Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake

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Veronica Lake was a petite beauty with long blonde hair and a talent for comedy. She could be tough yet endearing, smart yet vulnerable. In her early 20's, which was in the early 1940's, she did her best films, but later suffered from poor management under both Paramount and her husband, director Andre De Toth.

Lake made 3 film noir classics with Alan Ladd

This Gun For Hire (1942)
Lake plays Elle Graham, a singer at a nightclub owned by Gates (Laird Granger), who hires Philip Raven (Alan Ladd) to kill a police informant, threatening a Nazi spy ring. Ellen is engaged to Detective Michael Crane (Robert Preston), who is after Philip. Ellen is also working undercover for the feds to uncover the Nazis.

Philip meets Ellen in a taxi and uses her to evade authorities and to get revenge on the nightclub boss Gates. Things get even more complicated as Ellen and Philip go soft on one another, eventually leading to Philip's destruction.
"This Gun For Hire" on DVD

The Glass Key (1942)
Here, she's Janet Henry, daughter of a senator and engaged to a political bigwig, Paul Madvig (Brian Donlevy). Madvig's aide is Ed Beaumont (Alan Ladd) who trusts his boss, but not Janet or her father.

When the senator's son Taylor is killed, Paul is suspected, since his sister was having an affair with Taylor. Ed tries to clear his boss's name, while Janet does the opposite. Meanwhile, they fall for each other, but Ed first rejects her, then has her arrested for the murder in order to flush out the real killer.
"The Glass Key" on DVD

The Blue Dahlia (1946)
In this film, Lake plays Joyce, again the wife of a nightclub owner who had been having an affair with Johnny's (Alan Ladd) wife who shows up dead. Johnny is blamed for his wife's murder.

She picks him up on the side of the road one rainy night and gives him a ride to Malibu, where they become friends, not realizing at first how connected they really are.
"Blue Dahlia" on VHS