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Myrna Loy plays to her audience

Broadcast Date: Oct. 27, 1964

There just aren't many roles in Hollywood for an older woman. That's why veteran actress Myrna Loy, co-star of the Thin Man movie series of the '30s and '40s, is finding work on the stage more rewarding in 1964. Loy's also busy serving with UNESCO, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization. In this conversation from CBC Radio's Assignment, Loy looks back on her career and talks about the play she's currently touring with, Barefoot in the Park.

Myrna Loy plays to her audience

• Born in 1905 in Montana, Myrna Loy began appearing in Hollywood films in the 1920s and was regularly cast as the foreign vamp. Her breakthrough role was in 1934's Manhattan Melodrama, in which she starred with actors William Powell and Clark Gable. Powell and Loy would go on to make six movies together in the Thin Man series as Nick and Nora Charles, a witty, crime-solving duo.

• Besides UNESCO, Myrna Loy was involved in a number of other political and social causes, including the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing and the Committee for the First Amendment. The latter group stood against House Committee on Un-American Activities, which was seeking to root out communism in the United States in the 1950s. She died in 1993.

Myrna Loy plays to her audience

Medium: Radio

Program: Assignment

Broadcast Date: Oct. 27, 1964

Guest(s): Myrna Loy

Host: Bill McNeil

Duration: 10:09

Last updated:
June 17, 2009