Virginia Mayhew
Virginia Mayhew is an actress, known for At Home with Amy Sedaris (2017).
Virginia Mayo
Virginia Clara Jones was born on November 30, 1920 in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of a newspaper reporter and his wife. The family had a rich heritage in the St. Louis area: her great-great-great-grandfather served in the American Revolution and later founded the city of East Saint Louis, Illinois, located right across the Mississippi River from its namesake. Virginia was interested in show business from an early age. Her aunt operated a dance studio and Virginia began taking lessons at the age of six. After graduating from high school in 1937, she became a member of the St. Louis Municipal Opera before she was signed to a contract by Samuel Goldwyn after being spotted by an MGM talent scout during a Broadway revue. David O. Selznick gave her a screen test, but decided she wouldn't fit into films. Goldwyn, however, believed that her talent as an actress was there and cast her in a small role in 1943's Jack London (1943). She later had a walk-on part in Follies Girl (1943) that same year. Believing there was more to her than her obvious ravishing beauty, producers thought it was time to give her bigger and better roles. In 1944 she was cast as Princess Margaret in The Princess and the Pirate (1944), with Bob Hope and a year later appeared as Ellen Shavley in Wonder Man (1945). Her popularity increasing with every appearance, Virginia was cast in two more films in 1946, The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), with Danny Kaye, and The Best Years of Our Lives (1946), with Dana Andrews, and received good notices as Andrews' avaricious, unfaithful wife. Her roles may have been coming in slow, but with each one her popularity with audiences rose. She finally struck paydirt in 1947 with a plum assignment in the well-received The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947) as Rosalind van Hoorn. That same year she married Michael O'Shea and would remain with him until his death in 1973 (the union produced a daughter, Mary Catherine, in 1953). She got some of the best reviews of her career in James Cagney's return to the gangster genre, White Heat (1949), as Verna, the scheming, cheating wife of homicidal killer Cody Jarrett (Cagney). The striking beauty had still more plum roles in the 1950s. Parts in Backfire (1950), She's Working Her Way Through College (1952) and South Sea Woman (1953) all showed she was still a force to be reckoned with. As the decade ended, Virginia's career began to slow down. She had four roles in the 1960s and four more in the following decade. Her last role was as Lucia in 1997's The Man Next Door. She died on January 17, 2005.
Virginia McKenna
Talented flaxen-blonde British star combined her deep loves for acting and for wildlife throughout most her adult life. Born in London, England on June 7, 1931, her family possessed a sturdy theatrical background. Mother Anne was a jazz pianist, composer and cabaret performer while father Terry, an auctioneer, had relatives in the arts including actress Fay Compton and author Compton MacKenzie. Virginia's boarding house education was interrupted by the London Blitz. She and her mother (her parents were divorced by this time) evacuated from England to Cape Town, South Africa, a move that lasted six years. Upon her return to England, she acted in a few school plays. Her interest stuck and she auditioned and was accepted into the London School of Central Speech and Drama. Two years later she became a six-month member of Scotland's renowned Dundee Repertory. Spotted by a talent scout playing Estella in a production of "Great Expectations," Virginia was invited in 1951 to return to London to portray Dorcas in "A Penny for a Song" with a stellar cast that included Ronald Squire, Alan Webb, Marie Lohr and leading man Ronald Howard, the son of "Gone With the Wind" star Leslie Howard. This quickly led to TV and film offers. Virginia made her cinematic debut with a prominent role in The Second Mrs. Tanqueray (1952) starring Hugh Sinclair and Pamela Brown, then played Richard Attenborough's sister-in-law in Father's Doing Fine (1952). Two more films arrived the following year with The Oracle (1953) starring Robert Beatty and the Oscar-nominated WWII drama The Cruel Sea (1953) with Jack Hawkins, Donald Sinden, Stanley Baker and Denholm Elliott, the last mentioned to whom she later married in 1954. Following classical stage parts in "Richard II," "Love's Labour's Lost," "Henry IV" and "As You Like It" at the Old Vic during its 1954-1955 season and her acclaimed BAFTA-winning role as Juliet opposite Tony Britton's Romeo in a BBC-TV version of "Romeo and Juliet," Virginia returned to filming with Simba (1955) starring Dirk Bogarde and The Ship That Died of Shame (1955), another WWII drama that reunited her with Richard Attenborough. Film stardom came with her crop-haired role as WWII Japanese captive