Angelyne the '80s billboard pin-up who drove a pink Corvette and was played by Emmy Rossum still looks good at 74, see her now
Angelyne skyrocketed into the spotlight when pictures of her were hung up around Los Angeles sparking a wave of media coverage.
The pink Corvette driving blonde bombshell rose to fame in 1984 after she popped up on a series of Billboards around the Los Angeles area of California.
They featured her posing seductively with the word 'Angelyne' written across them.
With no other explanation, the mystery and allure of the ads left many people intrigued, and propelled Angelyne into the spotlight.
The billboards led to a lot of attention from the media, and the rising star soon began to receive offers for movie roles and TV show appearances, as well as magazine interviews and modeling campaigns.
She was seen on Tuesday in Los Angeles looking very much the same. The model had on a leopard-print jacket with a palm tree print mini skirt and white short boots.
Angelyne skyrocketed into the spotlight when pictures of her were hung up around Los Angeles sparking a wave of media coverage
The pink Corvette driving blonde bombshell rose to fame in 1984 after she popped up on a series of Billboards around the Los Angeles area of California
They featured her posing seductively with the word 'Angelyne' written across them. With no other explanation, the mystery and allure of the ads left many people intrigued, and propelled Angelyne into the spotlight
Early on in her career, Angelyne avoided answering any questions about where she came from, and when she did shed some light on her background during interviews, she claimed to be a Midwestern orphan.
However, it was later revealed that the star wasn't actually who she claimed to be. Despite insisting that she grew up in Idaho, it was later revealed that was born in Poland and was raised in an 'ultra-orthodox community of Hasidic Jews' in Israel.
hroughout the early '80s, Angelyne's every move was covered by outlets - and the socialite quickly became one of the most famous faces in the world.
However, it was still unclear where the starlet actually hailed from.
Angelyne somehow managed to keep her heritage hidden, and for more than two decades, her past was a mystery to the world.
However, in 2017, The Hollywood Reporter published an expose on the model and actress, in which it uncovered her true identity - and it turns out, she was a Jewish girl named Ronia Tamar Goldberg whose parents were Holocaust survivors.
Angelyne's epic story - including how she rose to fame and how she hid her real self from millions of people for more than 20 years - was brought to life in the Peacock series entitled Angelyne.
Angelyne's story - including how she rose to fame and how she hid her real self from millions of people for more than 20 years - was brought to life in the Peacock series entitled Angelyne, starring Emmy Rossum (pictured)
The show stars Emmy Rossum, Hamish Linklater, Lukas Gage, Martin Freeman, and Alex Karpovsky.
So how did the Hollywood starlet go from a poor immigrant to one of the most talked about people in the industry?
She shed her Polish past and hid her Holocaust survivor heritage.
Angelyne first rose to fame when she joined her then-boyfriend's punk rock band Baby Blue in 1974 as a singer.
The band played across numerous clubs and bars in LA, but didn't garner much success and they quickly split up.
She then dropped a self-titled album in 1982. But it wasn't until her billboards took over Los Angeles two years later that her career really took off.
According to Angelyne, the advertisements came to be after she met wealthy adhesive-free-tape creator Hugo Maisnik in 1982.
Together, they came up with the idea for the billboards and had them printed and placed all around Los Angeles - at one point, posting more than 200 at one time.
She soon started to receive calls from movie producers and directors and over the years has amassed an impressive and very varied array of credits, including role in sci-fi flick Earth Girls Are Easy in 1988, crime drama Dangerous Love that same year, comedy film Homer and Eddie in 1989, horror movie The Malibu Beach Vampires, and 1999's The Underground Comedy Movie.
'Success is a high better than any drug,' she told Oyster in 2018. 'And to be honest, I got kind of addicted to the attention. I became a billboard junkie.
'My whole focus was to inspire. Before my billboard went up, somebody said to me, "Those billboards are going to [spread like] wildfire for you," and they did. Like wildfire.'
Angelyne also pursued a music career - dropping her debut self-titled album in 1982. Her second album, entitled Driven to Fantasy, came out in 1986, and she released an EP in 2000, called Beauty & the Pink
After receiving attention for the billboards, she continued to pursue her music career - dropping a second album, entitled Driven to Fantasy, in 1986, and an EP in 2000, called Beauty & the Pink.
Angelyne - who became well known for often posing in her bright pink Corvette - also launched her own record label, entitled Pink Kitten, and was the face of Michael Kuluva's clothing line Tumbler and Tipsy.
