1. - Ruth Chatterton, The Laughing Lady, 1929. Having suffered a nervous breakdown (or too many drugs) during Jealousy, 1929,   the self-made Broadway star (the greatest Sadie Thompson!), asked to be relieved of her next Paramount movie. The studio agreed - and she was dead before Ruth completed shooting.

2. - Nancy Carroll, The Devil's Holiday, 1930.   Jeanne ODed on   heroin before   she   could start the script written expressly for her by director Edmund Goulding.   Nancy won an Oscar nod - and more fan mail than any other Parmount contract star that year.