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Virginia Mayo (November 30 1920 - January 17 2005)
was an United States|American film actor|actress.

Born in St. Louis, Missouri as Virginia Clara
Jones, and tutored by a series of dancing
instructors engaged by her aunt, she appeared in
the St. Louis Municipal Opera chorus, then
appeared with six other girls at an act at the
Jefferson Hotel, where she was recruited by Andy
Mayo to appear in his popular vaudeville act, as a
ringmaster for two men in a horse suit. Virginia
assumed the stage name of "Mayo" in the process.
She appeared in Vaudeville for three years in the
act, appearing with Eddie Cantor on Broadway in
1941's Banjo Eyes.
 
She continued her career as a dancer, then signed
a contract with Samuel Goldwyn and appeared in
several of Goldwyn's movies.  With Danny Kaye she
made some successful comedies, including: Wonder
Man (film)|Wonder Man (1945), The Kid from
Brooklyn (1946) and The Secret Life of Walter
Mitty (1947).

In 1949's White Heat she gave one of her greatest
performances as Verna Jarrett the wife of gangster
Cody Jarrett (acted by James Cagney). Mayo later
claimed in  interviews that she was occasionally
genuinely frightened by Cagney during the filming
of the picture, because Cagney's acting was so
realistic and natural.

Also of interest is her role in The Best Years of
Our Lives, where she was cast against type and
gave a performance that garnered much acclaim.

In 1947, she married actor Michael O'Shea, who
died in 1973. They had one child, Mary Catherine
O'Shea (1953-).  The O'Shea family lived for
several decades in Thousand Oaks, California. 

Through the 1950s and 1960s she ended up getting
roles in B-movies, often westerns and adventure
films, but also some musicals. Her singing voice
was always dubbed.

Mayo got a star on the Walk of Fame for her work
in Television. It can be found at 1751 Vine
Street.

In the 1990s, Mayo gifted her extensive collection
of Hollywood memorabilia to the Thousand Oaks
Library. Mayo finally passed away in the city in
2005 after a long illness. 

==Filmography==
*Follies Girl (1943)
*Jack London (1943)
*Up in Arms (1944)
*Seven Days Ashore (1944)
*The Princess and the Pirate (1944)
*Wonder Man (1945)
*The Kid from Brooklyn (1946)
*The Best Years of Our Lives (1946)
*Out of the Blue (1947)
*The Secret Life of Walter Mitty (1947)
*Smart Girls Don't Talk (1948)
*A Song Is Born (1948)
*Flaxy Martin (1949)
*Colorado Territory (1949)
*The Girl from Jones Beach (1949)
*White Heat (1949)
*Red Light (1949)
*Always Leave Them Laughing (1949)
*Backfire (1950)
*The Flame and the Arrow (1950)
*The West Point Story (1950)
*Captain Horatio Hornblower (1951)
*Along the Great Divide (1951)
*Painting the Clouds with Sunshine (1951)
*Starlift (1951) (Cameo)
*Screen Snapshots: Hollywood Night Life (1952)
(short subject)
*She's Working Her Way Through College (1952)
*The Iron Mistress (1952)
*She's Back on Broadway (1953)
*South Sea Woman (1953)
*Devil's Canyon (1953)
*King Richard and the Crusaders (1954)
*The Silver Chalice (1954)
*Pearl of the South Pacific (1955)
*Great Day in the Morning (1956)
*The Proud Ones (1956)
*Congo Crossing (1956)
*The Big Land (1957)
*The Story of Mankind (1957)
*The Tall Stranger (1957)
*Fort Dobbs (1958)
*Westbound (1959)
*Revolt of the Mercenaries (1960)
*Jet Over the Atlantic (1960)
*Young Fury (1965)
*Castle of Evil (1966)
*Fort Utah (1967)
*Fugitive Lovers (1975)
*Won Ton Ton, the Dog Who Saved Hollywood (1976)
*French Quarter (1977)
*The Haunted (1979)
*Evil Spirits (1990)
*Midnight Witness (1993)
*The Man Next Door (1997)

==External links==
*imdb name|id=0562920|name=Virginia Mayo
*http://www.virginiamayo.com/ Official website
*http://www.geocities.com/Hollywood/Hills/2440/may
o.html Denny Jackson's Virginia Mayo page
*http://www.briansdriveintheater.com/virginiamayo.
html Brian's Drive-In Theater