Veronica Lake: The Making and Unmaking of a Movie Star — Film Noir Stardom, a Fallen-Star Story, and the Woman Behind It All

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Veronica Lake was one of the most unforgettable faces of 1940s Hollywood: blonde, beautiful, elusive, with a curtain of hair falling across one eye. Paramount turned that image into a sensation. But behind the "Peek-a-Boo Girl" was Constance Ockelman — a young actress whose life was far more complicated than either the glamour or the later downfall headlines allowed. From Brooklyn, Saranac Lake, Miami, and, finally, Beverly Hills, Lake arrived in Hollywood as a teenager and drifted through a handful of small parts before Paramount saw something different in her. For I Wanted Wings , the studio gave Constance Keane a new name, a new look, and a nightclub role that made audiences take notice.…