Which award is Kim Novak set to receive at the Venice Film Festival? Everything to know

Retired actress and painter Kim Novak will have an addition to her list of accolades. On June 9, 2025, the Venice Film Festival announced that Novak would be given the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement award at the 82nd festival.

The decision to award her with this honor was recommended by Italian film critic Alberto Barbera. Per The Hollywood Reporter, the film critic said:

“Inadvertently becoming a screen legend, Kim Novak was one of the most beloved icons of an entire era of Hollywood films, from her auspicious debut during the mid-1950s until her premature and voluntary exile from the gilded cage of Los Angeles a short while later.”

The statement went on:

“She never refrained from criticizing the studio system, choosing her roles, who she let into her private life and even her name.”

Alberto Barbera explained that Kim Novak had to give up her birth name, Marilyn Pauline, because it was too similar to Marilyn Monroe’s. However, she insisted on keeping her last name and agreed to dye her hair platinum blonde to stand out.

She was known for being independent and not following the usual rules. Barbera said Novak even started her own production company and protested for better pay as compared to her male co-stars. Barbera thanked her, saying,

“Thanks to her exuberant beauty, her ability to bring to life characters who were naïve and discreet, as well as sensuous and tormented, and her seductive and sometimes sorrowful gaze, she was appreciated by some of the major American directors of the period.”

Kim Novak reflects on her role in Vertigo and the name change she went through

Alberto Barbera said that Kim Novak would always be remembered for the two characters she played in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which turned out to be the most important role of her career.

The Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement honored her as a strong, independent figure in Hollywood. Meanwhile, Kim Novak shared a statement, saying:

“I am deeply, deeply touched to receive the prestigious Golden Lion Award from such an enormously respected film festival.”

She went on:

“To be recognized for my body of work at this time in my life is a dream come true. I will treasure every moment I spend in Venice. It will fill my heart with joy.”

In 2020, she sat down with CBS, where she was asked how challenging her role in Vertigo was. She explained that while Alfred Hitchcock was particular about how her character looked, he gave her complete freedom when it came to how she acted in the role, which she found rewarding.

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When talking about her name change, she shared that the studio had tried to change her name to Kit Marlowe without her approval. Although she accepted she couldn't keep the name Marilyn, she firmly refused to go by Kit Marlowe.

Kim Novak also opened up about her father, saying she both loved and feared him. He was a strict man, but her admiration for him outweighed any resentment.

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