Kim Novak

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	Kim Novak
	;
	Background information
Born	Feb 13, 1933
Birth place:	Chicago, Illinois USA
Born as	Marilyn Paul Novak
Years active	1954 - 1991
Spouse(s)	Dr. Robert Malloy, ; (Mar 12, 1976 - Present)

Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an American actress who was one of America's most popular movie stars in the late 1950s. She is perhaps best known for her performance in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo (1958).

Early life

Novak was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, Illinois, a Roman Catholic of Czech extraction. Her father was a railroad clerk and former teacher; her mother also was a former teacher, and Novak has a sister.

After graduating from high school, she began her career modeling teen fashions for a local department store. She later received a scholarship at a modeling school and continued to model part-time. She also worked as an elevator operator, a sales clerk, and a dental assistant. After a job touring the country as a spokesman for a refrigerator manufacturer, "Miss Deepfreeze," Novak moved to Los Angeles, where she continued modeling.

Career

Film

She then appeared as a model standing on a stairway in the RKO 3-D motion picture The French Line (1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. Novak received no screen credit. Eventually, she was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent and filmed a screen test. Studio chief Harry Cohn was searching for another beauty to replace the rebellious and difficult Rita Hayworth. Novak was signed to a six-month contract.

Columbia decided to make the blonde, buxom actress its version of Marilyn Monroe. She was still using the name Marilyn Novak, and resisted changing it to Kit Marlowe. She and the studio finally settled on the stage name Kim Novak. Cohn told her to lose weight, and he won the battle to make her wear brassieres. She took acting lessons, which she had to pay for herself.

Novak debuted as Lona McLane in Pushover (1954) opposite Fred MacMurray and Philip Carey. Though her role was not the best, her beauty caught the attention of fans and critics alike. She then played the femme fatale role as Janis in Phffft! (1954) opposite Judy Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's reviews were good. People were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail.

After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (1955) opposite William Holden, Novak won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer and for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated for the British BAFTA Film Award for Best Foreign Actress. She played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) opposite Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Parker on loan-out to United Artists. The movie was a big hit. She was paired with Sinatra again in Pal Joey (1957), which also starred [[Rita Hayworth]]. Her popularity became such that she made the cover of the July 29, 1957, issue of Time Magazine. That same year, she went on strike, protesting her salary of $1,250 per week.

In 1958, Novak appeared in a dual role in Hitchcock's classic thriller Vertigo opposite James Stewart. She played the dual roles of the elegant, troubled, wealthy blonde Madeleine Elster and the earthy shop-girl brunette, Judy Barton. Today, the film is often considered a masterpiece of romantic suspense, and Novak's turn is possibly the best-known and most admired of her career.

Kim Novak in "Bell, Book, and Candle"

She followed Vertigo with her role as Gillian Holroyd in Bell, Book and Candle (1958) opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not do well at the box office.

Although some believe that by the early 1960s, Novak's career had begun to slide, in fact, she refused to accept many of the sexpot, glamor girl roles she was offered. Yet, during the same decade, she also turned down several strong roles including Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Hustler, Days of Wine and Roses, and The Sandpiper. Novak was paired with Jack Lemmon for the third and final time in the mystery comedy, The Notorious Landlady in 1962. She also played the vulgar waitress Mildred Rogers in a remake of Somerset Maugham's drama Of Human Bondage (1964) opposite Laurence Harvey and Robert Morley. She showed a cunning sense of humor in Billy Wilder's cult classic Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) opposite Dean Martin, though the film was critically panned.

Kim Novak as "Moll Flanders"

After playing the title role in The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965) opposite Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, with George Sanders and Lilli Palmer, Novak took a break from acting, seeing as little of Hollywood as possible.

Novak made a comeback in a dual role as a young actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in producer-director Robert Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968) opposite Oscar winners Peter Finch and Ernest Borgnine for MGM. It failed miserably.

After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in The Great Bank Robbery (1969) opposite Zero Mostel, Clint Walker, and Claude Akins, she stayed away from the screen for four years. She then played the key role of Auriol Pageant in the horror anthology film Tales That Witness Madness (1973). In 1979, she played Helga in Just a Gigolo starring David Bowie. She played Lola Brewster in Agatha Christie's mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd (1980) opposite Angela Lansbury, Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor. In the film, Novak and Taylor portray rival actresses.

Her last appearance on the big screen was as Lillian Anderson Munnsen in the mystery/thriller Liebestraum (1991) for MGM, however her scenes were cut from the movie due to her battles with the director over how to play the role. In a July 2005 interview with "Movieline's Hollywood Life", Novak admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her conduct with director Mike Figgis. Since that time, she has turned down many other chances to appear in film and on television.

Television

Novak also made occasional appearances on TV over the years. She starred as aging showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The Third Girl From the Left (1973); played Eve in Satan's Triangle (1975); Billie Farnsworth in Malibu (1983); Rosa in a revival of Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985). She also joined the cast of the series Falcon Crest in the role of Kit Marlowe (the stage name she had rejected at the start of her career) during the 1986-1987 season.

Honors

For her contribution to motion pictures, Novak was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, at 6336 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood.

In 1995, Novak was ranked 92nd by Empire Magazine its list of the 100 sexiest stars in film history.

Personal life

She has had two husbands, English actor Richard Johnson (married March 15, 1965-divorced April 23, 1966) and veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy (married March 12, 1976-present). She also had an affair with Sammy Davis, Jr. in 1957-58. Her home in Eagle Point, Oregon, was destroyed in a fire on July 24, 2000. A deputy fire marshal said the blaze was probably caused by a tree falling across a power line. Among Novak's lost mementos were scripts of some of her most critically acclaimed movies, including Vertigo and Picnic. The only existing draft of the actress's autobiography was also lost to the fire.