Best known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle and femme fatale roles in 1940s noir films alongside
actor Alan Ladd as well as other hit films from the decade such as 1941s Sullivan's Travels
and I Married a Witch, Veronica Lake enjoyed a short period of immense popularity before
her career began to decline in the late 40s.
Throughout the 50s, Lake only made one brief guest appearance on TV.
She tried to stage a career comeback in 1966 when she returned to the big screen in the
Canadian low-budget thriller Footsteps in the Snow, but that role failed to bring her
career back from the dead.
Her final screen role before her death was in the 1970 low-budget horror flick Flash
Feast.
That same year she published her memoir Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake.
Sadly, her later years were far from the glitz and glamour that Hollywood once offered her.
Lake struggled with alcoholism and was virtually penniless when she passed away in 1973.
She was just 50 years old when she died from complications of hepatitis and acute renal
injury.
Join Facts Verse as we explore the multitude of terrible reasons that Veronica Lake died
broke and destitute.
While clearly, alcohol played a major role in her demise, Lake's downfall wasn't just
about her love for the bottle.
Tragic From The Beginning
Born in Brooklyn, New York, in 1919, Lake's troubles began very early on in her life.
She was just a child when she received a diagnosis of schizophrenia.
This diagnosis has been called into question, however, as Veronica's mother wasn't ever
considered to be a very reliable source of information.
Regardless, Lake certainly was dealing with something unsettling internally that would
continue to haunt her for the remainder of her life.
After being labeled mentally ill, her controlling mother signed her up for acting classes.
While, she claimed that the classes would help her work through her issues, in all actuality,
she just wanted live vicariously through her daughter to meet her own aims.
Veronica's mother always seemed to have an agenda and whenever she looked at her beautiful
daughter, all she saw were dollar signs.
When Lake was just ten years old, her father who worked aboard an oil tanker was killed
in an accident.
Not long after, Lake's mother remarried.
After moving to Miami, Florida, Lake was discovered by a talent scout.
Soon enough, she made her way to Hollywood with her mother and new stepfather to pursue
an acting career.
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Stick around to learn how Veronica Lake's struggles with mental illness and alcoholism
eventually led to her being broke and destitute in her later years.
Early Stardom and Alcoholism
Lake's acting career began with her appearing in a series of minor roles in films in 1939.
In 1940, she landed her breakthrough role in I Wanted Wings.
Even though she was still a teen, she was now officially a star.
Around this time, Lake began wearing her hair in her signature peek-a-boo style, with her
long blonde hair cascading over one eye.
That look would prove to be one of her most significant assets and was imitated by many
at the time.
In 1940, Lake got married to art director John S. Detile.
Her next major role was in 1941s Sullivan's Travels which she filmed while she was six
months pregnant with her daughter Elaine.
She followed that up with another noteworthy performance in 1942s The Gun For hire.
Having already appeared in several films opposite Alan Ladd, the two stars essentially became
a package deal.
They would go on to appear in lead roles together in another three films.
Both also had cameos in 1942s Star Spangled Rhythm, a Paramount Film with an all-star
cast.
Lake was supposed to reunite with her Sullivan's Travels co-star Joel McCrea in the 1942 film
I Married a Witch, but McCrea refused to act alongside her again.
He was quoted as saying that life was too short to do two movies with Veronica Lake.
Production on the comedy ended up being delayed which allowed her to reunite with Ladd once
again in 1942s The Glass Key.
Since McCrea had backed out of I Married a Witch, Fredric March was called in for the
male lead role instead.
Both The Glass Key and I Married a Witch proved to be very successful at the box office.
By 1943, Lake was pregnant with her second child.
Her son Anthony had to be born prematurely in July 1943 after Veronica tripped on a lighting
cable while filming a movie.
Sadly, since he was so premature, Anthony died just a week after he was born.
Several months after losing their child, Lake and Detile got divorced.
Although she had clearly made it as an actress, behind the scenes, Lake's problems were beginning
to mount.
