In the charming 1954 comedy "It Should Happen to You," Judy Holliday plays Gladys Glover, who, seeking fame, rents herself a billboard overlooking New York's Columbus Circle, proclaiming her name. When a soap company wants the space, she trades for six other billboards, which creates a civic mystery, which leads to celebrity.
In a real-life remake of this film, set in L.A. a few decades later, a woman followed a similar playbook, to similar ends. And now, as these things happen, her story, hung on a pair of Hollywood Reporter pieces by Gary Baum, has been converted back into docudramatic fiction with Peacock's miniseries "Angelyne." (It includes a variation on that billboard trading scene.) Where Holliday's character ultimately decides that being known for being known is not as fulfilling as she had imagined, Angelyne, still a local presence — a mirage, almost — in her pink Corvette, has continued to wave that flag into senior citizenship.
Created by Nancy Oliver, with Allison Miller as showrunner and directed largely by Lucy Tcherniak, "Angelyne" stars Emmy Rossum in a role the actor optioned the material to play. The Angelyne phenomenon surely needs extra explanation outside Los Angeles, but audiences will often flock to something they're assured is based on a true story, however much they know about it in advance. And Rossum fans will be interested.
