Object Details
- Artist
- George Hurrell, 1 Jun 1904 - 17 May 1992
- Sitter
- Myrna Loy, 2 Aug 1905 - 14 Dec 1993
- Exhibition Label
- For Myrna Loy, the breakthrough to stardom was slow in coming. Between 1925 and 1933, she appeared in more than sixty films, most often portraying femme fatales. That changed in 1934 when she was cast as the love interest of Clark Gable and William Powell in the box office hit Manhattan Melodrama. Loy’s performance caught the eye of MGM director Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke, who tapped her to costar with William Powell in the fast-paced murder mystery The Thin Man (1934). The Powell/Loy pairing as husband-and-wife crime solvers Nick and Nora Charles proved so successful that they were reunited in eleven more productions, including five Thin Man sequels.
- Though Loy chaffed at being typecast as “the perfect wife” in nearly two dozen films, her portrayal of the spouse of a struggling World War II veteran in The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) was notable for its warmth and sensitivity.
- El camino al estrellato fue lento para Myrna Loy. Entre 1925 y 1933 figuró en más de 60 filmes, sobre todo en papeles de mujeres fatales. El giro llegó en 1934, cuando la eligieron como interés amoroso de Clark Gable y William Powell en el éxito El enemigo público número 1. Loy llamó la atención del director de MGM, Woodbridge Strong Van Dyke, quien le propuso protagonizar con William Powell el vertiginoso filme de suspenso El hombre delgado (1934). La pareja de Powell y Loy como Nick y Nora Charles, un matrimonio que investiga crímenes, resultó tan exitosa que realizaron 11 películas más, incluidas las cinco secuelas de El hombre delgado.
- Aunque Loy bromeaba sobre su encasillamiento como “esposa perfecta” en casi dos docenas de películas, su actuación como pareja de un angustiado veterano de la 2a Guerra Mundial en Los mejores años de nuestras vidas (1946) se destacó por su calidez y sensibilidad.
- Credit Line
- National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; acquired in part through the generosity of an anonymous donor
- c. 1936
- Object number
- NPG.2022.59
- Restrictions & Rights
- Usage conditions apply
- Type
- Photograph
- Medium
- Gelatin silver print
- Dimensions
- Image/Sheet: 31.2 × 24.1 cm (12 5/16 × 9 1/2")
- Mount: 50.7 × 38 cm (19 15/16 × 14 15/16")
- See more items in
- National Portrait Gallery Collection
- Exhibition
- Star Power: Photographs from Hollywood’s Golden Age by George Hurrell
- On View
- NPG, South Gallery 120
- National Portrait Gallery
- Topic
- Interior
- Home Furnishings\Furniture\Seating\Chair
- Myrna Loy: Female
- Myrna Loy: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Theater\Stage actor
- Myrna Loy: Arts and Culture\Performing Arts\Film\Movie actor
- Myrna Loy: Medicine and Health\American Red Cross\Volunteer
- Myrna Loy: Performing arts awards\Academy Award
- Portrait
- Record ID
- npg_NPG.2022.59
- GUID (Link to Original Record)
- http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/sm43e1a6663-1f25-4d85-ae4d-64331ba54bdc
