She started to follow them in periodicals at the same time.
Her stepmother, Lauretta, passed away from meningitis on April 2, 1921. Only a year later, on November 2, 1922, Robert was struck and killed by a moving vehicle. He passed away from the injuries he sustained forty-seven days later, leaving Peg and her two half-brothers orphans.
After their father passed away, Uncle Charles, who was serving as Walter Hampden Dougherty’s manager at the time, assumed responsibility for them. Before relocating to Los Angeles, they resided in Ohio for a spell. Peg chose to stay in the east while her brothers traveled with their uncle.
The career of Peg Entwistle
Peg Entwistle returned to New York to briefly attend an acting school when Charles relocated to Los Angeles. She joined Henry Jewett’s Repertory in Boston in 1924, where she received training from renowned actress and director Blanche Yurka and performed alongside her in all of Henrik Ibsen’s plays.
She received her first break in 1925 when Walter Hampden, the company her uncle worked for, gave her a non-speaking role in “Hamlet.” She had to carry the King’s train and bring the poison cup for the walk-on section. Even though it was brief, the New York Theatre Guild scouts were interested in it.
Peg Entwistle was hired by the esteemed New York Theatre Guild in 1926. She had her first credited Broadway debut after completing their program by playing “Martha” in “The Man from Toronto.” Twenty-eight performances were held during its run after its June opening at the Selywn Theatre.
With “Tommy,” her longest-running Broadway production, the year 1927 got underway. The Uninvited Guest, her subsequent play, was not well received and closed in September 1927 after just seven performances. However, critics like J. Brooks Atkinson of the New York Times praised her for the play’s performance.
Peg performed in eight additional Broadway productions until 1932, sharing supporting parts with well-known performers. She went on tour with the New York Theatre Guild in the meantime, garnering praise for each character she did.
She played Amy Grey in her final Broadway production of “Alice Sit-By-The-Fire” in 1932. After only 32 performances since its March 7 debut, it was shut down in April because Laurette Taylor, the show’s star actress, began skipping dates due to her alcoholism.
Soon after “Alice Sit-By-The-Fire” ended, Peg went to visit her Uncle Charles in Los Angeles. She was chosen to appear in “The Mad Hopes,” a Los Angeles tryout production by producers Edward DeBlasio and Homer Curran, with Billie Burke and Humphrey Bogart.
From May 23, 1932, to June 4, 1932, “The Mad Hopes” was presented at the Belasco Theatre in the heart of Los Angeles. She made an impression in the character of Geneva Hope and received praise for it.
As she was getting ready to leave for New York three days after “The Mad Hopes” ended, she received a call from RKO Pictures. They questioned her about participating in a screen test for “Thirteen Woman,” a psychological thriller movie that would end up being her final project.
She played the part of Hazel Clay Cousins in “Thirteen Woman.” Unfortunately, due to financial issues, it took a significant hit, and Peg’s role was drastically diminished. Her employment was not extended either. She waited for calls that never arrived throughout her final days.
Bigger Works of Peg Entwistle
For her Broadway play “Tommy,” which she wrote in 1927, Peg Entwistle is most known. She portrayed Marie Thurber in it, while Sidney Toler played David Tuttle. It debuted on January 10 and ran for 232 performances before ending sometime in August of that same year. Her longest performance to date.
Personal Legacy & Life
Peg Entwistle wed theater and screen star Robert Keith on April 18, 1927. She was given a divorce in May 1929 on the grounds of cruelty and deceit after a two-year marriage. He didn’t disclose to her the details of his past marriages or his six-year-old son.
After “Thirteen Women,” Peg experienced severe mental suffering. Peg did not have enough money to return to New York, where she might have been able to find a theatrical position, because of the Great Depression, which made money scarce. She continued to live with her uncle in Los Angeles and was unemployed.
She left her house that evening of September 16, 1932, informing her uncle that she would be seeing some of her friends at the pharmacy. She was not seen again.
She was discovered dead on September 18, 1932, by a hiker in the Hollywood Hills ravine below Mount Lee, just next to the Hollywoodland sign. Additionally, she discovered her shoes, jacket, and purse, all of which she gave to the police.
A suicide note with the words “I’m scared I’m a coward” was found in the purse. I apologize for all of it. I could have avoided a lot of suffering if I had done this earlier. P.E.” Her uncle afterward recognized her corpse by looking at her clothes.
She allegedly never met her pals and instead went directly to the renowned Hollywoodland sign before jumping from it, dying as a result of several fractures to her pelvis, according to the police. Hollywood held her funeral on September 20, 1932. Her ashes were later transported to Ohio and interred with her father.
Her tomb went unnoticed for many years. But subsequently, her supporters launched a Facebook campaign, and on September 16, 2010, a granite marker with an inscribed memorial was placed at her burial location.
Estimated net worth
The estimated net worth of Peg Entwistle is unknown.
Trivia
Peg Entwistle portrayed “Hedvig” in “The Wild Duck,” a 1925 play adapted from Henry Ibsen’s play of the same name. Batte Davis, a then-unknown candidate, was there in the audience. She informed her mother that Peg’s portrayal had made her want to be just like her.