Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress. She was in a series of popular comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Bros.' biggest box-office draw in the late 1940s. Virginia's aunt operated an acting school in the St. Louis area, which Virginia began attending at age six.
She toured the American vaudeville circuit for three years, serving as ringmaster and comedic foil for "Pansy the Horse," performed by Andy Mayo and his partner, Nonnie Morton, in a horse suit.
Sam Goldwyn
thumb|right|Mayo in the 1940s
In the early 1940s, Virginia Mayo's talent and striking beauty came to the attention of movie mogul Samuel Goldwyn, who signed her to an acting contract with his company.
Goldwyn only made a few films a year and usually lent out the actors he had under contract to other producers. Her first notable role was in Jack London (1943), which starred her future husband Michael O'Shea for producer Samuel Bronston.
Mayo was placed in the chorus of the film Up in Arms just so she could learn, but she was never officially a member of the Goldwyn Girls. Then, RKO borrowed her for a support role in a musical, Seven Days Ashore (1944).
Stardom
thumb|left|[[Pin-up photo of Mayo for Yank, the Army Weekly in 1944]]
Mayo's first starring role came in 1944 opposite comedian Bob Hope in The Princess and the Pirate (1944), a spoof of pirate movies made by Goldwyn. Goldwyn then made her Danny Kaye's leading lady for the musicals Wonder Man (1945) and The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), both very popular. According to widely published reports from the late 1940s, the Sultan of Morocco declared her beauty to be "tangible proof of the existence of God."
Later career
Mayo acted on stage for the rest of her career, mostly in dinner theatre and touring shows. Productions included No, No Nanette (1972), 40 Carats (1975), Good News (1977), Move Over Mrs Markham (1980) and Butterflies Are Free (1981).
Mayo continued to occasionally appear on television in shows such as Police Story, Night Gallery, The Love Boat, Remington Steele, and Murder, She Wrote, and a dozen episodes of the soap opera Santa Barbara. In 1993, Mayo published a Christmas themed children's book entitled, Don't Forget Me, Santa Claus through Barrons Juveniles Publishers.
Personal life
thumb|right|Mayo with her husband [[Michael O'Shea (actor)|Michael O'Shea, 1955]]
Mayo wed actor Michael O'Shea in 1947, and they remained married until he died in 1973. The couple had one child, Mary Catherine O'Shea (born in 1953). For several decades, the family lived in Thousand Oaks, California.
In later years, she developed a passion for painting and also occupied her time doting on her three grandsons. A lifelong Republican, she endorsed Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972, and longtime friend Ronald Reagan in 1980.
Death
Mayo died of pneumonia and complications of congestive heart failure in the Los Angeles area on January 17, 2005, aged 84, at a nursing home in Thousand Oaks. She is buried next to O'Shea in Pierce Brothers Valley Oaks Park in Westlake Village, California.
Filmography
Film roles
{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|rowspan=2|1943 || Follies Girl || Chorine ||Uncredited
|-
| Jack London || Mamie ||
|-
|rowspan=3|1944 || Up in Arms|| Nurse Joanna ||Uncredited
|-
| Seven Days Ashore || Carol Dean ||
|-
| The Princess and the Pirate || Princess Margaret ||
|-
|1945 || Wonder Man ||Ellen Shanley ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1946|| The Kid from Brooklyn || Polly Pringle ||
|-
| The Best Years of Our Lives || Marie Derry ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1947 || Out of the Blue || Deborah Tyler ||
|-
| The Secret Life of Walter Mitty || Rosalind van Hoorn ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1948 ||Smart Girls Don't Talk || Linda Vickers ||
|-
| A Song Is Born || Honey Swanson ||
|-
|rowspan=6|1949 || Flaxy Martin || Flaxy Martin ||
|-
| Colorado Territory|| Colorado Carson ||
|-
| The Girl from Jones Beach || Ruth Wilson ||
|-
| White Heat|| Verna Jarrett ||
|-
| Red Light || Carla North ||
|-
