Alexander Kirkland

When philosophical country/western singer Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes is "discovered" in the local lock-up by television talent coordinator Marcia Jeffries, she decided that Rhodes deserves a guest appearance on a TV variety show. The gangly, overly humble Rhodes is an instant sensation, and as he quickly ascends toward superstardom he attracts fans, sponsors and endorsement deals until he is the most powerful and influential entertainer on the airwaves. Beloved by his public audience, they would never believe that he has turned into a scheming, power-hungry manipulator with Machiavellian political aspirations. What Rhodes does not realize is that the higher the rise, the farther the fall; not only does he wind up losing his fame and fortune, but he also loses those who cared about him before his ego took control of his life.

When philosophical country/western singer Larry "Lonesome" Rhodes is "discovered" in the local lock-up by television talent coordinator Marcia Jeffries, she decided that Rhodes deserves a guest appearance on a TV variety show.

Norma Shearer and Clark Gable, who provided potent screen chemistry in 1931's A Free Soul, smolder again in the 1932 film version of Eugene O'Neill's Pulitzer Prize-winning play, a compelling and complex drama of jealousy, grief, madness, lust and love. Shearer plays a woman haunted by the death of her sweetheart and by her father's unnatural obsession. She marries a man she doesn't love - and has a child through an adulterous liaison with a handsome doctor (Gable), a secret they keep throughout their lives. The play's famed soliloquies, in which the characters express their thoughts to the audience, made a transition to celluloid as voiceovers, lending a bold, experimental quality to the production.