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Kim Novak’s home burns
Actress Kim Novak searches through her smoke-damaged bathroom with a flashlight following a fire that destroyed most of the home Monday. The original script for "Vertigo," the 1958 Hitchcock thriller starring Novak, was among items she and her husband lost. Short in adjustable bed may have started fire in ‘Vertigo’ actor’s house By Melissa Martin SAMS VALLEY — Actress Kim Novak escaped unharmed but the original script of the 1958 classic film "Vertigo" was lost in a Monday morning fire that destroyed a historic home near the Rogue River. Flames leaping 20 feet high devoured photographs taken during the filming of Alfred Hitchcock’s "Vertigo," in which Novak played James Stewart’s love interest. Damage to Novak’s home and the contents is estimated to be about $200,000. "I was writing my book, and I had photographs and the original ‘Vertigo’ script with all my notes written in the margins," said Novak, standing in her office. It was one of the few remaining rooms left standing in the charred, 3,034-square-foot home. "It was all destroyed," said Novak, 67. "I take it personally as a sign that maybe I’m not supposed to write my biography; maybe the past is supposed to stay buried." Novak was in her art studio and her husband, Bob Malloy, was making coffee Monday morning in the Agate Road home where they’ve lived for three years. Smoke alarms sounded and they saw smoke coming from the bedroom. The fire grew so rapidly that by the time Malloy called 911, flames were shooting into the air and the heat was too intense to close the door. The fire may have started in the bedroom, possibly caused by a power surge to the motor of a Craftmatic Adjustable Bed. "I looked through the bedroom door and saw the bed burning up in flames," Novak said. Novak, whose real first name is Marilyn, made her movie debut in 1954. Recognizable for her beauty and blond hair, she’s best known for "Vertigo," but also appeared in such pictures as "The Man With the Golden Arm," "Pal Joey," "The Notorious Landlady," and the popular "Falcon Crest" television series. Monday morning, Novak and Malloy, who is a veterinarian, grabbed their dogs and fled the burning home. Within 11 minutes, Fire District 3 crews were on the scene and began dousing the flames with 10,000 to 14,000 gallons of water, said Lou Gugliotta, fire marshal. Fire District 4 in Shady Cove, Eagle Point and Oregon Department of Forestry also tried to save the log-cabin-like house; three or four times firefighters tried to enter the burning building but failed. Its metal roof turned the place into an oven set at 2,000 degrees Fahrenheit. After Novak and Malloy secured their Morgan horses and llamas safely in the stables, Novak said she sought refuge in a rowboat in a slough of the Rogue River directly behind their home. "I tried to get perspective," said Novak, describing the eerie scene from the slough. "It was early in the morning and rays of sunlight were coming out from behind the trees. Flames were shooting up in the air." Novak bought the 43-acre Sams Valley ranch in 1997 and remodeled the main home built in 1930. The stables, arena and three homes were valued at $446,480, according to Jackson County records. The fire may have been linked to a power outage that occurred Sunday night when a cottonwood tree fell on a power line about 100 feet from the house. Fire crews responded to two transformer fires, one near Highway 234 and one at Novak’s ranch. When the power was restored Sunday, there may have been a surge that ignited a motor in the adjustable bed, according to early investigations by deputy fire marshal Phil Cardinal. Fire District 3 will continue its research, working with investigators from State Farm Insurance. But on Monday, a shocked Novak was sifting through the blackened ash to salvage what she could, including the computer hard drive she hopes still stores chapters of a biography she’s been working on for a decade. She also saved an oil painting she created of her mother. However, her losses include a painting Novak did of her father and a painting that artist Walter Keane did of Novak as a child. This was not the first time Novak has lost her home. The 67-year-old actress single-handedly saved her Bel Aire, Calif., home by pumping swimming pool water during a ravaging fire nearly 40 years ago. "Then, when the rainy season came, everything was washed down the hillside," Novak said. "I lost my home after I had saved it." Her losses in the earlier calamity included original Picasso paintings. "It made me realize then what was really valuable," she said. "That’s the day I wrote a gratitude list. We’re safe and our animals are safe." |
