Veronica Lake (1919 - 1973)

Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake is proof that it takes only one or two great films to make a timeless screen legend. Working steadily for just a five-year period or so in the early to mid-1940's, Lake has nonetheless gone on to become an iconic figure in Hollywood history, and the irresistible charm and undeniable beauty dislayed in her best work, justifies the eternal fame.

Biography

She was born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in New York in November, 1919. Her father died in an accident when she was 10 and after her mother remarried she took her stepfather's name and became Constance Keane. The family moved several times, ending up in Florida and Constance began entering beauty contests becoming well known as a local Miami beauty. She moved with her mother and stepfather to Beverley Hills, where she enrolled in the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting. She first appeared on screen in a small role in the 1939 film, 'Sorority House' followed by similar roles in 'All Women Have Secrets' and 'Dancing Co-Ed'.

In 1940 Constance continued her movie education, both at Bliss-Hayden and with small roles in two more movies, 'Young as You Feel' and '40 Little Mothers'. In the same year she married art director John Detlie and gave birth to a daughter Elaine the following year.

Up to this time, her movie billing had been under her natural name of Constance Keane but with her next movie, as William Holden's love interest in 'I Wanted Wings' in 1941, she became far better known and was advised to change her name. She had just signed a contract with Paramount and one of their top producers, Arthur Hornblow, suggested "Lake" for the blueness of her eyes, and "Veronica" because of her classic beauty.

With her new name and a comedic lead in Preston Sturges's classic 'Sullivan's Travels' later in 1941 Veronica immediately rocketed to Hollywood and national stardom, becoming World War II's defining platinum blonde and for the next few years she was one of the biggest box-iffice draws in Hollywood, with starring roles in popular movies such as 'This Gun for Hire', 'I Married a Witch', and 'The Glass Key' in 1942 and 'So Proudly We Hail!', a box-office smash hit in 1943 with Claudette Colbert.

Her famous 'peek-a-boo bang' hairstyle became so imitated that the US government asked her to pin it back because they feared female factory workers would have their tresses entangled in equipment.

Just when it seemed she could do no wrong, things started to go seriously downhill for Veronica. In July 1943 her second child was born prematurely and died after one week and at the end of the year her first marriage had ended in divorce. Her 1944 film 'The Hour Before Dawn' in which she played a Nazi sympathiser, opened to scathing reviews. Sadly, she seemed to burn out just as fast as she had risen. Only 'I Married a Witch' in 1942 used her natural comedic talents as effectively as the earlier Sturges movie, and Paramount began to cast her in some very mediocre films which wasted her talent, such as 'Hold That Blonde', and 'Out of This World' in 1945, and 'Miss Susie Slagle's' in the following year. Her only other career highlights are some of the film noir thrillers she starred in alongside her equally diminutive co-star Alan Ladd, most notably 'The Blue Dahlia' in 1946, her last success.

Lake was developing a reputation for being difficult to work with and had started drinking heavily. Her second marriage in 1944 to film director Andre De Toth did nothing to help her. They had a son, Andre in 1945, and a daughter, Diana in 1948. Her new husband took over the management of her career but with a notable lack of success. Her drinking increased and De Toth, who was reportedly a violent man, did not encourage her to seek medical help.

Many of her co-stars such as Fredric March and Alan Ladd actively disliked her and, after a string of flops, in 1948 she was dropped by Paramount Pictures. She appeared intermittently in a few mediocre films such as 'Slattery's Hurricane' in 1949 and 'Stronghold' in 1951, but by then her career had collapsed. She filed for bankruptcy and the marrige ended in divorce. The remainder of her assets were seized by the IRS for unpaid taxes.

Lake retreated to TV and theater, but found little success in those arenas. In 1955 she married for a third time, to a songwriter, Joseph A. McCarthy. After breaking her ankle in 1959 she was no longer able to find acting work. She and McCarthy divorced and she drifted further into alcoholism, She was several times arrested for public drunkenness and then virtually disappeared from the public eye.

In the 1960's, she was found living in a crumbling hotel and working as a cocktail waitress. The publicity generated enabled her to briefly resurrect her performing career and she appeared several times on television finally returning to movies in 1966 in the very forgettable 'Footsteps in the Snow'.

In the late 1960's she published her autobiography 'Veronica' which was well received and in which she described her struggle with alcoholism and mental illness. The proceeds enabled her co-finance and star in one more film, the low budget horror movie 'Flesh Feast' in 1970 but the film was not successful.

Lake moved to England in the early 1970s, and married for the fourth time but again the marriage failed and she returned to America in 1973. Her physical and mental condition had worsened considerably and she was immediately hospitalized.

Veronica Lake died of hepatitis on July 7, 1973, in Burlington, Vermont. She was 53.