- Born November 30, 1920 · St. Louis, Missouri, USA
- Died January 17, 2005 · Thousand Oaks, California, USA (pneumonia and heart failure)
- Birth nameVirginia Clara Jones
QUOTES:
- I must say Jack Palance was a drag. We were together in The Silver Chalice (1954). The way he did his work was strange. He was a weird actor and I didn’t like working with him at all.
- [on Doris Day] I loved working with her. We used to call her Miss Sparkle Plenty because she was so vivacious.
- James Cagney was the most dynamic man who ever appeared on the screen. He should have won five Oscars, he was so fabulous. He stimulated me to such an extent. I must say that I didn’t have to act very much; I just had to react to him because he was so powerful.
- [on Alan Ladd] And I worked with Alan Ladd who, along with Gregory Peck, was my favorite leading man. He was a beautiful man, charming and gentle, and I think, of all my leading men, he worked best with me.
- [on how she met her husband, Michael O’Shea] He just sat there watching me, and then he walked right up and kissed me.
- I was a better actress than I was given credit for. I know that for a fact. But you get stamped . . . categorized as pretty, a beauty, shapely . . . and you’re just stamped for life.
- Working with comedians like [Bob Hope] and [Danny Kaye] taught me timing, pace and fine points of acting I never would have learned otherwise.
- The blacklisting that took place in Hollywood was slightly different than how you hear of it today. There was a genuine Communist threat in this country and there were Communistic actors, directors, screenwriters and producers in Hollywood trying to grab control of the industry and use it for their own end, which was to spread Communist propaganda throughout the country and the world. The system used to get rid of the Communists was bad. Joseph McCarthy and his methods were a little cruel and drastic. But the Communist danger was there. And it has grown.
Festival Reviews 