Virginia Bruce
Acting
Born September 29, 1910, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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.
Filmography
- 1974That's Entertainment! — (archive footage) (uncredited)
- 1960Strangers When We Meet — Mrs. Wagner
- Matinee Theater
- 1955The Reluctant Bride — Laura Weeks
- 1954The Plague — Nurse
- General Electric Theater — Adele
- Letter to Loretta — Dee Norman
- Lux Video Theatre — Pauline Travis, Mildred Pierce, Jo Cathcart Archer
- 1949State Department: File 649 — Marge
- 1948Night Has a Thousand Eyes — Jenny
- 1945Love, Honor and Goodbye — Roberta Baxter
- 1944Action in Arabia — Yvonne
- 1944Brazil — Nicky Henderson
- 1942Butch Minds the Baby — Susie O'Neill
- 1942Careful, Soft Shoulders — Connie Mathers
- 1942Pardon My Sarong — Joan Marshall
- 1941Adventure in Washington — Jane Scott
- 1940Flight Angels — Mary Norvell
- 1940Hired Wife — Phyllis Walden
- 1940The Invisible Woman — Kitty Carroll
- 1940The Man Who Talked Too Much — Joan Reed
- 1939Land of Liberty — (archive footage)
- 1939Let Freedom Ring — Maggie Adams
- 1939Society Lawyer — Pat Abbott
- 1939Stronger Than Desire — Elizabeth Flagg
- 1938Arsène Lupin Returns — Lorraine de Grissac
- 1938The First Hundred Years — Lynn Conway
- 1938There Goes My Heart — Joan Butterfield
- 1938There's That Woman Again — Sally Reardon
- 1938Woman Against Woman — Maris Kent
- 1938Yellow Jack — Frances Blake
- 1937Between Two Women — Patricia Sloan
- 1937The Bad Man of Brimstone — Loretta Douglas
- 1937When Love Is Young — Wanda Werner
- 1937Wife, Doctor and Nurse — Nurse Stephens
- 1937Women of Glamour — Gloria Hudson
- 1936Born to Dance — Lucy James
- 1936The Garden Murder Case — Zalia Graem
- 1936The Great Ziegfeld — Audrey Dane
- 1935Escapade — Gerta
- 1935Here Comes the Band — Margaret
- 1935Let 'em Have It — Eleanor Spencer
- 1935Metropolitan — Anne Merrill
- 1935Pirate Party on Catalina Isle — Virginia Bruce (uncredited)
- 1935Shadow of Doubt — Trenna
- 1935Society Doctor — Madge
- 1935The Murder Man — Mary Shannon
- 1935Times Square Lady — Toni Bradley
- 1934Dangerous Corner — Ann Beale
- 1934Jane Eyre — Jane Eyre
- 1934The Mighty Barnum — Jenny Lind
- 1932Downstairs — Anna
- 1932Kongo — Ann
- 1932Sky Bride — Ruth Dunning
- 1932The Miracle Man — Margaret Thornton
- 1932Winner Take All — Joan Gibson
- 1930Follow Thru — Woman in Ladies' Locker Room (uncredited)
- 1930Let's Go Native — Wendell Sr.'s Secretary (uncredited)
- 1930Lilies of the Field — Doris
- 1930Only the Brave — Elizabeth
- 1930Paramount on Parade — Chorus Girl (uncredited)
- 1930Raffles — Gwen's Friend (uncredited)
- 1930Safety in Numbers — Alma McGregor
- 1930Slightly Scarlet — Enid Corbett
- 1930The Social Lion — Society Girl
- 1930Whoopee! — Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
- 1930Young Eagles — Florence Welford
- 1929Fugitives — Extra (uncredited)
- 1929Hard to Get — Young Woman (uncredited)
- 1929Pointed Heels — Chorus Girl (uncredited)
- 1929The Love Parade — Lady-in-Waiting
- 1929The River of Romance — Southern Belle
- 1929Woman Trap — Nurse
Appearances as themselves (6)
- 2003Complicated Women — Self (archive footage)
- 1987James Stewart: A Wonderful Life — Self (archive footage)
- 1940Cavalcade of the Academy Awards — Self
- 1939Hollywood Hobbies — Self (uncredited)
- 1938Hollywood Goes to Town — Self
- 1935A Dream Comes True — Herself (uncredited)