She uses alcohol and drugs to anesthetize the pain of growing older. First performed in 1959, the play chronicles the relationship between shiftless gigolo Chance Wayne and alcoholic has-been movie star Alexandra Del Lago, a.k.a. Directed by Elia Kazan, it starred Paul Newman, Geraldine Page, Sidney Blackmer, Madeleine Sherwood, Diana Hyland, Logan Ramsey, and Rip Torn. Just then, Tom Junior and Dan Hatcher (the hotels assistant manager) come to her door and tell her she is no longer welcome at the Royal Palms because of her association with Chance. She said that, onstage, she was free to make Alexandra as old as she wanted, but for the film she had to look as conventionally attractive as possible.