Virginia Mayo, a blonde screen siren of the 1940s and '50s who worked opposite some of the top leading men of the era, died Monday at 84 at a nursing home in Thousand Oaks, Calif., the Associated Press reports. A versatile actress who was as at home in dramas, westerns, comedies, and musicals, Mayo costarred with James Cagney (in the gangster classic White Heat), Bob Hope (in The Princess and the Pirate), Dana Andrews (in the landmark drama about World War II vets, The Best Years of Our Lives), Ronald Reagan (in The Girl From Jones Beach and She's Working Her Way Through College), and Gregory Peck (ITALIC {Captain Horatio Hornblower}]).
She may have been best known for her partnership with Danny Kaye in five movies, most notably, The Secret Life of Walter Mitty. (No doubt her favorite leading man was Michael O'Shea. She had a small role opposite him in the biopic Jack London in 1943. Their marriage lasted from 1947 until his death in 1973, and she never remarried.) In a 2001 interview, Mayo said, ''I really wanted to be a dancer, but I ended up as an actress, and I got to perform next to some of the greatest actors of our time.''
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