Peg Entwistle and The Hollywood Sign

Essays by Hope Anderson, a documentary filmmaker whose research on Peg Entwistle--the Hollywood Sign's only suicide--led her to debunk popular misconceptions about the actress's life and death.

In a series of essays, Hope Anderson explores the life and death of Peg Entwistle, a talented young actress who became the only person to have committed suicide off the Hollywood Sign. In discussing the making of her short film, "Peg Entwistle's Last Walk," which depicts the actress's last hour in 1932; the psychology of suicide by jumping; and the transformation of the Hollywood Sign from billboard to icon, Anderson separates truth from fiction to arrive at new conclusions about Entwistle and the Sign she made famous.

Hope Anderson is a Los Angeles-based writer and filmmaker whose 2009 documentary, "Under the Hollywood Sign" led her to Peg Entwistle, the young actress whose life and suicide off the Hollywood Sign had been shrouded in mystery and misinformation. In setting the record straight, Anderson gained the cooperation of Peg's surviving family members, who sat for interviews and gave her access to their extensive collection of photographs and documents. Anderson's two films about Peg Entwistle, a short feature and a biography, will soon be released on DVD as "Peg Entwistle: The Life and Death of an Actress." She writes about filmmaking and history at underthehollywoodsign.com and is the author of "On Blade Runner: Four Essays."