Tuesday marks the 91st birthday for Kim Novak, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo, who walked away from Hollywood over five decades ago.
“She’s spending her birthday having a picnic on her property with friends and lots of fudge,” says her longtime manager and close friend Sue Cameron.
Life is sweet these days for Novak, who lives quietly on the Oregon coast, surrounded by her beloved horses.
In honor of her 91st birthday, read on for an interview from 2021 in which Novak shared why she left Hollywood and found her true self.
Over 50 years ago, Kim Novak, the enigmatic star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, walked away from Hollywood. The woman who had once been the No. 1 box office draw in the world put her belongings in a van and drove north, first to Carmel, California and then two decades later to Oregon, to live her life as an artist.
“I had to leave to survive,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was a survival issue.”
“I lost a sense of who I truly was and what I stood for,” says Novak in a rare interview to talk about her new book, Kim Novak : Her Art and Life. published by the Butler Museum of American Art.
“I fought all the time back in Hollywood to keep my identity so you do whatever you have to do to hold on to who you are and what you stand for,” she explains.
“I’ve never done one of those tell-all books that they wanted me to do for so long, and I thought this is the kind of book I’d like to do,” she says of her art book. “Actually, I had written my autobiography and it was almost complete but I had a house fire and the house burned down and I made no copies. I just couldn’t go through it again because I had spent so much time. But it was okay because it was a catharsis just to do it.”
After starring in Picnic (1955) with William Holden, The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) and Pal Joey (1957), opposite Frank Sinatra, and Vertigo, with Jimmy Stewart, Novak was at the height of her career but still under the control of the studio.
As she writes in her book’s introduction, “I was both dazzled and disturbed to see me being packaged as a Hollywood sex symbol. However, I did win my fight over identity. I wouldn’t allow [Columbia Pictures chief] Harry Cohn to take my bohemian roots away by denying me my family name. Novak. I stood my ground and won my first major battle.”
Cohn wanted her to change her name to Kit Marlowe, telling her that audiences would be turned off by her Eastern European roots. She refused. In the late ’50s, she defied him again when she began dating singer Sammy Davis Jr. against his wishes and she fought to live her life as an independent woman.
“There was constant pressure to be seen and not heard,” writes Novak, “especially if you had a pretty face.”
“In Hollywood a lot of people assume who you are, because of the character you play, but also just because of who they expect you to be, how they expect you to dress,” she says. “It influences you because if you’re in some gorgeous sequined gown, you can’t run along the ocean and run on the beaches.”
“I kept feeling like I was going deeper and deeper, lost in almost like a quicksand, where it’s swallowing you up, your own personality, and I’d started to wonder who I am,” she explains. “I realized needed to save myself.”
She found peace living and painting in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon and notes, “I needed the Pacific Ocean to inspire me, the animals, the beauty.”
“I wanted to live a normal life and a life with animals,” says the actress, who had always loved drawing and painting as a young girl growing up in Chicago. She was awarded two scholarships to the Chicago Art Institute before she was spotted by a talent scout on a trip to L.A. and her life changed course.
Once she left Hollywood, Novak returned to her twin passions: art and animals. “My teachers were the animals, not just dogs and cats, but other animals, horses and llamas, whom you have to meet half way, because they’re not ready to accept humans. I had to learn to win them over,” she says. “They understand a person who’s genuine so I had to become more real and that made me rely on my inner self — and that also encouraged me to paint. Everything seemed to flow from that.”
“You learn how to count on, not how you look, which is a big thing as a movie star, especially if you were recognized because of how you look,” she adds. “That can be a difficult thing when you change — but looks had nothing to do with it.”
She met second husband, Robert Malloy, an equine veterinarian, in the late ’70s, when he paid her a house call to treat one of her Arabian horses. She called him her “soul mate.” He died last December.
“I don’t feel 87,” says Novak. “I don’t keep tract of the time. If I did, I’d be an old lady and I’m not an old lady. I’m still riding my horse. I stay as healthy as I can.”
