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| Birth Name(s) : Marilyn Pauline Novak |
Date of Birth: February 13, 1933 |
| Status:
Married
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Partner:
Dr. Robert Malloy |
| Profession:
Actor |
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Full Kim Novak Biography
Classical Hollywood sex goddess, blond and buxom, who owed her initial success to her physical allure, but developed into a capable (and at times first-rate) actress. The daughter of a Slavic railway worker, Novak made an inauspicious entry into show business, touring the country as "Miss Deepfreeze" and pitching refrigerators. She also modeled and, as a clotheshorse in the Jane Russell starrer The French Line (1954), was spotted by Columbia prexy Harry Cohn, then looking for a sexy star to replace the "difficult" Rita Hayworth. (Cohn's failure to sign Marilyn Monroe some time earlier may well have been the impetus behind his massive effort to groom the husky-voiced blonde for stardom.)
She made her Columbia debut in Phffft! (1954), and played a femme fatale that same year in Pushover Despite her (initially) limited talents, Novak became a box-office attraction; she worked hard and delivered credible performances in the likes of The Man With the Golden Arm, Picnic (both 1955), Jeanne Eagels and Pal Joey (both 1957), among others. By that time she was Hollywood's #1 draw, and her extracurricular relationships with Sammy Davis, Jr., Cary Grant, and Frank Sinatra filled newspaper gossip pages.
In 1958 Novak appeared in her two most enduring pictures, both costarring James Stewart: Alfred Hitchcock's obsessive, sinister Vertigo (in a "dual" role as Stewart's suicidal girlfriend and as a lookalike molded in the dead woman's image) and Richard Quine's Bell, Book and Candle (as a fetching witch). She acquitted herself well in 1960's soap opera Strangers When We Meet two 1962 comedies, Boys' Night Out and The Notorious Landlady and tried, valiantly but unsuccessfully, to do justice to the role of the vulgar waitress in the 1964 remake of Somerset Maugham's Of Human Bondage.
She has made occasional TV appearances over the years, starring as an aging showgirl in The Third Girl From the Left (1973), toplining an "Alfred Hitchcock Presents" revival in the 1980s, and joining the regular cast of "Falcon Crest" for its 1986-87 season. She was married at one time to actor Richard Johnson. |
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Additional Kim Novak Biography
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. She then appeared as a model standing on a stairway in the RKO motion picture The French Line (1954) starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. For that film, released in 3-D, Novak's bit received no screen credit.
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 and buxom actress their version of Marilyn Monroe. She was still using the name Marilyn Novak, and they wanted to change it to Kit Marlowe. She wanted to keep her surname, however, and resisted pressure to change it. She and the studio finally settled on the stage name Kim Novak.
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. More people were eager to see the new star, and she received an enormous amount of fan mail. She went on to appear in a number of successful movies.William Holden and Kim Novak in Picnic
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 opposite 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 at her current 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.
She followed Vertigo with her role as Gillian Holroyd in Bell, Book and Candle (1958) opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, with Ernie Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, and Elsa Lanchester, a comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not do well at the box-office, yet today is a popular favorite.
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.
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). 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. |
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