Virginia Bruce
Virginia Bruce | |
---|---|
Photographed for CBS Radio, 1948 | |
Born |
Helen Virginia Briggs September 29, 1910 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S. |
Died |
February 24, 1982 71) Woodland Hills, California, U.S. | (aged
Occupation | Actress, singer |
Years active | 1929–1981 |
Spouse(s) |
John Gilbert (m. 1932–34), divorced; 1 child J. Walter Ruben (m. 1937–42), his death; 1 child Ali Ipar (m. 1946–51), divorced Ali Ipar (m. 1952–64), divorced |
Children |
Susan Ann Gilbert (b. 1933) Christopher Ruben (b. 1941) |
Virginia Bruce (September 29, 1910 – February 24, 1982) was an American actress and singer.
Career
Born Helen Virginia Briggs[1] in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When she was one month old, she moved to Fargo, North Dakota, with her parents, Earil and Margaret Briggs. According to the Fargo City Directory, the Briggs family lived at 421 14th Street South, Fargo. After she graduated from Fargo Central High School in 1928,[2][3] she moved with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California, Los Angeles when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. She got it as an extra in Why Bring That Up?. In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles, followed by America's Sweetheart in 1931.[4]
She returned to Hollywood in 1932, where on August 10, 1932,[5] she married John Gilbert, her co-star in the film Downstairs. She retired briefly after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann Gilbert.[6] The couple divorced in 1934, and Virginia returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances. Gilbert died two years later in 1936.
Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film Born to Dance and costarred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical The Great Ziegfeld. One of her final film appearances was in Strangers When We Meet.[6]
In 1949, Bruce starred in a daily 30-minute radio drama. Make Believe Town was an afternoon program on CBS.[7]
Personal life
Bruce married her second husband, film director J. Walter Ruben, in 1937, making the Wallace Beery western The Bad Man of Brimstone with him that year, and they had a son named Christopher, but she was widowed in 1942. In 1946 she married Ali Ipar. They divorced in 1951 in order for him to receive a commission in the Turkish Military (which forbade promotions of men married to foreigners), but remarried in 1952, divorcing again in 1964.
Bruce died of cancer on February 24, 1982, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital[1] in Woodland Hills, California.[6] She was 71.
Partial filmography
Film | ||||
---|---|---|---|---|
Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
1929 | Fugitives | Bit Part | Uncredited | |
Blue Skies | Party guest | Uncredited | ||
The Love Parade | Lady-in-Waiting | Uncredited | ||
Woman Trap | Nurse | |||
1930 | Whoopee! | Goldwyn Girl | Uncredited | |
Let's Go Native | Chorus Girl | Uncredited | ||
Paramount on Parade | Chorus Girl | Uncredited | ||
Follow Thru | Bit in Ladies Locker Room | Uncredited | ||
Slightly Scarlet | Enid Corbett | |||
Lilies of the Field | Doris | |||
1931 | Hell Divers | Girl | Scenes deleted | |
1932 | The Miracle Man | Margaret Thornton | ||
Downstairs | Anna | |||
Winner Take All | Joan Gibson | |||
Kongo | Ann Whitehall | |||
1934 | Dangerous Corner | Ann Peel | ||
Jane Eyre | Jane Eyre | |||
The Mighty Barnum | Jenny Lind | |||
1935 | Shadow of Doubt | Trenna Plaice | ||
Escapade | Gerta | |||
Here Comes the Band | Margaret | |||
Society Doctor | Madge | |||
The Murder Man | Mary Shannon | |||
Times Square Lady | Toni Bradley | |||
1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Audrey Dane | ||
The Garden Murder Case | Zalia Graem | |||
Born to Dance | Lucy James | |||
1937 | When Love Is Young | Wanda Werner | ||
Between Two Women | Patricia Sloan | |||
The Bad Man of Brimstone | Loretta Douglas | |||
Women of Glamour | Gloria Hudson | |||
1938 | Arsène Lupin Returns | Lorraine de Grissac | ||
Woman Against Woman | Maris Kent | |||
Yellow Jack | Frances Blake | |||
The First Hundred Years | Lynn Conway | |||
There Goes My Heart | Joan Butterfield | |||
1939 | Society Lawyer | Pat Abbott | ||
Let Freedom Ring | Maggie Adams | |||
Stronger Than Desire | Elizabeth Flagg | |||
1940 | Flight Angels | Mary Norvell | ||
Hired Wife | Phyllis Walden | |||
The Invisible Woman | Kitty Carroll | |||
1941 | Adventure in Washington | Jane Scott | Alternative title: Female Correspondent | |
1942 | Pardon My Sarong | Joan Marshall | ||
Careful, Soft Shoulder | Connie Mathers | |||
1944 | Action in Arabia | Yvonne Danesco | ||
Brazil | Nicky Henderson | Alternative title: Stars and Guitars | ||
1945 | Love, Honor and Goodbye | Roberta Baxter | ||
1948 | Night Has a Thousand Eyes | Jenny Courtland | ||
1949 | State Department: File 649 | Margaret "Marge" Weldon | Alternative title: Assignment in China | |
1954 | Salgin | Nurse | Alternative titles: Epidemic Istanbul | |
1955 | Reluctant Bride | Laura Weeks | Alternative title: Two Grooms for a Bride | |
1960 | Strangers When We Meet | Mrs. Wagner | ||
1981 | Madame Wang's | Madame Wang | ||
Television | ||||
Year | Title | Role | Notes | |
1953 | General Electric Theater | Adele | 1 episode | |
1955 | Letter to Loretta | Dee Norman | 1 episode | |
Science Fiction Theatre | Dr. Myrna Griffin Jean Gordon |
2 episodes | ||
1957 | The Ford Television Theatre | Ruth Crest | 1 episode |
References
- 1 2 "Film Actress Virginia Bruce dies at 71 after long illness". California, San Bernardino. The San Bernardino County Sun. February 25, 1982. p. 10. Retrieved January 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- ↑ http://www.inforum.com/content/fargoan-had-long-career-films
- ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/1982/02/26/obituaries/virginia-bruce-72-actress-portrayed-ziegfeld-showgirl.html
- ↑ Virginia Bruce at the Internet Broadway Database
- ↑ "Here's Proof John Gilbert Is Screen's Great Lover". New York, Syracuse. Syracuse Herald. August 11, 1932. p. 12. Retrieved January 7, 2016 – via Newspapers.com.
- 1 2 3 Virginia Bruce at the Internet Movie Database
- ↑ "Ethel Merman, Virginia Bruce In Radio Dramas". Freeport Journal-Standard. July 30, 1949. p. 3. Retrieved May 3, 2015 – via Newspapers.com.
- Virginia Bruce: Under My Skin, 2008. (Biography by Scott O'Brien)
External links
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Virginia Bruce. |
- Virginia Bruce at the Internet Movie Database
- Virginia Bruce at AllMovie
- Virginia Bruce at the TCM Movie Database
- Virginia Bruce at the Internet Broadway Database
- Photographs of Virginia Bruce
- Virginia Bruce at Find a Grave