OBITUARIES : Eva Novak; Sweetheart of Silent-Movie Cowboy Stars

Eva Novak, the wistful-eyed beauty whom Tom Mix and an assortment of other silent picture cowboys rescued but never kissed, died Sunday at the Motion Picture and Television Hospital in Woodland Hills.

Miss Novak, who worked in films as recently as the 1960s, was 90 and had suffered from a respiratory ailment.

With her sister, Jane, Eva Novak came to Hollywood from St. Louis in 1914 as a teen-ager. Their careers paralleled, hers with Mix, her sister’s with William S. Hart. And they remained close personally and geographically, living only a few blocks from each other in Sherman Oaks.

Some of Eva Novak’s silent films were “The Lost Trail,” “Boston Blackie,” “Irene,” “Phantom of the Desert,” “Ride a Violent Road” and “Sally.” The two most notable of the Mix films were “Trailin’ ” and “Sky High,” both of which are in the archives of the Museum of Modern Art in New York.

In 1921 she married director and stunt man William E. Reed, with whom she went to Australia and made a series of films. He died in 1945.

Over the years she was seen in several small roles in John Ford’s films, including “Stagecoach,” “Fort Apache” and “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.”

Her final appearances in the 1960s were cameo appearances in “Sergeant Rutledge” and “Wild Seed.”

In a 1982 interview with The Times in which the two sisters reminisced, Eva Novak said she continued to get several fan letters a week, half a century after her career had ended. She also liked to say that her sister was the actress, while she made films solely for “the paycheck.”

She is survived by her sister, two daughters, 10 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren, including the last, a girl as yet unnamed who was born the day Miss Novak died.

Contributions to the Motion Picture and Television Fund are asked in lieu of flowers.