In 2012, Novak revealed she’d been living with bipolar disorder. “I don’t mind being open about who I am because these are all characteristics which make you who you are, especially as an artist,” she says. “Now, of course, I have medication for it but the best medicine of all is art.”
She’s proud of her favorite films, including Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), and has fond memories, especially of her friend and costar Jimmy Stewart. Says Novak: “He didn’t let Hollywood change who he was.”
“People can remember me in movies but I want them to see me as an artist,” says Novak, whose paintings were exhibited at a 2019 retrospective at the Butler Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. “What’s great about painting is, you become the director too. No one’s telling you how to do it. You get to direct the whole thing.”
“I’ve been influenced a lot by Hitchcock in my work because he did mysteries and at first glance, I want my painting to be a mystery,” she says. “I love being the director, the producer, the actor in my paintings.”
“This is who I am. I want people to see I was not just a movie star.”
Looking back, Novak says, “I’m so glad I didn’t do the tell-all book, where you write all about your love life. That wasn’t who I was. This book tells who I am. I just needed to be free.”
Surprise, the rumors regarding Kate Middleton are confirmed to be accurate by Prince Harry’s warning.
It is hardly surprising that Kate Middleton and King Charles are the center of attention for the British public. Well wishes are coming in from all around the world while Kate recovers from the “planned” abdominal surgery and the King is having cancer treatment in London. The public was concerned about how the royal family would be impacted by these health concerns, but the Palace reassured people that Kate was “doing-well” even though they hadn’t disclosed any information about her lengthy hospital stay or surgery.
Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were among those who extended their best wishes and hoped the Princess and the King a swift recovery.
Although their relationship with the other royals appears to be at an all-time low, their outreach to Kate and Charles may be the first step in resolving their differences.
The members of the Firm have been the target of accusations from the Duke and Duchess of Sussex, who have also criticized the Palace for failing to intervene on Meghan’s behalf when she was in need of support and contemplating suicide. During the controversial Oprah interview, Harry and Meghan launched their first accusations against the royal family, accusing a senior royal of doubting the sking color of Archie, who was still pregnant at the time.
The Sussexes gave numerous interviews after moving to the United States, and Harry wrote his book Spare, in which he disclosed secrets and discussed what went on behind closed doors when he was still a working royal.
There has also been turmoil in Meghan and Kate’s relationship.
Both Kate and Meghan were advised not to go to Balmoral when Queen Elizabeth’s health began to deteriorate, but the actual reason was that they didn’t want Meghan there and Kate was just told to stay behind to make things appear more equitable.
“Kate stayed away on purpose, but she really wanted to be there with the Queen in her final moments,” Jobson stated. Kate is completely consumed by that, and her dislike of Meghan has grown.
As per Jobson, “Catherine later admitted to a senior royal that, such was the ill feeling between the two couples, the joint walkabout was one of the hardest things she’d ever had to do.” Kate and William, along with Harry and Meghan, walked beside each other throughout the burial.
The media claims that Harry and Meghan contacted Kate as soon as they heard about her operation from the news.
A source informed the Mirror, “Prince Harry and Meghan have extended support to the King and the Princess of Wales with regards to their health.” “The Duke and Duchess conveyed their concern and well wishes to both parties through various means.”
The source stated, “Meghan has contacted Kate and Charles.” Thus, efforts are being undertaken to make amends.
The insider added that Meghan has been a huge supporter of Harry’s efforts to mend his family’s wrongs. Additionally, Harry “wishes the very best for the royals—Kate included.”
She stated, “It was reported that they sent private messages, which would be the proper course of action.”
She thinks it’s wise for Harry and Meghan to keep their comments about Kate private.
But even though Kate will resume her royal duties around Easter, PR guru Ryan McCormick warns Harry and Meghan might make a grave error if they start talking about the princess in public. According to the Mirror, McCormick advises the Sussexes not talk about Kate Middleton until she has resumed her royal duties.
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