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Kim Novak (born February 13, 1933) is an United
States|American actor|actress.

She was born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago,
Illinois|Chicago, Illinois, of
Czechoslovakia|Czech extraction. Her father was a
railroad clerk and former teacher; her mother was
also a former teacher, and she has a sister.

After graduating high school, she began her career
model (person)|modeling teen fashions for a local
department store. She later received a scholarship
at a modeling school and continued to model part
time. She also worked as an elevator operator, a
sales clerk, and a dental assistant.

After a job touring the country as a spokesman for
refrigerators, "Miss Deepfreeze," Novak moved to
Los Angeles, California|Los Angeles, where she
continued modeling. She then appeared as a model
standing on some stairs in the RKO film|motion
picture The French Line (1954 in film|1954)
starring Jane Russell and Gilbert Roland. Novak's
bit received no screen credit.

She was seen by a Columbia Pictures talent agent
and made a screen test. movie studio|Studio chief
Harry Cohn was looking for someone to replace the
rebellious and difficult Rita Hayworth. Novak was
signed to a six-month contract. Columbia decided
to make the blonde and buxom actress their version
of Marilyn Monroe. She was still using the name
Marilyn Novak, and they wanted to change it to Kit
Marlowe. She wanted to keep her surname, however,
and resisted pressure to change it. She and the
studio finally settled on the stage name Kim
Novak.

Cohn told her to lose weight, and he won the
battle to make her wear brassieres. She took
acting lessons, which she had to pay for herself,
then debuted as Lona McLane in Pushover (1954
movie)|Pushover (1954 in film|1954) opposite Fred
MacMurray and Philip Carey. Though her role was
not the best, her beauty caught the attention of
fan (aficionado)|fans and critics alike.

She then played the femme fatale role as Janis in
Phffft! (1954 in film|1954) opposite Judy
Holliday, Jack Lemmon, and Jack Carson. Novak's
reviews were good. More people were eager to see
the new movie star|star, and she received an
enormous amount of fan mail. She went on to appear
in a number of successful movies.


After playing Madge Owens in Picnic (movie)|Picnic
(1955 in film|1955) opposite William Holden, Novak
won a Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer and
for World Film Favorite. She was also nominated
for the United Kingdom|British British Academy of
Film and Television Arts|BAFTA Film Award for Best
Foreign Actress.

She played Molly in The Man with the Golden Arm
(1955 in film|1955) opposite Frank Sinatra and
Eleanor Parker on loan-out to United Artists. The
movie was a big hit. She was paired opposite
Sinatra again in Pal Joey (1957 in film|1957),
which also starred Rita Hayworth.

Her popularity became such that she made the cover
of the July 29, 1957, issue of Time magazine|Time
Magazine. That same year, she went on strike,
protesting her current salary of $1,250 per week.

In 1958 in film|1958, Novak appeared in a dual
role as Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton in Alfred
Hitchcock|Hitchcock's classic thriller Vertigo
(movie)|Vertigo opposite James Stewart
(actor)|James Stewart. In it, Stewart's character,
a detective named Scottie Ferguson, who suffers
from a fear of heights, is hired to follow a
friend's blonde wife, Elster (Novak), and falls in
love with her. He then witnesses her suicide. He
then sees a brown-haired woman, Barton (Novak),
who bears a striking resemblance to the deceased.
He finds that he was deceived in an elaborate
murder scheme.

Vertigo was followed with her role as Gil Holroyd
in Bell Book and Candle (1958 in film|1958)
opposite James Stewart and Jack Lemmon, with Ernie
Kovacs, Hermione Gingold, and Elsa Lanchester, a
comedy tale of modern-day witchcraft that did not
do well at the box-office.

By the early 1960s, Novak's career had begun to
slide. She then played the vulgar waitress Mildred
Rogers in a remake of Somerset Maugham's drama Of
Human Bondage (1964 in film|1964) opposite
Laurence Harvey and Robert Morley, and received
good reviews. She showed a cunning sense of humor
in Billy Wilder's Kiss Me, Stupid (1964 in
film|1964) opposite Dean Martin, though it was
critically disastrous.


After playing the title role in Moll Flanders|The
Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders (1965 in
film|1965) opposite Richard Johnson
(actor)|Richard Johnson and Angela Lansbury, with
George Sanders (actor)|George Sanders and Lilli
Palmer, Novak took a break from acting, seeing as
little of Hollywood, California|Hollywood as
possible.

She has had two husbands, England|English actor
Richard Johnson (actor)|Richard Johnson (married
March 15, 1965-divorced April 23, 1966) and
veterinarian Dr. Robert Malloy (married March 12,
1976-present).

Novak made a comeback in a dual role as a young
actress, Elsa Brinkmann, and an early-day movie
goddess who was murdered, Lylah Clare, in film
producer|producer-film director|director Robert
Aldrich's The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968 in
film|1968) opposite Peter Finch and Ernest
Borgnine for Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer|MGM. It failed
miserably.

