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IMDbPro

Virginia Weidler(1927-1968)

  • Actress
  • Soundtrack
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank
Virginia Weidler
Home Video Trailer from Warner Home Video
Play trailer1:42
Best Foot Forward (1943)
6 Videos
79 Photos
Delightful child/juvenile actress Virginia Anna Adelaide Weidler (her friends called her "Ginny") had that knowing gleam in her eye that usually spelled trouble in one form or another for anyone nearby. She was born in Eagle Rock, California, in 1927, one of six children. Her mother was former Wagnerian opera singer Margarete Radon (born Margarete Therese Louisa Meyer), and her father was architect Alfred Weidler.

Virginia nearly made her acting debut at age 3 in John Barrymore's Moby Dick (1930) but was summarily replaced. A year later, she scored her first small movie bit in Warner Baxter's Surrender (1931) and was on her way. One of her brothers, child actor and musician George Weidler, was Doris Day's first husband (from 1946 to 1949).

RKO picked up young Virginia after learning that she could speak a bit of French. The average-looking youngster was ably cast as rural tomboy types in Laddie (1935) and Freckles (1935), the latter film allowing her to do a dead-on parody of Shirley Temple. She earned her first lead in Girl of the Ozarks (1936) and showed she could easily hold her own. After an unimpressive stint with Paramount, who tried to groom her as a rival to Fox's bratty Jane Withers, she was finally picked up by MGM and her film career blossomed. Co-starring with Mickey Rooney in Love Is a Headache (1938), she proved a natural young comedienne and precocious scene-stealer in such films as Out West with the Hardys (1938) (again with Rooney) and Too Hot to Handle (1938).

Little Virginia could also shine in dramatic outings, as she did with The Lone Wolf Spy Hunt (1939) and Bad Little Angel (1939), but she was never a good choice for sappy roles, as demonstrated when she played Norma Shearer's whiny imp of a daughter in The Women (1939). Virginia's forte was providing comedy relief, and she reached her young peak with two classic MGM films: Young Tom Edison (1940), as Rooney's creative sister, and The Philadelphia Story (1940), as Katharine Hepburn's smart-alecky younger sister. Her tongue-in-cheek rendition of "Lydia the Tattooed Lady" at the piano was just one of many memorable highlights from this vintage classic.

The young actress's career started to slip away from her when the teenage Shirley Temple signed with MGM, abruptly bumping "Plain-Jane" Virginia back to secondary status. After rather disappointing receptions to Born to Sing (1942), The Youngest Profession (1943), and Best Foot Forward (1943), the awkward teen left films and turned to vaudeville as a song-and-dance comedy performer, utilizing her full-scale talents as a mimic. She made her legitimate stage debut in "The Rich Full Life" at the John Golden Theatre in 1945, but the show closed within a month.

Soon after, Virginia retired from show business, married, and had two children. She passed away from a heart ailment at 41. After her death it was learned that she had suffered from rheumatic fever as a child.
BornMarch 21, 1927
DiedJuly 1, 1968(41)
BornMarch 21, 1927
DiedJuly 1, 1968(41)
IMDbProStarmeter
See rank

Photos79

Norma Shearer and Virginia Weidler in The Women (1939)
Joan Crawford and Virginia Weidler in The Women (1939)
Virginia Weidler in The Women (1939)
Norma Shearer and Virginia Weidler in The Women (1939)
Katharine Hepburn and Virginia Weidler in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
Owen Davis Jr., Frank Morgan, and Virginia Weidler in Henry Goes Arizona (1939)
Gloria Jean and Virginia Weidler in The Under-Pup (1939)
Virginia Weidler in Best Foot Forward (1943)
Tommy Dix and Virginia Weidler in Best Foot Forward (1943)
Jean Porter and Virginia Weidler in The Youngest Profession (1943)
Walter Pidgeon, Jean Porter, and Virginia Weidler in The Youngest Profession (1943)
Greer Garson, Jean Porter, and Virginia Weidler in The Youngest Profession (1943)

