Vera Ralston

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Vera Ralston with John Wayne

Vera Ralston (born July 12, 1919 in Prague as Věra Helena Hrubá , † February 9, 2003 in Santa Barbara , California ) was a Czech figure skater and American actress .

Life

Věra Hrubá was a successful figure skater and participated for Czechoslovakia in the European figure skating championships in 1936 and the 1936 Winter Olympics in Garmisch-Partenkirchen . At both events she took back places. The following year she took part in the 1937 European Figure Skating Championships held this time in her native Prague , in which she finished seventh.

Hrubá moved to the United States to perform as a professional figure skater in revues . There she took the name Vera Ralston. She also took acting lessons from Josephine Dillon, Clark Gable's first wife . Republic Pictures noticed her and tried to copy the success of 20th Century Fox with Sonja Henie with her . Not only was Henie the far better figure skater, she was also a better actress. Nonetheless, Ralston resigned from Republic Pictures in a total of 26 feature films within 17 years, none of which had any major commercial success, to which her comparatively poor English contributed. The reason for the long film career, despite the lack of success, was her marriage to the founder and managing director of the studio, Herbert J. Yates, who was almost 40 years her senior . One of the stars of the studio at the time was John Wayne , who shortly before his death described Ralston as "the worst actress he had ever worked with". In 1945 and 1949 he had shot two westerns with her as the female lead, Love in the Wilderness (OT: Dakota ) and In the Last Second , both films were commercial failures. After Yates was forced out of the studio in the late 1950s due to the various expensive flops through his wife's films, only two of which were able to recoup their production costs, Ralston's film career also ended.

Ralston retired into private life with Yates. The couple lived together on Yate's estate until his death in 1966 at the age of 85. In 1973, Ralston married a second time, the marriage lasted until her death from complications from cancer in 2003.

Trivia

Vera Miles , an actress who began her career with Republic Pictures, was real name Vera Ralston. She adopted a stage name because there shouldn't be two actresses with the same name in the same studio.

Filmography (selection)

  • 1941: Ice-Capades
  • 1942: Ice-Capades Revue
  • 1944: The Lady and the Monster
  • 1945: Love in the Wild ( Dakota )
  • 1946: Cards, Bullets, Bandits (Plainsman and the Lady)
  • 1947: Hyenas of the Prairie (Wyoming)
  • 1949: In the Last Second (The Fighting Kentuckian)
  • 1951: Hell Riders of the Night (The Wild Blue Yonder)
  • 1952: San Francisco Killer Syndicate (Hoodlum Empire)
  • 1953: The Rebel of Java (Fair Wind to Java)
  • 1954: California Symphony (Jubilee Trail)
  • 1955: The Avenger of Silbersee (Timberjack)
  • 1956: Accused of Murder
  • 1957: Arizona Express (Gunfire at Indian Gap)
  • 1958: The Man Who Died Twice

Awards

Web links

Commons : Vera Ralston  - Collection of Images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Obituary of The Telegraph (English)
personal data
SURNAME Ralston, Vera
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hrubá, Věra Helena (maiden name); Ralston, Vera Hruba
BRIEF DESCRIPTION US-american actress
DATE OF BIRTH July 12, 1919
PLACE OF BIRTH Prague , Czechoslovakia
DATE OF DEATH February 9, 2003
Place of death Santa Barbara , California , United States