Virginia Bruce
Acting • Born 1910-09-29 – Died 1982-02-24
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.
Filmography
81 credits
Night Has a Thousand Eyes
Movie • 1948
Jenny
The Murder Man
Movie • 1935
Mary Shannon
The Invisible Woman
Movie • 1940
Kitty Carroll
The Great Ziegfeld
Movie • 1936
Audrey Dane
Born to Dance
Movie • 1936
Lucy James
There Goes My Heart
Movie • 1938
Joan Butterfield
Winner Take All
Movie • 1932
Joan Gibson
Kongo
Movie • 1932
Ann
Strangers When We Meet
Movie • 1960
Mrs. Wagner
Action in Arabia
Movie • 1944
Yvonne
Hired Wife
Movie • 1940
Phyllis Walden
Raffles
Movie • 1930
Gwen's Friend (uncredited)
The Mighty Barnum
Movie • 1934
Jenny Lind
Flight Angels
Movie • 1940
Mary Norvell
State Department: File 649
Movie • 1949
Marge
Arsène Lupin Returns
Movie • 1938
Lorraine de Grissac
The Garden Murder Case
Movie • 1936
Zalia Graem
The Man Who Talked Too Much
Movie • 1940
Joan Reed
Downstairs
Movie • 1932
Anna
Society Doctor
Movie • 1935
Madge
Yellow Jack
Movie • 1938
Frances Blake
Let 'em Have It
Movie • 1935
Eleanor Spencer
Dangerous Corner
Movie • 1934
Ann Beale
Escapade
Movie • 1935
Gerta
Jane Eyre
Movie • 1934
Jane Eyre
Let Freedom Ring
Movie • 1939
Maggie Adams
Stronger Than Desire
Movie • 1939
Elizabeth Flagg
Society Lawyer
Movie • 1939
Pat Abbott
Shadow of Doubt
Movie • 1935
Trenna
Woman Trap
Movie • 1929
Nurse
Careful, Soft Shoulders
Movie • 1942
Connie Mathers
Between Two Women
Movie • 1937
Patricia Sloan
Brazil
Movie • 1944
Nicky Henderson
Metropolitan
Movie • 1935
Anne Merrill
The First Hundred Years
Movie • 1938
Lynn Conway
Adventure in Washington
Movie • 1941
Jane Scott
Hollywood Hobbies
Movie • 1939
Self (uncredited)
The Plague
Movie • 1954
Nurse
The Social Lion
Movie • 1930
Society Girl
The Bad Man of Brimstone
Movie • 1937
Loretta Douglas
The Miracle Man
Movie • 1932
Margaret Thornton
Young Eagles
Movie • 1930
Florence Welford
Land of Liberty
Movie • 1939
(archive footage)
Wife, Doctor and Nurse
Movie • 1937
Nurse Stephens
Follow Thru
Movie • 1930
Woman in Ladies' Locker Room (uncredited)
Woman Against Woman
Movie • 1938
Maris Kent
Safety in Numbers
Movie • 1930
Alma McGregor
Times Square Lady
Movie • 1935
Toni Bradley
The River of Romance
Movie • 1929
Southern Belle
There's That Woman Again
Movie • 1938
Sally Reardon
Here Comes the Band
Movie • 1935
Margaret
That's Entertainment!
Movie • 1974
(archive footage)
Love, Honor and Goodbye
Movie • 1945
Roberta Baxter
Women of Glamour
Movie • 1937
Gloria Hudson
Butch Minds the Baby
Movie • 1942
Susie O'Neill
When Love Is Young
Movie • 1937
Wanda Werner
Hard to Get
Movie • 1929
Young Woman (uncredited)
Let's Go Native
Movie • 1930
Wendell Sr.'s Secretary (uncredited)
Pardon My Sarong
Movie • 1942
Joan Marshall
The Reluctant Bride
Movie • 1955
Laura Weeks
Only the Brave
Movie • 1930
Elizabeth
Whoopee!
Movie • 1930
Goldwyn Girl (uncredited)
Pointed Heels
Movie • 1929
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Paramount on Parade
Movie • 1930
Chorus Girl (uncredited)
Sky Bride
Movie • 1932
Ruth Dunning
The Love Parade
Movie • 1930
Lady-in-Waiting
Slightly Scarlet
Movie • 1930
Enid Corbett
A Dream Comes True
Movie • 1935
Herself (uncredited)
Pirate Party on Catalina Isle
Movie • 1935
Virginia Bruce (uncredited)
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards
Movie • 1940
Self
Complicated Women
Movie • 2003
Self (archive footage)
Hollywood Goes to Town
Movie • 1938
Self
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life
Movie • 1987
Self (archive footage)
Fugitives
Movie • 1929
Extra (uncredited)
Lilies of the Field
Movie • 1930
Doris
General Electric Theater
TV • 1953
Adele
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Pauline Travis
Matinee Theater
TV • 1955
Letter to Loretta
TV • 1953
Dee Norman
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Mildred Pierce
Lux Video Theatre
TV • 1950
Jo Cathcart Archer