Jean Paget in A Town Like Alice (1956) opposite Peter Finch. Both actors won BAFTA film awards for their roles. As such Virginia grew in box-office status. Virginia met second husband, Bill Travers when they appeared together in the play "I Capture the Castle" in London in 1954. Both were married at the time. They met again, however, after her two-year breakup with Denholm Elliott and this time they connected and married in 1957. Virginia and Bill appeared together on film for the first time in one of her highly rare comedy films The Smallest Show on Earth (1957). They went on to do six other movies together. In the second film, Bill and Jennifer Jones starred as Robert and Elizabeth Barrett Browning in The Barretts of Wimpole Street (1957) with Virginia and John Gielgud in strong support. The couple then appeared in Passionate Summer (1958). Acclaim (and a BAFTA nomination) for Virginia came again with her movie role alongside Paul Scofield in Carve Her Name with Pride (1958) portraying Special Operations Executive agent Violette Szabo who, after her husband was killed during WWII, undertook dangerous missions as an undercover agent for British intelligence until caught and executed by the Nazis in 1944. The role had a strong impact on Virginia. In 2000 she performed the opening ceremony of the Violette Szabo Museum in Herefordshire. The actress then appeared opposite American actors Gary Cooper and Charlton Heston in the adventure yarn The Wreck of the Mary Deare (1959). Back on stage for a few years in potent roles as Sister Jeanne in "The Devils" and Lucy in "The Beggar's Opera," she and Bill were invited to appear together in the film Two Living, One Dead (1961), a Post Office robbery crime drama. The couple's next film together would alter the course of both their personal and professional destinies when they signed up to play Joy and George Adamson, noted wildlife welfare preservationists, in a landmark film version of the best-selling novel Born Free (1966). The movie was a massive, international box office smash. The shooting, with the real George Adamson serving as tech advisor, deeply affected the couple so much that for the rest of their lives/careers they dedicated themselves to wildlife causes with many of their subsequent pictures having related themes. The couple went on to form a documentary film company and served as writers/producers to create wildlife films. One of the best known of their many documentaries is The Lion at World's End (1971). A few years later Virginia and Bill filmed two animal-related movie adventures, Ring of Bright Water (1969) and An Elephant Called Slowly (1970). The former, filmed in London and the Scottish coast, was based on a best-selling book and told of the romance of an office worker/artist (Bill), his otter pal Mij, and his love interest (Virginia), the town's doctor. Virginia later helped create a museum to honor the film's author, naturalist Gavin Maxwell. The latter, which was filmed in Kenya, had the couple "adopting" three young elephants. Throughout the 1970s, Virginia continued to be seen to good advantage in a sprinkling of film, theatre and TV roles. Cinematically she joined Rod Steiger as Napoleon, Christopher Plummer as the Duke of Wellington and Orson Welles as Louis XVIII in Waterloo (1970) last as the Duchess of Richmond; was top-billed in the family adventure Swallows and Amazons (1974); appeared in the English/Canadian thriller The Disappearance (1977); and showed up in the Italian/English end-of-the-world drama Holocaust 2000 (1977). On the London musical stage Virginia succeeded Jean Simmons as Desiree Armfeldt in the Stephen Sondheim hit "A Little Night Music" and in a 1979 revival of "The King of I" opposite perennial king Yul Brynner that ran 16 months. On TV the actress gravitated towards period pieces in roles that ranged from Daisy in The Edwardians (1972); to Clemmie Churchill in The Gathering Storm (1974) (the TV version rather than the feature film of the same name) to Mrs. Darling in Peter Pan (1976) to Portia in The BBC Television Shakespeare: Julius Caesar (1979). Despite appearing in roles from the 1980s on, which included playing Gertrude alongside Roger Rees in 1984's "Hamlet," a role in the plush mini-series The Camomile Lawn (1992) and a recent support role in the film Love/Loss (2010), Virginia was more committed to her wild animals activism. Very much involved with the global influence of the Born Free Foundation and its Zoo Check project, Virginia earned an OBE for her services to wildlife conservation and animal welfare. Bill died in 1994 but their son Bill Travers Jr. has embodied their enthusiasm towards wildlife, becoming the CEO of the Born Free Foundation. Virginia is the author of several wildlife books and her autobiography "The Life in My Years" was published in 2009. One of her more recent outings was a 2011 appearance in the long-running, award-winning BBC documentary series Natural World (1983).
