Virginia Bruce

Biography

Virginia Bruce, whose birth name was Helen Virginia Briggs, was an American actress and singer born on September 29, 1910, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. In 1928, her family relocated to Los Angeles with plans for her to attend the University of California, Los Angeles. However, a playful bet led her to pursue a career in film instead, resulting in her first role as an extra in the movie *Why Bring That Up?*.

By 1930, Bruce made her Broadway debut in the musical *Smiles*, followed by a performance in *America's Sweetheart* in 1931. She returned to Hollywood in 1932, where she married her co-star John Gilbert, known for their collaboration in the film *Downstairs*, on August 10 of that same year. After giving birth to their daughter, Susan Ann Gilbert, she took a break from acting, but the couple separated in 1934. Gilbert passed away two years later in 1936.

Bruce is noted for introducing the classic Cole Porter song "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the film *Born to Dance* and for her role in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's musical *The Great Ziegfeld*. One of her later film roles was in *Strangers When We Meet*.

In 1949, she starred in a daily radio drama titled *Make Believe Town* on CBS. She had two additional marriages: first to film director J. Walter Ruben in 1937, with whom she had a son, Christopher, and later to Ali Ipar in 1946. Virginia Bruce passed away from cancer on February 24, 1982, at the age of 71, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.