Myrna Loy
Subtitle: the only good girl in Hollywood
By: Emily W. Leider
Publisher: University of California Press
Published: 2011
Place of publication: Berkeley
Language: eng
Number of pages: 411
ISBN-13: 9780520253209
Subjects: Biography; Motion picture actors and actresses
Description: 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.
Notes: Includes bibliographical references, filmography and index.
Table of contents: title: The climb; title: Not your typical Helena girl; title: Life without father; title: Enter Myrna Loy; title: Warner Bros.' exotic vixen; title: Breakthrough; title: Cutting the veil; title: Mr. and Mrs. Thin Man; title: Myrna Loy vs. MGM; title: Mrs. Arthur Hornblow Jr.; title: Wife vs. mistress; title: Trouble; title: Things fall apart; title: Rebound; title: Postwar; title: Breaking away; title: Mrs. Howland Sargeant; title: New York ending.