Plot

A woman adored by the people around her ultimately struggles to be happy with herself.

Loosely based on the life of Marilyn Monroe, the story of a young woman destined from childhood on to be adored by millions but unhappy in her own life. Patty Duke plays Emily Ann Faulkner as a young, friendless, fatherless rural southern girl whose mother is indifferent to her. As a teenager, Emily Ann, played by Kim Stanley, remains a loner but with one small exception - boys dote on her, drawn by her beauty and her powerful aura of feminine sexuality. Emily Ann marries young but leaves her first husband when she meets young prizefighter Dutch Seymour (Lloyd Bridges). She becomes an actress and her star rises rapidly until she hits the heights of fame - and the depths of anguish.—alfiehitchie

Emily Ann Faulkner grew up unloved by her self-absorbed party-loving mother, who openly stated that they would have given up Emily Ann if given the chance. Craving adoration, Emily Ann always knew she wanted to be an actress - really, a movie star - but ends up being a lonely child. Even in her teen-aged years, Emily Ann, while trying to attract the attention of boys, doesn't know how to react when they get too close to her overtly sexual come-ons. Through two marriages which produced a daughter, Emily Ann still drives those around her away by not knowing how to deal with intimacy. Emily Ann eventually does get her wish of being a world renowned Hollywood movie star, renamed Rita Shawn. With her fame comes the adoration - the idolization - she has always craved. But will this goddess status fulfill her as a person?—Huggo