Kim Novak

Acting

Kim Novak

Born 1933-02-13 · Chicago, Illinois, USA

Marilyn Pauline Novak (born February 13, 1933), known professionally as Kim Novak, is an American retired film and television actress. She began her career in 1954 after signing with Columbia Pictures. There, she became a successful actress, starring in a string of movies, among them the critically acclaimed Picnic (1955). She later starred in such popular successes as The Man with the Golden Arm (1955) and Pal Joey (1957). However, she is perhaps best known today for her "dual role" as both Judy Barton and Madeleine Elster in Alfred Hitchcock's classic thriller Vertigo (1958). Novak was popular in box office popularity polls, and she starred opposite several top leading men of the era, including James Stewart, William Holden, Frank Sinatra, Tyrone Power, and Kirk Douglas. Although still young, her career declined in the early 1960s, and after several years in a series of lackluster films, she withdrew from acting in 1966. She has only sporadically returned since. She later returned to the screen in The Mirror Crack'd (1980), and had a regular role on the prime time series Falcon Crest (1986–87). After a disappointing experience during the filming of Liebestraum (1991), she has permanently retired from acting, stating she has no desire to return. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kim Novak, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

Acting credits

Vertigo poster
8.1

A retired San Francisco detective suffering from acrophobia investigates the strange activities of an old friend's wife, all the while becoming dangerously obsessed with her.

Vertigo

1958

Heart of the Festival poster
6.7

A short film containing some of the highlights of the Cannes Film Festival's storied history.

Heart of the Festival

2002

To Each His Own Cinema poster
6.4

Commissioned to mark the 60th anniversary of the Cannes Film Festival, "To Each His Own Cinema" brought together 33 of the world's pre-eminent filmmakers to produce short pieces exploring the multifarious facets of cinema and their perspective on the state of their chosen artform in the early 21st century.

To Each His Own Cinema

2007

The Man with the Golden Arm poster
7.1

When illegal card dealer and recovering heroin addict Frankie Machine gets out of prison, he decides to straighten up. Armed with nothing but an old drum set, Frankie tries to get honest work as a drummer. But when his former employer and his old drug dealer re-enter his life, Frankie finds it hard to stay clean and eventually finds himself succumbing to his old habits.

The Man with the Golden Arm

1955

Tales That Witness Madness poster
5.5

Enigmatic asylum owner Dr Tremayne houses four very special cases. Visited by his colleague Nicholas, Tremayne explains his amazing and controversial theories as to why each patient went mad, be they a ritualistic 'luau', a time-travelling bicycle, a toy tiger, and a tree stump.

Tales That Witness Madness

1973

The Mirror Crack'd poster
6.1

Jane Marple solves the mystery when a local woman is poisoned and a visiting movie star seems to have been the intended victim.

The Mirror Crack'd

1980

Pushover poster
6.5

A police detective falls for the bank robber's girlfriend he is supposed to be tailing.

Pushover

1954

The White Buffalo poster
6.0

In this strange western version of Moby Dick, Wild Bill Hickok hunts a white buffalo he has seen in a dream. Hickok moves through a variety of uniquely authentic western locations - dim, filthy, makeshift taverns; freezing, slaughterhouse-like frontier towns and beautifully desolate high country - before improbably teaming up with a young Crazy Horse to pursue the creature.

The White Buffalo

1977

Bell, Book and Candle poster
6.6

Gillian Holroyd, a modern-day witch, becomes smitten with her handsome upstairs neighbor, Shep Henderson. Using her magical powers, she casts a love spell on him, only to face unexpected complications when genuine feelings emerge, threatening her supernatural abilities.

Bell, Book and Candle

1958

Picnic poster
6.4

Labor Day in a small Kansas farm town. Hal, a burly and resolute drifter, jumps off a dusty freight train car with the purpose of visiting Alan, a former college classmate and son of the richest man in town.

Picnic

1955

I Am Alfred Hitchcock poster
7.3

Interviews and archival footage weave together to tell the story of the Master of Suspense, one of the most influential and studied filmmakers in the history of cinema.

I Am Alfred Hitchcock

2021

The Legend of Lylah Clare poster
6.0

A dictatorial film director hires an unknown actress to play the lead role in a planned movie biography of a late, great Hollywood star.

The Legend of Lylah Clare

1968

Liebestraum poster
5.3

A man returns to his hometown and a series of dark secrets are revealed.

Liebestraum

1991

Son of Sinbad poster
5.1

Legendary pirate and adventurer Sinbad is in single-minded pursuit of two things: beautiful women and a substance called Greek Fire--an early version of gunpowder.

Son of Sinbad

1955

Middle of the Night poster
7.0

Jerry Kingsley is a wealthy garment manufacturer left lonely in his 50s when his wife dies. Despite the difference in their ages, he strikes up a romance with divorced 24-year-old receptionist Betty. The relationship is dismissed by his daughter, Lillian, discouraged by his sister, Evelyn, and denounced by Betty's mother. But when Jerry begins to mention marriage, even Betty is forced to confront her ambivalence.

Middle of the Night

1959

The Eddy Duchin Story poster
6.3

The life story of the famous pianist and band-leader of the 1930s and 1940s.

The Eddy Duchin Story

1956

Kiss Me, Stupid poster
7.0

While traveling home from Vegas, an amorous lounge singer named Dino gets conned by a local mechanic/songwriter into staying in town for the night. The mechanic's songwriting partner, Orville, offers Dino his home for overnight lodging and enlists a local waitress/call girl to pose as his wife in order to placate Dino's urges.

Kiss Me, Stupid

1964

Boys' Night Out poster
5.9

Fred, George, Doug and Howie are quickly reaching middle-age. Three of them are married, only Fred is still a bachelor. They want something different than their ordinary marriages, children and TV-dinners. In secret, they get themselves an apartment with a beautiful young woman, Kathy, for romantic rendezvous. But Kathy does not tell them that she is a sociology student researching the sexual life of the white middle-class male.

Boys' Night Out

1962

The Notorious Landlady poster
6.8

An American junior diplomat in London rents a house from, and falls in love with, a woman suspected of murder.

The Notorious Landlady

1962

5 Against the House poster
5.9

Former war-time Army buddies now students in college decide to rip off a Reno casino.

5 Against the House

1955

Just a Gigolo poster
5.0

After World War I, a war hero returns to Berlin to find that there's no place for him--he has no skills other than what he learned in the army, and can only find menial, low-paying jobs. He decides to become a gigolo to lonely rich women.

Just a Gigolo

1978

Pal Joey poster
6.3

An opportunistic singer woos a wealthy widow to boost his career.

Pal Joey

1957

No artwork available
4.5

Documentary about Hollywood.

Hollywood Legenden

2004

Kim Novak's Vertigo poster
8.0

Explores Kim Novak's life, highlighting her role in Alfred Hitchcock's Vertigo, and her journey from stardom to a reclusive life as an artist in Oregon, using rare archival footage and Novak's own reflections.

Kim Novak's Vertigo

2026