Myrna Loy : the only good girl in Hollywood
From the beginning, Myrna Loy's screen image conjured mystery, a sense of something withheld. This first ever biography of the wry and sophisticated actress, best known for her role as Nora Charles in The Thin Man, offers an unprecedented picture of her life and a career that spanned six decades. Opening with Loy's rough-and-tumble upbringing in Montana, the book takes us to Los Angeles from the 1920s, through the thirties, when Loy became a top box office draw, and to her robust post-World War II career. Throughout, Emily W. Leider illuminates the actress's friendships with luminaries such as Cary Grant, Clark Gable, and Joan Crawford and her collaborations with the likes of John Barrymore, David O. Selznick, Sam Goldwyn, and William Wyler, among many others. This biography offers a fascinating slice of studio era history and gives us the first full picture of a woman who has often been overlooked.--From publisher description
Print Book, English, ©2011
University of California Press, Berkeley, ©2011
Biography
xi, 411 pages, 24 unnumbered pages of plates : illustrations ; 24 cm
9780520253209, 9780520274501, 0520253205, 0520274504
708243812
The climb
Not your typical Helena girl
Life without father
Enter Myrna Loy
Warner Bros.' exotic vixen
Breakthrough
Cutting the veil
Mr. and Mrs. Thin Man
Myrna Loy vs. MGM
Mrs. Arthur Hornblow Jr
Wife vs. mistress
Trouble
Things fall apart
Rebound
Postwar
Breaking away
Mrs. Howland Sargeant
New York ending