AllMovie

Life of an Actress was based on a play by Langdon McCormick. Farm girl Nora Dowen (Barbara Bedford) gets in trouble with her family when she's caught smooching with a travelling actor. Forced to marry local miser Hiram Judd (Sheldon Lewis), Nora runs away from her one-day union and joins a dog-and-pony theatrical troupe. Some nine months later, she has a baby daughter, which is promptly snatched from her arms and placed in the custody of Judd, who raises the kid to despise her mother's memory. Years later, Nora returns to the community as the leading lady of yet another travelling show. Things take a circuitous route to a happy ending when Nora is reunited with her daughter, while her hateful husband is conveniently killed by a speeding train.