VERONICA LAKE ,UNCONVENTIONAL HAIR STYLE
AMERICAN ACTRESS BORN 1922 NOVEMBER 14
Veronica Lake (born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman; November 14, 1922[1] – July 7, 1973) was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake won both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd, during the 1940s. She was also well known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle.
By the late 1940s however, Lake's career had begun to decline in part due to her alcoholism. She made only one film in the 1950s but appeared in several guest-starring roles on television. She returned to the screen in 1966 with a role in the film Footsteps In the Snow, but the role failed to revitalize her career.
Lake released her memoirs, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, in 1970. She used the money she made from the book to finance a low-budget horror film Flesh Feast. It was her final onscreen role. Lake died in July 1973 from hepatitis and acute kidney injury at the age of 50.
Youth[edit]
Lake was born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Her father, Harry Eugene Ockelman, was of German and Irish descent,[2][3][4][5] and worked for an oil company aboard a ship. He died in an industrial explosion in Philadelphia in 1932. Lake's mother, Constance Frances Charlotta (née Trimble; 1902–1992), of Irish descent, married Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist, also of Irish descent, in 1933, and Lake began using his surname.[6]
The Keanes lived in Saranac Lake, New York, where young Lake attended St. Bernard's School for a time, then was sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Canada, from which she was expelled. Lake later claimed she attended McGill University and did a premed course for a year, intending to become a surgeon. But when her father fell ill during her second year, the Keane family later moved to Miami, Florida.[7]
Lake attended Miami High School, where she was known for her beauty. She had a troubled childhood and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to her mother.[8]
Film career[edit]
Constance Keane[edit]
In 1938, the Keanes moved to Beverly Hills, where Lake enrolled in the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting (now the Beverly Hills Playhouse). She made friends with a girl called Gwen Horn, and accompanied her when Horn went to audition at RKO. She was briefly contracted to MGM and studied at that studio's acting farm, the Bliss Hayden theatre.[7] She appeared in the play Thought for Food in January 1939.[9] In She Made Her Bed, the theatre critic from the Los Angeles Times called her "a fetching little trick".[10]
She also appeared as an extra in a number of movies.[11] Keane's first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small role among several coeds in the film Sorority House (1939). The part wound up being cut out of the film but she was encouraged to continue. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets, Young as Your Feel, Forty Little Mothers and Dancing Co-Ed. Forty Little Mothers was the first time she let her hair down on screen.[12]
She attracted the interest of Fred Wilcox, an assistant director, who shot a test scene of Lake performing from a play and showed it to an agent. The agent in turn showed it to producer Arthur Hornblow who was looking for a new girl to play the part of a nightclub singer in a military drama, I Wanted Wings (1940). Still in her teens, the role would make her a star.[7]
I Wanted Wings and Stardom[edit]
Lake in her first starring role, opposite Joel McCrea in Sullivan's Travels (1941)
It was during the filming of I Wanted Wings that Lake developed her signature look. Lake's long blonde hair accidentally fell over her right eye during a take and created a "peek-a-boo" effect. "I was playing a sympathetic drunk, I had my arm on a table... it slipped... and my hair- it was always baby fine and had this natural break- fell over my face... It became my trademark and purely by accident", she recalled.[13]
I Wanted Wings was a big hit, The hairstyle became Lake's trademark and was widely copied by women.[14]
Even before the film came out, Lake was dubbed "the find of 1941".[7] However Lake did not think this meant she would have a long career and maintained her goal was to be a surgeon. "Only the older actors keep on a long time ... I don't want to hang on after I've reached a peak. I'll go back to medical school", she said.[7] Paramount announced two follow up movies, China Pass and Blonde Venus.[15] Instead, Lake was cast in Sullivan's Travels for Preston Sturges with Joel McCrea. She had been six months pregnant when filming began.
Paramount put her in a thriller, This Gun for Hire; her love interest was Robert Preston but she shared more scenes with Alan Ladd and the two of them would be so popular together they would be reteamed three more times.[16] Both had cameos in Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), an all-star Paramount movie.