Known for

Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
The Philadelphia Story
7.9
  • Dinah Lord
  • 1940
Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, and Norma Shearer in The Women (1939)
The Women
7.7
  • Little Mary
  • 1939
Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)
Best Foot Forward
6.4
  • Helen Schlesinger
  • 1943
Ray McDonald and Virginia Weidler in Born to Sing (1942)
Born to Sing
5.8
  • Patsy Eastman
  • 1942

Credits

Edit
IMDbPro

Actress

  • Hollywood Theatre Time
  • Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)
    Best Foot Forward
  • William Powell, Robert Taylor, Lana Turner, Greer Garson, Walter Pidgeon, and Virginia Weidler in The Youngest Profession (1943)
    The Youngest Profession
  • The Affairs of Martha (1942)
    The Affairs of Martha
  • This Time for Keeps (1942)
    This Time for Keeps
  • Ray McDonald and Virginia Weidler in Born to Sing (1942)
    Born to Sing
  • Judy Garland and Mickey Rooney in Babes on Broadway (1941)
    Babes on Broadway
  • Patricia Dane, Carol Hughes, Marsha Hunt, and Robert Sterling in I'll Wait for You (1941)
    I'll Wait for You
  • Wallace Beery and Marjorie Main in Barnacle Bill (1941)
    Barnacle Bill
  • Ann Rutherford and John Shelton in Keeping Company (1940)
    Keeping Company
  • Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
    The Philadelphia Story
  • Lee Bowman and Ann Sothern in Gold Rush Maisie (1940)
    Gold Rush Maisie
  • Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
    All This, and Heaven Too
  • Mickey Rooney in Young Tom Edison (1940)
    Young Tom Edison
  • Frank Morgan and Virginia Weidler in Henry Goes Arizona (1939)
    Henry Goes Arizona

Soundtrack

  • That's Entertainment! (1974)
    That's Entertainment!
    • (uncredited)
  • Lucille Ball and Harry James in Best Foot Forward (1943)
    Best Foot Forward
  • Ray McDonald and Virginia Weidler in Born to Sing (1942)
    Born to Sing
  • Cary Grant, Katharine Hepburn, and James Stewart in The Philadelphia Story (1940)
    The Philadelphia Story
    • (uncredited)
  • Bette Davis and Charles Boyer in All This, and Heaven Too (1940)
    All This, and Heaven Too
    • (uncredited)
  • Mickey Rooney in Young Tom Edison (1940)
    Young Tom Edison
  • Gary Cooper, Olympe Bradna, Frances Dee, and George Raft in Souls at Sea (1937)
    Souls at Sea
  • Leif Erickson, Elizabeth Russell, and Virginia Weidler in Girl of the Ozarks (1936)
    Girl of the Ozarks
  • Freckles (1935)
    Freckles
  • W.C. Fields, George P. Breakston, Pauline Lord, Zasu Pitts, and Virginia Weidler in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934)
    Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch
    • (uncredited)

Videos6

Trailer
Trailer 3:05
Trailer
The Youngest Profession
Trailer 2:06
The Youngest Profession
I'll Wait for You
Trailer 2:11
I'll Wait for You
Babes on Broadway
Trailer 2:30
Babes on Broadway
The Philadelphia Story
Trailer 3:32
The Philadelphia Story
Best Foot Forward
Trailer 1:42
Best Foot Forward

Personal details

Edit
    • March 21, 1927
    • Eagle Rock, Los Angeles, California, USA
    • July 1, 1968
    • Los Angeles, California, USA(heart attack)
    • March 27, 1947 - July 1, 1968 (her death, 2 children)
    • Gary Krisel
    • George Weidler(Sibling)
  • Other works
    Stage: Appeared in "The Rich Full Life" on Broadway at the John Golden Theater.
  • Publicity listings
    • 8 Articles
    • 26 Pictorials

Did you know

Edit
  • Trivia
    Had a heart condition for many years, which ultimately led to her early death at the age of only 41.
  • Quotes
    I almost got fired the first day [from Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934). They said I had to wink and I didn't know how to wink.

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