Virginia Bruce

Known For

Acting

Born

Sep 29, 1910

Died

Feb 24, 1982

Place of Birth

Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA

Credits

79 titles

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

Filmography

2003

Complicated Women

Self (archive footage)

Movie
1987

James Stewart: A Wonderful Life

Self (archive footage)

Movie
1974

That's Entertainment!

(archive footage) (uncredited)

Movie
1960

Strangers When We Meet

Mrs. Wagner

Movie
1955

Matinee Theater

Tv
1955

The Reluctant Bride

Laura Weeks

Movie
1954

The Plague

Nurse

Movie
1953

Letter to Loretta

Dee Norman

Tv
1953

General Electric Theater

Adele

Tv
1950

Lux Video Theatre

Pauline Travis

Tv
1949

State Department: File 649

Marge

Movie
1948

Night Has a Thousand Eyes

Jenny

Movie
1945

Love, Honor and Goodbye

Roberta Baxter

Movie
1944

Brazil

Nicky Henderson

Movie
1944

Action in Arabia

Yvonne

Movie
1942

Careful, Soft Shoulders

Connie Mathers

Movie
1942

Pardon My Sarong

Joan Marshall

Movie
1942

Butch Minds the Baby

Susie O'Neill

Movie
1941

Adventure in Washington

Jane Scott

Movie
1940

The Invisible Woman

Kitty Carroll

Movie
1940

Hired Wife

Phyllis Walden

Movie
1940

Cavalcade of the Academy Awards

Self

Movie
1940

The Man Who Talked Too Much

Joan Reed

Movie
1940

Flight Angels

Mary Norvell

Movie
1939

Stronger Than Desire

Elizabeth Flagg

Movie
1939

Land of Liberty

(archive footage)

Movie
1939

Hollywood Hobbies

Self (uncredited)

Movie
1939

Society Lawyer

Pat Abbott

Movie
1939

Let Freedom Ring

Maggie Adams

Movie
1938

There's That Woman Again

Sally Reardon

Movie
1938

There Goes My Heart

Joan Butterfield

Movie
1938

Hollywood Goes to Town

Self

Movie
1938

Woman Against Woman

Maris Kent

Movie
1938

Yellow Jack

Frances Blake

Movie
1938

The First Hundred Years

Lynn Conway

Movie
1938

Arsène Lupin Returns

Lorraine de Grissac

Movie
1937

The Bad Man of Brimstone

Loretta Douglas

Movie
1937

Wife, Doctor and Nurse

Nurse Stephens

Movie
1937

Between Two Women

Patricia Sloan

Movie
1937

When Love Is Young

Wanda Werner

Movie
1937

Women of Glamour

Gloria Hudson

Movie
1936

Born to Dance

Lucy James

Movie
1936

The Great Ziegfeld

Audrey Dane

Movie
1936

The Garden Murder Case

Zalia Graem

Movie
1935

A Dream Comes True

Herself (uncredited)

Movie
1935

Pirate Party on Catalina Isle

Virginia Bruce (uncredited)

Movie
1935

Metropolitan

Anne Merrill

Movie
1935

Here Comes the Band

Margaret

Movie
1935

The Murder Man

Mary Shannon

Movie
1935

Escapade

Gerta

Movie