She was meant to be reunited with McCrea in another comedy, I Married a Witch, produced by Sturges (and directed by Rene Clair) but McCrea refused to act with her again so production was pushed back, enabling Lake to be reteamed with Ladd in The Glass Key (1942), replacing Patricia Morison. The male lead in Witch was eventually played by Fredric March and the resulting movie, like Key, was popular. René Clair, the director of I Married a Witch, said of Lake "She was a very gifted girl, but she didn't believe she was gifted."[17]
Lake was meant to co-star with Charles Boyer in Hong Kong for Arthur Hornblow, but it was not made.[18] She received acclaim for her part as a suicidal nurse in So Proudly We Hail! At the peak of her popularity, she earned $4,500 a week.[14]
Hairstyle Change[edit]
During World War II, Lake changed her trademark peek-a-boo hairstyle at the urging of the government to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical,
Later career[edit]
Lake and Alan Ladd in trailer for The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Although popular with the public, Lake had a complex personality and acquired a reputation for being difficult to work with. Eddie Bracken, her co-star in Star Spangled Rhythm (in which Lake appeared in a musical number) was quoted as saying, "She was known as 'The Bitch' and she deserved the title."[22][23] Joel McCrea, her co-star in Sullivan's Travels, reportedly turned down the co-starring role in I Married a Witch, saying, "Life's too short for two films with Veronica Lake."[24] (However, Lake and McCrea did make another film together, the 1947 production Ramrod.) During filming of The Blue Dahlia (1946), screenwriter Raymond Chandler referred to her as "Moronica Lake".[25]
Lake's career faltered with her unsympathetic role as Nazi spy Dora Bruckman in The Hour Before the Dawn (1944). Scathing reviews of The Hour Before the Dawn included criticism of her unconvincing German accent.[citation needed] She had begun drinking more heavily during this period, and a growing number of people refused to work with her. Lake had a number of months off work, during which time she lost a child and was divorced. She was brought back in Bring on the Girls, Lake's first proper musical (although she had sung in This Gun for Hire and Star Spangled Rhythm). There were two more movies with Bracken, Out of This World and Hold That Blonde.[citation needed]
In June 1944 Lake appeared at a war bond drive in Boston, where her services as a dishwasher were auctioned off. She also performed in a revue, with papers saying her "talk was on the grim side".[26] Hedda Hopper later claimed this appearance was responsible for Paramount giving her the third lead in Out of this World, supporting Diana Lynn, saying "Lake clipped her own wings in her Boston bond appearance... It's lucky for Lake, after Boston, that she isn't out of pictures."[27]
publicity photo c. 1950s
Lake then made two films produced by John Houseman, Miss Susie Slagle's and The Blue Dahlia. While waiting for the films to be released in 1945 she took stock of her career claiming, "I had to learn about acting. I've played all sorts of parts, taken just what came along regardless of high merit. In fact, I've been a sort of general utility person. I haven't liked all the roles. One or two were pretty bad."[28]
One role she really liked was Hold That Blonde, supporting Eddie Bracken (in a part turned down by Bob Hope). "It's a comedy, rather like what Carole Lombard used to do ... It represents a real change of pace."[28] She thought she had a good part in The Blue Dahlia (1946).[28]
Lake expressed interest in renegotiating her deal with Paramount:
The studio feels that way about it too. They have indicated they are going to fuss more about the pictures in which I appear. I think I'll enjoy being fussed about... I want this to be the turning point and I think that it will. I am free and clear of unpleasant characters, unless they are strongly justified. I've had a varied experience playing them and also appearing as heroines.
The roles themselves haven't been noteworthy and sometimes not even especially spotlighted, but I think they've all been beneficial in one way or another. From here on there should be a certain pattern of development, and that is what I am going to fight for if necessary, though I don't believe it will be because they are so understanding here at Paramount.[28]
She made her first film outside Paramount since she became a star, a popular Western, Ramrod, directed by her then-husband Andre DeToth. Back at her home studio she had a cameo in Variety Girl then was united with Ladd for the last time in Saigon, bringing back her old peek-a-boo hairstyle; the movie was not particularly well received. Neither was a romantic drama, Isn't It Romantic (1948) or a comedy The Sainted Sisters (1948). In 1948 Paramount decided not to renew Lake's contract.[citation needed]
Leaving Paramount[edit]
Lake went over to 20th Century Fox to make Slattery's Hurricane (1949), directed by DeToth. It was only a support role and there were not many other offers. In 1950 it was announced she and DeToth would make Before I Wake (from a suspense novel by Mel Devrett) and Flanagan Boy.[29] Neither was made.
