Virginia Cherrill

Virginia Cherrill was born on a farm in rural Carthage, Illinois, to James E. and Blanche (née Wilcox) Cherrill.Louvish, Simon. [https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/may/09/miranda-seymour-chaplins-girl "Bright Spark on the Silver Screen."] The Guardian, May 9, 2009. Retrieved: December 17, 2011. She attended schools in Chicago and Kenosha, Wisconsin.

She initially did not plan on a film career, but her friendship with Sue Carol (who later married Alan Ladd) eventually drew her to Hollywood. She had been voted "Queen of the Artists Ball" in Chicago in 1925 and was invited to perform on the variety stage by Florenz Ziegfeld, an offer she declined. She found her first marriage unsatisfying, and through her friendship with Sue Carol, decamped to California where she met William Randolph Hearst, went to Hollywood for a visit and met Charlie Chaplin when he sat next to her at a boxing match;Nicholson, Juliet.Review: [https://archive.today/20120912170802/http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/article-23695697-chaplins-girl-the-life-and-loves-of-virginia-cherrill-by-miranda-seymour.do "Review: Chaplin's Girl: The Life and Loves of Virginia Cherrill by Miranda Seymour."] The London Evening Standard, May 20, 2009. Retrieved: December 17, 2011. however, Chaplin wrote in his autobiography that she approached him on the beach wanting him to cast her in his film while acknowledging that he had met her before.{{cite web |title=Obituary: Virginia Cherrill |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/incoming/obituary-virginia-cherrill-5591220.html |website=The Independent |date=November 20, 1996 |access-date=20 October 2018}}

File:Chaplin City Lights still.jpg

Chaplin soon cast Cherrill in City Lights. Although the film and her performance were well-received, her working relationship with Chaplin on the film was often strained. As indicated in the documentary Unknown Chaplin, Cherrill was fired from the film for leaving the set for a hairdressing appointmentEagan [https://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC&dq=Georgia+Hale+replaced+Virginia+Cherrill+in+City+Lights&pg=PA180 2010, p. 180.] at one point and Chaplin planned to re-film all her scenes with Georgia Hale, but ultimately realized too much money had already been spent on the film. Cherrill recalls in the documentary that she followed close friend Marion Davies's advice to hold out for more money when Chaplin asked her to return to the film.

Even before City Lights was released, 20th Century Fox signed Cherrill to a contract. Following the success of City Lights, the studio put her to work in early sound films of the 1930s, such as Girls Demand Excitement (1931), one of John Wayne's early films as a star. Big-name directors cast her in their films, such as John Ford in The Brat (1931) and Tod Browning in Fast Workers (1933). She also appeared in the 1931 Gershwin musical Delicious with Janet Gaynor. She then went to Britain where she starred in two of James Mason's earlier films, including Troubled Waters, which turned out to be her last film. None of these later films were hits, and she gave up her film career, claiming that she was "no great shakes as an actress."{{cite news |last1=Pace |first1=Eric |title=Virginia Cherrill, 88, Actress in 30's Films, Including 'City Lights' |url=http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/18/arts/virginia-cherrill-88-actress-in-30-s-films-including-city-lights.html |access-date=June 16, 2012 |work=The New York Times |date=November 18, 1996 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140128224829/http://www.nytimes.com/1996/11/18/arts/virginia-cherrill-88-actress-in-30-s-films-including-city-lights.html |archive-date=January 28, 2014}}

Cherrill married four times. She had no children.

Her first husband, Irving Adler, was a rich Chicago lawyer (not the famed scientist Irving Adler). They were married in 1925 and divorced in 1928."Arnstein & Lehr, The First 120 Years", (Louis A. Lehr, Jr.)(Amazon), p. 22

Considerable publicity attended an engagement to the wealthy William Rhinelander Stewart Jr. (1888–1945) that was announced in July 1932."How the Hollywood Cinderella Won the Blue Book's 'Most Eligible' Man." Olean (NY) Times-Herald, 18 July 1932. The two sailed from Hawaii on Vincent Astor's yacht, on which the ceremony was planned, but returned thereafter, having broken off the wedding by mutual consent.Johnson, Irving. "Virginia Seceding from Jersey." Albany Times-Union, 2 December 1945.

Cherrill married actor Cary Grant on February 9, 1934, in London. She received a divorce on March 26, 1935, in Los Angeles after alleging that Grant was abusive toward her.{{cite news |title=Divorces Cary Grant |url=https://www.proquest.com/docview/101566218 |access-date=August 18, 2020 |work=The New York Times |date=March 27, 1935 |page=25|id={{ProQuest|101566218}}}}

She married George Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey in 1937, becoming the Countess of Jersey until their divorce in 1946.{{Citation needed |date=August 2024}}

When she died, she and Florian Martini had been married for 48 years.

Cherrill has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1545 Vine Street.[http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/virginia-cherrill/ "Virginia Cherrill: Hollywood Star Walk."] Los Angeles Times. Retrieved: December 17, 2011.

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;Bibliography

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• Eagan, Daniel. America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide To The Landmark Movies In The National Film Registry. London: Continuum Publishing Group, 2010. {{ISBN|978-0-8264-2977-3}}.
• Seymour, Miranda. Chaplin's Girl: The Life and Loves of Virginia Cherrill. New York: Simon & Schuster, 2009. {{ISBN|978-1-8473-7125-6}}.

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{{Portal|Biography}}

• {{IMDb name|0156039}}
• {{Find a Grave|5895394}}
• [http://www.virtual-history.com/movie/person/8592/virginia-cherrill Virginia Cherrill] at Virtual History

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Category:1908 births

Category:1996 deaths

Category:20th-century American actresses

Category:20th-century English nobility

Category:Actresses from Illinois

Category:Actresses from Santa Barbara, California

Category:American film actresses

Category:Burials at Santa Barbara Cemetery

Jersey

Category:People from Carthage, Illinois