In Ragtime (1981), Elizabeth McGovern stepped into the corseted world of Evelyn Nesbit—one of the most scandalous and misunderstood figures of early 20th-century America. Evelyn was more than a Gibson Girl beauty. At just 16, she became the face of a media frenzy when her husband, millionaire Harry Thaw, murdered famed architect Stanford White—Nesbit’s former lover—on a rooftop in Manhattan. It was dubbed “The Trial of the Century.” Elizabeth’s haunting performance brought Evelyn’s pain, glamour