The Best Actress of the 1930s: Myrna Loy

The 1930s produced some truly amazing film actresses; an argument might even be made that decade was the peak for film actresses. (Some might also make the argument it was the peak decade for male actors; that was some great decade for movies, that 1930s.) Choosing the greatest actress of the 1930s is no easy feat but when all is said and done it really comes down to two. And since I'm going to pick the other one as the best actress of the 1940s, I have decided to honor the Queen of Hollywood, Myrna Loy, as the best.

In 1938 Clark Cable was chosen as the King of Hollywood; he was popularly known as The King for the rest of his career. Even people not as obsessed with classic movies as I recognize the name Clark Gable. It is a testament to the popularity of Myrna Loy during the 1930s that she took her place alongside Gable. It is also a sad testament to the fact that most actresses don't have nearly as long a career as most actors that her name is a cipher to many people today. In 1938, however, Myrna Loy was big. Really big. Gabby Hayes big.

Her almond-shaped eyes and upturned nose imbued her with an exoticism that belied her all-American birth in Big Sky Country. It was that slightly Oriental look that bought her a ticket into the legacy of Hollywood. A staple of silent films was the Vamp and Myrna Loy was one of the vampish in the business. So successful was she in the role of the vamp that she appeared in 80 movies in less than a decade while she struggled vainly to prove that she was capable of far more. The advent of talkies finally brought her that chance. She appeared in a string of musicals in the early 30s before finally finding her niche in two movies released in 1934, both starring William Powell, an actor with whom Myrna Loy would forever be linked. The first saw her paired with her future King, Clark Gable. It was a gangster flick titled Manhattan Melodrama and while it is a powerful movie, it's mostly remembered as a result of the fact that it was the movie that John Dillinger saw just before he was shot to death outside the movie theater.