Hello Celebrators of Vintage Sensuality;
I don’t know where you are, but it’s still frigid here on the east coast. Snow piled high for days.
The good news is, I’ve got something that’ll warm you up fast!
In February’s issue of the Old Hollywood Newsletter we’re featuring the lovely and alluring Virginia Mayo.
Thanks for reading and stay sensual.
02/2026
Dyann Bridges, writer, publisher and voice actor
In The Beginning…
Virginia Mayo was born Virginia Clara Jones on November 30, 1920, in St. Louis, Missouri, and passed away on January 17, 2005, in Thousand Oaks, California.
Mayo was a glamorous American film actress, dancer, and singer who is often remembered for a series of popular comedy films with Danny Kaye.
She was one of Warner Bros. biggest box-office draws in the late 1940s and became a silver screen favorite into the early 1950s.
Mayo is best remembered for her strong sensual vibe, grace and well crafted performances mostly in film noir, musicals, and adventure films.
She rose to fame at Warner Bros., starring opposite stars like James Cagney in White Heat (1939).
Mayo was married to actor Michael O’Shea in 1947. I’m happy to relate that the marriage lasted until his death in 1973.
They had one daughter together, Bridget. Mayo did not remarry.
Early Years & Breakthrough…
Mayo began dancing professionally as a child in local stage productions and vaudeville-style performances.
By her early teens she was performing in musical revues and in the late 1930s she joined Busby Berkeley–style chorus lines.
The Busby Berkeley-style shows involved large numbers of dancers choreographed to create moving geometry on stage. Through this training Mayo learned much that transferred to the silver screen.
Her real turning point came in 1941–42, when she was cast in the Broadway musical Banjo Eyes, starring Eddie Cantor.
It was Mayo’s dancing and comedic timing that stood out to the Hollywood talent scouts in the audience.
Warner Bros. signed her quickly and began grooming her as a contract player.
Mayo’s breakthrough screen role was in The Princess and the Pirate (1944) opposite Bob Hope. It gave her a chance to showcase her skills of dance, comedy and glamour.
Warner Bros. then thrust her into a dangerous turn as Verna, the gangster’s moll in White Heat (1949) alongside James Cagney.
I could not find a full version of this movie, but you can see below the kind of honesty, sweetness, brashness and glamour Mayo brings to the role in White Heat.
**I couldn’t find a full version of White Heat. Below are 3 clips that showcase Virginia Mayo’s skills and honesty as an actress.**
2nd clip
3rd clip
Virginia Mayo Photo Gallery
Virginia Mayo’s Love Life
Before her marriage to Michael O’Shea, Virginia Mayo was not publicly tied to any confirmed long-term romantic partners.
This was fairly typical of many studio-era actresses whose dating lives were carefully managed.
Gossip columns of the early 1940s occasionally linked Mayo to male co-stars she worked closely with, including Bob Hope and Eddie Cantor.
There’s no solid evidence these associations went beyond professional camaraderie. Many times, these types of rumors were often planted in the media to boost the film’s marketing.
It was Mayo’s marriage in 1947 which established her first clearly public and lasting romantic partnership.
Virginia Mayo married fellow actor Michael O’Shea in 1947.
O’Shea’s career peaked at the same time Mayo’s did, although he never reached the heights her career did.
They had one daughter, Bridget.
As family life took over her personal life, Mayo gradually shifted her priorities. She took motherhood seriously and scaled back her film work in the 1950s in service of that.
Mayo later focused on television, stage, and occasional film roles as Mayo preferred a relatively traditional home life when she wasn’t working.
Mayo remained married to O’Shea until his death in 1973 and she never remarried afterward.
Additionally, she always spoke fondly of him in later years which is in line with what close friends said was there ‘closeness and affection’ for each other.
So, although Mayo didn’t have a splashy, flashy, tabloid-driven dating life like some stars, she had what, by all accounts was, a long-lasting, private, and genuinely successful marriage and family.
THANK YOU FOR CELEBRATING VINTAGE SENSUALITY WITH US
Contact: thebodyhouse.biz@gmail.com
Discover more classic beauties here:
SYLVIA SIDNEY
EARTHA KITT
DOROTHY MCGUIRE
FAY WRAY
RHONDA FLEMING
GALE ROBBINS
MERLE OBERON
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