Virginia Grey

American actress (1917–2004)

Virginia Grey

Grey in 1941

Born| (1917-03-22)March 22, 1917

Edendale, California, U.S.

Died| July 31, 2004(2004-07-31) (aged 87)

Woodland Hills, California, U.S.

Occupation(s)| Actress, singer
Years active| 1927–1977

Virginia Grey (March 22, 1917 – July 31, 2004)[1] was an American actress who appeared in over 100 films and several radio and television shows from the 1930s to the early 1980s.[2] She was romantically involved with Clark Gable for several years, after his wife, Carole Lombard's, untimely death.

## Biography

[edit]

Grey was born on March 22, 1917,[citation needed] in Edendale, California,[2] the youngest of three daughters of Florence Anna Grey (née Pauly; 1890—1930) and director Ray Grey. One of her early babysitters was film star Gloria Swanson. Grey debuted at 10 in the silent film Uncle Tom's Cabin (1927) as Little Eva. She continued acting for a few more years but left acting for three years to finish her education.[1]

Grey abandoned her training as a nurse and returned to films in the 1930s, with bit parts and work as an extra. She eventually signed a contract with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) and appeared in several films, including The Hardys Ride High (1939) with Mickey Rooney, Another Thin Man (1939) with William Powell, Hullabaloo (1940), and The Big Store (1941) with the Marx Brothers.[1]

She left MGM in 1942 and worked steadily for several film studios over subsequent years. During the 1950s and 1960s, producer Ross Hunter frequently included Grey in his popular soap melodramas such as All That Heaven Allows, Back Street, and Madame X.[1]

Grey had an intermittent love affair with Clark Gable in the 1940s. After Gable's wife Carole Lombard died and he returned from military service, Gable and Grey were often seen together at restaurants and nightclubs. Many, including Grey herself, expected Gable to marry her, and tabloids often speculated on a wedding announcement. It was a great surprise when Gable hastily married Lady Sylvia Ashley in 1949, leaving Grey heartbroken. Gable divorced Ashley in 1952, never rekindling his romance with Grey, who never married.[3]

In 1951, Grey portrayed Blanche Bickerson on the syndicated comedy TV series The Bickersons.[4] She was a regular on television in the 1950s and 1960s, appearing on Playhouse 90, U.S. Marshal, The Jane Wyman Show, General Electric Theater, The DuPont Show with June Allyson, Your Show of Shows, Red Skelton, Wagon Train (“The Honorable Don Charlie Story,” "The Kate Parker Story," "The Major Adams Story"), Bonanza, Marcus Welby, M.D., Love, American Style, Burke's Law, The Virginian, Peter Gunn, Ironside, and many others.[1]

Grey died on July 31, 2004, at age 87, in Woodland Hills, California, while a resident at the Motion Picture Home.[5] She was cremated, and her ashes were scattered at sea on August 6, 2004, off the Los Angeles coast.[5]

Anna Torv portrayed her in the HBO miniseries The Pacific.[1]

## Filmography

[edit]

