With Jeffrey Hunter. THE SEARCHERS
- It’s nice to know Vera Miles (born 1929) had a birthday recently.
In films ( and television ) from the early 1950’s, Vera costarred with some of the biggest stars in Hollywood – Henry Fonda (THE WRONG MAN); John Wayne (THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE, HELLFIGHTERS); James Stewart (LIBERTY VALANCE, THE F.B.I.STORY); James Mason (A TOUCH OF LARCENY); Fred MacMurray (FOLLOW ME BOYS.) - And of course, PSYCHO!
And not always the heroine. Vera showed her versatility in BACK STREET and AUTUMN LEAVES – nasty to Susan Hayward and Joan Crawford.
Her list of television credits is amazing. Name a TV show and Vera guested in it.
I wrote about Vera in more detail in 2018. Interesting to note that her birth name was Vera Ralston!
With John Wayne.THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE.
With Van Johnson.
A good thriller.
Vienna's Classic Hollywood
Would have been really confusing if she hadn’t married Bob Miles.
There was another actress named Vera Ralston who also made films with John Wayne.
She excels at playing cold and nasty. Recently viewed an old Columbo episode where she played a cosmetics industry leader who’d fallen on hard times. She needed to get her hands on some face cream formula and was willing to kill those in her way; in this case, both Martin Sheen and Sian Barbara Allen fell victim.
I remember that Columbo episode. Vera was very good.
Vienna, good tribute to Vera June Ralston, better known as Vera Miles. Vera has always been one of my favorite actresses. She was in a lot of movies and tv shows. Vera conveys such intelligence through her striking classic beauty. We had a good conversation about her on this site in 2018. https://viennasclassichollywood.com/2018/09/24/celebrating-vera-miles/
In 1948 Vera Ralston, as Miss Kansas, was 3rd runner up in the Miss America Contest. As a result, she was signed by RKO Radio Pictures. This was during the Howard Hughes years at RKO. Robert Miles was a driver for Hughes’ studio and Hughes had a rule forbidding any studio employ from fraternizing with any of the would-be stars. Robert Miles would drive Vera Ralston to her acting classes. Robert and Vera married in November, 1948. Robert was fired and Vera’s contract was later sold to 20th Century Fox and Fox dropped her after 6 months. I don’t know if writer/producer/director Warren Beatty and writer Bo Goldman knew about the Robert and Vera Miles story or not, but the movie THE RULES DON’T APPLY(filmed 2014-15, released 2016) had a similar storyline.
Thanks, Walter, for your comments, Interesting reference to the Warren Beatty film which I did not know.
You know, I don’t appreciate Vera Miles as much as I should. I need to watch more of her films, and I will start soon. Thanks in advance!
Lots to view. Enjoy!