Virginia Dale
{{short description|American actress}}
{{About|the actress named Virginia Dale|the small town in Colorado|Virginia Dale, Colorado}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=September 2021}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Virginia Dale
| image = Virginia Dale Argentinean Magazine AD.jpg
| imagesize =
| alt =
| caption = Publicity photo, {{circa}}1939
| birth_name = Virginia Paxton
| birth_date = {{Birth based on age as of date |77|1994|10|22|noage=1}}
| birth_place = North Carolina, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|1994|10|3|1917|7|1|mf=y}}
| death_place = Burbank, California, U.S.
| othername =
| occupation = Actress, dancer
| spouse =
| yearsactive = 1938–1958, 1982–1987
| domesticpartner =
| website =
}}
Virginia Dale (born Virginia Paxton; {{Birth based on age as of date |77|1994|10|22|noage=1}} – October 3, 1994) was an American actress and dancer.{{cite web|title=Virginia Dale, Dancer, 77 |work=The New York Times |date=October 22, 1994 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/22/obituaries/virginia-dale-dancer-77.html |access-date=April 2, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121129142212/http://www.nytimes.com/1994/10/22/obituaries/virginia-dale-dancer-77.html |archive-date=November 29, 2012 }}
Biography
Dale was born in North Carolina.{{cite web |title=Virginia Dale |url=https://www2.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f8103df |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160611205740/http://www.bfi.org.uk/films-tv-people/4ce2b9f8103df |url-status=dead |archive-date=June 11, 2016 |website=BFI |access-date=February 24, 2021 |language=en}} She was the daughter of Lula Helms Paxton, and she graduated from Central High School in Charlotte.{{cite news |title=Charlotte Actress Gets Important Role |url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/62137653/virginia-dale/ |access-date=October 30, 2020 |work=The Charlotte Observer |date=December 27, 1938 |page=13|via = Newspapers.com}}
Dale began learning toe dancing when she was 9 years old. When she was an adult, she recalled, "I slaved and slaved at it, hating every minute. I tried everything I could think of to get out of it."{{cite news |last1=Lowrance |first1=Dee |title=They're Not Daffy - Just Dance-Dizzy |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-salt-lake-tribune/150642157/ |access-date=July 4, 2024 |work=The Salt Lake Tribune |date=April 5, 1942 |page=Sunday Magazine - 1|via = Newspapers.com }} That exit occurred when blood poisoning in one of her feet required grafting lamb's skin over the top of the foot. The resulting reduction in the foot's ability to stretch ended her toe dancing.
When Dale was a teenager, Earl Carroll selected her as the winner of a beauty contest in Charlotte. That introduction to Carroll helped Dale and her sister, Frances, who danced as a team, to perform in New York City. Their engagements there included an eight-month stint at the Hollywood Restaurant. They also performed in other cities in the eastern United States.{{cite news |last1=McAfee |first1=Hoyt |last2=Hardie |first2=Nettie |title=Close-Up Glimpses Of Virginia Dale |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-charlotte-observer-virginia-dale/150640541/ |access-date=July 4, 2024 |work=The Charlotte Observer |date=May 19, 1940 |page=Section 3 - Page 13|via = Newspapers.com }} While they were in New York City, Dale was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck who signed her to a contract with 20th Century Fox.
She appeared in a number of movies in the late 1930s and 1940s, including Holiday Inn (1942), in which she dances and sings with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby,{{cite book |last1=Willis |first1=John |last2=Monush |first2=Barry |title=Comprehensive Pictorial and Statistical Record of the 1994 Movie Season |date=February 2000 |publisher=Hal Leonard Corporation |isbn=978-1-55783-233-7 |page=275 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C7Qh8xVipgYC&q=%22Virginia+Dale%22+actress&pg=PP289 |access-date=October 30, 2020 |language=en}} and she became particularly associated with musicals. In the 1950s, she worked mainly in television series such as The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951–1952), Highway Patrol (1957), and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1957–1958). She left the movie business in 1958, but returned to acting for a few films in the 1980s.
On Broadway, Dale performed in Him (1928) and The Final Balance (1928).{{cite web |title=Virginia Dale |url=https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/virginia-dale-37160 |website=Internet Broadway Database |publisher=The Broadway League |access-date=October 30, 2020 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20201030014129/https://www.ibdb.com/broadway-cast-staff/virginia-dale-37160 |archive-date=October 30, 2020}}
Death
Dale died of complications of emphysema on October 3, 1994, in Burbank, California, aged 77.{{cite news |title=Virginia Dale; Astaire Partner in 'Holiday Inn' |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-virginia-dale/150638475/ |access-date=July 4, 2024 |work=Los Angeles Times |date=October 21, 1944 |page=A 34|via = Newspapers.com }}
Filmography
| class="wikitable" | |||
| Year
! Title ! Role ! Notes | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| rowspan=2 | 1938 | No Time to Marry | Eleanor Winthrop | |
| Start Cheering | Mabel | ||
| rowspan=4 | 1939 | Idiot's Delight | Les Blondes - Francine | |
| The Kid from Texas | 'Okay' Kinney | ||
| Death of a Champion | Patsy Doyle | ||
| All Women Have Secrets | Jennifer Warwick | ||
| rowspan=5 | 1940 | Parole Fixer | Enid Casserly | |
| Buck Benny Rides Again | Virginia | ||
| The Quarterback | Kay Merrill | ||
| Dancing on a Dime | Dolly Stewart | ||
| Love Thy Neighbor | Virginia Astor | ||
| rowspan=4 | 1941 | Las Vegas Nights | Patsy Grant | |
| The Singing Hill | Jo Adams | ||
| Kiss the Boys Goodbye | Gwendolyn Abbott | ||
| World Premiere | Lee Morrisson | ||
| 1942 | Holiday Inn | Lila Dixon | |
| 1943 | Headin' for God's Country | Laurie Lane | |
| rowspan=4 | 1947 | Fall Guy | Marie | |
| The Hucksters | Kimberly Receptionist | ||
| Dragnet | Irene Trilling | ||
| Louisiana | |||
| rowspan=2 | 1948 | Docks of New Orleans | Rene Blanchette | |
| Strike It Rich | Mabel | ||
| 1950 | Love That Brute | Maid | Uncredited |
| 1951 | Danger Zone | Claire Underwood | (1st Episode) |
| 1974 | That's Entertainment! | Herself | Documentary, Clip from 'Idiot's Delight', (archive footage) |
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
{{Commons category}}
- {{IMDb name|id=0197798}}
- {{IBDB name}}
- {{Find a Grave|20218}}
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dale, Virginia}}
Category:20th-century American actresses
Category:Actresses from Charlotte, North Carolina
Category:American female dancers
Category:American film actresses
Category:Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills)
Category:Deaths from emphysema
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