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. In 1928, she moved with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California, Los Angeles when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work. She got it as an extra in Why Bring That Up?. In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles, followed by America's Sweetheart in 1931.
She returned to Hollywood in 1932, where on August 10, 1932, 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 two years later in 1936.
Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film Born to Dance and co-starred in the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer musical The Great Ziegfeld. One of her final film appearances was in Strangers When We Meet.
In 1949, Bruce starred in a daily 30-minute radio drama. Make Believe Town was an afternoon program on CBS.
Bruce married her second husband, film director J. Walter Ruben, in 1937, making the Wallace Beery western The Bad Man of Brimstone with him that year. Together they had a son named Christopher (b. 1941), before Ruben's death in 1942. In 1946, Bruce married Ali Ipar. They divorced in 1951 in order for him to receive a commission in the Turkish Military (which forbade promotions of men married to foreigners), but remarried in 1952 before divorcing again in 1964.
Bruce died of cancer on February 24, 1982, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was 71.
Acted in
Complicated Women
2003
as Self (archive footage)
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
1988
as Self (archive footage)
That's Entertainment!
1974
as (archive footage)
Strangers When We Meet
1960
as Mrs. Wagner
Matinee Theater
1955
The Reluctant Bride
1955
as Laura Weeks
The Plague
1954
as Nurse
Letter to Loretta
1953
as Dee Norman
General Electric Theater
1953
as Adele
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Pauline Travis
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Mildred Pierce
Lux Video Theatre
1950
as Jo Cathcart Archer
State Department: File 649
1949
as Marge
Night Has a Thousand Eyes
1948
as Jenny
Love, Honor and Goodbye
1945
as Roberta Baxter
Brazil
1944
as Nicky Henderson
Action in Arabia
1944
as Yvonne
Careful, Soft Shoulders
1942
as Connie Mathers
Pardon My Sarong
1942
as Joan Marshall
Butch Minds the Baby
1942
as Susie O'Neill
Adventure in Washington
1941
as Jane Scott
The Invisible Woman
1940
as Kitty Carroll
Hired Wife
1940
as Phyllis Walden
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
1940
as Self
The Man Who Talked Too Much
1940
as Joan Reed
Flight Angels
1940
as Mary Norvell
Stronger Than Desire
1939
as Elizabeth Flagg
Land of Liberty
1939
as (archive footage)
Hollywood Hobbies
1939
as Self (uncredited)
Society Lawyer
1939
as Pat Abbott
Let Freedom Ring
1939
as Maggie Adams
There's That Woman Again
1938
as Sally Reardon
There Goes My Heart
1938
as Joan Butterfield
Hollywood Goes to Town
1938
as Self
Woman Against Woman
1938
as Maris Kent
Yellow Jack
1938
as Frances Blake
The First Hundred Years
1938
as Lynn Conway
Arsène Lupin Returns
1938
as Lorraine de Grissac
The Bad Man of Brimstone
1937
as Loretta Douglas
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
1937
as Nurse Stephens
Between Two Women
1937
as Patricia Sloan
When Love Is Young
1937
as Wanda Werner
Women of Glamour
1937
as Gloria Hudson
Born to Dance
1936
as Lucy James
The Great Ziegfeld
1936
as Audrey Dane
The Garden Murder Case
1936
as Zalia Graem
A Dream Comes True
1935
as Herself (uncredited)
Pirate Party on Catalina Isle
1935
as Virginia Bruce (uncredited)
Metropolitan
1935
as Anne Merrill
Here Comes the Band
1935
as Margaret
The Murder Man
1935
as Mary Shannon
Escapade
1935
as Gerta
Let 'em Have It
1935
as Eleanor Spencer
Times Square Lady
1935
as Toni Bradley
Shadow of Doubt
1935
as Trenna
Society Doctor
1935
as Madge
The Mighty Barnum
1934
as Jenny Lind
Dangerous Corner
1934
as Ann Beale
Jane Eyre
1934
as Jane Eyre
Kongo
1932
as Ann
Downstairs
1932
as Anna
Winner Take All
1932
as Joan Gibson
Sky Bride
1932
as Ruth Dunning
The Miracle Man
1932
as Margaret Thornton
Follow Thru
1930
as Woman in Ladies' Locker Room (uncredited)
Whoopee!
1930
as Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Let's Go Native
1930
as Wendell Sr.'s Secretary (uncredited)
Raffles
1930
as Gwen's Friend (uncredited)
The Social Lion
1930
as Society Girl
Safety in Numbers
1930
as Alma McGregor
Paramount on Parade
1930
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Young Eagles
1930
as Florence Welford
Only the Brave
1930
as Elizabeth
Slightly Scarlet
1930
as Enid Corbett
The Love Parade
1930
as Lady-in-Waiting
Lilies of the Field
1930
as Doris
Pointed Heels
1929
as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Woman Trap
1929
as Nurse
Hard to Get
1929
as Young Woman (uncredited)
River of Romance
1929
as Southern Belle
Fugitives
1929
as Extra (uncredited)