Kim Novak (born Marilyn Pauline Novak on February 13, 1933 in Chicago) is an American actress. She began her career in 1954 at age 21, and came to prominence almost immediately with a leading role in the film Picnic (1955). Other films from this period of her career include The Man With the Golden Arm (1955), The Eddy Duchin Story (1956), Pal Joey (1957), Jeanne Eagels (1957), the Alfred Hitchcock film Vertigo (1958), Bell, Book and Candle (1958), and Middle of the Night (1959). After a decade in the entertainment industry, Novak withdrew from the public eye in 1966 and appeared in films only sporadically until 1991, when she retired from acting following a tempestuous experience with director Mike Figgis on the set of Liebestraum, her last film to date.