Elder Dataloungers Please educate me and discuss and share the dish on old Hollywood actress Vera Miles

She was beautiful

She considered moving to Europe but didn't want to change her last name.

France r2 ?

Miles to Kilometers. Priceless.

^ I mean, R2.

Very good r4 !!

In The Morning After, Jane Fonda's Alex boasts“They were grooming me to be the new Vera Miles." “The new who?” asks Jeff Bridges. Wails Fonda: “I was supposed to replace somebody the audience didn’t even know was missing!”

LOL r7

Who was Hitchcocks favourite of his leading ladies I wonder and were did Vera fit in the pecking order?

I'd guess his favorite leading woman was Grace Kelly, then Vera (Hitchcock's first choice to play Judy/Madeleine in Vertigo) followed by Tippi Hedren, and Vera could act either of the other two under the table. She's terrific as Henry Fonda's beleaguered wife in Hitchcock's 1956 The Wrong Man.

One of the highlights of her career was being read to FILTH by Joan Crawford in Autumn Leaves.

In 1957, Vera Miles signed a 5-year personal contract with Alfred Hitchcock, who had plans to turn her into Grace Kelly's successor with his next feature film, "Vertigo." However, she fell pregnant and the part went to Kim Novak. Having lost interest in her, Hitch cast her in a secondary role in "Psycho," which ironically is probably Miles' best known role.

She was also good in "Revenge," the Hitchcock directed episode from the director's TV series

Lucky bitch was married to prime beef Gordon Scott. (For a few years anyway)

The Vertigo story is that Miles was cast and had wardrobe tests done, then withdrew as she fell pregnant. But then filming was delayed while Hitchcock had an operation. By the time he was well again Miles had had her baby and was free to work but then Hitchcock didn't want her in the film and cast Kim Novak.

Here's an appraisal of her career from a fan.

She did a lot of Disney theatrical films in the 60s and episodic tv from the 60s-80s. She turned up on all the "not dead yet" shows like Murder She Wrote.

She was not a standout in the field of guest stars in the 60s or 70s--I probably llooked forward more to Lois nettleton or Janis Rule. Not a great actress or standout beauty, but not bad either.

I've never heard the phrase "fell pregnant" & here it is twice on DL. Are R11 & R15 the same person using a regionalism or awkward translation from another language -- or is this odd term just more common than I realized?

Vera became Miss Kansas 1948 and was 2nd runner-up at the Miss America Pageant.

Fell pregnant

The movie Hitch with Anthony Hopkins suggested that more grounded and less ambitious Vera Miles was the one who got away, and it secretly obsessed the tyrannical Hitchcock.

Though Hitchcock supposedly had problems with Kim Novak, she was a much bigger star than Vera Miles, so he ...or someone....must have realized that Vertigo was going to be really big and needed a first class female lead.

Vera Miles was a Never Was. Even that name is just so ordinary.....

It needed to be zinged, r23. Something like....oh....Vera Hruba Miles....

Lucky bitch indeed r14 he is dreamy sexy!

Vera Psycho gif.

Thanks for the link r16

R19, "To fall pregnant" is common terminology in Commonwealth English. It is also a direct translation of French "tomber enceinte."

Thanks, R28 -- I had no idea. The French phrase & its literal English translation do suggest accidental or unplanned pregnancy, but that did used to be the norm prior to reliable contraception. One can indeed learn something every day, especially on DL.

Didn’t Jessie Biel Timberlake play Vere in some movie

Seen her in many things.

One of those actresses who a viewer can depend on to handle her part and seeing her name on the opening credits always told the viewer that she would make her part better.

Had a quiet, not flashy beauty so unlike the over processed actresses of today.

She was in The Outer Limits episode "The Forms of Things Unknown" with gay Scott Marlowe.

I don't care who falls pregnant or who winters abortion for that matter, I've got a perfume empire to run! What DOES concern me is this godawful rumpled raincoat of a man who will not stop pestering me with these incessant questions! Meddling bastard needs to understand I'm a very busy woman; I've got another murder to host today and he's not invited to it!

‘Kasha will pour, and Leonora will serve."

Only fabulous Vera could rock such a hideous wig.

Vera's performance in Psycho has even proven to terrify tabbies!

Vera was dismissive of her part in Psycho claiming Hitchcock mainly photographed the back of her head, which is not true of course. I love the scene where she climbs the hill to go to the Bates house and we cut back and forth from her to her point of view as she travels.

Has she ever released an autobiography?

Nope, and this comment is on IMDb. Once in a fan letter response, she was questioned about if she had seen the 2012 film "Hitchcock" and if so what did she think of Jessica Biel's portrayal of her. In answer, Miles simply wrote back, "Didn't, won't see".

She was good in Psycho 2, playing a nastier version of her same character from the original.

SPOILER

It took me years to watch her death scene without covering my eyes.

When she finally passes away whenever that is will she receive much fanfare in the news? Was she a big enough star for that to happen?

Probably not, r41.

r42 So Would you say the other Hitchcock blondes Tippi Hedren , Kim Novak and Eva Marie Saint would get more media coverage and fanfare when they die than Vera Miles or around the same?

She did lots of television in the 1960's and 70's. I remember her on an episode from the TV show Journey to the Unknown. I always liked her...she seemed brisk and self-assured and contemporary.

John Ford seemed to like her as well as she appeared in both The Searchers and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. She also did one of my favorite Twilight Zones: Mirror Image in which she's at a bus station and runs into her double. Also did a good job as John Gavin's bitch wife in Back Street. She was a good actress, but she lacked the star quality and charisma to be a big star. BTW, Miles was her screen name she had to take because her original last name was Ralston, but there was already a Vera Ralston ruling the roost at Republic when Vera Miles started her acting career.

Does anybody here remember Vera Lynn?

She needed a Hruba, r45.

Yes r46 and she is still with us aged 101!

Love that photo r47

R47 "And when he dropped 'em, it was only THIS big."

R46 That's DAME Vera Lynn, you cunt.

A more recent pic of Vera.

Sorry, OP. I just sold all my Vera Miles paraphernalia, memorabilia, dossiers, secret recordings and home movies on Ebay.

But if you have any questions about Ermentrude of Orleans, I'm your guy.

Look it up, it's a real thing. I have the original Vatican dossiers. Well, photostats. They're from the 50's. Very fragile. Obviously, I've had them scanned. And only some of it can be authenticated. I don't have that kind of clearance. Plus, the whole grad school thing didn't pan out and the student loans were killing me. I mean, the still are, but that Vera Miles thing has really paid off for me.

I mean, Vera Miles? Who would have thunk it. But you know, some time some nut dies and you hit the jackpot at the estate sale. You know I found an Anni Albers wall hanging at an estate sale. It was just lumped in with a bunch of fabric and "sewing notions." Can you imagine?

Yes, R47. If Vera Miles had a Hruba, she wouldn't have fell pregnant and she would have starred in "Vertigo."

She was a movie star and a movie star in a film, makes it more pleasant to watch.

There's a shot of Gordon holding Vera, from some Tarzan movie. Maybe that's where they met. He was very shortwaisted.

Does anyone remember Vera Vague?

R36 lol! fantastic little face there.

Having first seen Miles when I was a child in Follow Me Boys seeing her in Autumn Leaves as a slut and tramp(how trashy does a woman have to be to be called that by Crawford?) was traumatizing to say the least.

Going for the Jamie Lee look, I see, r51.

Dame Vera.....

I always thought she was sexless. Lots of Hitchcock women made careers out of being sexy. Grace Kelly, Tippi Hedren, Janet Leigh, Kim Novak. But Miles seemed like a schoolteacher who was very professional and didn't want compliments on her looks.

I remember her from "Siege at Feather River, " where she dies spectacularly. I was also quite impressed with Guy Madison in that...

I am always impressed by Guy Madison r61.....

She was also in a classic John Wayne/Ford movie.

Was she good in them ? r63

[quote]Would you say the other Hitchcock blondes Tippi Hedren , Kim Novak and Eva Marie Saint would get more media coverage and fanfare when they die

Well, at this point, she’s the last surviving one of the leads in “Psycho,” so that’s good for something. But Kim Next vacation is a film icon thanks to Vertigo and Bell Book and Candle, and Eva Marie Saint is an Oscar winner who starred in two iconic films (or three, if you count Raintree County), who’s in good health and worked as recently as four years ago at the age of 90. So no, Vera’s passing will most likely not get the press that Kim and Eva Marie will.

Vera Miles. A serviceable leading lady back in the day, years ago.

Vera Miles, along with the 2 male leads in Psycho, and director Alfred Hitchcock perhaps showing his best side.

Here she is at 2:50 in this clip from Hitchcock's AFI tribute.

R10. Thanks for posting that clip. Now I want to see the movie.

Who's that gorgeous guy in OP's pic?

If you mean the blonde guy in the pool r70 then I am dying to know too!

R60 - Vera was sexy in the AHP episode "Revenge".

. . .

[quote]r24 It needed to be zinged, [R23]. Something like....oh....Vera Hruba Miles....

Or maybe Vera Miles Hart?

She just needed a sultrier first name, something like Sylvia.

Her voice is much more striking here than I remember.

I always kind of lumped her with Eleanor Parker, someone servicable but unspectacular whose films I never sought out.

Eleanor Parker is more like Anne Baxter, both Oscar-nominated but big hams who generally over-acted.

Below is a really fun, gay website to browse through. The blogger loves Vera Miles in BACK STREET.

[quote]"Miss Miles could have performed no other role in her life and I would love her for this alone. It's just the type of poisonously bitchy part that I cut my young teeth on while watching Ava Gardner in EARTHQUAKE and Lee Grant in AIRPORT '77. You may have your realistic drunks, impactful and meaningful though they may be, in films like IRONWEED, BARFLY, or LEAVING LAS VEGAS. I like my liquor-nippers to be coiffed, bejewelled and dressed to the nines!"

Vera always had a gorgeous vocal presence. I love the sternness of it. There's a reason Hitchcock wanted to take her to the next level but she was more interested in getting plowed and impregnated by Gordon Scott.(can't say I blame her). After THAT divorce she fell into the matrimonial arms of handsome Keith Larsen. Obviously, Vera likes 'em tall &strapping.

Say what you will about her career choices but she sure as hell knew how to pick hot, hunky husbands.

"She needed a Hruba"

We've all needed Aruba, darling, but times have moved on and you really must try the Caymans. Useful on so many levels.

Costume sketch for Miles in VERTIGO.

The grey suit is of a much darker shade than what Kim Novak finally wore. Novak initially refused to wear grey as she didn't think it became her, but it was an important hue to use, as it made the character look like she'd emerged from a misty fog. Novak was shown many different samples, with both heathery and blue undertones, and finally chose a lighter shade.

Good article about how Edith Head designed for the contrasting characters of Madeleine and Judy in VERTIGO.

On the subject of VERTIGO, this analysis of how an early scene is blocked is a reminder of how precisely that film is put together.

For a long time it was my favorite movie.

One of my fave actresses from the 70's - she was on everything. Quinn Martin loved her.

R70, that's Buck Sterling, one of Henry Willson's boys.

Wasn't Keith before Gordon?

Keith was after. But she did have 2 husbands named Bob.

Are you sure that is his name r84 ? I cannot find anything about him on google.

Can anybody help with regards to r84 post on the poolhunk in the opening photo of Buck Sterling being one of Henry Wilsons guys? I cannot find anything on him online and oh my he is gorgeous!

Think I read somewhere that he was in an accident in Tijuana in the late 60s.

Thanks r88 As in fatal I take it?