Skip to main content
Virginia Vale

Virginia Vale

Actor · 1920 – 2006 · Dallas, Texas, USA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Virginia Vale (born Dorothy Howe, 20 May 1920 – 14 Sep 2006) was an American film actress. She starred in a number of B-movie Westerns but took a variety of other roles as well, notably in Blonde Comet (1941), in which she played a race car driver. Vale was the daughter of Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Howe. Before becoming a professional actor, she was a switchboard operator in Dallas, Texas, and honed her acting skills in productions at a little theater in Dallas. After a representative of Paramount Pictures saw her in a leading role, he invited her to make a screen test, which led to a contract. (Another source says that Howe was working at the switchboard in Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer's Dallas office, where a talent scout for Paramount found her and signed her to a contract. Career Several of Vale's early films were made using her birth name. The name Virginia Vale had been chosen in advance for the female winner of the 1939 Gateway to Hollywood contest, a nationwide talent search sponsored by producer Jesse Lasky -- as noted (somewhat indignantly) then by another Virginia Vale a syndicated columnist covering the film industry. Vale edged out Rhonda Fleming in the 1939 contest. After her film career, she became an executive secretary at Lockheed and also a competition judge for the US Figure Skating Association. She was eventually honored by the USFSA for 50 years of service in that role. Before becoming a judge, she'd also briefly been a competition skater. Her life in film and skating was featured at the 2002 U.S. figure skating championships and a memorial trophy for "most outstanding performance" was given in her name at the 2007 California Championships.

Movies24

  • Movie6.3
  • Movie6.3

    The Gay Falcon

    1941 · 25 votes

  • Movie7.5
  • Movie6.1

    True Confession

    1937 · 23 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Unmarried

    1939 · 4 votes

  • Movie8.0

    Disbarred

    1939 · 2 votes

  • Movie4.8

    Crime, Inc.

    1945 · 7 votes

  • Movie7.5

    Triple Justice

    1940 · 2 votes

  • Movie6.2

    Legion of the Lawless

    1940 · 6 votes

  • Movie7.7

    Robbers of the Range

    1941 · 3 votes

  • Movie5.9

    Stage to Chino

    1940 · 5 votes

  • Movie5.5
  • Movie6.0

    King of Alcatraz

    1938 · 4 votes

  • Movie7.5

    Her Jungle Love

    1938 · 3 votes

  • Movie6.1

    Millionaires in Prison

    1940 · 7 votes

  • Movie9.0

    Cocoanut Grove

    1938 · 1 votes

  • Movie3.8

    Persons in Hiding

    1939 · 4 votes

  • Movie4.5

    Three Sons

    1939 · 5 votes

  • Movie7.0

    A Panic in the Parlor

    1941 · 1 votes

  • Movie5.8

    Bullet Code

    1940 · 6 votes

  • Movie9.0

    Broadway Big Shot

    1942 · 1 votes

  • Movie6.3

    Repent at Leisure

    1941 · 4 votes

  • Movie5.3

    Blonde Comet

    1941 · 7 votes

  • Movie4.3

    Night Club Scandal

    1937 · 6 votes

Series1

  • TV8.3

    New Amsterdam

    2018 · 1.1K votes