Virginia Mayo Profile

Virginia Mayo

	(Virginia Clara Jones)
30 November 20	is born in St. Louis, Missouri, to Luke Ward Jones, a display advertising salesman, and Martha Henrietta Rautenstrauch Jones. Her great-great-great-grandfather, Capt. James Piggott, served with George Washington.
	studies dance at age 6
January 38	graduates from Soldan High School
Summer 38	is in the chorus of the St. Louis Municipal Opera
Winter 40	her father dies
Autumn 41	makes it to Broadway in Eddie Cantor's Banjo Eyes, which closes in April 1942
	is spotted by a talent scout for producer David O. Selznick while in Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in New York City
c. 42/43	Sam Goldwyn puts her under contract as one of his Goldwyn Girls, at $100 per week
	goes to California. Her mother follows two months later, and they rent an apartment at the Hollywood Towers
43	meets actor Michael O'Shea when they film Jack London. He's 14 years her senior and has been married since 1926.
46	director William Wyler doesn't think she is any good when he has to use her in The Best Years of Our Lives
47	is voted "The Girl Most Likely to be Whistled at in 1947"
5 July 47	marries O'Shea in a Protestant ceremony at The Little Church of the Flowers, at Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, California
?	due to a lost bet with The Brown Derby's Maitre d' Gus Constance, she waits tables at his restaurant
Mid-49	her husband does volunteer work as a detective with the sheriff's department of Van Nuys, California
51	the O'Sheas purchase a 6,000-acre ranch near Mammoth, Arizona
May 52	stars with her husband in the play Christ on Trial at the Hollywood First Presbyterian Church
	admits she's no talent in the kitchen
12 November 53	her daughter, Mary Katherine, is born at Santa Monica's St. John's Hospital
54	Warner Brothers plans to cast her for the upcoming Helen of Troy, but director Robert Wise cannot visualize her in the role, which finally goes to Italian Rosanna Podesta
late 40s-early 60s	does a lot of summer stock with her husband
66	tests for the leading part in "Green Acres," but the role goes to Eva Gabor
4 December 73	becomes the widow of O'Shea, who is found dead in the bathtub. Later she will blame the Mob for her husband’s death.
80	resides in Thousand Oaks, California, in a home built by her and her late husband
03	is scheduled to attend the Memphis Film Festival, in Memphis, Tennessee, in June
17 January 05	dies at age 84 in Thousand Oaks, California, from pneumonia and heart failure

Sources: The Forties Gals by James Robert Parish, Movie Stars of the Forties by David Ragan, Classic Images
Recommended Books:
Links: Filmography Official Site JSR: Virginia Mayo Brian's Drive-In Theater: Virginia Mayo