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Myrna Loy
Birthday:
2 August 1905
Birth Name:
Myrna Adele Williams
Height:
165 cm
Biography
I decided to visit a plastic surgeon. David Selznick used to rag me about my ears, since women were wearing their hair swept up in Empire variations then. "Oh, Myrna," he'd say, "you'd look wonderful with your hair up, but you've got to fix those ears." I made an appointment as Marjorie Williams, thinking the doctor wouldn't recognize me. It seems incredible...
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I decided to visit a plastic surgeon. David Selznick used to rag me about my ears, since women were wearing their hair swept up in Empire variations then. "Oh, Myrna," he'd say, "you'd look wonderful with your hair up, but you've got to fix those ears." I made an appointment as Marjorie Williams, thinking the doctor wouldn't recognize me. It seems incredible, I know, but I had very little ego at that time. After I explained the problem, he said, "Let's take some pictures and see what can be done." He photographed me from every conceivable angle: left side, right side, front and back, even getting up on a chair to shoot down at me. I thought he was being unusually thorough. "Well," he disclosed finally, "I've got your nose, Miss Loy." That son of a gun knew me all along, and intended to make a fortune on it. "I get so many requests for a 'Myrna Loy nose' these pictures will be invaluable to me," he explained. "So I really shouldn't charge you to fix your ears." I laughed and told him I'd think it over, but never went back.
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[on changing the direction of her career in the 1930s] I finally got fired because they ran out of hussies to play.
[on changing the direction of her career in the 1930s] I finally got fired because they ran out of hussies to play.
[on "The Thin Man" series ending] It was the drinking. The characters drank too much, and for a while the public didn't seem to mind all the martinis and all the hangovers, but then, after a while, they did, or at least the studio maintained that was what happened.
[on "The Thin Man" series ending] It was the drinking. The characters drank too much, and for a while the public didn't seem to mind all the martinis and all the hangovers, but then, after a while, they did, or at least the studio maintained that was what happened.
[on Joan Crawford] Joan never complained about her difficult children. Christina and Christopher made me glad I didn't have children.
[on Joan Crawford] Joan never complained about her difficult children. Christina and Christopher made me glad I didn't have children.
[on Ronald Reagan] I never worked with Ronald Reagan. I'm not happy that he's President. I was willing to give him a chance. But he's destroying everything now I've lived my life for.
[on Ronald Reagan] I never worked with Ronald Reagan. I'm not happy that he's President. I was willing to give him a chance. But he's destroying everything now I've lived my life for.
[on Joan Crawford, and the book, "Mommie Dearest"] What bothers me is that there were book buyers who bought that book and read it and people who believed it. What perplexes me and makes me profoundly sad was that people wanted to spend their money that way, on such trash, and, worse yet, believed it. The readers who believed it were the ones who did the dam...
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[on Joan Crawford, and the book, "Mommie Dearest"] What bothers me is that there were book buyers who bought that book and read it and people who believed it. What perplexes me and makes me profoundly sad was that people wanted to spend their money that way, on such trash, and, worse yet, believed it. The readers who believed it were the ones who did the damage.
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[on her character "Nora Charles" from the "Thin Man" films] Nora of "The Thin Man" was different . . . Nora had a gorgeous sense of humor; she appreciated the distinctive grace of her husband's wit. She laughed . . . at him and with him when he was funny. What's more, she laughed at herself. Besides having tolerance, she was a good guy. She was courageous an...
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[on her character "Nora Charles" from the "Thin Man" films] Nora of "The Thin Man" was different . . . Nora had a gorgeous sense of humor; she appreciated the distinctive grace of her husband's wit. She laughed . . . at him and with him when he was funny. What's more, she laughed at herself. Besides having tolerance, she was a good guy. She was courageous and interested in living and she enjoyed doing all the things she did. You understand, she had a good time, always.
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[on Christina Crawford and her book "Mommie Dearest"] She wanted to be Joan Crawford. I think that's the basis of the book she wrote afterward and everything else. I saw what her mind created, the fantasy world she lived in. She envied her mother, grew to hate her, and wanted to destroy her.
[on Christina Crawford and her book "Mommie Dearest"] She wanted to be Joan Crawford. I think that's the basis of the book she wrote afterward and everything else. I saw what her mind created, the fantasy world she lived in. She envied her mother, grew to hate her, and wanted to destroy her.
[on Christina Crawford when things got so bad with the Chicago production of "Barefoot in the Park" that Loy had to call the director of the London production to intervene] He couldn't do anything with her. Absolutely nothing. She was going to do it her way. It was self-defeating and sad, because the girl had potential.
