Veronica
Lake, born Constance Frances Marie Ockleman, also known
as Constance Keane (14 November 1922, Brooklyn, New
York – 7 July 1973, Colchester, Vermont) was a
popular American film actress and pin-up model who achieved
wide fame and critical praise, especially for her film
noir roles during the 1940s. Described by Bette Davis
as "the most beautiful person who ever came to
Hollywood," her success was fleeting and after
a string of broken marriages and long struggles with
mental illness and alcoholism she died destitute and
friendless at the age of 50.
Early life and career
Constance's father worked on a ship for an oil company.
When she was about a year old the family moved to
Florida but had returned to Brooklyn before she was
five. According to some accounts she was beaten as
a child. Her father died in an industrial explosion
when she was 12. Her mother married Anthony Keane
a year later and Constance began using his last name.
They are said to have lived in Canada, New York state
and Miami, Florida where she graduated from high school.
A troubled teenager, she had been diagnosed as a paranoid
schizophrenic during her childhood at a time when
therapy for such conditions was usually limited to
long-term institutionalization. Having already achieved
minor celebrity in Miami for her beauty, in 1938 Constance
moved with her mother and step-father to Beverly Hills,
California where Mrs. Keane enrolled her daughter
in Hollywood's Bliss Hayden School of Acting.Her first
appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small
a role among several coeds in Sorority House (1939).
Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets
and Dancing Co-Ed. However her contract was dropped
by RKO. She married art director John Detlie in 1940.
Another small role in the comedy movie 40 Little Mothers
brought unexpected attention and in 1941 she was signed
to a long term contract by Paramount Pictures, was
given her stage name Veronica Lake and on August 21
gave birth to a daughter, Elaine Detlie
An icon of the 1940s
Her breakthrough film was I Wanted Wings (1941), a
major hit in which she had the second female lead
and was said to have stolen scene after scene from
the rest of the cast. This success was followed by
another, Hold Back the Dawn (1941). She was soon noted
as a witty, intelligent and trend-setting actress
and had starring roles in more popular movies including
Sullivan's Travels (1941), This Gun for Hire (1942),
I Married a Witch (1942, later used as a basis for
the 1960s hit television series Bewitched), The Glass
Key (1942) and So Proudly We Hail! (1943).For a short
time during the early 1940s Veronica Lake was considered
one of the most reliable box office draws in Hollywood
and was also known for her onscreen pairings with
actor Alan Ladd. A stray lock of hair during a publicity
photo shoot led to her iconic peekaboo hairstyle which
hid one eye with her shoulder-length blonde hair and
was widely imitated. During World War II she changed
her trademark image as a publicity move to encourage
women working in war industry factories to adopt more
practical hairstyles. Some critics have speculated
that the loss of her peekaboo look diminished the
mystery and allure of her on screen image, damaging
her box office appeal. Given the fickle nature of
movie audiences there could have been some truth to
this initially but other factors were at work.
Although widely popular with the public,
Lake had a complex personality and professionally
she had developed a reputation for being difficult
to work with. Eddie Bracken, her co-star in Star Spangled
Rhythm (1942), was quoted as saying "She was
known as The Bitch and she deserved the title."
However, in that same movie Lake took part in a song
lampooning her own hair style, "A Sweater, A
Sarong and a Peekaboo Bang."
Lake's career stumbled with her role
as Nazi sympathizer Dora Bruckman in The Hour Before
Dawn (released in 1944). During filming she had tripped
on a lighting cable and her second child was born
prematurely on July 8, 1943. William Detlie died a
week later from uremic poisoning and there are indications
she may have deliberately attempted to miscarry him.
By the end of 1943 her first marriage had ended in
divorce. Meanwhile scathingly poor reviews of The
Hour Before Dawn included criticism of her unconvincing
German accent which was also said to have interfered
disasterously with her acting. Nevertheless Lake was
making $4500 per week under her contract with Paramount
when she married director André de Toth in
1944. Their son, André Michael de Toth III,
was born October 25, 1945. Lake is said to have begun
drinking more heavily during this period and people
began plainly refusing to work with her. She had been
seeing psychiatrists for years but de Toth didn't
approve and according to a published account, once
suggested Constance spend the $50 she would otherwise
pay for a doctor’s appointment on a new hat.
Meanwhile Paramount cast Lake in a string of mostly
forgotten films. A notable exception was The Blue
Dahlia (1946) in which she again co-starred with Alan
Ladd (who reportedly was less than fond of her) but
Paramount decided not to renew her contract in 1948.
