When actress Sally Phillips first saw Myrna Loy, she burst into tears.

It was in a film called The Best Years of Our Lives, about three veterans returning to their wives after the Second World War.

Myrna Loy was most famous for the Thin Man series, and she also played voluptuous baddies in flicks like The Mask of Fun Manchu. But it's not just her screen career that inspires Sally, a star herself for work in Smack the Pony and Bridget Jones.

Myrna Loy was a hardworking and often fearless person, heavily involved with The Red Cross and UNESCO after the war.

The author of Fast Talking Dames, Maria di Battista, joins the discussion from Princeton.

Producer: Miles Warde

First broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in May 2020.