From the beginning, Myrna Loy's screen image conjured mystery, a sense of something withheld. 'Who is she?' was a question posed in the first fan magazine article published about her in 1925. This first ever biography of the wry and sophisticated actress best kwn for her role as Nora Charles, wife to dapper detective William Powell in The Thin Man , offers an unprecedented picture of her life and an extraordinary movie career that spanned six decades. Opening with Loy's rough-and-tumble upbringing in Montana, the book takes us to Los Angeles in the 1920s, where Loy's striking looks caught the eye of Valenti, through the silent and early sound era to her films of 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' 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 highly engaging biography offers a fascinating slice of studio era history and gives us the first full picture of a very private woman who has often been overlooked despite her tremendous star power.
Product Identifiers
Publisher
University of California Press
ISBN-10
0520253205
ISBN-13
9780520253209
eBay Product ID (ePID)
183163481
Product Key Features
Author
Emily Wortis Leider
Format
Hardback
Language
English
Topic
Biography: the Arts
Genre
Biography: the Arts
Dimensions
Weight
885g
Height
235mm
Width
159mm
Additional Product Features
Place of Publication
Berkerley
Spine
38mm
Content Note
Illustrations
Author Biography
Biographer, poet, and memoirist Emily W. Leider is the author of Dark Lover: The Life and Death of Rudolph Valentino, Becoming Mae West, and Rapid Eye Movement and Other Poems, among other books.