Classic Movie Hub says that Marilyn Miller was the "It" girl of the decade between 1918 and 1928. She'd come a long way: she grew up as part of a travelling theater act that had captivated America, then headed to Broadway, became a part of the Ziegfeld Follies, and swore to never let a man run her life the way that her stepfather had.
While she was with the Ziegfeld Follies, she fell madly in love with her co-star, Frank Carter. The pair eloped, and by all accounts, it was a match made in heaven. Carter had planned on giving her a car for their first anniversary, and it was that car that he was driving home when he lost control and was killed. Miller spiraled into a deep depression and despondency, even as she continued to perform. Every performance ended in tears... until it didn't. She soon spiraled off into another extreme: hedonistic and demanding at work, scandalous about town.
That scandal rose to new levels when news broke that she was engaged to Jack Pickford, who had just lost his wife — Olive Thomas — in a still-suspicious set of circumstances. The marriage was one filled with infidelity, alcohol, and violent outbreaks, and ended in divorce. Her career survived and she signed with Warner Brothers, but in 1936, her ever-worsening sinusitis was unbearable. After chasing a miracle cure (an injection of insulin), she fell into a coma and died. She was 37.
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