Virginia Mayo, who began her film career as a chorus girl and comic foil and then proved herself an accomplished actress, died yesterday at a nursing home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., the Los Angeles suburb where she had lived for many years. She was 84.Her friend Mary Walsh told The Associated Press of her death.Ms. Mayo, who played opposite Bob Hope in 'The Princess and the Pirate' (1944), cavorted with Danny Kaye in four of his early comedies, was badly abused by James Cagney in 'White Heat' (1949) and sailed the seas romantically with Gregory Peck in 'Captain Horatio Hornblower' (1952), was never completely able to overcome type casting that relied more on her good looks than her acting ability. But she won high critical praise for her performance as the unfaithful wife of a returning veteran in 'The Best Years of Our Lives' (1946), widely regarded as one of the finest movies to come out of the World War II homecoming experience.Bosley Crowther, reviewing the film for The New York Times, said that Ms. Mayo was 'brassy and brutal' as the wife of an Air Force bombardier, played by Dana Andrews, who returns home with neither job nor prospects.In 1949, Ms.

Mayo gave another highly regarded performance in 'White Heat,' in which she played the wife of a psychopathic gangster. In the early 1940's Ms. Mayo was given a screen test by the David O. Selznick studios, but no contract resulted.

Samuel Goldwyn saw her in 1942 when she was performing in a revue at Billy Rose's Diamond Horseshoe in Manhattan and offered her a spot as a Goldwyn Girl.Goldwyn saw to it that she received acting and speech lessons. Eleanore King, then one of Hollywood's top charm teachers, had her doubts about Ms. Mayo, complaining that her cheeks 'were too fat for screen work.' Nevertheless, Ms. Mayo made her debut as a lead in 1944, playing opposite Bob Hope in 'The Princess and the Pirate,' and then was given many roles in comedies and musicals. The films she made with Danny Kaye were 'Wonder Man' (1945), 'The Kid From Brooklyn' (1946), 'The Secret Life of Walter Mitty' (1947) and 'A Song Is Born' (1948). She also appeared as a Goldwyn Girl in the 1944 Kaye vehicle 'Up in Arms.'

She made a number of adventure films, among them 'The Flame and the Arrow' (1950) and 'The Iron Mistress' (1952). Her film career began to fade in the 1950's. She appeared in 'She's Working Her Way Through College' (1952), in which she co-starred with Ronald Reagan, but she never again got a prime dramatic role.She remained active with touring companies in the 1960's and 70's, appearing in productions of 'No, No, Nanette' and 'Barefoot in the Park,' among other shows. She also appeared on television, in shows like 'Murder, She Wrote,' 'Santa Barbara' and 'Remington Steele.' Mayo married Michael O'Shea, the actor, in 1947.

Virginia Mayo (born Virginia Clara Jones; November 30, 1920 – January 17, 2005) was an American actress and dancer. She was in a series of comedy films with Danny Kaye and was Warner Brothers' biggest box-office money-maker in the late 1940s. Get directions, maps, and traffic for Mayo, VA. Check flight prices and hotel availability for your visit.

He died in 1973. They had one daughter, Mary Catherine Johnston, who survives her, along with three grandsons.

Contents.Early life Born Onie Virginia Hill on August 26, 1916 in, Hill was the seventh of ten children born to horse trader W.M. (Mack) Hill and his wife Margaret. By the time Hill was eight, she moved to with her mother and siblings after her parents separated. Hill attended Roberts Grammar School, where she completed eighth grade, then dropped out. In November 1931, Hill, then 15, married 16-year-old George Randell.Association with organized crime In 1933 Hill left Georgia for Chicago with Randell, with the hopes of breaking into show business. Once in Chicago, Hill separated from Randell, divorcing him the following year.

Hill found a job as a waitress at the mob-run San Carlo Italian Village exhibit during the 1933 Chicago's World Fair., and supplemented her income working as a prostitute. She came to the attention of a wealthy bookmaker and gambler, Joseph Epstein, who became her financial advisor and reputed lover (although Epstein was known to be gay), and ultimately, Hill entered into the crime organization.

