Jeanne Eagels

• Name — Jeanne Eagels • Birth Name — Eugenia Eagles • Born — 26 June 1890 • Birthplace — Kansas City, Missouri, U.S. • Died — 3 October 1929 • Place of death — New York City, U.S. • Resting Place — Calvary Cemetery • Occupation — Actress • Spouse — * Maurice Dubinsky (m. 1909?; div. 1911?) • Years Active — 1913–1929

Eugenia Eagles was the second of six children born to Edward and Julia Eagles. Her father was of German and French Huguenot descent, and her mother (née Sullivan) was of Irish descent. Her birth year – depending on the source – is given as 1888, 1890 (official bio year), 1891, 1892, 1893 (death certificate), or 1894. Jeanne, who later changed the spelling of her surname to "Eagels", would later claim that her father was a Spanish architect and she was born in Boston. In reality, she was born in Kansas City, Missouri, and her father was a carpenter. Actress Mary Shipp was Eagels's niece. Eagels attended St. Joseph's Catholic School and Morris Public School. She quit school shortly after her First Communion to work as a cash girl in a department store.

Eagels began her acting career at a young age in Kansas City, appearing in a variety of small venues. She left Kansas City around the age of 15 and toured the midwestern U.S. with the Dubinsky Brothers' traveling theater show as a dancer. She later played the leading lady in several comedies and dramas put on by the Dubinskys, who later founded AMC Theatres. As a teenager, she married Maurice Dubinsky, who frequently played a villain. • Illustration — Eagels photographed by Adolph de Meyer in 1921 wearing a dress and cape by Paris couturier Louise Chéruit Around 1911, she moved to New York City and worked in chorus lines. Her hair was brown, but she bleached it when she went to New York. During this period, one of her acting coaches was Beverley Sitgreaves. She was in the supporting cast of Mind the Paint Girl at the Lyceum Theatre in September 1912. Eagels played opposite George Arliss in three plays in 1916 and 1917. In 1915, she appeared in her first motion picture. She also made three films for Thanhouser Film Corporation in 1916–17. In 1918, she appeared in Daddies, a David Belasco production. She quit this show due to illness and subsequently traveled to Europe. She appeared in several other Broadway shows between 1919 and 1921. In 1922, she had her first starring role, in the play Rain by John Colton and Clemence Randolph, based on a short story by Somerset Maugham. In this, her favorite role, Eagels played Sadie Thompson, a free-wheeling and promiscuous spirit who confronts a fire-and-brimstone preacher on a South Pacific island. She went on tour with Rain for two more seasons and returned to Broadway to give a farewell performance in 1926. • Illustration — Eagels with George Arliss in the Broadway play Hamilton, 1917 In 1926, Eagels was offered the part of Roxie Hart in Maurine Dallas Watkins's play Chicago, but she walked out during rehearsals. She next appeared in the comedy Her Cardboard Lover (1927) with Leslie Howard, touring for several months. After missing a few performances due to ptomaine poisoning, Eagels returned to the cast in July 1927 for an Empire Theater show. 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 (1927), directed by Monta Bell. In 1928, after failing to appear for a performance of Her Cardboard Lover in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, Eagels was banned from the stage for 18 months by Actors Equity. The ban did not stop Eagels from working in film, and she made two sound films for Paramount Pictures, The Letter and Jealousy, both released in 1929.

Eagels was married twice. Her first marriage was to actor Maurice Dubinsky whom she married when she was a teenager. The couple reportedly had a son who either died (causing Eagels to have a nervous breakdown) or who was placed for adoption after the couple separated. Eagels and Dubinsky eventually divorced. In August 1925, Eagels married Edward Harris "Ted" Coy, a former football star at Yale University who became a stockbroker. They had no children and divorced in July 1928.

• Illustration — Eagels featured in The Bellman, Volume 23, July 7, 1917 • Year — Title — Role — Notes • The Ace of Hearts • The Bride of the Sea • A Lesson in Bridge — Mrs. Willis • The House of Fear — Grace Cramp — Lost film • The World and the Woman — A Woman of the Streets — Extant • The Fires of Youth — Billy's Sister — Credited as Jeanne Eagles; Extant • Under False Colors — Countess Olga — Lost film • The Cross Bearer — Liane de Merode • The Madonna of the Slums • Man, Woman and Sin — Vera Worth — Extant • The Letter — Leslie Crosbie — Nominated - Academy Award for Best Actress Extant • Jealousy — Yvonne — Lost film