Year  | Film  | Role  | Director  | Notes

|
|
|
|

1927  | Uncle Tom's Cabin | Eva  | Harry A. Pollard |
1928  | The Michigan Kid | a child  | Irvin Willat |
1928  | Heart to Heart | Hazel Boyd  | William Beaudine |
1928  | Jazz Mad |  | F. Harmon Weight | uncredited
1931  | Misbehaving Ladies | Hazel Boyd  | William Beaudine |
1931  | Palmy Days | Goldwyn Girl  | A. Edward Sutherland | uncredited
1933  | Secrets | a Child  | Frank Borzage | uncredited
1934  | Dames | Chorus Girl  | Busby Berkeley | uncredited
1934  | The St. Louis Kid | Second Girl  | Ray Enright | scenes deleted
1934  | The Firebird | Autograph Seeker  | William Dieterle | uncredited
1935  | Gold Diggers of 1935 | Chorus Girl  | Busby Berkeley | uncredited
1935  | Don't Bet on Blondes | Girl with Henry  | Robert Florey | uncredited
1935  | She Gets Her Man | Club Woman  | William Nigh | uncredited
1936  | The Great Ziegfeld | Ziegfeld Girl  | Robert Z. Leonard | uncredited
1936  | Old Hutch | Pirate's Club Customer  | J. Walter Ruben | uncredited
1936  | Our Relations | Ethel, Girl with Dave in Drugstore  | Harry Lachman |
1937  | Secret Valley | Joan Carlo  | Howard Bretherton |
1937  | Bad Guy | Kitty  | Edward L. Cahn |
1937  | Rosalie | Mary Callahan  | W. S. Van Dyke |
1938  | The Canary Comes Across | Ann Clayton  |  | Short film
1938  | Test Pilot | Sarah  | Victor Fleming |
1938  | Billy Rose's Casa Mañana Revue | Virginia Mason  |  | Short film
1938  | Snow Gets in Your Eyes | June  |  | Short film
1938  | Ladies in Distress | Sally  | Gus Meins |
1938  | The Shopworn Angel | Chorus Girl #1  | H.C. Potter | uncredited
1938  | Rich Man, Poor Girl | Miss Selma Willis  | Reinhold Schünzel |
1938  | Youth Takes a Fling | Madge  | Archie Mayo |
1938  | Dramatic School | Simone  | Robert B. Sinclair |
1939  | Idiot's Delight | Shirley Laughlin  | Clarence Brown |
1939  | Broadway Serenade | Pearl  | Robert Z. Leonard |
1939  | The Hardys Ride High | Consuela MacNish  | George B. Seitz |
1939  | The Women | Pat  | George Cukor |
1939  | Thunder Afloat | Susan Thorson  | George B. Seitz |
1939  | Another Thin Man | Lois MacFay  | W. S. Van Dyke |
1940  | Three Cheers for the Irish | Patricia Casey  | Lloyd Bacon |
1940  | The Captain Is a Lady | Mary Peabody  | Robert B. Sinclair |
1940  | The Golden Fleecing | Lila Hanley  | Leslie Fenton |
1940  | Hullabaloo | Laura Merriweather  | Edwin L. Marin |
1940  | Keeping Company | Anastasia Atherton  | S. Sylvan Simon |
1941  | Blonde Inspiration | Margie Blake  | Busby Berkeley |
1941  | Washington Melodrama | Teddy Carlyle  | S. Sylvan Simon |
1941  | The Big Store | Joan Sutton  | Charles Reisner |
1941  | Whistling in the Dark | 'Fran' Post  | S. Sylvan Simon |
1942  | Mr. and Mrs. North | Jane Wilson  | Robert B. Sinclair |
1942  | Tarzan's New York Adventure | Connie Beach  | Richard Thorpe |
1942  | Grand Central Murder | Sue Custer  | S. Sylvan Simon |
1942  | Bells of Capistrano | Jennifer Benton  | William Morgan |
1942  | Tish | Katherine 'Kit' Bowser Sands  | S. Sylvan Simon |
1942  | Secrets of the Underground | Terry Parker  | William Morgan |
1943  | Idaho | Terry Grey  | Joseph Kane |
1943  | Stage Door Canteen | Virginia Grey  | Frank Borzage |
1943  | Sweet Rosie O'Grady | Edna Van Dyke  | Irving Cummings |
1944  | Strangers in the Night | Dr. Leslie Ross  | Anthony Mann |
1945  | Grissly's Millions | Katherine Palmor Bentley  | John English |
1945  | Blonde Ransom | Vicki Morrison  | William Beaudine |
1945  | Flame of Barbary Coast | Rita Dane  | Joseph Kane |
1945  | Men in Her Diary | Diana Lee  | Charles Barton |
1946  | Smooth as Silk | Paula Marlowe  | Charles Barton |
1946  | House of Horrors | Joan Medford  | Jean Yarbrough |
1946  | Swamp Fire | Janet Hilton  | William H. Pine |
1947  | Wyoming | Lila Regan  | Joseph Kane |