She is also a painter and has had several art shows. Over the years, she offered personalized tours around Sunset Boulevard and Hollywood through her website, and sold photo ops for $20.
In 2003, she ran for governor of California. In the end, she received 2,536 votes and came in 29th out of 135 candidates. Seen in 2003
When asked if she believes she helped create the current concept of a social media influencer, she explained, 'I do, but [my career] was definitely more notorious.
'It’s this instant gratification now - I mean, who’s going to go out, get an investor, get an image of themselves, then put up a bunch of billboards?
'How much harder is that than just snapping a photo? So, I’m definitely owed some credit.
'But I think I’m different in the sense that I promote glamor, and beauty, and music, and love, not just an everyday reality kind of thing.
'I like to think I inspire people to become fabulous - like a walking piece of art - like I am.'
A documentary about her was released in 1995 by filmmaker Robinson Devor.
In 2003, she ran for governor of California. In the end, she received 2,536 votes and came in 29th out of 135 candidates. Arnold Schwarzenegger ultimately won the race.
He slogan for her campaign was, 'We've had gray, we've had brown, now it's time for some blond and pink,' and her mascot was a pink Maltese named Budda.
She ran again in 2021 and this time, she finished 18th - which was the highest candidate without a party reference.
Angelyne - who was actually born in Poland and whose parents were Holocaust survivors - somehow managed to keep her heritage hidden, and for more than two decades, her past was a mystery to the world. She is pictured in 1996
Angelyne was born on October 2, 1950, in Chmielnik, Poland. Throughout her time in the spotlight, the superstar kept her identity a secret from the public, and it wasn't until 2017 - more than 20 years after she rose to fame - that everyone finally knew her real name and age.
Her true identity was exposed by The Hollywood Reporter after someone who allegedly worked for the federal government contacted them with information on her.
'I have many details on her life - all well documented - from when her parents met to early adulthood,' the man - whose own identity was kept private - wrote to them.
'It’s very different from her public, concocted story - and more interesting.'
The unnamed man - who said he was a self-proclaimed genealogist - explained that he found everything out about her from 'a global network of public databases,' and insisted that he had 'no tie to her other than curiosity.'
After conducting an investigation into his claims, THR said it 'independently confirmed' his findings with 'public records and family members.'
According to the man, Agelyne's childhood was not easy. Her parents were Polish Jews who met in Chmielnik during World War II - they were among 500 to survive out of a population of 13,000, while the rest were sent to death at Treblinka.
The billboards led to a lot of attention from the media, and the rising star soon began to receive offers for movie roles and TV show appearances, as well as magazine interviews and modeling campaigns
Her parents, Hendrik Goldberg and Bronia Zernicka, endured 'unimaginable horrors at a series of concentration camps,' THR reported, per documents obtained from the International Tracing Service.
After Angelyne - who went by Renee Goldberg as a kid - was born, the family relocated to Israel.
They stayed there until 1959, living in an 'ultra-orthodox community of Hasidic Jews called Bnei Brak,' just east of Tel Aviv.
From a young age, she dreamed of being famous, with the star telling Oyster, 'I used to visualize myself when I was two years old up in the sky like one of the stars.
'Even when I was a little girl, I knew I was meant to make the world become a better place. But of course, at the time, I didn’t know through what medium.'
The family then headed to America via boat, settling in the Fairfax District of California. But after coming to the states, tragedy struck Angelyne and her family when her mother tragically passed away from cancer when she was just 14.
A year later, her dad remarried a woman named Deborah, and the family moved to Panorama City in the San Fernando Valley, where she attended Monroe Senior High School.
She was seen on Tuesday in Los Angeles looking very much the same after she hit Ralph's grocery store
The model had on a leopard-print jacket with a palm tree print mini skirt and white short boots
She then got married to the son of a Beverly Hills executive, named Michael Strauss, and moved to Hollywood with him - however, they divorced in 1969.
'She was the most gorgeous redhead. She was unique, beautiful, smart,' Michael later told THR.
He described her dad as 'controlling, cruel and narrow-minded' and said Angelyne never spoke of her mother.
'She’d never talk about her mother - ever, ever, ever. It was a subject that couldn’t be brought up. If I brought it up, it was shut down,' he recalled.
After the two broke up, they stayed amicable, and they reconnected years later - after she had transformed herself to Angelyne.
'All of a sudden, big boobs, blond hair, this voice - the voice used to make me nuts. It didn’t compute with who I’d known she was,' he said.
