Kim Novak Spoke Out About Why She Had To Leave Hollywood

Kim Novak was a bona fide Hollywood star after bagging a lead in the Hitchcock masterpiece Vertigo. However, only a few years later, she had virtually disappeared from the silver screen. Fans and colleagues alike were left to wonder: What happened to Kim? The true reason for her abrupt absence exposes a dark side to the movie-making business, and just how quickly the bright lights of Hollywood can dim into something much more sinister.

A glittering career saw Novak appear alongside many stellar leading men like Frank Sinatra and Kirk Douglas. The actress also garnered some pretty impressive gongs in her time – including two Golden Globe Awards. But it was a different story off-camera. In reality, she struggled with the demands of the Hollywood movie-making machine.

Young Marilyn Pauline Novak – as she was born – wanted anything but attention. In fact, the young girl was so shy that she would hide away when people visited her family home in Chicago, Illinois. Novak was born in February 1933 to strict Czech parents Joseph and Blanche. The former was a teacher who worked as a railroad freight dispatcher during the Great Depression. Meanwhile, Blanche toiled at a factory making bras and girdles for not much money.

Novak actually won two scholarships to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago as a youngster. As a teenager, the star’s mother also encouraged her to join a youth group to help conquer her shyness, according to The Guardian. Recognising Novak’s startling beauty, the group leader encouraged her to try modeling. So, one summer she joined a tour of the United States showing off Thor refrigerators.

The model’s beauty was once again spotted by an agent during a visit to RKO Studios in Los Angeles. After appearing in two movies as an extra, she won a contract with Columbia Pictures. But the company chief was reportedly a disagreeable man by the name of Harry Cohn. Novak clashed with him from the start – even over her name. According to a 1996 article in The Washington Post, he said that the actress should change her name to “Kit Marlowe,” telling her, “Nobody’s gonna go see a girl with a Polack name!”

Summoning her new-found confidence, Novak stood her ground, telling Cohn, “I’m Czech, but Polish, Czech, no matter, it’s my name!” So, the two compromised on Kim Novak as a stage name. But, exhibiting the harshness of ’50s-era Hollywood, Cohn allegedly continued his bullying ways. Novak told The Guardian newspaper in 2021, “I’d be waiting for a meeting with him and he’d say, ‘Send the dumb Polack, send in the fat Polack.’ He just wanted to get a rise out of me.”

The problems with Cohn didn’t stop there, either. And he got involved when word started to get around that Novak was dating Sammy Davis Jr. Shockingly, he believed that being involved with a black man would harm the actress’ career. Novak told The Guardian, “They refused to let me go near Sammy’s house.” Apparently out of fear of a Mafia reprisal, the couple were forced to quit seeing each other.

When Columbia signed up Novak, it was hoped that she would be the next Rita Hayworth, whose career was ailing by that time. The company also hoped that the actress’ blonde-bombshell looks would make her a rival to Marilyn Monroe. Novak starred opposite Fred MacMurray in the film noir Pushover in 1954. In the same year, she also appeared alongside comedy star Jack Lemmon in the rom-com Phffft. Though both films only received lukewarm critical and box office success.

Novak’s career then took another hit following the lukewarm reception to 1955’s 5 Against the House. But then along came Picnic later that year, which changed her acting fortunes. The romantic comedy-drama – adapted from the award-winning William Inge play and directed by Joshua Logan – was a smash-hit at the box office. In fact, it even garnered Novak her first Golden Globe for Most Promising Newcomer.

After that, the silver screen successes started rolling in. Next up was the 1955 neo-noir The Man with the Golden Arm – also starring Frank Sinatra and Eleanor Barker. In the picture, Novak plays Molly, who is the sexy ex-girlfriend of the crooner’s drug-addicted protagonist Frankie. The film ended up becoming a box-office triumph thanks to its stellar talent and powerful theme. And despite clashing with co-star Tyrone Power during her next movie – The Eddy Duchin Story – Novak chalked up yet another box-office smash.

Columbia clearly realized it was on to a winner with the pairing of Sinatra and Novak – uniting the stars once again in Pal Joey. Alongside fellow big name Rita Hayworth, the Czech-American actress played a gullible showgirl called Linda who gets taken in by Sinatra’s womanizing Joey. The film received mixed reviews, though audiences loved it and Novak was once again at the center of another box-office hit.

But what about Novak and Sinatra? Were they just co-stars or something more? The actress told The Guardian, “Frank Sinatra and I had a nice, friendly relationship at times.” Pressed to reveal further details, she admitted, “It was a bit more than that. I had a relationship with [Sinatra], yeah. He was a very sexy guy.” Despite that, the legendary crooner was flawed, according to Novak. She said, “He could be kind and gentle and he could be cocky – not wanting to listen to anybody but himself.”

Meanwhile, Novak’s next project was the big one. Vertigo – Alfred Hitchcock’s remarkable piece of mind-bending noir – received mixed reviews on its release in 1958. But it would later be widely regarded as one of the world’s greatest ever movies. In the film, Novak plays the dual role of femme fatale Madeleine and Judy Barton opposite James Stewart’s troubled detective Scottie.