Virginia McMullen
Virginia McMullen is an actress, known for Beyond Tomorrow (1940).
Virginia Montero
Virginia Montero was born in the little copper-mining town of Jerome, Arizona, which can be found at the top of Mingus Mountain between Prescott and Sedona, and which is now a State Historic Site. At the age of five, her family moved from Arizona to Los Angeles, California. From ages nine to eleven, her father's work took them to live in southern Oregon, but most of her education and life is based in Southern California. Virginia earned her SAG card in her twenties, but retired to raise her family. She secured new talent representation in 1997 and has enjoyed her return to her original vocation. Virginia is also a vocalist, who has sung professionally with Danny G's Big Band, Tullio Renatti's International Revue, and Johnny Ukulele's Polynesian Revue. She has worked with Jerry O'Connell, Jennifer Garner, Dee Wallace, Christopher Atkins, Jack Warden, Gary Collins, Iron-Eyes Cody, Tea Leoni, Cloris Leachman, Paz Vega, Gil Lamb, and many other fine actors. Directors she has worked for include James L. Brooks, Michael Bay, Danny Cannon, and Joe Pitka.
Virginia Muñoz
Virginia Muñoz was born on September 18, 1977 in Málaga, Andalucía, Spain. She is an actress and writer, known for En Portada Cómics (2009), Traición a la media noche (1990) and Luz (2001).
Virginia Newcomb
Virginia Newcomb is a performer and independent filmmaker known most recently for her acclaimed performance in A24's The Death of Dick Long (2019) by Daniel Scheinert (Sundance Premiere). This film and others returned her to her home state of Alabama, including producing on Lynn Shelton's Sword of Trust (2019) and numerous award winning short films. Virginia can also be seen in Peacock (2010) with Cillian Murphy, Reparation (2015) with Marc Menchaca, and Vanishing Angle's latest feature opposite Jim Cummings, The Beta Test (2021), which premiered at Berlinale and Tribeca '21 and released by IFC. She recently completed Rumble Through the Dark alongside Aaron Eckhart and will star and produce the southern thriller, Don't Die, filming fall 2021 in Tennessee. Newcomb's influences hail from a vast theatre background and it's the boundary breaking, media mashup kind that inspire much of her own creative work. Her Broadway debut came in Jay Scheib's live-cinema production of Chekhov's Platonov, which live streamed to Time Square and BAM Rose Cinemas. Virginia took a similar, and more immersive, approach as creator of Cucalorus Film Festival's annual commissioned Blue Velvet installation, Bus To Lumberton. Whether adding dynamic movement to the screen or intimate nuance to theatre, Virginia thrives in commingling these worlds. She is in collaboration with Julian Rosefeldt (Manifesto with Cate Blanchett) on his next art installation and film hybrid project, Euphoria. A true indie film and alt theater child, Virginia has also appeared in popular shows, The Walking Dead, The Office, Halt & Catch Fire, and the upcoming Netflix series From Scratch from Hello Sunshine/Cinestar. Catch Virginia as an injured coal minor in the Appalachian Eco-body horror, Occupational Hazard, on Hulu. She was selected to participate in the inaugural Constellation Incubator beginning summer of '21, formed to apply design thinking to re-imagine and scale a more sustainable, equitable filmmaking ecosystem. Regardless of role or medium, Virginia seeks to share bold, evocative stories in deeply collaborative projects that portray women honestly, particularly in nontraditional southern narrative.
