veronica lake was born constance francis marie okleman on november 14 1922 in brooklyn new york
her father harry okleman had worked for an oil company aboard a ship he died in an industrial
explosion in philadelphia in 1932. lake's mother then married anthony keen a newspaper staff artist
in 1933 and lake began using his surname in 1938 her family moved to beverly hills california
lake attended the bliss hayden school of acting after getting parts in several rko pictures lake
attracted the interest of fred wilcox an assistant director who shot a screen test and showed it to
producer arthur hornblow jr who was looking for a new girl to play the part of a nightclub singer
and a new military drama that was called i wanted wings in 1940 the role would
make lake still in her teens a star hornblow changed the actress's name to veronica lake
according to him her eyes calm and clear like a blue lake were the inspiration for her new name
it was during the filming of i wanted wings that lake developed her signature look lake's
long blonde hair accidentally fell over her right eye during a take and created sort of a peekaboo
effect i was playing a sympathetic drunk i had my arm on a table and it slipped
and my hair it was always baby fine and had this natural break fell over my face
it became my trademark and purely by accident she recalled i wanted wings was a big hit the
hairstyle became lake's trademark and was widely copied by women she later appeared in several
great movies including sullivan's travels this gun for hire with alan ladd the pairing of lake and
ladd was very popular and they also did three more pictures together the glass key the blue dahlia
and saigon in 1948 at the peak of her career she was earning 4 500 a week veronica lake was
considered to be difficult to work with however causing many male lead actors to refuse to work
with her her mother had claimed that as a child she was diagnosed with having schizophrenia
veronica lake's career faltered after losing her paramount studio contract lake's first marriage
was to art director john s detley in 1940. they had a daughter elaine and a son anthony
lake's son was born prematurely after she tripped on a lighting cable while filming a movie anthony
died on july 15 1943 lake and deadly divorced in december of 43. in 1944 lake married film director
andre de toth with whom she had a son michael and a daughter diana laken de toth divorced in 1952.
in september 1955 she married songwriter joseph alan mccarthy and they were divorced
in 1959. lake was interested in flying and actually earned her pilot's license in 1946
her career continued to decline after she appeared in stronghold in 1951. lake sued for unpaid wages
on the film and heron de toth filed for bankruptcy that same year the irs later seized their home for
unpaid taxes on the verge of a nervous breakdown and bankrupt lake ran away leaving the toth
she took his plane which he had bought for him and flew solo between los angeles and new york
after leaving new york and going to europe she performed in summer stock theater and in stage
roles in england in october of 1955 she collapsed in detroit where she had been appearing on stage
after her third divorce lake drifted between cheap hotels in new york city and was arrested several
times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct in 1962 a new york post reporter found her
living at the all women's martha washington hotel in manhattan working as a waitress downstairs in
the cocktail lounge she was working under the name of connie de toth in 1966 she had a brief stint
as a television hostess in baltimore maryland along with a film role in footsteps in the snow
in the late 1960s lake wrote a book entitled veronica the autobiography of veronica lake
also in 69 lake played the role of blanche dubois in a revival of a streetcar named desire
on the english stage her performance won good reviews her final film was flesh feast in 1970
a low budget horror movie in june of 1973 while traveling in vermont lake visited a local doctor
complaining of stomach pains she was diagnosed as having cirrhosis of the liver as a result of her
years of drinking and on june 26 she checked into the university of vermont medical center sadly
she died there on july 7 1973 of acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury she was only 50 years old
she was cremated and her ashes were scattered off the coast of the virgin islands strangely in 2004
some of the lakes ashes were reportedly found in a new york antique store for her contribution to
the motion picture industry lake has a star on the hollywood walk of fame at 6918 hollywood boulevard
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