In addition to being sexually passed around the Chicago mob, she was used as a courier to pass messages between mobsters. One contemporary commentator described Hill as. More than just another set of curves. A good memory, a considerable flair for hole-in-the-corner diplomacy to allay the suspicions of trigger-happy killers and a, close-lipped about essentials, and able to chatter freely, and apparently foolishly about inconsequentials.Even law enforcement eventually concluded that she was a 'central clearing house' for intelligence on organized crime and enjoyed an independent power base within the Mafia. Eventually Hill became associated with, a cousin and bodyguard of.

It was Fischetti who sent Hill to New York to keep tabs on, which she did by becoming his lover. Hill told people that she was a Southern-belle society girl who had gone through four rich husbands, all divorced or dead, and that she had received $1 million each from their estates, but authentic socialites saw through the ruse. Hill built up an entourage of hangers-on and Latin gigolos hanging out on Broadway and frequently picked up the check. While in New York, Hill was introduced to another Luciano associate, and they ended up in a hotel together that night. Later Siegel's and Hill's separate life paths brought them both to, and they began a torrid affair. There were rumors that she and Siegel were secretly married in after Siegel divorced his wife Esta in 1946, but there has not been any evidence to prove the theory. Hill's boyfriend, Benjamin 'Bugsy' Siegel NYC police mugshot on April 12, 1928.Lore has it that Siegel named the resort after Hill, who loved to gamble and whose nickname was supposedly 'Flamingo,' a moniker that Siegel was said to have given her, referring to her long, thin legs, but others have said that Hill was in fact short and somewhat matronly in form.

Another story about the origin of the nickname said that after a few drinks, Hill's face would flush a flamingo-like pink. However, organized crime king wrote in his memoir that Siegel once owned an interest in the and viewed the flamingos who populated nearby as a good omen. The 'Flamingo' name was given to the project at its inception by original resort financier.Four days before Siegel was assassinated at Hill's home in California (June 1947), Hill took an unscheduled flight to, France, giving rise to speculation that she was warned in advance of Siegel's impending murder.In 1950, Hill married Hans Hauser, an Austrian skier; later giving birth to their only child, Peter Hauser (November 20, 1950 – 1994). In 1951, Hill was subpoenaed to testify before the, where she denied having any knowledge of despite being described by magazine in March of that year as the 'queen of the gangsters' molls.' After Hill was indicted for in 1954, she moved to Europe, where she lived for the rest of her life with her son. Overdose and legacy Hill died of an overdose of sleeping pills in, near, on March 24, 1966 at the age of 49.

Hill is buried in Aigen Cemetery in Salzburg. According to Andy Edmonds' biography Bugsy's Baby: The Secret Life of Mob Queen Virginia Hill, her death was suspicious despite it being an apparent suicide. The Austrian media, which were well informed about her former relationship with Siegel, speculated that she tried to get money by using her knowledge of the and Mexican. Hill was the subject of a 1974 television movie, in which she was portrayed.

She was played by in the 1991 film, a dramatization of her relationship with (portrayed by ).References., Time magazine, June 30, 1947. Travel Channel. Retrieved 2007-10-06. NBC Los Angeles. Retrieved 2018-07-22. Archived from on 2016-01-11.

Retrieved 2015-07-19. Retrieved 2015-09-06., p. Retrieved 2015-09-06. ^. The New York Times: 57. March 25, 1966., Time magazine, March 26, 1951. reported in its obituary of Hill on April 1, 1966, that she spent her time on the witness stand 'boggling Senators with her full-grown curves and succinct explanation of just why men would lavish money on a hospitable girl from Bessemer, Ala.'

. Newton, Michael (2009).

Retrieved July 5, 2010. Glamour Girls of the Silver Screen. Solitaire castle.

Compare the, Salzburger Volksblatt (defunct since 1979) and the illustrated newspaper made by Burda – Offenburg in Germany from spring 1966. Retrieved 31 August 2014.Further reading. Edmonds, Andy. Bugsy's Baby: The Secret Life of Mob Queen Virginia Hill. Secaucus, New Jersey: Carol Publishing Group, 1993.External links.

on.