Virginia Dale (born Virginia Paxton; – October 3, 1994) was an American actress and dancer.
Biography Dale was born in North Carolina. She was the daughter of Lula Helms Paxton, and she graduated from Central High School in Charlotte.
Dale began learning toe dancing when she was 9 years old. When she was an adult, she recalled, "I slaved and slaved at it, hating every minute. I tried everything I could think of to get out of it." That exit occurred when blood poisoning in one of her feet required grafting lamb's skin over the top of the foot. The resulting reduction in the foot's ability to stretch ended her toe dancing.
When Dale was a teenager, Earl Carroll selected her as the winner of a beauty contest in Charlotte. That introduction to Carroll helped Dale and her sister, Frances, who danced as a team, to perform in New York City. Their engagements there included an eight-month stint at the Hollywood Restaurant. They also performed in other cities in the eastern United States. While they were in New York City, Dale was discovered by Darryl F. Zanuck who signed her to a contract with 20th Century Fox.
She appeared in a number of movies in the late 1930s and 1940s, including Holiday Inn (1942), in which she dances and sings with Fred Astaire and Bing Crosby, and she became particularly associated with musicals. In the 1950s, she worked mainly in television series such as The Adventures of Kit Carson (1951–1952), Highway Patrol (1957), and The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp (1957–1958). She left the movie business in 1958, but returned to acting for a few films in the 1980s.
On Broadway, Dale performed in Him (1928) and The Final Balance (1928).
Death Dale died of complications of emphysema on October 3, 1994, in Burbank, California, aged 77.
Filmography Year Title Role Notes 1938 No Time to Marry Eleanor Winthrop Start Cheering Mabel 1939 Idiot's Delight Les Blondes - Francine The Kid from Texas 'Okay' Kinney Death of a Champion Patsy Doyle All Women Have Secrets Jennifer Warwick 1940 Parole Fixer Enid Casserly Buck Benny Rides Again Virginia The Quarterback Kay Merrill Dancing on a Dime Dolly Stewart Love Thy Neighbor Virginia Astor 1941 Las Vegas Nights Patsy Grant The Singing Hill Jo Adams Kiss the Boys Goodbye Gwendolyn Abbott World Premiere Lee Morrisson 1942 Holiday Inn Lila Dixon 1943 Headin' for God's Country Laurie Lane 1947 Fall Guy Marie The Hucksters Kimberly Receptionist Dragnet Irene Trilling Louisiana 1948 Docks of New Orleans Rene Blanchette Strike It Rich Mabel 1950 Love That Brute Maid Uncredited1951 Danger Zone Claire Underwood (1st Episode)1974 That's Entertainment! Herself Documentary, Clip from 'Idiot's Delight', (archive footage)
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