---
name: "Kim Novak"
canonical: "https://film.one/person/kim-novak"
fi1m_id: "kim-novak"
imdb_id: "nm0001571"
tmdb_id: 5729
wikidata_id: "Q212879"
roles: ["Actor"]
born: "13 February 1933"
reviewed_on_fi1m: 4
average_fi1m_score: 71
average_as: "actor"
average_over: 4
updated: "2026-10-04T16:58:04.530942+00:00"
licence: "© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL."
---

# Kim Novak

## Identity

Kim Novak

- **Canonical:** https://film.one/person/kim-novak
- **Type:** Person
- **Fi1m ID:** kim-novak
- **IMDb ID:** nm0001571
- **TMDB ID:** 5729
- **Wikidata ID:** Q212879
- **Same entity:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Novak, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q212879, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001571/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5729

Actor. Born 13 February 1933 in Chicago, Illinois, USA.

## Details

- **Work:** Actor
- **Born:** 13 February 1933, Chicago, Illinois, USA
- **Active:** 1955–1980
- **Also known as:** The Lavender Girl, Marilyn Pauline Novak, کیم نواک
- **Golden Globes:** 1 Golden Globe (1 won)
- **Average Fi1m score:** 71, as actor, over 4 titles
- **Fi1m score by decade:** 1950s 78 (3), 1980s 52 (1)
- **Score spread:** 1 at 80+, 2 at 60–79, 1 under 60
- **Lead roles:** 2 of 4 acting credits billed first or second
- **Genres:** Crime 2, Drama 2, Mystery 2, Romance 2, Thriller 2
- **Screen time:** 8 hours of reviewed films
- **Box office:** $32m across 4 films with figures
- **Elsewhere:** https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kim_Novak, https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q212879, https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001571/, https://www.themoviedb.org/person/5729

## Streaming the US now

- **Amazon Prime Video:** [*The Man with the Golden Arm*](https://film.one/film/the-man-with-the-golden-arm.md) (78)
- **Apple TV:** [*The Mirror Crack'd*](https://film.one/film/the-mirror-crackd.md) (52)

For United States; add `?region=XX` for another country.

## Fi1m on Kim Novak

> Kim Novak makes a mysterious woman feel like someone being misunderstood. We rate her for the unease she brings to *Vertigo*: she holds our attention while making us question the man watching her.

In *Vertigo* (1958), James Stewart's detective watches Kim Novak's Madeleine Elster as though enough looking might explain her. Novak keeps her behaviour difficult to read without letting her become merely a puzzle to be solved. We found the scrutiny increasingly uncomfortable because she makes us feel the person he keeps failing to see. Her poise holds his attention, but she never makes his fascination seem sufficient grounds for understanding her. The performance gives us something to worry about beyond what the detective will discover.

Her breakthrough came with *Picnic* (1955) and *The Man with the Golden Arm* (1955), the latter opposite Frank Sinatra. *Pal Joey* (1957) put her in a musical with Sinatra and Rita Hayworth; *Bell, Book and Candle* (1958) reunited her with Stewart for supernatural comedy. That is a more varied set of jobs than her frequent casting as a mysterious blonde might suggest. The danger in such casting is that looking beautiful and withholding information can become the whole part. In *Vertigo*, she makes us care about how the woman is being regarded.

Novak described Alfred Hitchcock as exact about the technical work while allowing her to find her own way into the character. That freedom seems particularly useful in a film where the detective is so absorbed in his own idea of a woman. Stewart makes Scottie Ferguson's fascination painfully convincing, and Novak gives us reason to question it even as we are drawn in. We would not exchange the film's patience for a brisker thriller, though some journeys drag and the mystery is far-fetched. Novak is a large part of why we are willing to stay with it.

The work became intermittent after the mid-1960s, with occasional later appearances before her final film, *Liebestraum* (1991). That makes it tempting to let the late-1950s films stand for everything she could do. We would be wary of treating one extraordinary part as the limit of an actor's abilities. Start with *Vertigo*, then try *Bell, Book and Candle* for another meeting with Stewart that does not ask them to do the same job.

## Biography

Kim Novak is an American actress. Born Marilyn Pauline Novak in Chicago, she signed with Columbia Pictures in 1954 and appeared in films including *Picnic* (1955), *The Man with the Golden Arm* (1955) and *Pal Joey* (1957).

She is best known for her dual role as Madeleine Elster and Judy Barton in Alfred Hitchcock's *Vertigo* (1958). Other credits include *Bell, Book and Candle* (1958) and *Kiss Me, Stupid* (1964). Novak largely withdrew from acting after the mid-1960s, with later appearances in *The Mirror Crack'd* (1980) and the television series *Falcon Crest* (1986–87). She has also pursued painting.

*Sources: en.wikipedia.org, britannica.com.*

## On Fi1m (4)

- *The Mirror Crack'd* (1980), Fi1m 52, as Lola Brewster — [page](https://film.one/film/the-mirror-crackd.md)
- *Vertigo* (1958), Fi1m 92, as Madeleine Elster / Judy Barton — [page](https://film.one/film/vertigo.md)
- *Picnic* (1955), Fi1m 63, as Madge Owens — [page](https://film.one/film/picnic.md)
- *The Man with the Golden Arm* (1955), Fi1m 78, as Molly — [page](https://film.one/film/the-man-with-the-golden-arm.md)

## Complete filmography (39)

Every credit, newest first. Titles without a page can be requested for review on the HTML page.

