Virginia Cherrill
| Virginia Cherrill | |
|---|---|
| Born | April 12, 1908 Carthage, Illinois |
| Died | November 14, 1996 (aged 88) Santa Barbara, California |
| Occupation | Actress |
| Years active | 1931 - 1936 |
| Spouse | Irving Adler Cary Grant (1934-1935) George Child-Villiers (1937-1946) Florian Martini (1948-1996) |
| Awards | Walk of Fame - Motion Picture 1541 Vine Street |
Virginia Cherrill (April 12, 1908 - November 14, 1996) was an American actress best known for her role as the blind flower girl in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights (1931). She was Cary Grant's first wife and also married an English earl in the 1940s, according her the alternate name Virginia Child-Villiers, Countess of Jersey.
Virginia Cherrill was born on a farm in rural Carthage, Illinois, to James E. and Blanche (née Wilcox) Cherrill.[1] She was a Chicago society girl with no thoughts of a film career. However, her friendship with Sue Carol who would later marry Alan Ladd eventually drew her to Hollywood. She had been voted "Queen of the Artists Ball" in Chicago in 1925[1] and was invited to perform on the variety stage by Florence Ziegfeld which offer she declined. She found her first marriage unsatisfying and, courtesy of her friendship with Lederer, decamped to California where she would meet William Randolph Hearst.[1] When she went to Hollywood for a visit, she met Charlie Chaplin when he sat next to her at a boxing match.[2] He had failed to find the girl he wanted for his film but decided she would do and cast her in City Lights in which she gave the performance for which she is remembered, although her working relationship with Chaplin on the film was often strained. As indicated in the documentary Unknown Chaplin, Cherrill was in fact fired from the film for leaving the set for a hairdresssing appointment[3] at one point and Chaplin planned to refilm all her scenes with Georgia Hale, but ultimately realized too much money had already been spent on the picture; as Cherrill recalls in the documentary, close friend Marion Davies suggested Cherrill hold out for more money when Chaplin asked her to return to the film, and she did.
She appeared in a few other films subsequently, including the 1931 Gershwin musical Delicious with Janet Gaynor, but gave up her movie career in 1936 after Troubled Waters.
Cherrill married four times. Her first husband was a rich Chicago lawyer,[1] her second husband was actor Cary Grant, who she alleged was violent toward her[4](from 1934 to 1935), and her third was George Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey (from 1937 to 1946).
She finally settled down with Florian Martini, a Polish airman whose squadron she had looked after in World War II.[4] He found a job working for Lockheed Martin in Santa Barbara, California where they lived from 1948 until her death at age 88. She had no children.
She has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1545 Vine Street.[5]
[edit] Selected filmography
- City Lights (1931)
- Money Mad (1934)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c d "Review: Chaplin's Girl: The Life and Loves of Virginia Cherrill, by Miranda Seymour". The Guardian. May 9, 2009. http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2009/may/09/miranda-seymour-chaplins-girl. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
- ^ "Chaplin's Girl: The Life and Loves of Virginia Cherrill by Miranda Seymour". The London Evening Standard. May 20, 2009. http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard-home/article-23695697-chaplins-girl-the-life-and-loves-of-virginia-cherrill-by-miranda-seymour.do. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
- ^ Daniel Egan (2010). America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide To The Landmark Movies In The National Film Registry. http://books.google.com/books?id=deq3xI8OmCkC&pg=PA180&lpg=PA180&dq=Georgia+Hale+replaced+Virginia+Cherrill+in+City+Lights&source=bl&ots=cX8mLb9ve3&sig=5ySPMhVNzv7jn2B41uerP4IfZww&hl=en&sa=X&ei=rfPsTqe1GsKjiQLctJi_BA&ved=0CBwQ6AEwADhu#v=onepage&q=Georgia%20Hale%20replaced%20Virginia%20Cherrill%20in%20City%20Lights&f=false. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
- ^ a b "The Original Good Time Girl: Chaplin's Girl by Miranda Seymour". The Daily Mail. June 12, 2009. http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/books/article-1191784/The-original-good-time-girl-CHAPLINS-GIRL-BY-MIRANDA-SEYMOUR.html. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
- ^ "Virginia Cherrill - Hollywood Star Walk". Los Angeles Times. http://projects.latimes.com/hollywood/star-walk/virginia-cherrill/. Retrieved December 17, 2011.
