Constance Frances Marie Ockelman, known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress.
38 Facts About Veronica Lake
2.
Veronica Lake made only one film in the 1950s, but made several guest appearances on television.
3.
Veronica Lake returned to the big screen in the film Footsteps in the Snow, but the role failed to revitalize her career.
4.
Lake's memoir, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, was published in 1970.
5.
Veronica Lake was born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in the New York City borough of Brooklyn.
6.
Veronica Lake died in an oil tanker explosion in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania in 1932.
7.
Veronica Lake was then sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from which she was expelled.
8.
Veronica Lake later claimed she attended McGill University and took a premed course for a year, intending to become a surgeon.
9.
Veronica Lake subsequently apologized to the president of McGill, who was simply amused when she explained her habit of self-dramatizing.
10.
Veronica Lake attended Miami High School, where she was known for her beauty.
11.
Veronica Lake had a troubled childhood and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to her mother.
12.
Veronica Lake made friends with a girl named Gwen Horn and accompanied her when Horn went to audition at RKO.
13.
Veronica Lake appeared in the play Thought for Food in January 1939.
14.
Veronica Lake attracted the interest of Fred Wilcox, an assistant director, who shot a test scene of her performing from a play and showed it to an agent.
15.
However, Veronica Lake did not think this meant she would have a long career and maintained her goal was to be a surgeon.
16.
Veronica Lake became a popular pin-up girl for soldiers, and participated in awareness campaigns to help decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery.
17.
Veronica Lake made an appearance in Paramount's all-star musical revue Star Spangled Rhythm performing "A Sweater, Sarong and a Peek-A-Boo Bang" with Paulette Goddard and Dorothy Lamour.
18.
On Sullivan's Travels, Veronica Lake did not disclose she was six months pregnant when filming began, upsetting director Preston Sturges to the point he had to be physically restrained.
19.
Veronica Lake had done so at the urging of the government to help decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery.
20.
In late 1943, Veronica Lake took time off after undergoing a series of personal struggles.
21.
Veronica Lake returned with roles in the musical Bring On the Girls with Eddie Bracken and Sonny Tufts; and Hold That Blonde with Bracken.
22.
Veronica Lake was pleased with the role, but her performance in the film did not impress its screenwriter Raymond Chandler, who referred to her as "Moronica Veronica Lake".
23.
Veronica Lake returned to her former peek-a-boo hairstyle for the film, which unlike their previous films was not a noir.
24.
Veronica Lake appeared with Zachary Scott in the Western Stronghold.
25.
Bankrupt and on the verge of a nervous breakdown, Veronica Lake left DeToth and flew alone to New York.
26.
Veronica Lake performed in summer stock theatre and in stage roles in England.
27.
Veronica Lake was working under the name "Connie de Toth".
28.
The story did revive some interest in Veronica Lake and led to some television and stage appearances, including the 1963 off-Broadway revival of the musical Best Foot Forward.
29.
Veronica Lake went to Freeport in the Bahamas to visit a friend and ended up living there for a few years.
30.
Veronica Lake laughed off the term "sex symbol" and instead referred to herself as a "sex zombie".
31.
Also in 1969, Veronica Lake essayed the role of Blanche DuBois in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire on the English stage; her performance won rave reviews.
32.
Days before Diana's birth, Veronica Lake's mother sued her for support payments.
33.
Veronica Lake later flew solo between Los Angeles and New York when leaving him.
34.
In June 1973, Veronica Lake returned from her autobiography promotion and summer stock tour in England to the United States and while traveling in Vermont, visited a local doctor, complaining of stomach pains.
35.
Veronica Lake died there on July 7,1973, of acute hepatitis and acute kidney injury.
36.
Veronica Lake was cremated and, according to her wishes, her ashes were scattered off the coast of the Virgin Islands.
37.
In 2004, some of Veronica Lake's ashes were reportedly found in a New York antique store.
38.
Veronica Lake's image was used as a sight gag in the 1942 film The Major and the Minor with Ginger Rogers and Ray Milland.