DEATHIVERSARY: PEG ENTWISTLE (Sept 16, 1932)
πΎπΎ π’ππππ πππ πππππ’, πΈπΊ-π’πππ-πππ πΏππ π΄πππ πππππ πππππ πππ πππππ ππππ πππ'π πππππππ πππ ππ πππ ππππππππππππ ππππ πππππ ππ ππππ ππππ πππππππ. πππ πππππππππ ππ π πππππ ππππ ππ π±πππππ πππ π²πππ’ππ π³π. πππ ππππππ ππππ ππ πππ ππππ ππ πππ π·ππππ’π πππ π·ππππ, ππππππππ’ πππππ πππ π·ππππ’π πππππππ ππππ. πΏππ ππππππ πππ πππππππππ πππ πππππππ, πππππ πππ π ππ’ ππ ππ πππ ππππ π ππππ πππ π ππππ ππ ππ’. πππππ, πΏππ ππππππ π π ππππππ'π ππππππ ππ πππ πππ ππ πππ "π·" πππ πππππ ππ πππ πππππ. πππ ππππππ ππππππ π πππππππ ππππ: "πΈ ππ ππππππ, πΈ ππ π πππ πππ. πΈ ππ πππππ’ πππ πππππ’πππππ. πΈπ πΈ πππ ππππ ππππ π ππππ ππππ πππ, ππ π ππππ ππππ πππππ π πππ ππ ππππ. πΏ.π΄." πππ πππ’ ππππ’ ππππ πππ ππππ ππππππ ππ πππ ππππ, πππ πππ'π πππ πππππππ ππππ’ ππ π·ππππ’π πππ ππππππππ πππ πππππππππ πππππ πππππππ.
MARILYN DEAD!
π³πππ πΉππ πππππ ππππ πππ ππ πΌπππππ’π'π πππππ? π°ππππππππ’, πΌπππππ ππππ πΉππ π³ππΌπππππ πππππππ ππ πππππ ππππ πππ ππ πππ πππππ πππππ’ π πππ ππ πππ ππππ ππππππ πππ. π³ππΌπππππ ππππ πππ πππππππ πππ πππ ππππ-πππ£ππ πππ πππππ πππππππππ πππππ πππππ π π πππ ππ πππ πππ’ππ πππ πΈπΆ π’ππππ. π½ππ ππππ'π ππππ.
Grab a copy of the fanzine DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD: MARILYN OF AVALON (Issue 11) HERE!
DEATHIVERSARY: MARILYN MONROE (August 4, 1962)
πΌπ°ππΈπ»ππ½ π³π΄π°π³! πΌπππππ’π πΌπππππ ππππ ππ ππππ πππ’ ππ π·πΏπΌπΈ. π³π π’ππ πππππ ππ π ππ ππππππ, πππππππ, ππ ππ ππππππππ?
Grab a copy of the fanzine Dead in Hollywood: Marilyn of Avalon (Issue #11) HERE!
Behind the Sign: Dorothy Dandrige Lives Here!
Episode 4 coming soonβ¦
THIS SATURDAY ON IGTV!
Check out an all-new episode of DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD: BEHIND THE SIGN on the mysterious death of Tinseltown starlet Thelma Todd with NEVER BEFORE SEEN PHOTOS! And check out episodes 1 and 2 below before May 10th! Catch up, what else do we have to do right now?
MURDER OR SUICIDE?
Weβre coming up on the deathiversary of actress Thelma Todd. She died in 1935 when she was 29. There are a lot of questions surrounding her death. I went into this issue believing that it was suicide, but now I couldnβt be sure. I canβt wait to share this issue with
OUT NOW: DOROTHY DANDRIDGE LIVES HERE
Pick up a copy of the zine DEAD IN HOLLYWOOD: Dorothy Dandridge Lives Here (Issue #10). Out now!
The Mexican Spitfire: Lupe Velez (Coming Soon!)