- *Proust Palimpsesto: Pastiches e Misturas* (2026), as Madeleine Elster (archive footage) (uncredited)
- *Kim Novak: Live from the TCM Classic Film Festival* (2013), Actor
- *Hollywood sul Tevere* (2009), Actor
- *Bride of Trailer Camp* (2001), as (archive footage)
- *Dark Galaxy* (1993), as (archive footage)
- *Preminger: Anatomy of a Filmmaker* (1991), as Molly (archive footage) (uncredited)
- *Liebestraum* (1991), as Lillian Anderson Munnsen
- *The Children* (1990), as Rose Sellars
- *Malibu* (1983), as Billie Farnsworth
- *Falcon Crest* (1981), series, as Kit Marlowe
- *The Mirror Crack'd* (1980), as Lola Brewster — Fi1m 52, [page](https://film.one/film/the-mirror-crackd.md)
- *Just a Gigolo* (1978), as Helga von Kaiserling
- *The White Buffalo* (1977), as Poker Jenny Schermerhorn
- *Satan's Triangle* (1975), as Eva
- *Tales That Witness Madness* (1973), as Auriol (segment "Luau")
- *The Third Girl from the Left* (1973), as Gloria Joyce
- *The Great Bank Robbery* (1969), as Sister Lyda Kebanov (forger)
- *The Legend of Lylah Clare* (1968), as Lylah Clare / Elsa Brinkmann / Elsa Campbell
- *The Amorous Adventures of Moll Flanders* (1965), as Moll Flanders
- *Kiss Me, Stupid* (1964), as Polly the Pistol
- *Of Human Bondage* (1964), as Mildred Rogers
- *MGM 40th Anniversary* (1964), Actor
- *Boys' Night Out* (1962), as Cathy · Co-Costume Designer
- *The Notorious Landlady* (1962), as Carly Hardwicke · Costume Design
- *Pepe* (1960), as Kim Novak
- *Strangers When We Meet* (1960), as Margaret 'Maggie' Gault
- *Middle of the Night* (1959), as Betty Preisser
- *Bell, Book and Candle* (1958), as Gillian Holroyd
- *Vertigo* (1958), as Madeleine Elster / Judy Barton — Fi1m 92, [page](https://film.one/film/vertigo.md)
- *Pal Joey* (1957), as Linda English
- *Jeanne Eagels* (1957), as Jeanne Eagels
- *The Eddy Duchin Story* (1956), as Marjorie Oelrichs Duchin
- *The Man with the Golden Arm* (1955), as Molly — Fi1m 78, [page](https://film.one/film/the-man-with-the-golden-arm.md)
- *Picnic* (1955), as Madge Owens — Fi1m 63, [page](https://film.one/film/picnic.md)
- *5 Against the House* (1955), as Kay Greylek
- *Son of Sinbad* (1955), as Harem Girl
- *Phffft* (1954), as Janis
- *Pushover* (1954), as Lona McLane
- *The French Line* (1954), as Model (uncredited)

## Gallery

- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-ff2a50b95c80.jpg) Kim Novak — Robert Malloy, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Kim_Novak_01.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Beni Salvadori, Paris fashion designer for actress Kim Novak (1960)](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-e21ef522a3e6.jpg) Beni Salvadori, Paris fashion designer for actress Kim Novak (1960) — LMRaskin, CC0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://thumb.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/d/d8/Beni_Salvadori_with_actress_Kim_Novak.jpg/1280px-Beni_Salvadori_with_actress_Kim_Novak.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail)
- ![Kim Novak show dress from the film Jeanne Eagels (1957) at the Debbie Reynolds Auction Breaks Up Historic Hollywood Collection (The Paley Center for Media in Be (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-a59256502ade.jpg) Kim Novak show dress from the film Jeanne Eagels (1957) at the Debbie Reynolds Auction Breaks Up Historic Hollywood Collection (The Paley Center for Media in Be (2011) — pop culture geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/4/4d/Debbie_Reynolds_Auction_-_Kim_Novak_%22Jeanne_Eagels%22_show_dress_from_%22Jeanne_Eagels%22_%285851597057%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kim Novak show dress from the film Jeanne Eagels (1957) at the Debbie Reynolds Auction Breaks Up Historic Hollywood Collection (The Paley Center for Media in Be (2011)](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-1d243cbb0734.jpg) Kim Novak show dress from the film Jeanne Eagels (1957) at the Debbie Reynolds Auction Breaks Up Historic Hollywood Collection (The Paley Center for Media in Be (2011) — pop culture geek from Los Angeles, CA, USA, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1a/Debbie_Reynolds_Auction_-_Kim_Novak_%22Jeanne_Eagels%22_show_dress_from_%22Jeanne_Eagels%22_%285851597131%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-af58e0cf6ed4.jpg) Kim Novak — Image via TMDB
- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-a03285949dcf.jpg) Kim Novak — Image via TMDB
- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-45da71bfba40.jpg) Kim Novak — Image via TMDB
- ![Kim Novak (1957)](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-aa87153de341.jpg) Kim Novak (1957) — Unknown authorUnknown author, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons (https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/5a/Kim_Novak_%281967%29.jpg?utm_source=commons.wikimedia.org&utm_campaign=imageinfo&utm_content=thumbnail_unscaled)
- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-5dc6f296cfa2.jpg) Kim Novak — Image via TMDB
- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-cbc4372d26b7.jpg) Kim Novak — Image via TMDB
- ![Kim Novak](https://film.one/media/person/59154/gallery-072dead4c989.jpg) Kim Novak — Image via TMDB

## Awards

### Golden Globes — 1 won

- 1955: New Star of the Year – Actress (won)

### Other awards — 1 won

- Honorary Golden Bear 1977: Honorary Golden Bear (won)

*From Wikidata, which records wins more completely than nominations.*

---
© Fi1m Ltd. Written by AI under a human editor; checked against sources before publication. Quote with attribution and a link to the canonical URL. Canonical: https://film.one/person/kim-novak