(June 26, 1890 [?] - October 3, 1929)
Jeanne Eagels was born Amelia Jean Eagles in Kansas City, Missouri in 1890, the daughter of a local carpenter. As a child, her talents shown through in a community production of A Midsummer Night's Dream. At the age of fifteen, she left Kansas City to become a member of the Dubinsky Brothers' touring company, with whom she worked for seven years. 1 In 1911, Eagels traveled to New York City to begin her career as a stage actress. She appeared in minor character roles in Jumping Jupiter (1911), The Mind-the-Paint Girl (1912), and The Crinoline Girl (1914). 2
While she was still pursuing her career on the Broadway stage, Eagels began her silent film career as well. Her work in film began in 1915 when she met Charles Pathe, a French film producer. Pathe cast Jeanne Eagels in four of his World War I era films: The House of Fear (1915), The World and the Woman (1916), The Fires of Youth (1917), and Under False Colors (1917), The Cross Bearer (1918). The year 1918 was a breakout year for Eagels. She had been discovered by David Belasco during an earlier production, and he cast her in the starring role in Daddies, which became a hit show on Broadway. 3
Along with her rising fame, Eagels developed a reputation for being a difficult actress to work with. Eagels's stage career hit its apex in 1922 with the opening of Rain, in which she was cast in the starring role. In a review of the production, John Corbin of the Times described her acting "with an emotional power as fiery and unbridled in effect as it is artistically restrained." 4 She toured with the production for five years.
Eagels returned to Broadway to rehearse Maurine Dallas Watkins's stage play Chicago (upon which the 1975 musical was based) in the role of Roxie Hart, only to walk out before the opening. After leaving Chicago during the rehearsal process, she went on to play the leading role in the production of Her Cardboard Lover. During the tour of that show, she left the touring company due to unknown reasons, and was suspended by Actors' Equity for a short time. 5 Jeanne Eagels soon returned to films and to the vaudeville circuit for the next two years, until she died in a hospital at the young age of 39 due to the combination of alcohol, chloral hydrate, and heroin found in her blood stream. 6
1. Golden, 27.
2. Golden, 28.
3. Golden, 28.
4. Oxford, 196.
5. Golden, 30.
6. Golden, 31.
Resources
Bartelt, Chuck and Barbara Bergeron (ed.). Variety Obituaries. New York : Garland Pub., 1988-1989. 29 March 1923.
Bordman, Gerald and Thomas S. Hischak (ed.). Oxford Companion to American Theatre. New York : Oxford UP, 2004
Golden, Eve. Golden Images: 41 Essays on Silent Film Stars. Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland, 2001.
"Jeanne Eagels." Wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeanne_Eagels 6 December 2007.
"Jeanne Eagels" IMDB. http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0247074/bio 6 December 2007.
"Jeanne Eagels Credits on Broadway." Internet Broadway Database. http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=67400 6 December 2007.
"Jeanne Eagels." Philip Ituarte. http://www.jeanneeagels.com/ 8 December 2007.