Line #42 Creator/MyrnaLoy


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/myrna_loy.jpeg]]
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3	->''"They say the movies should be more like life; I think life should be more like the movies."''
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5	Myrna Loy (born Myrna Adele Williams; August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was one of the greatest film actresses of MediaNotes/ThePreCodeEra and MediaNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfHollywood. Over a 50-year career, she started out by playing exotic sexual temptresses, before moving on to wisecracking ScrewballComedy heroines, and then playing nurturing wives and mothers.
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7	Loy was born in Helena, UsefulNotes/{{Montana}}, the daughter of cattle ranchers. As a child, she took dancing lessons. After her father's death in the [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu influenza pandemic]] of 1918, her mother took the family to Southern California. By 1925 Loy started getting parts in silent films. Her exotic good looks often led her to be cast as TheVamp (and sometimes in {{Yellowface}} as well), and she continued to get such parts after making the transition to sound.
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9	A career slump in the early '30s was turned around when Loy got the lead female role in ''Film/ManhattanMelodrama''. This film is remembered for two reasons. First, it was the film that UsefulNotes/JohnDillinger went to see right before he was murdered by the FBI outside a Chicago theater (Loy was displeased by [[OvershadowedByControversy the macabre publicity later associated]] with the film). Second, it was the first film that Loy made with co-star Creator/WilliamPowell. Powell and Loy would soon become one of the most famous ThoseTwoActors pairs of all time, starring together in ''fourteen'' films in the 1930s and '40s.
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11	Another Powell-and-Loy film, released that same year (1934), became the movie which both of them are best remembered for. ''Film/TheThinMan'', with Powell and Loy as a wisecracking married couple who have to solve a murder, was thought by [[Creator/MetroGoldwynMayer MGM]] to be a low-budget BMovie. But it became a colossal hit, getting an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for Best Picture and establishing Powell and Loy as stars of the first magnitude. Five more ''Thin Man'' pictures would follow, albeit to [[{{Sequelitis}} diminishing returns in later installments]]. During this period, Loy came to be nicknamed "The Perfect Wife", for her ability to work in tandem with whatever leading man she was paired with.
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13	''Film/TheGreatZiegfeld'', in which Loy starred as Billie Burke opposite Powell as Florenz Ziegfeld, won the Oscar for Best Picture of 1936. More hit films followed before Loy mostly left acting behind to work in support of the American war effort in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII. ''Film/TheBestYearsOfOurLives'', one of the first films Loy made after the war, became the second film she appeared in to win Best Picture. She managed to find sporadic work as she aged, mostly in television; her final big-screen appearance was in 1980. Her well-regarded autobiography, ''Myrna Loy: Being and Becoming'', was published in 1987.
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15	In one of Hollywood's more egregious {{Award Snub}}s, Loy was never so much as nominated for any competitive Academy Awards during her career -- not even for ''The Best Years of Our Lives'', which got nominations for almost everyone else involved -- but she did receive an [[ConsolationAward honorary Oscar]] two years before her death in 1993.
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18	!!Filmography on TV Tropes:
19	[[foldercontrol]]
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21	[[folder:Film roles]]
22	* ''[[Film/BenHur1925 Ben-Hur]]'' (1925) as Slave Girl ({{uncredited\|role}} bit part)
23	* ''Film/{{Don Juan\|1926}}'' (1926) as Mai
24	* ''Film/TheJazzSinger'' (1927) as Chorus Girl (uncredited bit part)
25	* ''Literature/{{Arrowsmith}}'' (1931) as Joyce Lanyon
26	* ''Film/LoveMeTonight'' (1932) as Countess Valentine
27	* ''Film/ThirteenWomen'' (1932) as Ursula Georgi
28	* ''Film/TheMaskOfFuManchu'' (1932) as Fah Lo See
