Virginia Griffith

born: 04 October 1910 Chicago, Illinois, United States of America

died: 15 August 1977 Los Angeles County, California, United States of America (age 66)

American actress, the daughter of Julia Griffith. Virginia's father was Irving Johnson Sweetser (1880-1967). Beginning around 1941, Virginia served as the longtime stand-in for Loretta Young, with whom she was schoolmates. Virginia was married four times. Her first was to actor Valdemar "Val" Larsen (1902-1955) on 5 March 1931, but the marriage evidently quickly soured, as the couple began filing divorce suits against each other later that year; Virginia was finally granted the divorce in March 1933. Her next marriage was to film sound engineer Hugh McDowell, Jr. (1902-1980) on 1 May 1936; this marriage too ended in divorce, granted to Virginia two years later. Marriage #3 was to tennis instructor Jerry Hover (1898-1979) on 22 July 1939; Virginia would again be granted a divorce in June 1943. The fourth time proved the charm when Virginia wed Lachlan Grant Ferguson (1918-1995), an aeronautical engineer at an aircraft factory (1950 Census), on 9 September 1950; this union ended with Virginia's passing in 1977. She is interred at Woodlawn Cemetery in Santa Monica, California, as was her mother and as would her husband (and his next wife).

Real name: Irene Virginia Sweetser

Films listed on this page: complete Hal Roach filmography.

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1926 The Merry Widower [?] 1927 Bring Home The Turkey Orphanage worker Acknowledgements: https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:Q23M-JCVS (birth record) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:XCJY-C9K (1930 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8JS-QLW (1931 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8JS-Q1Z (1931 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8JG-BXG (1936 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K8VZ-PB2 (1939 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:6XGC-S9NT (1950 Census) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:K82C-Y65 (1950 marriage) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:VPHB-GJC (CA Death Index) https://www.familysearch.org/ark:/61903/1:1:V9YM-46V (Social Security Death Index) https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/175418250 (Find a Grave) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380535950/ (Los Angeles Times, 25 Feb 1931) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380601563/ (Los Angeles Times, 17 Oct 1931) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380609347/ (Los Angeles Times, 31 Oct 1931) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380659089/ (Los Angeles Times, 10 Nov 1931) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380245687/ (Los Angeles Times, 15 Mar 1933) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380420711/ (Los Angeles Times, 31 Mar 1933) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380741742/ (Los Angeles Times, 04 May 1938) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380751756/ (Los Angeles Times, 03 Jun 1938) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380670919/ (Los Angeles Times, 11 May 1943) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/380695705/ (Los Angeles Times, 24 Jun 1943) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/868198631/ (Evening Star [Washington, D.C.], 12 Nov 1945) https://cdnc.ucr.edu/?a=d&d=OT19460127.1.12 (Oakland Tribune, 27 Jan 1946) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/359034755/ (Press-Journal [Wilmington, CA], 30 Jan 1946) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/545195363/ (Cache American [Logan, UT], 05 Feb 1946) https://archive.org/details/radiotvmirror00mac/page/n397/mode/1up?q=%22virginia+griffith%22&view=theater (TV Radio Mirror, Apr 1956) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/970144121/ (Atlanta Journal, 14 Feb 1959) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/756007176/ (Corpus Christi Caller-Times, 22 Feb 1959) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/1099870284/ (Post-Standard [Syracuse, NY], 23 Feb 1959) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/108838658/ (Courier-Journal [Louisville, KY], 01 Mar 1959) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/745214199/ (Concord Transcript, 06 Mar 1959) https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/383587651/ (Los Angeles Times, 16 Aug 1977) Jesse Brisson (research, bio notes; identification in Bring Home The Turkey) This page was last updated on: 15 April 2025