Despite rumors Sydney Sweeney was attached to film about Novak’s relationhip with Sammy Davis Jr., the “Vertigo” star told The Times of London she “never would have approved” the choice. Sweeney, she added, “sticks out so much above the waist.”
She also worried the movie would focus too much on the sexual nature of the relationship if Sweeney were on board. She and Davis had “so much in common,” Novak said.
“There’s no way it wouldn’t be a sexual relationship because Sydney Sweeney looks sexy all the time,” Novak said. “She was totally wrong to play me.”
Novak and Davis met in 1956 as guests on “The Steve Allen Show.” They spent the holiday season together the following year, but their relationship made Columbia Pictures head Harry Cohn worry about his bottom dollar. At the time, few Americans approved of interracial relationships, and Novak was under contract with the studio.
When asked about rumors the pair applied for a marriage license, Novak told the outlet, “No, no. I mean, he loved me. I cared for him deeply. But at that time I never wanted to marry anybody.”
Novak retired from acting after her first marriage ended in 1966. She lives in Oregon now, but also admitted that every so often she wonders what it might have been like if she’d stayed in the industry.
“Whenever I see a really good movie that I think would have been perfect for me I feel a bit guilty that I didn’t stay,” Novak said. “Being bipolar, I would have liked to express the depression and explosive times I go through. I know I would have been good at it. I love the fact that actresses now don’t have to be worried about their hair being perfect, more how they feel. I just loved ‘Hamnet’ and the gal who did that work.”
Read more at The Times of London.
