Virginia Bruce

Biography

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.

Known For

Matinee Theater

Letter to Loretta

General Electric Theater

Jane Eyre

That's Entertainment!

Strangers When We Meet

The Great Ziegfeld

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

All Movies (75)

• Complicated Women2003 · as Self (archive footage)
• James Stewart: A Wonderful Life1987 · as Self (archive footage)
• That's Entertainment!1974 · as (archive footage) (uncredited)
• Strangers When We Meet1960 · as Mrs. Wagner
• The Reluctant Bride1955 · as Laura Weeks
• The Plague1954 · as Nurse
• State Department: File 6491949 · as Marge
• Night Has a Thousand Eyes1948 · as Jenny
• Love, Honor and Goodbye1945 · as Roberta Baxter
• Brazil1944 · as Nicky Henderson
• Action in Arabia1944 · as Yvonne
• Careful, Soft Shoulders1942 · as Connie Mathers
• Pardon My Sarong1942 · as Joan Marshall
• Butch Minds the Baby1942 · as Susie O'Neill
• Adventure in Washington1941 · as Jane Scott
• The Invisible Woman1940 · as Kitty Carroll
• Hired Wife1940 · as Phyllis Walden
• Cavalcade of the Academy Awards1940 · as Self
• The Man Who Talked Too Much1940 · as Joan Reed
• Flight Angels1940 · as Mary Norvell
• Stronger Than Desire1939 · as Elizabeth Flagg
• Land of Liberty1939 · as (archive footage)
• Hollywood Hobbies1939 · as Self (uncredited)
• Society Lawyer1939 · as Pat Abbott
• Let Freedom Ring1939 · as Maggie Adams
• There's That Woman Again1938 · as Sally Reardon
• There Goes My Heart1938 · as Joan Butterfield
• Hollywood Goes to Town1938 · as Self
• Woman Against Woman1938 · as Maris Kent
• Yellow Jack1938 · as Frances Blake
• The First Hundred Years1938 · as Lynn Conway
• Arsène Lupin Returns1938 · as Lorraine de Grissac
• The Bad Man of Brimstone1937 · as Loretta Douglas
• Wife, Doctor and Nurse1937 · as Nurse Stephens
• Between Two Women1937 · as Patricia Sloan
• When Love Is Young1937 · as Wanda Werner
• Women of Glamour1937 · as Gloria Hudson
• Born to Dance1936 · as Lucy James
• The Great Ziegfeld1936 · as Audrey Dane
• The Garden Murder Case1936 · as Zalia Graem
• A Dream Comes True1935 · as Herself (uncredited)
• Pirate Party on Catalina Isle1935 · as Virginia Bruce (uncredited)
• Metropolitan1935 · as Anne Merrill
• Here Comes the Band1935 · as Margaret
• The Murder Man1935 · as Mary Shannon
• Escapade1935 · as Gerta
• Let 'em Have It1935 · as Eleanor Spencer
• Times Square Lady1935 · as Toni Bradley
• Shadow of Doubt1935 · as Trenna
• Society Doctor1935 · as Madge
• The Mighty Barnum1934 · as Jenny Lind
• Dangerous Corner1934 · as Ann Beale
• Jane Eyre1934 · as Jane Eyre
• Kongo1932 · as Ann
• Downstairs1932 · as Anna
• Winner Take All1932 · as Joan Gibson
• Sky Bride1932 · as Ruth Dunning
• The Miracle Man1932 · as Margaret Thornton
• Follow Thru1930 · as Woman in Ladies' Locker Room (uncredited)
• Whoopee!1930 · as Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
• Let's Go Native1930 · as Wendell Sr.'s Secretary (uncredited)
• Raffles1930 · as Gwen's Friend (uncredited)
• The Social Lion1930 · as Society Girl
• Safety in Numbers1930 · as Alma McGregor
• Paramount on Parade1930 · as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
• Young Eagles1930 · as Florence Welford
• Only the Brave1930 · as Elizabeth
• Slightly Scarlet1930 · as Enid Corbett
• Lilies of the Field1930 · as Doris
• Pointed Heels1929 · as Chorus Girl (uncredited)
• The Love Parade1929 · as Lady-in-Waiting
• Woman Trap1929 · as Nurse
• Hard to Get1929 · as Young Woman (uncredited)
• The River of Romance1929 · as Southern Belle
• Fugitives1929 · as Extra (uncredited)

All TV Shows (6)

• Matinee Theater1955
• Letter to Loretta1953 · as Dee Norman
• General Electric Theater1953 · as Adele
• Lux Video Theatre1950 · as Pauline Travis
• Lux Video Theatre1950 · as Mildred Pierce
• Lux Video Theatre1950 · as Jo Cathcart Archer