Pneumonia claimed the life of RUTH WARRICK Saturday in New York. The very 1st movie of any kind ol' Father Geek remembers seeing was 1946's SONG OF THE SOUTH with my Uncle Fred at the Liberty Theatre in downtown Beaumont, Texas, it is still one of my all time favorites (own a 16mm copy) and Ruth Warrick was Sally in the live action scenes of that great Disney classic. Of course her greatest film role was her 1st, that of Emily Kane in Welles' 1941 masterpiece CITIZEN KANE. Buuuuut most of you who know Ruth's work probaby know her best from TV. She was a pioneer of the Soap Opera genre starring as Nurse Johnson from 1953-54 on THE GUIDING LIGHT. Then she played "Aunt Edie" on AS THE WORLD TURNS from 1956 thru 1960. When the prime time soap PEYTON PLACE hit the tube she played Hannah during the 65-67 seasons. Then came by far her greatest character, "Pheobe English Tyler Wallingford Matthews Wallingford", from 1970 till the Very Present on ALL MY CHILDREN. A 35 year run, 2 years longer than Harry has been alive, an actress can't ask for much more than that from her career. However, during those Soap years she appeared in dozens of other TV shows too, and continued to make Motion Pictures, racking up several nominations for Emmys, Daytime Emmys, Soapies, Soap Opera Digest Awards, and finally a "Life Time Achievement Award". Ruth was a true trooper to the very end... and fans around the world are saddened by her loss. RUTH WARRICK will be missed!
One of Father Geek's favorite actresses from the late 40's and early 50's is VIRGINIA MAYO. Pneumonia also took her from us this Monday, the 17th out in Thousand Oaks, California. She was a gifted comedy foil for Bob Hope and Danny Kaye in a ton of flicks like THE PRINCESS AND THE PIRATE, and the SECRET LIFE OF WALTER MITTY. Buuuuuut Father Geek will always remember her for her gritty noirish dames. Her beautiful blonde looks was perfect Femme Fatale material, and slutty Marie in 1946's BEST YEARS OF OUR LIVES set the stage for some really memorable dramatic roles. 1948 brought SMART GIRLS DON'T TALK... then she struck pure gold as James Cagney's unfaithful and callous gun-moll Verna in probably the best of the "big studio noirs", Warner's WHITE HEAT. She followed that up with other two-timing roles in RED LIGHT, BACKFIRE, and others. Over the years she would star opposite the likes of Kirk Douglas, Joel McCrea, Ronald Reagan, Gregory Peck, Dana Andrews, Burt Lancaster, Paul Newman, nearly all the big name leading men. Father Geek here 1st noticed Virginia in a 1952 Techicolor epic, THE IRON MISTRESS, with Alan Ladd as legendary Jim Bowie. In her best noir fatale form Virginia's "Judalon de Bornay" sets up the infamous knifefight duel that exiles Bowie from Louisiana, sending him to Texas and his eventual Fate at the Alamo. As a young kid growing up in San Antonio the film fired my imagination (it was after all The Legend and not The Facts the film dealt with)... I saw it several times in the uber plush surroundings of SA's great Majestic Theatre located just 4 blocks from the real ALAMO (its still there), and Virginia's great beauty and come-hether charms won me over despite her obvious dark nature in the film. Those feelings have stuck with me thru all the years since and I am hit pretty hard by the news of her death. Harry knowing my feelings called me in last night and asked if I wanted to write this obit. My answer was "of course, buuut can I wait until the morning", I didn't want to try to go to sleep with the memory of this piece fresh in my head. Virginia's last major big screen role was that of Lucia in 1997's THE MAN NEXT DOOR... she did alot of TV too... REMINGTON STEELE, MURDER SHE WROTE, POLICE STORY, NIGHT GALLERY, stuff like that. Her last TV work was in a film called THE NAKED TRUTH. I'll miss you VIRGINIA MAYO...
