In 1950 Barbara Payton earned $5,000 a week at Warner Bros. and starred opposite James Cagney, yet by 1967 she died at just 39 in obscurity at her parents' home.

This episode explores her chaotic Texas upbringing, her breakout in Kiss Tomorrow Goodbye, the violent 1951 love triangle, and the studio blacklist that dismantled her career.

• Her self-funded modeling portfolio and rise through the studio system
• Narrowly losing the Asphalt Jungle role to Marilyn Monroe
• The Tom Neal and Franchot Tone love triangle and assault
• Morals clauses, the blacklist, and losing custody of her son
• Her decline into arrests, addiction, and early death