Veronica Lake

 ( 1922 Births ) 

Keane's first appearance on screen was as an extra for RKO Pictures, playing a small role as one of several students in the film Sorority House (1939). The part wound up being cut from the film, but she was encouraged to continue. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets (1939), Dancing Co-Ed (also 1939), Young as You Feel (1940), and Forty Little Mothers (also 1940). Forty Little Mothers was the first time she let her hair down on screen.

The film became a big hit, and made the teenage Lake a star overnight; even before the film came out, Lake was dubbed "the find of 1941". During filming, Lake's long blonde hair accidentally fell over her right eye during a take and created a "peek-a-boo" effect. "I was playing a sympathetic drunk, I had my arm on a table ... it slipped ... and my hair – it was always baby fine and had this natural break – fell over my face ... It became my trademark and purely by accident", she recalled. The film's success influenced women to copy the style, which became Lake's trademark. However, Lake did not think this meant she would have a long career and maintained her goal was to be a surgeon. "Only the older actors keep on a long time ... I don't want to hang on after I've reached a peak. I'll go back to medical school", she said.

Paramount announced Lake to star in China Pass and a remake of Blonde Venus. Instead, she was cast in Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels with Joel McCrea; and film noir This Gun for Hire (1942) with Robert Preston and Alan Ladd. Her scenes with Ladd in the latter became popular with audiences, prompting Paramount to reteam them in The Glass Key, with Lake replacing Patricia Morison in the leading role. Lake was meant to be reunited with McCrea in the comedy I Married a Witch, but his withdrawal from the project led to a delay in production; Fredric March was eventually cast as his replacement. Both films were highly successful, but also prevented a reunion with Hornblow for Hong Kong in which she was meant to co-star with Charles Boyer.

Upon the United States' entrance into World War II, Lake traveled throughout the United States to raise money for . She also became a popular Pin-up model for soldiers, and participated in awareness campaigns to help decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery. Lake's only 1943 releases were both patriotic-themed. She made an appearance in Paramount's all-star musical revue Star Spangled Rhythm performing "A Sweater, Sarong and a Peek-A-Boo Bang" with Paulette Goddard and Dorothy Lamour. Her only film of the year was So Proudly We Hail! (1943) with Goddard and Claudette Colbert, in which she received acclaim for her role of a suicidal nurse. At the peak of her career, she was earning $4,500 a week.

With her role in The Hour Before the Dawn (1944), Lake changed her trademark hairstyle to encourage women working in war industry factories to adopt more practical, safer hairstyles. Lake had done so at the urging of the government to help decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery. The film was not a success; Lake's image change and her unsympathetic role of Nazism spy Dora Bruckman earned negative reviews.

In late 1943, Lake took time off after undergoing a series of personal struggles. After tripping on a lighting cable while on the set of The Hour Before Dawn, Lake went into premature delivery and gave birth to a son who died shortly after birth. Within weeks, Lake had also filed for divorce from her husband. Lake also began drinking more heavily during this time.

Upon returning to work in 1944, Lake took stock of her career, claiming, "I had to learn about acting. I've played all sorts of parts, taken just what came along regardless of high merit. In fact, I've been a sort of general utility person. I haven't liked all the roles. One or two were pretty bad". Lake also expressed interest in renegotiating her deal with Paramount:

Lake returned with roles in the musical Bring On the Girls (1945) with Eddie Bracken and Sonny Tufts; and Hold That Blonde with Bracken. Lake enjoyed making the film, saying "it's a comedy, rather like what Carole Lombard used to do ... It represents a real change of pace". However, neither film was successful, as were minor roles in Out of This World and Miss Susie Slagle's (1946).

For the first time in her career, Lake ventured outside of Paramount with the United Artists Western Ramrod (1947). The film was directed by her then-husband Andre de Toth, in their first collaboration. The film also reunited her with Joel McCrea, despite his earlier insistence that he would not work with her again. The film was also successful, continuing her comeback.

Following a cameo in Variety Girl (1947), Lake and Ladd reunited again for the crime film Saigon (1948). Lake returned to her former peek-a-boo hairstyle for the film, which unlike their previous films was not a noir. Reaction to the film was mixed; although financial success, it received a more mixed critical reception in comparison to the couple's earlier vehicles. Coupled with the flops The Sainted Sisters and Isn't It Romantic, Paramount opted not to renew Lake's contract in 1948.

Following her release from Paramount, Lake took a top supporting role in Slattery's Hurricane (1949). The film, directed by de Toth, was released by 20th Century Fox. She also appeared with Zachary Scott in the Western Stronghold (1951). Shot in Mexico for Lippert Pictures, Lake later described the film as "a dog" and sued for unpaid wages on the film.

Lake and de Toth announced plans to make Flanagan Boy and Before I Wake, the latter from a suspense novel by Mel Devrett. However, neither were made as the couple ran into financial difficulties. In April 1951, the IRS seized their home for unpaid taxes. Later that same year, Lake and de Toth filed for bankruptcy. Bankrupt and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Lake left de Toth and flew alone to New York. Reflecting on her departure years later, Lake said:

Lake performed in summer stock theatre and in stage roles in England. In October 1955, she collapsed in Detroit, where she had been appearing on stage in The Little Hut.

The reporter's widely distributed story led to speculation that Lake was destitute. After the story ran, fans of Lake sent her money which she returned as "a matter of pride". Lake vehemently denied that she was destitute and stated, "It's as though people were making me out to be down-and-out. I wasn't. I was paying $190 a month rent then, and that's a long way from being broke". The story did revive some interest in Lake and led to some television and stage appearances, including the 1963 off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward. " Best Foot Forward (1963 Off-Broadway Revival)". . Internet Off-Broadway Database.

In 1966, she had a brief employment as a hostess on a tv show in Baltimore, Maryland, along with a largely ignored film role in Footsteps in the Snow. She also continued appearing in stage roles. She went to Freeport in the Bahamas to visit a friend and stayed on, living there for a few years.

Lake's memoirs, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, which she dictated to writer Donald Bain, were published in the United Kingdom in 1969 and in the United States the following year. In the book, Lake discusses her career, her failed marriages; romances with Howard Hughes, Tommy Manville and Aristotle Onassis; her alcoholism; and her guilt over not spending enough time with her children. In the book, Lake stated to Bain that her mother pushed her into a career as an actress. Bain quoted Lake, looking back at her career, as saying, "I never did Pin-up model like Ann Sheridan or Betty Grable. I just used my hair". She also laughed off the term "sex symbol" and instead referred to herself as a "sex zombie".

When she visited the UK to promote her book in 1969, she received an offer to appear on stage in Madam Chairman. Also in 1969, Lake essayed the role of Blanche DuBois in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire on the English stage; her performance won rave reviews. With the proceeds from her autobiography, after she had divided them with Bain, she co-produced and starred in her final film, Flesh Feast (1970), a low-budget horror movie with a Nazi-myth storyline.