Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Myrna Loy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Myrna Loy | |
 from the trailer for The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) |
|
| Birth name | Myrna Adele Williams |
| Born | August 2, 1905 Radersburg, Montana, USA |
| Died | December 14, 1993 New York City, USA |
| Academy Awards | |
|---|---|
| 1991 Academy Honorary Award | |
Myrna Loy (August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American motion picture actress. Perhaps her most famous role was as Nora Charles, wife of detective Nick Charles (William Powell), in The Thin Man series of madcap detective films. Loy was often typecast as a pert, perfect wife, and was known for her charm, grace and elegance.
Contents |
She was born Myrna Adele Williams in Radersburg (near Helena, Montana), the daughter of a rancher, David Franklin Williams, whose roots were in Glamorgan, Wales, and his wife, Della Mae. Loy's first name came from a train station whose name her father liked. Mr. Williams (1880 - 1918) was also a banker and real estate developer, and the youngest man ever elected to the Montana state legislature. Mrs. Williams studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago.
Myrna Williams made her stage debut at age 12 in Helena's Marlow Theater, in a dance she choreographed based on "The Blue Bird" from the Rose Dream Operetta. She moved to the Palms district of Los Angeles, California, when she was 13, after her father's death, and attended the Westlake School for Girls. At 15, she began appearing in local stage productions. She went to Venice High School, in Venice, California, and in 1921, when she was 16, she posed for Harry Winebrenner's statue, titled Spiritual, which remained in front of Venice High School throughout the 20th Century and can be seen in the opening scenes of the film Grease (1978). The statue was vandalized in recent years, but a restoration is planned.
Natacha Rambova, the second wife of Rudolph Valentino, arranged a screen test for her which she failed, but she persevered, and in 1925, appeared in the Rambova-penned movie What Price Beauty? opposite Rambova and Nita Naldi. Her silent film roles were mainly those of vampish exotic women. For a few years, she struggled to overcome this stereotype with many producers and directors believing that while she was perfect as femme fatales, she was capable of little more. During her nine-year struggle to establish herself, she appeared in nearly 80 films.
Her breakthrough occurred with the advent of talkies. In 1929, she improvised a "foreign" accent, sang and danced in Warner Brothers' first musical, The Desert Song (1929). Loy later commented on the film's success and noted, "it kind of solidified my exotic non-American image". [1] She was quickly cast in a number of early lavish Technicolor musicals including The Show of Shows (1929), The Bride of the Regiment (1930) and Under A Texas Moon (1930). Loy became associated with musicals and when they went out of favor with the public, late in 1930, her career went into a slump. She finally recovered in 1934 with two very successful films. The first was Manhattan Melodrama with Clark Gable and William Powell. Later that same year, her performance in The Thin Man as William Powell's sophisticated, witty wife Nora Charles made her a star. She and Powell proved to be a popular screen couple and appeared in 14 films together, the most prolific pairing in Hollywood history.
In 1938, she was voted "Queen of Hollywood" (in a contest which also voted Clark Gable "King") and was considered to epitomise glamour and sophistication. During this period, she was one of Hollywood's busiest and highest paid actresses.
With the outbreak of World War II, she all but abandoned her acting career to focus on the war effort and worked closely with the Red Cross. She was so fiercely outspoken against Adolf Hitler, her name appeared on his "blacklist". She helped run a Naval Auxiliary Canteen and toured frequently to raise funds.
She returned to films with The Best Years of Our Lives in 1946, playing the wife of returning serviceman Fredric March. In later years, Loy considered this film her proudest acting achievement. It also allowed Loy to make a film that demonstrated her social conscience. Throughout her career, she had championed the rights of black actors and characters to be depicted with dignity on film.
In later life, she assumed a more influential role as Co-Chairman of the Advisory Council of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing. From 1949 until 1954, she worked for UNESCO; she also was an active member of the Democratic Party.
Her film career continued sporadically. In 1960, she appeared in Midnight Lace and From the Terrace, but was not in another until 1969 in The April Fools. She also returned to the stage, making her Broadway debut in a short-lived 1973 revival of Clare Booth Luce's The Women. Her autobiography Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming was published in 1987.
In 1965 she won the Sarah Siddons Award for her work in Chicago theatre. She also received a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Kennedy Center in 1988. Although Loy was never nominated for an Academy Award for any single performance, she received an Academy Honorary Award in 1991, "for her career achievement". She accepted via camera from her New York home, making only a short acceptance speech of, "You've made me very happy. Thank you very much." It was her last public appearance in any medium.
On December 14, 1993, after battling breast cancer and enduring two mastectomies, she died during surgery, the exact nature of which was never specified in the reports of her death in New York City at the age of 88. Her remains were cremated and the ashes interred at Forestvale Cemetery, in Helena, Montana. Helena is also home to the Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts, which opened in 1991 and sponsors live performances and films for an underserved audience.
On August 2, 2005, the centenary of Loy's birth, Warner Home Video released the six films from The Thin Man series, on DVD as a boxed set.
Loy was married four times:
- 1936-1942 Arthur Hornblow, Jr., producer
- 1942-1944 John Hertz Jr. of the Hertz Rent A Car family
- 1946-1950 Gene Markey, producer
- 1951-1960 Howland H. Sergeant, UNESCO delegate
Loy had no children of her own, though it is documented that she was very close to the children of her first husband, Arthur Hornblow. "Some perfect wife I am," she said, referring to her typecasting. "I've been married four times, divorced four times, have no children, and can't boil an egg."
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6685 Hollywood Blvd.
|
|
- Meet Me in St. Louis (1959)
- Death Takes a Holiday (1971)
- Do Not Fold, Spindle, or Mutilate (1971)
- Columbo: Étude in Black (1972)
- The Couple Takes a Wife (1972)
- Indict and Convict (1974)
- The Elevator (1974)
- Summer Solstice (1981)
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Akira Kurosawa |
Academy Honorary Award 1991 co-awarded with Sophia Loren |
Succeeded by Satyajit Ray |
Note: Loy also appeared in various episodes over the years of Family Affair, The Virginian, and Love, Sydney.
- ^ Being and Becoming, James Kotsilibas-Davis and Myrna Loy, Primus, Donald I Fine Inc. c 1987, ISBN 1556111010, p 66.
- Myrna Loy at the Internet Movie Database
- Myrna Loy at the TCM Movie Database
- "The Myrna Loy Centre", Helena, Montana, official site
- Myrna Loy's Gravesite
- Myrna Loy Biography
- Myrna Loy's hand print outside Theatre 80, NY
- Statue of Myrna Loy: "Venice Nymph Emerges as a Real Team Player"
- Photographs of Myrna Loy
| Persondata | |
|---|---|
| NAME | Loy, Myrna |
| ALTERNATIVE NAMES | Williams, Myrna Adele |
| SHORT DESCRIPTION | actress |
| DATE OF BIRTH | August 2, 1905 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Radersburg, Montana, USA |
| DATE OF DEATH | December 14, 1993 |
| PLACE OF DEATH | New York City, USA |