Jeanne Eagels
Jeanne Eagels (
June 26,
1890 â€"
October 3,
1929) was an
actress on
Broadway and in several motion pictures. A former
Ziegfeld Follies Girl who went on to greater fame on Broadway and in the emerging medium of "talkies" (films with sound), she was posthumously nominated forthe
Academy Award for Best Actress for her 1929 role in
The Letter after dying suddenly that year at the age of 39.
She was born
Amelia Jeannine Eagles in
Kansas City, Missouri to a
Catholic family. It was there that she began her acting career, appearing in a variety of small venues at a very young age. Her ambitions were such that she left Kansas City around the age of 12 and toured the
Midwest with the Dubinsky Brothers' traveling theater show. At first she was a dancer, but in time she went on to play the leading lady in several popular comedies and dramas put on by the Dubinskys. Around
1911, she came to
New York City to advance her acting career. Because of the stiff competition for parts, once again she had to work her way up from the chorus. Even in the chorus line she excelled and she eventually became a
Ziegfeld Follies Girl. During this period, one of her acting coaches was Beverly Sitgreaves, who had once shared the stage with the great French actress
Sarah Bernhardt.
She changed the spelling of her surname to "Eagels", allegedly because this spelling looked better in lights. Although she struggled for recognition as a dramatic actress, her beauty, talent and luck led to her getting bigger parts in better shows. Her stage career blossomed, and in
1915 she appeared in her first motion picture. In
1916 and
1917 she made three films for
Thanhouser Film Corporation.
Eagels eventually won recognition and kudos playing opposite the stage actor
George Arliss in three successive plays. In 1918 she appeared in
Daddies, a
David Belasco production, and won even more notice. She quit this show due to illness (probably
sinusitis) and she subsequently travelled to
Europe. She appeared in several other Broadway shows between 1919 and 1921, but in
1922 she made her first appearance as a star in the bona fide hit,
Rain. She played the character of
Sadie Thompson, a free-wheeling and free-loving spirit who confronts a fire-and-brimstone preacher on a
South Pacific island, which role would be played on film by
Gloria Swanson and
Joan Crawford. Critics raved about her tense, smoldering, and vivid performance. The house was packed nearly every night for two years. She went on tour with
Rain for two more seasons, and returned to Broadway to give a farewell performance in 1926.
During this period she married Edward Harris "Ted" Coy, a former
Yale University football star, in 1925. Their marriage was rocky and they divorced in 1928. They had no children together.
In 1926 Eagels was offered the part of "Roxie Hart" in the (nonmusical) play
Chicago, which was written by
Maurine Dallas Watkins, but Jeanne walked out of this role during rehearsals, possibly due to conflicts with the director. After much speculation about her next play, she chose a comedy,
Her Cardboard Lover (1927), in which she appeared on stage with
Leslie Howard. This play was a modest success, and after a season on Broadway, she took a break to make a movie. She appeared opposite
John Gilbert in the MGM film
Man, Woman and Sin, which was directed by Monta Bell. She then went on tour with
Her Cardboard Lover for several months. In 1928, after failing to appear for a performance in Milwaukee, Eagels was banned by
Actors Equity from appearing on stage for 18 months.
The ban did not stop Eagels from working in film, and she made two "talkies" for Paramount Pictures, including
The Letter and
Jealousy (both released in 1929). Her performance in
The Letter garnered high praise from critics.
Just before she was to return to the Broadway stage in a new play, Eagels died suddenly at a private hospital in New York City on October 3, 1929 at the age of 39. Medical examiners disagreed on the exact cause of death, toxicology not being the science it is today, but the available evidence pointed to the effects of
alcohol or
heroin. After services in New York, Eagels received a second funeral service when her body was returned to Kansas City, where she was buried in
Calvary Cemetery. She was survived by her mother, Julia Eagles, and several brothers and sisters.
The story of her death was covered by a young crime reporter named
Samuel Fuller, later a noted film writer and director.
Eagels was posthumously nominated for the
Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in
The Letter. The Oscar went to
Mary Pickford for the film
Coquette. Eagels' performance in
The Letter inspired many actors new to the medium of talking pictures, including
Bette Davis, who repeated the role in a
1940 remake of the film.
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Jeanne Eagels page *
Jeanne Eagels' Photo & Gravesite
