Virginia Dale

Virginia Dale (born Virginia Paxton; Template:Birth based on age as of date – October 3, 1994) was an American actress and dancer.<ref name="nytimes-obit">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Biography

Dale was born in North Carolina.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She was the daughter of Lula Helms Paxton, and she graduated from Central High School in Charlotte.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite news</ref>

Dale began learning toe dancing when she was 9 years old. When she was an adult, she recalled, "I slaved and slaved at it, hating every minute. I tried everything I could think of to get out of it."<ref name="slt">Template:Cite news</ref> That exit occurred when blood poisoning in one of her feet required grafting lamb's skin over the top of the foot. The resulting reduction in the foot's ability to stretch ended her toe dancing.<ref name=slt/>

When Dale was a teenager, Earl Carroll selected her as the winner of a beauty contest in Charlotte. That introduction to Carroll helped Dale and her sister, Frances, who danced as a team, to perform in New York City. Their engagements there included an eight-month stint at the Hollywood Restaurant. They also performed in other cities in the eastern United States.<ref name="co">Template:Cite news</ref> While they were in New York City, Dale was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck who signed her to a contract with 20th Century Fox.<ref name="nytimes-obit"/>

She appeared in a number of movies in the late 1930s and 1940s, including Holiday Inn (1942), in which she dances and sings with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby,<ref name=c>Template:Cite book</ref> and she became particularly associated with musicals. In the 1950s, she worked mainly in television series such as The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951–1952), Highway Patrol (1957), and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1957–1958). She left the movie business in 1958, but returned to acting for a few films in the 1980s.

On Broadway, Dale performed in Him (1928) and The Final Balance (1928).<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Death

Dale died of complications of emphysema on October 3, 1994, in Burbank, California, aged 77.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Filmography

Year	Title	Role	Notes
1938	No Time to Marry	Eleanor Winthrop
	Start Cheering	Mabel
1939	Idiot's Delight	Les Blondes - Francine
	The Kid from Texas	'Okay' Kinney
	Death of a Champion	Patsy Doyle
	All Women Have Secrets	Jennifer Warwick
1940	Parole Fixer	Enid Casserly
	Buck Benny Rides Again	Virginia
	The Quarterback	Kay Merrill
	Dancing on a Dime	Dolly Stewart
	Love Thy Neighbor	Virginia Astor
1941	Las Vegas Nights	Patsy Grant
	The Singing Hill	Jo Adams
	Kiss the Boys Goodbye	Gwendolyn Abbott
	World Premiere	Lee Morrisson
1942	Holiday Inn	Lila Dixon
1943	Headin' for God's Country	Laurie Lane
1947	Fall Guy	Marie
	The Hucksters	Kimberly Receptionist
	Dragnet	Irene Trilling
	Louisiana
1948	Docks of New Orleans	Rene Blanchette
	Strike It Rich	Mabel
1950	Love That Brute	Maid	Uncredited
1951	Danger Zone	Claire Underwood	(1st Episode)
1974	That's Entertainment!	Herself	Documentary, Clip from 'Idiot's Delight', (archive footage)

External links

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