Kim Novak, 89, of the movie Vertigo paints to death with grief

2022-07-22

Hollywood icon Kim Novak, 89, of the movie Vertigo says she has turned to painting to cope with grief from the death of husband of 44 years Robert Malloy

She was one of the biggest movie stars in the 1950s thanks to her role in Vertigo
But she has had a hard time for the past two years since her husband died
In 2020, her spouse of 44 years, Robert Malloy, passed away
The Bell, Book And Candle stack is still trying to fight off the grief
Novak shared this week that painting helps with the pain and loneliness
‘I find my art is very prolific since my husband passed,’ said Kim to Closer Weekly
‘I have a sense of him looking over my shoulder and watching me with that little smile on his face,’ added the Hollywood icon

She was one of the biggest movie stars in the 1950s thanks to her role as the blonde bombshell opposite James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic film Vertigo.

And now Kim Novak has talked about how she has turned to painting to cope with grief.

The 89-year-old actress is still mourning the loss of her husband of 44 years, Robert Malloy, in 2020 but Kim feels closer to her late spouse when she is painting.

Blonde bombshell: She was one of the biggest movie stars in the 1950s thanks to her role as the blonde bombshell opposite James Stewart in Alfred Hitchcock’s classic Vertigo

Hard to cope: And now Kim Novak has talked about how she has turned to painting to cope with grief; seen here circa 1970 with Malloy

Kim married her second husband Malloy, an equine veterinarian whom she referred to as her ‘soul mate’, in 1976, and the pair remained together until his death last November.

She told Closer Weekly US: ‘I find my art is very prolific since my husband passed. I have a sense of him looking over my shoulder and watching me with that little smile on his face.

‘Painting a picture of him felt like we could still communicate in a warm and intimate way. It made me feel less lonely.

‘You have to be patient. Don’t be afraid to let those emotions out and then let go.’

While dealing with her grief has been difficult, Kim also admitted the practicalities of being a widow, such as being solely responsible for her business affairs, have also been an adjustment.

Longtime love: Kim married her second husband Malloy, an equine veterinarian, in 1976, and the pair remained together until his death last November

Sad loss: Seen with her husband Robert Malloy in 2013

The artist: Novak poses with her painting at a photo call during the Febiofest Prague International Film Festival in 2015 in Prague, Czech Republic

She said: ‘I learned how little I knew and did not fully appreciate just how hard my husband had to work. I never had to deal with business before, but now I have to do it all. Sometimes it’s hard to keep from feeling sorry for myself.’

But the Vertigo actress is grateful for the time she had with her second husband Robert.

She said: ‘I had been married once before [to her Moll Flanders co-star Richard Johnson] but it just didn’t suit me being married to an actor.

‘My love of animals and Bob’s love of animals that bonded us. Bob also had a wonderful sense of humour.’

Two years ago she talked Hollywood with People as she plugged her book Kim Novak: Her Art and Life.

‘I had to leave to survive,’ she told the outlet. ‘I lost a sense of who I truly was and what I stood for.

‘I fought all the time back in Hollywood to keep my identity so you do whatever you have to do to hold on to who you are and what you stand for,’ Kim also said.

She did not enjoy being the sex kitten: Seen in the 1964 film Of Human Bondage

And fight she did, in a time when it was even more difficult for a woman to be heard in Hollywood than it is today.

One of the actress-turned-painter’s first points of contention at the time was her name.

‘I was both dazzled and disturbed to see me being packaged as a Hollywood sex symbol,’ Novak writes in the introduction to her new book.

‘However, I did win my fight over identity. I wouldn’t allow [then-Columbia Pictures chief] Harry Cohn to take my bohemian roots away by denying me my family name. Novak. I stood my ground and won my first major battle,’ the star, born Marilyn Pauline Novak, continued.

Novak burst onto the scene in Hollywood in the early ’50s, in films such as 1954’s Phffft opposite Jack Lemmon, Picnic the following year with William Holden, and 1957’s Pal Joey with Frank Sinatra.

Connection: Another scene from 1958’s Vertigo, opposite James Stewart: ‘I was both dazzled and disturbed to see me being packaged as a Hollywood sex symbol,’ Novak wrote of the time

But it was two films with Hollywood megastar Jimmy Stewart in 1958 – Bell Book and Candle and especially Vertigo – that would make Kim a household name.

‘There was constant pressure to be seen and not heard,’ she wrote, ‘especially if you had a pretty face.

‘In Hollywood a lot of people assume who you are, because of the character you play, but also just because of who they expect you to be, how they expect you to dress,’ she said.

‘I kept feeling like I was going deeper and deeper, lost in almost like a quicksand, where it’s swallowing you up, your own personality, and I’d started to wonder who I am,’ Novak explained. ‘I realized I needed to save myself.’

And that was why the retired actress famously left Tinseltown and drove north, eventually moving to the Pacific coast of Oregon.

‘I needed the Pacific Ocean to inspire me, the animals, the beauty,’ the Chicago native said. ‘I wanted to live a normal life and a life with animals.’

Unforgettable: But it was two films with Hollywood megastar Jimmy Stewart in 1958 – Bell Book and Candle and especially Vertigo – that would make Kim a household name

Kissy with this star: The two had palpable chemistry together

In the time since, Kim said she’d been approached numerous times to write a ‘tell-all’ about her time in Hollywood, but she declined.

‘I’ve never done one of those tell-all books that they wanted me to do for so long, and I thought this is the kind of book I’d like to do,’ she said of her new art book.

‘Actually, I had written my autobiography and it was almost complete but I had a house fire and the house burned down and I made no copies. I just couldn’t go through it again because I had spent so much time. But it was okay because it was a catharsis just to do it.

‘I’m so glad I didn’t do the tell-all book, where you write all about your love life,’ Kim later added. ‘That wasn’t who I was. This book tells who I am.’

The octogenarian screen siren keeps dogs, cats and horses where she lives.

‘I’ve been influenced a lot by Hitchcock in my work because he did mysteries and at first glance, I want my painting to be a mystery,’ Kim said of her art; seen here with Hitch circa 1956

‘I don’t feel 87,’ she told People. ‘I don’t keep tract of the time. If I did, I’d be an old lady and I’m not an old lady. I’m still riding my horse. I stay as healthy as I can.’

Looking back on her time in Hollywood, it isn’t all bad, as she remains proud of some of her films as well as working with the inimitable Stewart – ‘He didn’t let Hollywood change who he was,’ Novak reflected.

‘People can remember me in movies but I want them to see me as an artist,’ she also shared. ‘What’s great about painting is, you become the director too. No one’s telling you how to do it. You get to direct the whole thing.

‘I’ve been influenced a lot by Hitchcock in my work because he did mysteries and at first glance, I want my painting to be a mystery,’ she added. ‘This is who I am. I want people to see I was not just a movie star.’

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