Trivia of Myrna Loy

 Trivia of Myrna Loy (2 August 1905 - 14 December 1993)

*When her father was travelling by train in early 1905, he went through a small station called 'Myrna' - he eventually named her after that station.

*In 1923, she was photographed by Henry Waxman, who showed the pictures to Rudolph Valentino. Impressed with Myrna, Valentino arranged for a screen test for his upcoming film, Cobra (1925). She failed it. But in next project, Valentino's wife Natacha Rambova hired Loy for a small but showy role opposite Nita Naldi in What Price Beauty , a film she was producing.

*In 1936 Myrna Loy was named Queen of the Movies and Clark Gable King in a national poll, winning a crown of tin and purple velvet. in her autobiography, she says that she did not get on with Gable in her earlier films with him. However, in her later films he developed a respect for Loy and they became good friends.Loy and Clark Gable co-starred in seven feature films: Night Flight (1933), Men in White (1934), Manhattan Melodrama (1934), Wife vs. Secretary (1936), qqqParnell (1937), Test Pilot (1938), and Too Hot to Handle (1938). They also both appeared, uncredited, as extras in Ben-Hur A Tale of the Christ (1925).

*Loy was cast as Nora Charles in the 1934 film The Thin Man. Director W. S. Van Dyke chose Loy after he detected a wit and sense of humor that her previous films had not revealed. At a Hollywood party, he pushed her into a swimming pool to test her reaction, and felt that her aplomb in handling the situation was exactly what he envisioned for Nora.Louis B. Mayer at first refused to allow Loy to play the part because he felt she was a dramatic actress, but Van Dyke insisted. The Thin Man became one of the year's biggest hits, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. Loy received excellent reviews and was acclaimed for her comedic skills.

*Had a narrow escape when her horse bolted during the filming of The Rains Came (1939) with Tyrone Power; she was nearly killed.

*Loy has gone on record as considering The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) her favourite film and the homecoming scene with Fredric March was her favorite scene.

*Although Loy was never nominated for an Academy Award, in March 1991 she received an Honorary Academy Award in recognition of her life's work both onscreen and off, including serving as assistant to the director of military and naval welfare for the Red Cross during World War II, and a member-at-large of the U.S. Commission to UNESCO. The Guardian newspaper named her one of the best actors never to have received an Academy Award nomination.