Jigee Viertel (born Virginia Lee Ray; September 30, 1915 – January 31, 1960) was an actress in early Hollywood pictures and later the wife of screenwriters

Budd Schulberg Budd Schulberg (born Seymour Wilson Schulberg, March 27, 1914 – August 5, 2009) was an American screenwriter, television producer, novelist and sports writer. He was known for his novels '' What Makes Sammy Run?'' and ''The Harder They Fall;'' ...

and

Peter Viertel Peter Viertel (16 November 1920 – 4 November 2007) was an author and screenwriter. Biography Viertel was born to Jewish parents in Dresden, Germany, the writer and actress Salka Viertel and the writer Berthold Viertel. In 1928, his parents mov ...

. She was active in early Hollywood socialist organizing and later in life was linked to the writers Ring Lardner, Jr. and

Ernest Hemingway Ernest Miller Hemingway (July 21, 1899 – July 2, 1961) was an American novelist, short-story writer, and journalist. His economical and understated style—which he termed the iceberg theory—had a strong influence on 20th-century f ...

. She died from burns she suffered after inadvertently dropping a lit cigarette into the pocket of her flammable sleepwear.

Biography

Born Virginia Lee Ray in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Her younger sister, Anne (later married to

Melvin Frank Melvin Frank (13 August 1913 – 13 October 1988) was an American screenwriter, film producer and film director. He is known for his partnership with Norman Panama and their work on films such as '' Mr. Blandings Builds His Dream House'' (1948), ...

), originally pronounced Virginia as Jigee. The family moved to Los Angeles, where Jigee became active in dance and theater and is credited with appearances in three early motion pictures: '' One in a Million'' (1936), '' Bottoms Up'' (1934) and ''

Three Kids and a Queen ''Three Kids and a Queen'' is a 1935 American drama film directed by Edward Ludwig, written by Samuel Ornitz and Barry Trivers, and starring May Robson, Henry Armetta, Herman Bing, Frankie Darro, Bill Burrud and William "Billy" Benedict. ...

'' (1935). She married

on New Year's Eve 1936. They had one child, daughter Victoria, then divorced in 1943. She married

in 1943, and was pregnant with their daughter Christine when Peter left her to live with fashion model

Bettina Graziani Simone Micheline Bodin (8 May 1925 – 3 March 2015), known professionally as Bettina or Bettina Graziani, was a French fashion model of the 1940s and 1950s and an early muse to the fashion designer Hubert de Givenchy. She was a designer of knit ...

; they did not divorce until 1959. Reputedly dependent on alcohol and sleeping medication, Viertel woke one night in her Los Angeles home and while in the bathroom lit a cigarette that she then dropped inadvertently into the pocket of her dressing gown, causing her immolation. She died from the burns she suffered a month later on January 31, 1960.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Viertel, Jigee 20th-century American novelists 1915 births American film actresses 1960 deaths 20th-century American actresses American women novelists 20th-century American women writers 20th-century American screenwriters Jaffe family Deaths from fire in the United States Accidental deaths in California