Virginia O'Brien: Biography

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Birth Name:

Virginia Lee O'Brien

Born:

Apr 18, 1918 in Los Angeles, CA

Died:

Jan 16, 2001 in Woodland Hills, CA

Genres:

Classical Music, Soundtracks, Show Tunes

Decades Active:

1940's

Born in Los Angeles in 1919, Virginia O'Brien was attracted to dancing at an early age after seeing several movies starring Eleanor Powell, but she ultimately became a singer. She was hired for a 1940 stage production of +Meet the People (she got the gig because the director was impressed with her spoton impersonation of Ethel Merman). Although she thought her onstage debut was a disaster (she suffered from stage fright and sang her song with little emotion), the head of MetroGoldwynMayer, Louis B. Mayer, saw the performance and saw potential in O'Brien. She was signed to a sevenyear contract after only a single screen test, starring in such movies as Ziegfeld Follies, Till the Clouds Roll By, The Harvey Girls, Thousands Cheer, and Du Barry Was a Lady alongside Judy Garland, Mickey Rooney, Fred Astaire, Burt Lahr, the Marx Brothers, Donald O'Connor, and Red Skelton (with whom she made a total of seven films with). In just a few short years, O'Brien was one of Hollywood's top female comedic actresses.

It was her work with Garland that O'Brien is best known for, however, singing "The Wild, Wild West" (from The Harvey Girls) and "Life Upon the Wicked Stage" (from Till the Clouds Roll By) alongside Garland. Her popularity began to wane by the end of the decade, but she kept working in both nightclubs and small theater productions, as well as appearing on such popular TV talk shows with Ed Sullivan, Merv Griffin, and Steve Allen, as well as an appearance in movies (the 1976 Disney film Gus). One of her last appearances was in the '90s, as part of the Palm Spring Follies. On January 23, 2001, O'Brien passed away in Los Angeles at the age of 81.

- Greg Prato, All Music Guide