In response to the announcement, Novak expressed heartfelt gratitude, reflecting on both the honor and the long journey that led to it.

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

Born Marilyn Pauline Novak, the actress rose to stardom in the mid-1950s, quickly becoming a symbol of elegance, complexity, and quiet defiance during an era dominated by studio control and typecasting. Yet her rise was not without personal sacrifice and resistance. According to festival director Alberto Barbera, Novak’s journey was defined not just by her on-screen performances, but by the way she challenged the system from within.Barbera remarked-

“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, she made choices that defied expectations.”

Indeed, Novak was never merely a product of the studio system. She actively challenged it, even pushing back when asked to change her identity to fit a marketable mold. Barbera said-

“She never refrained from criticizing the studio system, choosing her roles, who she let into her private life and even her name,”… “Forced to renounce her given name, Marilyn Pauline, because it was associated with Monroe, she fought to conserve her last name, agreeing, in exchange, to dye her hair that shade of platinum blonde which set her apart.”

That very resistance became her trademark. Behind her serene on-screen presence was a woman negotiating power, pay, and identity in a male-dominated industry. Barbera emphasized her determination and autonomy, recounting how Novak went as far as forming her own production company and initiating a strike to protest salary disparities.

“Independent and nonconformist, she created her own production company and went on strike to renegotiate a salary that was much lower than that of her male co-stars,” he said.

Novak’s filmography is as rich as it is diverse. She captivated audiences in a range of roles across genres and collaborated with some of the most notable directors of her time — from Billy Wilder (Kiss Me, Stupid) and Otto Preminger (The Man With the Golden Arm) to George Sidney (Pal Joey, The Eddy Duchin Story, Jeanne Eagels) and Richard Quine, with whom she made a series of memorable romantic comedies, including Bell, Book and Candle, Strangers When We Meet, and The Notorious Landlady.

But above all, it is her haunting dual role in Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo that remains the cornerstone of her legacy — a performance that transformed not only her career, but the very language of film.

Barbera said,

“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… But her image will remain forever linked to the dual characters she played in Hitchcock’s Vertigo, which became the role of her life.”

Now retired from the screen, Novak has long since left behind the glitz of Hollywood, choosing instead the peaceful surroundings of her ranch in Oregon, where she dedicates herself to painting and caring for her horses — a life far removed from the relentless pace of the industry that once tried to mold her.

Barbera concluded:

“This Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement celebrates a star who was emancipated, a rebel at the heart of Hollywood who illuminated the dreams of movie lovers before retiring to her ranch in Oregon to dedicate herself to painting and to her horses.”

As Venice prepares to welcome one of cinema’s most enigmatic figures, the spotlight shines not only on a remarkable filmography, but also on a woman who quietly and powerfully reshaped what it meant to be a leading lady in Hollywood.

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