German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6666/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 6911/1, 1931-1932. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 7235/1, 1932-1933. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Unassuming beginnings in small parts
Virginia Bruce was born as Helen Virginia Briggs on the 29th of September 1910 in Minneapolis, U.S.A. She spent her childhood and her teenage years in Fargo.
After her father’s career as an insurance broker had faltered, the family relocated to Los Angeles in 1928, where the young girl was noticed by director William Beaudine.
Beaudine gave her bit parts in two of his movies, Fugitives (1929) and Hard to Get (1929), and then advised her to go to Paramount, which soon signed her. Unfortunately, they only used her in walk-ons and supporting roles and would let her go in 1930.
She then decided to try her luck on Broadway, where she appeared as a chorus girl in Florenz Ziegfeld’s musical 'Smiles' (November 1930 - January 1931). She then got a minor role in 'America’s Sweetheart' (February 1931 - June 1931). After the show closed, she headed back to Hollywood for a visit.
Agent Nat Goldstone spotted her and lined up a screen test for her at M.G.M., which offered her a long-term contract in August 1931.
Spanish postcard, no. 4. Jeanette MacDonald in The Love Parade (Ernst Lubitsch, 1929). Virginia Bruce, on the front left, is one of MacDonald’s four ladies-in-waiting.
German postcard by Eidelsan, Series II, Image 81. Photo: Associated Press.
Spanish promotional postcard issued by the Royal Cinema in Valencia. Virginia Bruce and Conrad Nagel in Kongo (William J. Cowen, 1932).
John Gilbert
It was on loan-out to Warner that Virginia Bruce got her most interesting offer so far in Winner Takes All (1932), as a thrill-seeking and two-timing society girl, opposite James Cagney.
At M.G.M., she was then John Gilbert’s leading lady in Downstairs (1932). They fell in love and married in August 1932, when Virginia was filming Kongo (1932), a remake of the Lon Chaney vehicle West of Zanzibar (1928). Upon its release, the film was considered too gruesome and grim by many critics.
She gave birth to a daughter, Susan Ann, in August 1933. But John Gilbert was at the time a troubled man, whose career was in decline. They separated in January 1934 and divorced a few months later.
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (B.F.F.), no. 3511. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (B.F.F.), no. 3512. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Italian postcard by Ballerini & Fratini, Firenze (B.F.F.), no. 3766. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Virginia’s ascent
When Virginia Bruce came back to movies, she was loaned to Monogram for the title role in Jane Eyre (1934), adapted from Charlotte Brontë’s novel, to R.K.O. for Dangerous Corner (1934) and to United Artists for The Mighty Barnum (1934), as opera singer Jenny Lind. The latter especially brought her good reviews, which praised her loveliness and perfect lip-synch to an operatic aria.
M.G.M. finally took notice and decided to team her with up-and-coming Robert Taylor in Society Doctor (1935) and Times Square Lady (1935). She also notably co-starred with Spencer Tracy in The Murder Man (1935). Among her other 1935 films were the whodunit Shadow of Doubt and Escapade, a lavish remake of the German film Maskerade (1934), as a willing-to-philander married lady.
1936 was an important year for Virginia, as she appeared in two prestigious productions: The Great Ziegfeld, as an ambitious and alcoholic Follies girl, and Born to Dance, in which she played a Broadway star and introduced the famous standard 'I’ve Got You Under My Skin'.
She even recorded it for Brunswick Company. The Cole Porter song had originally been slated for vocalist Frances Langford, but M.G.M. finally gave it to Virginia, whose career was in the ascent and who had a pleasant and warm singing voice.
Bruce was then top-billed in Women of Glamour (1937) at Columbia and When Love is Young (1937) at Universal.
British postcard by Picturegoer, no. 941. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
British postcard by Milton, no. 135. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
An actress not consumed with ambition and content to get steady work
Virginia Bruce also played opposite, among others, Robert Montgomery in The First Hundred Years (1938) and Yellow Jack (1938), Herbert Marshall in Woman Againt Woman (1938), Melvyn Douglas in Arsene Lupin Returns (1938) and There’s That Woman Again (1939), Fredric March in There Goes My Heart (1938), Walter Pidgeon in Society Lawyer (1939) and Stronger Than Desire (1939) or Nelson Eddy in Let Freedom Ring (1939).
In 1939, her M.G.M. contract ended. Despite all their promises, the company had never offered Virginia a real opportunity to turn into an A-grade star. The actress herself admitted that she lacked ambition and that she had never really fought for better roles, as she was content to get steady work and income.
