Girl Friday - 10/23/2009 - Veronica Lake

This Week's Girl Friday is another beauty who met a tragic end.

Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake's rise to stardom was swift. Her success seemed only to give her farther to fall, once her personality disorders became too much to cope with.

Once a popular film noir actress, Ms. Lake is probably most famous for staring along side Alan Ladd is several movies of the dark genre. At less than 5' tall, Veronica Lake was originally cast opposite Alan Ladd because most other leading actresses were taller than Mr. Ladd. The two developed a chemistry on film, however, that was enough to keep the pairing successful at the box office.

Ms. Lake is thought to have suffered from Schizophrenia, as well as alcoholism. These two factors contributed to three failed marriages, bankruptcy, and seizure of her assets by the IRS for failure to pay taxes.

Amazingly, the woman who once inspired fashion trends and packed movie houses with fans, ended up drifting between cheap hotels in the New York City area during the 1950's and early 1960's. Largely forgotten by the public at that point, she was once discovered by a reporter working as a Barmaid at an all women's hotel in Manhattan.

She eventually succumb completely to paranoia, believing that the FBI was targeting her. She passed away from Hepatitis and renal failure, due to the drinking, in 1973 - she was only 50 years old...