Tuesday marks the 91st birthday for Kim Novak, the star of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 film Vertigo, who walked away from Hollywood over five decades ago.
“She’s spending her birthday having a picnic on her property with friends and lots of fudge,” says her longtime manager and close friend Sue Cameron.
Life is sweet these days for Novak, who lives quietly on the Oregon coast, surrounded by her beloved horses.
In honor of her 91st birthday, read on for an interview from 2021 in which Novak shared why she left Hollywood and found her true self.
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Over 50 years ago, Kim Novak, the enigmatic star of Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, walked away from Hollywood. The woman who had once been the No. 1 box office draw in the world put her belongings in a van and drove north, first to Carmel, California and then two decades later to Oregon, to live her life as an artist.
“I had to leave to survive,” she tells PEOPLE. “It was a survival issue.”
“I lost a sense of who I truly was and what I stood for,” says Novak in a rare interview to talk about her new book, Kim Novak : Her Art and Life. published by the Butler Museum of American Art.
“I fought all the time back in Hollywood to keep my identity so you do whatever you have to do to hold on to who you are and what you stand for,” she explains.
“I’ve never done one of those tell-all books that they wanted me to do for so long, and I thought this is the kind of book I’d like to do,” she says of her art book. “Actually, I had written my autobiography and it was almost complete but I had a house fire and the house burned down and I made no copies. I just couldn’t go through it again because I had spent so much time. But it was okay because it was a catharsis just to do it.”
After starring in Picnic (1955) with William Holden, The Man With the Golden Arm (1955) and Pal Joey (1957), opposite Frank Sinatra, and Vertigo, with Jimmy Stewart, Novak was at the height of her career but still under the control of the studio.
As she writes in her book’s introduction, “I was both dazzled and disturbed to see me being packaged as a Hollywood sex symbol. However, I did win my fight over identity. I wouldn’t allow [Columbia Pictures chief] Harry Cohn to take my bohemian roots away by denying me my family name. Novak. I stood my ground and won my first major battle.”
Cohn wanted her to change her name to Kit Marlowe, telling her that audiences would be turned off by her Eastern European roots. She refused. In the late ’50s, she defied him again when she began dating singer Sammy Davis Jr. against his wishes and she fought to live her life as an independent woman.
“There was constant pressure to be seen and not heard,” writes Novak, “especially if you had a pretty face.”
“In Hollywood a lot of people assume who you are, because of the character you play, but also just because of who they expect you to be, how they expect you to dress,” she says. “It influences you because if you’re in some gorgeous sequined gown, you can’t run along the ocean and run on the beaches.”
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“I kept feeling like I was going deeper and deeper, lost in almost like a quicksand, where it’s swallowing you up, your own personality, and I’d started to wonder who I am,” she explains. “I realized needed to save myself.”
She found peace living and painting in the Rogue River Valley of Oregon and notes, “I needed the Pacific Ocean to inspire me, the animals, the beauty.”
“I wanted to live a normal life and a life with animals,” says the actress, who had always loved drawing and painting as a young girl growing up in Chicago. She was awarded two scholarships to the Chicago Art Institute before she was spotted by a talent scout on a trip to L.A. and her life changed course.
Once she left Hollywood, Novak returned to her twin passions: art and animals. “My teachers were the animals, not just dogs and cats, but other animals, horses and llamas, whom you have to meet half way, because they’re not ready to accept humans. I had to learn to win them over,” she says. “They understand a person who’s genuine so I had to become more real and that made me rely on my inner self — and that also encouraged me to paint. Everything seemed to flow from that.”
“You learn how to count on, not how you look, which is a big thing as a movie star, especially if you were recognized because of how you look,” she adds. “That can be a difficult thing when you change — but looks had nothing to do with it.”
She met second husband, Robert Malloy, an equine veterinarian, in the late ’70s, when he paid her a house call to treat one of her Arabian horses. She called him her “soul mate.” He died last December.
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“I don’t feel 87,” says Novak. “I don’t keep tract of the time. If I did, I’d be an old lady and I’m not an old lady. I’m still riding my horse. I stay as healthy as I can.”
In 2012, Novak revealed she’d been living with bipolar disorder. “I don’t mind being open about who I am because these are all characteristics which make you who you are, especially as an artist,” she says. “Now, of course, I have medication for it but the best medicine of all is art.”
She’s proud of her favorite films, including Vertigo and Bell, Book and Candle (1958), and has fond memories, especially of her friend and costar Jimmy Stewart. Says Novak: “He didn’t let Hollywood change who he was.”
“People can remember me in movies but I want them to see me as an artist,” says Novak, whose paintings were exhibited at a 2019 retrospective at the Butler Museum in Youngstown, Ohio. “What’s great about painting is, you become the director too. No one’s telling you how to do it. You get to direct the whole thing.”
“I’ve been influenced a lot by Hitchcock in my work because he did mysteries and at first glance, I want my painting to be a mystery,” she says. “I love being the director, the producer, the actor in my paintings.”
“This is who I am. I want people to see I was not just a movie star.”
Looking back, Novak says, “I’m so glad I didn’t do the tell-all book, where you write all about your love life. That wasn’t who I was. This book tells who I am. I just needed to be free.”
Girl Rejected by 15 Families Is Adopted by Single Dad, Years Later He Finds Out She’s a Millionaire…
A man battling the grief of losing his family adopts a girl with Down syndrome and gives her a loving home. Nine years later, he gets a call from a stranger and finds out the girl he adopted is a millionaire.