[on Christina Crawford when things got so bad with the Chicago production of "Barefoot in the Park" that Loy had to call the director of the London production to intervene] He couldn't do anything with her. Absolutely nothing. She was going to do it her way. It was self-defeating and sad, because the girl had potential.
[on working with Joan Crawford's adopted daughter Christina Crawford in a Chicago production of "Barefoot in the Park"] We didn't have any problems in "Barefoot" until Christina Crawford appeared. I've never known anybody else like her--ever. Her stubbornness was really unbelievable. She would not do a single thing that anybody told her to do. You'd go out t...
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[on working with Joan Crawford's adopted daughter Christina Crawford in a Chicago production of "Barefoot in the Park"] We didn't have any problems in "Barefoot" until Christina Crawford appeared. I've never known anybody else like her--ever. Her stubbornness was really unbelievable. She would not do a single thing that anybody told her to do. You'd go out there on the stage and you couldn't find her. One thing an actor needs to know is exactly where people are on the stage. Christina completely disregarded her blocking, throwing the rest of us off.
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[In 1981, on her friend Joan Crawford] Joan and I approached being movie stars in a different way. She liked to take limos everywhere; she was much "grander", for lack of a better word, and maybe I was much more down to earth, but so what? Joan certainly wasn't the only movie star who liked the champagne and limousine treatment. I can tell you that when you ...
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[In 1981, on her friend Joan Crawford] Joan and I approached being movie stars in a different way. She liked to take limos everywhere; she was much "grander", for lack of a better word, and maybe I was much more down to earth, but so what? Joan certainly wasn't the only movie star who liked the champagne and limousine treatment. I can tell you that when you made a friend in Joan you had a friend for life. She never forgot your birthday, and you'd get a congratulatory note from her when good things happened in your life. She cared about people and her friends, no matter what anybody says. I liked her, and I miss her, and I think her daughter's stories are pure bunk. Even if they were true, if ever there was a girl who needed a good whack it was spoiled, horrible Christina [Christina Crawford]. Believe me, there were many times I wanted to smack her myself.
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[In 1974] When I was touring in "Don Juan in Hell," we played a college town near New Orleans. Paul [Paul Newman] happened to be there shooting The Drowning Pool (1975), so I went to see him that afternoon. I remember walking down a country road past every kid in town waiting to glimpse Paul Newman. When he saw me he rushed over, threw his arms around me, an...
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[In 1974] When I was touring in "Don Juan in Hell," we played a college town near New Orleans. Paul [Paul Newman] happened to be there shooting The Drowning Pool (1975), so I went to see him that afternoon. I remember walking down a country road past every kid in town waiting to glimpse Paul Newman. When he saw me he rushed over, threw his arms around me, and kissed me, eliciting a collective swoon from those kids, who were probably wondering, "Who's that lucky old lady?" We went off and talked until they called him back to work.
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[on Natacha Rambova] She was absolutely beautiful, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She always wore turbans and long, very stark dresses, usually velvet or brocade of the same golden brown as her eyes. She was breathtaking and I was scared. "I know they call me everything from Messalina to a dope fiend", she disclosed to calm me, "but I really don't...
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[on Natacha Rambova] She was absolutely beautiful, the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. She always wore turbans and long, very stark dresses, usually velvet or brocade of the same golden brown as her eyes. She was breathtaking and I was scared. "I know they call me everything from Messalina to a dope fiend", she disclosed to calm me, "but I really don't eat little dancers for breakfast".
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[on Tyrone Power] A lovely gentleman with a great quality of imagination.
[on Tyrone Power] A lovely gentleman with a great quality of imagination.
[on Montgomery Clift] Monty was a great talent, whose acting I always admired. He had extraordinary instincts. His observations about the script were always astute and correct. He would have made a great director, which eventually he wanted to be. "Would you ever direct yourself?", I once asked him. "Are you kidding", he replied. "As a director, I simply wou...
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[on Montgomery Clift] Monty was a great talent, whose acting I always admired. He had extraordinary instincts. His observations about the script were always astute and correct. He would have made a great director, which eventually he wanted to be. "Would you ever direct yourself?", I once asked him. "Are you kidding", he replied. "As a director, I simply wouldn't put up with all that crap from me". Monty was having problems then. He was full of all kinds of problems, many of them imaginary.
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[on Doris Day] I have nothing but the best to say about Doris Day. She was wonderful to me, really lovely. She sent flowers when I started and remained friendly and attentive. As I've said, it's difficult when you start stepping down. You fight so hard to get to the top and then you realize it's time to gracefully give in a little. Doris, who was riding high...
