“ Vertigo ” star Kim Novak was honored with a Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement on Monday at the Venice Film Festival , where the reclusive Hollywood diva made her first public appearance in decades since leaving the limelight in the mid 1960s.

She was welcomed with a warm protracted ovation before Guillermo del Toro took the stage to deliver a glowing tribute.

Novak, 92, became the world’s top box office draw during the late ‘50s and early ‘60s thanks to films now considered classics such as Joshua Logan’s “Picnic” (1955), Otto Preminger’s “The Man with the Golden Arm” (1955), George Sidney’s Pal Joey (1957) and, of course, Alfred Hitchock’s “Vertigo” (1958), in which she plays dual characters in the role of her lifetime.

After listing the top directors Novak worked with, del

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