It was a beautiful, sunny day, and birds were chirping merrily in the skies. Nothing seemed wrong with the world outside. But for 33-year-old Brian, it was the darkest day of his life.
Brian’s loving wife, Lyra, and his only daughter, Amy, were killed in a car accident that morning. He shuddered as he rushed to the police station for identification and saw their pale faces hidden beneath thin white covers. How could God be so cruel? How could he take his family away from him?
As they were buried, Brian felt like someone had drained out the blood in his body. He couldn’t take his eyes away from the fresh mounds of Earth beneath which his wife and daughter lay, and at one point, he wished he was the one there, not them.
After losing Lyra and Amy, Brian felt his life had lost meaning. “Brian, you can’t be stuck like that. You’re young, and you have a whole life ahead of you. The living should live on,” his mom told him one day.
“Mr. Hoffman,” said the lawyer. “Trust me. You’d like to come to my office for this. There is someone you’d like to meet.”
It had been five years since Brian lost his family, but for him, it still seemed like it was only yesterday when he’d seen his wife and daughter’s pale faces. How could he move on? How could he forget that the people he loved the most were no longer with him? It wasn’t easy for him.
One day, Brian returned from work and went about his tedious routine. He sat at his desk, checking reports and completing his office work like he always did. His work kept him occupied and distracted him from his sad thoughts.
He switched the browser tab to his Facebook account, and a post about a little girl with Down syndrome suddenly appeared. Brian would have missed it if it hadn’t been for the message on the post: “…Rejected by 15 families, and yearning for a loving home. Andrea is a lovely girl with special needs and wishes for a family.”
Brian sighed and stared at the post for a few minutes. He needed a family, and so did she. Life had been cruel to both of them in different ways, and perhaps this was God’s way of finally relieving him of pain.
Brian thought about the Facebook post all night, and he wondered if she should adopt the girl. As a single father, he knew the process would be difficult, but this girl really needed a loving home, and he knew he could give her that.
“All right then,” he told himself. “I’ll try.”
The next day, Brian called the number in the Facebook post and expressed his eagerness to adopt Andrea. The woman on the other end provided him with the contact information of the social worker in charge of Andrea’s case.
A few days later, Brian saw little Andrea for the first time, and his eyes welled up. She was a lovely little girl of six, dressed in a blue floral frock and staring at him with puzzled eyes.
Sadly, she was abandoned by her single mother because of her disability. “How sad,” Brian thought to himself as she entered the room.
“Hi, Andrea,” Brian told her gently. “I’m Brian. I’m here to become your parent. Would you like to have me as your dad?”
Andrea didn’t say anything, but she smiled and nodded at him. At that moment, Brian knew he would do anything to provide her with a loving home. And he did just that.
After the exhaustive documentation process, background verification, and parenting workshops, Brian was officially Andrea’s adoptive father and his life found new meaning. They were so happy with each other, so delighted. He was happy to become a father to a little girl again, and he couldn’t have wished for more.
They celebrated her birthdays together, and Brian’s parents loved Andrea too. He tried to be the best dad to her and ensured she never missed out on anything just because she was different from other children.
Brian didn’t even realize when Andrea turned 15 years old. Nine years passed so fast, but he felt as if he had brought his little girl home only yesterday. He was so happy with the turn his life had taken.
But a few months later, things started to get tough. Due to issues at work, Brian lost his job and had to hunt for a new one. He lived off his savings while searching for a job, which proved harder than he thought.
Eventually, things got to the point where he didn’t have enough money for basic necessities. He had to move to a smaller house and was struggling to make ends meet. But one day, help appeared out of nowhere.
Brian received a call from a man claiming to be Andrea’s mother’s lawyer.
“Yeah, so? What do you have to do with my child now?” Brian said angrily. “That woman abandoned my daughter right after birth, and you think I’d be willing to talk to you now?”
“Mr. Hoffman,” said the lawyer. “Trust me. You’d like to come to my office for this. As Andrea’s legal guardian, you will be receiving her mother’s million-dollar legacy on her behalf. And there is someone you should also meet. I’ll send you all the information following the call. I hope to see you this Friday,” he said and hung up.
Brian was understandably shocked. Why did Andrea’s mother leave her such a sizable inheritance if she wanted nothing to do with her child?
That Friday, Brian visited the lawyer’s office and met an old man there who turned out to be Andrea’s grandfather. He said he had no idea about his granddaughter until his daughter was on her deathbed, taking her last breath.
“Andrea,” she’d whispered, as she took his hand in hers. “Her name is Andrea…”
“I’ve missed out on so many years with my granddaughter,” he told Brian sadly. “I’d like to be there for her. I know you took her in legally, but I just want to be there for my grandchild. My daughter regretted abandoning her child in her final days… She was aware of her blunder, which is why she left her assets to her.”
Brian was more than happy to know Andrea had a family. In fact, he didn’t want to separate a granddaughter from her grandad.
Brian would soon take Andrea to her grandfather’s house regularly, so they could spend time together. And with the inheritance money, he paid off his debts and moved into a larger home while saving a considerable amount for Andrea’s future studies.
When he would visit Andrea’s mother’s grave sometimes, he felt a sense of relief in his heart. It made him believe she is content that her daughter had a good life and a loving home.
What can we learn from this story?
The ones who can give love always receive love. Brian was shattered after losing his family, but he still had a lot of love left in his heart. He gave that love to little Andrea, who returned it and became his new family.
You establish a family through love, not necessarily through blood. While Andrea’s biological mother abandoned her shortly after birth, Brian took her in and raised her with love.
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