Rather humorously, the FOX News website is leading today with a story about ’40s film star Veronica Lake who died in obscurity back in 1973 – because you know, that’s definitely the big news of the day. Not the Manafort trial, or Omarosa‘s allegations, or the Roger Stone associate who was subpoenaed by Robert Mueller. Nooooooooooo. None of that is newsworthy. But VERONICA LAKE on the other hand… *smh*
Not so humorous, though, is the story itself, which is really rather sad, and another reminder (after today’s Sean Young news) that Hollywood is a fickle bitch who chews up and spits out its stars like an old wad of flavorless gum.
In the piece, a reporter who interviewed Veronica Lake in the 1960s describes her as a bitter, lonely alcoholic “who was probably struggling financially. You could see she was very damaged.” Most shockingly, “alcohol had wrecked Lake’s sought-after beauty so much, she appeared to be in her 70s when she was just 47.”
“My picture of her was this gorgeous screen siren with the beautiful blonde hair covering one eye,” reporter Sue Cameron told Fox News. “But there sat a woman who looked like a cleaning lady. I was really startled.
Lake, once a bright star in Tinseltown, had fallen hard rapidly. Lake’s acting career had faded by the time she was 30 and she was working as a cocktail waitress in New York City.
Lake allegedly turned to alcohol during the height of her fame to relieve herself from the symptoms of schizophrenia, a mental disorder she was diagnosed with as a child.”
But the saddest pert of the story? The time Hollywood gave her a star on the Walk of Fame in the 1960s, and NOBODY SHOWED UP.
Cameron would go on to witness just how far down Lake had fallen in Hollywood.
“That day she was getting a star on the Walk of Fame,” recalled Cameron, “she asked me to go with her. I said of course. I had no idea there wouldn’t be anybody there. There was not one person there.
“Today, there are busloads of people that show up — it’s insane. And here was one of the most extraordinary movie stars of the ‘40s… standing alone on Hollywood Boulevard with me and Gary Owens from ‘Laugh In’ and her star sitting there.”
Cameron claimed there was no one to welcome Lake on what should have been a joyous celebration honoring her big screen accomplishments.
“There was no microphone,” she claimed. “There was nothing. It was just three people… I was devastated for her. Just devastated… It was really a stunning experience. I could see that she recognized what was happening.
“She put on a brave face. She tried to smile through it. But you could see that she was just trying to get through it. She wanted to get it over with and she couldn’t wait to leave. She literally left town as soon as that picture was taken.”
Before Lake left Hollywood for good, she told Cameron she hoped their meeting wouldn’t be the last. It was.
“I now think it was a mistake for her to come back to Hollywood,” Cameron admitted. “She would have been better off staying where she was. She looked very haggard. She looked like she had been a drunk for years. But she wasn’t drinking that day. It’s possible, and this is just speculation, that she was sober.
“And wherever she was living, she might have felt safe. But then she went off and dipped her toe again in Hollywood and got screwed over once again with nobody there. I’ve been to so many star unveilings. Hers was really the only one where there were just no people… it was strange.”
How horrible. I think this just ruined my whole day. Read the whole story here.
