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Virginia Mayo
Wholesome blonde actor who played decorative romantic leads opposite comedians Bob Hope and Danny Kaye in several Sam Goldwyn Technicolor romps of the 1940s including "The Princess and the Pirate" (1944) and "Wonder Man" (1945). Goldwyn also tried her in his acclaimed, Oscar-winning study of the difficulties of veterans' postwar readjustment, "The Best Years of Our Lives" (1946), in which she showed a likeable toughness and ordinariness rather than the usual peaches and cream appeal. Mayo was later in a few creditable "straight" roles including, most memorably, a pair of fine, rough-edged films for director Raoul Walsh, "White Heat" and "Colorado Territory" (both 1949), which suggested a greater acting potential than had been seen to that point.