Jigee Viertel

Jigee Viertel (30 September 1915 – 31 January 1960) was an actress in early Hollywood pictures and later the wife of screenwriters Budd Schulberg and Peter Viertel. She was active in early Hollywood socialist organization and later in life was linked to the writers Ring Lardner, Jr. and Ernest Hemingway. She died from burns she suffered after inadvertently dropping a lit cigarette into the pocket of her flammable sleepwear.

Biography

Born Virginia Lee Ray in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, she moved with her parents to Los Angeles and became active in dance and theater and is credited with appearances in three early motion pictures: One in a Million (1936), Bottoms Up (1934) and Three Kids and a Queen (1935). She married Budd Schulberg on New Year's Eve 1936. They divorced in 1942 and she married Peter Viertel. Peter subsequently left her for the fashion model Bettina Graziani. After Graziani left him for Prince Aly Khan, Peter ended his relationship with Viertel and later became involved with Deborah Kerr. Reputedly dependent on alcohol and sleeping medication, Viertel woke one night in her Los Angeles home and while in the bathroom lit a cigarette that she then dropped inadvertently into the pocket of her dressing gown, causing her immolation. She died from the burns she suffered a month later.