Virginia Bruce
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Virginia Bruce (September 29, 1910 – February 24, 1982) was an American actress and singer.
Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Bruce began her acting career in minor roles in Hollywood in 1929. In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles, followed by America's Sweetheart in 1931.
Bruce returned to Hollywood in 1932, where she married John Gilbert, her co-star in the film Downstairs. She retired briefly after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann Gilbert. The couple divorced in 1934, and Virginia returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances. Gilbert died in 1936. That same year, Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film Born to Dance and costarred in the MGM musical The Great Ziegfeld.
Virginia married film director J. Walter Rubin in 1937, making the Wallace Beery western The Bad Man of Brimstone together that year, and they had one son, but she was widowed in 1942. In 1946 she married Ali Ipar. They divorced in 1951 but remarried in 1952. Her second to last film appearance was in the 1960's Strangers When We Meet. Her final film appearance was in Madame Wang's in 1981.
Virginia Bruce died from cancer in Woodland Hills, California.
