Virginia
Mayo (November 30, 1920 - January 17, 2005) was an American
film actress.
Born in St. Louis, Missouri as Virginia
Clara Jones, and tutored by a series of dancing instructors
engaged by her aunt, she appeared in the St. Louis
Municipal Opera chorus, then appeared with six other
girls at an act at the Jefferson Hotel, where she
was recruited by Andy Mayo to appear in his popular
vaudeville act, as a ringmaster for two men in a horse
suit. Virginia assumed the stage name of "Mayo"
in the process. She appeared in Vaudeville for three
years in the act, appearing with Eddie Cantor on Broadway
in 1941's Banjo Eyes.
She 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
made some successful comedies, including: Wonder Man
(1945), The Kid from Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret
Life of Walter Mitty (1947).
In 1949's White Heat she gave one
of her greatest performances as Verna Jarrett the
wife of gangster Cody Jarrett (acted by 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.
Also of interest is her role in The
Best Years of Our Lives, where she was cast against
type and gave a performance that garnered much acclaim.
In 1947, she married actor Michael
O'Shea, who died in 1973. They had one child, Mary
Catherine O'Shea (1953-). The O'Shea family lived
for several decades in Thousand Oaks, California.
Through the 1950s and 1960s she ended
up getting roles in B-movies, often westerns and adventure
films, but also some musicals. Her singing voice was
always dubbed.
Mayo got a star on the Walk of Fame
for her work in Television. It can be found at 1751
Vine Street.
In the 1990s, Mayo gifted her extensive
collection of Hollywood memorabilia to the Thousand
Oaks Library. Mayo finally passed away in the city
in 2005 after a long illness.
filmography
Jack London (1943)
The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
Wonder Man (1945)
The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
A Song Is Born (1948)
Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948)
Flaxy Martin (1949)
Colorado Territory (1949)
White Heat (1949)
Backfire (1950)
The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
Captain Horatio Hornblower R.N. (1951)
Along the Great Divide (1951)
She's Working Her Way Through College (1952)
The Iron Mistress (1952)
She's Back on Broadway (1953)
King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
The Silver Chalice (1954)
Pearl of the South Pacific (1955)
Great Day in the Morning (1956)
The Proud Ones (1956)
The Big Land (1957)
The Story of Mankind (1957)
The Tall Stranger (1957)
Fort Dobbs (1958)
Castle of Evil (1966)
French Quarter (1977)
The Haunted (1979)
The Man Next Door (1997)
Lucille McGillicuddy
source from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki
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