In 1951 she appeared in Stronghold, which she later described as "a dog". (She later sued for unpaid wages on the film.[30]) Lake and DeToth filed for bankruptcy that same year.[31]
The IRS later seized their home for unpaid taxes.[32] On the verge of a nervous breakdown and bankrupt, Lake ran away, left DeToth, and flew alone to New York.
New York[edit]
In the summer of 1951, she was fed up; two marriages had failed, and she was typecast in Hollywood as a sex symbol. As a result of her disillusionment with Hollywood and not liking what it did with people, she walked out on Hollywood, took her three children, and headed to New York to restart her career. Lake wanted to leave her sexy image behind, and New York offered the opportunity to work in theater and the new medium, television.
"They said, 'She'll be back in a couple of months'", recalled Lake. "Well I never returned. Enough was enough already. Did I want to be one of the walking dead or a real person?"[13]
She performed in summer stock and in stage roles in England.[33] In October 1955, she collapsed in Detroit, where she had been appearing on stage in The Little Hut.[34]
Later years[edit]
Lake in trailer for her final film Flesh Feast (1970)
After her third divorce, Lake drifted between cheap hotels in New York City, and was arrested several times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. In 1962, a New York Post reporter found her living at the all-women's Martha Washington Hotel in Manhattan, working as a waitress downstairs in the cocktail lounge.[35] She was working under the name "Connie de Toth". Lake said she took the job in part because "I like people. I like to talk to them."[36]
The reporter's widely distributed story led to speculation that Lake was destitute. After the story ran, fans of Lake sent her money which she returned as "a matter of pride".[33] Lake vehemently denied that she was destitute and stated, "It's as though people were making me out to be down-and-out. I wasn't. I was paying $190 a month rent then, and that's a long way from being broke."[37] The story did revive some interest in Lake and led to some television and stage appearances, most notably in the 1963 off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward.[37]
In 1966, she had a brief stint as a TV hostess in Baltimore, Maryland, along with a largely ignored film role in Footsteps In the Snow. She also continued appearing in stage roles.[21] She went to Freeport in the Bahamas to visit a friend and ended up living there for a few years.[13]
Lake's memoirs, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, were released in the United Kingdom in 1969, and in the United States the following year. In the book, Lake discusses her career, her failed marriages, her romances with Howard Hughes, Tommy Manville and Aristotle Onassis, her alcoholism, and her guilt over not spending enough time with her children.[14] In the book, Lake stated that her mother pushed her into a career as an actress. Looking back at her career, Lake wrote, "I never did cheesecake like Ann Sheridan or Betty Grable. I just used my hair." She also laughed off the term "sex symbol" and instead referred to herself as a "sex zombie".[33]
When she went to the UK to promote her book in 1969 she received an offer to appear on stage in Madam Chairman.[13] Also in 1969, Lake essayed the role of Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire on the English stage, for which she won rave reviews for her performance.[38] With the proceeds from her autobiography, she co-produced and starred in her final film, Flesh Feast (1970), a low-budget horror movie with a Nazi-myth storyline.[citation needed]
Lake then moved to Ipswich, England, where she met and married Royal Navy captain Robert Carleton-Munro, in June 1972.[33] The marriage lasted just one year and Lake returned to the United States in June 1973. She went to the Virgin Islands to await her divorce decree when she fell ill.[39]
Personal life[edit]
After purchasing an airplane for her husband, Andre DeToth, Lake earned her pilot's license in 1946. She later flew solo between Los Angeles and New York when leaving him.[40]
Marriages and children[edit]
Lake's first marriage was to art director John S. Detlie, in 1940. They had a daughter, Elaine (born in 1941),[41] and a son, Anthony (born July 8, 1943). According to news from the time, Lake's son was born prematurely after she tripped on a lighting cable while filming a movie. Anthony died on July 15, 1943.[42] Lake and Detlie separated in August 1943 and divorced in December 1943.[41] In 1944, Lake married film director Andre DeToth with whom she had a son, Andre Anthony Michael III (known as Michael DeToth), and a daughter, Diana (born October 1948). Days before Diana's birth, Lake's mother sued her for support payments.[43] Lake and DeToth divorced in 1952.[44]
In September 1955, she married songwriter Joseph Allan McCarthy.[45] They were divorced in 1959. Lake's fourth and final marriage was to Royal Navy captain Robert Carleton-Munro in June 1972. They divorced after one year.[39] In 1969 she revealed that she rarely saw her children.[13]
Death[edit]
In June 1973, Lake returned to the United States and while traveling in Vermont, visited a local doctor, complaining of stomach pains. She was discovered to have cirrhosis of the liver as a result of her years of drinking, and on June 26, she checked into the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.[38]
She died there on July 7, 1973, of acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury.[46] Her son Michael claimed her body.[47] Lake's memorial service was held at the Universal Chapel in New York City on July 11.[48]