As a means of coping with her mental illness and a failed marriage, Lake drank excessively
and her alcoholism led to her health steadily deteriorating.
She also never really believed in herself.
She developed a reputation for being self-deprecating and was considered to be difficult to work
with.
Her Star Spangled Rythmm co-star Eddie Bracken described her as being deserving of the negative
reputation that she had developed.
It seemed as if everyone she came across had something negative to say about her.
During the product of 1946s The Blue Dahlia, screenwriter Raymond Chandler even went as
far as to call her 'Moronica Lake'.
During the second World War, Lake swapped out her signature hairdo for a more traditional
cut.
She did this at the urging of the government who wanted movie stars to encourage women
working in wartime industrial factories to adopt more practical hairstyles.
While the change might have led to fewer women getting their hair caught in heavy machinery,
it severely damaged Lake's career.
In 1944, Lake married film director Andre de Toth.
The couple had two children, a son named Andre Anthony Michael II and a daughter named Diana.
Just days before the birth of Diana, Lake's mother sued her for support payments
In 1951, Lake and DeToth filed for bankruptcy and when the IRS came in and seized their
home for unpaid taxes, Veronica had a nervous breakdown, left DeToth, and ran away to New
York City by herself.
By the late 1940s, Lake's career had already been on the decline and by the 1950s she was
all but done with cinema.
She made only a handful of appearances on television before finally leaving Hollywood
behind for good.
When she left Tinsel Town and her second failed marriage behind, that pretty much marked the
end of her screen acting career.
She performed in summer Stock theater in England in the early 50s.
In 1955, while appearing on stage in Detroit at The Little Hut, Veronica collapsed and
had to be hospitalized.
That same year, she married her third husband, Joseph Allan McCarthy.
They divorced four years later in 1959.
Veronica's Final Years
After divorcing her third husband, Lake reportedly drifted around New York City, staying in cheap
hotels.
She was arrested repeatedly around this time for public intoxication and disorderly conduct.
In 1962 a reporter with the Post found her living at a women-only hotel in Manhattan
while working as a cocktail waitress in the lounge downstairs.
The ensuing news report that that journalist published led to immense speculation that
Veronica was destitute.
Some of her fans even sent her money, hoping it would help her out, but Lake sent it back
as a matter of pride.
The story did end up stirring up some renewed interest in Lake which led to several TV and
stage appearances.
Notably, in 1963, she starred in the off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward.
For a few years in the late 60s, Lake lived with a friend in the Bahamas.
In 1969, she played Blanche DuBois in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire in Britain.
Lake's final role was in the 1970 low-budget horror film Flash Feast which she also co-produced.
In 1973, Lake returned to the United States after spending several years touring in England.
She started experiencing intense stomach pains, so she went to see a doctor in Vermont.
That's when she found out that she had cirrhosis of the liver caused by her years of heavy
drinking.
On June 26, 1973, Lake checked into the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington
She died of acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury on July 7, 1973.
Per her wishes, she was cremated and her ashes were scattered at seat off the coast of the
Virgin Islands.
Surprisingly, in 2004 some of her ashes were found in an antique store in New York City.
For an actress whose career started out so strong, it's a shame that Veronica Lake's
life ended on such a troubling note.
Her story stands as a cautionary tale of what can happen when mental illness and alcoholism
run unchecked.
Lake seemed to be hit with one tragedy after another right from the get-go.
From the sudden death of her father when she was just a girl to her many failed marriages,
Lake's interpersonal relationships suffered greatly throughout her life.
She is also a prime example of what can happen to a star when they are thrust into fame before
they've even had time to truly understand who they are.
Lake was already a film star when she was still yet a teenager.
Her mother egged her on to seek the glory and luxuries of the limelight, but it's unclear
if that was something she ever really desired for herself.
Anyway, you've heard our take on things.
Now it's your turn to let your voice be heard.
If you're a fan of Veronica Lake's work, what are some of your favorite films she starred
in?
And how do you think her life would have played out differently if she hadn't struggled with
alcoholism and mental illness?
Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
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