Tragic spiral
Her fourth child, Diana de Toth, was
born October 16, 1948. Lake was also sued by her mother
for support payments that year. After a single film
for 20th Century Fox her career collapsed catastrophically.
By the end of 1952 she had appeared in one last film
(Stronghold, which she later described as "a
dog") had filed for bankruptcy and divorced de
Toth. The IRS siezed what was left for unpaid taxes.
Lake resorted to television and stage work and in
1955 married songwriter Joseph A. McCarthy.
After severely breaking her ankle
in 1959 Lake was unable to continue working as an
actress. She and McCarthy divorced and she drifted
between cheap hotels in Brooklyn and New York City
and was arrested several times for public drunkness
and disorderly conduct. A reporter eventually ran
across her working as a barmaid (with easy access
to alcohol) and wrote a widely distributed story which
led to some television and stage appearances. In 1966
she had a brief stint as a TV hostess in Baltimore,
Maryland along with a largely ignored film role (Footsteps
in the Snow). Her physical and mental health declined
steadily and by the late 1960s Lake was in Hollywood,
Florida, apparently immobilized by paranoia (which
included claims she was being stalked by the FBI).
She published her autobiography Veronica
amid much publicity and positive reviews. With the
proceeds Lake co-produced and starred in her last
film, Flesh Feast (1970), a very low budget horror
movie with a Nazi-myth storyline. She then moved to
the UK where she had a short-lived marriage with "English
sea captain" Robert Carelton-Munro before returning
to the US in 1973, having filed for divorce. Lake
was immediately hospitalized and although she is said
to have made a cheerful and positive impression on
the nurses who cared for her, she had no guests or
visitors and was again financially destitute. Lake
was 53 when she died of hepatitis and acute renal
failure (complications of her alcoholism) near Burlington,
Vermont. Her ashes were scattered off the Virgin Islands.
Veronica Lake has a star on the Hollywood
Walk of Fame at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions
to the motion picture industry.
Quotes
"I wasn't a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie."
"You could put all the talent
I had into your left eye and still not suffer from
impaired vision."
"I've reached a point in my life
where it's the little things that matter... I was
always a rebel and probably could have got much farther
had I changed my attitude. But when you think about
it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I'm
happier with that." (1970)
Trivia
She was reportedly only 4' 11" tall (although
some accounts place her height two or three inches
higher). According to Celebrity Sleuth magazine, Lake
said her "measurements" were 33C - 21 1/2
- 33 1/2.
The name of Archie comics character Veronica Lodge
is remarkably similar to Veronica Lake, who was in
the throes of her early celebrity when the comic book
character was introduced in the spring of 1942.
Veronica Lake is also the name of a fictional lake
located near the small town of Frostbite Falls, Minnesota
(a parody of International Falls) on the animated
Rocky and Bullwinkle Show.
Many women are said to have damaged their hair while
trying to imitate her platinum blonde color during
the 1940s.
She learned to fly in 1946 and flew her small plane
from Los Angeles to New York in 1948.
Her close friendship with actress Rita Beery, former
wife of actor Wallace Beery, has led to unconfirmed
rumours she experimented with lesbianism.
In 1997 the Academy Award-winning film L.A. Confidential
paid homage to Lake's image and manner through Kim
Basinger's starring role in an adaptation of James
Ellroy's crime novel set in early 1950s Los Angeles.
One scene even included a fragment from This Gun for
Hire screening in the background.
A somewhat bizarre twist came in 2004 when some of
Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique
store.
Filmography
Sorority House (1939)
The Wrong Room (1939) (short subject)
Dancing Co-Ed (1939)
All Women Have Secrets (1939)
Young as You Feel (1940)
Forty Little Mothers (1940)
I Wanted Wings (1941)
Hold Back the Dawn (1941) (Cameo)
Sullivan's Travels (1941)
The Eyes Have It (1942) (short subject)
This Gun for Hire (1942)
The Glass Key (1942)
I Married a Witch (1942)
Star Spangled Rhythm (1942)
So Proudly We Hail! (1943)
The Hour Before the Dawn (1944)
Bring on the Girls (1945)
Out of This World (1945)
Duffy's Tavern (1945) (Cameo)
Hold That Blonde (1945)
Miss Susie Slagle's (1946)
The Blue Dahlia (1946)
Ramrod (1947)
Variety Girl (1947) (Cameo)
Saigon (1948)
The Sainted Sisters (1948)
Isn't It Romantic? (1948)
Slattery's Hurricane (1949)
Stronghold (1951)
Footsteps in the Snow (1966)
Flesh Feast (1970)
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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