She was cremated and, according to her wishes, her ashes were scattered off the coast of the Virgin Islands. In 2004, some of Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store.[49]
Hollywood Boulevard[edit]
For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Lake has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard.[50]
Born November 14, 1922 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA
Died July 7, 1973 in Burlington, Vermont, USA (hepatitis)
Birth Name Constance Frances Marie Ockelman
Nickname The Peek-a-boo Girl
Height 4' 11½" (1.51 m)
Mini Bio (1)
Veronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockleman on November 14, 1922, in Brooklyn, New York. She was the daughter of Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, who worked for an oil company as a ship employee. Her father was of half German and half Irish descent, and her mother was of Irish ancestry. While still a child, Veronica's parents moved to Florida when she was not quite a year old. By the time she was five, the family had returned to Brooklyn. When Connie was only twelve, tragedy struck when her father died in an explosion on an oil ship. One year later her mother married Anthony Keane and Connie took his last name as her own. In 1934, when her stepfather was diagnosed with tuberculosis, the family moved to Saranac Lake, where Connie Keane enjoyed the outdoor life and flourished in the activities of boating on the lakes, skating, skiing, swimming, biking around Moody Pond and hiking up Mt Baker. The family made their home in 1935 at 1 Watson Place, (now 27 Seneca Street) then they moved to 1 Riverside Drive,(now Lake Kiwassa Road). Both Connie and Anthony benefited from the Adirondack experience and in 1936 the family left the Adirondacks and moved to Miami, FL., however, the memories of those carefree Saranac Lake days would always remain deeply rooted in her mind.
Two years later, Connie graduated from high school in Miami. Her natural beauty and charm and a definite talent for acting prompted her mother and step-father to move to Beverly Hills, California, where they enrolled her in the well known Bliss Hayden School of Acting in Hollywood. Connie had previously been diagnosed as a classic schizophrenic and her parents saw acting as a form of treatment for her condition. She showed remarkable abilities and did not have to wait long for a part to come her way.
Her first movie was as one of the many coeds in the RKO film, That Girl from College (1939) in 1939. It was a minor part, to be sure, but it was a start. Veronica quickly followed up that project with two other films. All Women Have Secrets (1939) and Every Other Inch a Lady (1939), both in 1939, were again bit roles for the pretty young woman from the East Coast, but she did not complain. After all, other would-be starlets took a while before they ever received a bit part. Veronica continued her schooling, in 1940, while taking a bit roles in two more films, Young as You Feel (1940) and Forty Little Mothers (1940). Prior to this time, she was still under her natural name of Constance Keane. Now, with a better role in 1941's I Wanted Wings (1941), she was asked to change her name and Veronica Lake was born. Now, instead of playing coeds, she had a decent, speaking part. Veronica felt like an actress. The film was a success and the public loved this bright newcomer.
Paramount, the studio she was under contract with, then assigned her to two more films that year, Hold Back the Dawn (1941) and Sullivan's Travels (1941). The latter received good reviews from the always tough film critics. As Ellen Graham, in This Gun for Hire (1942) the following year, Veronica now had top billing. She had paid her dues and was on a roll. The public was enamored with her. In 1943, Veronica starred in only one film. She portrayed Lieutenant Olivia D'Arcy in So Proudly We Hail! (1943) with Claudette Colbert. The film was a box-office smash. It seemed that any film Veronica starred in would be an unquestionable hit. However, her only outing for 1944, The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) would not be well-received by either the public or the critics. As Nazi sympathizer Dora Bruckmann, Veronica's role was dismal at best. Critics disliked her accent immensely because it wasn't true to life. Her acting itself suffered because of the accent. Mediocre films trailed her for all of 1945. It seemed that Veronica was dumped in just about any film to see if it could be salvaged. Hold That Blonde! (1945), Out of This World (1945), and Miss Susie Slagle's (1946) were just a waste of talent for the beautiful blonde. The latter film was a shade better than the previous two. In 1946, Veronica bounced back in The Blue Dahlia (1946) with Howard Da Silva. The film was a hit, but it was the last decent film for Veronica. Paramount continued to put her in pathetic movies. After 1948, Paramount discharged the once prized star and she was out on her own. In 1949, she starred in the Twentieth Century film Slattery's Hurricane (1949). Unfortunately, another weak film. She was not on the big screen again until 1952 when she appeared in Stronghold (1951). By Veronica's own admission, the film "was a dog." From 1952 to 1966, Veronica made television appearances and even tried her hand on the stage. Not a lot of success for her at all. By now alcohol was the order of the day. She was down on her luck and drank heavily. In 1962, Veronica was found living in an old hotel and working as a bartender. She finally returned to the big screen in 1966 in Footsteps in the Snow (1966). Another drought ensued and she appeared on the silver screen for the last time in 1970's Flesh Feast (1970) - a very low budget film.
