NEW YORK, Aug. 1 (UPI) -- Hollywood screen siren Kim Novak says she knew it was time to leave show business in the 1960s when she started getting scripts for "Gidget-type beach movies".
Despite a string of hit movies in the 1950s, Novak told the New York Post she was "not a favorite of the critics".
The Chicago native who lives in Oregon with her husband of 34 years began winding down her career in the 1960s and retired from acting 20 years ago. She recently emerged from retirement to tape interviews that will be packaged with "The Kim Novak Collection," five films she did with Colombia Pictures, which will be released on DVD Tuesday, the Post said.
In a phone interview with the Post from her Oregon home, Novak -- known in Hollywood as "the lavender blonde" -- said she has "been getting an awful lot of fan mail lately".
"I really appreciate being appreciated," she said.
Among her top films were "Picnic" (1955), "The Man With the Golden Arm" (1955), "Pal Joey" (1957), "Bell Book and Candle" (1957), "Vertigo" (1958) and "Middle of the Night" (1959).
UPI
