'Angelyne': Blonde bombshell who was fuelled by her ambition to be famous

Angylene sought money, fame and popularity by any means throughout her life

BY VARSHINI SHENOY

PUBLISHED MAY 20, 2022

Peacock is here with another hit 'Angelyne' - the biography of a blonde bombshell who became famous in Los Angeles in the early 1980s after the appearance of a series of iconic billboards in and around LA. The billboards only said "Angelyne" and pictured her posing suggestively. The limited series dives deep into the icon’s life and gives viewers an idea of how she presented herself to everyone and made a luxurious life for herself.

Limited series 'Angelyne' gives out a Marilyn Monroe biography vibe of sorts. The series explores the real-life story of Angelyne, a blonde beauty who found unusual fame in the 1980s in Los Angeles.

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The series starts with her chanting the words, "I am not a woman. I am an icon", and shows how she lapped up the many opportunities and men to get her job done. She was always all about business and didn't want anything else to disturb that. Not everyone will give you a nod when you talk about Angelyne but Angelenos would definitely give you more than just a nod. These are the people who knew Angelyne from when she was famous in Los Angeles. What was she famous for? For being famous.

In 'Angelyne', over the course of five episodes, we see her need for control as her own self-perception grows stronger and stronger. The plot lays out all the men who get sucked into the black hole of her love - or lust - and then are spit out once they have served their purpose. Among them, there's Freddy (Charlie Rowe), who owns a band that Angelyne tries to make her way into, only to shred it to pieces just to grow big. Then there's Max Allen (Lukas Gage), who attempts to make a documentary on her, but in vain. Besides, Harold Wallach (Martin Freeman), a poor billboard printer, gets tricked into becoming her manager. Throughout the series, we see Angelyne call Marilyn Monroe her 'honorary mother' and do everything in her power to become like her.

It's no surprise she used people to get to the top - some who truly cared, and some who didn't. But at the end of the day, she always got what she wanted. Her true identity was hidden for a long time but the limited series shows how troubled she was in her childhood days. Between a controlling father and dealing with her mother's death, she faced many emotional upheavals at a very young age.

At some point she took things back in control and made it big in the city. She started by putting up her own billboards and giving interviews on why she was up there. She always considered herself made for the big screen.