Vera Miles

Born: 1930-08-23 in Boise City, Oklahoma, USA

Known For: Acting

Biography

Vera June Miles (born August 23, 1929) is an American actress. Born in Boise City, Oklahoma, Vera Miles attended school in Pratt, Kansas and Wichita, Kansas. The patrician beauty of Miss Miles won her the title of "Miss Kansas" in 1948, leading soon to small roles in Hollywood films and television series. Fame came to the forthright, spirited Miles when she attracted the attention of two master directors, Alfred Hitchcock and John Ford. Ford cast her in the classic western The Searchers (1956) and Hitchcock, who put her under personal contract and hailed her as his "new Grace Kelly", paired her with the great Henry Fonda in The Wrong Man (1956). Hitchcock cast Miles in the potentially star-making role of Judy Barton in Vertigo (1958), but Miles withdrew from the film when she became pregnant. Hitchcock gave Miles a supporting role in another masterpiece Psycho (1960), as did Ford when he cast her opposite John Wayne and James Stewart in The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962), She also starred in such films as Beau James (1957) opposite Bob Hope, The FBI Story (1959) opposite Stewart, Back Street (1961) opposite Susan Hayward and John Gavin and Sergeant Ryker (1968) opposite Lee Marvin, as well as showing her consistently remarkable and versatile talent on dozens of popular television movies and series including The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962), Twilight Zone (1959), The Outer Limits (1963), The Fugitive (1963), My Three Sons (1960), Bonanza (1959), "Columbo" and Murder, She Wrote (1984). In 1983, she reprised her role as "Lila Crane" in the film sequel Psycho II (1983), starring Anthony Perkins. Although, too often, the stunningly beautiful Miles' gifts were underutilized, before her retirement in 1995, hers was a most intriguing and enduring Hollywood career.

Filmography

2025

Legacy of Screams: The Evolution of Horror Movies as Self - (archive footage)

1995

Separate Lives as Dr. Ruth Goldin

1993

24 Hour Psycho as Lila Crane (archive footage)

1989

The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro as Sophie Kubacki

1985

International Airport as Elaine Corley
Into the Night as Joan Caper

1984

Murder, She Wrote as Elizabeth Gates
Crazy like a Fox as Georgina Burton
Finder of Lost Loves as Joanna Shaw
Helen Keller: The Miracle Continues as Kate Keller
The Initiation as Frances Fairchild

1983

BrainWaves as Marian Koonan
Travis McGee as Julie Lawless
Psycho II as Lila Loomis

1982

1981

Our Family Business as Patricia

1980

Magnum, P.I. as Joan Gibson
Roughnecks as Ida McBride

1979

Buck Rogers in the 25th Century as Tora
The Horror Show as (archive footage)

1978

Fantasy Island as Martha Tate
And I Alone Survived as Irene Elder

1977

The Love Boat as Bess Hensinger
How the West Was Won as Beth
Run for the Roses as Clarissa Stewart
Fire! as Martha Wagner

1976

State Fair as Melissa Bryant
Smash-Up on Interstate 5 as Erica
McNaughton's Daughter as Grace Coventry
Judge Horton and the Scottsboro Boys as Mrs. Horton

1975

Ellery Queen as Celeste Wakefield

1974

Little House on the Prairie as Ruthy Leland
Movin' On
The Underground Man as Eleanor Strom
The Castaway Cowboy as Henrietta MacAvoy
Live Again, Die Again as Marcia Carmichael
The Strange and Deadly Occurrence as Christine Rhodes

1973

Baffled! as Andrea Glenn
Runaway! as Ellen Staffo
One Little Indian as Doris

1972

The Streets of San Francisco
Jigsaw as Lilah Beth Cummings
A Great American Tragedy as Gloria Wilkes
Molly and Lawless John as Molly Parker

1971

Columbo as Viveca Scott
Cannon
Alias Smith and Jones
Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law as Nancy Hodges
A Howling in the Woods as Rose Staines
Cannon as Diana Langston
In Search of America as Jenny Olson

1970

Dan August as Carla
The Wild Country as Kate Tanner

1969

Medical Center
Marcus Welby, M.D. as Helen Wagner
Journey to the Unknown as June Wiley
It Takes All Kinds as Laura Ring

1968

Hawaii Five-O as Flora Whiting
The Name of the Game as Marisa Cummings
Mission Batangas as Joan Barnes
Sergeant Ryker as Ann Ryker
Hellfighters as Madelyn Buckman
Journey to the Unknown as June Wiley
Kona Coast as Melissa Hyde

1967

Ironside as Barbara Richards
Mannix as Jean McBride
Judd for the Defense
Gentle Giant as Ellen Wedloe
The Spirit Is Willing as Kate Powell

1966

ABC Stage 67 as Adele
One of Our Spies Is Missing as Madame Raine De Sala
Follow Me, Boys! as Vida Downey

1965

The F.B.I. as Kate Burke
Run for Your Life as Rachel Pike
I Spy as Rachel

1964

The Man from U.N.C.L.E. as Madame Raine De Sala
The Unknown as Kassia Paine
The Hanged Man as Lois Seeger
A Tiger Walks as Dorothy Williams
Those Calloways as Lydia (Liddy) Calloway

1963

The Fugitive as Monica Welles
Burke's Law as Claudia Sutton
The Outer Limits as Kassia Paine
Bob Hope Presents the Chrysler Theatre as Beth
Kraft Suspense Theatre as Ann Ryker
Mr. Novak as Sister Gervaise
Arrest and Trial as Jean Forbes

1962

The Alfred Hitchcock Hour as Daphne
The Virginian as Miss Wallace
Sam Benedict
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance as Hallie Stoddard

1961

Back Street as Liz Saxon
The Lawbreakers as Angela Walsh
The Dick Powell Show as Stella Calman
The Asphalt Jungle

1960

My Three Sons as Ernestine Coulter
Psycho as Lila Crane
Route 66 as Ellen Barnes
Five Branded Women as Daniza
Incident at a Corner as Jean Medwick
A Touch of Larceny as Virginia Killain

1959

Bonanza as April Christopher
The Twilight Zone as Millicent Barnes
Rawhide
The Detectives as Lucy
Riverboat as Jeanette Mowbray
Startime as Jean Medwick
The FBI Story as Lucy Ann Hardesty
Web of Evidence as Lena Anderson

1957

Wagon Train as Sister Rita
Beau James as Betty Compton

1956

Dick Powell's Zane Grey Theatre as Jenny Breckenridge
The Searchers as Laurie Jorgensen
The Wrong Man as Rose Balestrero
23 Paces to Baker Street as Jean Lennox
The House Without a Name
Autumn Leaves as Virginia Hanson

1955

Gunsmoke as Dr. Sam
Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Elsa Spann
The Millionaire as Merle Roberts
The 20th Century Fox Hour as Virginia
Wichita as Laurie McCoy
Screen Director's Playhouse as Ruth Dahlberg
Tarzan's Hidden Jungle as Jill Hardy
Man on the Ledge as Virginia

1954

Climax! as Sally Jordan
Studio 57 as The Little Girl's Mother
Pride of the Blue Grass as Linda

1950

The Colgate Comedy Hour as Self
Lux Video Theatre as Maureen O'Reilly
When Willie Comes Marching Home as Laughing Sergeant's Date (uncredited)
The Screen Writer as Young Actress (uncredited)