Virginia Dale (born Virginia Paxton; July 1, 1917 – October 3, 1994) was an American actress and dancer.

Biography

Dale was born in

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

. She was the daughter of Lula Helms Paxton, and she graduated from Central High School in Charlotte. While working with her sister, Frances, to form the dancing Paxton Sisters in New York City, she was discovered by

Darryl F. Zanuck Darryl Francis Zanuck (September 5, 1902December 22, 1979) was an American film producer and studio executive; he earlier contributed stories for films starting in the silent era. He played a major part in the Hollywood studio system as one of ...

who signed her to a contract with

20th Century Fox 20th Century Studios, Inc. (previously known as 20th Century Fox) is an American film production company headquartered at the Fox Studio Lot in the Century City area of Los Angeles. As of 2019, it serves as a film production arm of Walt Dis ...

. She appeared in a number of movies in the late 1930s and 1940s, including ''

Holiday Inn Holiday Inn is an American chain of hotels based in Atlanta, Georgia. and a brand of IHG Hotels & Resorts. The chain was founded in 1952 by Kemmons Wilson, who opened the first location in Memphis, Tennessee that year. The chain was a division ...

'' (1942), in which she dances and sings with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, and she became particularly associated with musicals. In the 1950s, she worked mainly in television series such as ''

The Adventures of Kit Carson ''The Adventures of Kit Carson'' is an American Western that aired from 1951 to 1955. The show ran for four seasons and consisted of 104 episodes over four years. The original air date was Saturday, August 11, 1951. It concluded on January 22, 19 ...

'' (1951–1952), ''Highway Patrol'' (1957), and ''

The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp ''The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp'' is the first Western television series written for adults, premiering four days before ''Gunsmoke'' on September 6, 1955. Two weeks later came the Clint Walker western ''Cheyenne''. The series is loosely base ...

'' (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). Dale died of complications of emphysema in

Burbank, California Burbank is a city in the southeastern end of the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Located northwest of downtown Los Angeles, Burbank has a population of 107,337. The city was named after David Burbank, w ...

, and is interred in

Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Forest Lawn Memorial Park – Hollywood Hills is one of the six Forest Lawn cemeteries in Southern California. It is located at 6300 Forest Lawn Drive, Los Angeles, California 90068, in the Hollywood Hills neighborhood of Los Angeles. Histor ...

Filmography

References

External links

* * * 1917 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American actresses Actresses from Charlotte, North Carolina American female dancers American film actresses Burials at Forest Lawn Memorial Park (Hollywood Hills) Deaths from emphysema {{US-film-actor-1910s-stub