Hollywood actress Kim Novak, 92, finest recognized for portraying the double lifetime of a girl in Alfred Hitchcock’s “Vertigo”, has been awarded Venice’s lifetime achievement award, the movie competition stated on Monday.
Despite a short-lived profession, Novak turned “a living legend, earning her rightful place in history, with the respect and esteem of the film critics and industry alike”, the competition stated.
Novak stated she was “deeply, deeply touched” to obtain the award, which can be offered in the course of the competition, which runs from August 27 to September 6.
“To be recognized for my body of work at this time in my life is a dream come true. I will treasure every moment I spend in Venice. It will fill my heart with joy,” she stated in a press release.
Novak performed the chilling twin function of suicidal blonde Madeleine Elster and brunette store lady Judy Barton in “Vertigo”, which was launched in 1958.
Other memorable roles included a prostitute with an enormous coronary heart in “Kiss Me, Stupid” by Billy Wilder (1964), a witch in Richard Quine’s “Bell, Book and Candle” (1958) and an adulteress in one other Quine movie, “Strangers When We Meet” (1960).
In 1965 she largely turned her again on Hollywood, refusing to just accept the iron-fisted rule of studio executives, and turned to portray as a substitute.
The competition’s creative director Alberto Barbera stated that Novak had not deliberate on changing into an actress however “inadvertently” grow to be a display legend.
She was “one of the most beloved icons of an entire era of Hollywood films, from her auspicious debut during the mid-1950s until her premature and voluntary exile from the gilded cage of Los Angeles a short while later,” he stated.
“Independent and nonconformist, she created her own production company and went on strike to renegotiate a salary that was much lower than that of her male co-stars,” he added.
The award “celebrates a star who was emancipated, a rebel at the heart of Hollywood who illuminated the dreams of movie lovers,” Barbera stated.
The documentary “Kim Novak’s Vertigo” by Alexandre Philippe, made in collaboration with the actress, can be offered in its world premiere screening in the course of the competition.
© 2025 AFP