Myrna Loy

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AEV-405 VINTAGE PHOTO- MYRNA LOY PUBLICITY SHOT- MGM.jpg

Myrna Loy (* 2. August 1905 as Catharina Myrna Adele Williams in Radersburg , Montana ; † 14. December 1993 in New York ) was an American actress . She formed a popular screen couple with William Powell in 14 Hollywood films . In 1991 she was awarded an honorary Oscar for her life's work .

Life

When the daughter of a politician was 13, her father died and the family moved to Los Angeles , where she attended the Westlake School for Girls and discovered her fascination for acting. At 15, Myrna Loy performed in local theaters, which is where she was discovered.

She made her debut in What Price Beauty in 1925 and played a variety of supporting roles for the next several years. Her career suffered from being repeatedly used as an exotic seductress, siren, vamp, or everything at the same time. Only when David O. Selznick gave her substantial supporting roles in the comedies The Animal Kingdom with Ann Harding and Leslie Howard and Topaze (with John and Lionel Barrymore ) in 1932 did the actress get better offers. In the same year she moved to MGM , where she had a leading role in The Barbarian in 1933 alongside Ramón Novarro . In the film, Loy was seen in a very discreet nude scene. Later that year she starred opposite Ann Harding and Robert Montgomery in When Ladies Meet . Through her participation in Night Flight , which brought up a star cast with Helen Hayes , Clark Gable and the Barrymore brothers, she also gained new fans. In Manhattan Melodrama , which was released in the spring of 1934, she first appeared alongside William Powell and Clark Gable, with whom she later made other films. The film became famous because the gangster John Dillinger , whose favorite actress was allegedly Myrna Loy, was shot dead by the FBI while attending a screening of the film. Later that year, Loy had her breakthrough with The Thin Man , the film adaptation of the Dashiell Hammett detective novel of the same name . The interaction of Powell and Loy made the cheaply produced film adaptation a box office hit and made Powell and Loy a popular screen couple . In the same year they played together in Evelyn Prentiss , it was their only appearance together in a dramatic film.

The following year, Loy appeared in the film Wings In The Dark for the first time alongside Cary Grant . Shortly after completion, she married producer Arthur Hornblow Jr. and went on strike until MGM met their salary expectations with a new contract. Described by the studio as the “perfect wife”, Myrna Loy played very successfully in comedies from then on. She had her best roles on the side of Jean Harlow in His Secretary from 1935 and Libeled Lady from 1936. Excursions in dramatic roles were mostly rejected by the fans. Her biggest flop was her participation in Parnell of 1937, the fictional description of the relationship between Katharine O'Shea , played by Loy, and the Irish nationalist leader Charles Stewart Parnell , played by Clark Gable. Towards the end of the decade, the actress was increasingly offered roles that other stars had turned down, and her fame began to fade.

From 1942 Myrna Loy worked for the Red Cross . She had some of her best roles after the war, and The Best Years of Our Lives became one of her most famous appearances. Alongside Cary Grant, she played in Just For My Wife's In 1947 and in Love Is Not That Simple , in which Shirley Temple also participated. Her career ebbed with the beginning of the new decade and Myrna Loy increasingly took on supporting roles at the side of well-known stars.

Tomb of Myrna Loy in Helena

In 1973 she made her Broadway debut with The Women . In 1983 she received the Career Achievement Award from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association . In 1987 her autobiography Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming was published . Myrna Loy, who never for one Oscar nomination, received at the Academy Awards in 1991 to honor Oscar for lifetime achievement. The actress had been close friends with Joan Crawford since appearing together in the 1925 silent film Pretty Ladies . She always vehemently defended their reputation against the allegations of their adoptive daughter Christina Crawford.

The actress was married four times; from 1936 to 1942 with Arthur Hornblow Jr., from 1942 to 1944 with John Hertz, from 1946 to 1950 with Gene Markey and from 1957 to 1960 with Howard Sergeant. In her last years, the actress lived a very withdrawn life. She was politically active all her life, although unlike many of her colleagues she supported the Democrats. She also campaigned for the interests of UNESCO .

At the age of 88, Myrna Loy died in New York during an operation. Her remains were cremated and buried in Forestvale Cemetery in Helena .

Pop culture influence

The German band Myrna Loy , founded in the late 1980s, has named itself after the actress.

In 2017, the American singer and songwriter Josh Ritter released a song called Myrna Loy on his album Gathering .

Filmography (selection)

Loys hand and shoe prints in front of Grauman's Chinese Theater with thanks to Sid Grauman

Awards

Oscar
  • 1991: Oscar of honor
Los Angeles Film Critics Association Awards
  • 1983: Prize for her life's work
National Board of Review
  • 1979: Lifetime Achievement Award
Hollywood Walk of Fame
  • 1960: Star on Hollywood Blvd. (6685)

Web links

Commons : Myrna Loy  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ knerger.de: The grave of Myrna Loy
  2. ↑ Artist: Myrna Loy / Release: immerschoen , page of the label Normal Records about a release of the band
  3. ↑ Page to the album on Discogs
personal data
SURNAME Loy, Myrna
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Williams, Catharina Myrna Adele (real name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH 2nd August 1905
PLACE OF BIRTH Radersburg , Montana
DATE OF DEATH December 14, 1993
Place of death new York