Hollywood Montrose

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hollywood Montrose is a fictional character played by Meshach Taylor in the 1987 romantic comedy film Mannequin.

Hollywood works at a Philadelphia department store called Prince & Company overseeing the care of mannequins, including the one who comes to life at night, played by Kim Cattrall. Hollywood's best friend is Jonathan Switcher, a night-time display designer (played by Andrew McCarthy) who discovers that the mannequin (whom he created) was actually once Ema Hesire, a real-life princess from ancient Egypt, and falls in love with her.

Hollywood was in many ways a stereotype of an effeminate gay man; He was a fashion expert who wore pink sunglasses at all times, dressed his "subjects" (the store's mannequins) in flashy outfits, and often wore flamboyant purple suits. His car is a pink convertible called "Bad Girl", and it has a flashy cover which is navy blue with pink dots painted all around. He was also known for his catch phrases, such as "Never you fear. Your Hollywood is here!"

In the 1991 sequel Mannequin: On the Move, Hollywood revealed that he was a former member of the United States Marine Corps, because, in his words, "The Marines were looking for a few good men, and so was I." In this movie, he was the only character who related some knowledge of the events of the first movie and is, therefore, the only character unsurprised by the events in the sequel.

The writers of Mannequin, Edward Rugoff and Michael Gottlieb, based the character of Hollywood on André Leon Talley, editor-at-large of Vogue magazine.