Virginia Nicholson
Virginia Nicholson is known for Our Queen at War (2020).
Virginia North
The daughter of an American Army Officer and a British mother, Virginia Anne Northrop spent her childhood travelling and growing up in whatever country her father happened to be posted. By the age of twenty, she settled in London and became a fashion model with Europe's leading agency, Models 1. Despite having little or no acting experience, her exquisite looks caught the ever-roving eye of scouts at the Rank Organisation. For the first three years, her career remained static. This changed when she was cast as a Bond girl in On Her Majesty's Secret Service (1969), playing Olympe, the chess-playing companion of crime boss Draco (Gabriele Ferzetti). Her most fondly remembered -- and, sadly, final -- role was that of the ethereal silent assassin Vulnavia, devotedly serving The Abominable Dr. Phibes (1971) (Vincent Price). By 1974, Virginia had left the film world behind and wed the industrialist Gordon White (1923-1996), a former governor of the British Film Institute and chairman of the noted corporate raider Hanson plc. She became 'Lady Virginia' upon her husband's elevation to knighthood in 1979. The marriage lasted until 1991, White subsequently marrying a younger model (literally), forty years his junior. Virginia died prematurely of cancer in 2004 at the age of just 58.
Virginia O'Brien
Known to classic film fans by various nicknames--including Miss Deadpan, Frozen Face, and Miss Ice Glacier--this statuesque, dark-haired singer/actress carved a unique niche for herself on stage and screen by the hilarious Sphinx-like way she delivered a song. The daughter of the captain of detectives of the Los Angeles Police Department, Virginia Lee O'Brien became interested in music and dance at an early age (it didn't hurt her career chances that her uncle was noted film director Lloyd Bacon). Her big show-business break came in 1939 after she secured a singing role in the L.A. production of the musical/comedy "Meet the People". On opening night, when time came for her solo number, Virginia became so paralyzed with fright that she sang her song with a wide-eyed motionless stare that sent the audience (which thought her performance a gag) into convulsions. Demoralized, Virginia left the stage only to soon find out that she was a sensation. Signed by MGM in 1940, she deadpanned her way to acclaim and immense popularity with appearances in some of the studio's most memorable musicals including Thousands Cheer (1943), The Harvey Girls (1946), Till the Clouds Roll By (1946), Ziegfeld Follies (1945), Panama Hattie (1942), Ship Ahoy (1942), Meet the People (1944) and Du Barry Was a Lady (1943), performing inimitable renditions of such classic songs as "The Wild Wild West" (from The Harvey Girls), "A Fine Romance" (from Till the Clouds Roll By (1946)), "It's a Great Big World" (from The Harvey Girls (1946)), "Poor You" (from Ship Ahoy (1942)), and "Say We're Sweethearts Again" (from Meet the People (1944)). Although too often relegated to featured songs and small supporting roles, she still managed to become an audience favorite by the sheer force of her personality, polished vocals and way with a comic quip. The latter ability is especially apparent in one of her last MGM films, Merton of the Movies (1947), in which she co-starred with Red Skelton. In 1948, after 17 memorable screen appearances for MGM, the studio unceremoniously dropped her from its roster. She returned to films only twice more after her termination from MGM, in Universal's Francis in the Navy (1955) and Disney's Gus (1976), preferring to focus her energies on television and the stage, where she delighted audiences for three more decades. In the 1980s the still youthful beauty toured the country in a one-woman show and recorded a live album at the famed Masquers Club entitled, "A Salute to the Great MGM Musicals". One of her last significant stage appearances came in 1984 as Parthy Ann in the Long Beach Civic Light Opera's production of "Showboat", with Alan Young. She remained in semi-retirement in a large home in Wrightwood, California, for most of her later years until her death at the Motion Picture Country Hospital in Woodland Hills in January, 2001.