Myrna
Loy

“I was lucky, really. In those days, the so-called leading lady was always a blonde. She had what you’d call regular features, I guess.
There was something about my face – I don’t know, it was different. So I was playing character parts from the age of 17 on. I was never an ingenue, never in my whole life.”

about

born Myrna Adele Williams on august 2, 1905 in Helena, Montana
Trained first as a dancer, she pursued her acting career starting with minor roles in silent films in the late 1920s, mainly as a vamp, femme fatale or characters of Asian or Eurasian descent, due to film producers pushing on her "uncommon beauty" and basing her roles for years on this exotic kind of allure.

"you see, I’m not a siren at all. I am just a human person, and it has been, and is now, my ambition to play human roles on the screen. so I rebelled at being oriental, spanish, moorish, indian, french, any role that compelled me to be a siren or a vampire.
sooner or later I would be so thoroughly stamped it would be useless for me to try any other role.”

her successes in both "Manhattan Melodrama" and "The Thin Man" in 1934 marked a turning point in her career, she was cast in more important pictures that gave her the opportunity to develop comedic skills and build a different image for the audience.
the partnership (and friendship) throughout the '30s and '40s with William Powell became remarkable and one of the firmest in old Hollywood history, Loy and Powell starred side by side in 13 movies, including The Thin Man series which made their characters Nick and Nora Charles one of the most appreciated movie couples still nowadays.
Myrna Loy was never nominated for a competitive Oscar (and that's being tasteless, we been knew), but she received an Honorary Academy Award in 1991 for her work both onscreen and off.
Myrna Loy died on December 14 1993 in New York City, aged 88.

myrna loy and 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's honorary oscar
• → myrna loy crowned as 'queen of hollywood'
• → myrna loy's walk of fame star

screenland article (1928) about myrna loy

good reads about Myrna

★ "Myrna Loy: being and becoming",
James Kotsilibas-Davis/Myrna Loy (autobiography)

★ "Myrna Loy: The only good girl in Hollywood", Emily W. Leider

Myrna Loy's social commitment

Myrna Loy serving soldiers coffee at Hollywood Canteen

• -Her World Beyond Hollywood, Part I 1905-1949
• -Her World Beyond Hollywood, Part II 1950-1993

• -The Activism Of Myrna Loy

available filmography

• "The Jazz Singer" (1927)

• "The Desert Song" (1929)
• "The Black Watch" (1929)
• "The Squall" (1929)
• "The Great Divide" (1929)
• "The Show Of Shows" (1929) ⇝ myrna loy clip
• "The Truth About Youth" (1930)
• "Rogue of Rio Grande" (1930)
• "Renegades" (1930)
• "The Devil To Pay!" (1930)
• "Last of the Duanes" (1930)
• "The Naughty Flirt" (1931)
• "A Connecticut Yankee" (1931)
• "Transatlantic" (1931)
• "Consolation Marriage" (1931)
• "Vanity Fair" (1932)
• "The Wet Parade" (1932)
• "Love Me Tonight" (1932)
• "Thirteen Women" (1932)
• "The Mask Of Fu Manchu" (1932)
• "The Animal Kingdom" (1932)
• "Topaze" (1933)
• "The Barbarian" (1933)
• "The Prizefighter And The Lady" (1933)
• "When Ladies Meet" (1933)
• "Penthouse" (1933)
• "Night Flight" (1933)
• "Men In White" (1934)
• "Manhattan Melodrama" (1934)
• "The Thin Man" (1934)
• "Stamboul Quest" (1934)
• "Evelyn Prentice" (1934)
• "Broadway Bill" (1934)

• "Wings In The Dark" (1935)

• "Whipsaw" (1935)

• "Wife vs Secretary" (1936)

• "Petticoat Fever" (1936)
• "The Great Ziegfeld" (1936)
• "To Mary With Love" (1936)
• "Libeled Lady" (1936)
• "After The Thin Man" (1936)
• "Parnell" (1937)
• "Double Wedding" (1937)
• "Man-Proof" (1938)
• "Test Pilot" (1938)
• "Lucky Night" (1939)
• "The Rains Came" (1939)
• "Another Thin Man" (1939)
• "I Love You Again" (1940)
• "Third Finger, Left Hand" (1940)
• "Love Crazy" (1941)
• "Shadow Of The Thin Man" (1941)
• "The Thin Man Goes Home" (1945)
• "The Best Years Of Our Lives" (1946)
• "The Bachelor And The Bobby-Soxer" (1947)
• "Song Of The Thin Man" (1947)
• "Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House" (1948)
• "The Red Pony" (1949)
• "If This Be Sin" (1949)
• "Cheaper By The Dozen" (1950)
• "Belles On Their Toes" (1952)
• "The Ambassador's Daughter" (1956)
• "Lonelyhearts" (1958)
• "From The Terrace" (1960)
• "Airport 1975" (1974)
• "Just Tell Me What You Want" (1980)

tv appearances / interviews

• Family Affair S01 ep 20
• Columbo S02 ep 01
• Do Not Fold, Spindle or Mutilate (1971) - tv movie -
• Death Takes a Holiday (1971) - tv movie -
• The Couple Takes a Wife (1972) - tv movie -
• Ants (1977) - tv movie -
• Summer Solstice (1981) - tv movie -
• What's My Line? (1960) - minute 17:55 -
• The Dick Cavett Show (1980)
• 1980 Interview (with Lillian Gish) - minute 39:33 -
• Day At Night (1970s)
• Myrna Loy presidential campaign interview, 1968

• Myrna Loy Radio Shows