1947  | Unconquered | Diana  | Cecil B. DeMille |
1948  | Glamour Girl | Lorraine Royle  | Arthur Dreifuss |
1948  | Who Killed Doc Robbin | Ann Loring  | Bernard Carr  |
1948  | So This Is New York | Ella Goff Finch  | Richard Fleischer |
1948  | Miraculous Journey | Patricia  | Sam Newfield (as Peter Stewart) |
1948  | Unknown Island | Carole Lane  | Jack Bernhard |
1948  | Leather Gloves | Jane Gilbert  | William Asher |
1948  | Mexican Hayride | Montana  | Charles Barton |
1948  | Jungle Jim | Dr. Hilary Parker  | William Berke |
1949  | The Threat | Carol  | Felix E. Feist |
1950  | Highway 301 | Mary Simms  | Andrew L. Stone |
1950  | Hurricane at Pilgrim Hill | Janet Smedley Adams  | Richard L. Bare |
1951  | Three Desperate Men | Laura Brock  | Sam Newfield |
1951  | Bullfighter and the Lady | Lisbeth Flood  | Budd Boetticher |
1951  | Slaughter Trail | Lorabelle Larkin  | Irving Allen |
1952  | Desert Pursuit | Mary Smith  | George Blair |
1953  | A Perilous Journey | Abby  | R. G. Springsteen |
1953  | The Fighting Lawman | Raquel Jackson  | Thomas Carr |
1953  | Captain Scarface | Elsa  | Paul Guilfoyle |
1954  | The Forty-Niners | Stella Walker  | Thomas Carr |
1954  | Target Earth | Vicki Harris  | Sherman A. Rose  |
1955  | The Eternal Sea | Dorothy Buracker  | John H. Auer |
1955  | The Last Command | Mrs. Dickinson  | Frank Lloyd |
1955  | All That Heaven Allows | Alida Anderson  | Douglas Sirk |
1955  | The Rose Tattoo | Estelle Hohengarten  | Daniel Mann |
1956  | Accused of Murder | Sandra Lamoreaux  | Joseph Kane |
1957  | Crime of Passion | Sara Alidos  | Gerd Oswald |
1957  | Jeanne Eagels | Elsie Desmond  | George Sidney |
1958  | The Restless Years | Miss Robeson  | Helmut Käutner |
1959  | No Name on the Bullet | Roseanne Fraden  | Jack Arnold |
1960  | Portrait in Black | Miss Lee  | Michael Gordon |
1961  | Tammy Tell Me True | Miss Jenks  | Harry Keller |
1961  | Back Street | Janey née Smith  | David Miller |
1961  | Bachelor in Paradise | Camille Quinlaw  | Jack Arnold |
1961  | Flower Drum Song | Rosalind  | Henry Koster | uncredited
1963  | Black Zoo | Jenny Brooks  | Robert Gordon |
1964  | The Naked Kiss | Candy  | Samuel Fuller |
1965  | Love Has Many Faces | Irene Talbot  | Alexander Singer |
1966  | Madame X | Mimsy  | David Lowell Rich |
1967  | Rosie! | Mrs. Peters  | David Lowell Rich |
1970  | Airport | Mrs. Schultz  | George Seaton |
1975  | The Lives of Jenny Dolan | Landlady  | Jerry Jameson |
1976  | Arthur Hailey's the Moneychangers | Miss Callahan  | Boris Sagal |

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b c d e f Gussow, Mel (August 6, 2004). "Virginia Grey, a Veteran Of 100 Films, Dies at 87". The New York Times. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
2. ^ a b Bernstein, Adam (August 5, 2004). "Hardworking Actress Virginia Grey Dies at 87". The Washington Post. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
3. ^ "Virginia Grey - Obituary". The Daily Telegraph. August 7, 2004. Archived from the original on September 25, 2015. Retrieved February 11, 2016.
4. ^ Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010 (2nd ed.). Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, Inc., Publishers. p. 98\. ISBN 978-0-7864-6477-7.
5. ^ a b Wilson, Scott (2016). Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons (3rd ed.). Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company, Inc. p. 299\. ISBN 978-0-7864-5098-5.

## Further reading

[edit]

* Alistair, Rupert (2018). "Virginia Grey". The Name Below the Title : 65 Classic Movie Character Actors from Hollywood's Golden Age (softcover) (First ed.). Great Britain: Independently published. pp. 111–114\. ISBN 978-1-7200-3837-5.

## External links

[edit]

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