Kim Novak is best known for her role in the movie Vertigo but she does have a plethora of other notable movies. When fate brought her and Robert Malloy, an Equine Veterinarian, she found out that there was more to life than just fame and the buzz that came with it.
Robert Malloy and Kim Novak were together for 45 years after meeting in the late 1970s. When he died in 2020, she was beyond herself but somehow found solace in her art.
The actress took to painting because she believed it kept her late husband close to her and she enjoyed that feeling.
Even though Kim Novak lost a lot of things in her life, losing Robert Malloy, her ‘soul mate’ was different and she dealt with the loss the way she knew how best to.
Robert Malloy Died in 2020
On December 18, 2020, Kim Novak shared, via her social media platform that her husband had passed on.
In the post, she stated that her soul mate has passed to greener pastures. She further shared that they had shared each other’s love and adventures for 45 years and that she must learn how to be satisfied with the memories they made.
This announcement was made 3 weeks after Robert Malloy had died. The equine vet died on Friday, November 27, 2020, at the age of 80.
He died at their home in Oregon and no cause of death was announced. If Robert had any prior illness or suffered any sudden one, it wasn’t mentioned in the post or the news.
Until his death, Novak and Malloy were married for over 4 decades and from indications, happily so.
Kim Novak and Robert Malloy met When She was Done with Hollywood
When it seemed like Novak was at the peak of her career, she left Hollywood. She packed up, decided she wasn’t going to continue with that life anymore, and left.
The actress moved to Bug Sur, California, and resided in a Cliffside mansion located there. While there, she chose something else to keep her busy – she began to tend to her horses and started painting too. Kim devoted herself to her newfound love and this was where she met Robert Malloy.
Robert was an Equine Vet, as already mentioned, and Kim was into breeding horses, the fusion of this led to what most would call ‘a meeting of fate’.
In 1974, one of Novak’s mares suffered colic and Robert was called to check on the mare. This was the first time they met.
2 years later, on March 12, 1976, Kim Novak and Robert Malloy got married. They then bought a 43-acre ranch in Sams Valley, Oregon. When they moved to Oregon, the couple built a home there, and the former actress focused on her paintings and breeding more livestock.
They did not have any children together but Kim became a stepmother to Malloy’s adult children.
The vet was previously married to a woman known as Joan Gundlach and they had two kids-Beck, born in 1964, and Lisa, born in 1967. Bob’s ex-wife, the mother of his 2 children, died at the age of 70 by suicide on April 23, 2013.
Novak stated that she was happy to have the 2 children as her step-kids because she didn’t want to have children of her own. She confessed that she was glad she missed the diaper-changing stages of having kids but she was blessed to be Beck and Lisa’s stepmother.
Before her marriage to Malloy, the Golden Globe-winning actress was married to another man. She married fellow actor, Richard Johnson in 1965 and a year later, they got divorced.
She revealed that being married to a fellow actor wasn’t something she fancied. The differing career she and Malloy had was just what she wanted and was happy with.
The Bell, Book, and Candle actress also dated several people before she got married. To her list, she has the likes of Frank Sinatra, Ramfis Trujillo, Michael Brandon, David Hemmings, Porfirio Rubirosa, and Wilt Chamberlain.
READ ALSO: Constance Towers Was Married Twice: Meet Her Husbands
Robert Malloy was by Novak’s Side through May Downs
The Children actor and her husband went through many ups and downs in their marriage including their house burning down.
In 2000, their Oregon home burnt down to the ground and the only thing that survived were a painting she did of her father and an old newspaper clipping.
At the time, she was writing her autobiography which she lost in the fire. Novak stated that it was a sign that she didn’t need to talk about her life. She had been getting signs that she ignored but that July 2000 fire was all she needed.
At about the same period, the actress was diagnosed with bipolar disorder. She however downplayed it, tried to normalize it, and was on medication. She didn’t want to be pitied or stigmatized.
Kim had a history of mental illness which she got from her father but some life experiences added to the illness.
By 2010, Kim was diagnosed with breast cancer, as reported by her manager Sue Cameron. She was also undergoing treatment and the reports showed that she would be recovering well.
Through all these things and some more, Novak had her paintings and most importantly, her soul mate, Robert Malloy.
Her husband stood by her side all through and was very supportive of her.
When she lost him in 2020, she fell back to her painting which she admitted kept her close to him.
According to the 91-year-old former actress, she felt like whenever she painted, he peered from behind her.
She had to learn to handle her business by herself, she worked with French filmmakers on a documentary about her life and also finished a book about herself. The book is titled ‘Kim Novak: Her Art and Life’.
