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Kim Novak looked almost unrecognizable as she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement after releasing the documentary.
The actress, 92, channeled old Hollywood charm as she stepped out in an emerald and black gown to accept the award.
Gone were her brunette locks as she styled her blonde hair into a blonde bob and accessorized with a diamond brooch.
The documentary she tells about her extraordinary life tells the story of her upbringing in Depression-era Chicago, followed by a decade of Hollywood superstardom and then her retirement from the movie business.
She says of the revelations: “I feel the need to release memories that are hiding in my mind.”
Among them is her mother, Blanche, who tried to kill her twice.
Kim Novak looked almost unrecognizable as she received the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement after releasing the documentary
The actress, 92, channeled old Hollywood charm as she stepped out in an emerald and black gown to accept the award
Kim pictured in 1956 during her Hollywood career
Gone were her brunette locks as she styled her blonde hair into a blonde bob and accessorized with a diamond brooch look
First she tried to interrupt him with knitting needles and then, when that failed, tried to suffocate him like an infant with a pillow.
She also said that her father, Joseph, who she said had mental health issues, kept the body of her dead infant brother in a jar in the basement of the family home.
In the film, she says, “The depression caused so many hardships. My mother got pregnant and she couldn’t afford a child.
“She tried to interrupt me with knitting needles and that didn’t work. So she tried to suffocate me with a pillow.”
“I remember fighting to stay alive. I won, I stayed alive, and I did it.”
She added that it was her sister who found her brother’s fetus in the basement, during her father’s collection of animals and insects.
“The fetus, his only son, in the basement. He was holding him,” she said.
Catholic Joseph Novak was a teacher in Czechoslovakia but worked as a railroad dispatcher in America.
The documentary she tells about her life tells the story of her upbringing in Depression-era Chicago, followed by a decade of Hollywood superstardom, and then her retirement from the movie business.
In the flick, she revealed that her mother Blanche tried to terminate her pregnancy with knitting needles as she detailed her poverty-stricken upbringing in an extraordinary new documentary
The film premiered last night ahead of the actress receiving a lifetime achievement Golden Lion on Monday (pictured)
Kim celebrated his achievement with an animated display
“He never approved of her stardom, never told her he was proud of her, and hasn’t come to see most of her movies.”
Filmmaker Alexander Filippe said he was surprised to have a voicemail from Novak outlining these stories. “I gasped and said, ‘Is this too dark?’” he said.
He added: “It’s a privilege to share all these very powerful secrets and memories.”
Novak traveled from his 13-acre horse ranch in Oregon to accept the honor from the festival.
