Virginia Mayo, blonde beauty of 1940s, 1950s films, dies

LOS ANGELES -- Virginia Mayo, the stunning blonde actress who brought beauty and romance to films of the 1940s and 1950s with such co-stars as James Cagney, Bob Hope, Gregory Peck, Danny Kaye and Ronald Reagan, died Monday at a nursing home in suburban Thousand Oaks. She was 84.

Mayo, who had been in failing health, died of pneumonia and heart failure, according to the Los Angeles Times, which first reported her death on its Web site.

"She passed away this afternoon," longtime friend Mary Walsh said.

Her honey blonde hair and creamy, flawless face made Mayo ideal for the Technicolor musicals, westerns and adventures that were the rage in Hollywood in the 1940s and '50s.

Princess to the pirate

Starting as a chorus girl, she quickly advanced to co-star status, appearing opposite Hope in "The Princess and the Pirate" in 1944. She went on to make five films with Kaye before signing a contract with Warner Bros., where she became one of the studio's biggest stars.

When she signed the contract, Warner Bros. issued an effusive news release that concluded: "At 115 pounds she is potentially as valuable as an acre of land in downtown Los Angeles -- and at least several times more desirable."

Mayo did indeed become a valuable property for Warner Bros., appearing in five movies in 1949 alone. She also starred opposite Reagan in the romantic comedy "The Girl from Jones Beach" that year and again in the 1952 musical "She's Working Her Way Through College."

She made three films with Walsh's late husband, the legendary director Raoul Walsh. They were "Captain Horatio Hornblower," "Colorado Territory" and "White Heat."

"She was an awfully nice lady," Walsh recalled. "She was very kind and very thoughtful. She was always on the set on time. She never held up production. She always knew her lines.

"She was beautiful in pictures, but she was even more beautiful in person," Walsh continued.

"I guess maybe it was because she was so good inside."