Myrna Loy

August 2, 1905 - December 14, 1993
Born Myrna Williams in Helena, Montana, USA

Myrna Loy was never nominated for a "Best" acting Oscar, but received
an honorary Academy Award for her lifetime achievements in 1991.

See Internet Movie Database Filmography

A Lot of Favorite Memories of Myrna Loy

• In a bit part as a hedonist in the silent classic Ben-Hur (1925).
  
  
• As "Mai, Lady in Waiting" in John Barrymore's swashbucking adventure-romance Don Juan (1926).
  
  
• Helping to usher in the sound era, in a bit as a chorus girl in Al Jolson's groundbreaking The Jazz Singer (1927).
  
  
• As "Yasmani," an exotic "white goddess" inciting Afghan tribesmen to revolt in John Ford's first talking feature, The Black Watch, aka King of the Khyber Rifles (1929).
  
  
• As "Nubi," a gypsy femme fatale seducing the men of a Hungarian farming household in The Squall (1929).
  
  
• As a slave girl / dancer in the silent classic contrasting a modern drama with the Biblical story of Noah's Ark (1929).
  
  
• In cameos in the "What Became of the Floradora Boys" and the "Chinese Fantasy" numbers of the all-star musical variety extravaganza, The Show of Shows (1929).
  
  
• In a small part in Walter Huston's starring vehicle The Bad Man (1930), based on the stage play filmed many times (including West of Shanghai, with Boris Karloff as a good/bad Chinese bandit instead of a Mexican bandito).
  
  
• As the female lead "Eleanore" in Renegades (1930), also notable for an excellent pre-Dracula part for Bela Lugosi ("The Marabout").
  
  
• As the villainous "Morgan le Fay" in A Connecticut Yankee, A (1931), adapted from Mark Twain's Novel "A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court" and starring Will Rogers.
  
  
• As the vengeful half-breed Asian "Ursula Georgi," killing off her former classmates in the atmospheric thriller Thirteen Women (1932).
  
  
• As "Fah Lo See," deliciously wicked daughter of Boris Karloff's insidious Dr. Fu Manchu in The Mask of Fu Manchu (1932), based on the novel by Sax Rohmer, and directed by Charles Brabin. With Lewis Stone, Karen Morley, Charles Starrett, Jean Hersholt and Lawrence Grant. Great electrical effects by Kenneth Strickfaden.
  
  
• As "Coco," helping to con John Barrymore's unworldly professor in the brilliant comedy Topaze (1933).
  
  
• As "Eleanor Packer," caught in a love triangle between two lifelong friends, "good guy" William Powell and "bad guy" Clark Gable, in the gangster Manhattan Melodrama (1934). Depression era Public Enemy #1, John Dillinger, was a Myrna Loy fan who was shot down by Federal officers just after seeing this picture.
  
  
• Joining William Powell as one of the most famous pairings in entertainment history, writer Dashiell Hammett's hard-drinking, sophisticated and delightful detective couple "Nick and Nora Charles," in a series of six so-called "Thin Man" mystery-comedies (actually named for the missing murder victim in the first film!):
  
  
  • The Thin Man (1934), directed by W. S. Van Dyke. With Maureen O'Sullivan, Nat Pendleton, Minna Gombell, Porter Hall, Harold Huber, Cesar Romero, Edward Brophy, Edward Ellis (as Clyde Wynant, the thin man), and Asta (the dog).
    
    
  • After the Thin Man (1936), directed by W. S. Van Dyke. With a large supporting cast including James Stewart, Elissa Landi, Joseph Calleia, Jessie Ralph, Alan Marshal, Sam Levene, George Zucco, Paul Fix, Jonathan Hale, Vince Barnett, Billy Benedict, Mary Gordon, Clarence Kolb, Richard Loo, Jack Norton, Tom Ricketts, Zeffie Tilbury, Charles Trowbridge, Guy Usher and Asta.
    
    
  • Another Thin Man (1939), directed by W. S. Van Dyke. With another fat cast including Virginia Grey, Otto Kruger, C. Aubrey Smith, Ruth Hussey, Nat Pendleton, Patric Knowles, Tom Neal, Sheldon Leonard, Abner Biberman, Marjorie Main, Roy Barcroft, Shemp Howard, Frank Moran, Nestor Paiva, Eddie Parker, Milton Parsons, Doodles Weaver and Asta.
    
    
  • Shadow of the Thin Man (1941), directed by W. S. Van Dyke. With a shadowy cast including Asta, Barry Nelson, Donna Reed, Sam Levene, Alan Baxter, Henry O'Neill, Dickie Hall. Louise Beavers Oliver Blake, Frankie Burke, James Flavin, Fred Graham, Sid Melton, Ray Teal, Will Wright, Duke York, Joe Yule, Tor Johnson (as "Jack the Ripper, " a wrestler) and Asta.
    
