Early life Mayo was born in
St. Louis, Missouri, the daughter of newspaper reporter Luke and his wife, Martha Henrietta (née Rautenstrauch) Jones. Her family had roots back to the earliest days of St Louis, including great-great-great grandfather Captain James Piggott, who founded
East St. Louis, Illinois, in 1797. Virginia's aunt operated an acting school in the St. Louis area, which Virginia began attending at age six. She toured the American vaudeville circuit for three years, serving as ringmaster and comedic foil for "Pansy the Horse," performed by Andy Mayo and his partner, Nonnie Morton, in a horse suit.
Sam Goldwyn In the early 1940s, Virginia Mayo's talent and striking beauty came to the attention of movie mogul
Samuel Goldwyn, who signed her to an acting contract with his company. Goldwyn only made a few films a year and usually lent out the actors he had under contract to other producers. Her first notable role was in
Jack London (1943), which starred her future husband
Michael O'Shea for producer
Samuel Bronston. Mayo was placed in the chorus of the film
Up in Arms just so she could learn, but she was never officially a member of the
Goldwyn Girls. Then, RKO borrowed her for a support role in a musical,
Seven Days Ashore (1944).
Stardom photo of Mayo for
Yank, the Army Weekly in 1944 Mayo's first starring role came in 1944 opposite comedian
Bob Hope in
The Princess and the Pirate (1944), a spoof of pirate movies made by Goldwyn. Goldwyn then made her
Danny Kaye's leading lady for the musicals
Wonder Man (1945) and
The Kid from Brooklyn (1946), both very popular. According to widely published reports from the late 1940s, the Sultan of Morocco declared her beauty to be "tangible proof of the existence of God."
Later career Mayo acted on stage for the rest of her career, mostly in dinner theatre and touring shows. Productions included
No, No Nanette (1972),
40 Carats (1975),
Good News (1977),
Move Over Mrs Markham (1980) and
Butterflies Are Free (1981). Mayo continued to occasionally appear on television in shows such as
Police Story,
Night Gallery,
The Love Boat,
Remington Steele, and
Murder, She Wrote, and a dozen episodes of the soap opera
Santa Barbara. In 1993, Mayo published a
Christmas themed children's book entitled, ''Don't Forget Me, Santa Claus'' through Barrons Juveniles Publishers. ==Personal life==