Virginia May Walker Hawks (July 31, 1908 – December 23, 1946) was an American model and film actress. Born in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, she studied
Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...
at the
School of the Museum of Fine Arts and pursued a modeling career in national magazine advertisements, through which she was spotted by a
Universal Pictures scout and signed to a film contract. Upon arriving in Hollywood, she met filmmaker
Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A v ...
, who negotiated her release from Universal and signed her to a personal contract. She made her film debut in Hawks's ''
Bringing Up Baby'' (1938), and the following year married Hawks's brother
William. After their 1942 divorce, she appeared in four more feature film roles, three of them uncredited, for
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 ...
.
Early life and education
Virginia May Walker
was born in
Cambridge, Massachusetts, on July 31, 1908. She was the only daughter of William Homer Walker (1869–1912), a local attorney, and Eva M. Walker (née Perry), originally from Paris.
[ She had two older brothers.][
Walker grew up in Boston and Cambridge; the family vacationed in Miami, Florida, during the winters.][ At age 10, Walker moved to Miami and eventually graduated from ]Miami High School
Miami Senior High School, also known as Miami High School, is a public high school located at 2450 SW 1st Street in Miami, Florida, and operated by Miami-Dade County Public Schools. Founded in 1903, it is one of the oldest high school in Miami-D ...
.[ She returned to Boston to study ]Japanese art
Japanese art covers a wide range of art styles and media, including ancient pottery, sculpture, ink painting and calligraphy on silk and paper, ''ukiyo-e'' paintings and woodblock prints, ceramics, origami, and more recently manga and anime. It ...
at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts, with a specialty in Japanese prints. She was a member of the Junior League of Boston.
Early work
Walker began modeling in national magazine advertisements for various companies, including a car manufacturer and a garment designer.[ She performed in amateur stage productions in Brookline, including dramatic plays staged by the Harvard Dramatic Club and comedies produced by the Hasty Pudding Club.] Additionally, she created a skin care product which she manufactured in her home kitchen.[
]
Film career
In 1935, Walker responded to a call for "new faces" by Hollywood
Hollywood usually refers to:
* Hollywood, Los Angeles, a neighborhood in California
* Hollywood, a metonym for the cinema of the United States
Hollywood may also refer to:
Places United States
* Hollywood District (disambiguation)
* Hollywood, ...
filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, who sought a new actress for his production of '' Samson and Delilah''. DeMille received 3,000 entries from around the country and chose Walker's picture together with five others for further consideration.[ She was ultimately not chosen for a screen test, but in June 1937, a Universal Pictures scout saw Walker's picture in a magazine advertisement for a soap product, signed her to a contract, and brought her to Hollywood.][
Before the studio cast her in a film, however, Walker and a friend went to visit executives at ]RKO Pictures
RKO Radio Pictures Inc., commonly known as RKO Pictures or simply RKO, was an American film production and distribution company, one of the "Big Five" film studios of Hollywood's Golden Age. The business was formed after the Keith-Albee-Orphe ...
, including director Howard Hawks
Howard Winchester Hawks (May 30, 1896December 26, 1977) was an American film director, producer and screenwriter of the classic Hollywood era. Critic Leonard Maltin called him "the greatest American director who is not a household name."
A v ...
. Hawks recognized Walker from her magazine advertisements and wanted her to work for him. He negotiated Walker's release from Universal and signed her to a personal contract.[ She was one of the first actresses whom Hawks signed to a personal contract, and was loaned to RKO to appear in Hawks's 1938 film '' Bringing Up Baby''. Walker made her film debut playing Alice Swallow, the fiancée of Cary Grant's character.
She put aside her screen career upon her marriage in 1938,][ but resumed it after her 1942 divorce. In the second part of her career, she signed 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 ...
[ and played bit roles in four films, three of them uncredited.][ In 1945 she was signed to appear with James Dunn in ''Command to Embezzle'',][ a drama film that was ultimately shelved.
]
Personal life
Walker married film producer William Hawks, brother of Howard Hawks, in June 1938 in Mexico. It was the second marriage for Hawks. The couple divorced in October 1942 in Reno, Nevada.
Walker died on December 23, 1946, after a months-long illness and a surgical procedure at Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles. A requiem
A Requiem or Requiem Mass, also known as Mass for the dead ( la, Missa pro defunctis) or Mass of the dead ( la, Missa defunctorum), is a Mass of the Catholic Church offered for the repose of the soul or souls of one or more deceased persons, ...
mass was held for her at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills.
Filmography
Sources:
References
Sources
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Walker, Virginia
1908 births
1946 deaths
American film actresses
School of the Museum of Fine Arts at Tufts alumni
Actresses from Cambridge, Massachusetts
20th-century American actresses
Members of the Junior League