Virginia Mayo has died. She was a vaudevillean and a Goldwyn Girl and is probably best known for the five pictures she co-starred in with Danny Kaye including The Secret Life of Walter Mitty, The Kid from Brooklyn, and Wonder Man. But her best roles were tough broads: Cagney’s girl friend in White Heat and Dana Andrews’s unfaithful wife in the unforgettable The Best Years of Our Lives. My sources—people who went to high school with her—tell me that wasn’t too far from the mark.
Virginia Mayo (originally Virginia Jones) was a St. Louisan. She went to Sumner (or was it Cleveland?—I’ll have to ask) High School (unlike my parents who both went to Roosevelt) and appeared at the St. Louis Muni Opera. Back in those days the Muni was a place for people trying to break into show business. Both Cary Grant and Agnes Moorehead appeared at the Muni before their big breaks.
CORRECTION: My mother, the ultimate authority on all things St. Louis, tells me that Virginia Mayo went to Soldan High School.