    
  • The Thin Man Goes Home (1945), directed by Richard Thorpe. With a homely cast including Lucile Watson, Gloria DeHaven, Anne Revere, Helen Vinson, Harry Davenport, Leon Ames, Donald Meek, Edward Brophy, Lloyd Corrigan, Donald MacBride, Morris Ankrum, Minor Watson, Irving Bacon, Oliver Blake, Rex Evans, Tom Fadden, Sam Flint, Charles Halton, Mike Mazurki, Clarence Muse, Robert Emmett O'Connor, Ray Teal and Asta.
    
    
  • Song of the Thin Man (1947), directed by Edward Buzzell. With a tuneful cast including Keenan Wynn, Dean Stockwell, Philip Reed, Patricia Morison, Leon Ames, Gloria Grahame, Jayne Meadows, Ralph Morgan, Bess Flowers , Warner Anderson, Marie Windsor, Morris Ankrum, Gregg Barton, Al Bridge, James Burke, James Flavin, Earle Hodgins, Matt McHugh and Asta Jr. (as Asta).
  
  
• Supporting William Powell (playing stage-show impressario Florenz Ziegfeld), as actress "Billie Burke" in the show biz biopic The Great Ziegfeld (1936), directed by Robert Z. Leonard. With Luise Rainer, Frank Morgan, Fanny Brice, Virginia Bruce, Reginald Owen, Ray Bolger, Ernest Cossart and Joseph Cawthorn.
  
  
• As "Connie Allenbury" in the screwball comedy classic Libeled Lady (1936), directed by Jack Conway. With William Powell, Jean Harlow, Spencer Tracy and E. E. Clive.
  
  
• As "Ann Barton," anxious and neglected wife of Clark Gable's Test Pilot (1938), directed by Victor Fleming. With Spencer Tracy, Lionel Barrymore, Samuel S. Hinds, Marjorie Main, Priscilla Lawson and Gloria Holden.
  
  
• As aviatrix "Alma Harding" in MGM's adventure about newsreel reporters, Too Hot to Handle (1938). With Walter Pidgeon, Walter Connolly, Leo Carrillo, Marjorie Main, Gregory Gaye, Willie Fung, Frank Faylen, James Flavin, John Hamilton, Richard Loo, Walter Miller and Eddie Parker.
  
  
• As "Milly Stephenson," loving wife of demobilized Army sergeant Fredric March in the stunning drama of post-WWII America, The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), directed by William Wyler. With a matchless cast including Dana Andrews, Teresa Wright , Virginia Mayo, Cathy O'Donnell, Hoagy Carmichael, Harold Russell, Gladys George, Roman Bohnen, Ray Collins, Minna Gombell, Walter Baldwin, Ray Teal, Harry Cheshire and Pat Flaherty. Swept the 1946 Academy Awards with wins for Best Picture, Best Actor (Fredric March), Best Supporting Actor (Harold Russell), Best Director (William Wyler), Best Adapted Screenplay (Robert E. Sherwood), Best Score (Hugo Friedhofer) and Best Film Editing.
  
  
• As "Muriel Blandings," comforting wife of hassled Cary Grant in the comedy Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House (1948).
  
  
• As "Mrs. Lillian Gilbreth," wife of pioneer efficiency expert Frank Gilbreth (Clifton Webb) and mother of many children, in a pair of charming family comedies set in the early 20th Century:
  • Cheaper by the Dozen (1950).
    
  • Belles on Their Toes (1952).
  
  
• As "Aunt Bea" in the suspenseful mystery Midnight Lace (1960), directed by David Miller in the Hitchcock style, and starring Doris Day and Rex Harrison.
  
  
• As "Selena Chapman" in the TV movie adaptation of the stage play Death Takes a Holiday (1971).
  
  
• As "Ethel Adams" in the TV ecological horror movie about killer ants, It Happened at Lakewood Manor (1977), directed by Robert Scheerer, and starring Suzanne Somers and Robert Foxworth.
  
  
• As "Maureen Lawson" in a black comedy about terminal illness and suicide, The End (1978), starring and directed by Burt Reynolds, with Dom DeLuise, Sally Field, Strother Martin, David Steinberg, Joanne Woodward and Norman Fell.
  
  
• Starring as "Margaret Turner," wife of Henry Fonda's character Joshua Turner, an elderly couple reflecting on their lives together, in the television movie Summer Solstice (1981), directed by Ralph Rosenblum. An excellent swan song for two wonderful performers.

Last revised May 9 2021 by George "E-gor" Chastain.

Maintained by George "E-gor" Chastain (e-mail: egorschamber@gmail.com)