Venice Film Festival awards lifetime Golden Lion to Kim Novak
Veteran U.S. actress Kim Novak, who rose to prominence in the 1950s and 1960s, was awarded a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at the 2015 Venice Film Festival.
- Cinema
- DPA
- Published Date: 06:15 | 09 June 2025
Veteran US actress Kim Novak, who rose to fame in the 1950s and 1960s, and in particular for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo," is to receive a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement at this year's Venice International Film Festival.
"I am deeply, deeply touched to receive the prestigious Golden Lion Award from such an enormously respected film festival," Novak said in response.
"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," she said.
Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera said: "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."
The award "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," Barbera concluded.
Pressured by the Hollywood machine to change her name – her given names are Marilyn Pauline – because of the association with Marilyn Monroe, Novak fought to maintain her last name, agreeing, in exchange, to dye her hair platinum blonde.
The festival runs from August 27 to September 6.
"I am deeply, deeply touched to receive the prestigious Golden Lion Award from such an enormously respected film festival," Novak said in response.
"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," she said.
Festival Artistic Director Alberto Barbera said: "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."
The award "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," Barbera concluded.
Pressured by the Hollywood machine to change her name – her given names are Marilyn Pauline – because of the association with Marilyn Monroe, Novak fought to maintain her last name, agreeing, in exchange, to dye her hair platinum blonde.
The festival runs from August 27 to September 6.
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