Pepi Lederer

Pepi Lederer
Lederer in 1930
Born
Josephine Rose Lederer[1]

(1910-03-18)March 18, 1910[1]
Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
DiedJune 11, 1935(1935-06-11) (aged 25)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Alma materWestlake School for Girls[2]
Parents
Relatives

Pepi Lederer (born Josephine Rose Lederer; March 18, 1910 – June 11, 1935) was an American actress and writer.[1] She was the niece of actress and philanthropist Marion Davies.[1] A high-spirited young woman,[3] Lederer was a lesbian who had relationships with actress Nina Mae McKinney.[4] She became a well-known figure in the gay and bisexual community of Jazz Age Hollywood.

Due to either her sexual orientation or a drug addiction,[5][6] Lederer was involuntarily committed to a psychiatric ward at the behest of Davies's partner, newspaper tycoon William Randolph Hearst.[7]

On June 11, 1935, the 25-year-old Lederer took her own life by jumping from the sixth floor window of her hospital room at Good Samaritan Hospital.[8][9] A later obituary printed by Hearst's flagship newspaper, The San Francisco Examiner, depicted Lederer's suicide as an accidental mishap, and her involuntary hospitalization was attributed to "a nervous breakdown caused by overstudy".[10] Lederer is buried at Hollywood Forever Cemetery in Los Angeles.[11]

  1. ^ a b c d Brooks 1982, p. 39.
  2. ^ San Francisco Examiner 1935, p. 7.
  3. ^ Cite error: The named reference Peppy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Brooks 1982, p. 47.
  5. ^ Cite error: The named reference Sexual Orientation Disclosed was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  6. ^ Cite error: The named reference Drug Cure was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  7. ^ Brooks 1982, p. 53-55.
  8. ^ Kenosha News 1935, p. 1.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference Suicide was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference San Francisco Examiner Obituary was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Brooks 1982, p. 54.