Hitchcock was allegedly notorious for tormenting his female stars to make their performance more authentic. Though Novak told The Guardian that he didn’t do that with her. The two did clash on things like costume decisions, mind you. According to François Truffaut’s 1966 book Hitchcock/Truffaut, Novak brought “all sorts of preconceived notions” to her role. Objecting to the comparatively low salary that she was initially offered, Novak also refused to turn up on set until her pay was reviewed. She got her way, too.

Clearly, the shy young girl from Chicago had blossomed into a strong-willed star. Yet she also struggled with the pressures of Hollywood. In Harrison Engle’s 1997 documentary Obsessed with Vertigo, Novak admitted that she related to her character. The actress explained, “When I first read those lines where she says, ‘I want you to love me for me,’ and all the talking in that scene, I just identified with it so much because going to Hollywood as a young girl and suddenly finding that they want to make you over totally. It’s such a total change and it was like I was always fighting to show some of myself...”

There was apparently no love lost between the Vertigo director and Novak, yet it was a different story with co-star Stewart. In Michael Munn’s book, Jimmy Stewart: The Truth Behind the Legend, she is quoted as saying, “He treated me so well. I learned a lot about acting from him.”

One of the things that Novak most appreciated about her dashing leading man was his ability to stay grounded – despite the Hollywood spotlight being firmly upon him. She told The Guardian, “He lived in the midst of all that vanity and was never tainted by it. It was hard for me to believe that somebody could live in Hollywood for so long, right in the middle of Beverly Hills, and stay real. He deserves a big trophy just for that; one that says: ‘I was real.’” The actress wryly added, “I’d like the same trophy.”

The stars appeared together again in the 1958 fantasy comedy Bell, Book and Candle, in which Novak plays a witch. The movie was another success, and it was followed by a film that the actress has cited as her favorite: Frederic March’s Middle of the Night. Her next picture – Strangers When We Meet – was directed by Novak’s then-fiancé Richard Quine, and it also starred Kirk Douglas. But despite the flick’s stellar talent, it got a mixed reception.

Sadly, Novak’s fortunes started to change by the 1960s – and not for the better. Her engagement to Richard Quine was called off, and a string of unsuccessful movies followed. Her collaboration with legendary crooner and actor Dean Martin in Kiss Me, Stupid received a critical panning. Novak’s turn in British comedy film The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders earned better reviews though, and the actress ended up dating and marrying her co-star Richard Johnson in 1965.

Yet Johnson and Novak’s happy union was short-lived, and the actors divorced in 1966. That same year, Novak lost her Hollywood home when it was destroyed by a mudslide. Almost as though a curse had befallen the actress, she was then seriously injured after falling off a horse during the making of her next picture: Eye of the Devil. Due to the extent of her injuries, Novak had to drop out of the movie and was replaced by the actress Deborah Kerr.

At this point, the bright lights of Hollywood had become more of a dim glow. And the depression that Novak had faced since her teenage years started to take hold. Describing how she felt to The Guardian, the actress said, “When you’re happy, you’re on a cloud higher than anybody can see. All of a sudden, the cloud turns grey and it starts putting pressure on you and before you know it you’re down at the bottom of the hole again.”

At this point, Novak was feeling disillusioned with Hollywood and the movie industry. She explained, “I didn’t feel my work meant anything there. I knew I was a good artist and I wanted to express my feelings.” The actress went on, “I wanted to play the role of somebody who was mentally ill. I think I could have done a really good job, because I know those feelings.”

The loss of her Bel Air mansion was a sign, Novak believed. She told The Guardian, “The mudslide was telling me, ‘Your time is up; take off while you can. Get ahead of the game. Don’t wait till you’re too old and wrinkled. Then nobody will want you any more.’” Describing the glamorous Hollywood lifestyle as “a trap,” Novak told the newspaper, “So many people, once they got older and were no longer looked at for their beauty, just fell apart.”

The actress later turned her back on Hollywood and started a new life in Big Sur on the Pacific Coast. There, she immersed herself in painting and poetry. Some of her verses were even turned into song and recorded by the likes of Harry Belafonte and The Kingston Trio! For Novak – who was eventually diagnosed with bipolar disorder – art is an important form of therapy. She told The Guardian, “All those rages and feelings of depression, they leave you when you let them out. And that’s what painting is all about.”

The Vertigo star made a brief return to Hollywood in 1968, but it didn’t go well. After refusing to do a German accent for her role in The Legend of Lylah Clare – believing it to be unnecessary – she was horrified to find out that her voice had been dubbed by a German actress. Novak only learned this at the film’s premiere, as director Robert Aldrich had allegedly neither consulted nor sought her permission. To make matters worse, the movie tanked.

