Kim Novak Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement

The legendary American actress Kim Novak (Vertigo, Picnic, Bell, Book and Candle) (photo: David Fisher / Rex Features) has been awarded the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 82^nd Venice International Film Festival of La Biennale di Venezia (August 27 – September 6, 2025).

The decision was made by the Board of Directors of La Biennale, upon recommendation of the Artistic Director of the Festival, Alberto Barbera.

Kim Novak in accepting the offer, declared: “I am deeply, deeply touched to receive the prestigious Golden Lion Award from such an enormously respected film festival. To be recognized for my body of work at this time in my life is a dream come true. I will treasure every moment I spend in Venice. It will fill my heart with joy”.

With regard to the award to Kim Novak, Festival’s Artistic Director Alberto Barbera declared: “Inadvertently becoming a screen legend, Kim Novak was one of the most beloved icons of an entire era of Hollywood films, from her auspicious debut during the mid-1950s until her premature and voluntary exile from the gilded cage of Los Angeles a short while later. She never refrained from criticizing the studio system, choosing her roles, who she let into her private life and even her name. Forced to renounce her given name, Marilyn Pauline, because it was associated with Monroe, she fought to conserve her last name, agreeing, in exchange, to dye her hair that shade of platinum blonde which set her apart. Independent and nonconformist, she created her own production company and went on strike to renegotiate a salary that was much lower than that of her male co-stars.  Thanks to her exuberant beauty; her ability to bring to life characters who were naïve and discreet, as well as sensuous and tormented; and her seductive and sometimes sorrowful gaze, she was appreciated by some of the major American directors of the period, from  Billy Wilder (Kiss me, Stupid), to Otto Preminger (The Man With the Golden Arm), Robert Aldrich (The Legend of Lylah Clare), George Sidney (The Eddy Duchin Story, Jeanne Eagels, Pal Joey), and Richard Quine, with whom she made unforgettable romantic comedies (Pushover, Bell Book and Candle, Strangers When We Meet, The Notorious Landlady). But her image will remain forever linked to the dual characters she played in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which became the role of her life. This Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement celebrates a star who was emancipated, a rebel at the heart of Hollywood who illuminated the dreams of movie lovers before retiring to her ranch in Oregon to dedicate herself to painting and to her horses.”

On this occasion, the documentary Kim Novak’s Vertigo by Alexandre Philippe, made in exclusive collaboration with the actress, will be presented in its world premiere screening.

Kim Novak, the last of the great glamorous movie stars of the golden era, who was the No. 1 box office star in the world in ’58, ‘59’ and ’60, lives on today as a happy legend, poet, and artist. Despite her glamourous looks, few people realize that Novak was the first woman to start her own production company in 1958. She knew that’s where the control was, and she wasn’t interested in being a “puppet” for Columbia’s Harry Cohn. Cohn said he “manufactured Novak in order to make Rita Hayworth nervous.” No star can be manufactured ever. You have to be born with the magic, and last as a legend. Novak’s face is extraordinary and the camera loves her. You cannot fake that. Her brilliant performance in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo, with James Stewart, has become unforgettable and continues to excite and haunt audiences today. Vertigo has been named the Best Film Ever Made by the British Film Institute and other respected polls and was the very first motion picture to be named as part of the Library of Congress.  Her movies are now considered true classics: Picnic (1955,) The Man with the Golden Arm (1955), Pal Joey (1957,) Vertigo (1958,)  Bell, Book and Candle (1958). They all contributed to making Kim Novak the The No. 1 Box Office Star in the world during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s. Her poignant and “true life” performances were never stylized for the period in which they were made. Therefore, her work as an actress was not always appreciated by the critics of that time. Yet, she remained real and relevant by surviving the test of time with audiences around the world. In recent years, the critics have changed their minds and voraciously rewritten their opinions on her performances. She became a living legend, earning her rightful place in history, with the respect and esteem of the film critics and industry alike. Kim Novak has been honored by the Toronto Film Festival in 2015, the Prague Film Festival in 2014 and the Cannes Film Festival in 2013. Novak was also honored with the prestigious Golden Bear Award for her lifetime achievement at the Berlin International Film Festival. In 2003, she was presented with the Eastman Kodak Archives Award for her contribution to film (prior honorees include Greta Garbo, Audrey Hepburn, James Stewart, Martin Scorsese and Meryl Streep).  Novak has graced the covers of LIFE, LOOK, and TIME magazines twice along with appearing in every major publication from 1955 to the present. Kim Novak never chose to become an actress. As a young girl, she received two art scholarships where she attended the prestigious Chicago Art Institute. While in her second semester at Wright Junior College in her hometown of Chicago, she took a summer job traveling from major city to major city modeling as Miss Deep Freeze. When the tour ended in San Francisco, she and another model decided to detour to Hollywood where Novak took a “modeling job” in a movie called The French Line, starring Jane Russell. It was there that she was discovered by a talent scout and signed by Columbia Pictures.  Unusual for a new contract player, Novak was given the starring roles in Pushover and Five Against the House, in her first year by Columbia boss, Harry Cohn. Cohn, a very tough boss, was interested in developing Novak’s career to threaten his wayward star, Rita Hayworth. Instead, Novak and Hayworth became friends with very successful careers. After the death of Harry Cohn, the studio became fractured for a time, unable to find or offer quality scripts worth Novak’s doing.  She carefully evaluated the pitfalls of losing one’s own identity, as well as the possible risk of losing life itself, as happened with Marilyn Monroe. Therefore, Novak found the courage to abandon fortune and fame in search of her own identity - wanting to prove that an independent woman had value enough to make it on her own. She located to a magical cliffside dwelling on the Pacific Ocean near Carmel, California, called Gull House, where she worked at developing her creative talents as a visual artist. She married her first husband, British actor Richard Johnson, in 1965. They were divorced a year later. After many years of living alone she married Dr. Robert Malloy the love of her life, who was an equine veterinarian. They created a special paradise they named Wingsong on the Rogue River in Southern Oregon. Respecting and caring for Mother Nature, they explored the wilderness on horseback, along with their dogs and other special critters. Novak’s art was displayed and honored in a retrospective of her life’s work by the prestigious Butler Museum of American Art in Youngstown, Ohio, where some of her pieces are on permanent display. Her art also has been exhibited at the San Francisco Historical Society and the National Museum of Prague. The Butler Museum published a book of her life and art in 2020. Novak painted symbolically showing the influence of both her troubled childhood as well as Hollywood.  It was not until after her show business career that she was diagnosed as being bi-polar.  After her husband’s passing from cancer in 2020, she has dedicated her life to more painting and writing of poetry. She also continued to live out her dream of riding her favorite horse, Poet, and creating a home with her three rescue dogs.