The Legend of Lylah Clare

To date, this is Kim Novak's last starring role in an American-made feature film. Novak returned to the screen after a three-year absence with the 1968 gothic drama, The Legend of Lylah Clare (1968), making up for lost time by taking on two roles, a long-dead Hollywood sex symbol and the novice actress hired to play her. Although she was still beautiful at 35 and more than believable as an exotic sex symbol, Novak didn't get the comeback she deserved. The film was a major box-office flop that brought her mostly negative reviews. Over time, however, the growth of a cult surrounding director Robert Aldrich, coupled with the picture's over-the-top dramatics and the difficulty of seeing it programmed at theaters or on television, made the film legendary, viewed by some as guilty pleasure and by others as a lost treasure.

During the opening credits, Elsa supposedly is walking along the Hollywood Walk of Fame, and she looks at the stars for Roscoe 'Fatty' Arbuckle, Jean Harlow, Clark Gable, Marilyn Monroe, and Rudolph Valentino in less than one block. In reality these stars are stretched along Hollywood Boulevard for several blocks, and Gable's is on Vine Street. Also, Arbuckle's star has his name Roscoe on it, not his nickname of "Fatty".