Novak made one more movie in the ’60s called The Great Bank Robbery before taking what she called a “self-imposed vacation.” After a handful of not very successful TV movies and one slightly more successful picture – star-studded mystery The Mirror Crack’d – the actress quit films again. But in the late ’80s she accepted a recurring role in the primetime TV soap Falcon Crest.

Novak’s role in the successful show was similar to her role in Vertigo. And in a little twist of irony, the star persuaded the producers to call her character Kit Marlowe – the name Columbia chief Harry Cohn had wanted her to use. She joked to newspaper The Free-Lance Star in 2014 that it was like the late Cohn’s revenge on her from beyond the grave. Novak was later offered the chance to do a second season of Falcon Crest, but the actress declined.

Despite the many cinematic flops and disappointments, the lure of movie-making kept pulling Novak back. Speaking about her career to The New York Times in 1990, she said, “I feel that I didn’t live up to what I should have done with it. In other words, I’m glad I made the move away from Hollywood: I don’t regret that. I know that was a major thing and a good thing. But by the same token, it was like unfinished business.”

The star’s come-back film role was that of leading lady Rose Sellers in 1990 British/German drama The Children. Novak appeared alongside Gandhi star Ben Kingsley, and she earned favourable reviews for the movie. But, alas, a clash between its director Tony Palmer and the film’s distributor saw the release get canceled. It seemed that Novak just couldn’t catch a break – not since the dizzy heights of Vertigo, anyway.

One final attempt to break the curse on Novak’s movie career came in 1991. Liebestraum – an intriguing thriller directed by Mike Figgis – gave her the chance to play the terminally ill mother of the film’s central character Nick. She was excited to make the film and told Movieline in 2005 that the script was “fabulous” and her character “full of depth.” Though it would turn out to be Novak’s worst movie-making experience to date.

Figgis and Novak apparently locked horns right from the start. The two had completely clashing visions of how the actress’ character Lillian should be played, and they fought until Novak’s part was pretty much dropped from the movie. Figgis had tried to “manipulate” her, the star told film critic Henry Sheehan in a 1996 interview. She recalled, “I went crazy,” adding, “That movie pained me more than any movie in the world could do.”

Has Novak made any films since, though? Well, she answered that very question to the Associated Press in 2004, saying, “I got so burned out on that picture that I wanted to leave the business…” Once again, she walked out on Hollywood and returned to her quiet life in Oregon with beloved husband Robert Malloy, who she’d married in 1976. Sadly, the latter would pass away 24 years later.

Novak then turned to art to help cope with the pain of losing her husband. She told The Guardian, “I’ve done his portrait so I could communicate with him. Painting’s always been there to rescue me.” Her remarkable body of work has been published in a 2021 book dedicated to Malloy called Kim Novak: Her Art and Life.

From the late ’90s, the artist and actress saw her star rise again. After Vertigo was restored and re-released in 1996, Novak was so delighted with the revamped masterpiece that she agreed to appear at screenings – despite having refused to do so a decade earlier. She was also interviewed for Harrison Engle’s “Obsessed with Vertigo” documentary.

Novak received the prestigious Honorary Golden Bear Award for lifetime achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival in 1997. And from there the accolades kept coming, with the Eastman Kodak Archives Award following in 2003. The latter prize put her in the company of fellow silver screen legends Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn and James Stewart among others. Novak also picked up the San Francisco Cinematic Icon Award in 2012.

That same year, the star was a guest of honor at the TCM Classic Film Festival, where she spoke at a screening of Vertigo. And during a special Q&A session at the festival, Novak opened up about her bipolar diagnosis publicly for the first time. She acknowledged how her fragile mental health had made it hard to cope with the knocks of the industry. Novak confided, “I don’t think I was ever cut out to have a Hollywood life.”

Those moments of self-doubt and fragility continued to haunt her, the actress revealed in her 2021 interview with The Guardian. Novak admitted that she tried to starve herself in an attempt to look her slimmest for an appearance at the 2014 Oscars. She said, “I was just like arhhhhhhhhhh – I had no energy.” For the actress, it was yet more confirmation that Hollywood life didn’t suit her. Novak went on, “I thought, ‘I’m much too vulnerable for this town.’”

Novak wrote on her personal website, “It is so rewarding to know that my film work is receiving more acclaim with the passage of time.” With that recognition came the acceptance, it seems, that she needed to answer the call of Hollywood once more. The talent wouldn’t appear in movies, but she’d at least to present herself as Kim Novak the movie star once again.

Novak has been far more willing to make public appearances over the last 30 years – being honoured at multiple prestigious Hollywood events. Then in 2013 the fashion website asked again whether she would make a return to acting. And she replied, “Who knows what the future holds? It would take an awful lot to lure me out there, but I would never say never.”

Clearly, film acting will always have an allure for Novak, but it’s clear that her true passion is art. The star wrote on her website, “My first dream has never changed. I feel so grateful for the perspective I gained while experiencing the art of ‘make believe’ in Hollywood, and then returning to my first goal to refine my talent and paint my feeling.”