Jeanne Eagels 1957

Jeanne Eagels is a Kansas City waitress who, after losing a beauty contest, seeks work with carnival owner Sal Satori. He invites her to join him in New York and later to visit his brother’s amusement park on Coney Island. Her life takes a dramatic turn when she chooses to pursue acting, taking lessons until she becomes an understudy on a Broadway show and eventually a star when a part falls into her hands.

A former successful actress, Elsie Desmond, hopes to stage a comeback in a fresh production, but Jeanne is willing to do whatever it takes to climb higher. Jealousy and ambition collide as Elsie denounces her in the theater just before the first performance, and soon after, Elsie takes her own life. Sal grows increasingly disillusioned with Jeanne’s cutthroat ascent. Jeanne also accepts a proposal from a shady man, John Donahue, yet the relationship spirals into alcoholism for both of them, and Jeanne’s career begins to slip as she repeatedly misses performances and drags down the paychecks of her fellow actors.

The trouble thickens when Jeanne must pay alimony after a divorce from John. A new play falters because she is drunk and pilled, and the actors’ guild suspends her for 18 months. With nowhere else to turn, she returns to Sal’s amusement park and finds a temporary job dancing, despite the toll it takes on her. A fellow performer assaults her in a dressing room, further shattering her already fragile life. As the downward spiral continues, Jeanne experiences intense hallucinations and a deep sense of ruin. One night, while trying to go on stage, she collapses on a staircase and dies, ending a dramatic and tragic arc from hopeful waitress to a broken star.