Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of popular comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Bros.' biggest box-office draw in the late 1940s.[1] She also co-starred in the 1946 Oscar-winning movie The Best Years of Our Lives.[2]
Biography
Early life
Mayo was born in St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of newspaper reporter Luke and his wife, Martha Henrietta (née Rautenstrauch) Jones. Her family had roots back to the earliest days of St Louis, including great-great-great grandfather Captain James Piggott, who founded East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1797.[1] Young Virginia's aunt operated an acting school in the St. Louis area, which Virginia began attending at age six.[1] She also had a series of dancing instructors engaged by her aunt.[citation needed]
Vaudeville
Following her graduation from Soldan High School at age 16 in 1937, she landed her first professional acting and dancing jobs at the St. Louis Municipal Opera Theatre (more commonly known as The Muny)[1] and in an act with six other girls at the Hotel Jefferson. Performer Andy Mayo, impressed with her ability, recruited her to appear in his act, "Morton and Mayo".[3]
She toured the American vaudeville circuit for three years, serving as ringmaster and comedic foil for "Pansy the Horse," as Andy Mayo and his partner, Nonnie Morton,[4] performed in a horse suit.[1] They appeared together in some short films and were a huge hit at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe nightclub in the Broadway theater district, where she was spotted by Samuel Goldwyn.[citation needed]
Broadway
In 1941, now officially known by her stage name Virginia Mayo, she got another career break as she appeared on Broadway with Eddie Cantor in Banjo Eyes.[5]
Sam Goldwyn
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.[citation needed]
Goldwyn only made a few films a year and usually loaned 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.[2]
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).[citation needed]
Going against the previous stereotype, Mayo accepted the supporting role of unsympathetic gold-digger Marie Derry in William Wyler's drama The Best Years of Our Lives (1946) for Goldwyn. Her performance drew favorable reviews from critics. The film also became the highest-grossing film in the US since Gone with the Wind. At the zenith of her career, Mayo was seen as the quintessential voluptuous Hollywood beauty. It was said that she "looked like a pinup painting come to life." In a film review in The New York Times, critic Bosley Crowther wrote of Mayo, "As a comedy actress, [she] is no better than a rather weak script. But as a model for bathing apparel—well, do you or do you not like bathing suits?"[7] 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."[3]
Mayo received excellent reviews in another unsympathetic role, playing James Cagney's sultry and scheming wife in the gangster classic White Heat (1949), also for Walsh. Mayo admitted she was frightened by Cagney as the psychotic gunman in White Heat because he was so realistic.[3]
Mayo and her husband made a pilot for a TV series McGarry and His Mouse (1960), which was not picked up. She went to Italy to make Revolt of the Mercenaries (1961).
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 was one of the first to be awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.[1] Hers is located at 1751 Vine Street. In 1996, she was honored by her hometown as she received a star on the St. Louis Walk of Fame.[9] In 1993, Mayo published a Christmas themed children's book entitled, Don't Forget Me, Santa Claus through Barrons Juveniles Publishers.[10]
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.[3] She converted to Roman Catholicism, inspired by Archbishop Fulton J. Sheen.[11][12] A lifelong Republican, she endorsed Richard Nixon in 1968 and 1972, and longtime friend Ronald Reagan in 1980.[13]
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