29	* ''Film/TheAnimalKingdom'' (1932) as Cecilia
30	* ''Film/{{Topaze}}'' (1933) as Coco
31	* ''Film/TheBarbarian'' (1933) as Diana Standing
32	* ''Film/WhenLadiesMeet'' (1933) as Mary Howard
33	* ''Theatre/MenInWhite'' (1934) as Laura Hudson
34	* ''Film/ManhattanMelodrama'' (1934) as Eleanor
35	* ''Film/TheThinMan'' (1934) as Nora Charles
36	** ''Film/AfterTheThinMan'' (1936) as Nora Charles
37	** ''Film/AnotherThinMan'' (1939) as Nora Charles
38	** ''Film/ShadowOfTheThinMan'' (1941) as Nora Charles
39	** ''The Thin Man Goes Home'' (1945) as Nora Charles
40	** ''Song of the Thin Man'' (1947) as Nora Charles
41	* ''Film/EvelynPrentice'' (1934) as Evelyn Prentice
42	* ''Film/BroadwayBill'' (1934) as Alice Higgins
43	* ''Film/{{Whipsaw}}'' (1935) as Vivian Palmer
44	* ''Film/WifeVsSecretary'' (1936) as Linda Stanhope
45	* ''Film/TheGreatZiegfeld'' (1936) as Creator/BillieBurke
46	* ''Film/LibeledLady'' (1936) as Connie Allenbury
47	* ''Film/DoubleWedding'' (1937) as Margit Agnew
48	* ''Film/TestPilot'' (1938) as Ann Thurston Barton
49	* ''Film/ILoveYouAgain'' (1940) as Kay Wilson
50	* ''Film/ThirdFingerLeftHand'' (1940) as Margot Sherwood Merrick
51	* ''Film/LoveCrazy'' (1941) as Susan Ireland
52	* ''Film/TheBestYearsOfOurLives'' (1946) as Millie Stephenson
53	* ''Film/TheBachelorAndTheBobbySoxer'' (1947) as Judge Margaret Turner
54	* ''Film/TheSenatorWasIndiscreet'' (1947) as Mrs. Melvin G. Ashton (uncredited cameo)
55	* ''Literature/MrBlandingsBuildsHisDreamHouse'' (1948) as Muriel Blandings
56	* ''Literature/TheRedPony'' (1949) as Alice Tiflin
57	* ''Literature/CheaperByTheDozen'' (1950) as Lillian Gilbreth
58	** ''Literature/BellesOnTheirToes'' (1952) as Lillian Gilbreth
59	* ''Film/TheAmbassadorsDaughter'' (1956) as Mrs. Cartwright
60	* ''Film/FromTheTerrace'' (1960) as Martha Eaton
61	* ''Film/MidnightLace'' (1960) as Aunt Bea
62	* ''[[Film/{{Airport}} Airport '75]]'' (1975) as Mrs. Devaney
63	* ''Film/TheEnd'' (1978) as Maureen Lawson
64	[[/folder]]
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66	[[folder:Television roles]]
67	* ''Film/MeetMeInStLouis'' (TV movie, 1959) as Mrs. Anna Smith
68	* ''Series/FamilyAffair'' (1 episode, 1967) as Adele
69	* ''Series/TheVirginian'' (1 episode, 1967) as Mrs. Miles
70	* ''Film/DeathTakesAHoliday'' (TV movie, 1971) as Selena Chapman
71	* ''Series/{{Columbo}}'' ([[Recap/ColumboS02E01 1 episode]], 1972) as Lizzy Fielding
72	* ''Series/{{Ironside\|1967}}'' (1 episode, 1973) as Andrea Wollcott
73	[[/folder]]
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76	!!Tropes that apply to her career:
77	* BillingDisplacement: She's given top billing in ''Film/TheBestYearsOfOurLives'', even though her character Milly is a supporting one. It's thought that this was the reason she didn't get an Oscar nomination - as a star of her calibre could not have been put into the Best Supporting Actress category.
78	* ContractualObligationProject: She was only allowed to star in ''Film/TheThinMan'' if they could shoot it in three weeks so she could star in ''Stamboul Quest''.
79	* CreatorBacklash: ''Film/TheMaskOfFuManchu'' was the last straw for her, and she began to push for better roles than the 'exotic' ones she was forced into. She especially took exception to the scene where Fa Loh See appears to be getting off on Terry being whipped.
80	* CreatorsApathy: She admitted in her autobiography to deliberately chewing the scenery in ''Film/TheMaskOfFuManchu'' because she found the material so ridiculous.
81	* {{Housewife}}: Many of her characters. She was even nicknamed 'The Perfect Wife'.
82	* IronyAsSheIsCast: She was often typecast as mothers and housewives, while in real life, in her own words:
83	-->Some perfect wife I am. I've been married four times, divorced four times, have no children, and can't boil an egg.
84	* LeslieNielsenSyndrome: She began her career playing {{Ms Fanservice}}s in films that were usually adventure, horror or some form of pulp. She later achieved stardom in light comedies.
85	* PlaysGreatEthnics: Even though she was a redhead of Welsh descent, she spent her early career playing Asians, Mexicans, Indians and general 'exotic' roles.
86	* StarMakingRole: ''Film/TheThinMan'' definitely saw her becoming more famous, and allowed her to transition away from her vampy exotic roles.
87	* ThoseTwoActors: Fourteen films with Creator/WilliamPowell.
88	* {{Yellowface}}: Apparently looked "exotic" enough to be pushed into this role before she became famous. It later became OldShame for her.

Context Creator / MyrnaLoy