Virginia Field

{{Short description|British actress (1917–1992)}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}

{{Use British English|date=December 2012}}

{{Infobox person

| name = Virginia Field

| image = VIRGINIAFIeld.jpg

| caption = Field in the 1940s

| birth_date = {{birth date|1917|11|4|df=y}}

| birth_place = London, England

| death_date = {{death date and age|1992|1|2|1917|11|4|df=y}}

| death_place = Palm Desert, California, US

| birth_name = Margaret St. John Field

| yearsactive = Early 1930s–1965

| spouse = {{unbulleted list|{{marriage|Paul Douglas|1942|1946|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Howard Grode|1947|1948|end=divorced}}|{{marriage|Willard Parker|1951}}}}

| children = 2

| relatives = Auriol Lee (aunt)

}}

Virginia Field (born Margaret St. John Field (sometimes mis-transcribed Margaret Cynthia Field);{{Room5|175-6}} 4 November 1917{{Citation needed |date=August 2023}} – 2 January 1992) was a British-born film actress.[https://web.archive.org/web/20140921194731/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G2-2588808051.html Virginia Field (1917–1992) profile], Dictionary of Women Worldwide: 25,000 Women Through the Ages (2007).

Early years

Virginia was an only child,{{cite news|last1=Woolpert|first1=Kelly|title=Bits of Gossip About Hollywood's Film Folk|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5214954/the_videttemessenger/|work=The Vidette-Messenger|agency=United Press|date=2 September 1936|location=Indiana, Valparaiso|page=4|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 9 May 2016}} {{Open access}} born in London.{{cite news|title=Hollywood Round-Up|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5214298/the_newsherald/|work=The News-Herald|agency=United Press|date=26 August 1938|location=Franklin, Pennsylvania|page=7|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 9 May 2016}} {{Open access}} Her father was Sir John Field,{{cite news|title=the Hollywood Roundup|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5214491/the_times/|work=The Times|agency=United Press|date=9 November 1936|location=Indiana, Hammond|page=14|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 9 May 2016}} {{Open access}} the judge of Leicester County Court Circuit.{{cite news|title=Actress' Father Dies|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5223890/albuquerque_journal/|work=Albuquerque Journal|agency=Associated Press|date=12 December 1949|location=New Mexico, Albuquerque|page=9|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 10 May 2016}}{{Open access}} Her mother was a cousin of Confederate General Robert E. Lee, and her aunt was British stage actress and director Auriol Lee.{{cite web|url=http://www.glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com/show/340/Virginia+Field/index.html |title=Virginia Field – The Private Life and Times of Virginia Field. Virginia Field Pictures |publisher=Glamourgirlsofthesilverscreen.com |access-date=2019-10-25}}

She was educated in Paris, Vienna, and the South of France, and then returned to England, where she studied for the stage. In Vienna, she acted for Max Reinhardt, and on returning to Britain, she was given her first film role whilst in her teens in The Lady is Willing, followed by a Hollywood contract.{{citation needed|date=December 2015}}

Film

Field went to the US to appear in David O. Selznick's Little Lord Fauntleroy (1936). In the late 1930s, she appeared in various parts in 20th Century Fox's Mr. Moto film series. Field played Kitty, a ballerina with Vivien Leigh in the 1940 film, Waterloo Bridge. In 1941, Field played Nell Gwyn in Hudson's Bay. Vincent Price was cast as King Charles II, and he wrote about the experience in his book The Book of Joe. "...I came up against my first animals, a whole litter of King Charles spaniels... But my competition was not the spaniels, who were indeed adorable, but the enormous bosoms of the young lady who played Nell Gwyn. They were of such robust and luscious proportions and her dress so low cut that in our big scene, in which we fondled the puppies on a great bed, she leaned over them so far that the censors cut the scene out of the picture."Price, Vincent. The Book of Joe. Doubleday & Company, Inc.: Garden City, New York, 1961. {{ISBN?}}

Television

During the Perry Mason series on CBS from 1957–1966, Field made six guest appearances. She played Irene Collaro in the 1958 episode "The Case of the Prodigal Parent". In both the 1960 episode, "The Case of the Provocative Protege", and the 1962 episode, "The Case of the Polka Dot Pony", she played the murderess. In the 1964 episode, "The Case of the Simple Simon", Field played the role of Mason's client and defendant Ramona Carver. She also appeared as Lotta Langley in an episode of the ABC series The Rebel, starring Nick Adams.

Field was a regular participant on Pantomime Quiz,{{r|etvs|page1=808}} and had the role of Josephine Dunning in the pilot for Meet the Girls, a comedy aired on CBS in August 1960.Terrace, Vincent (2011). Encyclopedia of Television Shows, 1925 through 2010. McFarland & Company, Inc. {{ISBN|978-0786464777}}. p. 678.

Recognition

Field has a star at 1751 Vine Street, Los Angeles on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, dedicated 8 February 1960.{{cite web|title=Virginia Field|url=http://www.walkoffame.com/virginia-field|website=Hollywood Walk of Fame|access-date=10 May 2016}}

Marriages

Field married three times. Her spouses included actors Paul Douglas and Willard Parker. Douglas and she had a daughter, Margaret Field Douglas.{{cite news|title=Divorced Actress Wins Court Suit|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5214406/the_salt_lake_tribune/|work=The Salt Lake Tribune|agency=Associated Press|date=29 November 1960|location=Utah, Salt Lake City|page=22|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 9 May 2016}} {{Open access}} In 1947, she married Howard Grode, a composer and musician.{{cite news|title=Virginia Field Weds|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/5214614/the_monroe_newsstar/|work=The Monroe News-Star|agency=Associated Press|date=7 April 1947|location=Louisiana, Monroe|page=6|via = Newspapers.com|access-date = 9 May 2016}} {{Open access}}

Death

Field died of cancer on 2 January 1992.{{cite news|title=Virginia Field, Actress in Films, is Dead at 74|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/01/09/arts/virginia-field-actress-in-films-is-dead-at-74.html|access-date=10 May 2016|work=The New York Times|date=9 January 1992}} She was cremated and her ashes scattered at sea.{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FOHgDAAAQBAJ&q=Virginia+Field&pg=PA432|title=Resting Places: The Burial Sites of More Than 14,000 Famous Persons, 3d ed.|first=Scott|last=Wilson|year=2016|publisher=McFarland|isbn=978-1476625997}}

Filmography

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References

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