Marilyn Novak and the Golden Age of Hollywood?

Gina Wilhelm Actress - Marilyn Novak and the Golden Age of Hollywood?

Marilyn Novak was in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" (the original) and "The Greatest Show on Earth."

She's the one you actually see in "The Day the Earth Stood Still" playing Helen Benson in the long shots--not Patricia Neal.

She might have had a chance to make it really big. But directors kept wanting her to run away with them, and she had a husband to whom she wanted to stay married.

She was the official pinup girl for the Washington DC National Guard in 1951. She notes, however, that it was pretty easy to get to be an official pinup girl.

Her agent asked if the guardsmen would be willing to make her their pinup girl. When they agreed, he was able to call her their "official pinup girl."

When John Kelly of the Washington Post pointed out that it sounds like the Hollywood was kind of sleazy, Novak says she thinks things are better now.

Back then, there was no point "bothering" with the actresses who wouldn't play ball. Now, she says, she thinks looks count for less and talent counts for more.

Gina Wilhelm Actress