Vera Miles
Encyclopedia
Vera Miles is an American film actress who gained popularity for starring in films such as The Searchers
, The Wrong Man
, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
, Psycho
and Psycho II.
, the daughter of Burnice (née
Wyrick) and Thomas Ralston. She grew up in Pratt, Kansas
, and later, in Wichita, Kansas
, where she worked nights as a Western Union
operator-typist and graduated from Wichita North High School
in 1947. She was crowned Miss Kansas
in 1948, placing third in the Miss America
contest.
She appeared on the April 4, 1951, edition of the Groucho Marx quiz series You Bet Your Life
described as "a beauty contest winner". Groucho asks her, "What are some of the beauty titles you've held?" and she replies, "I was first Miss Chamber of Commerce and then Miss Wichita and then Miss Kansas and Miss Texas Grapefruit and recently I've been chosen Miss New Maid Margarine and I had the honour to represent Kansas in the Miss America pageant."
where, in 1950, she landed small roles in film and television. These included a minor part as a chorus girl in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), a musical starring Janet Leigh
, with whom Miles would go on to co-star nine years later in the classic Alfred Hitchcock
film, Psycho
. Attracting the attention of several producers, the actress was put under contract at various studios where she posed for cheesecake and publicity photographs, as was standard procedure for most up-and-coming Hollywood starlets of the era.
Under contract to Warner Bros.
, Miles was cast in films such as The Charge At Feather River in 3-D
, but lost out on doing a big 3-D hit starring Vincent Price
, House of Wax
, for which she was considered. She once recalled: "I was dropped by the best studios in town." In Tarzan's Hidden Jungle, filmed in 1954 and released in 1955, she played Tarzan
's love interest (not named "Jane" in this film). In 1954, she married her Tarzan co-star, Gordon Scott
; they divorced in 1959.
Film director John Ford
chose Miles to star as Jeffrey Hunter
's love interest in The Searchers
(1956), starring John Wayne
. A year later, Miles began a five-year personal contract with Alfred Hitchcock and was widely publicized as the director's potential successor to Grace Kelly
. Miles' new mentor directed her in the role of the emotionally troubled new bride of Ralph Meeker
in the pilot episode of his popular television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents
(titled "Revenge"). Suitably impressed, Hitchcock directed her on the big screen alongside Henry Fonda
(who played a New York musician falsely accused of a crime) in The Wrong Man
(1956). New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther
singled out Miles' performance, writing that she "does convey a poignantly pitiful sense of fear of the appalling situation into which they have been cast". Hitchcock undertook a reinvention of his new star through grooming and wardrobe supervised by Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head
.
Production delays and her pregnancy (a son, Michael, with then-husband Gordon Scott) cost Miles the dual leading role opposite James Stewart
in Vertigo
(1958), the project Hitchcock designed as a showcase for his new star. The director replaced Miles with Kim Novak
, with whom he had clashed. When asked several years later about Miles by director François Truffaut
for the book Hitchcock/Truffaut, Hitchcock explained their professional falling-out this way: "She became pregnant just before the part that was going to turn her into a star". "After that, I lost interest. I couldn't get the rhythm going with her again." Miles reflected, "Over the span of years, he's had one type of woman in his films, Ingrid Bergman
, Grace Kelly and so on, before that, it was Madeleine Carroll
. I'm not their type and never have been. I tried to please him but I couldn't. They are all sexy women, but mine is an entirely different approach".
In 1959, Miles and Van Johnson
worked together again in Web of Evidence
, which was adapted from A. J. Cronin
's novel, Beyond This Place
. A year later, Hitchcock cast her as Lila Crane
in Psycho
(1960), in which her character discovers the truth about Norman Bates
and his mother. Miles, while making the thriller, called it "the weirdy of all times".
In 1957, Miles guest starred on NBC's The Steve Allen Show
. On January 9, 1958, Miles appeared on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
.
On January 7, 1960, Miles appeared as Jenny Breckenridge in the "Miss Jenny" episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Western
television series on CBS, opposite Ben Cooper
in the role of Darryl Thompson and Jack Elam
as Little Jimmy Lehigh. The following month she starred in the classic Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image".
She co-starred with Susan Hayward
and John Gavin
in a glossy remake of the melodrama about adultery
, Back Street
(1961), directed by David Miller
and based on the much-filmed 1931 novel by Fannie Hurst
.
