Kim Novak | 88 years old

Kim Novak’s blonde beauty landed her a deal with Columbia, and she made her film debut in two movies in 1954. Before this, she was just a teenager who left Chicago, where she worked as a model, to audition for a minor role in Jane Russell’s film The French Line. She completed her mission and got more as she caught the attention of Columbia Pictures president Harry Cohn, who offered her a contract and groomed her for a career in Hollywood. She rose to a degree of fame quickly, and her high-profile partnerships only added to her prestige. Her best roles were in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo and Bell, Book, and Candle.

Novak took a break from acting in 1966 when she was only in her mid-thirties and then only appeared in films on a sporadic basis since then. She did have a recurring appearance on the primetime series Falcon Crest and appeared in The Mirror Crack’d. Over the years, Vertigo, considered Hitchcock’s best film, and Novak’s output embodies significant contributions to cinema history.