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[on Doris Day] I have nothing but the best to say about Doris Day. She was wonderful to me, really lovely. She sent flowers when I started and remained friendly and attentive. As I've said, it's difficult when you start stepping down. You fight so hard to get to the top and then you realize it's time to gracefully give in a little. Doris, who was riding high then, never played the prima dona. I appreciated her attitude enormously.
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[on Rex Harrison] Rex Harrison was in a strange kind of mood in Midnight Lace (1960), no doubt because his wife Kay Kendall had died. He had very little time for me or anybody else, as far as I could tell; he did his job and that was it.
[on Rex Harrison] Rex Harrison was in a strange kind of mood in Midnight Lace (1960), no doubt because his wife Kay Kendall had died. He had very little time for me or anybody else, as far as I could tell; he did his job and that was it.
[on Liza Minnelli] I love Liza. She is so original. People speak of her in terms of her mother, but she is herself, very definitely. A good, strong, unique person.
[on Liza Minnelli] I love Liza. She is so original. People speak of her in terms of her mother, but she is herself, very definitely. A good, strong, unique person.
[on Burt Reynolds] It's the man's tremendous wit that just keeps coming across. Listen, there is no acting style. Most people just play themselves. Spencer Tracy used to say to me after a scene, "Did I ham that one up?" If I said yes, he'd say, "Okay, let's do it again". There's that same honesty in Burt Reynolds. He's a throwback to the old school.
[on Burt Reynolds] It's the man's tremendous wit that just keeps coming across. Listen, there is no acting style. Most people just play themselves. Spencer Tracy used to say to me after a scene, "Did I ham that one up?" If I said yes, he'd say, "Okay, let's do it again". There's that same honesty in Burt Reynolds. He's a throwback to the old school.
[on William Powell] The later ones [the "Thin Man" pictures] were very bad indeed, but it was always a joy to work with Bill Powell. He was and is a dear friend and, in the early Thin Man films with [director W.S. Van Dyke], we managed to achieve what for those days was an almost pioneering sense of spontaneity.
[on William Powell] The later ones [the "Thin Man" pictures] were very bad indeed, but it was always a joy to work with Bill Powell. He was and is a dear friend and, in the early Thin Man films with [director W.S. Van Dyke], we managed to achieve what for those days was an almost pioneering sense of spontaneity.
[on Barbra Streisand] I think Barbra Streisand is a genius, the creativity she has! And I am very impressed with her as a person. Some years ago I was on the Academy Awards broadcast, she came up to me. I was standing in the wings and Barbra walked across the stage to greet me. Very polite, very nice. You don't find many young women who extend that kind of g...
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[on Barbra Streisand] I think Barbra Streisand is a genius, the creativity she has! And I am very impressed with her as a person. Some years ago I was on the Academy Awards broadcast, she came up to me. I was standing in the wings and Barbra walked across the stage to greet me. Very polite, very nice. You don't find many young women who extend that kind of gracious courtesy to an older woman. Audrey Hepburn does. And Barbra. I've not forgotten how charming she was.
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I was glamorous because of magicians like George J. Folsey, James Wong Howe, Oliver Marsh, Ray June, and all those other great cinematographers. I trusted those men and the other experts who made us beautiful. The rest of it I didn't give a damn about. I didn't fuss about my clothes, my lighting, or anything else, but, believe me, some of them did.
I was glamorous because of magicians like George J. Folsey, James Wong Howe, Oliver Marsh, Ray June, and all those other great cinematographers. I trusted those men and the other experts who made us beautiful. The rest of it I didn't give a damn about. I didn't fuss about my clothes, my lighting, or anything else, but, believe me, some of them did.
[on Clark Gable] He happened to be an actor, a damned good one, and nobody knew it--least of all Clark. Oh, he wanted to be an actor, but he always deprecated his ability, pretended it didn't matter. He was a really shy man with a terrible inferiority in there somewhere. Something was missing that kept him from doing the things he could have done.
[on Clark Gable] He happened to be an actor, a damned good one, and nobody knew it--least of all Clark. Oh, he wanted to be an actor, but he always deprecated his ability, pretended it didn't matter. He was a really shy man with a terrible inferiority in there somewhere. Something was missing that kept him from doing the things he could have done.
[Referring to her "perfect wife" typecasting] Some perfect wife I am. I've been married four times, divorced four times, have no children, and can't boil an egg.
[Referring to her "perfect wife" typecasting] Some perfect wife I am. I've been married four times, divorced four times, have no children, and can't boil an egg.
[Challenging MGM bosses in the 1930s] Why does every black person in the movies have to play a servant? How about a black person walking up the steps of a courthouse carrying a briefcase?
[Challenging MGM bosses in the 1930s] Why does every black person in the movies have to play a servant? How about a black person walking up the steps of a courthouse carrying a briefcase?
