Virginia Mayo

 Virginia Mayo, born Virginia Clara Jones (November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005)

Best known for a series of comedic films with Danny Kaye, Mayo was Warner Brothers biggest box office money maker in the late 1940s. She also co-starred in the 1946 Oscar-winning movie The Best Years of Our Lives. Virginia Mayo was a constant fixture in the movie theaters in 1949 as she co-starred in many movies all released that year. Among them were Flaxy Martin, opposite Joel McCrea in the western Colorado Territory, co-starred with future United States President Ronald Reagan in The Girl from Jones Beach, and with comedian Milton Berle in Always Leave Them Laughing. Mixing drama with comedy roles all year, Mayo received rave reviews for her performance alongside James Cagney and Edmond O'Brien in 1949's White Heat and received equally impressive reviews for her co-starring with George Raft in Roy Del Ruth's Red Light that same year. At the beginning of the 1950s, Mayo scored success with the adventure film The Flame and the Arrow (1950) with Burt Lancaster. She co-starred again with James Cagney and a young Doris Day in The West Point Story (1950) (singing and dancing with Cagney) and appeared in the all-star cast of Starlift (1951). By the 1960s, Mayo's film career had declined considerably although she continued to appear in films throughout the next several decades, with one of her last prominent roles being in Fort Utah (1967) with John Ireland. Virginia Mayo died on January 17, 2005 from heart failure, and is buried at Valley Oaks Memorial Park in Westlake Village, CA.