She pursued her career for other studios such as Warner for Flight Angels (1940) and The Man Who Talked Too Much (1940), Universal for The Invisible Woman (1940) and Butch Minds the Baby (1942), Columbia for Adventure in Washington (1941) or 20th Century Fox for Careful, Soft Shoulders (1942).
Since 1937, she had been married to director J. Walter Ruben and they had a son, Christopher, in 1941. Her husband died of a heart ailment on the 4th of September 1942.
Virginia Bruce came back to the screen in R.K.O.’s Action in Arabia (1944) and then went to Republic for Brazil (1945), a musical opposite famous Mexican singer Tito Guizar, and Love, Honor and Goodbye (1945).
Spanish postcard by Apolo, Madrid.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. 9592/1, 1935-1936. Photo: Fox.
German postcard by Ross Verlag, no. A 1389/1, 1937-1938. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Ali Ipar
In January 1946, Virginia Bruce went to Mexico to star in Accusation, a movie which was to be produced by Ali Ipar. It was never made but a love affair soon blossomed.
Ipar was Turkish, came from a wealthy family and lived in the U.S.A. since 1940. On the 27th of August 1946, Virginia and Ali married.
In 1948, she had a supporting role at Paramount in Night Has a Thousand Eyes (1948), which starred Edward G. Robinson and Gail Russell. Then she went to Poverty Row’s Sigmund Neufeld Productions for the Film Noir State Department: File 649 (1949).
In 1950, Virginia and Ali relocated to Turkey, where he soon was called up to do his compulsary military service. As, according to Turkish laws, no man married to a foreigner could get an officer’s commission, Virginia and Ali divorced in July 1951, so that he could escape a plain soldier’s plight and become a lieutenant.
After he had been discharged from the army in October 1952, Virginia and Ali remarried in Istanbul on the 13th of November.
Spanish postcard by Infonal, no. OM-324. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer. Virginia Bruce and Nelson Eddy in Let Freedom Ring (Jack Conway, 1939).
British postcard by Picturegoer, no. 941a. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Last appearances on screen and on television
During her stay in Istanbul, Virginia Bruce starred in the Turkish film Salgin, written, directed and produced by Ali Ipar. It was filmed in 1952 but was only released in 1954.
Virginia went back to the U.S.A. at the end of 1952 and was soon joined by Ali. For the rest of the 1950s, Virginia, who had performed regularly on radio in the 1940s, turned to television. She appeared in such shows as Lux Video Theatre, The Loretta Young Show, Studio 57 and Ford Television Theatre. She also starred in the British film The Reluctant Bride (1955) and made her final big screen appearance as Kim Novak’s mother in Strangers When We Meet (1960).
For several years, her husband made several trips to Istanbul, but one of these caused him much trouble. He was in his native land when Prime Minister Adnan Menderes was overthrown by a military coup on the 27th of May 1960. Ali, who had been close to Menderes, was arrested and spent some time in prison.
In February 1962, he was released and arrived in the U.S.A. in August. But his marriage to Virginia was in shambles and the divorce was granted by a Turkish court in 1964. Unfortunately for Virginia, Turkish laws regulating matrimonial property were in favour of the husband and her financial loss was significant.
In the 1960s, Virginia Bruce allegedly took to drinking. Her final years were plagued by ill health, and she notably broke her hip after a fall in 1973. She died of cancer on the 24th of February 1982 in the Los Angeles Motion Picture Country Home and Hospital.
British postcard in the Colourgraph series, London, no. C281. Photo: Paramount.
British postcard in the Colourgraph series, London, no. C281a. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Spanish postcard no. 414. Photo: Metro Goldwyn Mayer.
Virginia as Madame Wang?
Curiously enough, IMDb and Wikipedia list Paul Morrissey’s Madame Wang’s (1981) as Virginia’s last movie.
According to those sources, Bruce would have played the owner of a punk nightclub.
But the role of Madame Wang was in fact played by a male cross-dresser, who used the pseudonym of 'Virginia Bruce'. This is pretty obvious when you watch the movie.
We probably will never know if the real Virginia Bruce had ever been aware of this film and of its surprising casting.
For the record, Virginia Prince a.k.a. Virginia Bruce (1912-2009) was born as Arnold Lowman and published the American magazine Transvestia from 1960 to 1980.
Spanish postcard by Editorial Gloria Mill-Aroyo, Barcelona, no. 125. Photo: Balet y Blay.
Dutch postcard by J.S.A., no. 18.
Italian postcard by Rotalfoto, no. 269.
Text and postcards: Marlene Pilaete.
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