Kim Novak Biography

Kim Novak Bio

Date of Birth : 13 February 1933, Chicago, Illinois, USA


Birth Name : Marilyn Pauline Novak


Nickname : The Lavender Girl


Height : 5' 6" (1.68 m)


Mini Biography

Kim Novak was born in Chicago, Illinois on February 13, 1933 with the birth name of Marilyn Pauline Novak. She was the daughter of a former teacher turned transit clerk and his wife, also a former teacher. Throughout elementary and high school, Kim did not get along well with teachers. She even admitted that she didn't like being told what to do and when to do it. Her first job, after high school, was modeling teen fashions for a local department store. Kim, later, won a scholarship in a modeling school and continued to model part time. Kim later worked odd jobs as an elevator operator, sales clerk, and a dental assistant. The jobs never seemed to work out so she fell back on modeling, the one job she did well. After a stint on the road as a spokesperson for an appliance company, Kim decided to go to Los Angeles and try her luck at modeling there. Ultimately, her modeling landed her an uncredited role in the RKO production of The French Line (1954). The role encompassed nothing more than being seen on a set of stairs. Later a talent agent arranged for a screen test with Columbia Pictures and won a small six month contract. In truth, some of the studio hierarchy thought that Kim was Columbia's answer to Marilyn Monroe. Kim, who was still going by her own name of Marilyn, was originally going to be called "Kit Marlowe". She wanted to at least keep her family name of Novak, so the young actress and studio personnel settled on Kim Novak. After taking some acting lessons, which the studio declined to pay for, Kim appeared in her first film opposite Fred MacMurray in Pushover (1954). Though her role as "Lona McLane" wasn't exactly a great one, it was her classic beauty that seemed to capture the eyes of the critics. Later that year, Kim appeared in the film, Phffft (1954) with Jack Lemmon and Judy Holliday. Now more and more fans were eager to see this bright new star. These two films set the tone for her career with a lot of fan mail coming her way. Her next film was as "Kay Greylek" in 5 Against the House (1955). The film was well-received, but it was her next one for that year that was her best to date. The film was Picnic (1955). Although Kim did a superb job of acting in the film as did her costars, the film did win two Oscars for editing and set decoration. Kim's next film was with United Artists on a loan out in the controversial Otto Preminger film The Man with the Golden Arm (1955). Her performance was flawless, but it was was Kim's beauty that carried the day. The film was a big hit. In 1957, Kim played "Linda English" in the hit movie Pal Joey (1957) with Frank Sinatra and Rita Hayworth. The film did very well at the box-office, but was condemned by the critics. Kim really didn't seem that interested in the role. She even said she couldn't stand people such as her character. That same year, Novak risked her career when she embarked upon an affair with singer/actor Sammy Davis Jr.. The interracial affair alarmed studio executives, most notably Harry Cohn, and they ended the relationship in January of the following year. In 1958, Kim appeared in Alfred Hitchcock's, now classic, Vertigo (1958) with Jimmy Stewart. This film's plot was one that thoroughly entertained the theater patrons wherever it played. The film was one in which Stewart's character, a detective, is hired to tail a friend's wife (Kim) and witnesses her suicide. In the end, Stewart finds that he has been duped in an elaborate scheme. Her next film was Bell Book and Candle (1958) which was only a modest success. By the early 1960s, Kim's star was beginning to fade, especially with the rise of new stars or stars that were remodeling their status within the film community. With a few more nondescript films between 1960 and 1964, she landed the role of "Mildred Rogers" in the remake of Of Human Bondage (1964). The film debuted to good reviews. While filming The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965), she had a romance with co-star Richard Johnson, whom she married, but the marriage failed the following year. Kim stepped away from the cameras for a while, returning in 1968 to star in The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968). It was a resounding flop, perhaps the worst of her career. However, after that, Kim, basically, was able to pick what projects she wanted. After The Great Bank Robbery (1969) in 1969, Kim was away for another four years until she was seen in a television movie called The Third Girl from the Left (1973) (TV), playing a veteran Las Vegas showgirl experiencing a midlife crisis. Subsequent films were not the type to get the critics to sit up and take notice. In 1981, Kim played, of all people, "Kit Marlowe" in the TV series "Falcon Crest" (1981). Her last film, on the silver screen, was Liebestraum (1991), in which she played a terminally ill woman with a past.

IMDb Mini Biography By: Denny Jackson

Spouse

Dr. Robert Malloy (12 March 1976 - present)
Richard Johnson (15 March 1965 - 23 April 1966) (divorced)

Trivia

Raises horses and llamas in Oregon and California

Went on a personal strike in 1957 protesting her current salary of $1,250 per week.

