HOLLYWOODLAND
Double Elvis
The mysterious death of Brittany Murphy. David Lynch and the real-life brutal murder that inspired Twin Peaks. Steve McQueen’s brush with Charles Manson. The three conspiracies surrounding Marilyn Monroe’s death. The indecent arrest of John Waters. Dennis Hopper’s easy riding and excessive 70s Hollywood. Woody Harrelson’s Dad’s connection to the JFK assassination. The obsessive murder of Dorothy Stratten. Bill Murray’s bust. Chris Farley burning out too soon. Al Pacino’s armed robbery. The serial killer and Gianni Versace. Heath Ledger’s overdose. If it’s a story that meets up at the corner of Hollywood and True Crime, then it’s an episode of HOLLYWOODLAND, the show that explores the lives of our most celebrated actors and actresses through the true crimes that have most impacted them. Hosted and produced by award winning podcaster Jake Brennan, creator of DISGRACELAND, HOLLYWOODLAND is the first true spin-off of DISGRACELAND and is produced similarly with edge-of-your-seat storytelling and gripping, immersive sound design by the folks at Double Elvis. Episodes are roughly 30 minutes long and released every Monday.
Episodes
Mentioned books
Mar 17, 2025 • 40min
Andy Warhol: Fame, the Future, and Back from the Dead
Andy Warhol was the first artist to achieve rock star status. He was a Beatle with a silkscreen printer. His work and play space, the Factory, attracted people of all ages; rich and poor, straight and gay, sane and…not so sane. It was in the Factory that he was shot by a would-be assassin. He was rushed to a hospital and pronounced clinically dead. But Andy Warhol's second life began the moment he was resurrected on an operating table. As soon as his heart began to beat again, he became a true cultural icon – bigger than his paintings or his Polaroids or his experimental films, bigger than life itself. Andy Warhol became the future. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 38min
Steve McQueen: Mustangs, Magnums, and Manson's Hit List
Hustling on the streets of New York. Wagering with a U.S. president over who could sleep with more women. Knocking back beers with Elvis. Waving his gun around at the funeral of Jay Sebring, one of the victims of Charles Manson’s murderous family. The same family that had their sights now set on the King of Cool, Steve McQueen, who needed the speed of a Mustang or the power of a Magnum to keep Charlie’s crazy cult at bay. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 40min
Heath Ledger: Baited with Drugs, Beaten to a Pulp, and Beyond the Point of No Return
Heath Ledger’s preparation for and disappearance into his movie roles is legendary, and it’s what helped him play repressed cowboys, junkies, and maniacal clowns equally well. His research led him to junkies who taught him how to properly shoot up using a stolen prosthetic arm and fake blood, and to a personal diary full of cut-and-paste madness. The paparazzi, however, mocked Heath’s method, and took their public quarrel with him to duplicitous lengths. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 40min
William S. Burroughs: Obscenity, a Decapitated Mouse, and the Deadly William Tell Routine
William S. Burroughs was a literary icon whose novel Naked Lunch, one of the signature works of the Beat Generation, was banned and went on trial for obscenity. His writing inspired generations of musicians, from the Rolling Stones and Patti Smith to Nirvana and Sonic Youth. But long before all that, in 1951, when he was an unknown and mostly failed writer, William S. Burroughs made the most fateful decision of his life when he pointed a gun at a highball glass balanced on top of his wife’s head…and pulled the trigger. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 44min
Gianni Versace: Sly Stallone, Madonna, Elton John, a Serial Killer, and the Death of the Sun King
Gianni Versace was a runway iconoclast who outfitted the likes of Madonna, Demi Moore, Prince, Sylvester Stallone, and Don Johnson. He lived like Louis XIV and counted Princess Di and Elton John among his friends. He was plagued by rumors of ties to the Calabrian mafia and a secret health diagnosis. Those rumors continued to persist long after he was gunned down by a serial killer who had been on the lam after murdering four other men in three states. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 36min
Al Pacino: Good and Evil, Attempted Robbery, and the Role of a Lifetime
The death of a neighborhood friend, an attempted robbery that almost went horribly wrong, good vs. evil, and the road not taken: this is the Al Pacino origin story. It all culminates in the role of a lifetime. Not Michael Corleone. Not a role on stage or screen. The most important role of Al Pacino’s young life played out in front of a couple of detectives and a district attorney. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 39min
Alfred Hitchcock: Killers, Auteurs, and Survivors
Alfred Hitchcock grew up on murder. He was the OG crime junkie; obsessed with true stories of stranglers, bodysnatchers, necrophiliacs, and serial killers. He was also afraid – not so much with these ghoulish figures, but of authority, the dark, crowds, and of being alone. He channeled his obsessions and his fears into some of the greatest movies of all time. And he abused his power as a controlling auteur by having his way with an actress who he assumed to be powerless. That actress, Tippi Hedren, demonstrated remarkable strength and survived both personally and professionally to tell her story.This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including graphic depictions of violence, sexual assault, and stalking. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 38min
Harry Houdini: A Ghost Story
Harry Houdini was the world's greatest escape artist and at the height of his powers was one of the world's most famous people. His unearthly ability to escape any prison and to break free of any bondage was matched only by his aggressive self-promotion. Anyone who tried to get in his way, rewrite his story, steal his thunder or question his abilities would find themselves in his crosshairs. When the burgeoning Spiritualist movement tried to make a fool of Houdini, he began a crusade that would last the rest of his life. And when his life was over, the question Houdini left the world was: could he make the greatest escape in history? To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 35min
Sigourney Weaver: A Goddess, Beasts and Demons, and Paying Tribute from Death Row
In classic ‘80s films like Ghostbusters and Aliens, Sigourney Weaver battled beasts and demons. But to one particular inmate on death row in Georgia, Sigourney Weaver battled beasts and demons in real life as well. To Alexander Williams, a convicted murderer, she was a goddess, a divine being sent to this earth to do battle with evil. He worshiped her from the floor of his prison cell. And as his day of reckoning drew closer, he waited for glimmers of hope that his goddess would send in hopes that his fate would be altered.This episode contains themes that may be disturbing to some listeners, including depictions of suicide, sexual assault, and child abuse. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Mar 17, 2025 • 35min
Brandon Lee: Hungry Ghosts, Cursed Movies, and a Goth Masterpiece
Haunted by the legacy of his superstar father. Haunted by an old family curse. Brandon Lee tried to outrun his past, but it came after him all the same. It was said that his father, Bruce Lee, was taken by that family curse at just 32 years old. And that it then followed Brandon, when he was 28, to the set of The Crow, a cross between a superhero blockbuster and a brooding art film that was all goth. The shoot was plagued by injury, electrocution, storms, fires, and car crashes – and culminated in tragedy when a prop gun fired a real bullet. To learn more about listener data and our privacy practices visit: https://www.audacyinc.com/privacy-policy Learn more about your ad choices. Visit https://podcastchoices.com/adchoices
