Jeanne Eagels
Born: 1890-06-26
Died: 1929-10-03
Known For: Acting
Biography
Born into a poor family in Kansas, Eagles ran off to join a traveling theatrical company at age 12, landed in New York, remade herself, became a chorine and a Ziegfeld Girl, studied acting and became a sought after theatrical name. As her heavy schedule – which soon included silent films – began to weigh on her, she self-medicated with pills, alcohol and possibly harder stuff. Soon, after dozens of successful roles, she became a Broadway super-star playing Sadie Thompson in Somerset Maugham’s “Rain.” As her fame increased, so did her reputation for temperamental behavior and even unreliability. She died on the night of October 3, 1929, aged 39. Her death was variously attributed to alcohol, sleeping pills and heroin.
Filmography
1929
- The Letter as Leslie Crosbie
- Jealousy as Yvonne
1927
- Man, Woman and Sin as Vera Worth
1918
- The Cross Bearer as Liane de Merode
1917
- Under False Colors as Countess Olga
- The Fires of Youth as Billy's Sister
1916
- The World and the Woman as Mary - A Woman of the Streets
1915
- The House of Fear as Grace Cramp
1914
- A Lesson in Bridge as Mrs. Willis