Home >

Vera Ralston

Vera Ralston

Birthday: 1920-07-12 | Place of Birth: Prague, Czechoslovakia [now Czech Republic]

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Vera Ralston (born Věra Helena Hrubá) was a Czech figure skater and actress. She later became a naturalized American citizen. She worked as an actress during the 1940s and 1950s. As a figure skater, she represented Czechoslovakia in competition under her birth name Věra Hrubá. She competed at the 1936 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 15th. Later that season, she competed at the 1936 Winter Olympics, where she placed 17th. During the games, she personally met and insulted Adolf Hitler. Hitler asked her if she would like to "skate for the swastika." As she later boasted, "I looked him right in the eye, and said that I'd rather skate on the swastika. The Führer was furious." Hrubá competed at the 1937 European Figure Skating Championships and placed 7th. She emigrated to the United States in 1941 and became a naturalized citizen in 1946. She moved to Hollywood with her mother and signed a contract in 1943 with Republic Pictures. During her career she was known as Vera Hrubá Ralston and later Vera Ralston. She normally played an immigrant girl, because of her limited English skills. Among the 26 films Ralston starred in were: Storm Over Lisbon; Dakota; I, Jane Doe; The Fighting Kentuckian; A Perilous Journey; and Fair Wind to Java. She retired from films in 1958. In 1952, Ralston married Republic studio head Herbert Yates. Yates was nearly 40 years her senior, and had left his wife and children to be with Ralston. Yates used his position to obtain roles for Ralston, and at one point was sued by studio shareholders for using company assets to promote his wife. Yates died in 1966, leaving his $8 million estate to Ralston. She suffered a nervous breakdown shortly thereafter, remarried, and lived quietly in southern California. She died on February 9, 2003, in Santa Barbara, California, after a long battle with cancer. For her work in films, Ralston has a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame. A registered Republican, she supported Dwight Eisenhower during the 1952 presidential election. Description above from the Wikipedia article Vera Ralston, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.

...

Known For

Acting

Year
Title

Role

1958
The Notorious Mr. Monks

as    Angela Monks

1958
The Man Who Died Twice

as    Lynn Brennon

1956
Accused of Murder

as    Ilona Vance

1955
Timberjack

as    Lynne Tilton

1954
Jubilee Trail

as    Florinda Grove

1953
A Perilous Journey

as    Francie Landreaux

1953
Fair Wind to Java

as    Kim Kim

1952
Hoodlum Empire

as    Marte 'Marty' Dufour Gray

1951
Belle Le Grand

as    Daisy Henshaw / Belle Le Grand

1951
The Wild Blue Yonder

as    Lt. Helen Landers

1949
The Fighting Kentuckian

as    Fleurette De Marchand

1948
I, Jane Doe

as    Annette Dubois / Jane Doe

1948
Angel on the Amazon

as    Christine Ridgeway

1947
The Flame

as    Carlotta Duval

1946
The Plainsman and the Lady

as    Ann Arnesen

1946
Murder in the Music Hall

as    Lila Laughton

1945
Dakota

as    Sandy Poli (Devlin)

1944
The Lady and the Monster

as    Janice Farrell

1944
Storm Over Lisbon

as    Maria Mazarek, aka Maritza