Chosen by Empire magazine as one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history (#92). [1995]

On July 24 2000, she watched her memento-filled house in Eagle Point, Oregon, go up in flames. A deputy fire marshal said that the blaze was probably the result of a tree that fell across an electrical power line. Included in the loss were scripts to some of her movies (Vertigo (1958) and Picnic (1955)), as well as her computer, which contained her long-gestating autobiography. Spared, however, were her menagerie of animals, including horses and llamas, as well as the star's husband of 24 years, veterinarian Bob Malloy.

For a scene in Picnic (1955) in which she had to cry, she asked director Joshua Logan to pinch her black and blue off screen, telling him, "I can only cry when I'm hurt."

Measurements: 37-23-37 (Source: Celebrity Sleuth magazine)

Turned down the female lead in both Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) and The Hustler (1961).

As a starlet with Columbia Pictures, she resisted pressure to change her name to "Kit Marlowe". Years later, the name was used for the character she played on the television series "Falcon Crest" (1981). (She did agree to change her first name from Marilyn to Kim, as the public associated her given name with Marilyn Monroe).

In "Popular" (1999), the main girl's bathroom in the high school is called "The Novak" which holds all the pictures of the homecoming queens. The name is inspired by when movie stars would donate money to schools (often an alma mater). The writers found out that Kim Novak donated money to a school in the Santa Monica area (where the school/show is set), so they named this room after her.

Is portrayed by Terri Lynn in Rita Hayworth: The Love Goddess (1983) (TV)

She arrived in Hollywood as The Lavendar Girl. When she became a star at Columbia Pictures, the studio had her blonde hair tinted with lavender highlights.

In Italy, most of her films were dubbed by Rosetta Calavetta. At the beginning of her career, she was also dubbed by Dhia Cristiani. Lidia Simoneschi and Rita Savagnone also lent their voice to Novak at some point, in The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Kiss Me, Stupid (1964) respectively.

Was the original choice to play "Mrs. Wormer" in Animal House (1978).

Visited Sammy Davis Jr. in hospital shortly before his death.

Ex-stepmother of Sorel Johnson.

1953 Deb Star.

Personal Quotes

The head of publicity of the Hollywood studio where I was first under contract told me: You're a piece of meat, that's all. It wasn't very nice but I had to take it. When I made my first screen test, the director explained to everyone: Don't listen to her, just look.

Storms come down, houses are wiped out, people drown, but every last little palm is there after the storm. Man is always saying, 'I will overwhelm'. Why can't he bend like the little palms? And rise again. Isn't that better than being washed away?

For every answer, I like to bring up a question. Maybe I'm related to Alfred Hitchcock or maybe I got to know him too well, but I think life should be that way.

Harry Cohn did not make me. But I also feel that I probably didn't make me, either. I think it was a combination. I think that's what made it work.

Hitchcock, contrary to what I'd heard about him, allowed me very much to have my own interpretation and everything.

I always felt Jimmy (Stewart) was trapped in Hollywood. He felt it himself. He loved aviation so much and he wanted to be able to do more of that. He somehow just got stuck here.

I didn't want to start relying on what someone else thought was right. It was easier to go away all together.

I don't feel that I was a Hollywood-created star.

I don't think you want to give all the answers, but I think every answer you do give should bring up another question, and not all questions should be answered.

I had a lot of resentment for a while toward Kim Novak. But I don't mind her anymore. She's okay. We've become friends. I even asked her before this trip for some beauty tips.

I had never had a director who was particular about the costumes, the way they were designed, the specific colors.

I knew Rita Hayworth only enough to know that she was just a tender, sensitive, beautiful human being. A lovely person. Very gentle. She would never stand up for her rights.

I live way out in the country, so there's not a lot of people around to remind me. And my friends don't think of me as 'Kim Novak' anymore anyway. It's like they forgot, too. And so it's nice.

I loved acting, which was never about money, the fame. It was about a search for meaning. It was painful.

I think it will be helpful to people because I know the expectations that are put on you as a sex symbol, and how Marilyn Monroe suffered and so on, and I was able to get free of that.

I was always opinionated.

Why I loved working with Hitchcock was that he allowed me that creativity and input.

Well, I'm Czech, but Polish, Czech, no matter, it's my name

The thing I loved about Alfred Hitchcock is that he left a lot of open ends there, a lot of clues that didn't really add up the way you think they would, and sometimes, not at all.

My security comes from my senses, my sensing the direction I should go and suddenly I felt out of tune, out of step with what other people wanted or what other people expected of me.

If you're wanting glamorous or really beautiful or really sexy, well then, I wasn't really the one, but I could do all of that. You could just get really lost in that kind of image.

Salary

Jeanne Eagels (1957) $13,000

Picnic (1955) $100 a week

Source: imdb.com

Photo Credit: hitchcock.tv

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