Vera Miles

Vera June Miles born August 23 1929 is an American actress Born in Boise City Oklahoma Vera Miles attended school in Pratt Kansas and Wichita Kansas The patrician beauty of Miss Miles won her the title of Miss Kansas in 1948 leading soon to small roles in Hollywood films and television series Fame came to the forthright spirited Miles when she attracted the attention of two master directors Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford Ford cast her in the classic western The Searchers 1956 and Hitchcock who put her under personal contract and hailed her as his new Grace Kelly paired her with the great Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man 1956 Hitchcock cast Miles in the potentially starmaking role of Judy Barton in Vertigo 1958 but Miles withdrew from the film when she became pregnant Hitchcock gave Miles a supporting role in another masterpiece Psycho 1960 as did Ford when he cast her opposite John Wayne and James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance 1962 She also starred in such films as Beau James 1957 opposite Bob Hope The FBI Story 1959 opposite Stewart Back Street 1961 opposite Susan Hayward and John Gavin and Sergeant Ryker 1968 opposite Lee Marvin as well as showing her consistently remarkable and versatile talent on dozens of popular television movies and series including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour 1962 Twilight Zone 1959 The Outer Limits 1963 The Fugitive 1963 My Three Sons 1960 Bonanza 1959 Columbo and Murder She Wrote 1984 In 1983 she reprised her role as Lila Crane in the film sequel Psycho II 1983 starring Anthony Perkins Although too often the stunningly beautiful Miles gifts were underutilized before her retirement in 1995 hers was a most intriguing and enduring Hollywood career