One of my all-time favorite Democrats--Myrna Loy

“Life, is not a having and a getting, but a being and a becoming.”--Myrna Loy


In the '30s she feared Hitler early. While dining on peacocks, she was reading Mein Kampf. When she wondered aloud why blacks were always given servants' roles—Why not, she suggested, show a black man carrying a briefcase up courthouse steps?—she created a hubbub in Hollywood. She was the first major star to buck the studios in a contract dispute. The issue: equal pay for equal work. She was making half what William Powell was, didn't like it and quit work for nearly a year until MGM capitulated.


During World War II she worked full-time for the Red Cross. "It's astonishing to think," says Roddy McDowall, a close friend, "that at the peak of her success, she quit acting. She made only one film during World War II, devoted her entire time to the war effort. It was like she went into the service."

She fought the Communist witch-hunt in Hollywood. Then she became deeply involved in UNESCO, giving speeches for world peace.

Loy worked hard for McCarthy, to stop the Vietnam war, "She was there all the way, no defecting to Bobby Kennedy or anything," says former Sen. Eugene McCarthy, recalling his 1968 presidential campaign. "Myrna was there all the time, bearing witness, testifying, showing up." and before that, in '52 and '56, for Adlai Stevenson. A granddaughter of pioneers, with a flinty libertarian streak, she has been a lifelong activist.

In 1960 she campaigned for John Kennedy ("His staff said I got Syracuse for him almost single-handedly"). Later, in California, she did battle with Gov. Ronald Reagan over open-housing legislation and for years afterward was a vigorous member of the National Committee Against Discrimination in Housing.

The Reagan revolution sits on her like an anvil. "It's a mystery to me why a lot of people don't want Democrats. When I was growing up, it was all Democrats. We wouldn't let a Republican in the back door."

http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20098623,00.html






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Rec

In The Thin Man, esp. :)

In film and life.

Thanks for posting this...

screen couple. I loved their Mr. and Mrs. North.

and the humor was weirdly contemporary. She and Cary Grant were hilarious. The scene where she tries to describes the colors she wants to the painter for each of the rooms is pitch perfect and could have been written five years ago.

I always loved her dry, understated delivery. Nice to know she was also a brave, freethinking person to boot.

And gave it to the guys at the paint store. They LOVED it!

Myrna Loy has been my favorite of all time actresses...I compare the new breed with her - as the standard. I always knew that she was political and a Democrat.


I still watch the "Thin Man" movies.

is where her media center is located. She is a native of Montana as was Gary Cooper.

:wow: I never heard of that, oh well, I really like her always admired her work. I'm really happy to hear she was such dedicated Democrat! :applause: