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 known 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 Valentino, 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’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 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.
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.
Table of Contents
List of Plates Acknowledgments Introduction 1. The Climb 2. Not Your Typical Helena Girl 3. Life without Father 4. Enter Myrna Loy 5. Warner Bros.’ Exotic Vixen 6. Breakthrough 7. Cutting the Veil 8. Mr. and Mrs. Thin Man 9. Myrna Loy vs. MGM 10. Mrs. Arthur Hornblow Jr. 11. Wife vs. Mistress 12. Trouble 13. Things Fall Apart 14. Rebound 15. Postwar 16. Breaking Away 17. Mrs. Howland Sargeant 18. New York Ending Appendix. Myrna Loy’s Film, Television, and Theater Credits Notes Bibliography Index Plates follow page
What People are Saying About This
From the Publisher
"A top-notch biography of a great performer. . . . Highly recommended."—Choice
"A crisp, smart biography."—Washington Post
"Loy's gifts are easy to enjoy, hard to describe. She's been lucky in attracting an even-tempered sympathetic biographer like Ms. Leider, whose book, like the best of its genre, sends you back to the films."—Wall Street Journal
"This is a must read for anyone who is a Myrna Loy fan."—San Francisco Book Review / Sacramento Book Review
"Reveals the shy, warm, and modest figure behind the image of the cool, chic urbanite. . . . Leider's books are smart and witty trips through the lives of her subjects, and this work is no exception."—Library Journal
