Marilyn Pauline Novak was born on 13 February 1933, in Chicago, Illinois USA, of Czech descent. Kim is an actress and visual artist, best known for her acting career that began in the 1950s. She was popular enough to be cast to work with top leading men of the era including Tyrone Power, Frank Sinatra, Kirk Douglas and William Holden. All of her efforts have helped put her net worth to where it is today.
How rich is Kim Novak? As of early-2017, sources inform us of a net worth that is at $15 million, mostly earned through a successful career in acting. Despite her popularity in the ‘50s, her career went into a decline, and she appeared in projects only sporadically before deciding to retire in 1991. However, all of her achievements ensured the position of her wealth.
Kim Novak Net Worth $15 million
Novak attended Farragut High School, and after matriculatin, went to Wright Junior College. She had two scholarships to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, and also started modelling, performing a stint for a refrigerator company at trade shows.
While working as a model for the refrigerator company, they passed by Los Angeles, and she got her first acting opportunity as an extra in “The French Line”. She was then ‘discovered’, and was given a contract to work with Columbia Pictures. Her name was changed to Kim Novak, and the company started to market her as a successor to the 1940s star Rita Hayworth. Her first film was the noir “Pushover”, and was followed by the romantic comedy “Phffft” in which she portrayed the Monroe-type character Janis. The two films became successful and Kim got good reviews for her performances. Her next film would be “5 Against the House” which was only a minor success, but her net worth was well established.
In 1955, she starred in “Picnic” alongside William Holden and Rosalind Russell, which became a huge critical and commercial success, earning Novak a Golden Globe Award for Most Promising Newcomer. She was also nominated for a BAFTA Film Award, and the success of the film led to more opportunities for her. She made a guest appearance in the show “What’s My Line” and was then cast in “The Man with the Golden Arm”, in which she played Frank Sinatra’s ex-girlfriend. Her popularity continued to soar, and so did her net worth. The following year, she was cast in “The Eddy Duchin Story”, playing opposite Tyrone Power as his wife Marjorie Oelrichs. The film was another hit, and she would then work on “Jeanne Eagles” which she portrayed the titular silent screen actress with an addiction to heroin.
She continued her streak of high earning films with “Pal Joey”, which was based on the novel and Broadway play. In 1958, she was cast in the Alfred Hitchcock film “Vertigo” – after a long negotiation about salary – enjoying working the role and helping to develop the character she portrayed, however she developed tension with director Hitchcock. The film was received poorly during its initial release but eventually gained a lot of popularity over time, continuing to help Kim’s rise in net worth.
After taking part in a few more projects her career started to slow down, and she took more independent films, however, this didn’t work too well because she would often clash with the scriptwriters. In 1966, she became tired of acting and decided to move away from Hollywood before returning two years later. After acting in “The Legend of Lylah Clare” and “The Great Bank Robbery”, she then took another break, and returned in the 1970s.
Throughout the 1970s and 1980s she made sporadic appearances; her last role was in the film “Liebestraum” in which she apparently often clashed with director Mike Figgis. After that experience, she decided to retire from acting, and turned down most offers she received, though she still appeared in events.
For her personal life, it is known that Kim was married to actor Richard Johnson, though their marriage only lasted from 1965 to 1966. She also had an engagement to director Richard Quine, and was known for her numerous relationships afterwards. She subsequently married vet Robert Malloy in 1976. She became fond of raising horses and painting, after leaving Hollywood. Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2010, but subsequent treatment has been successful. She currently resides on a ranch in Sams Valley, Oregon.
