Virginia Mayo

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Virginia Mayo

from the trailer for the film The Best Years of Our Lives (1946).
Born Virginia Clara Jones
November 30, 1920(1920-11-30)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died January 17, 2005 (aged 84)
Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Years active 1939 - 1997
Spouse(s) Michael O'Shea (1947-1973)

Virginia Mayo (November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American film actress.

Contents

[edit] Early life

Born Virginia Clara Jones in St. Louis, Missouri. Tutored by a series of dancing instructors engaged by her aunt, she appeared in the St. Louis Municipal Opera chorus and then appeared with six other girls at an act at the Jefferson Hotel. There she was recruited by vaudeville performer Andy Mayo to appear in his act (as ringmaster for two men in a horse suit), taking his surname as her stage name. She appeared in vaudeville for three years in the act, appearing with Eddie Cantor on Broadway in 1941's Banjo Eyes.

[edit] Hollywood

Mayo continued her career as a dancer, then signed a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and appeared in several of Goldwyn's movies. With Danny Kaye she played the dream-girl heroine in comedies including Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947).

In 1949's White Heat she took on the unsympathetic role of the cold and treacherous "Verna Jarrett," opposite James Cagney. Mayo later claimed in interviews that she was occasionally genuinely frightened by Cagney during the filming of the picture, because Cagney's acting was so realistic and natural.

She was also cast against type as a shallow golddigger in The Best Years of Our Lives, in which she gave a performance that garnered much acclaim.

Her film career continued through the 1950s and 1960s, frequently in B-movie westerns and adventure films. While she also appeared in musicals, Mayo's singing voice was always dubbed.

Mayo has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1751 Vine.

In 1996 she received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

[edit] Personal life

In 1947, she married actor Michael O'Shea, who died in 1973. They had one child, Mary Catherine O'Shea (born in 1953). The O'Shea family lived for several decades in Thousand Oaks, California.

In the 1990s, Mayo donated her extensive collection of Hollywood memorabilia to the Thousand Oaks Library. She died of natural causes in Los Angeles in 2005 at the age of 84.

[edit] Filmography

[edit] External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to:
Persondata
NAME Mayo, Virginia
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Jones, Virginia Clara
SHORT DESCRIPTION Actor
DATE OF BIRTH 1920-11-30
PLACE OF BIRTH St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
DATE OF DEATH 2005-1-17
PLACE OF DEATH Los Angeles, California, U.S.