Many theatre scholars are familiar with the name Mercedes de Acosta but do not know the nature of her connection to the theatre—her close ties to notable actresses and the plays that she wrote. Robert A. Schanke has published two books that hope to clarify de Acosta's place in theatre history. The first is a biography that takes the reader from her exotic background of Spanish ancestry and her stolen inheritance through her innumerable affairs with such figures as Maude Adams, Eva Le Gallienne, Nazimova, Marlene Dietrich, Greta Garbo, and Isadora Duncan. The biography concludes with de Acosta's last years, impoverished, nearly forgotten, and lonely.