Virginia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey
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Virginia Cherrill (b. 12 April 1908, Carthage, Illinois - d. 14 November 1996, Santa Barbara, California) was an American actress best known for her role as the blind flower girl in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931).
Virginia Cherrill was born on a farm in rural Illinois to James E. and Blanche (neé Wilcox) Cherrill. She moved to Hollywood and met Charlie Chaplin when he sat next to her at a boxing match. He cast her in City Lights in which she gave the unforgettable performance for which she is remembered, although her working relationship with Chaplin on the film was often strained.
She appeared in a few other films subsequently, including the 1931 Gershwin musical Delicious with Janet Gaynor, but gave up her movie career in 1936.
Cherrill married four times; her second husband was actor Cary Grant (from 1934 to 1935), and her third was George Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (from 1937 to 1946).
Her longest marriage was to Florian Martini, with whom she lived in Santa Barbara, California from 1948 until her death at age 88; she had no children.
