The Star Maker (1968)

Once-famous movie director Paul Lamont has fallen on hard times. Hollywood has forgotten him. His pictures are no longer in vogue. Borrowing air fare from his ex-wife, he flies to Berlin, where a former colleague is producing three films. A hotel maid recognizes his celebrity name and makes a play for him. He falls in love a May-September romance. She is completely amoral and breaks his heart, running away with a German playboy at the Cork (Ireland) Film Festival. While there, Paul encounters a California beauty contest winner who has been seduced and abandoned by studio mogul Irving Rykoff. Seeking solace together, they retreat to Hollywood, where she waitresses at a Boulevard café, always encouraging Paul, who drinks free coffee, dreaming of a comeback, hopefully perusing the pages of the trade papers.