Myrna Loy: The Only Good Girl in Hollywood [Hardcover]

Emily W. Leider (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 3, 2011

From the beginning, Myrna Loy's screen image conjured mystery, a sense of something withheld. "Who is she?" was a question posed in the first fan magazine article published about her in 1925. This first ever biography of the wry and sophisticated actress best known for her role as Nora Charles, wife to dapper detective William Powell in The Thin Man, offers an unprecedented picture of her life and an extraordinary movie career that spanned six decades. Opening with Loy's rough-and-tumble upbringing in Montana, the book takes us to Los Angeles in the 1920s, where Loy's striking looks caught the eye of Valentino, through the silent and early sound era to her films of the thirties, when Loy became a top box office draw, and to her robust post-World War II career. Throughout, Emily W. Leider illuminates the actress's friendships with luminaries such as Cary Grant, Clark Gable, and Joan Crawford and her collaborations with the likes of John Barrymore, David O. Selznick, Sam Goldwyn, and William Wyler, among many others. This highly engaging biography offers a fascinating slice of studio era history and gives us the first full picture of a very private woman who has often been overlooked despite her tremendous star power.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"A top-notch biography of a great performer. . . . Highly recommended."--Choice

"A crisp, smart biography."--Washington Post

"Loy's gifts are easy to enjoy, hard to describe. She's been lucky in attracting an even-tempered sympathetic biographer like Ms. Leider, whose book, like the best of its genre, sends you back to the films."--Wall Street Journal

"This is a must read for anyone who is a Myrna Loy fan."--San Francisco Book Review / Sacramento Book Review

"Reveals the shy, warm, and modest figure behind the image of the cool, chic urbanite. . . . Leider's books are smart and witty trips through the lives of her subjects, and this work is no exception."--Library Journal

From the Inside Flap

"Myrna Loy has found an ideal biographer in Emily Leider, a gifted writer who loves film history and knows how to mine the field for the kind of details that help her paint a full and rounded picture of her subject." --Leonard Maltin, film critic/historian

"A masterful tribute to MGM's subtlest star."--David Stenn, author of Bombshell: The Life and Death of Jean Harlow

"Finally, a biography worthy of Myrna Loy--a smart, fascinating book about a smart, fascinating woman."--Eve Golden, author of Platinum Girl: The Life and Legends of Jean Harlow

"This first biography of Myrna Loy is so conscientiously researched, so closely written in detail and intelligent style that there will be no need for a second. Emily Leider documents both the woman and the actress: the early years in Montana and the multiple and sometimes foolish marriages of the former, and the development of the latter from exotic silent player to sophisticated lead in the Thin Man series to everyone's image of a proud, understanding middle-class wife in the 1940s and beyond."--Anthony Slide, author of Inside the Hollywood Fan Magazine: A History of Star Makers, Fabricators, and Gossip Mongers

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 424 pages
• Publisher: University of California Press; 1 edition (October 3, 2011)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0520253205
• ISBN-13: 978-0520253209
• Product Dimensions: 9.6 x 6.3 x 1.5 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (17 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #391,528 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 55 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Elegantly written and incredibly informative October 18, 2011

By Donna Hill

Format:Hardcover

One wishes they could write as elegantly and as engagingly as Emily Leider does about the subject of her latest biography, Myrna Loy. Leider's impeccable research coupled with her elegant prose make for a thoroughly enjoyable read.

Myrna Loy is a much beloved star from Hollywood's golden age. Publicity at the time declared her to be a perfect wife on screen and it was assumed she was as much off screen as well. Leider informs us this was not the case. Leider chronicles Loy's life and film career with just the right touch. There is a nice balance between the biography and the chronicle of the film career. Leider's prose, in so many ways, reflects or mimics the manner, the lightness, the quirkiness of Loy's own voice as she tosses off quips with William Powell. It's a pure delight to read.

Loy's life was very full and really devoid of scandal like so many other stars of the day. Perhaps this might make people overlook Loy as the subject of a biography. They should not, Leider's excellent detective work uncovers some secrets that Loy kept under wraps or only hinted at in Loy's own excellent autobiography Being and Becoming. Leider also fills us all in on Loy's interesting life as an activist. Myrna Loy was really much more, much deeper than Nora Charles and this book tells you why. I'm beyond grateful she portrayed Nora Charles as delightfully as she did, but I'm more grateful to read about and learn from her life off screen. Not a perfect wife, but quite a life. If you're a fan of Myrna Loy and her films, this is a must read.

I forgot to add a comment on the judicious use of photos in the book, most are shots I'd not seen. Some incredible portraits, like the Ted Allan portrait used on the cover.

40 of 44 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Meh January 5, 2012

By R.L.

Format:Hardcover

Myrna Loy is a favorite of mine, so I was excited when this biography was published. Sadly, it's a bit of a let-down. Mainly because it relies heavily -- and I mean very, very heavily -- on Loy's own autobiography, Being and Becoming. I kept looking for other sources than Loy's own book about herself, but Leider doesn't offer them. I suppose because, by now, nearly everyone who knew and worked with Loy is dead -- but then, why write a biography? And really, didn't any of her friends or the directors who worked with her leave any materials of their own? Maybe not, but again, if that's the case, why bother? Unless you just want to make a quick buck.

What the author lacks in primary sources, she tries to make up for in film summaries. It's boring. Further, by relying so heavily on Loy's portrait of herself, Leider ends up accepting all of Loy's statements and interpretations at face value. There's no critical distance from her subject that every biographer should have. For instance, she quotes Loy on how Hollywood actresses were a rather catty lot, not helping each other, but competing against each other. Trouble is, on the preceding pages, Loy herself, with few exceptions, doesn't have anything good to say about her actress peers. Loy tells a rather mean story about Mary Astor, for example, which seemed to have no point other than to make Mary Astor look pathetic. She comes across as jealous of Irene Dunne at one point, for being a bigger star at the time than she was. The biographer hardly seems aware. Given the choice, I'd go with Being and Becoming.

27 of 31 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars magnificent biography October 19, 2011

By Norman Rabkin

Format:Hardcover

Emily Leider has written two excellent Hollywood biographies, of Rudolf Valentino and Mae West, and they have provided her the experience necessary to write what will surely be the definitive life of one of the most important and interesting figures in the world of movies. Myrna Loy's brilliant talent, human decency, and good mind permeate this story, which I found hard to put down. The reader is deeply immersed in the world of Hollywood. Every relevant person during the many years of Loy's life is characterized, bespeaking an enormous amount of research in multiple biographies, and yet one never feels the weight of scholarship, but rather good and not infrequently moving story-telling. Leider clearly loves movies, and her summaries of innumerable films are a pleasure to read. And underneath all is a solid understanding of the history of the period during which Loy lived. This book gets my highest recommendation.