Constance Frances Marie Ockelman (November 14, 1922 – July 7, 1973), known professionally as Veronica Lake, was an American film, stage, and television actress.

After years of heavy drinking, Lake died at the age of 50 in July 1973, from hepatitis and acute kidney injury.

Her father, Harry Eugene Ockelman, was of German and Irish descent,[1][2][3][4] and worked for an oil company aboard a ship.

[11] Keane's first appearance on screen was as an extra for RKO,[12] playing a small role as one of several students in the film Sorority House (1939).

[13] Lake attracted the interest of Fred Wilcox, an assistant director, who shot a test scene of her performing from a play and showed it to an agent.

The agent, in turn, showed it to producer Arthur Hornblow Jr., who was looking for a new girl to play the part of a nightclub singer in a military drama, I Wanted Wings (1941).

[8] During filming, Lake's long blonde hair accidentally fell over her right eye during a take and created a "peek-a-boo" effect.

"I was playing a sympathetic drunk, I had my arm on a table ... it slipped ... and my hair – it was always baby fine and had this natural break – fell over my face ...

Her scenes with Ladd in the latter became popular with audiences, prompting Paramount to reteam them in The Glass Key, with Lake replacing Patricia Morison in the leading role.

[18] Lake was meant to be reunited with McCrea in the comedy I Married a Witch, but his withdrawal from the project led to a delay in production; Fredric March was eventually cast as his replacement.

Both films were highly successful, but also prevented a reunion with Hornblow for Hong Kong in which she was meant to co-star with Charles Boyer.

She also became a popular pin-up girl for soldiers,[20] and participated in awareness campaigns to help decrease accidents involving women getting their hair caught in machinery.

She made an appearance in Paramount's all-star musical revue Star Spangled Rhythm performing "A Sweater, Sarong and a Peek-A-Boo Bang" with Paulette Goddard and Dorothy Lamour.

On Sullivan's Travels, Lake did not disclose she was six months pregnant when filming began, upsetting director Preston Sturges to the point he had to be physically restrained.

[21][22][20] The film was not a success; Lake's image change and her unsympathetic role of Nazi spy Dora Bruckman earned negative reviews.

After her role in Miss Susie Slagle's, producer John Houseman cast Lake in the film noir The Blue Dahlia (1946).

[33] Lake and de Toth announced plans to make Flanagan Boy and Before I Wake, the latter from a suspense novel by Mel Devrett.

[38] After her third divorce, Lake drifted between cheap hotels in New York City, and was arrested several times for public drunkenness and disorderly conduct.

In 1962, a New York Post reporter found her living at the all-women's Martha Washington Hotel in Manhattan, working as a waitress downstairs in the cocktail lounge.

[41][42] In 1966, she had a brief employment as a hostess on a tv show in Baltimore, Maryland, along with a largely ignored film role in Footsteps in the Snow.

In the book, Lake discusses her career, her failed marriages; romances with Howard Hughes, Tommy Manville and Aristotle Onassis; her alcoholism; and her guilt over not spending enough time with her children.

[15] Also in 1969, Lake essayed the role of Blanche DuBois in a revival of A Streetcar Named Desire on the English stage; her performance won rave reviews.

[43] With the proceeds from her autobiography, after she had divided them with Bain, she co-produced and starred in her final film, Flesh Feast (1970), a low-budget horror movie with a Nazi-myth storyline.

According to news from the time, Lake's son was born prematurely after she tripped on a lighting cable while filming a movie.

In June 1973, Lake returned from her autobiography promotion and summer stock tour in England to the United States and while traveling in Vermont, visited a local doctor, complaining of stomach pains.

She was discovered to have cirrhosis of the liver as a result of her years of drinking, and on June 26, she checked into the University of Vermont Medical Center in Burlington.

[55] Clips from her role in The Glass Key (1942) were integrated into the 1982 film Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid as character Monica Stillpond.

Confidential, Kim Basinger won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her portrayal of a prostitute who is a Veronica Lake look-alike.

[73][74] A geographical feature called "Lake Veronica" was a recurring joke in the Rocky and Bullwinkle series and film.

[75] In the video game BioShock Infinite: Burial at Sea (2013–14), the visual style of the character Elizabeth was inspired by Veronica Lake's femme fatale roles.