Virginia Gregg

Virginia Gregg Burket (March 6, 1916 – September 15, 1986) was an American actress best known for her many roles in radio dramas.

Born in Harrisburg, Illinois, Virginia Gregg was the daughter of musician Dewey Alphaleta (née Todd) and businessman Edward William Gregg.

Radio
Gregg was a prolific radio actor, heard on such programs as The Adventures of Sam Spade, Dragnet, Dr. Kildare, Gunsmoke, The Jack Benny Program, Let George Do It, Lux Radio Theatre, One Man's Family, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar and The Screen Guild Theater.

On the radio series Have Gun - Will Travel (starring John Dehner as Paladin), Gregg portrayed Miss Wong (the girlfriend of Hey Boy).

She also portrayed Richard Diamond's girlfriend, the wealthy Helen Asher, on the radio series Richard Diamond, Private Detective (starring Dick Powell as Diamond).

Films
Beginning with Body and Soul (1947), Gregg made more than 45 films, including Journey to Nowhere, Spencer's Mountain and I'll Cry Tomorrow.

Television
On television. Gregg portrayed Mary Surratt, the woman hanged for conspiracy in the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, in the 1956 episode "The Mary Surratt Case" of NBC anthology series, The Joseph Cotten Show.

She made three appearances on the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents and the syndicated Rod Cameron series, State Trooper. She appeared as Judge Banks in the 1958 episode "We, the Jury" of the CBS sitcom, Mr. Adams and Eve, starring Howard Duff and Ida Lupino. She appeared as well in the 1958 episode "Postmarked for Death" in the western series Tombstone Territory starring Pat Conway and Richard Eastham. In 1959, Gregg appeared as Zina in the episode "The Meeting" of Bruce Gordon's short-lived docudrama, Behind Closed Doors. In the 1961-1962 television season, Gregg provided the voice of Maggie Bell in the ABC cartoon series, Calvin and the Colonel. In 1961, she guest starred on NBC's anthology program, The Barbara Stanwyck Show.

In 1963, she appeared on The Eleventh Hour, in two episodes, entitled "Medicine Man in This Day and Age, A?" as Aunt Tabitha and "Which Man Will Die?" as Arlene Montebello, respectively. She appeared in an episode ("Three Men from Now"; 1965) of The Legend of Jesse James starring Christopher Jones.

In 1959, 1963, and 1964, she guest starred on CBS's Rawhide western series in the episodes "Incident of the Misplaced Indians", "Incident of the Comancheros", and "Incident of the Banker". In 1964, she guest-starred as Mrs. Bronson in the episode "Confounding Her Astronomers" of the ABC medical series Breaking Point.

She may have been best-known to television audiences as part of the Dragnet company. Jack Webb utilized her in dozens of roles on both radio and TV versions of the show as well as the Dragnet 1954 movie where she played the role of Evelyn Starkie, wife of the murder victim in one of her most emotional and convincing roles. In later years, she appeared on other shows produced by Webb's Mark VII Limited (e.g., Adam-12, ''Emergency!).

Voice acting
She supplied the voice of Norman Bates' mother in the movie Psycho as did Jeanette Nolan and Paul Jasmin, all uncredited. Only Gregg did the voice in the sequels Psycho II and Psycho III.

She voiced "Tarra" on the 1967 animated TV series, The Herculoids. She reprised that role when the series was revived in 1981 as part of the Space Stars animated series.

Virginia Gregg died from lung cancer in Encino, California, aged 70.