From Wikipedia the free encyclopedia Virginia Bruce September 29 1910 February 24 1982 was an American actress and singer Born Helen Virginia Briggs in Minneapolis Minnesota In 1928 she moved with her family to Los Angeles intending to enroll in the University of California Los Angeles when a friendly wager sent her seeking film work She got it as an extra in Why Bring That Up In 1930 she appeared on Broadway in the musical Smiles followed by Americas Sweetheart in 1931 She returned to Hollywood in 1932 where on August 10 1932 she married John Gilbert her costar in the film Downstairs She retired briefly after the birth of their daughter Susan Ann Gilbert The couple divorced in 1934 and Virginia returned to a hectic schedule of film appearances Gilbert died two years later in 1936 Bruce introduced the Cole Porter standard Ive Got You Under My Skin in the film Born to Dance and costarred in the MetroGoldwynMayer musical The Great Ziegfeld One of her final film appearances was in Strangers When We Meet In 1949 Bruce starred in a daily 30minute radio drama Make Believe Town was an afternoon program on CBS Bruce married her second husband film director J Walter Ruben in 1937 making the Wallace Beery western The Bad Man of Brimstone with him that year Together they had a son named Christopher b 1941 before Rubens death in 1942 In 1946 Bruce married Ali Ipar They divorced in 1951 in order for him to receive a commission in the Turkish Military which forbade promotions of men married to foreigners but remarried in 1952 before divorcing again in 1964 Bruce died of cancer on February 24 1982 at the Motion Picture Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills California She was 71
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