I quite enjoy the reassessment of artists and especially women; the 'forgotten' painters, actors, writers, poets and even movie stars. Today I am looking at Veronica Lake and realise I don't believe I have seen a single film with her in but was surprised to realise she was tiny [1.5m or 4'11"] and despite the signature hair draped over one eye that this was (of course) a studio affectation but here was a woman possessed of intellect. I also realise lately from certain quotes that not unlike Marilyn, Frances Farmer or Tallulah Bankhead all of whom I admired enormously, that Lake was a truly interesting person and not some empty headed blonde bimbo! Here first statement here reminds me that little changes in Hollywood and especially pertinent post Weinstein et al

Veronica Lake 1922-1973

 “Hollywood gives a young girl the aura of one giant, self-contained orgy farm, its inhabitants dedicated to crawling into every pair of pants they can find.If I had stayed in Hollywood I would have ended up like Alan Ladd and Gail Russell – dead and buried by now. That rat race killed them and I knew it would kill me, so I had to get out. I was never psychologically meant to be a picture star. I never took it seriously. I couldn’t ‘live’ being a ‘movie star’ and I couldn’t ‘camp’ it, and I hated being something I wasn’t.” 

“There’s no doubt I was a bit of a misfit in the Hollywood of the forties. The race for glamor left me far behind. I didn’t really want to keep up. I wanted my stardom without the usual trimmings. Because of this, I was branded a rebel at the very least. But I don’t regret that for a minute. My appetite was my own and I simply wouldn’t have it any other way.”   

“You could put all the talent I had into your left eye and still not suffer from impaired vision.” - Lake in 1970