Editing Myrna Loy (section)

===1925–1932: Career beginnings===
[[File:Myrna-Loy-1925.jpg|thumb|In its September 1925 issue, ''[[Motion Picture Magazine|Motion Picture]]'' magazine featured two Henry Waxman photographs of Loy, costumed by [[Adrian (costume designer)|Adrian]], as she appeared in ''[[What Price Beauty?]]'' ]]

While Loy was dancing in prologues at the [[Grauman's Egyptian Theatre]], portrait photographer Henry Waxman took several pictures of her that were noticed by [[Rudolph Valentino]] when the actor went to Waxman's studio for a sitting.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=34–38}} Valentino was looking for a leading lady for ''[[Cobra (1925 film)|Cobra]]'', the first independent project he and his wife [[Natacha Rambova]] were producing.{{sfn|Leider|2011|pages=47–48}} Loy tested for the role, which went to [[Gertrude Olmstead]] instead, but soon after that she was hired as an [[Extra (actor)|extra]] for ''[[Pretty Ladies]]'' (1925), in which she and fellow newcomer [[Joan Crawford]] were among a bevy of chorus girls dangling from an elaborate chandelier. The two of them would share a life-long friendship that would last until Crawford's death.{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|pages=37–41}}

Rambova hired Loy for a small but showy role opposite [[Nita Naldi]] in ''[[What Price Beauty?]]'', a film she was producing. Shot in May 1925, the film remained unreleased for three years; but [[Film still|stills]] of Loy in her exotic makeup and costume appeared in ''[[Motion Picture Magazine|Motion Picture]]'' magazine and led to a contract with [[Warner Bros.]] There, her surname was changed from Williams to Loy. The idea for the new name apparently came from screenwriter Peter Ruric, also known as crime novelist [[Paul Cain (pen name)|Paul Cain]], who may have been inspired by the name of British poet [[Mina Loy]].{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|pages=42–43}}

Loy's [[silent film]] roles were mainly as a vamp or ''[[femme fatale]]'', and she frequently portrayed characters of Asian or Eurasian background in films such as ''[[Across the Pacific (1926 film)|Across the Pacific]]'' (1926), ''[[A Girl in Every Port (1928 film)|A Girl in Every Port]]'' (1928), ''[[The Crimson City]]'' (1928), ''[[The Black Watch (film)|The Black Watch]]'' (1929), and ''[[The Desert Song (1929 film)|The Desert Song]]'' (1929), which she later recalled "kind of solidified my exotic non-American image."{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|p=66}} In 1930, she appeared in ''[[The Great Divide (1929 film)|The Great Divide]]''. It took years for her to overcome this typecasting, and as late as 1932, she was cast as a villainous Eurasian in ''[[Thirteen Women]]'' (1932) and, opposite [[Boris Karloff]], as the depraved sadistic daughter of the title character in ''[[The Mask of Fu Manchu]]'' (1932). 

In spite of this (typecasting), Loy also obtained small roles in ''[[The Jazz Singer]]'' and a number of early lavish [[Technicolor]] musicals, including ''[[The Show of Shows]]'', ''[[The Bride of the Regiment]]'', and ''[[Under a Texas Moon (film)|Under a Texas Moon]]''. As a result, she became associated with musical roles, and when they began to lose favour with the public, her career went into a slump. In 1934, Loy appeared in ''[[Manhattan Melodrama]]'' with [[Clark Gable]] and [[William Powell]]. When gangster [[John Dillinger]] was shot to death after leaving a screening of the film at the [[Biograph Theater]] in Chicago, the film received widespread publicity, with some newspapers reporting that Loy had been Dillinger's favorite actress.{{sfn|Kotsilibas-Davis|Loy|1987|p=97}}