Myrna Loy-The Everyday Legend
One of the classic olden time movie’s famous romantic leads was Myrna Loy.
Let's look at the picture above. She can be alluring and mysterious and part of her appeal was that she played the good girl, but not the bland girl. She was funny, cute, and could equal any man she worked with. As she aged, she went from the girlfriend to became the woman that men wanted to marry on-screen and off. This is why her career lasted so long.
Loy was born in Helena Montana on August 2, 1905. She trained to be a dancer and had parts in Community Theater. When her mother moved to California for health reasons, Myrna went along. She had expressive almond eyes and she was often cast as an exotic Asian actress. That was strange because she is of Welsh, Swedish, and Scottish background.
Her first movie was “What Price Beauty?” She had bit parts in 78 movies before she hit it big in The Thin Man in 1934. This movie made the studio heads forget about pigeonholing her into small roles because they could that she was funny and smart. She stole scenes from lead William Powell, who got an Academy Award nomination for his part.
The movies came non-stop after that including the 14 movies she made with William Powell.
During World War 2, she worked with the Red Cross. She married four times and kept getting roles through all this. She would make 125 movies ending with a television movie called, “Summer Solstice.”
Through all the best picture movies, co-stars who got awards playing off her, Loy was never nominated for an Academy Award. She would get an Honorary award in 1991.
Loy passed away on December 14, 1993.
As noted, she starred in several famous, timeless, award winning movies. You’ll enjoy her work if you see one of the classics.
Material gathered from Wikipedia
Turner Movie Classics
my own memory
Other sites:
