Virginia Vestoff
Encyclopedia
Virginia Vestoff was an American
actress of film
, television
and Broadway
.
Vestoff was born into a family of vaudeville
performers in New York City
. Both her Russian immigrant father and mother, who was the great niece of American composer Stephen Foster
, died and left Virginia an orphan at the age of nine. She coped with the loss by acting, and took third prize on The Ted Mack
Amateur Hour, which launched a professional career with the Children's Chorus of the New York City Opera
.
While living with relatives, Virginia attended the New York High School for the Performing Arts. At 15, she decided to move out and manage life on her own by attending Washington Irving High School
and moonlighting as a salesgirl at a department store. However, Virginia quit school early to tour with a dance company. The failure to graduate remained a personal regret to Virginia throughout her life, which she countered with a thirst to self-educate, becoming an extensive reader.
Soon after dropping out, Vestoff landed a part on stage in The Boyfriend and it led to many of her other theatrical credits including I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road, Spokesong, Drinks Before Dinner, The Misanthrope
, Love and Let Love, Man With a Load of Mischief, Ben Bagley's New Cole Porter Revue, And in this Corner, A Doll's House
, Fallout, The Crystal Heart, Private Lives
, The Threepenny Opera
, The Archbishop's Ceiling, Booth is Back in Town, Camelot
, Put it in Writing, The King and I
, and My Fair Lady
.
Vestoff made her Broadway debut in the 1960 revue
From A to Z
. Her most famous stage role was that of Abigail Adams
in 1776
, a role she reprised in the film adaptation
. Additional Broadway credits include Irma La Douce
, Boccaccio, Via Galactica
, and Baker Street
, in which she met her future husband, writer Morty Lefkoe.
For a time, Vestoff took on dual duties with Broadway and daytime drama. From 1969 to 1970, she filled in for Elizabeth Hubbard
as Dr. Althea Davis on The Doctors and then later joined the cast of Dark Shadows
as Samantha Collins.
Vestoff also did another soap opera stint on As the World Turns
and appeared in numerous television commercials, including Sure Deodorant, Geritol
, Hamburger Helper
, Sardo Bath Beads, and Bradlees.
Vestoff's primetime television guest credits included The Quinns, Carmody, Contact: The Case of the Secret Message, We Interrupt This Season, Alone at Last and Kojak
. Her screen roles included Robert Altman
's A Wedding
and Such Good Friends
.
Vestoff succumbed to cancer
in New York City at age 42.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
actress of film
Film
A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...
, television
Television
Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...
and Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
.
Vestoff was born into a family of vaudeville
Vaudeville
Vaudeville was a theatrical genre of variety entertainment in the United States and Canada from the early 1880s until the early 1930s. Each performance was made up of a series of separate, unrelated acts grouped together on a common bill...
performers in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
. Both her Russian immigrant father and mother, who was the great niece of American composer Stephen Foster
Stephen Foster
Stephen Collins Foster , known as the "father of American music", was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century...
, died and left Virginia an orphan at the age of nine. She coped with the loss by acting, and took third prize on The Ted Mack
Ted Mack
Ted Mack may refer to:*Ted Mack , Edward Mack, Australian politician*Ted Mack , born William Edward Maguiness, American television host...
Amateur Hour, which launched a professional career with the Children's Chorus of the New York City Opera
New York City Opera
The New York City Opera is an American opera company located in New York City.The company, called "the people's opera" by New York Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, was founded in 1943 with the aim of making opera financially accessible to a wide audience, producing an innovative choice of repertory, and...
.
While living with relatives, Virginia attended the New York High School for the Performing Arts. At 15, she decided to move out and manage life on her own by attending Washington Irving High School
Washington Irving High School
Washington Irving High School may refer to:* Washington Irving High School * Washington Irving High School , listed on the National Register of Historic Places in Westchester County, New York...
and moonlighting as a salesgirl at a department store. However, Virginia quit school early to tour with a dance company. The failure to graduate remained a personal regret to Virginia throughout her life, which she countered with a thirst to self-educate, becoming an extensive reader.
Soon after dropping out, Vestoff landed a part on stage in The Boyfriend and it led to many of her other theatrical credits including I'm Getting My Act Together and Taking It On the Road, Spokesong, Drinks Before Dinner, The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope is the first EP from metal band Darkest Hour. It was released in 1996 on the defunct label Death Truck Records. It is much more hardcore orientated metalcore unlike their later releases.- Track listing :# "Vise" - 5:30...
, Love and Let Love, Man With a Load of Mischief, Ben Bagley's New Cole Porter Revue, And in this Corner, A Doll's House
A Doll's House
A Doll's House is a three-act play in prose by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It premièred at the Royal Theatre in Copenhagen, Denmark, on 21 December 1879, having been published earlier that month....
, Fallout, The Crystal Heart, Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
, The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera
The Threepenny Opera is a musical by German dramatist Bertolt Brecht and composer Kurt Weill, in collaboration with translator Elisabeth Hauptmann and set designer Caspar Neher. It was adapted from an 18th-century English ballad opera, John Gay's The Beggar's Opera, and offers a Marxist critique...
, The Archbishop's Ceiling, Booth is Back in Town, Camelot
Camelot (musical)
Camelot is a musical by Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe . It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from the T. H. White tetralogy novel The Once and Future King....
, Put it in Writing, The King and I
The King and I
The King and I is a stage musical, the fifth by the team of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II. The work is based on the 1944 novel Anna and the King of Siam by Margaret Landon and derives from the memoirs of Anna Leonowens, who became governess to the children of King Mongkut of Siam in...
, and My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady
My Fair Lady is a musical based upon George Bernard Shaw's Pygmalion and with book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner and music by Frederick Loewe...
.
Vestoff made her Broadway debut in the 1960 revue
Revue
A revue is a type of multi-act popular theatrical entertainment that combines music, dance and sketches. The revue has its roots in 19th century American popular entertainment and melodrama but grew into a substantial cultural presence of its own during its golden years from 1916 to 1932...
From A to Z
From A to Z
From A to Z is a musical revue with a book by Woody Allen, Herbert Farjeon, and Nina Warner Hook and songs by Jerry Herman, Fred Ebb, Mary Rodgers, Everett Sloane, Jay Thompson, Dickson Hughes, Jack Holmes, Paul Klein, Norman Martin, William Dyer, and Charles Zwar.Although a critical and commercial...
. Her most famous stage role was that of Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams
Abigail Adams was the wife of John Adams, who was the second President of the United States, and the mother of John Quincy Adams, the sixth...
in 1776
1776 (musical)
1776 is a musical with music and lyrics by Sherman Edwards and a book by Peter Stone. The story is based on the events surrounding the signing of the Declaration of Independence...
, a role she reprised in the film adaptation
1776 (film)
1776 is a 1972 American musical film directed by Peter H. Hunt. The screenplay by Peter Stone was based on the 1969 stage musical of the same name. Portions of the dialogue and some of the song lyrics were taken directly from the letters and memoirs of the actual participants of the Second...
. Additional Broadway credits include Irma La Douce
Irma la Douce
Irma la Douce/Irma la Dolce is a 1963 romantic comedy starring Jack Lemmon and Shirley MacLaine, directed by Billy Wilder.It is based on the 1956 French musical Irma La Douce by Marguerite Monnot and Alexandre Breffort.-Plot:...
, Boccaccio, Via Galactica
Via Galactica
Via Galactica is a rock musical with a book by Christopher Gore and Judith Ross, lyrics by Gore, and music by Galt MacDermot. It marked the Broadway debut of actor Mark Baker....
, and Baker Street
Baker Street (musical)
Baker Street is a musical with a book by Jerome Coopersmith and music and lyrics by Marian Grudeff and Raymond Jessel.Loosely based on the Sherlock Holmes story A Scandal in Bohemia by Arthur Conan Doyle, it is set in and around London in 1897, the year in which England celebrated the Diamond...
, in which she met her future husband, writer Morty Lefkoe.
For a time, Vestoff took on dual duties with Broadway and daytime drama. From 1969 to 1970, she filled in for Elizabeth Hubbard
Elizabeth Hubbard
Elizabeth Hubbard is an American film, soap opera, stage and television actress. Hubbard was born in New York City]. She attended Radcliffe College, and graduated summa cum laude. She pursued her theatrical education at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, where she was the first American...
as Dr. Althea Davis on The Doctors and then later joined the cast of Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows
Dark Shadows is a gothic soap opera that originally aired weekdays on the ABC television network, from June 27, 1966 to April 2, 1971. The show was created by Dan Curtis. The story bible, which was written by Art Wallace, does not mention any supernatural elements...
as Samantha Collins.
Vestoff also did another soap opera stint on As the World Turns
As the World Turns
As the World Turns is an American television soap opera that aired on CBS from April 2, 1956 to September 17, 2010. Irna Phillips created As the World Turns as a sister show to her other soap opera Guiding Light...
and appeared in numerous television commercials, including Sure Deodorant, Geritol
Geritol
Geritol is a US trademarked name for various dietary supplements, past and present. Geritol is currently a brand name for several vitamin complexes plus iron or multimineral products in both liquid form and tablets, containing from 9.5 to 18 mg of iron per daily dose...
, Hamburger Helper
Hamburger Helper
Hamburger Helper is a line of packaged food products primarily consisting of boxed pasta bundled with a packet or packets of powdered sauce/seasonings. The contents of each box are combined with browned ground beef, water and milk to create a complete dish. The product line also features products...
, Sardo Bath Beads, and Bradlees.
Vestoff's primetime television guest credits included The Quinns, Carmody, Contact: The Case of the Secret Message, We Interrupt This Season, Alone at Last and Kojak
Kojak
Kojak is an American television series starring Telly Savalas as the title character, bald New York City Police Department Detective Lieutenant Theo Kojak. It aired from October 24, 1973, to March 18, 1978, on CBS. It took the time slot of the popular Cannon series, which was moved one hour earlier...
. Her screen roles included Robert Altman
Robert Altman
Robert Bernard Altman was an American film director and screenwriter known for making films that are highly naturalistic, but with a stylized perspective. In 2006, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences recognized his body of work with an Academy Honorary Award.His films MASH , McCabe and...
's A Wedding
A Wedding
A Wedding is a 1978 black comedy film directed by Robert Altman, starring Carol Burnett, Lillian Gish, Geraldine Chaplin, Vittorio Gassman, Mia Farrow, Lauren Hutton, Craig Richard Nelson, Pam Dawber, Desi Arnaz, Jr., Paul Dooley, Dennis Christopher, and Howard Duff...
and Such Good Friends
Such Good Friends
Such Good Friends is a 1971 American comedy-drama film directed by Otto Preminger. The screenplay by Esther Dale is based on the novel of the same title by Lois Gould.-Plot:...
.
Vestoff succumbed to cancer
Cancer
Cancer , known medically as a malignant neoplasm, is a large group of different diseases, all involving unregulated cell growth. In cancer, cells divide and grow uncontrollably, forming malignant tumors, and invade nearby parts of the body. The cancer may also spread to more distant parts of the...
in New York City at age 42.