Uncredited: The Life and Career of Virginia Gregg

by Lona Bailey

She had one of the most recognizable faces and voices in American media for over 40 years. In radio, television, and film, Virginia went largely uncredited for many of her legendary performances including "Norma Bates" from Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic Psycho. In radio she was a favorite on classics like Dragnet, Yours Truly, Johnny Dollar, and Richard Diamond, Private Detective. On television she was a regular guest on shows such as Dragnet, Gunsmoke, and The Twilight Zone. In film she gave her most memorable performances in productions including Psycho, Operation Petticoat, and Spencer's Mountain.

Read the incredible story behind the familiar face and voice that until now has never been told. Virginia's is a story of great tragedy, resilience, and perseverance far more compelling than that of any character she ever portrayed. Discover the great lady behind the hundreds of unforgettable characters she gave our world. Through the pages of this biography, I invite you to meet legendary actress Virginia Gregg.

Genres: Biography

562 pages, Kindle Edition

Published June 30, 2022

About the author

Dr. Lona Bailey is a Golden Age of Hollywood researcher and writer of Uncredited: The Life and Career of Actress Virginia Gregg, Voice of Villainy: The Betty Lou Gerson Story, and Mrs. Radio: The Cathy Lewis Story. As a PhD and former therapist, Lona is passionate about telling the untold stories of women who perhaps weren’t finished using their own voices during their earthly journeys. Lona’s biographic works offer a balanced perspective on the multidimensional elements involved in feministic legacy-maintenance with particular interest in the preservation efforts of the Golden Age of Hollywood. Lona and her books have been featured on The Wolfe Den Show, in Film Daily, and in The Los Angeles Tribune.

Reviews

[Samantha Glasser]

Virginia Gregg was a prolific radio actress, a truly talented woman who is always a welcome voice in a variety of genres. I've tried to do research on her before but came up short so I was thrilled Lona Bailey wrote this book.

It is clear from several other books I've purchased from Bear Manor Media that they will publish practically anything that gets submitted to them. The books are of wildly varying quality. Unfortunately, only 152 pages of 527 of this book is biography. The rest is a listing of Gregg's many impressive credits, citations and an index. The author says a lot without saying a lot, beginning the book with a rehash of the author’s note. She gives a biography of Jack Webb before starting with any background information on Gregg. Then she pads the pages with biographies on local bootleggers who "might" have met Virginia in her youth, devoted six pages to Aimee Semple McPherson before saying it isn’t clear if they ever met, and gives filler information about Gregg’s birthplace (which the family abandoned when she was only 6 years old) that happened decades after she died. She quoted “one radio actor” without disclosing their name, for some unknown reason. I believe the author should have done what I did when I sought information about Gregg's life and abandoned the project and posted the lists of credits online.

[Suzann · Rating 3 out of 5]

The problem here is not really the fault of the capable author. Rather, it is the truly colossal size of Gregg's body of work. With someone so private, the work overwhelms the story of her life.