Virginia Bruce

 Virginia Bruce, born Helen Virginia Briggs (September 29, 1909 – February 24, 1982)

Her first screen work was in 1929 as an extra for Paramount in Why Bring That Up? In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles at the Ziegfeld Theatre, followed by another Broadway production, America's Sweetheart, in 1931. Bruce returned to Hollywood in 1932, where at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer in early August she began work on the film Kongo starring Walter Huston. During production on that project, on August 10, she married John Gilbert with whom she had recently costarred in another MGM film, Downstairs. The entertainment trade paper The Film Daily reported that the couple's "quick" wedding was held in Gilbert's dressing room on the studio lot. Bruce retired briefly from acting after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann, although she returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances after her divorce from Gilbert in May 1934. Gilbert died two years later. Bruce is credited with introducing the Cole Porter standard "I've Got You Under My Skin" in the 1936 film Born to Dance. That same year she costarred in the MGM musical The Great Ziegfeld. She also performed periodically on radio. Much later, in the early 1960s, the veteran actress retired from films but emerged from retirement in 1981 for a final screen appearance, portraying the title character in Madame Wang's, a "bizarre" production directed by Paul Morrissey in association with Andy Warhol. She was married four times, her third and fourth marriages to the same person. Bruce died of cancer at age 72 on February 24, 1982, at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California.