Characters / Boardwalk Empire Mistresses

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Lucille "Lucy" Danziger

"What's your name, handsome?"

A former Ziegfeld Follies dancer, she is Nucky's lover at the beginning of the series but is destituted in favor of Margaret in the course of season one. She later has a one night stand with Van Alden, and ultimately informs him that she is pregnant and he is the father. Played by Paz De La Huerta.

Tropes:

• Betty and Veronica: The Veronica to Margaret's Betty.
• Black Bra and Panties: She gets fixated with wearing a particular black lingerie ensemble. She's either particularly attached to her last purchase with Nucky's money, or it is the only thing she still can fit in while in her third trimester.
• Brainless Beauty: Sometimes bordering Woman Child.
• Character Development: Quite a bit in season 2.
• Dark Mistress: Of the ditzy type.
• Fluffy Fashion Feathers
• Gold Digger: Like whoa. With a disturbing tendency to call her paramours "Daddy" and demand pretty things.

• Jumping Out of a Cake: In "Anastasia", for Nucky's birthday.
• Law of Inverse Fertility: Van Alden's wife desperately wants to get pregnant, but she can't. Lucy has a one-night stand with him and gets pregnant.
• Lingerie Scene: She gets fixated with wearing a particular black lingerie ensemble. She's either particularly attached to her last purchase with Nucky's money, or it is the only thing she still can fit in while in her third trimester.
• The Missus and the Ex: Her relation with Margaret is full of contempt and scorn.
• The Mistress: To Nucky in season 1.
• Ms. Fanservice: By far the most frequent source of nudity in the series. It's harder to find an episode where she doesn't show something.
• Pretty in Mink: Has a giant fox-fur coat.
• Put on a Bus: She left Atlantic City permanently after giving birth to Van Alden's baby.
• Riches to Rags: Her living standards deteriorate after Nucky dumps her.
• Single Mom Stripper: Subverted. Lucy has her daughter only because she is to be paid for it, and despite a brief maternal bonding after birth she has no problem abandoning her.
• Take That, Audience!: Lucy is often considered The Scrappy by the fandom, who extend their revilement to the actress behind her (not helped by Paz de la Huerta being… quite eccentric, to say the least). Thus, the scene where she rehearses a monologue from the play of the same name in "A Dangerous Maid" while staring at the camera (standing for a mirror) can only be taken as an open comment by Paz de la Huerta that yes, she can act. To ice the cake, the character in the play is also a former showgirl, like Lucy, and the monologue in question is about how she knows that people talk bad about her behind her back and how she is better than other people think.
• Woman Scorned: To Margaret, but not Nucky.

Lillian "Billie" Kent

"I just want you to be my gangster."

A showgirl friend of Eddie Cantor's and tenant of Arnold Rothstein. She's also Nucky's newest mistress. Played by Meg Chambers Steedle.

Tropes:

• Abusive Parents: Her father "thinks that a fist is a good way to end an argument."
• A Death in the Limelight: "The Pony".
• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Showcased by her reconciliation line "I want you to be my gangster".
• Bait-and-Switch: "The Pony". It looks like she and Nucky are going to break up, and then like they are going to have a more straightforward and honest relationship, but then she is killed.
• Bedmate Reveal: With Nucky in "Resolution".
• The Cast Show Off: Sings a duet with Eddie Cantor in "Resolution".
• Fiery Redhead: Has all the aspects of the trope even if the hair color's fake.
• Friendly Target: She is not the intended target of Gyp, but dies in the explosion meant for Nucky. Gyp then phones Nucky to taunt him.
• The Flapper: Probably the most classic version we've seen on the show. She certainly dresses the part.

• I Have Many Names: "The Pony" reveals her birth name as Nadine Beckenbauer.
• Improv: In-Universe - asked to improvise a Meet Cute scene for a screen test in "The Pony," Billie proceeds to knock it out of the ballpark.
• Kaleidoscope Hair: You'd be hard pressed to name two episodes where she has the same hair color and style.
• Manic Pixie Dream Girl: As of "Bone for Tuna", quite literally.
• May–December Romance: Nucky is three decades her senior.
• The Mistress: She's the latest in Nucky's long line, a fact not lost on certain other characters.

• No Celebrities Were Harmed: Likely inspired by Dot King, another showgirl that lived in a New York apartment owned by Arnold Rothstein who was famously murdered in 1923.

• Satellite Love Interest: As Nucky wants to thwart her independence, most of her scenes involve him for some reason or another. It works both ways; Nucky gets absorbed by the relation and starts to neglect his other affairs.
• Unwanted Assistance: She tells Nucky to stop trying to help her, unsuccessfully.

Nan Britton

"He loves me. And he loves his baby daughter. But America needs him, and so I have to sacrifice."

Former mistress of Senator and later President Warren G. Harding and mother of a baby daughter, she is completely deluded that Harding is in love with her and that he will dump his wife and take her to the White House as soon as he wins the 1920 election. She meets Nucky during a Republican convention in Chicago, who decides to take her to Atlantic City and place her in Margaret's house until the election is over in order to avoid a scandal. Played by Virginia Kull.

