“I really wanted to be a dancer,
but I ended up as an actress and I got to perform next to some of
the greatest actors of our time.”
— Virginia Mayo
Virginia Mayo spent nearly sixty years in the public eye as one of the most successful actresses in history. She appeared in dozens of movies with some of the biggest names of Hollywood. She was called “one of the most beautiful women to ever appear on camera” and was one of the first stars honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
Virginia Clara Jones was born on November 30, 1920, and was raised in St. Louis. Her family had deep roots in the Show Me State, dating back several generations. Her father was a local newspaper reporter and her aunt ran an acting school, which she began attending at the age of six. After graduating from Soldan High School in 1937, she immediately put her acting skills to the test. She landed her first professional acting and dancing jobs shortly after graduation at the St. Louis Municipal Opera, or the Muny.
Her fame began to grown as she traveled the country with a stage act known as Pansy the Horse, which is about the time she changed her name to Virginia Mayo. It’s also about the time that she gained the interest of the Hollywood icon Samuel Goldwyn. He signed her to a contract where she was able to work on larger budget productions with much bigger stars.
Signing with one of the biggest studios in Hollywood opened doors for her she never imagined. Her first job under Goldwyn was in 1942 at the age of 22. It was a small part in the movie Jack London. She landed additional small acting roles when producers realized that her incredible beauty was an instant drawing card for a movie. Audiences were coming to the theater just to get a glimpse of her on screen, which led to bigger and better roles in a wide variety of productions.
Mayo starred in a half-dozen films between 1944 and 1946 before finally hitting it big in 1947. She starred in The Secret Life of Walter Mitty with Danny Kaye. The pair had instant chemistry and studio executives then used the couple as co-stars in three additional films. At the pinnacle of her career, she was the top money-maker for Warner Brothers. Mayo packed theaters with hits like White Heat with James Cagney, The Princess and the Pirate with Bob Hope, The Silver Chalice with Paul Newman, and The Girl from Jones Beach with an up-and-coming young actor named Ronald Reagan.
Sadly, starring roles for Mayo started drying up in the 1960s. However, she she continued to act as a supporting character for several more decades. Contemporary audiences enjoyed her acting in shows like Murder She Wrote, Remington Steele, and The Love Boat. Six decades of working as an actress produced one of the most amazing resumes in Hollywood history.
Virginia Mayo died in January 2005. She died a legend as one of the greatest screen icons in American history. One her biggest claims to fame was being one of the first names to appear on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
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