Then came another role in a John Ford
western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
(1962), with Stewart and John Wayne
(who compete for her attention). Miles won a Bronze Wrangler citation from Western Heritage Awards, which she shared with director Ford, writer James Warner Bellah and her fellow actors, including Lee Marvin
and Edmond O'Brien
. She would play opposite Wayne again in Hellfighters
(1968). She also appeared in the TV Western The Virginian
.
In 1966, she would co-star in the movie Follow Me, Boys!
alongside Fred MacMurray
.
In 1962 and 1963, she appeared on NBC's medical drama about psychiatry
, The Eleventh Hour
, in two episodes entitled "Beauty Playing a Mandolin Underneath a Willow Tree" as Kate Sommers and in "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White" as the title character. She also appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits
("The Forms of Things Unknown") in 1964.
She did a great deal of television work, including a wife being stalked by an abusive husband in the premier episode of The Fugitive, as a younger wife Helen Walsh in the Rawhide
episode Incident at the Buffalo Smokehouse, as an amnesiac in an episode of Ironside
("Barbara Who", 1968) and as a homicidal beauty-products mogul in one of the Columbo episodes, before reprising her most famous role of Lila Crane
in Psycho II (1983). Throughout the 1980s and thereafter, Miles continued to work in both television and film until her retirement in 1995.
and refuses any public relations offers, including interviews and public appearances and has maintained a low profile since her retirement.
Miles' first husband was Bob Miles; they were married from 1948–1954 and had two daughters: Debra Miles, born in 1950, and Kelley Miles, born in 1952.
After their divorce, she was married to Gordon Scott
from 1954 until 1959, and they had one son, Michael Scott, born in 1957.
After their divorce, she was married to actor Keith Larsen
from 1960 until 1971, and they had one son, Erik Larsen, born in Burbank, California
on April 30, 1961. Keith remarried after their divorce in 1971, but Vera remains single.
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
, The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit...
, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M...
, Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
and Psycho II.
Early life
Miles was born as Vera June Ralston in Boise City, OklahomaBoise City, Oklahoma
Boise City is a city in and the county seat of Cimarron County, Oklahoma, United States. The population was 1,266 at the 2010 census.'Boise' rhymes with 'voice'...
, the daughter of Burnice (née
Married and maiden names
A married name is the family name adopted by a person upon marriage. When a person assumes the family name of her spouse, the new name replaces the maiden name....
Wyrick) and Thomas Ralston. She grew up in Pratt, Kansas
Pratt, Kansas
Pratt is a city in and the county seat of Pratt County in the U.S. state of Kansas. As of the 2010 census, the city population was 6,835. Pratt is home to Pratt Community College.-19th century:Pratt was founded in 1884 and named after Caleb S...
, and later, in Wichita, Kansas
Wichita, Kansas
Wichita is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kansas.As of the 2010 census, the city population was 382,368. Located in south-central Kansas on the Arkansas River, Wichita is the county seat of Sedgwick County and the principal city of the Wichita metropolitan area...
, where she worked nights as a Western Union
Western Union
The Western Union Company is a financial services and communications company based in the United States. Its North American headquarters is in Englewood, Colorado. Up until 2006, Western Union was the best-known U.S...
operator-typist and graduated from Wichita North High School
Wichita North High School
Wichita North High School, known locally as North, is a fully accredited high school located in Wichita, Kansas, USA, serving students in grades 9-12. Wichita North was founded in 1929 on the site where the United States government sent Company 'A' of the 10th Division to the forks of the Arkansas...
in 1947. She was crowned Miss Kansas
Miss Kansas
The Miss Kansas competition is the pageant that selects the representative for the state of Kansas in the Miss America pageant. Kansas has won the Miss America crown on three occasions.- Winners :- External links :*...
in 1948, placing third in the Miss America
Miss America
The Miss America pageant is a long-standing competition which awards scholarships to young women from the 50 states plus the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands...
contest.
She appeared on the April 4, 1951, edition of the Groucho Marx quiz series You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life
You Bet Your Life is an American quiz show that aired on both radio and television. The original and best-known version was hosted by Groucho Marx of the Marx Brothers, with announcer and assistant George Fenneman. The show debuted on ABC Radio in October 1947, then moved to CBS Radio in September...
described as "a beauty contest winner". Groucho asks her, "What are some of the beauty titles you've held?" and she replies, "I was first Miss Chamber of Commerce and then Miss Wichita and then Miss Kansas and Miss Texas Grapefruit and recently I've been chosen Miss New Maid Margarine and I had the honour to represent Kansas in the Miss America pageant."
