1910-09-29 Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
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.
Complicated Women | Self (archive footage) | 2003-05-06 | |
James Stewart: A Wonderful Life | Self (archive footage) | 1988-11-22 | |
That's Entertainment! | (archive footage) | 1974-06-21 | |
Strangers When We Meet | Mrs. Wagner | 1960-06-29 | |
The Reluctant Bride | Laura Weeks | 1955-08-01 | |
Salgin | Nurse | 1954-01-01 | |
State Department: File 649 | Marge | 1949-02-11 | |
Night Has a Thousand Eyes | Jenny | 1948-08-20 | |
Love, Honor and Goodbye | Roberta Baxter | 1945-09-15 | |
Brazil | Nicky Henderson | 1944-11-30 | |
Action in Arabia | Yvonne | 1944-02-18 | |
Careful, Soft Shoulders | Connie Mathers | 1942-09-18 | |
Pardon My Sarong | Joan Marshall | 1942-08-07 | |
Butch Minds the Baby | Susie O'Neill | 1942-03-20 | |
Adventure in Washington | Jane Scott | 1941-05-29 | |
The Man Who Talked Too Much | Joan Reed | 1940-07-16 | |
Flight Angels | Mary Norvell | 1940-05-18 | |
Hired Wife | Phyllis Walden | 1940-09-13 | |
Cavalcade of the Academy Awards | Self | 1940-07-31 | |
The Invisible Woman | Kitty Carroll | 1940-12-28 | |
Stronger Than Desire | Elizabeth Flagg | 1939-06-30 | |
Society Lawyer | Pat Abbott | 1939-03-21 | |
Land of Liberty | (archive footage) | 1939-06-15 | |
Let Freedom Ring | Maggie Adams | 1939-02-24 | |
Hollywood Hobbies | Herself (uncredited) | 1939-05-03 | |
Woman Against Woman | Maris Kent | 1938-06-24 | |
Yellow Jack | Frances Blake | 1938-05-19 | |
Arsène Lupin Returns | Lorraine de Grissac | 1938-02-25 | |
There Goes My Heart | Joan Butterfield | 1938-10-14 | |
Hollywood Goes to Town | Self | 1938-07-07 | |
The First Hundred Years | Lynn Conway | 1938-03-12 | |
There's That Woman Again | Sally Reardon | 1938-12-24 | |
The Bad Man of Brimstone | Loretta Douglas | 1937-12-31 | |
Wife, Doctor and Nurse | Nurse Stephens | 1937-09-17 | |
Between Two Women | Patricia Sloan | 1937-07-09 | |
Women of Glamour | Gloria Hudson | 1937-03-09 | |
When Love Is Young | Wanda Werner | 1937-03-26 | |
The Garden Murder Case | Zalia Graem | 1936-02-21 | |
The Great Ziegfeld | Audrey Dane | 1936-04-08 | |
Born to Dance | Lucy James | 1936-11-27 | |
Metropolitan | Anne Merrill | 1935-10-17 | |
Here Comes the Band | Margaret | 1935-08-30 | |
A Dream Comes True | Herself (uncredited) | 1935-12-31 | |
Times Square Lady | Toni Bradley | 1935-03-08 | |
Let 'em Have It | Eleanor Spencer | 1935-05-15 | |
The Murder Man | Mary Shannon | 1935-07-12 | |
Society Doctor | Madge | 1935-01-25 | |
Escapade | Gerta | 1935-07-05 | |
Shadow of Doubt | Trenna | 1935-02-15 | |
Pirate Party on Catalina Isle | Virginia Bruce (uncredited) | 1935-11-20 | |
The Mighty Barnum | Jenny Lind | 1934-12-23 | |
Dangerous Corner | Ann Beale | 1934-12-04 | |
Jane Eyre | Jane Eyre | 1934-08-15 | |
The Miracle Man | Margaret Thornton | 1932-04-01 | |
Downstairs | Anna | 1932-08-06 | |
Winner Take All | Joan Gibson | 1932-07-16 | |
Sky Bride | Ruth Dunning | 1932-04-19 | |
Kongo | Ann | 1932-10-01 | |
Follow Thru | Woman in Ladies' Locker Room (uncredited) | 1930-09-26 | |
Raffles | Gwen's Friend (uncredited) | 1930-07-11 | |
Young Eagles | Florence Welford | 1930-03-20 | |
The Social Lion | Society Girl | 1930-06-21 | |
Lilies of the Field | Doris | 1930-01-05 | |
Let's Go Native | Wendell Sr.'s Secretary (uncredited) | 1930-08-15 | |
Safety in Numbers | Alma McGregor | 1930-05-30 | |
Paramount on Parade | Chorus Girl (uncredited) | 1930-04-22 | |
Slightly Scarlet | Enid Corbett | 1930-02-22 | |
Whoopee! | Goldwyn Girl (uncredited) | 1930-09-26 | |
The Love Parade | Lady-in-Waiting | 1930-01-18 | |
Pointed Heels | Chorus Girl (uncredited) | 1929-12-20 | |
River of Romance | Southern Belle | 1929-06-28 | |
Woman Trap | Nurse | 1929-09-28 | |
Fugitives | Extra (uncredited) | 1929-01-27 |