Acting
81
Woman
Sep 29, 1910
Feb 24, 1982 (71)
Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Virginia Bruce
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.
Year | Movie / TV show / Other | Role |
---|---|---|
2003 | Complicated Women | Self (archive footage) |
1988 | James Stewart: A Wonderful Life | Self (archive footage) |
1974 | That's Entertainment! | (archive footage) |
1960 | Strangers When We Meet | Mrs. Wagner |
1955 | Matinee Theater | |
1955 | The Reluctant Bride | Laura Weeks |
1954 | The Plague | Nurse |
1953 | Letter to Loretta | Dee Norman |
1953 | General Electric Theater | Adele |
1950 | Lux Video Theatre | Pauline Travis |
1950 | Lux Video Theatre | Mildred Pierce |
1950 | Lux Video Theatre | Jo Cathcart Archer |
1949 | State Department: File 649 | Marge |
1948 | Night Has a Thousand Eyes | Jenny |
1945 | Love, Honor and Goodbye | Roberta Baxter |
1944 | Action in Arabia | Yvonne |
1944 | Brazil | Nicky Henderson |
1942 | Pardon My Sarong | Joan Marshall |
1942 | Careful, Soft Shoulders | Connie Mathers |
1942 | Butch Minds the Baby | Susie O'Neill |
1941 | Adventure in Washington | Jane Scott |
1940 | The Invisible Woman | Kitty Carroll |
1940 | Hired Wife | Phyllis Walden |
1940 | The Man Who Talked Too Much | Joan Reed |
1940 | Flight Angels | Mary Norvell |
1940 | Cavalcade of the Academy Awards | Self |
1939 | Society Lawyer | Pat Abbott |
1939 | Stronger Than Desire | Elizabeth Flagg |
1939 | Hollywood Hobbies | Herself (uncredited) |
1939 | Let Freedom Ring | Maggie Adams |
1939 | Land of Liberty | (archive footage) |
1938 | There Goes My Heart | Joan Butterfield |
1938 | Yellow Jack | Frances Blake |
1938 | Arsène Lupin Returns | Lorraine de Grissac |
1938 | Hollywood Goes to Town | Self |
1938 | Woman Against Woman | Maris Kent |
1938 | The First Hundred Years | Lynn Conway |
1938 | There's That Woman Again | Sally Reardon |
1937 | Between Two Women | Patricia Sloan |
1937 | The Bad Man of Brimstone | Loretta Douglas |
1937 | Wife, Doctor and Nurse | Nurse Stephens |
1937 | Women of Glamour | Gloria Hudson |
1937 | When Love Is Young | Wanda Werner |
1936 | The Great Ziegfeld | Audrey Dane |
1936 | Born to Dance | Lucy James |
1936 | The Garden Murder Case | Zalia Graem |
1935 | The Murder Man | Mary Shannon |
1935 | Pirate Party on Catalina Isle | Virginia Bruce (uncredited) |
1935 | Let 'em Have It | Eleanor Spencer |
1935 | Shadow of Doubt | Trenna |
1935 | Society Doctor | Madge |
1935 | Times Square Lady | Toni Bradley |
1935 | Here Comes the Band | Margaret |
1935 | A Dream Comes True | Herself (uncredited) |
1935 | Escapade | Gerta |
1935 | Metropolitan | Anne Merrill |
1934 | Jane Eyre | Jane Eyre |
1934 | Dangerous Corner | Ann Beale |
1934 | The Mighty Barnum | Jenny Lind |
1932 | Kongo | Ann |
1932 | Downstairs | Anna |
1932 | Winner Take All | Joan Gibson |
1932 | The Miracle Man | Margaret Thornton |
1932 | Sky Bride | Ruth Dunning |
1930 | The Love Parade | Lady-in-Waiting |
1930 | Raffles | Gwen's Friend (uncredited) |
1930 | Whoopee! | Goldwyn Girl (uncredited) |
1930 | Paramount on Parade | Chorus Girl (uncredited) |
1930 | Follow Thru | Woman in Ladies' Locker Room (uncredited) |
1930 | Safety in Numbers | Alma McGregor |
1930 | Let's Go Native | Wendell Sr.'s Secretary (uncredited) |
1930 | Lilies of the Field | Doris |
1930 | The Social Lion | Society Girl |
1930 | Slightly Scarlet | Enid Corbett |
1930 | Young Eagles | Florence Welford |
1930 | Only the Brave | Elizabeth |
1929 | Woman Trap | Nurse |
1929 | Pointed Heels | Chorus Girl (uncredited) |
1929 | River of Romance | Southern Belle |
1929 | Hard to Get | Young Woman (uncredited) |
1929 | Fugitives | Extra (uncredited) |