Career
She moved to Los AngelesLos Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
where, in 1950, she landed small roles in film and television. These included a minor part as a chorus girl in Two Tickets to Broadway (1951), a musical starring Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh
Janet Leigh , born Jeanette Helen Morrison, was an American actress. She was the wife of actor Tony Curtis from June 1951 to September 1962 and the mother of Kelly Curtis and Jamie Lee Curtis....
, with whom Miles would go on to co-star nine years later in the classic Alfred Hitchcock
Alfred Hitchcock
Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
film, Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
. Attracting the attention of several producers, the actress was put under contract at various studios where she posed for cheesecake and publicity photographs, as was standard procedure for most up-and-coming Hollywood starlets of the era.
Under contract to Warner Bros.
Warner Bros.
Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., also known as Warner Bros. Pictures or simply Warner Bros. , is an American producer of film and television entertainment.One of the major film studios, it is a subsidiary of Time Warner, with its headquarters in Burbank,...
, Miles was cast in films such as The Charge At Feather River in 3-D
3-D film
A 3-D film or S3D film is a motion picture that enhances the illusion of depth perception...
, but lost out on doing a big 3-D hit starring Vincent Price
Vincent Price
Vincent Leonard Price, Jr. was an American actor, well known for his distinctive voice and serio-comic attitude in a series of horror films made in the latter part of his career.-Early life and career:Price was born in St...
, House of Wax
House of Wax (1953 film)
House of Wax is a 1953 American horror film starring Vincent Price. It is a remake of Warners' Mystery of the Wax Museum without the comic relief featured in the earlier film, and was directed by André de Toth...
, for which she was considered. She once recalled: "I was dropped by the best studios in town." In Tarzan's Hidden Jungle, filmed in 1954 and released in 1955, she played Tarzan
Tarzan
Tarzan is a fictional character, an archetypal feral child raised in the African jungles by the Mangani "great apes"; he later experiences civilization only to largely reject it and return to the wild as a heroic adventurer...
's love interest (not named "Jane" in this film). In 1954, she married her Tarzan co-star, Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960.-Early life, education and military service:He was born Gordon Merrill Werschkul in Portland,...
; they divorced in 1959.
Film director John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
chose Miles to star as Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter
Jeffrey Hunter was an American film and television actor. His most famous roles are as Jesus in the film King of Kings, as Martin Pawley in The Searchers, and as Capt...
's love interest in The Searchers
The Searchers (film)
The Searchers is a 1956 American Western film directed by John Ford, based on the 1954 novel by Alan Le May, and set during the Texas–Indian Wars...
(1956), starring John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
. A year later, Miles began a five-year personal contract with Alfred Hitchcock and was widely publicized as the director's potential successor to Grace Kelly
Grace Kelly
Grace Patricia Kelly was an American actress who, in April 1956, married Rainier III, Prince of Monaco, to become Princess consort of Monaco, styled as Her Serene Highness The Princess of Monaco, and commonly referred to as Princess Grace.After embarking on an acting career in 1950, at the age of...
. Miles' new mentor directed her in the role of the emotionally troubled new bride of Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker
Ralph Meeker was an American stage and film actor best-known for starring in the 1953 Broadway production of Picnic, and in the 1955 film noir cult classic Kiss Me Deadly.-Career:...
in the pilot episode of his popular television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents
Alfred Hitchcock Presents is an American television anthology series hosted by Alfred Hitchcock. The series featured dramas, thrillers, and mysteries. By the premiere of the show on October 2, 1955, Hitchcock had been directing films for over three decades...
(titled "Revenge"). Suitably impressed, Hitchcock directed her on the big screen alongside Henry Fonda
Henry Fonda
Henry Jaynes Fonda was an American film and stage actor.Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor. He also appeared in 1938 in plays performed in White Plains, New York, with Joan Tompkins...
(who played a New York musician falsely accused of a crime) in The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man
The Wrong Man is a 1956 film by Alfred Hitchcock which stars Henry Fonda and Vera Miles. The film is based on a true story of an innocent man charged for a crime he did not commit...
(1956). New York Times film critic Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther
Bosley Crowther was a journalist and author who was film critic for The New York Times for 27 years. His reviews and articles helped shape the careers of actors, directors and screenwriters, though his reviews, at times, were unnecessarily mean...
singled out Miles' performance, writing that she "does convey a poignantly pitiful sense of fear of the appalling situation into which they have been cast". Hitchcock undertook a reinvention of his new star through grooming and wardrobe supervised by Oscar-winning costume designer Edith Head
Edith Head
Edith Head was an American costume designer who won eight Academy Awards, more than any other woman.-Early life and career:...