Tropes:

• Clingy Jealous Girl: She's so clingy to Harding that she has to be kept hidden in Margaret's house until the election Harding participates in is over.
• Composite Character: The plot point of Nan having to be hidden away until the election is over to avoid a political scandal happened in real life with another of Harding's mistresses, Carrie Phillips. Unlike Britton, Phillips was controversial for her vocal support of Germany during World War I, and deliberately blackmailed the Republican Party to get an all-expenses-paid vacation in East Asia while her ex-lover was campaigning for election. Phillips is only indirectly referenced in the show in the episode "Hold Me in Paradise", when Daugherty says that Harding has countless mistresses and that one is even trying to extort him. Also, Nan at one point reads a poem that she claims Harding wrote for her, but that in real life Harding actually wrote for Phillips.
• The Ditz: Not the brightest bulb in the box.
• Historical Domain Character: Based on the real-life mistress of Warren G. Harding, Nan Britton.
• Hollywood History: Zig-zagged. When Boardwalk Empire was made, most historians thought Harding could not be the father of Britton's daughter in Real Life and that their affair probably existed only in Britton's head. Nevertheless, the show portrayed it as real for the sake of drama. However, in 2015, it turned out that the show portraying it as real was absolutely accurate: A DNA test has proven that Harding and Britton's affair was indeed reality and he did indeed father Britton's child.
• Love at First Sight: She fell in love with Harding at first sight.
• May–December Romance: She fell in love with Harding when she was 16, well before he started his political career.
• The Mistress: The mistress of later President Warren G. Harding.
• Stalker with a Crush: She's obsessed with Harding, to the point of having to be hidden in Margaret's house to avoid an scandal.
• Unrequited Love: It's clear that her idealized romance with Harding isn't actually reciprocated by Harding himself.
• Wide-Eyed Idealist: She is convinced that Harding will divorce his wife and send for her to live with him in the White House as soon as he is elected.

Annabelle

"Us girls all help each other here. You know, the concubines."

A long-time mistress for rich men, she becomes Margaret's neighbor and sort of friend after she accepts to move to a mansion paid by Nucky. Played by Megan Reinking.

Tropes:

• False Friend: She ceases all contact with Lucy after she's thrown out and only hangs out with Margaret because she's with Nucky now, showing she holds friends in the same esteem as boyfriends.

• Five-Finger Discount: She has amassed almost $4000 by stealing whatever is in Harry's pocket when he is sleeping. Unfortunately for her, he discovers her stash and invests it in the original Ponzi scheme.
• Gold Digger: It doesn't take her long to find a new sugar daddy after breaking up with the previous one.

• The Mistress: For Harry, Nucky's overweight friend. Formerly for Nucky.

Pauline

"He said you're dangerous. Is it true?"

Another actress that tries to seduce Nucky in Season 4, with the clear goal of improving her career in Broadway. Played by Maddie Jo Landers.

Tropes:

• All Girls Want Bad Boys: Invoked in her first meeting with Nucky.
• All There in the Manual: Her name.
• Bait-and-Switch: After she confesses her intentions, Nucky has Eddie Kessler throw her out.
• Fanservice Extra
• Follow the Leader: She unashamedly admits to be following on Billie's steps.

• Horrible Judge of Character: After sleeping with Nucky, she blatantly says that she is doing so to star in Broadway like Billie Kent did, insulting both Nucky and Billie in the process. Nucky then has her unceremoniously thrown out.
• Modesty Bedsheet: A realistic example. She only covers herself when other man she has not just slept with enters the room.

• Suspiciously Similar Substitute: To Billie Kent, down to working with Eddie Cantor.
• Trailers Always Lie: A recurring scene in the S4 promos shows Pauline telling Nucky that Cantor says he is dangerous. Nucky asks what is that supposed to mean, and she answers by mimicking a gun with her hand. The gesture does not appear in the actual season.

Pearl

"Who is going to love me now?"

A 18 year-old prostitute from the brothel that Torrio runs his operation out of, who wishes to move to California and become an actress. She and Jimmy have a relationship and plan to run away together until members of a rival gang disfigure her as a message to Jimmy, and she kills herself. Played by Emily Meade.

Tropes:

• Break the Cutie: After getting her face cut up, it ultimately drives her to kill herself.
• Death by Disfigurement: She shoots herself a few days after getting having her face slashed, due to the fact her scar renders her unemployable by the brothel.
• Facial Horror: She gets a nasty cut on her face courtesy of Liam and Sheridan.
• Fanservice: She's topless in her first appearance.
  • Fan Disservice: The scene where she, high on opium, tries to go back to work while sporting a huge scar across her face.

• Functional Addict: She is addicted to opium.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: She's a sweet girl, and Jimmy takes a liking to her. He even goes out of her way to avenge her death after she gets her face cut and commits suicide as a result.
• The Mistress: To Jimmy.

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