Veronica Lake

Veronica Lake
Veronica Lake, ca. 1940s
Born	Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (1922-11-14)November 14, 1922 Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Died	July 7, 1973(1973-07-07) (aged 50) Burlington, Vermont, U.S.
Cause of death	Hepatitis and acute renal failure
Nationality	American
Other names	Constance Keane Connie Keane
Education	St. Bernard's School (Saranac Lake, NY) Villa Maria Miami High School
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1939–1954; 1966; 1970
Spouse(s)	John S. Detlie (m. 1940; div. 1943) Andre DeToth (m. 1944; div. 1952) Joseph A. McCarthy (m. 1955; div. 1959) Robert Carleton-Munro (m. 1972; div. 1973)
Children	Elaine Detlie (b. 1941) Anthony Detlie (b. 1943-1943) Andre Michael De Toth III (b. 1945) Diana De Toth (b. 1948)

Veronica Lake (born Constance Frances Marie Ockelman; November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973) was an American film, stage, and television actress. Lake won both popular and critical acclaim, most notably for her role in Sullivan's Travels and for her femme fatale roles in film noirs with Alan Ladd, during the 1940s. She was also well known for her peek-a-boo hairstyle. Lake's career had begun to decline by the late 1940s, in part due to her alcoholism. She made only one film in the 1950s but appeared in several guest-starring roles on television. She returned to the screen in 1966 with a role in the film Footsteps In the Snow, but the role failed to revitalize her career.

Lake released her memoirs, Veronica: The Autobiography of Veronica Lake, in 1970. She used the money she made from the book to finance a low-budget horror film Flesh Feast. It was her final onscreen role. Lake died in July 1973 from hepatitis and acute kidney injury at the age of 50.

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 industrial explosion in Philadelphia in 1932. Lake's mother, Constance Frances Charlotta (née Trimble; 1902–1992), of Irish descent, married Anthony Keane, a newspaper staff artist, also of Irish descent, in 1933, and Lake began using his surname. The Keanes lived in Saranac Lake, New York, where young Lake attended St. Bernard's School for a time, then was sent to Villa Maria, an all-girls Catholic boarding school in Montreal, Canada, from which she was expelled. Lake later claimed she attended McGill University and did a premed course for a year, intending to become a surgeon. But when her father 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.