Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake, born Constance Frances Marie Ockleman, also known as Constance Keane (14 November 1922, Brooklyn, New York – 7 July 1973, Colchester, Vermont) was a popular American film actress and pin-up model who achieved wide fame and critical praise, especially for her film noir roles during the 1940s. Described by Bette Davis as "the most beautiful person who ever came to Hollywood," her success was fleeting and after a string of broken marriages and long struggles with mental illness and alcoholism she died destitute and friendless at the age of 50.

Early life and career

Constance's father worked on a ship for an oil company. When she was about a year old the family moved to Florida but had returned to Brooklyn before she was five. According to some accounts she was beaten as a child. Her father died in an industrial explosion when she was 12. Her mother married Anthony Keane a year later and Constance began using his last name. They are said to have lived in Canada, New York state and Miami, Florida where she graduated from high school. A troubled teenager, she had been diagnosed as a paranoid schizophrenic during her childhood at a time when therapy for such conditions was usually limited to long-term institutionalization. Having already achieved minor celebrity in Miami for her beauty, in 1938 Constance moved with her mother and step-father to Beverly Hills, California where Mrs. Keane enrolled her daughter in Hollywood's Bliss Hayden School of Acting.

Related Topics:
Canada - Miami - Florida - Paranoid - Schizophrenic - Beverly Hills - California - Hollywood

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Her first appearance on screen was for RKO, playing a small a role among several coeds in Sorority House (1939). Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets and Dancing Co-Ed. However her contract was dropped by RKO. She married art director John Detlie in 1940. Another small role in the comedy movie 40 Little Mothers brought unexpected attention and in 1941 she was signed to a long term contract by Paramount Pictures, was given her stage name Veronica Lake and on August 21 gave birth to a daughter, Elaine Detlie.

Related Topics:
RKO - Sorority House - All Women Have Secrets - Dancing Co-Ed - 40 Little Mothers - Paramount Pictures

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