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Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake was best known for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd during the 1940s, her peek-a-boo hairstyle, and films such as Sullivan's Travels (1941) and I Married a Witch (1942). By the late 1940s, Lake's career began to decline, due in part to her alcoholism. She made only one film in the 1950s, but made several guest appearances on television. She returned to the big screen in the film Footsteps in the Snow (1966), but the role failed to revitalize her career. Lake's memoir, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, was published in 1970. Her final screen role was in a low-budget horror film, Flesh Feast (1970). After years of heavy drinking, Lake died at the age of 50 in July 1973, from hepatitis and acute kidney injury. Early life Lake was born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. Her father, Harry Eugene Ockelman, was of German and Irish descent, and worked for an oil company aboard a ship. He died in an oil tanker explosion in Marcus Hook, Pennsylvania in 1932. Lake's mother, Constance Frances Charlotta (née Trimble; 1902–1992), of Irish descent, in 1933 married Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist also of Irish descent, and Lake began using his surname. The Keanes lived in Saranac Lake, New York, where young Lake attended St. Bernard's School. She was then sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, from which she was expelled. Lake later claimed she attended McGill University and took a premed course for a year, intending to become a surgeon. This claim was included in several press biographies, although Lake later declared it was bogus. Lake subsequently apologized to the president of McGill, who was simply amused when she explained her habit of self-dramatizing. When her stepfather fell ill during her second year, the Keane family later moved to Miami, Florida. Lake attended Miami High School, where she was known for her beauty. She had a troubled childhood and was diagnosed with schizophrenia, according to her mother. Career Constance Keane In 1938, the Keanes moved to Beverly Hills, California. While briefly under contract to MGM, Lake enrolled in that studio's acting farm, the Bliss-Hayden School of Acting (now the Beverly Hills Playhouse). She made friends with a girl named Gwen Horn and accompanied her when Horn went to audition at RKO. She appeared in the play Thought for Food in January 1939. A theatre critic from the Los Angeles Times called her "a fetching little trick" for her appearance in She Made Her Bed. Keane's first appearance on screen was as an extra for RKO, playing a small role as one of several students in the film Sorority House (1939). The part wound up being cut from the film, but she was encouraged to continue. Similar roles followed, including All Women Have Secrets (1939), Dancing Co-Ed (also 1939), Young as You Feel (1940), and Forty Little Mothers (also 1940). Forty Little Mothers was the first time she let her hair down on screen. Name change and stardom Lake attracted the interest of Fred Wilcox, an assistant director, who shot a test scene of her performing from a play and showed it to an agent. The agent, in turn, showed it to producer Arthur Hornblow Jr., who was looking for a new girl to play the part of a nightclub singer in a military drama, I Wanted Wings (1941). Hornblow changed the actress's name to Veronica Lake. According to him, her eyes, "calm and clear like a blue lake", were the inspiration for her new name. The film became a big hit, and made the teenage Lake a star overnight; even before the film came out, Lake was dubbed "the find of 1941". During filming, Lake's long blonde hair accidentally fell over her right eye during a take and created a "peek-a-boo" effect. "I was playing a sympathetic drunk, I had my arm on a table ... it slipped ... and my hair – it was always baby fine and had this natural break – fell over my face ... It became my trademark and purely by accident", she recalled. The film's success influenced women to copy the style, which became Lake's trademark. However, Lake did not think this meant she would have a long career and maintained her goal was to be a surgeon. "Only the older actors keep on a long time ... I don't want to hang on after I've reached a peak. I'll go back to medical school", she said. Paramount announced Lake to star in China Pass and a remake of Blonde Venus. Instead, she was cast in Preston Sturges's Sullivan's Travels with Joel McCrea; and film noir This Gun for Hire (1942) with Robert Preston and Alan Ladd. Her scenes with Ladd in the latter became popular with audiences, prompting Paramount to reteam them in The Glass Key, with Lake replacing Patricia Morison in the leading role. Lake was meant to be reunited with McCrea in the comedy I Married a Witch, but his withdrawal from the project led to a delay in production; Fredric March was eventually cast as his replacement. Both films were highly successful, but also prevented a reunion with Hornblow for Hong Kong in which she was meant to co-star with Charles Boyer. Upon the United States' entrance into World War II, Lake traveled throughout the United States to raise money for war bonds. She also became a popular pin-up girl for soldiers, and participated in awareness campaigns to help decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery. Lake's only 1943 releases were both patriotic-themed. She made an appearance in Paramount's all-star musical revue Star Spangled Rhythm performing "A Sweater, Sarong and a Peek-A-Boo Bang" with Paulette Goddard and Dorothy Lamour. Her only film of the year was So Proudly We Hail! (1943) with Goddard and Claudette Colbert, in which she received acclaim for her role of a suicidal nurse. At the peak of her career, she was earning $4,500 a week. Personal struggles and box-office disappointments Despite her initial success, Lake suffered a series of setbacks that ultimately derailed her career. Her complex personality quickly led to her acquiring a reputation for being difficult to work with. On Sullivan's Travels, Lake did not disclose she was six months pregnant when filming began, upsetting director Preston Sturges to the point he had to be physically restrained. Lake also clashed with co-star McCrea to the point that he dropped out of I Married a Witch, reportedly saying that "Life's too short for two films with Veronica Lake" (although he did later go on to work with her in Ramrod (1947)). His replacement Frederic March also clashed with Lake after he made crude remarks about her during pre-production. Eddie Bracken was quoted as saying, "She was known as 'The Bitch' and she deserved the title." I Married A Witch director René Clair had a differing view of Lake, saying "She was a very gif.... Discover the Veronica Bond popular books. Find the top 100 most popular Veronica Bond books.