Virginia Brissac

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Virginia Brissac (around 1904)

Virginia Brissac (born June 11, 1883 in San José , California , † July 26, 1979 in Santa Fe , New Mexico ) was an American film and stage actress.

Life

Virginia Brissac was born in San José, California, as the daughter of a wealthy insurance manager. In her youth she collected autograph cards from (then) famous people such as Sarah Bernhardt , Eleonora Duse , Richard Mansfield , Henry Irving and Rudyard Kipling . From around the turn of the century Brissac worked as an actress. From then on, she played in various acting troupes on the US west coast and was best known for her portrayals of young naive people . In 1913 she also starred in two silent films. In 1915 she married the theater actor and producer John Griffith Wray (1881–1929) for the third time. Her daughter from her first marriage to the actor Eugene Mockbee was the later screenwriter Ardel Wray (1907-1983), who co-wrote the screenplay for I followed a zombie . Around the end of the 1910s, Brissac probably retired from the acting business.

In 1927 they divorced John Griffith Wray. Then Brissac worked as an assistant and secretary to the aspiring entertainer Russ Columbo , who, however, died in mysterious circumstances in 1934 at the age of only 26. After Columbos death she returned to the profession of actress after almost 20 years, now in Hollywood as a film actress. Her first film was Honeymoon Limited (1935) with Neil Hamilton and Irene Hervey . In the following 20 years she starred in around 145 films and from the 1950s on in some television series, although she rarely had the chance of bigger roles. She embodied a large number of strict women of advanced age, such as landlords, high society women and teachers. She played the housekeeper of Bette Davis in Victims of a Great Love and was in films by Alfred Hitchcock ( In the Shadow of Doubt ) and Charlie Chaplin ( Monsieur Verdoux ).

She is perhaps best known to today's viewers for her last role, namely as the grandmother of James Dean in the youth drama ... because they don't know what they are doing from 1955. After that film she retired from the acting business, she died in 1979 at the age of 96 Years.

Filmography (selection)

Web links

Commons : Virginia Brissac  - collection of images, videos and audio files
personal data
SURNAME Brissac, Virginia
BRIEF DESCRIPTION American film and stage actress
DATE OF BIRTH June 11, 1883
PLACE OF BIRTH San Jose , California
DATE OF DEATH July 26, 1979
Place of death Santa Fe , New Mexico