The Many Faces of Kim Novak: A Hollywood Icon in Pictures

About the Fea­ture: Kim Novak: The Life of a Hol­ly­wood Rebel, in Pho­tos

This visu­al ret­ro­spec­tive, pub­lished by Van­i­ty Fair, traces Kim Novak’s trans­for­ma­tion from appli­ance-mod­el­ing begin­nings to her sta­tus as a celebrated—yet rebellious—Hollywood icon. The col­lec­tion high­lights her career-defin­ing roles and per­son­al bat­tles, framed by a fierce deter­mi­na­tion to be seen as an actor rather than mere­ly a glam­orous face  .

Ear­ly Career & Break­through: Novak began as the face of an appli­ance brand before solid­i­fy­ing her sta­tus through stand­out films like Pic­nic (1955), Jeanne Eagels (1957), Pal Joey (1957), and espe­cial­ly Alfred Hitchcock’s mas­ter­piece Ver­ti­go (1958)  . The Hol­ly­wood Rebel: Through­out her four-decade career, Novak resist­ed indus­try-imposed expec­ta­tions. She fought for her iden­ti­ty, retained her name despite stu­dio pres­sure, and even found­ed her own pro­duc­tion com­pa­ny in 1958—all mark­ing her as a pio­neer resis­tance to Hollywood’s male-dom­i­nat­ed con­trol  . Retreat from the Spot­light: Dis­il­lu­sioned by Hollywood’s con­straints and fol­low­ing a chal­leng­ing shoot for Liebe­straum (1991), Novak with­drew from act­ing to pur­sue her pas­sions: paint­ing and car­ing for ani­mals   . Mod­ern-Day Recog­ni­tion: In 2025, Novak was com­mem­o­rat­ed with two sig­nif­i­cant hon­ors: Gold­en Lion for Life­time Achieve­ment at Venice Film Fes­ti­val, where a deeply emo­tion­al trib­ute show­cased her lega­cy as more than a screen icon but a com­plex, resilient artist   . Icon Award at the Deauville Amer­i­can Film Fes­ti­val, accom­pa­nied by the screen­ing of the inti­mate doc­u­men­tary Kim Novak’s Ver­ti­go  .

This gallery does more than chron­i­cle Novak’s beauty—it under­scores her defi­ance, strength, and artistry. From glam­orous stu­dio shots to can­did on-set moments, each image tells a chap­ter of a woman who con­sis­tent­ly defied expec­ta­tion and forged her path with integri­ty

📽️ Career at Her Peak

Novak rose to star­dom in the 1950s and ’60s thanks to her nat­ur­al ele­gance and dra­mat­ic inten­si­ty. Alfred Hitchcock’s “Ver­ti­go” (1958) immor­tal­ized her—her dual role (Madeleine/Judy) remains one of the most stud­ied per­for­mances in film his­to­ry. She often reject­ed stu­dio-imposed roles and con­tracts, some­thing high­ly unusu­al for a female star of her time.

🎭 A “Rebel” Against Hol­ly­wood

Colum­bia Pic­tures tried to rebrand her with a new name, but she insist­ed on keep­ing Kim Novak, refus­ing to con­form to the industry’s con­trol. She found­ed her own pro­duc­tion com­pa­ny in the late 1950s—an excep­tion­al­ly bold move for a woman in Hol­ly­wood at that time. Novak was out­spo­ken about not want­i­ng to be seen as mere­ly a “glam­our star”; she fought to be rec­og­nized as a seri­ous artist.

🖌️ Life Beyond the Cam­era

From the 1970s onward, Novak grad­u­al­ly stepped away from Hol­ly­wood. She devot­ed her­self to paint­ing and ani­mal care, liv­ing a qui­et life in Ore­gon with her hus­band, vet­eri­nar­i­an Robert Mal­loy. Her abstract art­works often reflect deep emo­tion­al strug­gles, includ­ing her com­plex rela­tion­ship with fame and iden­ti­ty.

🏆 Hon­ored in Her Lat­er Years

In 2025, at the age of 92, Kim Novak was cel­e­brat­ed with: The Gold­en Lion for Life­time Achieve­ment at the Venice Film Fes­ti­val. The Icon Award at the Deauville Amer­i­can Film Fes­ti­val. The inti­mate doc­u­men­tary “Kim Novak’s Ver­ti­go” also pre­miered, shed­ding light on her dif­fi­cult child­hood, resilience, and last­ing impact on cin­e­ma.