.
Production delays and her pregnancy (a son, Michael, with then-husband Gordon Scott) cost Miles the dual leading role opposite James Stewart
James Stewart (actor)
James Maitland Stewart was an American film and stage actor, known for his distinctive voice and his everyman persona. Over the course of his career, he starred in many films widely considered classics and was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one in competition and receiving one Lifetime...
in Vertigo
Vertigo (film)
Vertigo is a 1958 psychological thriller film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring James Stewart, Kim Novak, and Barbara Bel Geddes. The screenplay was written by Alec Coppel and Samuel A...
(1958), the project Hitchcock designed as a showcase for his new star. The director replaced Miles with Kim Novak
Kim Novak
Kim Novak is an American film and television actress. She began her career with her roles in Pushover and Phffft! but achieved greater prominence in the 1955 film Picnic...
, with whom he had clashed. When asked several years later about Miles by director François Truffaut
François Truffaut
François Roland Truffaut was an influential film critic and filmmaker and one of the founders of the French New Wave. In a film career lasting over a quarter of a century, he remains an icon of the French film industry. He was also a screenwriter, producer, and actor working on over twenty-five...
for the book Hitchcock/Truffaut, Hitchcock explained their professional falling-out this way: "She became pregnant just before the part that was going to turn her into a star". "After that, I lost interest. I couldn't get the rhythm going with her again." Miles reflected, "Over the span of years, he's had one type of woman in his films, Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman
Ingrid Bergman was a Swedish actress who starred in a variety of European and American films. She won three Academy Awards, two Emmy Awards, and the Tony Award for Best Actress. She is ranked as the fourth greatest female star of American cinema of all time by the American Film Institute...
, Grace Kelly and so on, before that, it was Madeleine Carroll
Madeleine Carroll
Edith Madeleine Carroll was an English actress, popular in the 1930s and 1940s.-Early life:Carroll was born at 32 Herbert Street in West Bromwich, England. She graduated from the University of Birmingham, England with a B.A. degree...
. I'm not their type and never have been. I tried to please him but I couldn't. They are all sexy women, but mine is an entirely different approach".
In 1959, Miles and Van Johnson
Van Johnson
Van Johnson was an American film and television actor and dancer who was a major star at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer studios during and after World War II....
worked together again in Web of Evidence
Web of Evidence
Web of Evidence is a 1959 British film based on the novel, Beyond This Place, by A. J. Cronin. It was directed by Jack Cardiff and stars Van Johnson and Vera Miles. The original title was kept for the film's European release, though it was given an alternate title for the American release...
, which was adapted from A. J. Cronin
A. J. Cronin
Archibald Joseph Cronin was a Scottish physician and novelist. His best-known works are Hatter's Castle, The Stars Look Down, The Citadel, The Keys of the Kingdom and The Green Years, all of which were adapted to film. He also created the Dr...
's novel, Beyond This Place
Beyond This Place
Beyond This Place is a 1953 novel by Scottish author A. J. Cronin. A serial version appeared in Collier's under the title of To Live Again.-Adaptations:...
. A year later, Hitchcock cast her as Lila Crane
Lila Crane
Lila Loomis is a fictional character from the 1959 Robert Bloch novel Psycho and its 1960 film adaptation. Additionally, she appears in Bloch's sequel novel and the unrelated sequel film of the same name.- Fictional biography :...
in Psycho
Psycho (1960 film)
Psycho is a 1960 American suspense/psychological horror film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and starring Janet Leigh and Anthony Perkins. The film is based on the screenplay by Joseph Stefano, who adapted it from the 1959 novel of the same name by Robert Bloch...
(1960), in which her character discovers the truth about Norman Bates
Norman Bates
Norman Bates is a fictional character created by writer Robert Bloch as the central character in his novel Psycho, and portrayed by Anthony Perkins as the main antagonist of the 1960 film of the same name directed by Alfred Hitchcock...
and his mother. Miles, while making the thriller, called it "the weirdy of all times".
In 1957, Miles guest starred on NBC's The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show
The Steve Allen Show is an American variety show hosted by Steve Allen from June 1956 to June 1960 on NBC, from September 1961 to December 1961 on ABC, and in first-run syndication from 1962 to 1964....