[on her screen test for Cobra (1925)] I rushed out of the projection room, ran home and cried for hours. I was really ashamed of myself. It was so awful . . .
[on her screen test for Cobra (1925)] I rushed out of the projection room, ran home and cried for hours. I was really ashamed of myself. It was so awful . . .
[Speaking in the late 1960s] I admire some of the people on the screen today, but most of them look like everybody else. In our day we had individuality. Pictures were more sophisticated. All this nudity is too excessive and it is getting very boring. It will be a shame if it upsets people so much that it brings on the need for censorship. I hate censorship....
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[Speaking in the late 1960s] I admire some of the people on the screen today, but most of them look like everybody else. In our day we had individuality. Pictures were more sophisticated. All this nudity is too excessive and it is getting very boring. It will be a shame if it upsets people so much that it brings on the need for censorship. I hate censorship. In the cinema there's no mystery. No privacy. And no sex, either. Most of the sex I've seen on the screen looks like an expression of hostility towards sex.
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[on her "Perfect Wife" label, based on her work in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)] It was a role no one could live up to, really. No telling where my career would have gone if they hadn't hung that title on me. Labels limit you, because they limit your possibilities. But that's how they think in Hollywood.
[on her "Perfect Wife" label, based on her work in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)] It was a role no one could live up to, really. No telling where my career would have gone if they hadn't hung that title on me. Labels limit you, because they limit your possibilities. But that's how they think in Hollywood.
I was a homely kid with freckles that came out every spring and stuck on me till Christmas.
I was a homely kid with freckles that came out every spring and stuck on me till Christmas.
Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
Life is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.
[on her work with William Powell] I never enjoyed my work more than when I worked with William Powell. He was a brilliant actor, a delightful companion, a great friend and, above all, a true gentleman.
[on her work with William Powell] I never enjoyed my work more than when I worked with William Powell. He was a brilliant actor, a delightful companion, a great friend and, above all, a true gentleman.
Myrna Loy
Myrna Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana, to Adelle Mae (Johnson) and David Franklin Williams. Her paternal grandparents were Welsh, and her mother was of Scottish and Swedish descent. Myrna was raised in Helena and nearby Radersburg. Her father, a rancher, was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature.At the age of thirteen, Myrna's father died of influenza, and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls where she caught the acting bug. She started at the age of 15 when she appeared in local stage productions in order to help support her family. Some of the stage plays were held in the now famous Grauman's Theater in Hollywood. Mrs. Rudolph Valentino happened to be in the audience one night who managed to pull some strings to get Myrna some parts in the motion picture industry.Her first film was a small part in the production of What Price Beauty? (1925). Later, she appeared the same year in Pretty Ladies (1925) along with Joan Crawford. She was one of the few stars that would start in the silent movies and make a successful transition into the sound era. In her silent films, Myrna would appear as a Theda Bara-like, exotic, femme fatale. Later in the sound era, she would become a refined, wholesome character. Unable to land a contract with MGM, she continued to appear in small, bit roles, nothing that one could really call acting. In 1926, Myrna appeared in the Warner Brothers film called Satan in Sables (1925) which, at long last, landed her a contract. Her first appearance as a contract player was The Caveman (1926) where she played a maid. Although she was typecast over and over again as a vamp, Myrna continued to stay busy with small parts. Finally, in 1927, she received star billing in Bitter Apples (1927). The excitement was short lived as she returned to the usual smaller roles afterward.Myrna would take any role that would give her exposure and showcase the talent she felt was being wasted. It seemed that she would play one vamp after another. She wanted something better. Finally her contract ran out with warner and she signed with MGM where she got two meaty roles. One was in the The Prizefighter and the Lady (1933), and the other as Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934) with William Powell. Most agreed that the Thin Man series would never have been successful without Myrna. Her witty perception of situations gave her the image that one could not pull a fast one over on the no-nonsense Mrs. Charles. After The Thin Man (1934), Myrna would appear in five more in the series. Myrna was a big box-office draw. She was popular enough that, in 1936, she was named Queen of the Movies and Clark Gable the king in a nationwide poll of movie goers. Her popularity was at its zenith. She continued to make films through the 40s and 50s but the roles were fewer and fewer. By the 1960's the parts had all but dried up as producers and directors looked elsewhere for talent.In 1960, she appeared in Midnight Lace (1960) and was not in another until 1969 in The April Fools (1969). The 1970s found her in TV movies, not theatrical productions. Her last film was in 1981 called Summer Solstice (1981). By the time Myrna passed away, on December 14, 1993, at the age of 88, she had appeared in a phenomenal 129 motion pictures. She was buried in Helena, Montana.
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