After playing a forger, Sister Lyda Kebanov, in
The Great Bank Robbery (1969 in film|1969)
opposite Zero Mostell, Clint Walker, and Claude
Akins, she stayed away from the screen for four
years. She then played the minor role as Auriol
Pageant in the comedy/horror Tales That Witness
Madness (1973 in film|1973). In 1979 in film|1979,
she played Helga in Just a Gigolo starring David
Bowie. She played Lola Brewster in Agatha
Christie's mystery/thriller The Mirror Crack'd
(1980 in film|1980) opposite Angela Lansbury,
Geraldine Chaplin, Tony Curtis, Edward Fox, Rock
Hudson, and Elizabeth Taylor. In it, she and
Taylor, screen actress rivals, have good scenes
where they insult each other. During a break
between scenes on a movie they are both appearing
in, Brewster (Novak) says, "I could eat a roll of
Kodak and PUKE a better picture!"

Novak has also made occasional appearances on
television|TV over the years. She starred as aging
showgirl Gloria Joyce in the made-for-TV movie The
Third Girl From the Left (1973 in
television|1973); played Eve in Satan's Triangle
(1975 in television|1975); the role as Billie
Farnsworth in Malibu (TV movie)|Malibu (1983 in
television|1983); the role as Rosa in a revival of
Alfred Hitchcock Presents (1985 in
television|1985); and she joined the regular cast
of the television program|series Falcon Crest in
the role as Kit Marlowe during the 1986 in
television|1986/1987 in television|1987 season.

Her last appearance on the silver screen was as
Lillian Anderson Munnsen in the mystery/thriller
Liebestraum (movie)|Liebestraum (1991 in
film|1991) for MGM, however her scenes were cut
from the movie due to her battles with the
director over how to play the role. Novak later
admitted that she had been "unprofessional" in her
conduct with director Mike Figgis, as recounted by
gossip columnist Liz Smith (journalist).

In 1995, Novak was chosen by Empire Magazine as
one of the 100 Sexiest Stars in film history,
being number 92.

Her home in Eagle Point, Oregon, went up in flames
July 24, 2000, and Novak watched helplessly as it
burned. A deputy Fire Marshall said the blaze was
probably caused by a tree falling across a power
line. Among the loss of mementos were scripts of
some of her movies, including Vertigo and Picnic,
as well as her computer containing her long
awaited autobiography.

Kim Novak has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame
for her contribution to motion pictures at 6336
Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood,
California|Hollywood.

==Filmography==
*The French Line (1954 in film|1954) ... model on
stairs (uncredited)
*Pushover (1954 movie)|Pushover (1954 in
film|1954) ... Lona McLane
*Phffft! (1954 in film|1954) ... Janis
*Son of Sinbad (1955 in film|1955) ... Raider
(uncredited)
*5 Against the House (1955 in film|1955) ... Kay
Greylek
*Picnic (movie)|Picnic (1955 in film|1955) ...
Madge Owens
*The Man with the Golden Arm (1955 in film|1955)
... Molly
*The Eddy Duchin Story (1956 in film|1956) ...
Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin
*Jeanne Eagels (1957 movie)|Jeanne Eagels (1957 in
film|1957) ... Jeanne Eagels
*Pal Joey (1957 in film|1957) ... Linda English
*Vertigo (movie)|Vertigo (1958 in film|1958) ...
Madeleine Elster/Judy Barton
*Bell Book and Candle (1958 in film|1958) ...
Gillian "Gil" Holroyd
*Middle of the Night (1959 in film|1959) ... Betty
Preisser
*Strangers When We Meet (1960 in film|1960) ...
Maggie Gault
*Pepe (1960 in film|1960) ... (cameo)
*The Notorious Landlady (1962 in film|1962) ...
Carlyle Hardwicke
*Boys' Night Out (1962 movie)|Boys' Night Out
(1962 in film|1962) ... Cathy
*Of Human Bondage (1964 in film|1964) ... Mildred
Rogers
*Kiss Me, Stupid (1964 in film|1964) ... Polly the
Pistol/Zelda
*Moll Flanders|The Amorous Adventures of Moll
Flanders (1965 in film|1965) ... Moll Flanders
*The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968 in film|1968) ...
Elsa Brinkman/Lylah Clare
*The Great Bank Robbery (1969 in film|1969) ...
Sister Lyda Kebanov
*Tales That Witness Madness (1973 in film|1973)
... Auriol Pageant
*The White Buffalo (1977 in film|1977) ... Mrs.
Poker Jenny Schermerhorn
*Just a Gigolo (1979 in film|1979) ... Helga
*The Mirror Crack'd (1980 in film|1980) ... Lola
Brewster
*I Have Been Very Pleased (1987 in film|1987)
*The Children (1990 in film|1990) ... Rose Sellars
*Liebestraum (movie)|Liebestraum (1991 in
film|1991) ... Lillian Anderson Munnsen

==Documentaries==
*Premier Khrushchev in the USA (1959 in film|1959)
*Showman (1963 in film|1963)

==Trivia==
*For a scene in Picnic, in which she had to cry,
Novak asked director Joshua Logan to pinch her,
saying, "I can only cry when I'm hurt."
*Novak turned down the lead roles in Breakfast at
Tiffany's (1961 in film|1961) and The Hustler
(1961 in film|1961).

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0001571|name=Kim Novak 
*http://www.suspense-movies.com/stars/kim-novak/
Kim Novak Photo Gallery