1. Virginia Cherrill, styled as Virginia, Countess of Jersey between 1937 and 1946, was an American actress best known for her role as the blind flower girl in Charlie Chaplin's City Lights.
13 Facts About Virginia Cherrill
1. 2.
Virginia Cherrill was born on a farm in rural Carthage, Illinois to James E and Blanche Cherrill.
3.
Virginia Cherrill initially did not plan on a film career, but her friendship with Sue Carol eventually drew her to Hollywood.
4.
Virginia Cherrill had been voted "Queen of the Artists Ball" in Chicago in 1925 and was invited to perform on the variety stage by Florenz Ziegfeld, an offer she declined.
5.
Virginia Cherrill found her first marriage unsatisfying, and through her friendship with Sue Carol, decamped to California where she met William Randolph Hearst, went to Hollywood for a visit and met Charlie Chaplin when he sat next to her at a boxing match; however, Chaplin wrote in his autobiography that she approached him on the beach wanting him to cast her in his film while acknowledging that he had met her before.
6.
Virginia Cherrill recalls in the documentary that she followed close friend Marion Davies's advice to hold out for more money when Chaplin asked her to return to the film.
7.
Virginia Cherrill appeared in the 1931 Gershwin musical Delicious with Janet Gaynor.
8.
Virginia Cherrill then went to Britain where she starred in two of James Mason's earlier films, including Troubled Waters, which turned out to be her last film.
9.
Virginia Cherrill's first husband, Irving Adler, was a rich Chicago lawyer.
10.
Virginia Cherrill married actor Cary Grant on February 9,1934, in London.
11.
Virginia Cherrill received a divorce on March 26,1935, in Los Angeles after alleging that Grant was abusive toward her.
12.
Virginia Cherrill married George Child-Villiers, 9th Earl of Jersey in 1937, becoming the Countess of Jersey until their divorce in 1946.
13.
Virginia Cherrill has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1545 Vine Street.