‘Billboard Queen’ Angelyne’s True Identity Is Unveiled

Aug 22, 2022 by apost team

The blond bombshell is an enigmatic persona that has never failed to attract attention, as proven by the likes of Marilyn Monroe, Jayne Mansfield, Brigitte Bardot and Farrah Fawcett. Add to that list Angelyne, whose image began cropping up on Los Angeles billboards in the 1980s with nary an explanation — just the name, Angelyne. As more and more gigantic billboards with full body images of Angelyne in sultry poses usually dressed in pink began to dot the landscape of the City of Angels, questions flooded in about who this mystery woman was — and what those billboards were for.

Since the emergence of Angelyne’s first billboard in Los Angeles in the 1980s, the media had tried to uncover her background to no avail. It seemed she would never give a straight or specific answer, saying only that she was raised in the Midwest and her parents had died when she was young, which she cited as the reason for her attention-seeking ways. She made no mention of any siblings, former romances, marriages or children. She had never confirmed her birth date or age, although it was implied she was in her late 20s when the billboards first went up. 

Also shrouded in mystery were the billboards. Comprising only of posed images of Angelyne with flowing blonde locks and a phone number, there was little else on them to suggest what exactly she did. Was she a model? An actress? A singer? The fact that she was also often seen zooming about town in a pink Corvette in full make-up and hair while dressed from head to toe in always stunning shades of pink added to the mystery.

Read on to find out how the “Billboard Queen’s” identity was uncovered in 2017 and the truth behind her image.

In 2017, The Hollywood Reporter ran an exposé on Angelyne detailing her family history, childhood and early adulthood. Based on public records, the article revealed that Angelyne’s real name was Ronia Tamar Goldberg. Born in Poland on Oct. 2, 1950, her parents had met during World War II in the Chmielnik ghetto. After surviving periods in concentration camps, they moved to Poland after liberation but found it was still hostile to Jews. They then left for Israel and stayed there until 1959 before moving to the United States. 

They settled in Fairfax, Los Angeles, and in 1965, Goldberg’s mother died. Goldberg had also been married to a Beverly Hills executive Michael Strauss but they divorced in 1969. Strauss described Goldberg as “the most gorgeous redhead,” adding, “she was unique, beautiful, smart.”

A close friend and former assistant of Angelyne’s, Scott Hennig, however, threw doubt on the uncovered “facts.” He said: 

“This stuff comes up every few years — it seems to get more and more ridiculous. My favorite one of all was this 300-pound black woman who claimed to be her mother. ‘I’m your long-lost brother,’ ‘your twin sister.’ Chalk it up to life in Hollywood. I’ve never heard of ‘Renee Goldberg.’ It’s laughable, it’s outrageous.”

In the 1970s, she dabbled in the music scene, joining her boyfriend’s band and releasing her own records before meeting Hugo Maisnik. Maisnik ran a display-printing business and helped Angelyne get her first billboard up in February 1984 that proclaimed “Angelyne Rocks” on Sunset Boulevard. 

By 1995, it was reported she had graced about 200 billboards in Los Angeles and she told The LA Times: “I think I’m all about acceptance and loving one another. … I’m like a doll. There’s no racial barrier. I have this one-minded, ‘I like everybody attitude.’”

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Her story has now been made into a television series released in May 2022 called “Angelyne,” starring actress Emmy Rossum as the title character. Rossum told Today she was attracted to the role as she found Angelyne inspiring.

“She has been somebody that I have admired who I think is a deep and thoughtful individual who stands for kind of positivity and pink and whimsy and kind of the ultimate fantasy. She is living breathing performance art,” she said.

Angelyne had no input in its production but shared her thoughts on Rossum’s portrayal of her with The Guardian. She said:

“It’s a bad pastiche. You know, they’ve tried to do Marilyn Monroe so many times and they could never get it right. But Marilyn was an actress — whereas I made myself. I don’t want to watch it. It’s disturbing to see someone misrepresent a beautiful artwork. She’s got a long face.”

She added that she could not bring herself to watch the show, as she explained: “I’m an artist. I paint in the mirror. Everything has to be perfect — my eyes, my nose, my mouth. And for someone to take that and mess it up is painful. I can’t even watch it.”

Angelyne is set to release her own version of her life story detailing “what happened to me as a child, how I made it, how I talk to the men in a man’s world,” she told The Guardian in the same interview.

For those wanting to learn more about the bombshell who once declared it was “so much fun being famous for nothing,” now is a good time to be a fan. Meanwhile, the billboards may no longer dot the Los Angeles skyline, but Angelyne can still be spotted zipping around the city — and she’s pretty hard to miss.

What do you think about Angelyne’s eye-catching billboards? Do you feel that Angelyne is "living breathing performance art," as Emmy Rossum said? Let us know and pass this on to family and friends who might find this story interesting.