60 years later, Kim Novak reflects on ‘Vertigo’

NEW YORK » Last fall, on her ranch in southern Oregon, Kim Novak found herself doing what she calls “my own Me Too painting.”

Novak, who turned 85 on Tuesday, had recently broken he left wrist — her painting hand — but was compelled enough to give it a try with her right. Seeing woman after woman come forward with their stories of harassment stoked Novak’s own recollections. She titled the result — a swirling, vibrantly colored abstraction of a menacing face looming above a woman — “A Time of Reckoning.”

“I never told these stories but my painting has it all,” said Novak, speaking by phone from her 240-acre ranch, where she lives her husband Robert Malloy, a retired veterinarian. It was very cathartic, I’m sure just like the gals of today found it cathartic to tell their story.”

“In that period, the same things went on,” said Novak, speaking by phone from her 240-acre ranch, where she lives her husband Robert Malloy, a retired veterinarian. “I never told these stories but my painting has it all. It was very cathartic, I’m sure just like the gals of today found it cathartic to tell their story.”

Novak recently granted her first interview in several years to mark the 60th anniversary of Alfred Hitchcock’s 1958 masterwork, “Vertigo.” As part of the TCM Big Screen Classics series, “Vertigo” will be back in theaters (see FathomEvents.com for the 650 locations), for an encore on Wednesday, March 21 (An earlier showing was scheduled for March 18).

The initial reviews for “Vertigo” were tepid. The box office was disappointing. But “Vertigo” — entrancing, dreamlike, deranged — has steadily grown in reputation over the years to become one of

UNIVERSAL STUDIOS VIA AP Jimmy Stewart, left, and Kim Novak in a scene from “Vertigo.”