Today in Wheeling History: April 19 — Virginia Fox, silent-film actress and wife of Hollywood mogul Darryl F. Zanuck, is born in Wheeling (1902).
Virginia Oglesby Fox was born on April 19, 1902, in Wheeling, West Virginia, the daughter of Frederick L. Fox, a Wisconsin native, and Mary Elizabeth (née Oglesby) Fox, originally from Indiana. The 1910 federal census places the family at 25 Walnut Avenue in Woodsdale, then a separate town in Ohio County and today a neighborhood of Wheeling, where nine-year-old Virginia lived with her parents, her younger brother Frederick, and a domestic servant. Her exact birth year remains disputed — West Virginia did not mandate birth records until 1917 — but genealogical sources, census records, and her Social Security file consistently point to 1902.
Standing just 4-foot-9, Virginia became one of the Mack Sennett bathing beauties after a chance visit to his Los Angeles studio while on vacation from boarding school. Over a career spanning roughly a decade, she appeared in approximately 20 films, becoming Buster Keaton's leading lady in comedies including "Neighbors" (1920), "The Haunted House" (1921), and "The Goat" (1921). On January 12, 1924, she married film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, with whom she had three children: Darrylin, Susan Marie, and Richard Darryl. She retired from acting but remained a behind-the-scenes influence on her husband's career. The couple separated in 1956 and never legally divorced. She cared for Zanuck after he became mentally incapacitated in the early 1970s until his death in 1979. Virginia Fox Zanuck died on October 14, 1982, in Santa Monica, California, of a lung infection complicated by emphysema. She is buried alongside her husband at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
To learn more: Wikipedia - Virginia Fox (https://tinyurl.com/2s3csm62), Find a Grave – Virginia Oglesby Fox Zanuck (https://tinyurl.com/k9mbwxzk), IMDb – Virginia Fox filmography (https://tinyurl.com/v5whztuh), WikiTree – Virginia Oglesby Fox (https://tinyurl.com/36ve5ywp), The New York Times - "Virginia F. Zanuck, Silent Movie Star" (https://tinyurl.com/yey5w87w), IMDb - Virginia Fox (1902-1982) (https://tinyurl.com/3h72vsxm), Harris, Marlys J. (1989). The Zanucks of Hollywood: the dark legacy of an American dynasty. Crown Publishers. ISBN 9780517570203. (https://tinyurl.com/myuuc4r4), Chicago Tribune - "V. Zanuck, widow of film tycoon." October 15, 1982. p. 8. via Newspapers.com. (https://tinyurl.com/4df4dmu2), The New York Times - "R.I.P. in L.A." (https://tinyurl.com/yphrbr4r), FamilySearch (https://tinyurl.com/ywbfavxb)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, IMDb, U.S. Census, Chicago Tribune, Find a Grave, Google Maps
Virginia Oglesby Fox was born on April 19, 1902, in Wheeling, West Virginia, the daughter of Frederick L. Fox, a Wisconsin native, and Mary Elizabeth (née Oglesby) Fox, originally from Indiana. The 1910 federal census places the family at 25 Walnut Avenue in Woodsdale, then a separate town in Ohio County and today a neighborhood of Wheeling, where nine-year-old Virginia lived with her parents, her younger brother Frederick, and a domestic servant. Her exact birth year remains disputed — West Virginia did not mandate birth records until 1917 — but genealogical sources, census records, and her Social Security file consistently point to 1902.
Standing just 4-foot-9, Virginia became one of the Mack Sennett bathing beauties after a chance visit to his Los Angeles studio while on vacation from boarding school. Over a career spanning roughly a decade, she appeared in approximately 20 films, becoming Buster Keaton's leading lady in comedies including "Neighbors" (1920), "The Haunted House" (1921), and "The Goat" (1921). On January 12, 1924, she married film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, with whom she had three children: Darrylin, Susan Marie, and Richard Darryl. She retired from acting but remained a behind-the-scenes influence on her husband's career. The couple separated in 1956 and never legally divorced. She cared for Zanuck after he became mentally incapacitated in the early 1970s until his death in 1979. Virginia Fox Zanuck died on October 14, 1982, in Santa Monica, California, of a lung infection complicated by emphysema. She is buried alongside her husband at Westwood Village Memorial Park in Los Angeles.
To learn more: Wikipedia - Virginia Fox (https://tinyurl.com/2s3csm62), Find a Grave – Virginia Oglesby Fox Zanuck (https://tinyurl.com/k9mbwxzk), IMDb – Virginia Fox filmography (https://tinyurl.com/v5whztuh), WikiTree – Virginia Oglesby Fox (https://tinyurl.com/36ve5ywp), The New York Times - "Virginia F. Zanuck, Silent Movie Star" (https://tinyurl.com/yey5w87w), IMDb - Virginia Fox (1902-1982) (https://tinyurl.com/3h72vsxm), Harris, Marlys J. (1989). The Zanucks of Hollywood: the dark legacy of an American dynasty. Crown Publishers. ISBN 9780517570203. (https://tinyurl.com/myuuc4r4), Chicago Tribune - "V. Zanuck, widow of film tycoon." October 15, 1982. p. 8. via Newspapers.com. (https://tinyurl.com/4df4dmu2), The New York Times - "R.I.P. in L.A." (https://tinyurl.com/yphrbr4r), FamilySearch (https://tinyurl.com/ywbfavxb)
Photo credits: Wikimedia Commons, IMDb, U.S. Census, Chicago Tribune, Find a Grave, Google Maps
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