The Thin Man (1934)

This was the first time I saw Natalie Moorhead, she may have a small part, but it’s probably the biggest part in the movie, because her murder gets the ball rolling. This is easily one of the top ten greatest movies of all time, the perfect blend of drama, mystery, and comedy, great art deco style, and I dare you to find me a better cast. How can you go wrong with a cast that includes the great William Powell, Myrna Loy, Maureen O’Sullivan, Minna Gombell, Nat Pendleton, and of course Natalie Moorhead. Natalie plays Julia Wolf the secretary/mistress of Mr. Wynant. There’s more to the story, but Mr. Wynant ex-wife Mimi needs some money, she tries to get it from Mr. Wynant, but he seems to be missing, she then goes to see Julia about the money, but when she arrives she finds Julia’s dead body clutching Mr. Wynant’s watch chain. Who killed Julia, and what part of this murder did she play, who’s body was found in Mr. Wynant’s laboratory, did Julia know something, who is going to figure this all out? Nick and Nora Charles of course, who else. Although Natalie’s part is small and short, she does a great job with it, and sadly this is probably the only movie she is know for, and easily the only one of her movies TCM regularly shows. This is one of those classics, who hasn’t seen this movie, but the most amazing thing about this movie is that it was originally just a throwaway movie, basically a “B” movie, it was made in only 12 days, most movies today take almost a year, and yet it was a huge success, spawning 5 sequels.

Who Is Natalie Moorhead?

Who is Natalie Moorhead, and what is the purpose of this site? Well, she was a actress in the 30’s and the purpose is to find out just who she was and to give her the credit she is due. I first noticed her a few years ago while watching the great movie “The Thin Man”, and now I have seen 19 of her 69 movies, and I hope to see more very soon. Although she had a small role in The Thin Man, I became very intrigued by her, her look, voice, everything about her was amazing. I wanted to know more about her, but because she wasn’t a star, very little can be found other than little tidbits. I became obsessed when I found out she died in 1992, while most stars of the 20’s and 30’s died in the 60’s or 70’s, she made it all the way to the her 90’s. She retired in 1940, and died in the 90’s, what did she do all those years in between. I’ve seen her in movies where she was the star, and movies where if you blink you’ll miss her, from major studio movies to cheap poverty row pictures, but she was always a star. Her style, her look was Art Deco, she looked just like she came straight from an Art Deco painting or poster, she was perfect in every way, she always had the essence of what 30‘s Art Deco was. Even in bad low budget movies she was great, always the class of the cast, she was much better than most of the other actors in her movies, even better than some of the big stars of the day. She worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood like, William Powell, Barbara Stanwyck, Joan Crawford, Bebe Daniels, Hedy Lamarr, and others. But for what ever reason she never made it big, why is it that to this very day a new Marilyn Monroe book comes out every year, she is still very popular, even though she was a terrible actress, overrated in every way. But people like Natalie Moorhead, who had talent and looks, are mostly forgotten now, why is that? My goal is to hunt down answers to these questions, and find out just who this Natalie Moorhead person really was, did she have any kids, does she have any living relatives, anyone who personally knew her, what was she like, was she friends with anyone in Hollywood, just who was Natalie Moorhead? If you knew her or have any idea on how I can get more information on her please feel free to contact me, maybe someday if I can gather enough info, I can turn this search into the first and probably only book on the great Natalie Moorhead.