bette davis margo channing
margo channing (bette davis) 1 of biggest stars on broadway. having turned forty worried advancing age mean career. after performance of margo s latest play, aged in wood, margo s close friend karen richards (celeste holm), wife of play s author lloyd richards (hugh marlowe), brings in besotted fan, eve harrington (anne baxter), meet margo. eve tells group gathered in margo s dressing room—karen , lloyd, margo s boyfriend bill sampson (gary merrill), director 8 years junior, , margo s maid birdie (thelma ritter)—that followed margo s last theatrical tour new york after seeing in play in san francisco. tells moving story of growing poor , losing young husband in world war ii. moved, margo befriends eve, takes home, , hires her assistant, leaving birdie, instinctively dislikes eve, feeling put out.
anne baxter in wig , costume eve harrington, margo channing s understudy
eve insinuates herself margo s life, acting secretary , adoring fan. seems anticipate margo s every need, including placing long-distance phone call bill when margo forgets birthday. margo becomes increasingly distrustful , bitter, particularly after catches eve trying on 1 of costumes aged in wood. margo asks producer, max fabian, hire eve @ office, instead eve manages become margo s understudy without margo s knowledge. margo s irritation grows, karen feels sorry eve. in hopes of humbling margo, karen arranges miss performance of aged in wood, eve have give performance in place. eve invites city s theatre critics, including acerbic addison dewitt, attend evening s performance, triumph her. eve tries seduce bill, rejects her. instead, addison takes under wing , writes column criticizes margo not making way new talents eve.
that evening, margo , bill announce engagement @ dinner richardses. eve calls karen ladies room , tells either ask lloyd give part of cora—the lead in lloyd s next play, footsteps on ceiling—or reveal karen s role in margo s missed performance. before karen can talk lloyd, margo announces s surprise not wish play cora , prefer continue in aged in wood.
eve cast cora. before out-of-town premiere of footsteps on ceiling @ shubert in new haven, eve presents addison next plan: marry lloyd, who, claims, has come professing love , eagerness leave wife her. now, eve exults, lloyd write brilliant plays showcasing her. angered eve believes can manipulate him else, addison reveals knows story lies. real name gertrude slojinski, never married, , had been paid leave hometown on affair boss, brewer in wisconsin. addison blackmails eve, informing not marrying lloyd or else; in exchange addison s silence, belongs him.
a year later, eve shining broadway star headed hollywood. @ awards banquet, margo, bill, lloyd , karen characteristic effusion, while 4 stare @ coldly. eve skips party in honor, , returns home alone, encounters phoebe (barbara bates)—a high-school-aged fan—who has slipped apartment , fallen asleep. young girl professes adoration , begins @ once insinuate herself eve s life, offering pack eve s trunk hollywood. while eve rests in other room, phoebe dons eve s elegant costume robe , poses in front of multi-paned mirror, holding award if crown.
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