Vera Miles

Vera Miles
From the trailer for The Wrong Man (1956)
Born	Vera June Ralston (1930-08-23) August 23, 1930 Boise City, Oklahoma, USA
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1950–1995
Spouse(s)	Bob Miles (1948–1954) 2 daughters Gordon Scott (1954–1959) 1 son Keith Larsen (1960–1971) 1 son

Vera Miles (born August 23, 1930) is an American actress who worked closely with Alfred Hitchcock, notably as Lila Crane in the classic masterpiece Psycho, and in its sequel, Psycho II. Her other popular films include The Wrong Man, The Searchers, Follow Me Boys! and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Early life

Miles was born Vera June Ralston in Boise City, Oklahoma, the daughter of Thomas and Burnice (née Wyrick) Ralston. She grew up first in Pratt, Kansas, and then in Wichita, Kansas, where she worked nights as a Western Union operator-typist and graduated from Wichita North High School in 1947.

Miles was crowned Miss Kansas in 1948 and was the third runner-up in the Miss America contest. When she appeared as a contestant on the April 4, 1951, edition of the Groucho Marx quiz show You Bet Your Life described as "a beauty contest winner", Marx asked her about some of the titles she held. She replied, "I was first Miss Chamber of Commerce and then Miss Wichita and then Miss Kansas and Miss Texas Grapefruit and recently I've been chosen Miss New Maid Margarine and I had the honor to represent Kansas in the Miss America pageant."

Career

Miles moved to Los Angeles, California, in 1950, and landed small roles in films and television, including a minor role as a chorus girl in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), a musical starring Janet Leigh, with whom Miles co-starred nine years later in the classic Alfred Hitchcock film Psycho. Miles eventually was put under contract at various studios. She once recalled, "I was dropped by the best studios in town."

While under contract to Warner Brothers, Miles was cast in Tarzan's Hidden Jungle (released in 1955) as Tarzan's love interest. During filming she married her Tarzan co-star, Gordon Scott; they divorced in 1959.

Director John Ford chose Miles to star as Jeffrey Hunter's love interest in The Searchers (1956), starring John Wayne. In the same year Miles also co-starred in 23 Paces to Baker Street with Van Johnson. A year later Miles began a five-year personal contract with Alfred Hitchcock, and was widely publicized as the director's potential successor to Grace Kelly. Miles' new mentor directed her in the role of Ralph Meeker's emotionally troubled new bride in "Revenge", the pilot episode of his television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents. Suitably impressed, Hitchcock directed her on the big screen alongside Henry Fonda, who played a musician falsely accused of a crime, in The Wrong Man (1956). New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther singled out Miles' performance, writing that she "does convey a poignantly pitiful sense of fear of the appalling situation into which they have been cast". Hitchcock undertook to reinvent his new star through grooming and wardrobe supervised by Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head.

Production delays and her pregnancy cost Miles the leading role opposite James Stewart in Vertigo (1958), the project Hitchcock designed as a showcase for his new star (the role which eventually went to Kim Novak). When asked several years later about Miles by director François Truffaut for the book Hitchcock/Truffaut, Hitchcock explained their professional falling-out this way: "She became pregnant just before the part that was going to turn her into a star. After that, I lost interest. I couldn't get the rhythm going with her again." Miles reflected, "Over the span of years, he's had one type of woman in his films, Ingrid Bergman, Grace Kelly and so on. Before that, it was Madeleine Carroll. I'm not their type and never have been. I tried to please him, but I couldn't. They are all sexy women, but mine is an entirely different approach".

Despite their differences, Hitchcock cast Miles in what is arguably the role for which she is most remembered, that of Lila Crane in Psycho. She also was cast in 1962 and 1965 episodes of The Alfred Hitchcock Hour.

In 1962 she worked with John Ford again on The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance.

Miles was featured in many popular television shows. On February 26, 1960, she starred in the episode "Mirror Image" of the classic CBS television series, The Twilight Zone. Miles also guest starred on the Darren McGavin NBC western series, Riverboat.

On October 4, 1960, Miles appeared in the episode "Three Rode West" of NBC's Laramie western series in the role of Annie Andrews, a young woman who is seeking a husband and ends up being terrorized by outlaw Frank Skinner, played by Myron Healey.

In 1963 Miles co-starred in the first episode of ABC's The Fugitive titled "Fear in a Desert City."

In 1965 Miles portrayed Sister Gervaise in the episode, "There's a Penguin in My Garden", of the NBC education drama series, Mr. Novak, starring James Franciscus as an idealistic high school teacher in Los Angeles. Miles played a supporting role in several episodes of the CBS television series My Three Sons, starring Fred MacMurray. In 1966 Miles co-starred with MacMurray in the Walt Disney film Follow Me, Boys!. In 1968 she again starred alongside John Wayne in the movie Hellfighters. She played a cosmetics queen who commits murder in "Lovely but Lethal," a 1973 episode of NBC's Columbo.

In 1983, two decades after she appeared in Psycho, Miles reprised the role of Lila Crane for Psycho II. Throughout the 1980s until her retirement in 1995, Miles continued to work in both television and film.

Personal life

Miles has been married four times. Her first husband was Bob Miles. They were married from 1948 until 1954 and had two daughters, Debra and Kelley. Her second husband was Gordon Scott. They were married from 1954 until 1959, and had one son, Michael. Her third husband was actor Keith Larsen. They were married from 1960 until 1971, and had one son, Erik.

Miles currently resides in California. She refuses to grant interviews or make public appearances. Her grandson, actor Jordan Essoe, however, met with actress Jessica Biel in 2012 in preparation for Biel's portrayal of Miles in the film Hitchcock.

Select Filmography

• The Wrong Man (1956)
• Autumn Leaves (1956)
• The Searchers (1956)
• The FBI Story (1959)
• Psycho (1960)
• The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
• The Spirit is Willing (1967)
• Hellfighters (1968)
• It Takes All Kinds (1969)
• Psycho II (1983)

External links

• Vera Miles at the Internet Movie Database
• Vera J. Ralston

Awards and achievements
Preceded by Ruth Ellen Richmond	Miss Kansas 1948	Succeeded by Shirley Hargiss