Virginia Bruce

Virginia Bruce
Photographed for CBS Radio, 1948
Born	Helen Virginia Briggs (1910-09-29)September 29, 1910 Minneapolis, Minnesota, U.S.
Died	Woodland Hills, California, U.S.
Occupation	Actress, singer
Years active	1929–1981
Spouse(s)	John Gilbert (m. 1932–34), divorced; 1 child J. Walter Ruben (m. 1937–42), his death; 1 child Ali Ipar (m. 1946–51), divorced Ali Ipar (m. 1952–64), divorced
Children	Susan Ann Gilbert (b. 1933) Christopher Ruben (b. 1941)

Virginia Bruce (September 29, 1910 – February 24, 1982) was an American actress and singer.

Career

Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis, Minnesota. When she was one month old, she moved to Fargo, North Dakota, with her parents, Earil and Margaret Briggs. According to the Fargo City Directory, the Briggs family lived at 421 14th Street South, Fargo. After she graduated from Fargo Central High School 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 costarred in the MGM 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.

Personal life

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, and they had a son named Christopher, but she was widowed in 1942. In 1946 she 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, divorcing again in 1964.

Death

Bruce died of cancer on February 24, 1982, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California. She was 71.

Partial filmography

Film
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1929	Fugitives	Bit Part	Uncredited
	Blue Skies	Party guest	Uncredited
	The Love Parade	Lady-in-Waiting	Uncredited
	Woman Trap	Nurse
1930	Whoopee!	Goldwyn Girl	Uncredited
	Let's Go Native	Chorus Girl	Uncredited
	Paramount on Parade	Chorus Girl	Uncredited
	Follow Thru	Bit in Ladies Locker Room	Uncredited
	Slightly Scarlet	Enid Corbett
	Lilies of the Field	Doris
1931	Hell Divers	Girl	Scenes deleted
1932	The Miracle Man	Margaret Thornton
	Downstairs	Anna
	Winner Take All	Joan Gibson
	Kongo	Ann Whitehall
1934	Jane Eyre	Jane Eyre
	The Mighty Barnum	Jenny Lind
1935	Shadow of Doubt	Trenna Plaice
	Escapade	Gerta
	The Murder Man	Mary Shannon
1936	The Great Ziegfeld	Audrey Dane
	Born to Dance	Lucy James
1937	When Love Is Young	Wanda Werner
	The Bad Man of Brimstone	Loretta Douglas
	Women of Glamour	Gloria Hudson
1938	Arsène Lupin Returns	Lorraine de Grissac
	Yellow Jack	Frances Blake
	There Goes My Heart	Joan Butterfield
1939	Society Lawyer	Pat Abbott	"Let Freedom Ring"
	Stronger Than Desire	Elizabeth Flagg
1940	Flight Angels	Mary Norvell
	Hired Wife	Phyllis Walden
	The Invisible Woman	Kitty Carroll
1941	Adventure in Washington	Jane Scott	Alternative title: Female Correspondent
1942	Pardon My Sarong	Joan Marshall
	Careful, Soft Shoulder	Connie Mathers
1944	Action in Arabia	Yvonne Danesco
	Brazil	Nicky Henderson	Alternative title: Stars and Guitars
1945	Love, Honor and Goodbye	Roberta Baxter
1948	Night Has a Thousand Eyes	Jenny Courtland
1949	State Department: File 649	Margaret "Marge" Weldon	Alternative title: Assignment in China
1954	Salgin	Nurse	Alternative titles: Epidemic Istanbul
1955	Reluctant Bride	Laura Weeks	Alternative title: Two Grooms for a Bride
1960	Strangers When We Meet	Mrs. Wagner
1981	Madame Wang's	Madame Wang
Television
Year	Title	Role	Notes
1953	General Electric Theater	Adele	1 episode
1955	Letter to Loretta	Dee Norman	1 episode
	Science Fiction Theatre	Dr. Myrna Griffin Jean Gordon	2 episodes
1957	The Ford Television Theatre	Ruth Crest	1 episode

References

• Virginia Bruce: Under My Skin, 2008. (Biography by Scott O'Brien)

External links

• Virginia Bruce at AllMovie
• Virginia Bruce at the TCM Movie Database
• Virginia Bruce at the Internet Broadway Database
• Photographs of Virginia Bruce
• Virginia Bruce at Find a Grave