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

1995

Separate Lives as Dr. Ruth Goldin

1989

The Hijacking of the Achille Lauro as Sophie Kubacki

1985

Into the Night as Joan Caper
International Airport as Elaine Corley

1984

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

1983

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

1982

Hotel
Matt Houston
Mazes and Monsters as Cat
Natalie - A Tribute to a Very Special Lady

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
Fire! as Martha Wagner
Run for the Roses as Clarissa Stewart

1976

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

1975

Ellery Queen as Celeste Wakefield

1974

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

1973

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

1972

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

1971

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

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
Journey to the Unknown as June Wiley
Hellfighters as Madelyn Buckman
Sergeant Ryker as Ann Ryker
Kona Coast as Melissa Hyde
Mission Batangas as Joan Barnes

1967

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

1966

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

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
Those Calloways as Lydia (Liddy) Calloway
A Tiger Walks as Dorothy Williams
The Hanged Man as Lois Seeger
The Unknown as Kassia Paine

1963

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

1962

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

1961

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

1960

Route 66 as Ellen Barnes
My Three Sons as Ernestine Coulter
Psycho as Lila Crane
Five Branded Women as Daniza
A Touch of Larceny as Virginia Killain

1959

Bonanza as April Christopher
The Twilight Zone as Millicent Barnes
Rawhide
The Detectives as Lucy
Startime as Jean Medwick
Riverboat as Jeanette Mowbray
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
Autumn Leaves as Virginia Hanson
The House Without a Name

1955

Gunsmoke as Dr. Sam
Alfred Hitchcock Presents as Elsa Spann
The 20th Century Fox Hour as Virginia
The Millionaire as Merle Roberts
Screen Director's Playhouse as Ruth Dahlberg
Wichita as Laurie McCoy
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)