Rebecca De Mornay

In 2004, she was cast as attorney Hannah Rose for the final season of The Practice and its subsequent spin-off, Boston Legal. 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. Her most successful film to date (2003) was The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992). The Oscar went to Mary Pickford for the film Coquette. Her film debut came with a small part in Francis Ford Coppola's One from the Heart (1982), which was followed by the very successful Risky Business (1983) with Tom Cruise.
Eagels was posthumously nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress for her role in the The Letter. She studied acting at the Lee Strasberg Institute in New York. She was survived by her mother, Julia Eagles, and several brothers and sisters.

De Mornay grew up in France and went to college in the United Kingdom. In Kansas City, thousands of mourning fans were at the train station when her coffin was returned for interment in the local Calvary Cemetery. Rebecca De Mornay (born August 29, 1962) is an American actress, born in Santa Rosa, California, USA. Three medical practitioners gave three different causes for her death, all of which pointed to alcohol and drug abuse. One from the Heart (1982).
Just before she was to return to the Broadway stage, Jeanne Eagels died suddenly at a hospital in New York City on October 3, 1929. Risky Business (1983). Her performance in The Letter garnered high praise from critics.

Testament (1983).
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). The Trip to Bountiful (1985). 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 Slugger's Wife (aka Neil Simon's The Slugger's Wife) (1985). She then went on tour with Her Cardboard Lover for several months. Runaway Train (1985). She appeared opposite John Gilbert in Man, Woman and Sin, which was directed by Monta Bell and made at MGM studios in California.

Beauty and the Beast (1987). This play was a modest success, and after a season on Broadway, she took a break to make a movie. And God Created Woman (1988). After much speculation about her next play, she chose a comedy Her Cardboard Lover (1927) in which she appeared on stage with Leslie Howard. Feds (1988).
For her next role, Eagels was offered the part of Roxie Hart in the play Chicago, but walked out of this role during rehearsals, possibly due to conflicts with the director. Dealers (1989). They had no children together.

Backdraft (1991). The marriage was a stormy one and they divorced in 1928. The Hand That Rocks the Cradle (1992).
During this period she married 'Ted' Edward Harris Coy (1925), a former Yale University football star. Guilty as Sin (1993). She went on tour with Rain for two more seasons, and returned to Broadway to give a farewell performance in 1926. The Three Musketeers (1993). The house was packed nearly every night for two years.

Never Talk to Strangers (1995). Critics raved about her tense, smoldering, and vivid performance. The Winner (1996). 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. Thick as Thieves (1999). She appeared in several other Broadway shows once she returned, but in 1922 she made her first appearance as a star in a bone fide hit- Rain. A Table for One (aka Wicked Ways) (1999). She had to quit this show due to illness (probably sinusitis) and she subsequently travelled to Europe.

The Right Temptation (2000). In 1918 she appeared in Daddies, a David Belasco production, and won even more notice. Salem Witch Trials (2001). Eagels eventually won recognition and kudos playing opposite the stage actor George Arliss in three successive plays. The Practice (joined cast in 2004). In 1916 and 1917 she made three films for Thanhouser Film Corporation. Boston Legal (2004). Her acting career blossomed, and in 1914 she appeared in her first motion picture role.

Although she struggled for recognition as a dramatic actress, her beauty, talent and luck led to her getting bigger parts in better shows. She changed the spelling of her surname to "Eagels", allegedly because this spelling looked better in lights. At one point her acting coach was Beverly Sitgreaves, who had once shared the stage with the great French actress Sarah Bernhardt. She started out as a chorus girl and this led to appearances in the chorus of the Ziegfeld Follies (i.e., as a Ziegfeld Girl).

In or around 1911, she came to New York City and had to start at the bottom again. 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. 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. It was there that she began her acting career, appearing in a variety of small venues at a very young age.

Born Amelia Jeannine Eagles in Kansas City, Missouri. Jeanne Eagels (June 26, 1890 – October 3, 1929) was an actress on Broadway and in several motion pictures. Jeanne Eagles page (http://www.jeanneeagels.com).