Virginia Weidler

Virginia Anna Adeleid Weidler (March 21, 1927 – July 1, 1968) was an American child actress, popular in Hollywood films during the 1930s and 1940s. Early life and career Weidler was born on March 21, 1927, in the Eagle Rock, section of Los Angeles, California, the youngest of six children born to German parents, Alfred Weidler, an architect, and Margaret Weidler (born Margarete Therese Louise Radon, 1890–1987), a former opera singer. She was the second Weidler child born in the United States after the family emigrated from Germany in 1923. She made her first film appearance in 1931. Her first credited role was as Europena in Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch (1934), a role she won at age seven after having been seen in the play Autumn Crocus. Virginia made a big impression on audiences as the little girl who would "hold my breath 'til I am black in the face" to get her way. For the next several years, she appeared in many memorable films from George Stevens's Laddie (1935) to a pivotal supporting role in Souls at Sea (1938) starring Gary Cooper and George Raft. Despite being under contract to Paramount, just as many of her roles of the period took place while on loan to RKO-Radio Pictures.