Virginia Brissac (June 11, 1883 â€" July 26, 1979) was a popular
American stage actress who headlined theatre companies from Vancouver
to San Diego during the heyday of West Coast Stock in the early 1900s.
An ingénue and leading lady known for her natural style and charm on
stage, Brissac played with equal success in both comedies and dramas
and went on to have a long second career as a character actress in
film and television.In addition to playing mothers, grandmothers, and
confidants to film stars such as Bette Davis (in [[The Little Foxes
(film)] ] and Dark Victory), Tyrone Power (in Captain from Castile),
and John Wayne (in Operation Pacific), Brissac was cast as farm women
and rancher's wives (Jesse James, The Daltons Ride Again, State Fair),
aristocrats and society women (The Phantom of the Rue Morgue, Old Los
Angeles, Executive Suite), and various nurses, seamstresses, and
landladies. She is probably best remembered for her role as the
grandmother of Jim Stark, the troubled teenager played by James Dean
in Rebel Without a Cause.Born in San Jose, California, and later
raised in San Francisco, Brissac was the daughter of the prominent Bay
Area insurance executive and humanitarian, B. F. Brisac and his wife
Alice (née Hain). She was introduced to the theatre as a young girl
by her aunt and uncle, New York actress Mary Shaw and husband Norline
Brissac, who was the stage manager for Sarah Bernhardt on her early
tours in San Francisco and other American cities.As Brissac's interest
in theatre grew, so did her collection of autographs, which eventually
included signed daguerreotypes, not only of Bernardt, but of Eleonora
Duse, Richard Mansfield, Henry Irving, and many other popular actors
of the day. She was also a fan of author and poet Rudyard Kipling, and
when she wrote asking for his signature, Kipling's secretary wrote
back informing her that the writer would grant her request if she
would be willing to donate $2.50 to a certain London charity. In her
reply some weeks later, Brissac wrote:
American stage actress who headlined theatre companies from Vancouver
to San Diego during the heyday of West Coast Stock in the early 1900s.
An ingénue and leading lady known for her natural style and charm on
stage, Brissac played with equal success in both comedies and dramas
and went on to have a long second career as a character actress in
film and television.In addition to playing mothers, grandmothers, and
confidants to film stars such as Bette Davis (in [[The Little Foxes
(film)] ] and Dark Victory), Tyrone Power (in Captain from Castile),
and John Wayne (in Operation Pacific), Brissac was cast as farm women
and rancher's wives (Jesse James, The Daltons Ride Again, State Fair),
aristocrats and society women (The Phantom of the Rue Morgue, Old Los
Angeles, Executive Suite), and various nurses, seamstresses, and
landladies. She is probably best remembered for her role as the
grandmother of Jim Stark, the troubled teenager played by James Dean
in Rebel Without a Cause.Born in San Jose, California, and later
raised in San Francisco, Brissac was the daughter of the prominent Bay
Area insurance executive and humanitarian, B. F. Brisac and his wife
Alice (née Hain). She was introduced to the theatre as a young girl
by her aunt and uncle, New York actress Mary Shaw and husband Norline
Brissac, who was the stage manager for Sarah Bernhardt on her early
tours in San Francisco and other American cities.As Brissac's interest
in theatre grew, so did her collection of autographs, which eventually
included signed daguerreotypes, not only of Bernardt, but of Eleonora
Duse, Richard Mansfield, Henry Irving, and many other popular actors
of the day. She was also a fan of author and poet Rudyard Kipling, and
when she wrote asking for his signature, Kipling's secretary wrote
back informing her that the writer would grant her request if she
would be willing to donate $2.50 to a certain London charity. In her
reply some weeks later, Brissac wrote:
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