MarΓa Guadalupe Villalobos VΓ©lez, known as Lupe VΓ©lez, is a Mexican-born silent screen star. VΓ©lez begins her career as a performer in Mexican vaudeville in the early 1920s. She is one of the first successful Latin American actresses in Hollywood. By the end of the decade, in the last years of American silent films, she is the lead in a number of films including "The Gaucho" (1927) and "Wolf Song" (1929). In the 40s, VΓ©lez's popularity peaks after appearing in the Mexican Spitfire films, a series created to capitalize on VΓ©lez's well-documented fiery personality. Nicknamed The Mexican Spitfire by the media, VΓ©lez's personal life is as colorful as her onscreen persona. In the early morning hours of December 14, 1944, VΓ©lez retires to her bedroom, where she consumes 70 - yes, 70! - Seconal pills and a glass of brandy. Her death becomes the stuff of urban legends. Coming soon!
Ruby Dandridge
Reading up on Dorothy Dandridge's life, I find myself drawn to her mother, Ruby Dandridge. Five months before Dorothy is born, Ruby leaves her husband, Cyril Dandridge, and moves in with her "companion," Geneva Williams. This was 1922! A black woman divorcing her husband was almost unheard of at the time and not to mention the fact that Ruby was also pregnant with Dorothy. But that's exactly what she does. She chooses not only to survive but to thrive in the repressed society of the 1920βs. I canβt even imagine what that must have been like for Ruby.
Dorothy Fucking Dandridge
Bedroom walls and record store stalls.
David Rappaport (November 23, 1951 β May 2, 1990)
βDavid Rappaport was as determined to die as he had been to live.β -L.A. Times, March 9, 1990
English actor, David Rappaport, is the first dwarf to star in his own television series,"The Wizard.β His first bit of success is in the 1979 childrenβs BBC show βJigsawβ - alongside Sylvester McCoy who is best known for playing the 7th incarnation of the Doctor in the long-running science fiction television series "Doctor Who" from 1987 to 1989. Rappaport also appears alongside McCoy in the "Secret Policeman's Ball" where McCoy introduces him as: βNot the smallest man in the world, but fucking close.β Rappaport's most popular role is as Randall, the leader of the gang of dwarves in the Terry Gilliam film βTime Banditsβ in 1981.
Rappaport struggles with depression. Just before his death, he is cast and begins filming for the darkly comic role of Zibalian trader Kivas Fajo on "Star Trek: The Next Generation" episode βThe Most Toys.β During filming, Rappaport attempts suicide, and the scenes he completed are discarded when actor Saul Rubinek is hurriedly brought in by producers to replace him - Rappaportβs scenes are eventually included on the Season 3 DVD release of "Star Trek: The Next Generation." This isnβt the first time he tries to commit suicide. He tries two weeks before his wedding day in March 1989 - he parked his car on a hidden stretch of road and ran a garden hose from the exhaust pipe to the interior. He passed out, but somebody finds him.
According to the L.A. Times article, "A Life and Death in Hollywood : Acting: David Rappaport was Trapped by his Mind," on May 2, 1990, the day of his sonβs 14th birthday, Rappaport slips out of the house and drives to Laurel Canyon Park - a favorite spot of his in the San Fernando Valley. He says hello to people on the path and passes the man and his dog who will later find his body. Deep in the park, Rappaport chooses a bramble-covered spot on the hillside, lays down on his back and stares up at the tree tops. He pulls out a pistol, points it downward at his chest, and shoots himself through the heart.
His cousin considered, then rejected, theory after theory: "Perhaps his thoughts were telling him--falsely--that the woman he was about to marry might one day leave, unable to love a dwarf who might not always be the toast of Hollywood. Perhaps they told him that despite enormous success, he was still trapped--as trapped as the dwarf he had seen years earlier, caged in an English asylum for mentally retarded children. Or possibly, in the way that mind-records have, they exaggerated recent stops and starts in his career until it seemed that all he had worked for, all he had done to escape invisibility, was gone or going.β
