Douglas Sirk's film, "The Tarnished Angels", makes reference to "My Ántonia" as the last book read 12 years earlier by heroine, LaVerne, played by Dorothy Malone. She discovers the book in the apartment of the alcoholic reporter, Burke Devlin, played by Rock Hudson. After LaVerne's husband, Roger (played by Robert Stack), dies in an airplane racing accident, Burke Devlin sends LaVerne and her son, Jack, on a plane to Chicago, which will connect them to their next flight to Nebraska to start a new life. In the final scene, as LaVerne boards her plane, Burke hands LaVerne the book, "My Ántonia".