On July 7, 1973, Veronica died of hepatitis in Burlington, Vermont. The beautiful actress with the long blonde hair was dead at the age of 50.
- IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson and Leslie Hoffman
Spouse (4)
Robert Carleton-Munro (29 May 1972 - 7 July 1973) (her death)
Joseph Allen McCarthy (28 August 1955 - 25 September 1959) (divorced)
André De Toth (13 December 1944 - 2 June 1952) (divorced) (2 children)
John S. Detlie (25 September 1940 - 2 December 1943) (divorced) (2 children)
Trade Mark (4)
'Peekaboo' hairstyle, covering right side of forehead and sometimes partly over right eye.
Voluptuous figure
Short stature
Petite frame
Trivia (26)
Lake's parents were Constance Charlotta (Trimble) and Harry Eugene Ockelman, a seaman who died in a ship explosion in February 1932. Lake's paternal grandfather, Harry Ockelman, was German, and her paternal grandmother, Alice Marie Collins, was Irish. Lake's maternal grandparents, James F. Trimble and Frances Comer, were both born in New York, both of them to Irish immigrants.
Birth year usually given as 1919 but her autobiography and Lenburg's highly negative biography both indicate 1922. The 1920 United States Census shows that her father Harry Ockelman is unmarried and childless, while in 1930 Constance is listed as seven years old.
Her height variously given as "barely five feet" to 5' 2" Photos indicate the shorter height.
Children: Elaine Detlie, b. 21 August 1941; William Detlie, lived 8-15 July 1943; Andre Michael De Toth III, b. 25 October 1945; Diana De Toth, b. 16 October 1948.
An accomplished aviatrix, she took up flying in 1946 and in 1948 flew her small plane from Los Angeles to New York.
A 1943 Paramount newsreel shows her adopting an upswept hairdo at the behest of War Womanpower Commission, to discourage "peekaboo bangs" on Rosie the Riveter.
Got her big break when teamed with the only actor in Hollywood relatively near to her in height, Alan Ladd. Ladd was 5' 6" and she was just 4' 11".
Daughter-in-law of Joseph McCarthy.
During World War Two, the rage for her peek-a-boo bangs became a hazard when women in the defense industry would get their bangs caught in machinery. Lake had to take a publicity picture in which she reacted painfully to her hair getting "caught" in a drill press in order to heighten public awareness about the hazard of her hairstyle.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame located at 6918 Hollywood Blvd.
Kim Basinger won an Oscar as "Best Actress in a Supporting Role" for portraying a prostitute who is supposed to look like Lake.
She and Alan Ladd made 7 movies together: The Blue Dahlia (1946), Duffy's Tavern (1945), The Glass Key (1942), Saigon (1948), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942), This Gun for Hire (1942) and Variety Girl (1947). In Variety Girl (1947), Star Spangled Rhythm (1942) and Duffy's Tavern (1945) they appear as themselves.
Cousin of actress Helene Marshall.
Her ashes sat on a funeral home's shelf until 1976 when her cremation was paid for and supposedly spread on the Florida coastline. Some 30 years after her death, her ashes resurfaced in a New York antique store in October 2004.
In Italy, all her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta. She was only dubbed once by another actress: Clelia Bernacchi (in Hold Back the Dawn (1941)).
Her third husband, Joseph Allen McCarthy, wrote lyrics for many Cy Coleman songs, among them "I'm Gonna Laugh You Right Out Of My Life" and "Why Try To Change Me Now?" sung by Frank Sinatra. McCarthy's father, Joseph McCarthy, was also a lyricist; his most famous songs are "You Made Me Love You" and "I'm Always Chasing Rainbows.".
