Final ‘It’s A Fantastic Life’ Grownup Forged Member Was 97 – Deadline

Virginia Patton, who performed George Bailey’s sister-in-law within the vacation staple It’s A Fantastic Life, died in an assisted residing facilty on Aug. 18. She was 97.

Patton was Ruth Dakin Bailey within the 1946 movie, married to struggle hero Harry Bailey. Her most outstanding scene was on the Bedford Falls practice station, when she meets George and Uncle Billy for the primary time.

Virginia Ann Patton was born in Cleveland on June 25, 1925. Raised in Portland, Oregon, she went to Los Angeles after highschool commencement to pursue an performing profession.

She signed with Warner Bros. and made her film debut within the musical Thank Your Fortunate Stars (1943), starring Eddie Cantor, and appeared the movies Janie (1944), Hollywood Canteen (1944) and Jack Benny’s The Horn Blows at Midnight (1945).

Patton, a niece of World Battle II Basic George Patton, got here to It’s a Fantastic Life director Frank Capra’s consideration by way of a USC play. The timing was fortuitous, as her Warner Bros. contract had lapsed. She learn for Capra and he signed her.

After the 1946 filming of It’s a Fantastic Life, which did mediocre field workplace in theaters, however grew to become a cult hit on TV, Patton had the feminine lead in The Burning Cross (1947), a film in regards to the Ku Klux Klan, and Black Eagle (1948), a Western.

She retired from performing after a supporting flip in The Fortunate Stiff (1949).