Wickedly witty and effortlessly elegant, Myrna Loy embodied 1930s romantic comedy at its most urbane. American audiences in 1937 voted her “Queen of the Movies,” and she has enchanted ever since with her lively intelligence and sly humor, her cool poise and warm heart. Loy and William Powell formed one of the screen’s greatest couples, and in the THIN MAN movies they pioneered an ideal of modern marriage as a partnership of equals, nourished by a ceaseless flow of jokes and martinis. A passionate activist for social justice throughout her life, Myrna Loy brought substance and spirit to every film, elevating melodramas, crime thrillers, and comedies with her subtle underplaying, unaffected honesty, and timeless sense of style.
The following interview with critic Imogen Sara Smith was recorded in 2022.
Directed by Rouben Mamoulian • 1932 • United States
Starring Maurice Chevalier, Jeanette MacDonald, Charles Ruggles
A case of mistaken identity gives a romantic Parisian tailor (Maurice Chevalier) the opportunity to woo the princess of his dreams (Jeanette MacDonald) in this exquisite musical, r...
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke • 1933 • United States
Starring Warner Baxter, Myrna Loy, Charles Butterworth
Myrna Loy sizzles in this fast-paced mystery graced with plenty of eyebrow-raising pre-Code touches. She stars as the marvelously named Manhattan call girl Gertie Waxted, who uses her underwo...
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke • 1934 • United States
Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan
Nick and Nora Charles cordially invite you to bring your own alibi to this jaunty, dry-witted whodunit, which made William Powell and Myrna Loy the champagne elite of sleuthing. Bantering in ...
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke • 1934 • United States
Starring Clark Gable, William Powell, Myrna Loy
Famous today as the film that gangster John Dillinger had just watched when he was shot to death by federal agents coming out of a Chicago movie theater, this pre-Code crime drama stars Clark Gable ...
Directed by Sam Wood • 1934 • United States
Starring Myrna Loy, George Brent, Lionel Atwill
Based on the true story of Elsbeth Schragmüller (a.k.a. Fräulein Doktor), this crisp espionage thriller stars an exquisitely costumed Myrna Loy as a notorious, seductive, Mata Hari–esque enemy spy named A...
Directed by Sam Wood • 1935 • United States
Starring Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy, Harvey Stephens
The live-wire chemistry between stars Myrna Loy and Spencer Tracy propels this snappy tale of romance and jewel thieves. When FBI Agent Ross McBride (Tracy) goes undercover to join a gang of criminals ...
Directed by Jack Conway • 1936 • United States
Starring Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy
Four of the brightest stars of the thirties—Jean Harlow, William Powell, Myrna Loy, and Spencer Tracy—shine in this madcap screwball romance. It all starts when society diva Connie Allenbury (Loy) slap...
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke • 1936 • United States
Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, James Stewart
William Powell and Myrna Loy reunite with the writers and director of THE THIN MAN in the giddy second film about the urbane team of husband-and-wife sleuths Nick and Nora Charles. It’s New Year’s...
Directed by Richard Thorpe • 1937 • United States
Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Florence Rice
It’s double the fun and double the romantic complications when a love quadrangle forms in this delightful screwball farce. Irene (Florence Rice) is engaged to milquetoast Waldo (John Beal). The on...
Directed by Victor Fleming • 1938 • United States
Starring Clark Gable, Myrna Loy, Spencer Tracy
For every new, experimental airplane, one person must be brave enough to be the first to fly the craft—to see if the plane will really stay in the air. The one to tell everyone who follows him how to...
Directed by W. S. Van Dyke • 1940 • United States
Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Frank McHugh
William Powell and Myrna Loy star in a screwball romantic comedy about a small-town businessman who recovers from a years-old case of amnesia, remembers his former life as a con man, and realizes t...
Directed by Jack Conway • 1941 • United States
Starring William Powell, Myrna Loy, Gail Patrick
Everything seems perfect for married couple Susan (Myrna Loy) and Stephen Ireland (William Powell), until Susan’s mother (Florence Bates) comes to stay for an extended visit. Now, a mother-in-law’s mi...
Directed by H. C. Potter • 1948 • United States
Starring Cary Grant, Myrna Loy, Melvyn Douglas
The comic chemistry of Cary Grant and Myrna Loy propels this subtly sophisticated satire of postwar America’s search for a middle-class utopia. City-slicker advertising executive Jim Blandings (Grant) ...
Directed by Lewis Milestone • 1949 • United States
Starring Myrna Loy, Robert Mitchum, Louis Calhern
John Steinbeck adapted his own classic novella for this sensitive tale of a young boy (Peter Miles) growing up in California’s Salinas Valley who, under the guidance of a venerable ranch hand (Ro...