Actor Stewart Stafford lived the first three years of his life in her old apartment in New York (her name was still visible inside the mailbox).
When former lover Marlon Brando read in a newspaper that a reporter had found Veronica Lake working as a cocktail waitress in a Manhattan bar, he instructed his accountant to send her a check for a thousand dollars. Out of pride, she never cashed it, but kept it framed in her Miami living room to show her friends.
Along with Rita Hayworth', Lauren Bacall, and Gene Tierney she was one of four inspirations that helped create the character Jessica Rabbit.
In her biography "Peekaboo" Lake's mother claims her daughter was diagnosed paranoid schizophrenia, which she alleges was responsible for her alcoholism, numerous infidelities, mood swings, and vindictiveness.
Lake's mother sued her daughter for non-support during the 1940s.
When Lake's former husband, André De Toth, wrote his autobiography "Fragments" in 1964, his comments about his ex-wife were brief and relatively sympathetic. He paints her as a woman destroyed by a sad childhood and overly domineering mother.
Died five days after Betty Grable.
R&B singer/actress Aaliyah tailored her signature hairstyle from Veronica Lake's signature bangs.
Returned to work 2 months after giving birth to her daughter Elaine to begin filming This Gun for Hire (1942).
Was 8 months pregnant with her daughter Elaine when she completed filming Sullivan's Travels (1941).
Personal Quotes (13)
You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision.
I will have one of the cleanest obits of any actress. I never did cheesecake like Ann Sheridan or Betty Grable. I just used my hair.
I wasn't a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie.
[1970, reflecting on her career] I've reached a point in my life where it's the little things that matter. I'm no longer interested in doing what's expected of me. I was always a rebel and probably could have got much farther had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I'm happier with that.
Hollywood gives a young girl the aura of one giant, self-contained orgy farm, its inhabitants dedicated to crawling into every pair of pants they can find.
[on Alan Ladd] Alan Ladd was a marvelous person in his simplicity. In so many ways we were kindred spirits. We both were professionally conceived through Hollywood's search for box office and the types to insure the box office. And we were both little people. Alan wasn't as short as most people believe. It was true that in certain films Alan would climb a small platform or the girl worked in a slit trench. We had no such problems together.
[on Paulette Goddard] It was her honesty I liked.
[on Marlon Brando] Our romance was short but sweet. He was on the dawn of a brilliant film career, and I was in the twilight of one. Of course, my career could never compare with his.
[on her screen test for I Wanted Wings (1941)] My hair kept falling over one eye and I kept brushing it back. I thought I had ruined my chances for the role. But Hornblow [producer Arthur Hornblow] was jubilant about that eye-hiding trick. An experienced showman, he knew that the hairstyle was something people would talk about. He had a big picture and lots of talk would bring customers to see it.
[on performing with Fredric March in I Married a Witch (1942)] He treated me like dirt under his talented feet. Of all actors to end up under the covers with. That happened in one scene and Mr. March is lucky he didn't get my knee in his groin.
There's no doubt I was a bit of a misfit in the Hollywood of the forties. The race for glamor left me far behind. I didn't really want to keep up. I wanted my stardom without the usual trimmings. Because of this, I was branded a rebel at the very least. But I don't regret that for a minute. My appetite was my own and I simply wouldn't have it any other way.
I think I've developed into an actress because I've worked darn hard at it and I've learned a great deal from a lot of gifted people. And if I have nothing else to show for my life, apart from a scrapbook full of cuttings, I have the knowledge that my early days in Hollywood weren't in vain.
If I had stayed in Hollywood I would have ended up like Alan Ladd and Gail Russell--dead and buried by now. That rat race killed them and I knew it would kill me, so I had to get out. I was never psychologically meant to be a picture star. I never took it seriously. I couldn't "live" being a"'movie star" and I couldn't "camp" it, and I hated being something I wasn't.
Salary (8)
I Wanted Wings (1941) $75 /week
This Gun for Hire (1942) $350 /week
The Glass Key (1942) $350 /week
The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) $4,500 /week
The Hour Before the Dawn (1944) $4,500 /week
Isn't It Romantic? (1948) $4,000 /week
Isn't It Romantic? (1948) $4,000 @week
Footsteps in the Snow (1966) $10,000
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