Was Kim Novak a good actress?

She was decent and made quite a few popular movies. That usually warrants a TCM marathon.

Not in general, she could be bland or she could be downright bad. Ever seen "The Legend of Lylah Clare"? She tried to open up and stretch her range, and she's just horrible! Laugh-out-loud bad!

That said, she hit the nail on the head a few times, particularly in "Vertigo", where she's perfect in all aspects of an extremely complex role. She's also darned good in "Picnic", where she plays the quiet dreamy girl discovering passion, and is a nice slinky modern witch in "Bell, Book, and Candle". But really, in most of her films she's just "the girl", something the leading man chases after, and she looks bored.

super beautiful

Her beauty made her famous . She wasn't on the same level of her peers from her era.

She was a decent actress, okay for what she was supposed to be, which was the sultry/smoky intelligent love interest.