| Always Leave Them Laughing|| Nancy Eagen ||
|-
|rowspan=3|1950 || Backfire||Nurse Julie Benson ||
|-
| The Flame and the Arrow ||Anne de Hesse ||
|-
| The West Point Story || Eve Dillon ||
|-
|rowspan=4|1951 || Captain Horatio Hornblower || Lady Barbara Wellesley ||
|-
| Along the Great Divide || Ann Keith ||
|-
| Painting the Clouds with Sunshine ||Carol ||
|-
| Starlift || Virginia Mayo ||
|-
|rowspan=2|1952 || She's Working Her Way Through College|| Angela Gardner / 'Hot Garters Gertie' ||
|-
|The Iron Mistress||Judalon de Bornay ||
|-
|rowspan=3|1953 || She's Back on Broadway|| Catherine Terris ||
|-
| South Sea Woman || Ginger Martin ||
|-
| Devil's Canyon || Abby Nixon||
|-
|rowspan=2|1954 || King Richard and the Crusaders || Lady Edith Plantagenet ||
|-
| The Silver Chalice || Helene ||
|-
|1955 || Pearl of the South Pacific || Rita Delaine ||
|-
|rowspan=3|1956 || The Proud Ones || Sally ||
|-
| Great Day in the Morning ||Merry Alaine ||
|-
| Congo Crossing ||Louise Whitman ||
|-
|rowspan=3|1957 || The Big Land || Helen Jagger||
|-
| The Story of Mankind || Cleopatra||
|-
| The Tall Stranger|| Ellen||
|-
|1958 || Fort Dobbs|| Celia Gray||
|-
|rowspan=2|1959 || Westbound|| Norma Putnam||
|-
| Jet Over the Atlantic || Jean Gurney||
|-
|1961 || Revolt of the Mercenaries || Lady Patrizia, Duchessa di Rivalta||
|-
|1964 || Young Fury || Sara McCoy||
|-
|1966 || Castle of Evil||Mary Theresa 'Sable' Pulaski||
|-
|1967 || Fort Utah || Linda Lee||
|-
|1975 || Fugitive Lovers || Liz Trent||
|-
|1976 || Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood || Miss Battley ||
|-
|1977 ||Haunted|| Michelle ||
|-
|1978 || French Quarter||Countess Willie Piazza / Ida ||
|-
|1990 || Evil Spirits || Janet Wilson ||
|-
|1993 ||Midnight Witness || Kitty ||
|-
|1997 || The Man Next Door ||Lucia ||Final film role
|}
Short subjects
{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
|-
|1939 || Gals and Gallons ||Virginia Jones
|-
|1950 || So You Think You're Not Guilty || Herself
|-
|1952|| Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life || Herself
|-
|1958 || Screen Snapshots: Salute to Hollywood ||Herself
|}
Television credits
{| class="wikitable sortable sticky-header"
|-
! Year
! Title
! Role
! Notes
|-
|1957 || Conflict || || Episode: "Execution Night"
|-
|rowspan=2|1958 || Wagon Train || Beauty Jamison|| Episode: "The Beauty Jamison Story"
|-
|The Loretta Young Show ||Myrna Nelson || Episode: "Operation Snowball"
|-
|1959 ||Schlitz Playhouse of Stars|| Gloria Crawford|| Episode: "Deathtrap"
|-
|1960 ||McGarry and His Mouse||Kitty McGarry ||TV Movie
|-
|1965 || Burke's Law ||Dr. Terry Foster ||Episode: "Who Killed the Man on the White Horse?"
|-
|1967 ||Daktari|| Vera Potter || Episode: "Judy and the Gorilla"
|-
|1969 ||The Outsider ||Jean Daniels || Episode: "Behind God's Back"
|-
|1971 || Night Gallery || Carrie Crane || Segment: "The Diary"
|-
|1975 ||Police Story ||Angie || Episode: "Face for a Shadow"
|-
|1977 ||Lanigan's Rabbi || Margaret Alton|| Episode: "The Cadaver in the Clutter"
|-
|rowspan=3|1984 ||Santa Barbara ||Peaches DeLight || 12 episodes
|-
|Remington Steele || Herself|| Episode: "Cast in Steele"
|-
| Murder, She Wrote || Elinor|| Episode: "Hooray for Homicide"
|-
|1986 || The Love Boat || Virginia Wilcox|| Episode: "Hello, Emily/The Tour Guide/The Winning Number"
|-
|1997 || The Naked Truth || Herself || Episode: "Bridesface Revisited"
|}
Live theater
- That Certain Girl (1967, Thunderbird Hotel, Las Vegas)
- Barefoot in the Park (1968 National Company)
- No, No Nanette (1972 National Company)
- 40 Carats (1975/May–June, Hayloft Dinner Theatre, Lubbock, Texas)
- Good News (1977, Paper Mill Playhouse)
- Mover Over Mrs. Markham (1980 National Tour)
- Butterflies Are Free (1981 Tour)
- Follies (1995, Houston and Seattle)
Radio appearances
{| class="wikitable"
|-
! Year !! Program !! Episode/source
|-
| 1946|| Lux Radio Theatre || Wonder Man
|-
| 1951|| Lux Radio Theatre || Bright Leaf
|-
| 1952|| Lux Radio Theatre || Captain Horatio Hornblower
|-
| 1953|| Lux Radio Theatre || This Woman Is Dangerous
|-
| 1953|| Lux Summer Theatre || China Run
|-
| 1954|| Lux Radio Theatre || The Iron Mistress
|}