Virginia Fox

This article is about the silent film actress. For the member of Congress, see Virginia Foxx.

Virginia Oglesby Zanuck (/ˈzænək/; née Fox; April 19 (year of birth disputed)^{[Note 1]} – October 14, 1982) was an American actress who starred in many silent films of the 1910s and 1920s.

Virginia Fox
Fox in The Blacksmith (1922)
Born	Virginia Oglesby Fox April 19 (year of birth disputed) Wheeling, West Virginia, U.S.
Died	October 14, 1982 Santa Monica, California, U.S.
Resting place	Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery
Occupation	Actress
Years active	1915–1929
Spouse	Darryl F. Zanuck (1924–1979)
Children	3, including Richard D. Zanuck
Relatives	Dean Zanuck (grandson)

Life and career

Fox was born as Virginia Oglesby Fox in Wheeling, West Virginia (though her grave erroneously lists Charleston, West Virginia, as her place of birth), the daughter of Mary Elizabeth (née Oglesby) and Frederick Fox.^[7]

While on vacation from boarding school, Fox traveled to visit a friend in Los Angeles. The two made a casual stop by the studio of Mack Sennett, where she was hired on the spot and made a bathing beauty in the studio's films. She went on to star as leading lady in many of the early films of Buster Keaton, including 1920's highly regarded Neighbors.^[2]

On January 12, 1924, she married film producer Darryl F. Zanuck, with whom she had three children, Darrylin, Susan Marie, and Richard Darryl. Fox retired from acting but was known as a behind-the-scenes influence on her husband's business decisions. The couple separated in 1956 over the studio mogul's affairs with other women, although they never legally divorced. According to Zanuck biographers, she cared for him at their home from the time he became mentally incapacitated in the early 1970s until his death in 1979.

Despite some Internet accounts to the contrary, Virginia Fox was not related to William Fox, whose name was used by 20th Century Fox (now part of the Walt Disney Company) and continues to be used in the trademarks of the present-day Fox Corporation. William Fox founded Fox Studios in 1914 but had lost control of it by the time Zanuck acquired it and merged it with his 20th Century Pictures in 1935.

Death

Virginia Fox Zanuck's tomb in Westwood Memorial Park, Westwood, Los Angeles, California

On October 14, 1982, Fox died of a lung infection complicated by emphysema at her home in Santa Monica, California after having been sick for about a year.^[8] She was buried near Darryl Zanuck at the Westwood Village Memorial Park Cemetery in Westwood, Los Angeles.^[9]

Filmography

Year	Film	Role	Notes
1915	A Submarine Pirate
1920	Down on the Farm	uncredited
	Neighbors	The Bride
1921	The Haunted House	Bank President's Daughter
	Hard Luck	Virginia
	The Goat	Chief's daughter
	The Playhouse	Twin	Uncredited
1922	The Paleface	Indian Maiden	Uncredited
	Cops	Mayor's Daughter
1922	The Blacksmith	Horsewoman
	The Electric House	Girl	Uncredited
1923	The Love Nest	The Girl
1926	The Caveman	Party Girl

Notes

1. The year of her birth is unknown as birth records in West Virginia were not mandated until 1917.^[1] It has been listed as 1899^[2] or 1902^[3] or 1903^[4] or 1906^[5] The 1910 Census states she was 9 years old when it was taken on April 15, 1910.^[6]