Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake
from the trailer for Sullivan's Travels (1941)
Born	Constance Frances Marie Ockelman November 14, 1922(1922-11-14) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	July 7, 1973 (aged 50) Montreal, Canada
Other name(s)	Constance Keane, Connie Keane
Years active	1939–1970
Spouse(s)	John S. Detlie (1940–1943; 1 surviving child) André De Toth (1944–1952; 2 children) Joseph A. McCarthy (1955–1959) Robert Carleton-Munro (1972–1973)

Veronica Lake (November 14, 1922^[1] – 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.

Early life and career

Veronica Lake was born as Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in Brooklyn, New York. Her father, Harry E. Ockelman, of Danish-Irish descent,^[2] worked for an oil company onboard a ship. Her father died in an industrial explosion in Philadelphia in 1932 when she was ten. Her mother, née Constance Charlotta Trimble (1902-1992),^[3](listed as "Veronica F." on the 1920 census), married family friend Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist, a year later, and his stepdaughter began using his last name.^[4]

"Connie" (as she was known) was sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Canada, which she hated and from which she was expelled. The Keane family later moved to Miami, Florida. Connie attended high school in Miami, where she was known for her beauty. She had a troubled childhood and was, according to her mother, diagnosed as schizophrenic.^[5]

In 1938, Keane moved with her mother and stepfather to Beverly Hills, where her mother enrolled her in the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting. Her first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small role among several coeds in the 1939 film, Sorority House. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets and Dancing Co-Ed. During the making of Sorority House, director John Farrow first noticed how her hair always covered her right eye, creating an air of mystery about her and enhancing her natural beauty. She was then introduced to the Paramount producer Arthur Hornblow, Jr. He changed her name to Veronica Lake because the surname suited her blue eyes. She was still a teenager.

Her contract was subsequently dropped by RKO. She married art director John S. Detlie, 14 years her senior, in 1940. A small role in the comedy, Forty Little Mothers, brought unexpected attention. In 1941 she was signed to a long-term contract with Paramount Pictures. On August 21, 1941, she gave birth to her first child, Elaine Detlie.

1940s icon

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." ^[6]

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.^[7]

Although popular with the public, Lake acquired a reputation as a "difficult" actress.^[8] 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.^[9]

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.^[10] 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".^[11] 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.^[when?]

Later years

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). ^[12]

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.^[13]

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.^[14] Diana became a secretary for the American Embassy and lived in Rome in the 1970s.^[14] 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.

Death

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".^[15]

Her ashes were scattered off the Virgin Islands. In 2004, some of Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store. ^[16] 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.

Quotes

• "I wasn't a sex symbol, I was a sex zombie."^[17]

• "You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision."^[18]

• "I've reached a point in my life where it's the little things that matter... I was always a rebel and probably could have got much further had I changed my attitude. But when you think about it, I got pretty far without changing attitudes. I'm happier with that." (1970)

References in popular culture

• Barry Smolin's song "Veronica Lake" is about an irresolute sighting of a homeless Veronica Lake at Union Station in Los Angeles.

• The Archie Comics character Veronica Lodge was partially named after Veronica Lake, who was in the midst of her early celebrity when the comic book character was introduced in the spring of 1942.

• In 1997, the Academy Award-winning film L.A. Confidential paid homage to Lake's image and manner through Kim Basinger's starring role in an adaptation of James Ellroy's crime novel set in early 1950s Los Angeles. Basinger won an Oscar for her performance, which required her to deliberately resemble Lake. A scene included an image of Lake from This Gun for Hire screening in the background.

• Jessica Rabbit from Who Framed Roger Rabbit was modeled on Veronica Lake and Rita Hayworth. Jessica also sports Lake's trademark peekaboo hairstyle.

• The character of Ronnie Lake in the hit CBS drama CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is named after her.

• Her character in Sullivan's Travels inspired "Miss Lake," a song on London-based French songwriter Louis Philippe's 2007 album, An Unknown Spring.

• Billy Wilder's comedy The Major and the Minor has a scene in which the students of a girl's school - and their headmistress - all have peekaboo hairstyles.

• In Alfred Hitchcock's suspense film Shadow of a Doubt (1941), the young daughter named Ann says her prayers before going to sleep... "God bless Mama, Papa, Captain Midnight, Veronica Lake, and the President of the United States."

• Hellacopters recorded a tribute song called "Veronica Lake" on their latest album, Head Off! The song was originally written by the New Bomb Turks.

• The spider in Bob Clampett's cartoon Eatin' on the Cuff puts on a Veronica Lake wig.

• The Bugs Bunny cartoon A-Lad-In His Lamp features a lake called Veronica Lake.
• Clips of Veronica Lake were used in Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, a 1982 spoof of film noir starring Steve Martin.
• In the 2009 video game Still Life 2, a sequel to the 2005 game, Veronica Lake is the favourite actress of the game's villain. He is obsessed with her movies, especially The Blue Dahlia.

Filmography

References

Further reading

• Oderman, Stuart, Talking to the Piano Player 2. BearManor Media, 2009. ISBN #1-59393-320-7.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Veronica Lake

• Veronica Lake at the Internet Movie Database
• Veronica Lake at the TCM Movie Database
• Veronica Lake at Allmovie
• Veronica Lake at Find a Grave