. On January 9, 1958, Miles appeared on NBC's The Ford Show, Starring Tennessee Ernie Ford
The Ford Show
The Ford Show is a half-hour comedy/variety program, starring singer and folk humorist Tennessee Ernie Ford, which aired in color on NBC television on Thursday evenings from October 4, 1956 to June 29, 1961....
.
On January 7, 1960, Miles appeared as Jenny Breckenridge in the "Miss Jenny" episode of Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theater
Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre, sometimes simply called Zane Grey Theatre, is an American Western anthology series which ran on CBS from 1956 to 1961.-Overview:Zane Grey Theatre was created by Luke Short and Charles A. Wallace...
Western
Western (genre)
The Western is a genre of various visual arts, such as film, television, radio, literature, painting and others. Westerns are devoted to telling stories set primarily in the latter half of the 19th century in the American Old West, hence the name. Some Westerns are set as early as the Battle of...
television series on CBS, opposite Ben Cooper
Ben Cooper
Ben Cooper is a retired American actor of film and television, who won a Golden Boot award in 2005 for his work in westerns.-Early films:...
in the role of Darryl Thompson and Jack Elam
Jack Elam
William Scott "Jack" Elam was an American film actor best known for his numerous roles as villains in Western films and, later in his career, comedies .-Early life:...
as Little Jimmy Lehigh. The following month she starred in the classic Twilight Zone episode "Mirror Image".
She co-starred with Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward
Susan Hayward was an American actress.After working as a fashion model in New York, Hayward travelled to Hollywood in 1937 when open auditions were held for the leading role in Gone with the Wind . Although she was not selected, she secured a film contract, and played several small supporting...
and John Gavin
John Gavin
John Gavin is an American film actor and a former United States Ambassador to Mexico. Gavin is half Mexican and fluent in Spanish....
in a glossy remake of the melodrama about adultery
Adultery
Adultery is sexual infidelity to one's spouse, and is a form of extramarital sex. It originally referred only to sex between a woman who was married and a person other than her spouse. Even in cases of separation from one's spouse, an extramarital affair is still considered adultery.Adultery is...
, Back Street
Back Street (1961 film)
Back Street is a 1961 film made by Universal Pictures, directed by David Miller, and produced by Ross Hunter. The screenplay was written by William Ludwig and Eleanore Griffin based on the novel by Fannie Hurst. The music score is by Frank Skinner...
(1961), directed by David Miller
David Miller (director)
David Miller was an American movie director who directed such varied films as Billy the Kid with Robert Taylor and Brian Donlevy, Flying Tigers with John Wayne, and Love Happy with the Marx Brothers.-Filmography:* Bittersweet Love * Executive Action * Hail, Hero! * Hammerhead...
and based on the much-filmed 1931 novel by Fannie Hurst
Fannie Hurst
Fannie Hurst was an American novelist. Although her books are not well remembered today, during her lifetime some of her more famous novels were Stardust , Lummox , A President is Born , Back Street , and Imitation of Life...
.
Then came another role in a John Ford
John Ford
John Ford was an American film director. He was famous for both his westerns such as Stagecoach, The Searchers, and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and adaptations of such classic 20th-century American novels as The Grapes of Wrath...
western, The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance is a 1962 American Western film directed by John Ford and starring James Stewart and John Wayne. The black-and-white film was released by Paramount Pictures. The screenplay by James Warner Bellah and Willis Goldbeck was adapted from a short story written by Dorothy M...
(1962), with Stewart and John Wayne
John Wayne
Marion Mitchell Morrison , better known by his stage name John Wayne, was an American film actor, director and producer. He epitomized rugged masculinity and became an enduring American icon. He is famous for his distinctive calm voice, walk, and height...
(who compete for her attention). Miles won a Bronze Wrangler citation from Western Heritage Awards, which she shared with director Ford, writer James Warner Bellah and her fellow actors, including Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin
Lee Marvin was an American film actor. Known for his gravelly voice, white hair and 6' 2" stature, Marvin at first did supporting roles, mostly villains, soldiers and other hardboiled characters, but after winning an Academy Award for Best Actor for his dual roles in Cat Ballou , he landed more...
and Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien
Edmond O'Brien was an American actor who is perhaps best remembered for his role in D.O.A. and his Oscar winning role in The Barefoot Contessa...
. She would play opposite Wayne again in Hellfighters
Hellfighters (film)
Hellfighters is a 1968 American film starring John Wayne, Katharine Ross, Bruce Cabot, Jim Hutton, Jay C. Flippen and Vera Miles. The movie, directed by Andrew V. McLaglen, is about a group of oil well firefighters, based loosely on the life of Red Adair...
