Virginia Patton
| Virginia Patton | |
|---|---|
|
Virginia Patton in It's a Wonderful Life (1946) | |
| Born |
June 25, 1926 Portland, Oregon |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1943–1949 |
| Spouse(s) | Cruse W. Moss (1949–present) |
Virginia Patton (born June 25, 1926) is a retired American actress who appeared in 15 films between 1942 and 1949.
Life and career
After her graduation from Jefferson High School in Portland, Oregon, Virginia Patton started her short Hollywood career. She had a number of rather insignificant film appearances until she played her best-known role in the classic It's a Wonderful Life (1946) as Ruth Dakin Bailey, the wife of George Bailey's younger brother Harry. Although It's a Wonderful Life-director Frank Capra didn't know Patton, she read the role for him and he signed her with a contract. Patton later said that she was the only girl the famous director ever signed in his whole career. She made only four films after It's a Wonderful Life, including her first lead in the B-western Black Eagle (1948).[1]
Patton has been married to Cruse W. Moss since 1949 and gave up acting in the late 1940s to concentrate on raising a family with her husband in Ann Arbor, Michigan. She is president of The Patton Corporation, an investment and real estate holdings company in Ann Arbor and is also involved in community work. Patton still gives interviews about It's a Wonderful Life. With the death of Argentina Brunetti in December 2005, Virginia Patton is the only credited adult actor in It's a Wonderful Life still alive.
Filmography
- Thank Your Lucky Stars (1943; uncredited)
- Old Acquaintance (1943; uncredited)
- Roaring Guns (1944; Short)
- Grandfather's Follies (1944; Short)
- Janie (1944)
- The Last Ride (1944; uncredited)
- Hollywood Canteen (1944; uncredited)
- The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945; uncredited)
- Canyon Passage (1946; uncredited)
- Nobody Lives Forever (1946; uncredited)
- It's a Wonderful Life (1946)
- The Burning Cross (1947)
- A Double Life (1947)
- Black Eagle (1948)
- The Lucky Stiff (1949)