Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy, born Myrna Adele Williams on August 2, 1905, in Helena, Montana, was an American actress whose career spanned film, television, and stage. Her father, David Franklin Williams, worked as a banker, real estate developer, and farmland appraiser in Helena and served as the youngest man ever elected to the Montana state legislature. Her mother, Adelle Mae Williams, had studied music at the American Conservatory of Music in Chicago. Loy grew up in the rural mining community of Radersburg, Montana, before the family relocated to Helena. Following her father's death during the 1918 flu pandemic, her mother permanently moved the family to Culver City, California.

Loy began studying dance in early adolescence and attended Venice High School after her previous school objected to her involvement in theatrical arts. By age fifteen she was appearing in local stage productions. In 1921 she posed for sculptor Harry Fielding Winebrenner as the central figure in his allegorical work Fountain of Education, installed at Venice High School in 1923. She left school at eighteen to help support her family, taking work at Grauman's Egyptian Theatre performing in musical prologues before feature films. During this period, portrait photographer Henry Waxman photographed her, and those images drew the attention of Rudolph Valentino, who was seeking a leading lady for his independent production Cobra. Though the role went to another actress, the connection led to further opportunities. Production designer Natacha Rambova cast Loy in a small role in What Price Beauty?, and stills from that film secured her a contract with Warner Bros., where her surname was changed from Williams to Loy.

Her early screen roles cast her predominantly as a vamp or femme fatale, frequently portraying characters of Asian or Eurasian descent. Her career trajectory shifted substantially with her portrayal of Nora Charles in The Thin Man in 1934, a role she would reprise five additional times. The part established her reputation as an actress capable of both dramatic and comedic work. Her output in the 1940s included The Thin Man Goes Home, The Best Years of Our Lives, The Bachelor and the Bobby-Soxer, and Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House. In 1950 she appeared in a lead role in the comedy Cheaper by the Dozen, followed by supporting roles in The Ambassador's Daughter in 1956 and the drama Lonelyhearts in 1958. She appeared in eight films between 1960 and 1981, after which she retired from screen acting.

Beyond her film work, Loy maintained a stage career that included Broadway appearances spanning 1963 to 1973. She starred in Barefoot in the Park and also appeared in The Old Women during that period. During World War II, she served as assistant to the director of military and naval welfare for the Red Cross, and she later served as a member-at-large of the U.S. Commission to UNESCO. Although she received no Academy Award nominations during her career, she was presented with an Honorary Academy Award in March 1991 in recognition of her body of work both onscreen and in public service. In 2009, The Guardian named her among the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination. Loy died on December 14, 1993, in New York City, at the age of eighty-eight.