(1968). She also appeared in the TV Western The Virginian
The Virginian (TV series)
The Virginian is an American Western television series starring James Drury and Doug McClure, which aired on NBC from 1962 to 1971 for a total of 249 episodes. Filmed in color, The Virginian became television's first 90-minute western series...
.
In 1966, she would co-star in the movie Follow Me, Boys!
Follow Me, Boys!
Follow Me, Boys! is a 1966 family film released through Walt Disney Pictures, based on the book God and My Country by MacKinlay Kantor. It was the last production released before Walt Disney died of lung cancer...
alongside Fred MacMurray
Fred MacMurray
Frederick Martin "Fred" MacMurray was an American actor who appeared in more than 100 movies and a successful television series during a career that spanned nearly a half-century, from 1930 to the 1970s....
.
In 1962 and 1963, she appeared on NBC's medical drama about psychiatry
Psychiatry
Psychiatry is the medical specialty devoted to the study and treatment of mental disorders. These mental disorders include various affective, behavioural, cognitive and perceptual abnormalities...
, The Eleventh Hour
The Eleventh Hour (1962 TV series)
The Eleventh Hour is an American medical drama about psychiatry starring Wendell Corey, Jack Ging, and Ralph Bellamy, which aired sixty-two new episodes plus selected rebroadcasts on NBC from October 3, 1962, to September 9, 1964.-Series premise:...
, in two episodes entitled "Beauty Playing a Mandolin Underneath a Willow Tree" as Kate Sommers and in "Ann Costigan: A Duel on a Field of White" as the title character. She also appeared in an episode of The Outer Limits
The Outer Limits (1963 TV series)
The Outer Limits is an American television series that aired on ABC from 1963 to 1965. The series is similar in style to the earlier The Twilight Zone, but with a greater emphasis on science fiction, rather than fantasy stories...
("The Forms of Things Unknown") in 1964.
She did a great deal of television work, including a wife being stalked by an abusive husband in the premier episode of The Fugitive, as a younger wife Helen Walsh in the Rawhide
Rawhide (TV series)
Rawhide is an American Western series that aired for eight seasons on the CBS network on Friday nights, from January 9, 1959 to September 3, 1965, before moving to Tuesday nights from September 14, 1965 until January 4, 1966, with a total of 217 black-and-white episodes...
episode Incident at the Buffalo Smokehouse, as an amnesiac in an episode of Ironside
Ironside (TV series)
Ironside is a Universal television series which ran on NBC from September 14, 1967 to January 16, 1975. The show starred Raymond Burr as the wheelchair-using Chief of Detectives, Robert T. Ironside. The character's debut was in a TV-movie on March 28, 1967. The original title of the show in the...
("Barbara Who", 1968) and as a homicidal beauty-products mogul in one of the Columbo episodes, before reprising her most famous role of Lila Crane
Lila Crane
Lila Loomis is a fictional character from the 1959 Robert Bloch novel Psycho and its 1960 film adaptation. Additionally, she appears in Bloch's sequel novel and the unrelated sequel film of the same name.- Fictional biography :...
in Psycho II (1983). Throughout the 1980s and thereafter, Miles continued to work in both television and film until her retirement in 1995.
Personal life
Miles resides in CaliforniaCalifornia
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
and refuses any public relations offers, including interviews and public appearances and has maintained a low profile since her retirement.
Miles' first husband was Bob Miles; they were married from 1948–1954 and had two daughters: Debra Miles, born in 1950, and Kelley Miles, born in 1952.
After their divorce, she was married to Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott
Gordon Scott was an American film and television actor known for his portrayal of the fictional character Tarzan in five films of the Tarzan film series from 1955 to 1960.-Early life, education and military service:He was born Gordon Merrill Werschkul in Portland,...
from 1954 until 1959, and they had one son, Michael Scott, born in 1957.
After their divorce, she was married to actor Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen
Keith Larsen was an American actor, screenwriter, director, and producer who starred in three short-lived television series between 1955 and 1961.-Background:...
from 1960 until 1971, and they had one son, Erik Larsen, born in Burbank, California
Burbank, California
Burbank is a city in Los Angeles County in Southern California, United States, north of downtown Los Angeles. The estimated population in 2010 was 103,340....
on April 30, 1961. Keith remarried after their divorce in 1971, but Vera remains single.
See also
- Millicent Barnes, Mirror Image, Twilight Zone