Myna Loy

Flashback

Playing a wan Asian succubus in The Mask of Fu Manchu, Myma Loy makes a sport of raping the unsuspecting explorers who fall prey to her malefic father, Dr. Fu Manchu. It's a bravura turn, but a far cry from her lasting screen persona; the witty, refined perfect spouse to a number of equally smooth leading men— most notably William Powell, who clicked sublimely as Nick to her Nora Charles in six Thin Man films. But equally distant from all of the on-screen suavity were the origins of Myrna Williams, a girl reared under Montana's big sky and named for a railroad depot. Her Hollywood debut came in the chorus line at Grauman's faux-Chinese movie palace. And when she landed her first film parts, they were almost invariably—one must presume, coincidentally— roles as faux-Chinese movie temptresses. In 1934, Metro took a chance and cast her against type in The Thin Man, and womankind gained a new role model overnight.

Two years later Loy was elected Queen of the Movies in a fans' plebiscite—a coronation that says almost as much about the good taste of moviegoers in 1936 as it does about the great Myma Loy, who died last December at 88.

MATTHEW TYRNAUER