Peg Entwistle

On April 18, 1927, Peg Entwistle married stage and film actor Robert Keith. The marriage lasted for two years and she was granted a divorce in May 1929 on the charges of cruelty and deception. He told her neither about his previous marriages nor about his six year old son.

After ‘Thirteen Women’, Peg suffered tremendous mental anguish. Because of the Great Depression, money was tight and Peg did not have enough cash to return to New York, where she could have secured some stage job. She remained in her uncle’s home in Los Angeles, and had neither money nor job.

On September 16, 1932 evening, she left home telling her uncle that she was going to meet some of her friends at the drug store. Nobody saw her after that.

Peg Entwistle was born as Millicent Lilian Entwistle on 5 February 1908 in her maternal grandparents’ house in Port Talbot, Wales. Her parents, Robert Symes Entwistle and Emily Entwistle née Stevenson, were visiting Emily’s parents when she was born.

Soon after her birth, as the mother and the child was well enough to travel, the family returned to their home in West Kensington, London. Here, Peg was brought up in a theatrical environment.

Robert earned his living doing small roles in London. Simultaneously, he also designed sets, earning enough to keep his wife and child in comfort. Peg was her parents’ only child. Later she had two half brothers, Robert and Milton, born out of her father’s second marriage to Lauretta Ross.

In 1910, Peg lost her mother. According to many biographers Emily died in the same year. But documental proofs show that her parents had a divorce and her father won her sole custody. Thereafter, he brought her up with the help of his sisters, Rosina and Lilian.

A great influence on Peg’s life during this period was her uncle, Charles Harold Entwistle, who was also in the show business. She was very fond of her Uncle Charlie and called him ‘Mister E’. He later had a great influence on her aspiration to become an actress.

As Charles moved to Los Angeles, Peg Entwistle returned to New York to study briefly at an acting school. In 1924, she entered Henry Jewett's Repertory in Boston, where she received instructions from well-known director and actress, Blanche Yurka, taking part in every play by Henrik Ibsen while with her.

In 1925, she got her first break when Walter Hampden, her uncle’s employer, gave her a non-speaking part in ‘Hamlet’. It was a walk-on part, requiring her to carry the King’s train and bring the poison-cup. Although brief, it attracted the attention of the scouts from New York Theatre Guild.

By 1926, Peg Entwistle was recruited by the prestigious New York Theatre Guild. On graduating from their program, she made her first credited debut at Broadway, playing ‘Martha’ in ‘The Man from Toronto’. It opened at the Selywn Theatre in June and ran for twenty-eight performances.

The year 1927 began with ‘Tommy’, her longest running Broadway show. Her next play, ‘The Uninvited Guest’ was not that successful and closed in September 1927 after seven performances only. However, her performance in the play was highly appreciated by critics like J. Brooks Atkinson of New York Times.

Until 1932, Peg appeared in eight more Broadway shows, acting in supporting roles with well-known actors. In-between, she went on tour with New York Theatre Guild, getting acclaim for every role she played.

Peg Entwistle is best remembered for her 1927 Broadway play, ‘Tommy’. In it, she appeared as Marie Thurber opposite Sidney Toler, who appeared as David Tuttle. Opening on January 10, 1927, it ran for 232 performances before closing down sometime in August, 1927. It was her longest performance.