Myrna Loy: Summary

Recent Role:: Herself on Biography

Gender:: Female

Birthday:: 8-2-1905

Death:: 12-14-1993

Birthplace:: Raidersburg, Montana

Birth Name:: Myrna Adele Williams

AKA:: Caterina Williams, Myrna Hornblower

Myrna Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905 in Raidersburg, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Helena where she spent her youth. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of influenza and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls where she first became interested in acting. At the age of 15, she appeared in local stage productions to help support her family. Some of the stage plays were held in the now famous Grauman's Theater in Hollywood. Mrs. Rudolph Valentino happened to be in the audience one night and she helped Myrna get some parts in the motion picture industry. In 1925, she starred in her first film, What Price Beauty in 1925. Then she appeared with Joan Crawford in Pretty Ladies later that year.She began her film career as an exotic vamp, but during the sound era she would become a refined, wholesome character.

She had been unable to get a studio contract, but after appearing in Satan in Sables in 1926 that changed. She won a studio contract with Warner Bros and starred in her first film as a contract player in a,font color="orange">The Caveman. The roles she was offered at Warners Bro. were small and cast her in vamp like roles. Her first starring role was in Bitter Apples (1927). But, after Bitter Apples she went back to only getting small, vamplike roles. When her contract ran out at Warner Bros., she signed a contract with MGM where she won two plum roles. One was in the The Prizefighter and the Lady and the other as Nora Charles in The Thin Man with William Powell. After The Thin Man, Myrna would appear in five more in the series. In 1936, she was named "Queen of the Movies" and Clark Gable "The King" in a nationwide poll of movie goers.

She made films at a slower rate during the 1940's and 1950's. In the 1960's she appeared in MIDNIGHT LACE (1960) and in THE APRIL FOOLS (1969). In the 1970's she appeared in many TV movies. In 1982, she starred in her last film called Summer Solstice.She was awarded an Oscar for her body of work in 1991. Offscreen she was never associated with the world of Hollywood glamour and scandal, but she did have a lively social conscience and during the McCarthy era she was among the few actors who protested the treatment of actors by the House Committee on Un-American Activities.Myrna died from complications from surgery on December 14, 1993, at the age of 88. Myrna Loy was born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905 in Raidersburg, Montana. Her father was the youngest person ever elected to the Montana State legislature. Later on her family moved to Helena where she spent her youth. At the age of 13, Myrna's father died of influenza and the rest of the family moved to Los Angeles. She was educated in L.A. and the Westlake School for Girls...