Vera Miles Biography, Life, Interesting Facts

Childhood and Early Life

Actress Vera Miles was born Vera June Ralston in Boise, Oklahoma on the 23 August 1929 to Bernice Wyrick and Thomas Ralston. The family had four children and Miles was the youngest. She was raised in Pratt, Kansas.

Education

Vera Miles graduated from Wichita North High School (1947).

Rise to Fame

At 17, Vera Miles participated in a beauty pageant and became Miss Kansas in 1948. She went on to represent Kanas in the Miss America contest and was placed third. Other beauty content titles she held were Miss Chamber of Commerce, Miss Wichita, Miss Texas Grapefruit and Miss New Maid Margarine.

Career

Vera Miles' film breakthrough was in The Searchers (1956), a Western which was directed by John Ford. Other film roles included starring alongside Henry Ford in The Wrong Man (1956), Beau James (1957), The FBI Story (1959),  Psycho (1960) the classic Hitchcock thriller, Back Street (1961)  and The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962).

On television, she appeared in The Alfred Hitchcock Hour (1962(, Twilight Zone (1959), The Outer Limits (1962), The Fugitive (1963), My Three Sons (1960), Bonanza (1959), Columbo (1984) and Murder She Wrote (1984). Miles retired from acting in 1995.

Awards and Achievements

In 1950, Vera Miles was awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. And in 1963, won a Western Heritage Award for The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance

Personal Life

Vera Miles was married four times: Bob Miles (1958-div.1954), Gordon Scott (1956-div.1960), Keith Larson (1960-div.1971) and Robert Jones (1973-div.1975). She had two children with Miles, one with Scott and one with Larsen.