Myrna Loy

Myrna Loy (August 2, 1905 – December 14, 1993) was an American actress.

Loy trained as a dancer, but after a few minor roles in silent films, she devoted herself fully to an acting career, and from 1925 gradually established herself as a film actress. Typecast in exotic roles, often as a vamp, Loy's career prospects improved following her performance as Nora Charles in The Thin Man (1934). Her successful pairing with William Powell resulted in fourteen films together, including subsequent Thin Man films.

By the mid 1930s she was established as one of MGM studios' most popular leading actresses, particularly in romantic comedies such as Wife vs. Secretary and Libelled Lady (both 1936), although she was also successful in dramas such as The Rains Came (1939). In 1938, she was voted "Queen of Hollywood" in a radio contest in which her frequent co-star, Clark Gable, was voted "King". During the Second World War, Loy all but abandoned her film career to work for the Red Cross, and returned after the war's end to play more mature roles in films such as The Best Years of Our Lives (1946). Her film career continued successfully into the early 1950s, but as she grew dissatisfied with the roles being offered to her, she worked in television and later, in theatre. She continued acting until the early 1980s.

Her final years were marked by ill health, including breast cancer, which resulted in a double mastectomy. In 1991 she was award an Academy Honorary Award for her career achievements, and in the same year "The Myrna Loy Center for the Performing and Media Arts", in Helena, Montana, was named for her.

She died in New York City during surgery.