Hollywood suicide

[snopes]

Comment: Is it true that back in the 1920s an actress jumped from the H in
the Hollywood sign after her movie flopped. Then the next morning a movie
script was delivered to her apartment about an actress that was depressed
about her career and tried to commit suicide.

[diddy]

Wikipedia agrees with some of the details - except about a flopped movie. Wikipedia has it that she failed to impress the studios and was unable to get work for a while.

The actress name was Peg Entwhistle

It's also rumored that her ghost haunts the area where she died.

[Mycroft]

Other sources say there was a film (Thirteen Women starring Irene Dunne) which was so poorly rated by the critics that its release was delayed for re-editing, resulting in Peg Entwhistle's contract with RKO lapsing with only the single film, despite her extensive stage repertoire (especially for a 24 year old).
The script that arrived shortly after her death was for a stage play, not a film and her film was released only 2 days before her death.

Her purse and shoes were found at the foot of the sign. It has been reported that she jumped from the 13th letter (the sign originally read "HOLLYWOODLAND", as it was a housing development.)

As an interesting aside, Peg Entwistle was the step-mother of Brian Keith, the actor best known as "Uncle Bill" from tv's Family Affair.

[kajerayn]

FindADeath.com has an article about Peg Entwistle.

Be warned that the picture at the top of the page is NSFW (nothing grisly, just nudity).