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Veronica Lake!

Veronica Lake (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973) was an American film actress and pin-up model who enjoyed both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her femme fatale roles in film noir with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, as well as her peek-a-boo hairstyle. Her success did not last. Following a string of broken marriages and long struggles with mental illness and alcoholism, she died of hepatitis.

Her breakthrough film was I Wanted Wings in 1941, a major hit in which Lake played the second female lead and was said to have stolen scene after scene from the rest of the cast. This success was followed by Hold Back the Dawn later that year. She had starring roles in more popular movies, including Sullivan's Travels, This Gun for Hire, I Married a Witch, The Glass Key, and So Proudly We Hail!. Looking back at her career years later, Lake remarked, "I never did cheesecake; I just used my hair."

For a short time during the early 1940s, Lake was considered one of the most reliable box office draws in Hollywood. She became known for onscreen pairings with actor Alan Ladd. At first, the couple was teamed together merely out of physical necessity: Ladd was just 5 feet 5 inches (1.65 m) tall and the only actress then on the Paramount lot short enough to pair with him was Lake, who stood just 4 feet 11½ inches (1.51 m). They made four films together.

A stray lock of her shoulder-length blonde hair during a publicity photo shoot led to her iconic "peekaboo" hairstyle, which was widely imitated. During World War II, she changed her trademark image to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical, safer hairstyles.

Although popular with the public, Lake acquired a reputation as a "difficult" actress. Nonetheless, in So Proudly We Hail!, Lake good-naturedly took part in a song lampooning her hair style, "A Sweater, A Sarong and a Peekaboo Bang", performed with Paulette Goddard and Dorothy Lamour.

Lake's career stumbled with her unsympathetic role as Nazi sympathizer Dora Bruckman in 1944's The Hour Before the Dawn. During filming, she tripped on a lighting cable while pregnant and began hemorrhaging. She recovered, but her second child, William, was born prematurely on July 8, 1943, dying a week later from uremic poisoning. By the end of 1943, her first marriage ended in divorce. Meanwhile, scathing reviews of The Hour Before Dawn included criticism of her unconvincing German accent.

Lake was earning $4,500 per week under her contract with Paramount. 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 Ladd. During filming, screenplay writer Raymond Chandler reportedly referred to her as "Moronica Lake". Paramount decided not to renew her contract in 1948.

She married film director Andre De Toth in 1944 and had a son, Andre Anthony Michael De Toth, known as Michael De Toth (October 25, 1945 - February 24, 1991), and a daughter, Diana De Toth (born October 16, 1948). Lake was later sued by her own mother for support.

After a single film for 20th Century Fox, Slattery's Hurricane (1949), her career collapsed. By the end of 1951, she had appeared in one last film (Stronghold, which she later described as "a dog"), filed for bankruptcy, and divorced de Toth. The IRS seized the remainder of her assets for unpaid taxes. Lake turned to television and stage work, and in 1955, married songwriter Joseph A. McCarthy.

Lake was unable to continue working as an actress. She and McCarthy divorced, after which she drifted between cheap hotels in Brooklyn and New York City and was arrested several times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct. A New York Post reporter found her working as a barmaid at the all-women's Martha Washington Hotel in Manhattan. At first, Veronica claimed that she was a guest at the hotel and covering for a friend. Soon afterward, she admitted that she was employed at the bar. The reporter's widely distributed story 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 in Footsteps in the Snow.

Her physical and mental health declined steadily. By the late 1960s, Lake was in Hollywood, Florida, apparently immobilized by paranoia (which included claims she was being stalked by the FBI).

When Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake (Bantam, 1972) was published, she promoted the book with a memorable hour-long interview on The Dick Cavett Show. With the proceeds, she co-produced and starred in her last film, Flesh Feast (1970), a very low budget horror movie. She then moved to the UK, where she had a short-lived marriage with an "English sea captain", Robert Carleton-Munro, before returning to the U.S. in 1973, having filed for divorce.

Lake was apparently estranged from her three surviving children, particularly her daughters. Elaine Detlie became known as Ani Sangge Lhamo after becoming a member of the Subud faith in New Zealand. Diana became a secretary for the American Embassy and lived in Rome in the 1970s. Michael De Toth stayed with his mother on and off through the 1960s and 1970s. He married Edwina Mae Niecke. When Lake died, he claimed her body.

Lake died on July 7, 1973 of hepatitis and acute renal failure in Montreal. Her body was moved to Vermont by her last lover, Nat Perlow, who told border agents that she was just sleeping. This had been Lake's wish, as she did not want the public to know that she had died in Montreal, the "Sin City of the North".

Her ashes were scattered off the Virgin Islands. In 2004, some of Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store. Her son Michael died on February 24, 1991, aged 45, in Olympia, Washington.

Lake has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6918 Hollywood Boulevard for her contributions to the motion picture industry.

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Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Did you know that....

In the 1940's, minimum wage was .43 cents!

In 1941, The Andrews Sisters record their smash hit, “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy” for Decca Records. It became a classic throughout World War II, making them one of the most prominent female singing groups of all-time!

During the war paper was in short supply and a household was rationed to only one toilet roll a week!